Chapter 10: That's It?

"Of course, if no one completes the bounty mission, everyone will fail," Zhan Kong said without a shred of mercy.

"You've got to be kidding—"

Complaints erupted from the students.

Bounty missions were usually the kind only mages with three to five years of wilderness experience could hope to complete.

Now they were being asked to complete one as a bunch of students who hadn't even graduated? It felt like they were being set up to fail.

"You might as well just mark us all as failed already," one student muttered, unable to hold back.

"If you think getting a high score from me is easy, think again. Tianlan Magic High is supposed to be the best school in Bo City. If all it can produce is a bunch of weaklings, you're better off staying at school reading spellbooks and throwing spells at wooden dummies. Why bother coming out to the perilous Xuefeng Mountain Outpost?"

Zhan Kong felt disappointed in the group.

"What's the bounty? Hurry up and say it—I'm on a schedule."

A voice cut through the noise, and the crowd instantly fell silent.

Interesting.

Zhan Kong looked toward the source of the voice—it was the same person he'd seen at the gate earlier: Jing Wuji.

"Excellent. The bounty is to retrieve a bracelet from Baicao Valley. However, reports say there might be a magical beast roaming there lately," Zhan Kong explained with a note of approval. "Of course, the group or individual who completes the task will receive a personal reward from me—a magic artifact."

At the mention of a magic artifact, even the nearby hunters grew excited.

"Boss Zhan Kong, give us a shot!"

"Boss Zhan Kong, let us compete fairly too!"

Magic artifacts were things most hunters didn't even dare dream of. Only with great luck—by encountering a rare beast and acquiring valuable magical materials—might they barely afford the weakest kind of artifact.

The demon-slaying gear Jing Wuji had asked about earlier was usually even more expensive than ordinary artifacts and could significantly boost a mage's combat power.

"Your task is to travel 30 kilometers to Baicao Valley. Inside a cave there is a bracelet—retrieve it, and your mission is complete," Zhan Kong suddenly raised his voice. "Now, begin!"

"Let's go, Mo Fan," Jing Wuji charged forward, brushing right past Zhan Kong.

"Wait for me!"

Mo Fan and Zhang Xiaohou quickly followed, passing Zhan Kong as well.

The other groups were still hesitating when they suddenly realized someone had already taken the lead.

Dropping their doubts, the rest of the teams followed in turn, one after another passing Zhan Kong.

Zhan Kong turned to watch them go, his expression suggesting he had just found something amusing.

"Things are getting more and more interesting…"

…

Ten days later.

Zhang Xiaohou and Mo Fan stood at the edge of a cliff. Below them was a raging river—one they had to cross to reach Baicao Valley.

"Mo Fan-ge… Are we going to cross this ravine? Maybe we should wait here for Wuji-ge to return with the bracelet," Zhang Xiaohou said, frowning. The river was a huge obstacle, and with only the two of them, they didn't have many options for crossing.

"No, we can't. We've already split off from the main group—our scores will probably drop because of that. If we want high marks, we have to reach the target location," Mo Fan said seriously. A few days ago, Jing Wuji had told them that instructors were following each group, scoring each student's performance. "Monkey, tie this vine around yourself and use Wind Track to fly across. If you don't make it, I'll pull you up."

"…Got it!"

Gritting his teeth, Zhang Xiaohou agreed to the plan.

Once the vine was secured, Zhang Xiaohou stood at the cliff's edge, preparing himself, while Mo Fan tied the other end to a massive boulder and added a few extra wraps for safety. He gripped the vine with both hands.

Zhang Xiaohou took a deep breath and constructed a Star Path in his mind.

One star… two stars…

Soon, seven stars aligned perfectly on the Star Path.

The path formed, spell cast!

A green light flashed—Zhang Xiaohou shouted, "Wind Track: Dash!"

A fierce wind whipped around him, lifting his clothes and swirling around his feet. The star-lit trail gleamed as a barely visible path extended toward the opposite cliff.

In the next second, Zhang Xiaohou transformed into a blur, sprinting along the Wind Track toward the other side.

He traced a graceful arc through the air—his landing point was the opposite cliff!

Boom—

Zhang Xiaohou landed safely, kicking up a puff of dust.

"Fan-ge, come on over!" he turned and shouted, waving enthusiastically.

Once he tied the vine securely to a tree on the far side, Mo Fan climbed across it and crossed the ravine without incident.

After successfully regrouping, the two continued toward their destination.

…

"This wind-element kid is not bad—got guts," one of the instructors tailing them said, clicking his tongue in approval.

"Give them a high score. At first, I thought they were just being reckless for splitting from the main group," said another examiner, nodding.

"Yeah, but I do feel sorry for the chief. That shadow-element kid vanished right under our noses."

As Jing Wuji had expected, there were two instructors trailing behind Mo Fan and Zhang Xiaohou.

…

Back when the three of them separated from the main group, Jing Wuji had already told the other two about his plan.

"You two just find a way to get to Baicao Valley. I'll retrieve the bracelet," he said.

After making arrangements, Jing Wuji traveled with Zhang Xiaohou and Mo Fan for two days before suddenly disappearing.

This made Zhang Xiaohou and Mo Fan realize that Jing Wuji had already begun to take action.

…

Baicao Valley.

Shadows from the trees crisscrossed the ground, and a writhing dark shadow slipped through them, approaching a cave entrance.

A figure emerged from the shadow, carefully observing the cave entrance.

There were traces of demons, but it was hard to tell how many. At the very least, there were more than two.

This didn't quite match the information provided by the chief instructor.

A sharp glint flashed in Jing Wuji's eyes before he silently merged back into the shadows.

Entering the cave, Jing Wuji revealed himself—he needed to first assess the situation inside.

There were clear watermarks around the underground pool, indicating the presence of a very large demon—or possibly many demons. He leaned toward the latter.

As he moved deeper into the cave, a sudden whooshing sound cut through the air.

Jing Wuji instinctively slipped into the shadows, reappearing a short distance away to investigate.

A wolf-type demon!

But he hadn't come to fight demons—finding that bracelet was his real goal.

With that in mind, Jing Wuji swiftly navigated through the cave, maintaining a half-submerged state: half in shadow, half visible. The cave was dark enough that he could disappear into shadow at any moment.

The wolf demon chased him relentlessly, always trailing far behind—there was no way it could keep up with his shadow-traveling speed.

At the deepest part of the cave, Jing Wuji found the bracelet resting on a rock.

Grabbing the bracelet, he let the rest of his body fade into the shadow—vanishing completely from the cave.

The wolf demon halted its pursuit. To its senses, Jing Wuji's presence had completely vanished, as if he had ceased to exist.

Letting out a low growl, the wolf demon returned to its resting place.

…

Outside the cave, Jing Wuji twirled the bracelet in his hand, looking relaxed.

"That's it?" he muttered, puzzled at how simple the mission had been. He'd expected it to be much harder.

"Chief, I'm gonna take a nap. Keep watch for me," Jing Wuji suddenly shouted.

He then climbed a tall tree and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

He had traveled almost non-stop for the past few days just to retrieve the bracelet.

Zhan Kong emerged from his hiding spot, disbelief written all over his face.

"When did that brat notice me? What a monster! Ugh! I haven't slept in days chasing after him!" Zhan Kong grumbled in frustration. But he had no choice—Jing Wuji had already completed the mission, so he had to keep watch.

Of course, Jing Wuji had known someone was tailing him. During those days when the three of them were traveling together, he had used his shadow ability to scout a 20-li radius at night and naturally detected them.

He had even deliberately exposed his aura just to let Zhan Kong follow—otherwise, only a super-tier mage might have had a chance of locating him.

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