ARK SPIRIT

Hao Nhien did not continue forward right away.

Beneath the glow of the teleportation gate in the distance, several figures still stood along the most convenient route leading to the exit. None of them entered the gate, nor did they appear to be waiting for companions coming from behind. The distance was still considerable, but the way they had spread out on both sides of the path looked increasingly familiar the longer Hao Nhien watched.

Quan Nha followed his gaze.

“You know them?”

“More than that.”

Hao Nhien narrowed his eyes. When one of the figures stepped out from beneath the gray trees, the long scar across his cheek and his tall, thin build immediately brought back old memories.

“The Duong Family.”

Quan Nha glanced at him.

“Enemies?”

“They stopped me twice before and robbed me.” He paused, then added, “The last time, they even forced me to jump off a cliff.”

She was about to ask more when movement appeared ahead.

Nearly ten people emerged from their hiding places and quickly spread out across the path. The one leading them was the same scar-faced man Hao Nhien had encountered before. Several half-healed wounds remained on his body, but the storage pouch hanging from his waist was noticeably fuller than normal. The others carried more than one pouch as well, making it obvious that their gains during the final stretch of the examination had been considerable.

The scar-faced man stared at Hao Nhien, and the first expression on his face was not delight but disbelief.

“You’re actually still alive?”

His eyes traveled from Hao Nhien’s head to his feet as though confirming that the person before him was not an illusion.

“When I saw you jump off that cliff, I thought there wouldn’t even be enough bones left to bury. I didn’t expect you to be this hard to kill.”

His gaze quickly shifted toward Quan Nha.

Surprise turned into greed.

“And you even came back with a beauty beside you. Looks like your luck in the Spirit Beast Forest wasn’t bad at all.”

Several men behind him burst into laughter.

Hao Nhien looked at the storage pouches hanging around their waists and remembered the groups of disciples the Duong Family had intercepted before. It seemed they had continued using the same method to earn points over the past several months. Much of what they carried probably had not come from demonic beasts or medicinal herbs they had gathered themselves.

The scar-faced man stepped forward.

“Same rule as before. Hand over your storage pouches and I’ll let both of you leave.”

The smile on his face gradually cooled.

“Otherwise, there won’t be another cliff to save you this time.”

True qi began circulating through nearly ten bodies at once. The formation that had been spread loosely across the road immediately tightened, blocking both the path toward the gate and the route behind them.

Quan Nha calmly looked around before asking,

“These are the ones who forced you off the cliff?”

“Yes.”

“What happened after that?”

Hao Nhien glanced at her, and his expression suddenly became a little strange.

“Afterward, a water demonic beast chased me for a while, and then I happened to meet you under rather... unusual circumstances.”

Quan Nha froze for a moment.

The instant Hao Nhien saw the change in her eyes, he knew he should stop. Unfortunately, he still could not resist adding,

“If we’re talking about cause and effect, I suppose I should thank them a little.”

Quan Nha’s fingers immediately pinched hard into his side.

Hao Nhien sucked in a breath.

“All right, I won’t mention it again.”

“So you do know pain.”

“My Sea of Consciousness still hasn’t fully recovered. Be a little gentler.”

She released him, her expression returning to its usual coolness as though nothing had happened.

Across from them, the scar-faced man’s smile had vanished entirely. He watched the two continue chatting while surrounded, his jaw tightening.

“Enough.”

True qi erupted around his body.

“Take everything they have. If they resist, break their arms and legs!”

The Duong Family disciples charged.

Hao Nhien had just started to step forward when Quan Nha raised a hand to stop him.

“I’ll go first.”

He glanced at her and stayed where he was.

Quan Nha did not draw her sword. She simply took one step forward.

“Wait.”

Her voice was not loud, but the charging disciples instinctively looked toward her.

For an instant, an extremely faint trace of violet flashed through Quan Nha’s eyes.

The men in front slowed almost simultaneously. One who had been circling left unconsciously shifted off course and nearly collided with a companion. Another had been driving true qi into his legs when the circulation broke for half a beat, making his next step awkward. Even the scar-faced man lost focus for an instant before his eyes immediately cleared again.

The Charm Eyes were not powerful enough to control nearly ten high-level Qi Condensation cultivators at once.

Quan Nha did not need them to.

One beat was enough.

Hao Nhien vanished from where he stood.

The Spirit Wings opened behind him for an instant, immediately altering the currents around his body. At the peak of the ninth layer of Qi Condensation, combined with Wind affinity and the support of the Spirit Wings, the speed of the people before him was no longer on the same level as his own.

There was no sword light and no violent collision.

Hao Nhien slipped directly into the disordered formation. Each time he changed direction, one hand reached a pouch hanging from someone’s waist. A knot came loose, the pouch disappeared, and he was already somewhere else before its owner could react.

One disciple regained his senses and instinctively reached out.

His hand closed on nothing but wind.

The scar-faced man turned quickly, true qi gathering around his fist as he struck at the figure that had suddenly appeared beside him.

Hao Nhien shifted one shoulder.

The punch brushed past his robe.

At the same moment, the pouch at the man’s waist vanished.

By the time the Duong Family disciples fully recovered from the Charm Eyes, Hao Nhien was already standing outside the encirclement.

A cluster of storage pouches hung from his hand.

There were far more than ten.

Several members of the Duong Family had been carrying two or even three pouches, clearly spoils taken from other disciples inside the secret realm. Hao Nhien had no time to inspect them one by one, but their weight alone told him that the harvest would not be small.

The scar-faced man looked down at his empty waist, and his expression changed instantly.

“You...”

Hao Nhien tossed one pouch lightly in his palm, then stored the entire bundle inside his storage ring.

“Last time, you took everything I had.”

He looked over the group.

“This time, I’m taking it back. We’re even.”

The scar-faced man was so furious that the true qi around him fluctuated wildly.

“Even?”

Hao Nhien had no intention of debating the mathematics.

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He wrapped an arm around Quan Nha’s waist.

“Let’s go.”

The Spirit Wings activated. Wind gathered around his legs, accelerating his movement from the very first step. The two shot directly toward the teleportation gate.

Angry shouts erupted almost immediately behind them.

“My pouch!”

“Chase them!”

“Don’t let him reach the gate!”

Hao Nhien did not look back.

The gate had already been close, and at their current speed, the Duong Family had no chance of catching them before they reached it.

He merely raised one hand and waved.

“I already told you.”

His voice traveled backward on the wind.

“We’re even.”

Quan Nha glanced at him as they ran.

“You call that even?”

“A little interest.”

She said nothing more.

Hao Nhien still caught the brief amusement in her eyes.

The teleportation gate was already directly ahead.

White-silver light covered both of them, and space twisted around their bodies.

The Spirit Beast Forest disappeared.

The roar of voices flooded Hao Nhien’s ears the moment the weightless sensation ended.

He stepped out of the teleportation formation, his boots touching the familiar stone of the outer sect plaza.

The scene before him could not have been more different from the cold silence of the secret realm.

Hundreds of groups of disciples filled the plaza. Some laughed because they had finally returned alive, others were wrapped in bandages, while a few sat alone with empty expressions. Stewards and disciples responsible for the examination moved continuously through the crowd, checking identity tokens, recording names, and directing those who had returned toward the area where their spoils would be counted.

Hao Nhien stood still for several breaths.

Three months.

While he had been inside the Spirit Beast Forest, the time had not felt especially long. Yet now that he had truly returned, it felt as though he had just completed an enormous journey, carrying back exhaustion, dust, and far too many experiences to explain in only a few sentences.

His first instinct was not to search for the ranking board.

Nor did he look toward the elders.

Instead, his gaze swept across the crowd.

He was searching for someone.

Before long, a familiar figure entered his sight.

Tieu Lan stood in the distance.

Old Van was beside her, speaking with another elder, but Tieu Lan did not seem to be paying much attention to their conversation. Her eyes kept returning to the teleportation formation, one hand unconsciously clutching the edge of her robe.

Then she saw him.

The tension vanished from her face at once.

“Young Master!”

Her voice carried across the crowded plaza.

Tieu Lan waved repeatedly, looking so excited that she nearly ran from where she stood.

Old Van turned at her shout.

When he saw Hao Nhien, he said nothing, only smiled and gave a small nod.

Warmth spread through Hao Nhien’s chest.

This place was not necessarily home.

But having someone waiting for his return felt very much like it.

He raised a hand in response.

The teleportation formation behind him flashed again.

Quan Nha stepped out.

She had already regained her usual composure. Her robes had been straightened, her long black hair fell neatly behind her, and her cool expression was enough to make unfamiliar people instinctively keep their distance.

Hao Nhien looked at her and involuntarily remembered the woman who had rested against his chest inside the Python King’s cavern.

That coldness no longer felt quite so distant to him.

He slowed his steps and waited for her to catch up.

Tieu Lan was already running toward him.

When only a few steps remained, she suddenly stopped. Her eyes reddened, and her lips moved without producing a sound. One hand rose, then lowered again, as if she wanted to embrace him but could not decide whether she should.

Hao Nhien felt something soften inside him.

“I’m back.”

Only three words.

Tieu Lan had to blink several times to hold back the tears gathering in her eyes.

Her attention quickly shifted to Quan Nha standing beside him. For the briefest moment, Tieu Lan’s gaze moved between the two of them longer than usual before her smile returned.

“Sister Quan Nha!”

She turned toward Hao Nhien.

“You came back together?”

Then she looked at Quan Nha and said sincerely,

“Thank you for taking care of Young Master.”

Quan Nha regarded her.

“No need to thank me. Most of the time, he was the one helping me.”

Tieu Lan looked back at Hao Nhien.

The curiosity in her eyes was now considerably stronger.

He was still wondering how best to change the subject when two familiar voices sounded from behind.

“Captain!”

“Welcome back, Captain!”

Hao Nhien turned.

Tieu Van and Lam Phong were approaching quickly.

Both carried numerous injuries, and their auras were clearly exhausted, but at least they had returned in one piece. The moment Lam Phong reached them, he deliberately cupped his hands with exaggerated solemnity.

“As expected, Captain has a very hard life to take.”

Hao Nhien waved him off.

“The examination is over. Stop calling me that.”

“No.”

Lam Phong shook his head with complete seriousness, then looked toward Quan Nha and Tieu Lan.

“I’m Lam Phong, third in the team. This is Brother Tieu Van, second.”

He pointed toward Hao Nhien.

“And this, of course, is the captain.”

Tieu Van had already begun to suspect that something improper was coming next.

Sure enough, Lam Phong looked at the two women and asked,

“You two joined later, so which one is the vice captain?”

Hao Nhien rubbed his forehead.

Tieu Van coughed.

Quan Nha looked at Lam Phong for several breaths.

That single look was enough to make his smile stiffen.

Hao Nhien had no choice but to introduce them.

“This is Quan Nha. We met inside the secret realm.”

He stopped there.

There was no need to explain everything the two of them had been through.

Tieu Van became noticeably more serious when he heard her name and stepped forward to cup his hands.

“So you are Miss Quan Nha. I’ve heard your name before, but this is my first opportunity to meet you.”

Quan Nha returned the greeting.

“Good to meet you.”

Tieu Lan then introduced herself before anyone could ask.

“I’m Tieu Lan.”

She looked toward Lam Phong.

“If we really have to rank everyone, I can be the youngest.”

Lam Phong laughed loudly.

“Good! Our team is finally getting bigger.”

The atmosphere immediately became more relaxed.

After a while, Tieu Van turned toward Hao Nhien.

“After you drew the Gray Shadow Wolf pack away, we were worried you wouldn’t escape.”

Lam Phong also stopped joking.

“Especially after we heard the Gray Shadow Wolf King. At the time, I really thought...”

He did not finish the sentence.

Tieu Van let out a breath.

“You pulled the entire pack away so we could retreat. I’ve felt guilty about that ever since.”

Hao Nhien patted his shoulder.

“If all three of us had stayed, that would have been the stupid choice. I had a way to survive, which is why I did it.”

“So how did you actually escape?”

Hao Nhien smiled.

“I ran.”

Lam Phong waited.

Nothing else came.

“That’s it?”

“I ran fast enough.”

Tieu Van laughed.

Hao Nhien had no intention of mentioning the Cosmic Ark, much less the battle between the Beast Kings or everything that had happened afterward.

“I found somewhere to hide, then got lucky later. What about you two?”

Lam Phong sighed.

“After that, we didn’t dare go too deep again. We mostly hunted first rank demonic beasts around the lake and gathered medicinal herbs.”

“How are your points?”

“Hard to say.”

Tieu Van shook his head.

“We’re probably still short of the top hundred.”

Hao Nhien thought for a moment before taking out two small pouches.

“One each.”

Lam Phong accepted his by reflex.

“What is it?”

He opened it.

His smile vanished immediately.

Inside were more than twenty first rank demonic beast cores, along with several medicinal herbs that qualified for examination points. The total was not enough to shock the entire sect, but it was worth well over two hundred points.

Tieu Van checked his own pouch, then immediately pushed it back.

“We can’t take this.”

Lam Phong recovered as well.

“He’s right. This isn’t just a few cores.”

Hao Nhien did not accept the pouch.

“Keep them.”

Tieu Van frowned.

“Captain, every single core in the secret realm costs blood to obtain. We already divided things fairly before.”

“I know.”

Hao Nhien looked at both of them.

“But in the months afterward, I gained far more than I expected.”

He did not mention that the storage pouches he had just taken from the Duong Family alone contained spoils stolen from who knew how many disciples. Added to the Gray Shadow Wolf battlefield, medicinal herbs, later hunts, and other storage pouches, a little over two hundred points was truly insignificant compared with everything he now carried.

“More importantly, you two need to enter the inner sect first.”

Lam Phong paused.

Hao Nhien continued,

“I have no interest in making friends with too many people. But both of you fought beside me, and when things became dangerous, neither of you abandoned your companions. If we have another chance to travel together in the future, I would rather have people like you standing beside me.”

Tieu Van looked down at the pouch in his hand.

This time, he did not return it.

“I’ll remember this.”

Lam Phong tightened his grip on his own pouch.

“If Captain puts it that way, then I’ll accept.”

His grin immediately returned.

“But don’t regret it later. If I really make it into the inner sect, I’m going to keep following Captain around.”

Hao Nhien looked at him.

“I’m already starting to regret it.”

Both Tieu Van and Tieu Lan burst into laughter.

Quan Nha remained quiet beside them. When Hao Nhien happened to turn toward her, their eyes met. She held his gaze for only a moment before looking elsewhere, but he still caught the subtle softening in her expression.

By the end of the day, the outer sect plaza was nearly packed with returning disciples.

A voice rang out from the raised platform.

“It is time to conclude the examination!”

Old Bai’s voice spread across the plaza, quickly silencing the surrounding conversations.

“Those who have returned will bring their identity tokens, demonic beast cores, medicinal herbs, and mission items to the inspection area to exchange them for points.”

His gaze swept over the thousands of disciples below before he continued,

“The outer sect tally must be completed before noon tomorrow. After that time, any spoils that have not been verified will no longer count toward the results.”

The crowd immediately began murmuring.

But Old Bai had not finished.

“At noon tomorrow, the secret realm area will reopen for the inner sect trial.”

This time, the discussion became much louder.

“The inner sect trial?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Isn’t there usually a gap of several days?”

“Why is it so rushed this time?”

Hao Nhien frowned as well.

He turned slightly toward Quan Nha.

“Do you find that strange?”

“Yes.”

She looked toward the platform.

“The inner sect trial normally doesn’t begin immediately after the outer sect examination. And only Foundation Establishment disciples are qualified to participate. If the schedule has been changed, there must be a reason.”

Hao Nhien did not ask further.

At his current realm, he was not qualified to participate anyway.

Still, the sect changing its schedule immediately after such a major examination was enough to catch his attention.

At that moment, the ground on one side of the plaza began to tremble.

A massive black stone monument slowly rose from beneath the earth. It stood dozens of zhang high, its surface glossy as ink. Once it fully stabilized, lines of silver light spread across it.

The examination ranking monument.

Disciples stepped forward one after another to submit their spoils.

Whenever an inspection was completed, a name and total score appeared on the monument.

Qin Lei, ninety-five points.

Wen Cheng, eighty-three points.

Bi Yu, forty-five points.

Li Kui, one hundred and fifty points.

Each number drew a different reaction from the crowd. Some disciples breathed in relief after seeing that their scores still gave them a chance at the top hundred, while others grew increasingly pale as the rankings continued to shift downward.

Time passed.

After several incense sticks, a new name appeared at the very top.

Li Long: 850 points.

The plaza erupted almost instantly.

“Eight hundred and fifty?”

“Second place hasn’t even reached four hundred!”

“As expected of Li Long from the Li Family.”

“With a score like that, who can possibly surpass him?”

Hao Nhien followed the direction everyone was pointing.

A man around twenty-four or twenty-five stood among a group of disciples. He was tall, handsome, and carried an aura far steadier than most of those who had just returned from the secret realm. Even his robes were unusually clean compared with the others, with only a few minor traces showing that the past three months had not been entirely effortless.

Li Long looked up at his name at the top of the ranking.

His expression barely changed.

Only the faint smile on his lips showed that he was satisfied.

Quan Nha watched him for a while as well.

“His aura is very stable.”

Hao Nhien nodded.

“He doesn’t look like someone who relied only on his family to accumulate points.”

He did not offer further judgment.

Eight hundred and fifty points truly was an impressive score for most outer sect disciples.

But when Hao Nhien thought about the number of storage pouches currently sitting inside his ring, the number did not seem quite as enormous as the surrounding crowd believed.

He turned toward Tieu Van and Lam Phong.

“It’s your turn.”

The two exchanged a look before walking toward the inspection area together.

Hao Nhien remained beside Tieu Lan and Quan Nha, his gaze resting on the black stone monument.

Li Long currently held first place with eight hundred and fifty points.

Hao Nhien did not even know exactly how much he himself was carrying.

That could wait a little longer.

What concerned him more was Old Bai’s announcement.

The inner sect trial had been moved forward to noon tomorrow.

A change like that was unlikely to be accidental.

And if the sect was truly in such a hurry because of something, then perhaps everything that had happened over the past three months was only the beginning.