Chapter 079: Trouble Arises

“Passed?”
Chen Xiao was stunned, looking at the old man in disbelief.
“Of course. You’ve passed the assessment to become a freelance hunter,” the old man said with a nod and a smile.
“This…”
“There’s no Thousand Souls Grass there, is there?” The old man’s face was filled with a broad smile.
“Mm.” Chen Xiao couldn’t figure out what the old man was up to and simply nodded slightly.
“The Thousand Souls Grass doesn’t exist. It’s just a plant invented by our Hunters’ Guild,” the old man explained. “What this assessment really tests is your courage. In fact, as long as you can stay in the Thousand Souls Realm for over ten hours, whether you obtain that so-called Thousand Souls Grass or not, you’ve already passed.”
A wide smile appeared on the old man’s face.
“Aren’t you worried that someone might go to another realm, stay there for ten hours, and then return?” Chen Xiao asked coldly.
“That’s absolutely impossible,” the old man shook his head. “The teleportation array in the Thousand Souls Realm—only the one leading to the Chi Meng Realm still works; the others are broken.”
“Ah… I see…” Chen Xiao finally understood.
“Well, let me introduce myself first,” the old man changed the subject. “My name is Cang Hai Wen Tao. I’m an executive of the Hunters’ Guild and a three-star freelance hunter.”
“Finally, I’ll ask you one more time—do you really want to become a freelance hunter?” At this point, Cang Hai Wen Tao’s tone became serious.
“Of course!” Chen Xiao stood tall, pride flashing in his eyes. Becoming a freelance hunter was already a honor in itself.
“Good,” the old man nodded. “To become a freelance hunter, one must abide by an iron rule. If violated, not only will your status as a freelance hunter be revoked, but you’ll also be hunted down by all freelance hunters.”
“Hunted down by all freelance hunters?” Chen Xiao paused briefly. He didn’t know just how powerful the freelance hunters were, but from Yu Ye Xiao Chen’s words, he already knew that throughout history, many powerful families in the world of supernatural abilities had been attacked and destroyed by freelance hunters for offending them.
“The iron rule of freelance hunters: Never use supernatural abilities recklessly in the secular world and disrupt its balance,” Cang Hai Wen Tao said after taking a deep breath.
In fact, this rule applied to all supernatural beings. But freelance hunters were lawless and hard to control. Without such a rule, the secular world would likely have been thrown into chaos by them long ago.
Of course, all freelance hunters also understood that the secular world wasn’t a place where they could act arbitrarily. Whether or not to use supernatural abilities didn’t matter; what mattered was not disrupting the balance of the secular world, as that was intolerable to another group of people.
The world of supernatural abilities—the true world belonging to supernatural beings—was where freelance hunters truly shone.

“Can it be done?” As an elder in this world of supernatural abilities, he knew well that not only free hunters but any supernatural being who dared to use their powers to cause widespread destruction in the mundane world would end up with nothing but a corpse—no need for the free hunters to attack them at all. This strict rule was set merely as a reminder for those novice free hunters.
“Yes, no problem at all,” Chen Xiao nodded. Fights among supernatural beings usually took place far away from ordinary people. Just like when he first fought Lin Tianchi, they drove to a deserted area in the suburbs. Even if the Dark Blood Clan came to the East, they would only target supernatural beings and leave ordinary people alone.
Hearing Chen Xiao’s reply, a faint smile appeared on Cang Hai Wentao’s aged face.
Next, Cang Hai Wentao took Chen Xiao to the place in the guild where supernatural crystals were stored. He connected Chen Xiao’s ability card with the crystals there to activate the ability transmission array in the Chi Meng Domain.
Once all this was done, a golden star appeared on Chen Xiao’s ability crystal card, representing his current rank: a one-star free hunter.
“A black ability crystal card? How rare,” Cang Hai Wentao muttered as he returned the card to Chen Xiao.
Chen Xiao simply took the card without saying much.
After leaving the Hunters’ Guild, Chen Xiao let out a long sigh of relief. At least now he didn’t have to worry about those so-called powerful families using their relatives to threaten him. Supernatural beings couldn’t disrupt the balance of the mundane world, but killing or capturing one or two ordinary people wouldn’t draw any attention.
Chen Xiao stepped onto the transmission array and paid ten star coins, disappearing in an instant.
“Star coins are indeed indispensable. If it weren’t for donating them during the last Wave of Fiends, I probably wouldn’t even have money to go back.”
Looking at the few star coins he still had, Chen Xiao finally realized their importance. Although he didn’t need them for cultivation, they were essential for navigating this world of supernatural abilities.
“I’ll find time to go to the Thousand Souls Domain and explore the energy crystal veins,” Chen Xiao resolved after stepping out of the Yan Hun Domain’s transmission array.
“Chen Xiao, you’re back! I’m glad you’re fine. How did the assessment go?” As soon as Chen Xiao stepped out of the transmission array, he saw Yu Ye Xiao Chen approaching.
“Leader, I’m now a free hunter,” Chen Xiao said with a smile.
“Great,” Yu Ye Xiao Chen’s eyes lit up. “Let’s go outside first, gather all the team members, and celebrate properly.”
Free hunters were a term in this world of supernatural abilities that shouldn’t be trifled with. What would happen if the Xuan Group had one more free hunter? At least the members of the Huang Group wouldn’t dare provoke the Xuan Group so easily.
Since the two entered the world of supernatural abilities from different locations, they could only part ways for now.
As soon as Chen Xiao stepped out of the world of supernatural abilities, his phone started vibrating frantically.
He checked the call—it was Qiu Cheng, his roommate.
“Lao San, what’s wrong?” Chen Xiao quickly answered the call.

“Boss, where were you? Why did it take you so long to answer? Hurry up, Xuxu had an accident! Ward 201 at Xianghe Hospital!” Qiu Cheng’s urgent voice came through the phone.
“Huh?” Chen Xiao’s eyes widened instantly. “What happened? Why is he at the hospital?”
“Stop talking and come quickly! It’s too late…” Qiu Cheng’s voice was choked with emotion.
Hearing this, Chen Xiao couldn’t stay still. He quickly sent a text message to Yuye Xiaochen, telling him he couldn’t attend the celebration, then rushed out onto the street, hailed a taxi, and headed for Xianghe Hospital.
Ward 201 at Xianghe Hospital was already surrounded by his classmates from the same major.
“What’s going on? What exactly happened to Xuxu?” Chen Xiao’s expression was grim. His bond with his roommates was genuine and unshaken.
In fact, Chen Xiao’s mental energy had already enveloped the entire ward. Liu Xu, the second roommate, was wearing an oxygen mask and in a deep coma.
Chen Xiao’s mental energy detected that Liu Xu’s internal organs had been shattered, clearly due to a severe impact.
At that moment, Liu Xu’s life was slowly slipping away.