You can't sneak up on a man who's expecting you.
Xiao Ke and his brothers, Ye Yun and Ling Feng, had sensed it for the last mile—they weren't alone. Xiao Ke, especially, had been on edge since the start, knowing full well what Qiao Zhennan's so-called "elites" were capable of. The three shadows from Hanlin Academy sticking to their trail were no surprise.
Ling Feng, ever the hothead, broke the silence. "So, we've got company from Hanlin?"
"Looks like it," Ye Yun remarked coolly, his eyes scanning the dense woods. "They're probably here to scout our abilities, keep a running tally of our kills. Or, more likely, wait for the perfect moment to stab us in the back and make us look like fools."
Ling Feng's hand drifted to the hilt of his sword. "So, what's the play? Do we hit them first, take them out of the equation?"
Before Xiao Ke could weigh in, Ye Yun shook his head. "Pointless. Those three are top-tier, all of them Valiant Generals. Even if we could win, it'd be a bloodbath. We'd tear each other apart, and for what? We'd be too wounded to hunt, and if we show up tomorrow with nothing to show for it, we'll have to answer to the instructors, the Protoss, and even the new Emperor himself. Not worth the risk."
"Then what?" Ling Feng pressed.
"We stick to the plan," Ye Yun said, his voice firm. "We split up. It's the only way to cover enough ground in this wilderness and rack up the kills we need." He turned to Xiao Ke. "You good with that, brother?"
Xiao Ke knew what he was really asking. Ye Yun was worried about him going it alone against a Level 7 Titan or, worse, a Level 8 Demon Apostle. Truthfully, Xiao Ke wasn't too concerned about the zombies; he was confident he could escape any fight he couldn't win. His mind was on the three assassins sent by Qiao Zhennan. This was personal, a debt between him and their master, and he had no intention of dragging his brothers into it.
He forced a confident smile. "Of course. Don't forget, I took down Gao Wenyan. As long as I don't stumble into a Demon Apostle, I'll be fine. And even then, I'm fast enough to get away."
That settled it. "Alright," Ling Feng declared. "We split here. Meet back at this spot tomorrow before noon."
"Deal."
With a final nod, the three brothers melted into the forest, each taking a different path, until the wilderness swallowed them whole.
Moments later, three figures in stark, silver-white combat suits emerged in the clearing. The man in the lead, Liang Jian, had the sharp features and focused eyes of a born killer; he was the best of Hanlin's new crop of nobles. Flanking him were his trusted men, Luo Zhenglong and Shang Yang.
"They split up," Shang Yang noted. "What's our move? We each take one?"
Liang Jian's gaze was fixed on the path Xiao Ke had taken. "No. Instructor Qiao was crystal clear. Our kill count in this hunt means nothing. The only thing that matters is that Xiao Ke dies."
"What's the deal with this guy, anyway?" Luo Zhenglong wondered aloud. "Why does the Chief Instructor want him gone so badly?"
"He has no title, no name," Liang Jian said flatly. "Just some commoner who clawed his way up to Centurion. But he's the one who got the Instructor's illegitimate son killed. Qiao wants revenge. It's that simple."
Understanding dawned on the other two faces. "Get this done," Liang Jian continued, his voice dropping to a low threat, "and the Instructor will reward us beyond measure. Screw it up… and you know how he punishes failure."
A flicker of fear crossed their faces. Qiao Zhennan's cruelty was legendary.
"Forget the other two," Liang Jian commanded. "Our target is Xiao Ke. We follow him, we find our opening, and we finish it."
"Understood."
Like a pack of wolves, the three of them plunged into the forest, following the trail Xiao Ke had left behind. They were masters of jungle warfare, trained to track the faintest sign.
But three kilometers in, the trail splintered.
Where there should have been one set of tracks, there were now three, each veering off in a different direction.
"He's crafty," Luo Zhenglong grunted, turning to his leader. "He knows we're here. Two of these are fakes. How do we know which one is real?"
Liang Jian's lip curled into a sneer. "He wants to split us up? Let us think he can pick us off one by one? The arrogance. A Level 5 Battle General against us? Fine. We'll play his game. We split up. Find him."
"Yes, sir!"
The assassins separated, each pursuing a different trail.
It didn't take long for the plan to unravel. Shang Yang's path ended abruptly at a rushing creek, and the tracks washed away. Liang Jian, meanwhile, followed his trail for miles only to find it merging with those of another hunting party—a young noble and his bodyguards. He had been duped.
Luo Zhenglong, however, was on the true path. Or so he thought, until the tracks he was following simply vanished in the middle of a clearing. "Dammit," he muttered, realizing he'd been led on a wild goose chase. "He played me."
He turned to leave, but it was a feint. In one fluid motion, he plucked a coin from his pocket and flicked it. It shot through the air like a silver bullet, straight into the dense canopy of a massive tree nearby.
CRACK!
The canopy exploded as a dark figure dropped down, a battle saber flashing as it cleaved the coin in two. The figure landed silently on the forest floor. It was Xiao Ke.
Luo Zhenglong's hand was already on his sword. A cold smile spread across his face. "Nice try. But you're not getting rid of me that easily."
Xiao Ke's expression was unreadable. "I already know the answer, but I'll ask anyway. You're here to kill me?"
"You should've thought twice before crossing Chief Instructor Qiao," Luo Zhenglong snarled. "Prepare to die."
Xiao Ke tightened his grip on his massive saber, the Fierce General. "I understand," he said, his voice eerily calm. "In that case, I won't feel any guilt for what I'm about to do."
Luo Zhenglong stared, then burst out laughing. "You? Kill me? A Level 5 grunt like you?"
Luo Zhenglong's laughter echoed in the quiet woods, thick with condescension. He'd sized Xiao Ke up earlier, felt the hum of his origin force. A Level 5 Battle General. Barely a threat. Luo, on the other hand, was a true Level 7 Valiant General. The gap between them wasn't just a gap; it was a canyon. And this kid was talking about killing him?
"You want to kill me?" he howled, drawing his own blade. "Come on, then! Show me what you've got!"
As he taunted, he secretly channeled his power, his martial meridian origin force flooding into his saber until the steel began to shimmer with a deadly, internal light.
Xiao Ke had faced a Level 7 before, but that had been a bare-knuckle brawl. This was different. This was a duel against a fully armed opponent wielding a blade of pure energy. He didn't hesitate. With a surge of motion, he rocketed toward Luo Zhenglong.
"Insolent ant!" Luo roared, his smile twisting into a vicious snarl. The light from his saber flared as he met Xiao Ke's charge, swinging down in a brutal, decisive arc.
Steel met light. Xiao Ke's Fierce General crashed against Luo's glowing blade.
A deafening crack of energy ripped through the air. Luo had expected to shatter Xiao Ke's weapon—and the man holding it—in a single blow. He felt his origin force annihilate the energy coating Xiao Ke's saber, but then… something was wrong. Beneath that first layer was something else. A second wave of power, raw and overwhelmingly physical, slammed into him like a battering ram.
With a choked cry, Luo threw every ounce of his strength into blocking the blow. He held, but the impact was devastating. It drove him down, his boots and shins sinking deep into the soft earth, rooting him to the spot.
He was trapped.
Before he could even process what had happened, Xiao Ke unleashed a relentless storm of attacks. There was no time to breathe, no chance to pull his legs free. He was a sitting duck.
Luo's power was on par with Gao Wenyan's, but his arrogance was his downfall. He had underestimated his opponent from the start, and now he was paying the price. Trapped and immobile, all he could do was desperately parry the hurricane of blows, his glowing sword a frantic blur of defense.
But it wasn't enough. As Luo gasped for air, his rhythm faltering for a split second, Xiao Ke saw his opening.
The Fierce General fell like lightning.
Luo desperately threw his saber up to block horizontally. The impact was catastrophic. His energy blade bent under the force, the light flickering and cracking. Then, like a pane of glass, it shattered into a thousand glittering shards.
Xiao Ke's saber didn't stop. It continued its path, leaving a thin red line down the center of Luo Zhenglong's face. The light in his eyes went out. He was dead before his body knew it, held upright only by the earth that trapped his legs.
Xiao Ke sent the corpse flying with a single, contemptuous kick. He sheathed his weapon and strode away without a backward glance.
He doubled back, retrieving the small locator device he'd ditched earlier, and clipped it back onto his belt. The hunt was back on.
Miles away, in the opulent Qianlong Mountain Palace, a group of royals and military leaders watched the hunt unfold on a massive holographic map. The entire mountain range was laid out before them, a grid of green and red lights. Green for the warriors, red for the zombies.
For the last half hour, Emperor Jiang Ning, along with Instructors Di Shitian and Qiao Zhennan, had been staring at one particular green dot with growing concern. It was Xiao Ke's. And it hadn't moved.
There were no red dots near him. He couldn't have been killed by a zombie. So what was he doing?
Just as whispers began to circulate, the dot blinked and began moving again. A collective, silent sigh of relief went through the room. He's finally on the move, Di Shitian thought. What the hell was he doing, taking a nap?
Deep in the mountains, Xiao Ke pressed on, cutting down several low-level zombies and collecting their brain cores as proof of his kills. But then, a sudden, primal chill ran down his spine.
He spun around, his hand on his sword, scanning the unnervingly silent forest. Nothing. Not a sound, not a flicker of movement. Yet the feeling persisted—a cold dread, the sensation of being watched by something ancient and malevolent.
"What is that?" he whispered to himself. "There's nothing here, so why do I feel like I'm about to die?"
He couldn't see it. No one could. But less than two hundred meters away, the very air around him seemed to shimmer and distort. A figure, perfectly camouflaged, was detaching itself from the scenery. He had stumbled into the hunting ground of a predator that could walk unseen. A Demon Apostle.
Back in the palace, a noble gasped, pointing at the screen.
"My god, look! Some poor bastard just ran into a Demon Apostle."
Another leaned in closer. "That's… the number three from Glory School. Xiao Ke."
A murmur went through the crowd.
"A Level 5 Battle General? He's dead. The Apostle will tear him apart."
"Shouldn't we warn him?" a younger royal asked.
A grizzled general shook his head grimly. "Absolutely not. The rules are the rules. This hunt is meant to teach them the brutal reality of war. On a real battlefield, no one is there to hold your hand. This is his test."
A somber silence fell over the room as all eyes fixed on the two dots—one green, one massive and red—drawing inexorably closer on the map.
"A pity," someone sighed. "The boy is already dead."