Ze Yongrui didn't feel lucky when he was chosen for the oh-so-great opportunity to enter the monster-filled palace of a Nascent Soul cultivator. It was suspicious that he was chosen instead of his more powerful peers, but he guessed they were simply too valuable to recklessly risk in this probable death trap. At least there were supposed to be treasures in this place.

  Although his feelings had shifted to a more positive state while fighting through the palace due to the weak monsters populating it, he still wasn't completely calm; in fact, he imagined it would be impossible to be fully tranquil while in this place.

  The whole underground was filled with not-qi, and whatever it was, it wasn't good for him. He saw what the crippled cultivator, whatever his name was, looked like after being surrounded by this. Wen Liqiu even confirmed that his meridians had become even more broken by virtue of this energy, resulting in a shorter lifespan. Even though she later said that they had nothing to worry about as long as they didn't deplete their qi, in combat there was no guarantee. Not to mention that Elder Sang or anybody else still hadn't confirmed this; she could be wrong. His junior sister was usually reliable, but his cultivation was at risk, so how could he blindly trust someone?

  His qi sense informed him of approaching danger, and he quickly reacted. With one slash of his sword, the fish that were trying to kill him died.

  "Whoa, and here I thought the fish were going to get you, Senior Brother Ze," Fu Yunru said without shame.

  "If you thought that, why didn't you help?" he asked, irritation clear.

  "I have great trust in your death-defying abilities!" Fu Yunru gave what was supposed to be a disarming smile, but the bad lighting of this swamp cave made it look more sinister than it would ever appear on the surface.

  Ze Yongrui only rolled his eyes in response.

  "I found the entrance to the next level!" Hao Lanfen yelled from her place, making everyone present in the room turn towards her.

  "Let's go then," Ze Yongrui marched towards her without hesitation, even though he himself still didn't see the entrance she claimed was there.

  "Shouldn't we wait for Senior Sister Wen?" Wu Zhenzhen asked, nervously fixing her orchid hairpiece.

  "She's strong enough to have a handle on this; we shouldn't waste our time. Knowing her, she will only make her way down here after one shi," Hao Lanfen calmly replied and jumped into the water, submerging herself completely.

  Ze Yongrui widened his eyes in surprise before remembering what the entrance to the next floor was supposed to be. He had forgotten in all this excitement. Although calling it 'excitement' when he wasn't pressed enough to not daydream during it felt wrong.

  "Ugh, why would anybody do this?" he could hear Fu Yunru mutter behind him as he jumped into the underwater hole. Using his qi in order to breathe underwater filled him with trepidation, but it nonetheless had to be done.

  The journey to the other side of air was quick as he hurried up in order to minimize qi usage. On the lower level, he emerged from a waterfall into a small grass clearing while a forest grew in front of him. The forest was composed of only one type of tree that he had never seen before. Some of them bore bright red fruits that grew only on the highest branches. The offshoots didn't budge under the weight of the fruits; even the thinnest branches didn't bend under the load, reaching for the ceiling. Not the sky, for there was no sky in this place. He didn't think that such a simple sight could unnerve him to this degree. Leave it to a Nascent Soul cultivator to think of something like this.

  Senior Sister Hao seemingly shared his feelings, as her eyes constantly scanned for danger hidden behind the leaves and bark of the trees.

  The rest of the group emerged from the waterfall soon after, all of them just as stunned by the sight.

  "How do the plants even grow in these conditions?" Wu Zhenzhen said, almost involuntarily, while switching her gaze from one tree to another, likely searching through her mind for any possible explanation for this phenomenon.

  "Doesn't matter. All we have to do is go lower until we hit a deadlock, and then return," Senior Sister Hao said, before walking with her sword in front of her to the treeline.

  "Don't forget about collecting the treasures," Ze Yongrui couldn't help but add under his breath.

  "And spiritual beast samples," Su Zhen also added, but unlike him, loud enough for Hao Lanfen to hear.

  The woman turned her head to glare briefly at Junior Brother Su but didn't spare him much thought afterward. The sight left Ze Yongrui feeling a tad bitter; if she heard him, he would undoubtedly be on the receiving end of a glare so scathing it would kill a lesser man, yet Su Zhen got away so easily?

  He quickly got out of his thoughts when he heard a sudden yelp; Senior Sister Hao was getting attacked by...the fruits?

  No matter his surprise, he quickly moved along with the others to help her, discovering during the fight that the fruits were more deceptive opponents than he thought possible. They seemed to be employing illusion techniques, forcing them to use qi to figure out where they really were. Thankfully, due to being fruits, their movement range wasn't much, so they quickly got rid of them.

  "What kind of spiritual beast is that?!" Hao Lanfen yelled, embarrassed at being caught in an ambush, even though it was likely she could have won the fight without their help.

  "We will find out when I do some research back in the sect!" Su Zhen giddily replied while holding a struggling fruit in his grasp.

  The sight was truly bizarre, mostly because the way the beasts moved was jerky, sudden, and, most importantly, none of them were used to anything that looked like fruits moving.

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  A sudden flesh-tearing noise was heard, and Ze Yongrui glanced over to it, only to immediately lock eyes with Lai Shirong, who was taking a bite out of the corpse of the fruit-like spiritual beast.

  The cultivator, after chewing and swallowing, replied without a hint of shame or trepidation, "I like fruits; unfortunately, this one has the texture of meat, although they do have the sweet taste of fruit. Want a bite?"

  "No," Ze Yongrui quickly replied, hiding his disgust.

  It wasn't the fact that the man ate a spiritual beast of unknown origins that might be poisonous that nauseated him; it was the fact that he ate them raw. Ze Yongrui didn't care that they looked like fruits. The fact that they moved and bit proved they weren't, and thus should be cooked before consumption.

  The exchange attracted others' attention, but upon comprehending what just happened, each of them decided to ignore it.

  "Prepare to fight throughout the floor; deeper into the forest, most trees have those fruits growing on them," Hao Lanfen cautioned, causing him to look up.

  Indeed, deeper into the forest, more trees had fruits than not. He could also see a squirrel making its way over to them. It stopped near a fruit tree, climbing onto one of the fruits and staring at them from atop it.

  "Are we going to get attacked by a squirrel?" Fu Yunru deduced with disappointment.

  "Looks like a mutation of the Jangshi squirrel; we should be fine," Su Zhen remarked, hoping to reassure the others.

  "You know this beast?" Ze Yongrui uttered, surprised.

  "Yes, although I will still be capturing it, for it isn't the exact same as the one that lives near the sect," Su Zhen replied, hiding the fruit beast in his special beast storage ring.

  "Let's not wait," Hao Lanfen impatiently declared, took a step forward, and a fruit beast that hadn't joined the previous battle and was about to ambush her was instantly sliced in half by her jian. The slices fell to the ground, the juices that smelled too sweet to be blood staining the grass.

  Senior Sister Hao then walked forward, repeating the same motions when the fruits attempted an ambush.

  The rest of the group didn't wait to get outdone and immediately proceeded to help.

  Ze Yongrui saw out of the corner of his eye that Lai Shirong picked up the corpses of the fallen fruits and prayed that he at least cooked them later.

  The squirrel that he had seen before fell alongside the fruit beast it was standing on when Hao Lanfen was below it, but instead of going for her, it used the beast as a platform to jump from, propelling itself toward Wu Zhenzhen. His junior sister sidestepped and whacked the mutated beast with her metal fan, sending it toward the ground and stomping on it until she was sure it was dead.

  Ze Yongrui, upon seeing that she had it handled, ran towards the front lines, not wanting to get scolded by his senior sister for dawdling.

  He could vaguely hear Fu Yunru asking the spiritual cultivator if she was alright—a sound decision considering that the current environment remodeled most of her best attacks into grievous mistakes. But Ze Yongrui thought that the decision didn't come from purely utilitarian intentions.

  Nonetheless, he didn't let that distract him from his current environment, as evidenced by him decapitating another squirrel.

  "Caught one!" Su Zhen's voice could be heard from several ken away, his visage obscured by the trees.

  A finding that sent Ze Yongrui's blood boiling. They were in the middle of unknown territory, and he did that?

  "Return!" Hao Lanfen yelled from beside him, similarly infuriated.

  "Yes!" Su Zhen called out before a yelp could be heard from his direction, followed by, "Oh, I have never seen before!" and the sounds of something hitting the ground. Hopefully, the beast. It better be the beast.

  Ze Yongrui and Hao Lanfen immediately ran to help the idiot from whatever predicament he was in.

  The scene they both stumbled onto was as follows: The aforementioned idiot was being tangled by blades of grass that were startlingly similar to vines, while simultaneously tackling to the ground a deer that was trying to break free from his grip. The robes covering his arms were slick with saliva; the beast must have tried to bite into them before deeming it futile and switching to attempting to gouge out Su Zhen's eyes with its antlers. It was getting closer to succeeding, so Ze Yongrui was going to step in before getting stopped by a glare so vile he didn't think his junior brother was actually capable of it.

  "I'm going to capture it; don't interfere," Su Zhen calmly stated, almost getting his left eye stabbed in the process, which didn't help give credit to his words.

  Ze Yongrui attempted to ignore the warning but was stopped by Hao Lanfen.

  "At worst, he ends up blind," she calmly intoned, although he could pick up the doubt in her eyes that told him if he truly pressed, she would relent.

  "... You're right." He chose to accept their junior brother's choice and watched as the youngest struggled with getting the beast even remotely subdued for it to fit the beast storage ring. He succeeded after about one ke, finally getting the beast tired enough for it to relent just enough to fit the minimum requirements for the ring.

  At least he hoped the beast fit the minimum requirements; he didn't actually know what those were, and Su Zhen proved himself reckless enough to ignore warnings.

  With a jump, he got up from his place on the floor, untangling the grass vines from himself and dusting off the dirt and grime that stuck to his robes and skin. Although his economical decision to not use qi to do so resulted in several stains remaining, nonetheless, he was all smiles.

  "This one thanks Senior Brother and Sister for giving this one a chance!" The use of formal speech and the proper bow that followed left Ze Yongrui speechless.

  "Let's just make our way back to the group; hopefully, they haven't left without us," Hao Lanfen calmly replied.

  "Of course not; you only do that," Ze Yongrui remarked, and the harsh glare sent his way didn't stop the corners of his mouth from raising.

  When they made their way back, the group was whole and unhurt, or as hurt as they were before they left, which wasn't much. Fu Yunru was chatting off Wu Zhenzhen's ear, and Lai Shirong was eating the corpses of the spiritual beasts, none of them looking nor smelling cooked or prepared in any way. All of them turned towards them only when they were within sight.

  "Why didn't any of you come with us to check on our junior brother?" Hao Lanfen inquired.

  "We are deeply sorry! It's just that you two are so dependable and strong that we thought we would only hinder you in our attempts to help," Fu Yunru instantly conceded defeat, attempting damage control.

  "Yes, but if we heard anything truly concerning, we would have rushed over immediately, regardless of our fears of inconveniencing our esteemed senior siblings," Wu Zhenzhen hid her hands behind her back; it was obvious she was trying to conceal the fact she was fiddling with her fingers out of nervousness.

  Lai Shirong only gave a solemn nod, for his mouth was too full for him to speak.

  "I will be reporting this to the disciplinary hall. We can't afford to be imprudent, even if the current enemies seem weak," Hao Lanfen spoke seriously, seemingly wanting to inject everyone with her own sense of caution.

  Fu Yunru only sighed in dejection at the declaration, while Wu Zhenzhen seemed mildly panicked. The only reaction from Lai Shirong was the pause between chews as his mind comprehended Hao Lanfen's words before he continued eating.

  Even with the impending disciplinary mission hanging over the three of them, the task had to be completed, so they made their way toward what Ze Yongrui could only hope was the entrance to the next level. They couldn't split up since their vision and spiritual sight were obscured, and one of them might get lost or killed by a stronger monster, if those truly existed on this level. Therefore, the area they covered wasn't large, leading to a small fear that they would be spending several shi on this level. Having to be constantly on guard from falling fruit beasts and squirrels didn't do his nerves any good. Thankfully, his ancestors seemed to be watching over him, as what had to be the hole leading deeper revealed itself.

  Hao Lanfen, as usual, was the first to enter, and Ze Yongrui decisively followed behind.

  Should we focus more on the invaders?