Chapter 005: Spies

In the silent dense forest, a strange sound faintly emerged.
Finally, after a moment, Aldas rushed out from behind some bushes, looking embarrassed.
The people present pretended not to know anything and slightly turned their heads away.
Aldas forced himself to stay calm and quickly ordered a few apprentices to bury the victims on the spot. After checking the remaining number of people, he felt frustrated once again.
Along the way, no one had died on the northern ice fields, yet when facing that damned Du Fan, half of Roland Academy’s elites died inexplicably. If this hadn’t happened right before their eyes, who would have believed it?
Kris walked weakly up to Aldas and whispered, “Senior, what should we do next?”
Aldas looked at Kris with tenderness in his eyes. After a moment, he said softly, “Now that we’ve come this far, what else can we do? Are we really going to return empty-handed? Since I promised Teacher Bruce that I must retrieve the items from this sacred palace no matter what, I’ll risk my life to do it…”
As he spoke, Aldas appeared calm, and it seemed that any girl from the Gavin Empire would be thrilled and scream at such an expression.
Unfortunately, he couldn’t maintain that expression for even five seconds before his stomach hurt again.
Aldas’s face changed drastically. This time, he didn’t even try to hide it and dashed into the forest in an instant. Perhaps because he was in such a hurry, he stopped after running a short distance, and his clear, pleasant voice reached the ears of Roland Academy’s apprentices.
Most of those apprentices were boys, so they didn’t react much. But Kris spat lightly and her face turned red instantly.
A moment later, Aldas rushed back in a hurry. But this time, he couldn’t hide anything anymore. Facing everyone’s strange looks, even his strongest spirit was on the verge of breaking.
Aldas almost bit his lip. Since birth, everyone had treated him like a treasure. When his genius began to show, they regarded him as a star in the sky. Had he ever suffered such humiliation before?
After hesitating for a while, Aldas finally explained to Kris in a low voice, “I… think… it’s that bastard Du Fan who… poisoned the tea…”

As he said this, Aldas himself wasn’t entirely confident. He knew that given the nature of Earth Spirit Combat Qi, if Du Fan had poisoned the tea, he would definitely have noticed it the moment he took a sip. But who would have thought that Du Fan wouldn’t use poison instead—instead, he’d given him laxatives? Though these laxatives had certain miraculous effects, no one had ever considered them as poison. Under normal circumstances, Aldas could have expelled them from his body with his own Combat Qi—what was the difficulty? But today… Just as he thought this, Aldas’ expression changed again. He clutched his stomach and groaned in pain, disappearing back into the dense forest once more. After countless times, Aldas’ stomach finally returned to normal, but it had already hurt countless times that morning. By then, he had nothing left to expel and could only lie by a tree, groaning softly. The others had no choice but to gather around the tree, staying on high alert. Kris, however, treated this senior quite well, personally taking care of him, which brought a bit of warmth to Aldas’ nearly frozen heart. The more this happened, the more hatred Aldas felt toward Du Fan. At this moment, he had sworn countless times that if he encountered Du Fan again, no matter what the circumstances, he would undoubtedly take his life without hesitation. By noon, Aldas’ body had mostly recovered. Though still a bit weak, it no longer hindered his movements. After resting all morning, most of the students had regained most of their stamina and Combat Qi—turning misfortune into fortune. Taking out some secret medicine from his pocket, Aldas consumed it and regained some of his Combat Qi. This time, he didn’t dare to be overconfident. Instead, he leaped to the treetops and observed the surrounding terrain from afar. Although a thin layer of mist covered the valley, Aldas had been here before, so he felt somewhat confident. After observing for a while, he already figured out the route to take next. Kris gently jumped up from beneath the tree and said, “Senior, what should we do next?”

Chris had asked this question countless times today, but Aldas wasn’t annoyed at all. He pointed in the direction of the sacred palace and said, “Chris, do you see it? That’s our destination. Once we get there, we can enter the sacred palace. When I came here before, I already had some understanding of it. As long as we can get through this dense forest, victory will ultimately be ours.”

Chris nodded silently and said in a low voice, “But that Du Fan…”

Aldas frowned and thought for a moment before saying, “Both of us have underestimated this Du Fan before. Coupled with his repeated provocations, our carelessness led to the loss of so many people. We must not make the same mistake this time. How about this: we split into two groups, with me leading a few people to deal with the traps ahead first. That way, even if something goes wrong, my skills should allow me to save a few people. You can follow from behind, ready to rescue them at any time. What do you think?”

Chris thought for a while. Although she wasn’t quite sure why Aldas, who usually took matters into his own hands, would consult her, she still considered it carefully before answering, “Senior, I don’t think this plan is good. Although your combat energy has recovered most… to deal with Du Fan… I’m afraid…”

Chris didn’t finish her sentence, but Aldas understood what she meant.

He didn’t argue but pondered for a moment before saying, “How about this? Let’s rest here for now as a group, then send two people to scout the area. Once we understand the situation better, we can act accordingly.”

Chris nodded and said, “That would be best… In my opinion, how about sending Witt and Farmer? They are excellent in martial arts and smart as well. If they go, I think even Du Fan will have to pay a price if he tries to deal with them.”

Aldas considered for a while before saying softly, “Alright, let’s do as you say. Also, have them bring communication magic scrolls so they can inform us at any time, no matter what happens.”

Chris nodded and quickly left the treetops. Moments later, two figures in black cloaks disappeared into the dense forest.

Oldas looked up at the gloomy sky, his heart growing heavier. He jumped under a tree, and someone naturally brought him some dry food. Oldas took a small bite and chewed for a while, but he felt as though his chest and abdomen were about to explode—he simply couldn’t swallow this precious food no matter what.

Du Fan remained perched atop the tree branch, maintaining the same posture for a long time, which caused his limbs to feel slightly numb. The magical shield that had surrounded him earlier had long dissipated, but now he had suppressed all his breath, staying hidden on the branch as if he had truly become part of the tree.

A rustling sound came from afar. Du Fan perked up and stared intently in that direction.

Finally, two figures appeared in his sight. Both of them were draped in black cloaks, covering almost their entire bodies, making it impossible to tell who they were.

But after observing their figures for a moment, Du Fan smiled faintly and whispered, “As expected, that guy Oldas can’t even come and scout on his own.”

After saying that, he took out a vial of magical potion from his storage ring and opened it. This time, a faint white mist emerged. Du Fan blew a little of the mist in the direction of the two figures, then quickly put the vial away. Once again, he hid himself.

The two men in black searched the dense forest for a while but found no traps or mechanisms. They exchanged glances, clearly seeing the confusion in each other’s eyes.

One of them hesitated for a moment before whispering, “Famer, did you spot anything? Why does this forest seem completely normal? It doesn’t seem dangerous at all like before.”

The man named Famer nodded slightly. “Whit, you’re right. Could it be that Du Fan only set traps in the earlier area and didn’t have time to set any here?”

After speaking, they searched the area again. Once they were sure there were indeed no traps, Whit took out a communication magic scroll, wrote on it for a while, and then threw it on the ground.

Famer watched his actions before saying after a moment, “What should we do next? Wait for Senior Oldas and the others to follow, or should we go first?”

Wit gritted his teeth and said, “Of course we should leave first. Senior Aldas already said that Du Fan’s strength definitely doesn’t exceed level five. Although he has a lot of strange items on him, as long as we are careful, we don’t necessarily have to fear him. With us being in a small number, it should be hard for him to detect our whereabouts. As long as we act immediately once we spot him, there’s a chance we can kill him on the spot.”