19 Brave Little Hai You Can Do This (1/2)

When he left the Peach Blossom Village, Wang Lu was the last person to leave. He was truly alone.

Leaving the Village Head’s guest house and looking at the empty village, Wang Lu was lost in thought.

His contemplation was abruptly ended by a tap on the back.

The black shadow who stood behind him said with a smile, “What are you thinking about? All the quests in the Peach Blossom Village has passed their deadlines. Even those who failed this trial and can’t continue the Immortal Path have already been kicked out; the Spirit Sword Sect couldn’t possibly keep them here for a lifetime. And since this trial is already over, there is no point in maintaining the rest of the villagers anymore; keeping the array for this trial requires money.”

Facing Wang Lu’s surprised look, the black shadow continued, “You’re lucky to have finished your quest right before the deadline. Had you waited any longer, I would have been forced to chase you out.”

Wang Lu somewhat curiously asked, “Are you a disciple of the Spirit Sword Sect?”

The black shadow did not answer, she just continued, “You have passed the trial of the Peach Blossom Village. I, as your witness, will take you to the next trial. Come with me.”

With that, the black shadow immediately walked out of the village. Wang Lu hurriedly tried to keep up with it, refusing to take with him all the luggage and snack in the house.

The black shadow walked far ahead of him, seemingly in a hurry. Soon, they were already out of the village and ended up deep in the mountains where there was an endless maze. If a participant wanted to leave the Peach Blossom Village without finishing their quest, this maze would always lead them back to the village, no matter how hard they tried. However, the black shadow took no time to find its way.

Wang Lu was desperately trying to catch up, struggling to take a breath. Although there were many questions in his mind, he could not even speak.

The black shadow seemed to have intentionally done this. While leading Wang Lu on a long distance running, it said, “You have probably already guessed that the prizes for completing the Peach Blossom Village trial will be awarded according to the participant’s completion rate, so I won’t elaborate on this. However, when you are going to choose your rewards, please think twice. The rest of the trials are not so easy, the Spirit Sword Sect hasn’t met a qualified participant in the Immortal Gathering for hundreds of years…”

Having said that, the black shadow suddenly stopped, turned around and smiled. “Farewell. I am really looking forward to seeing you on the mountain.”

It then disappeared with a whooshing sound, revealing a narrow gap in between the mountain walls.

Wang Lu took a rough measurement of the gap in front of him. Luckily, his stature was medium, and prior to departure, he did not have the time to eat, so he was barely able to squeeze through that narrow gap.

The gap was narrow at the beginning, but as he walked further in, it got wider and wider. Not long after, he ended up in a spacious cave deep in the mountains. The cracks in the ceiling allowed patches of sunlight to light up the cave.

Taking advantage of the illumination from the sunlight, Wang Lu swept his gaze into the cave several times and shook his head with a smile.

Although the Peach Blossom Village had its flaw, it was designed with sincerity. However, compared to this cave, it was on an entire new level. In the middle of the cave, there was a wooden box with a blank signpost right next to it.

This was the Peach Blossom Village’s quest reward. Wang Lu had used the chain of quests strategy to overcome the impossible and complete hidden quest. In theory, his rewards level should be astronomical. Although the box looked worn down, the level of the treasure inside it should be, without a doubt... unless the Spirit Sword Sect was completely shameless and pulled off the sort of crap excuse like data overflow [1] to cheat him out of his reward.

While he was thinking, words suddenly appeared on the blank signpost: “Quest Statistic:”

“Number of people involved: 120”

“Total Favorability: 12000”

“Average Favorability: 100”

“Key Task: Impossible To Complete”

“Quest Completion Rate: 100%”

“Total Score: …”

Because of the limited space on the signpost, the last digits were crammed together, making them unreadable, but it was certainly an astronomical figure.

The total score of the Peach Blossom Village trial should be automatically computed based on the rules set by the designer, but the designer might have never expectedan adventurer who smashes-all-the-things-along-his-way like Wang Lu to ever appear… Fortunately, there was no data overflow.

After giving out the total score, the signpost sank into the ground like it was being swallowed. The wooden box next to it seemed to “brew” for a while, sometimes gently vibrating, and some other times making fancy sounds.

Twenty to thirty minutes later, the wooden box opened by itself, and the items inside burst out, glittering with every color.

---

Above the clouds, a disciple dressed in black and white who was tasked with observing the animated clouds couldn’t endure his loneliness anymore, so he took a long stretch.

“Alas, this Immortal Gathering is probably for nothing.”

Next to him, a seemingly younger disciple who was also dressed in black and white curiously asked, “Senior martial brother, why did you say that? The way I see it, the progress rate of the one at the head seems pretty good.”

The older disciple loudly hissed. “What pretty good progress rate? He had already wasted so much at the second boss monster. Besides that Hai Yunfan, whom I think only has twenty percent chance, no one else stands a chance against the last boss monster from what I see.”

The younger disciple was perplexed. “I remember that the strongest monster in Red Ridge Mountains, Frozen Wind Valley, Cyan Cloud Peak, and Netherworld Path should only be at category 1 level sixth or seventh. It’s difficult for mortals to deal with them, but those monsters shouldn’t bother these people who were all rewarded from passing the Peach Blossom Village trial. Plus, some of them do have amazing talent.”

The older disciple patted his junior brother’s shoulder. “Junior Martial Brother, you are still too young. For several hundred years, nobody has completed our sect’s Immortal Path. This record that has both shocked the world and made us the laughingstock of other sects; do you think there are only those few category 1 level sixth or seventh monsters waiting for the participants? So far, weren’t you, me, and the other brothers were accepted into the sect when Master or the other Martial Uncles were out wandering in the world? Honestly, although your intelligence and personality can be considered as first class, if you also take this Immortal Path, you wouldn’t make it to the end either.”

The younger disciple clearly doubted those words, but he didn’t say anything.

The older disciple patted his shoulder again. “Haha. If you don’t believe me, just keep looking at them. Look, that boy Hai Yunfan is not far from the last obstacle.”

---

After walking pass through the Netherworld Path, Hai Yunfan was indeed, not far from the finish line.

Since he left the Peach Blossom Village, more than two weeks had already passed. Right now, he was about to reach the end of this Frozen Wind Valley. However, the closer one is to completing a journey, the tougher it gets [2]. So not only did Hai Yunfan not relax, he was even doubly cautious. The reason for that was because he knew what was waiting for him before the finish line.

For hundreds of years, nobody had passed through the Immortal Path of the Spirit Sword Sect… How could the end come so easily for him? Hai Yunfan wasn’t a freak like Wang Lu; he was very clear about his qualities.

The third-rate talent, second-rate character, first-rate intelligence… and his exceptional judgement as the only skill that Hai Yunfan could rely on.

Previously, when he chose to depart from the Peach Blossom Village early, it was all because of the word judgement. Although his early departure caused him to lose his chance to acquire a better overall score, but by being the first to depart, there might be extra rewards for him.