21: Chapter 21

21

Looking out from here, the scene ahead was completely unobstructed.

He had originally thought it was humans battling monsters, but to his surprise, it was actually two monsters slaughtering each other.

One was a Tier 3 Blazing Firebird, its entire body wreathed in flames, while the other—unexpectedly—was a willow tree that also emanated Tier 3 energy fluctuations.

Jiang Haojie had heard his teacher talk about plant-type monsters in class, but this was the first time he had seen one with his own eyes.

At this moment, the two monsters were locked in a tragic struggle.

Flames surged around the Blazing Firebird as it continuously spat out searing streams of fire, attempting to completely consume the willow tree.

The willow tree was clearly no ordinary plant; its trunk twisted violently amidst the flames, managing to endure the onslaught through sheer resilience.

Even so, many of its branches had been charred black, and the leaves on its canopy were curled and yellowed.

The willow tree's counterattack was equally fierce.

The thousands of willow branches hanging from its canopy suddenly seemed to come alive, transforming into a dense, impenetrable whip-net that lashed out at the Blazing Firebird's head and face.

Although the Blazing Firebird tried its best to dodge, the willow branches were too numerous and dense; it was still struck hard from time to time, letting out shrill, mournful cries.

Jiang Haojie held his breath, his heart trembling slightly.

A Tier 3 monster might not be considered top-tier among the vast sea of monsters, but for him right now, it was an existence he had to look up to.

He hadn't expected to stumble upon such a slaughter just after stepping into this place.

Jiang Haojie held his breath, his body pressed tightly against the edge of a broken wall.

The surroundings were filled with the desolation and silence common to the outskirts of the Fallen Zone, but at this moment, a heart-palpitating danger surged beneath that silence.

He couldn't understand why a Tier 3 monster would appear in this relatively peripheral area.

With his current strength, the chances of surviving against a monster of this level were minuscule.

He made up his mind to hide there like a stone until the two terrifying existences ahead finished their confrontation or both were severely injured.

However, a cold, unbidden voice rang out directly in the depths of his mind:

[Random Quest Triggered: "When the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman profits"

.]

[Quest Content: Seek an opportunity to kill the targets "Blazing Firebird"

and "Demon-Marked Willow"

.]

[Success Reward: Eye of Discernment.]

[Failure Penalty: None.]

The corner of Jiang Haojie's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

The system? At a time like this? Does it never assess the host's actual situation before issuing a quest? Catching sight of the words "Failure Penalty: None,"

he made his decision almost instantly—to give up.

No matter how enticing the reward, one had to be alive to enjoy it.

BOOM!

A dull, massive roar suddenly exploded, sending gravel and dust shooting out.

The section of ruined wall where Jiang Haojie was hiding was actually smashed to pieces from the outside by a massive force.

Amidst the swirling dust, he was exposed in the open clearing without any cover.

A giant bird, its entire body burning with dark red flames, was locking onto him with its cold, avian pupils. Not far away, a strange willow tree with branches displaying eerie emerald-green patterns that moved without wind also seemed to turn its "gaze"

toward this uninvited guest.

Jiang Haojie gave a couple of dry laughs and subconsciously backed away: "It's a misunderstanding, I'm just passing through... You guys continue, don't mind me."

"SKREEE—!"

The Blazing Firebird let out a piercing shriek, and with a flap of its wings, it lunged forward, enveloped in a scorching air current.

Jiang Haojie's face changed drastically; he cursed under his breath and turned to run.

If he were a Second-Order Awakener, he might have been able to hold his own for a bit, but with only Tier 1 strength, fleeing was the only option when facing a Tier 3 monster.

SWISH—CRACK!

A sharp sound of breaking air attacked from his side as a willow branch, green as emerald yet as tough as a steel whip, lashed down hard on the spot where he had just been standing, instantly splitting a shallow trench in the ground.

Jiang Haojie broke into a cold sweat and turned sharply in a panic, his heart full of bitterness.

Weren't these two guys just fighting to the death? How did they suddenly unite against an outsider and come after him?

***

At the same time, at another designated meeting point in the Fallen Zone.

Several figures had already been waiting for a while.

A young man checked the time somewhat impatiently: "What's going on with Qin Qinglan? We agreed to meet at ten, and it's already past that."

A woman in a pale yellow dress said gently, "She was probably delayed by something. Let's wait a bit longer."

The young man seemed to change the subject to pass the time: "Did you guys hear about that top scorer in the Longcheng college entrance exam? SSS-rank talent, but it turns out he actually awakened in the direction of an Ancient Martial Artist... Sigh, what a waste of talent."

"How could we not have heard?"

A slightly chubby companion joined in, his tone filled with regret. "Supposedly, during the admissions for various schools the day before yesterday, because none of our Five Great Academies spoke up, he got angry and went straight into Longcheng University."

Hearing this, everyone's faces showed expressions of shock and disbelief.

"Longcheng University? Is he crazy? There are no cultivation resources there. Wouldn't going there be destroying his own future?"

Everyone truly couldn't understand. Even if he missed out on the Five Great Academies, to take a step back, getting into one of the Top Ten Prestigious Schools should have been fine; at least he could have obtained the resources needed for cultivation.

The fat guy curled his lip and said dismissively, "Even if he didn't enter Longcheng University, he's already finished.

Who would be willing to invest resources into an Ancient Martial Artist? You can only blame his ability for being too specialized."

"If it were any other ability, with his SSS-rank talent, he would have been valued in our Five Great Academies no matter what.

But he just had to be an Ancient Martial Artist. Who else can he blame?"

The people around them nodded one after another.

It was indeed true; the situation for Ancient Martial Artists was far too awkward.

Not only were their abilities singular, but they also had to study martial arts to improve. Yet even after learning martial arts, they were still inferior to Physical Enhancers in actual combat.

They were practically a weakened version of Physical Enhancers.

If there were no Physical Enhancers in the world, Ancient Martial Artists might still find a way out.

But unfortunately, Physical Enhancers existed, which gave Ancient Martial Artists a sense of "why create Zhou Yu if you already have Zhuge Liang"

futility.

...

Jiang Haojie was fleeing through the wild forest in a pathetic state, with the Blazing Firebird and the Ancient Willow in hot pursuit.

The Ancient Willow in particular, in order to intercept him, had actually pulled its deep-set roots out of the soil and was closing in step by step.

Jiang Haojie had no choice but to push his speed to the limit.

However, facing Tier 3 monsters, his slight speed advantage was not significant.

SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!

A foul wind attacked from behind. Without looking back, Jiang Haojie relied on intuition to dodge sharply to the side.

Several sharp willow branches lashed down on the spot where he had just stood, instantly splitting several deep marks into the ground.

One could imagine what the outcome would be if they landed on a body of flesh and blood.

"CHIRP—"

The shrill cry of the Blazing Firebird suddenly came from overhead, followed by several fireballs falling rapidly.

These fireballs didn't hit Jiang Haojie directly but fell one after another in front of him, igniting a searing wall of fire that blocked his path.

Jiang Haojie's heart tightened.

He hadn't expected the intelligence of Tier 3 monsters to have reached such a level that they knew how to set up obstacles and corner him.

With a wall of fire in front and the Ancient Willow behind, Jiang Haojie shouted in a deep voice, "Let me leave now, and we'll leave each other in peace.

If you keep pressing me, don't blame me for fighting with my life!"

With the other party's intelligence, they should be able to understand his words.

If they still refused to back down, then there would be no choice but a fight to the death.

Facing two Tier 3 monsters, he didn't have full confidence; even if he fought desperately, the chances of winning were slim.

The only advantage was that these two monsters had been slaughtering each other earlier and were not currently at their peak state.

This was his only chance.

"CHIRP!"

The Blazing Firebird opened its beak and shot a fireball straight at him; this was its answer.

Jiang Haojie's heart sank, and his last bit of hope for negotiation was completely extinguished.

He stepped back quickly to dodge the fireball's direct hit.

But the Ancient Willow behind him also swung its branches simultaneously, like a whip-net, sealing off his retreat.

"Do you really think I don't dare to risk my life!"

With his retreat cut off, a cold light suddenly rose in Jiang Haojie's eyes.

He immediately sank his Qi into his Dantian, and a massive, transparent phantom of a lion's head suddenly condensed above him.

"ROAR—!"

An unreserved Lions Roar Technique boomed out, and simultaneously, a violent force erupted from within his body, sweeping out with the sound waves.

The sound waves spread like ripples, and with him as the center, the air itself seemed to be distorted by the vibration.

The searing fireball silently collapsed the moment it touched the sound waves, turning into a shower of sparks; the countless tough willow branches that were lashing out trembled violently under this destructive roar, their leaves all falling off, leaving only bare branches shivering in the wind.

The movements of the firebird and the Ancient Willow froze at the same time. In their consciousnesses, which were not entirely chaotic, a trace of monster-like alarm flashed.

This seemingly insignificant human could actually release such a soul-shaking impact.

The invisible vibration just now, even when resisted by their tough Tier 3 bodies, caused their cores to tremble slightly.

If it weren't for the absolute difference in rank, cracks might have already appeared.

Not far away, a figure moving through the forest suddenly stopped.

That sudden roar pierced through the dense forest, making her nerves tighten instantly.

Qin Qinglan's sharp gaze swept over the surroundings. After confirming that the threat was not approaching her, she hesitated for only a moment before decisively changing direction, speeding toward the source of the roar like a wisp of smoke.

The closer she got, the clearer the sounds of weapons breaking the air and energy surging became.

Is it a person? A monster? Or... She speculated uncertainly but didn't slow down at all.

Quietly taking cover behind a giant tree, she looked through the gaps in the leaves, and the battlefield came into view—one person, alone against two beasts.

However, what made her pupils shrink was not the battle itself, but the almost absurdly disparate comparison: the energy fluctuations flowing around that lone fighter clearly belonged to Tier 1; yet his opponents were two Tier 3 monsters steaming with murderous aura! How did he dare? Qin Qinglan was shaken.

Even during her most self-confident Tier 1 period, she would never have had the courage to face a Tier 3 existence directly, let alone two? If this person wasn't extremely arrogant, then he was intending to temper himself on the edge of life and death. This almost insane boldness made her hold her breath.

If Jiang Haojie could have known the thoughts of this onlooker, he would probably have been filled with bitter smiles.

What boldness or tempering? It was nothing more than the embarrassment of having no way to retreat.

At this moment, he had no time for anything else. The pair of grimly curved Mantis Blade in his hands danced into a cold curtain of light, yet it was difficult to leave deep marks on the firebird's feathers or the Ancient Willow's hard bark. Instead, he was forced to dodge and maneuver by the opponent's violent counterattacks, looking quite pathetic.

A surge of nameless anger rose.

Do you really think I'm a soft persimmon that can be squeezed at will? Jiang Haojie's eyes turned sharp, and with a thought, the twin blades in his hands vanished into thin air.

This scene happened to fall into the eyes of Qin Qinglan in the distance.

Her heart chilled: Storage Equipment! To be able to put away and take out weapons so freely, only those rare items containing spatial laws from legends could do that.

She had only seen such treasures on her Master, who was a Fifth-Order powerhouse and the Head of the Academy.

This masked mysterious person actually possessed such a thing? His background was likely unfathomably deep.

Just as she was secretly pondering, the situation on the battlefield changed again.

Jiang Haojie's arms shook, and the energy around him gathered and rose in a peculiar way.

Above his head, the air distorted and condensed violently, faintly outlining the silhouette of a massive and majestic transparent lion's head, and an invisible pressure spread out.

Qin Qinglan looked up in astonishment.

The next moment, that transparent lion's head suddenly opened its mouth—

"ROAR!!!"

The soul-shaking roar once again swept through the mountain forest.

Qin Qinglan's eyelashes lowered slightly. The previous deafening roar had led her here, and she had originally thought it was the roar of some monster, but she hadn't expected it to come from the mouth of this mysterious person of unpredictable identity.

Although the Lions Roar Technique that shook the mountain forest was intimidating, its actual impact on those two monsters was limited.

With their powerful physiques and strength, they could still endure several hits.

Jiang Haojie hadn't expected to defeat the enemy with this move alone; he just wanted to use it to force the opponents back and gain some space and distance to perform that set of palm techniques.

His feet moved in a swift, crisscrossing pattern, his body sank slightly, his breath was restrained in his Dantian, and his arms moved slowly as if embracing a void circle.

Vaguely, a vast dragon roar seemed to vibrate in the air.

He suddenly pushed both palms forward—

"First Form: Dragon’s Wrath, Heaven’s Regret!"

A majestic, invisible force erupted from his palms, crashing into the giant willow like a raging tide.

The Willow Demon was caught off guard, its massive trunk actually being shaken back two steps.

"SKREEE!"

Seeing this, the flames around the Blazing Firebird surged, transforming into a ball of blazing fire that shot toward Jiang Haojie.

Dragon-Shaped Phantom Art!

Jiang Haojie's mind moved like lightning, and the circulation path of the True Qi in his body suddenly changed.

His figure instantly blurred, turning into a transparent dragon shadow shimmering with light, meeting that ball of fire head-on.