"Ohdaohdaohda..."

"Come on, my juniors, run away from the poisonous circle! Fight for my power!"

The colossal dragon spirit floating in the sky dissipated, and the tremendous pressure instantly disappeared, while Jiang Lin and the others were still in a daze.

"Shrinking circle? Running away from poison? This ancient dragon spirit wouldn't have crossed over, would it?! Crap. He's an old-timer…" Jiang Lin was astonished, having the feeling of running into a fellow townsman.

"The first reduction of the circle will take place in one hour. Please prepare yourselves. Flying is forbidden in the mystic realm trials at this time. In addition, for the sake of fairness, all cultivators in the mystic realm will appear in a random location at the outermost part of the mystic realm, at the edge of the poison circle."

Without giving anyone time to sort it out, a loud voice spread throughout the entire mystic realm.

Suddenly, with a bang, Jiang Lin and the others felt their bodies plunge straight into the ground below them.

"Ah…"

"Aiya…"

"F*ck."

Jiang Lin fell to the ground first, then Lin Qingwan and Cai Xie fell on top of Jiang Lin respectively; Jiang Lin almost felt like his back was broken.

"Young Master Jiang, what do we do now?"

"Jiang Lin, follow me. As long as I'm still around, no one will dare to touch a hair on you!"

"Stop talking… Can you two get up first…"

***

Just as the three were climbing up, not far away, several sets of footsteps came swiftly, and the three focused their gazes, their backs to each other.

In this mystic realm, it didn't matter what cultivation you had. Anyway, all beings were equal now—everyone was at the early stage of Immortal Abode Tier. Even if Jiang Lin and the girls were more powerful than the others at the early stage of Immortal Abode Tier, it was still hard to face a siege.

Just as Jiang Lin and Lin Qingwan gripped their life-bound flying swords to greet their enemy, suddenly, the sky spun, and Jiang Lin felt a blur before his eyes.

As soon as his eyes closed and opened, Jiang Lin realized that he was no longer in the same place, but in the middle of an unfamiliar jungle.

"Lady Cai Xie? Senior Sister Lin?"

There was no one except for a small wooden hut in the surroundings, so it seemed that he had just been teleported.

Sitting on top of the steps of the hut, Jiang Lin lay his sword in front of him, thinking whether he should just kill himself to leave this place full of dangers; after all, if there were no accidents, the first place this time would be Senior Sister Lin—the protagonist always seemed to have a buff bonus.

Besides, Senior Sister Lin looked like the knot in her heart had been untied, so she wouldn't be troubling him; if the system were to get involved, then it would be troublesome.

But then, on second thought, even if he couldn't get first place, it wouldn't be bad to drag on and pick up supplies, and if he were lucky, maybe he could even finish the year with double the performance for Twin Pearl Peak.

And what if Senior Sister still hated him?

If he fought his way into the final round, and helped Senior Sister fight off others…

Although, according to the protagonist's aura, Senior Sister could still get the dragon spirit even without his help, no matter what, this was a chance to sell Senior Sister a favor. This way, Senior Sister wouldn't come to Twin Pearl Peak to look for trouble no matter what, right?!

"Heh heh heh…"

Giggling, Jiang Lin wiped his mouth as he thought of his magnificent appearance when guarding his senior sister during the finals.

He made up his mind!

Jiang Lin decided that everyone was his enemy except for his senior sister! Anyone who dared to stand in his senior sister's way would be an enemy as though they had killed his parents!

Standing up, Jiang Lin was full of confidence. The first order of business was to make it into the final round, and then meet up with Senior Sister Lin!

To win a battle royale, one had to hide first!

Looking at the wooden hut behind him, Jiang Lin felt pretty good, so he stayed in it for now, and waited until the circle shrank before making his move.

After determining the general plan, just when Jiang Lin wanted to walk into the hut to rest, suddenly, a huge bear flew over…

Bang…

The huge black bear smashed into the hut, and the whole hut was smashed to pieces. The flying wood chips landed between Jiang Lin's hair…

"ROAR!!!"

The big grizzly bear climbed to its feet, and roared at Jiang Lin!

And just as Jiang Lin turned around to face this big grizzly bear, a figure scurried out of the shrub.

A gust of wind blew past Jiang Lin's ears, and before Jiang Lin could return to his senses, the figure had already rushed up to the big black bear.

"Ura, ura, ura…"

"Oda, oda, oda…"

The slender figure in front of him was fighting a bear with her empty hands, and was getting increasingly fierce as if her entire being was immersed in the martial arts!

Thump…

Finally, the black bear's eyes went white, and it fell straight to the ground…

***

"Where are you, Little Lin… Little Linlin… Little Lin Lin…"

From atop a cliff, Jiang Yuni—alias Cai Xie—shouted, but unfortunately, no one heard her.

Half an hour later, the girl was tired of shouting and sat on top of the cliff, her hands hugging her knees and blowing the cool breeze, and she couldn't help but pout.

'No! I must find Little Linlin!

'Forget the dragon spirit and the fortuitous encounters; I don't want any of it. Little Linlin will turn 18, and become an adult soon. I just want to surprise Little Linlin by appearing in front of him on his birthday night with the most beautiful look!'

Looking at the secret recipe of the Sun Moon Sect in her hand—her naivety gone—the girl stood up, and walked down the mountain with determination!

***

"Xueli, are you okay?"

"I'm fine… Sister Sword Spirit…"

As the girl walked along the creek, she was constantly distracted despite the rush towards her destination.

The sword spirit inside the girl couldn't help but sigh softly.

After that man had stepped in to save her body that night, this little girl had a vague crush on that man.

Especially after being kissed, although Xueli was angry inside, that was anger out of shyness.

Perhaps Xueli herself didn't even realize that she had recently become more proactive in her cultivation; this was because, in Xueli's subconscious mind, she would wait until she had taken revenge for the sect, and then go to find that man.

But what she didn't expect was that the person who tore off his face mask in front of the Mysterious Trails Mystic Realm was Jiang Lin! It was that flower-picking thief, Jiang Lin!

And that Jiang Lin even confessed his love to Lin Qingwan of the Dragon Gate Sect before death.

In the end, Lin Qingwan and a girl saved him from the crowd, and entered the mystic realm together.

The word "love" has been the most hurtful word since ancient times.

One could only say that this little girl was fortunate that she hadn't fallen too deep, but even so, it would probably take a while to return to her previous state of mind.

"Xueli, actually, that Jiang Lin—"

"Sister Sword Spirit needs not mention it again! He saved my life, but he also took advantage of me. We're even. From now on, I have no more relationship with him, but…"

"But what?"

"But I want to see him once more! To ask him what he thought when he saved me that night! And what he thought when he took advantage of me!"

Clutching the sheath in her hand, the girl with the muli raised her head and looked deeply into the distance…