In the midst of the trial, a group of outer circle disciples, led by Lin Geng, encounter an inner circle disciple named Luozheng, who is half-innate. The two argue over who is the leader of the inner circle team. Lin says that he is the one leading the outer circle team, and he is about to enter the firmament forest when they hear a stick falling from a tree. Lin tells the other inner circle disciples that they should pay more attention to the noise, as they haven't yet met any ghouls. He thanks the rescuer, and they rest for the day. Lin asks if he has killed any ghouls before, and the other outer circle disciple replies that he has. He says that four years ago he killed a ghoul with his sword, but he was still a freshman at the time. He wonders if he'll be able to last three rounds of fighting under his sword now that he's about to encounter another ghoul. He's been lurking in the forest for a long time, and finally he hears some humans coming out of the forest. He asks why they came to slay ghouls if they don't have guts. They say that they will only meet their doom if they stand there and do nothing, and that's what they're going to do. They're still going to die, they say, even if they are ghoul-lieutenants.