45: Chapter 45: Teasing at the Beginning

The Qingluan's flight speed was even faster than Qin Ce had anticipated.

In less than fifteen minutes, the landscape below changed rapidly, transitioning from the plains and hills of the outskirts to a continuous stretch of forest.

Soon, a particularly dense primitive jungle with towering trees and tangled vines appeared in his field of vision.

This was the habitat of the Golden Claw Shadow Monkey.

Qin Ce did not rashly lower his altitude and charge into the jungle.

He had the Qingluan circle above the jungle, looking down from a high vantage point to overlook the entire area.

Nine-Star Insight, activate!

Within his eyes, an almost imperceptible starlight seemed to flash, and the world in his vision instantly became transparent and three-dimensional.

In an instant, the jungle below became "transparent" in Qin Ce's perception.

The complex branches and leaves, twisted vines, and mottled light and shadow interference were stripped away layer by layer. Streaks of aura—some strong, some weak, each carrying a unique life fluctuation—were clearly reflected in his mental vision like lights in the dark night.

Those Golden Claw Shadow Monkeys lurking in the shadows of the canopy, their gray-brown fur almost blending into the environment, now had nowhere to hide in Qin Ce's eyes. Their positions, approximate strength, and even some minute movements were all clearly captured.

"Cunning indeed, they're hidden quite deep," Qin Ce thought to himself.

Without the Insight talent, trying to find fifty Shadow Monkeys skilled at hiding in this vast sea of trees would indeed require a significant amount of time and manpower for a carpet search.

No wonder those two teams, despite starting at the same time as the first mission team, finished so much later; it must have been because they were difficult to detect.

At the same time, he also "saw" five energy gathering points scattered across different areas of the jungle—those were the five teams currently struggling to search for Shadow Monkeys in the woods.

They were either in groups of seven or eight, or teams of nine or ten, exploring cautiously. Occasionally, they would startle one or two Shadow Monkeys, triggering short and intense battles.

Qin Ce's gaze locked onto a Shadow Monkey near one of the teams, lurking on a very high branch and baring its teeth at the team below.

"I'll start with you."

With a slight thought, the Qingluan beneath him immediately understood. It folded its wings and dove down toward that direction like a green arrow, suddenly decelerating to a hover as it approached the canopy height.

Qin Ce held his fingers together like a sword. Spiritual power circulated within his body, communicating with the wind element. Green light gathered at his fingertips, condensed but not yet released.

Below, a member of that team was complaining: "Damn it, we've circled three times and haven't found a single one."

A boy with a buzz cut cursed quietly, "These things are slipperier than loaches."

"Don't be anxious, look slowly." The captain was a girl wearing glasses. She was holding a palm-sized "Luminous Butterfly" in her hands. The butterfly's wings emitted a faint glow, but it didn't seem to have much effect. "The Shadow Monkeys' vision and sense of smell are very sharp. Our movements are too loud; they might have hidden far away long ago."

"Then what should we do? We can't just wait, can we? Two teams have already finished. If we don't hurry—"

Before the team member could finish speaking—

Ssh!

A sharp sound of breaking air attacked from above!

Everyone was startled and instinctively looked up, only to see an incredibly concentrated Wind Blade with a green glow on its edges. It shot precisely into a dense canopy above them at a tricky angle.

Crack!

Amidst the crisp sound of a branch breaking, a sharp and shrill monkey shriek was mixed in!

"Screech—!"

Immediately after, a gray-brown figure scrambled out from the leaves in a pathetic state. There was a shocking wound on its shoulder blade deep enough to see the bone, and golden blood dripped down. This was precisely an adult Black Iron High-grade Golden Claw Shadow Monkey!

This Shadow Monkey seemingly hadn't expected the attack to come from high altitude. Under the intense pain and fright, its ferocity flared up. With a pair of glittering golden claws flashing with cold light, it actually pounced directly toward the team below that had been searching for it just moments ago!

Clearly, it had transferred its hatred to the nearest target.

"Shit!" The team captain was both shocked and angry. Shocked that this Shadow Monkey had been hiding right above their heads without being discovered, and angry at the sudden attack and the Shadow Monkey's counter-pounce. "Defend! Counterattack!"

The team members reacted quickly, hurriedly commanding their Pet Beasts to meet the battle. The originally quiet corner instantly fell into chaos.

Meanwhile, high in the sky, after his single strike succeeded in exposing the Shadow Monkey, Qin Ce did not continue to attack. Instead, he steered the Qingluan to rise slightly in altitude, coldly watching the team below fight with the injured and enraged Shadow Monkey.

The Shadow Monkey was already injured and was then focused down by the team, quickly becoming unable to hold its ground. However, it was extremely cunning. Using the trees as cover and enduring a few more attacks, it actually broke through the encirclement and fled into the deeper jungle with its injuries, disappearing once again.

"Bastard! It got away!" The team captain stamped her feet in anger. They had fought for nothing, consuming Soul Power and their Pet Beasts' stamina without gaining anything.

Even more frustrating was that they still hadn't seen who had fired that Wind Blade just now, only knowing that it came from the sky.

At this moment, a team member finally pointed to the sky and cried out: "Look! It's Qin Ce! He's here!"

The people from the five teams all noticed the green figure circling above the jungle and the youth on its back. They all stopped their movements and looked up, their faces showing various expressions, but mostly shock, suspicion, vigilance, and a trace of hard-to-detect... schadenfreude?

"Why is he here?"

"By himself? What's the use of him coming?"

"Heh, he probably saw that the missions were almost all taken and got anxious, so he came over to see if he could pick up some scraps, right?"

"Pick up scraps? Just by himself? Don't make me laugh. The eight of us are having such a hard time searching here; what can he do alone? He can just wait to eat our dust!"

"Exactly. Could he possibly find them or kill them faster than a whole group of us?"

Up until now, they hadn't connected the Wind Blade from earlier to Qin Ce.

Because of their arrogance, they didn't think Qin Ce could be more capable than them.

Mocking discussions broke out quietly among the several teams.

While Qin Ce's previous dominance on the arena and his act of seizing a team were indeed intimidating, in this environment of field missions that emphasized efficiency and cooperation, almost no one favored this "lone commander."

Some even felt that his appearance now was more like a futile struggle out of desperation.

Qin Ce acted as if he hadn't heard the discussions and gazes from below. He continued to steer the Qingluan, leisurely cruising above the jungle, his gaze like lightning as he scanned the area below.

Soon, he locked onto a second target—in the shadow of a thicket not far from the side and rear of another team.

The Qingluan glided past.

Whoosh! Another precise Wind Blade was fired.

"Screech!" Another cry of pain rang out as another hidden Shadow Monkey was hit in the hind leg. It fled in panic and happened to crash into the alert range of the nearby team, naturally causing another bout of chaos.

Qin Ce repeated the process.

The third hover, and a Wind Blade shot toward a hollow in a dead tree.

The fourth time, it shot toward a seemingly ordinary patch of shrubs.

The fifth time, it shot toward the back of a moss-covered rock by the stream.

...