"Dao, that kid Yu Fei just went out."

"Follow him. Report his position!"

"Okay, Boss!"

Zong clapped Monkey on the shoulder. "You pay the bill. I’m going after him. Come find me when you’re done."

He got up and left before Monkey could say a word.

Zong suddenly stopped and turned to look at Monkey, his voice laced with meaning.

"Don’t get any funny ideas. We’ve been brothers for years; we know everything about each other. If something goes wrong, you might be able to run, but what about your family? Don’t do anything stupid."

Monkey lowered his head and clenched his fists, not daring to utter a single word. A moment later, as if all strength had drained from his body, he silently stood up and called out, "Boss, the check!"

By the time Monkey caught up to Zong on his electric scooter, he found him leaning against a tree trunk, gagging and unable to catch his breath.

"Zong, what’s wrong?"

Zong’s face lit up when he saw Monkey and the scooter. He quickly hopped on the back.

"Quick... Go after him... Damn it... that bastard can really run. Fuck."

Monkey looked ahead at Yu Fei, now just a small dot in the distance, and quickly gunned the throttle to chase after him.

There weren’t many people out in the small county town at this hour; otherwise, they would’ve lost him long ago.

Zong, having caught his breath on the back of the scooter, started cursing.

"That son of a bitch ain’t human. Fucker runs like a rabid dog. If you hadn’t been smart enough to grab the scooter, we’d have lost him for sure. Dao would’ve probably kicked our asses. I’ll tell him later that you get top credit for this."

On a tall building not far away, Han Qiubai’s figure flickered out of sight. The conversation between Zong and Monkey drifted to her on the wind, and a peculiar expression crossed her face.

It only took her a moment of thought to piece everything together. This group from the Bright Sect, aside from recruiting members, primarily targeted high school students—especially those with excellent grades.

According to intelligence reports, to achieve a more potent blood sacrifice, their targets needed to either be powerful, which yielded a greater return, or possess outstanding innate talent.

They were no match for the truly powerful, so their primary targets were exceptional high school students. This group possessed remarkable talent but was weak, making them easy prey.

Due to the unique nature of the martial arts, students who excelled academically usually possessed considerable talent for cultivation as well.

Tianning County, lacking experience, had only arranged protection for the seniors, completely forgetting about the freshmen and sophomores.

A faint smile touched Han Qiubai’s lips.

’Things are getting interesting. I might be able to complete my assessment without even lifting a finger.’

She felt Yu Fei’s luck was rather good. She had just arrived in town, and he had already stumbled into a crisis right under her nose.

’Perhaps I’ll get to see a good show!’

Yu Fei, completely oblivious to everything happening behind him, felt more and more invigorated as he ran, his pace quickening.

Having spent the last few days cooped up in his room being "hacked" at by a sword, his mood was foul, and his Qi Blood felt sluggish. As he ran, he subconsciously applied some techniques from his Ruyi Shen Jin. Each stride carried him three to five meters, and he moved with incredible speed, occasionally drawing curious glances from pedestrians.

Although this was a world of Martial Artists, there weren’t many in this area, and it was rare to see someone travel at such a speed on foot. People were merely surprised; they would likely forget about it or turn it into a casual anecdote later.

Monkey twisted the scooter’s throttle all the way. His speed topped forty kilometers per hour, but he could only watch as Yu Fei’s figure receded further and further, almost vanishing from sight.

Zong wouldn’t shut up from the back. "I’m telling you, is this thing out of juice? Why the hell is it so slow..."

"It’s fully charged. I just plugged it in last night."

"Then why’s it so slow? Are we too heavy for it?"

"Bro, the scooter has a speed governor."

"Damn it! What a piece of crap."

Yu Fei ran all the way to the outskirts of town, to an open-access park. It had few amenities, wasn’t very large, and had been around for many years with little upkeep, leaving it in a state of disrepair.

The northern edge of the park bordered a large rapeseed field, while the town lay to the south.

Scattered yellow flowers could still be seen among the rapeseed plants, giving the field a scraggly, neglected look. Yu Fei found an earthen hillock and stood atop it, gazing at the setting sun and the fields below.

He hadn’t come out to train today. His plan was to stay until sunset and then head back; cultivation required a balance between exertion and rest.

Yu Fei’s thoughts turned to the matter of the Jie Jian lineage. Yan Sea was always so secretive and awkward whenever it came up. Even after Yu Fei had proven himself a prodigy Martial Artist, Yan Sea hadn’t revealed a single thing about it.

"Zong, look. On that hill over there, isn’t that the kid?"

Monkey stopped the scooter, and Zong hopped off to get a better look. "It really is him. The son of a bitch finally stopped running. If he hadn’t, today would’ve been a total wash. You keep an eye on him. I’m sending our location to Dao."

A small, nearly-dry river snaked through the park. But since the water was still flowing, it didn’t smell. A dozen or so waist-thick trees were scattered about in small clumps, blocking out the sun and casting long, dappled shadows.

A figure in white landed silently on a branch swaying in the wind. Bizarrely, no one seemed to notice her presence.

Han Qiubai was also enjoying the view, except her particular vista was about to become the stage for a spectacular show.

The young man stood atop the hill, the golden afterglow of the sunset bathing him in a halo of light and casting a long shadow behind him.

She had to admit, after just a short while of watching the young man up close, the resentment she’d built up from tailing him for two days simply vanished. In terms of appearance and bearing alone, the Yu Fei before her surpassed most prodigies.

She wondered how such a remote, backwater place could have produced such a stunning prodigy.

But no matter how beautiful the flower, only by enduring the biting wind and standing defiant against the frost can it truly bloom in brilliant splendor.

Han Qiubai gazed south. She could already smell a putrid odor—the stench of rot and cannibalism that was unique to the dregs of the Illuminati.

The roar of an engine echoed from the distance. The driver was moving fast, hitting 100 km/h on a one-lane country road. Even for a Martial Artist with their incredible reflexes, such a speed was extremely dangerous.

Dao was driving, with Mr. Qian in the passenger seat.

On Di Yunliang’s orders, they had laid low for the better part of half a year.

Di Yunliang had told them to remain dormant.

That was like telling a wild beast to sheathe its fangs and starve, or an eagle to retract its talons and stay in its nest. It was like telling evil cultists to be law-abiding citizens.

If Di Yunliang’s Inner Qi Realm cultivation wasn’t enough to keep everyone in line, he himself would have ended up on a Sacrificial Array by now.

Dao was done waiting. Forgetting about the senior brats was one thing, but he and Mr. Qian had personally scouted the sophomore, Yu Fei. This kid was the most valuable prize in all of Tianning County. They had personally witnessed him punch above his weight and defeat another "delicious fruit," who had been their original target.

So, Mr. Qian and Dao used their "expendable assets" to tail Yu Fei. They planned to take advantage of the college entrance exams, when those fools at the Martial Arts Administration Bureau were distracted, to snatch this delicious fruit for themselves.

With their third-realm cultivation, handling a student who hadn’t even perfected the first realm should be child’s play, right?

They had been about to storm his apartment complex and take him by force. But just as their patience wore thin, their expendable pawns sent good news: the little white rabbit had come out all by himself, and had wandered off to a deserted location.

This was truly a blessing from the God of Dark Ash!