Commanding Wind and Cloud

The morning sun shined through the dense forest and sparkled some of the sunlight on the trees and ground.

There was a rotten grassroot and leaf smell coming from the ground in the forest. The thick layer rotten leaves, combined with the cluttered rock, made it hard to walk on for both animals and humans.

Gabriella followed Qian Jin’s lead; she was still wearing her big black mage hat. As she tried to avoid stepping into the mud, she frequently peeked at Qian Jin’s wide back curiously.

Seven days had passed after they entered Sunset Mountains, but Gabriella still didn’t understand why Qian Jin, who was leading the way, would suddenly stopping walking in the same direction and take another path. He wasn’t following the path that was set out on the map at all. It didn’t seem like he was heading to the location where they need to be to complete the mission.

“Damn! It has been seven days! How can this kid be so wary and have his guard up so tight even when he sleeps? And just like Number One guessed, he is not following the path set out in the map at all! Luckily, we chose to follow them and not set up traps along the path on the map.”

Number One lightly smiled as he looked at Number Two, the fat warrior who was talking. After a few days, he learned that this man who betrayed the Yuri Family by leaving on his own was named Nasda; in terms of his last name... people who betrayed the Yuri Family weren’t qualified to use the family’s last name Yuri. Therefore, he only had a given name.

“Fatty, you are right. This kid’s senses are probably even sharper than the wolves in the mountains.” Number Three, the thin warrior, stared at Qian Jin who wasn’t too far away from them unpleasantly. “For the last seven days, as soon as there was a vicious group of beasts lying ahead of him, he would instantly change directions without even seeing the beast’s shadow. Also, for some reason, he isn’t heading towards the location of the test like his academy asked.

Number One also lightly nodded; he was also thin and had a sharp and distinguishable face that looked like it was cut by a blade. The questions that Shelt, the Number Two from the Phantom Family, brought up were the same questions that he had been thinking about.

“He is only a Grade One warrior student. How could he make the decision to change paths without even seeing the groups of vicious and dangerous beasts? What kind of techniques does he know?” These were some questions on his mind, but the question that was bugging Number One the most was why Qian Jin wasn’t heading to the locations stated in the map where their test object would be. Rather...

“Four Season Valley! Yes! That’s right, it’s Four Season Valley!” Number One opened up the map again and realized that although Qian Jin wandered in the forest for the last seven days and changed directions frequently, the general direction didn’t change at all. “From the path that he took for the last few days, it seems like his target destination is Four Season Valley! Why is he heading there? Is he tired of living? It couldn’t be... Could it really be Four Season Valley?” he thought to himself.

Four Season Valley! Qian Jin raised his head and looked at the huge Four Season Valley, in which even the thick trees, tree branches, and numerous leaves couldn’t block. With this re-test opportunity, Qian Jin wanted to go around Four Season Valley to explore it a little bit. After all, reading the documentaries and records weren’t as real as seeing it in person.

Qian Jin slightly calmed himself down; when he first saw Four Season Valley, the shock that it gave him was far beyond what books could describe. Looking from afar, there were numerous interconnected mountains and hills, and the only color he could see was white.

“Winter! The current season in Four Season Valley actually winter,” Qian Jin surmised as he saw the Four Season Valley that was still quite a distance away. “I’m not sure if winter has just arrived at the Four Season Valley or if winter is about to be over. It might also be right in the middle of the winter season,” he thought.

It didn’t matter where, but resources in the winter were always less than the other seasons. In the season that lacked resources, both animals and demon beasts tended to be more aggressive, and they were more dangerous.

Even Demon Fighters hated entering Four Season Valley when it was winter. They didn’t want to mess around with wild animals and demon beasts who were even crazier due to hunger.

“To truly determine which phase of winter Four Season Valley is currently in, I will have to get close and do some more detailed observations and analysis to make the right judgement.”

Qian Jin lightly rubbed his chin as he sighed helplessly. If there was an option, no one would enter Four Season Valley during the winter. No one could guarantee that the vicious animals and demon beasts wouldn’t come out of the valley for a little walk to brighten their mood or calm themselves down from the depressing winter.

“You...” Gabriella’s surprised expression appeared under the big mage hat and popped into Qian Jin’s eyes. There was a sense of worry and fright in her usually timid voice, “You... you want to go to Four Season Valley?”

Qian Jin scratched his head as he felt a little sorry when he saw Gabriella’s worried expression. Her body was also shivering slightly. “Yeah, I wanted to go there and check it out. However, relax, there won’t be any danger. If I sense any danger, I will carry you and we can escape right away,” he said

“Escape?” Gabriella stared at Qian Jin in surprise. She couldn’t believe that a word like [Escape] could come out of a warrior’s mouth.

Qian Jin laughed as he saw Gabriella’s expression. “What about escaping? The [Warrior’s Code] states that when an enemy is so powerful that you can’t defeat them, only warriors who are dumb would fight and die. Smart warriors will choose to back off, improve his or her strength, and then go back to defeat the enemy.”

Gabriella nodded her head bluntly, and her big mage hat swayed up and down. However, there were still some doubts on her face. She asked with a soft voice, “How do you know that you can sense danger?”

After getting along for a few days, Gabriella started to talk more compared with before. However, her shyness seemed to have taken root into her bones; it seemed like she couldn’t get rid out it at all.

“How can I not sense it?” Qian Jin felt helpless regarding Gabriella’s shyness. Having been around each other for seven days, she still looked a bit scared. “What kind of upsetting events did she go through? What made her this way?” Qian Jin thought.

After Qian Jin thought to himself for a brief moment, he asked Gabriella, who seemed confused, with a big smile on his face, “Don’t you realize? After we entered Sunset Mountains, which usually contains many beasts and animals, we have only met small animals that we killed for our dinner, and we actually haven’t met even a single beast that was dangerous.”

Gabriella recalled everything that had happened after they started the test carefully as she murmured to herself, “Yeah... could it be that the reason why you suddenly changed directions was to avoid the beasts that were ahead? How did you do it?”

After seeing that he had convinced Gabriella, Qian Jin laughed as he shrugged his shoulders. “How do I answer this question? Should I tell her that I have been fighting and traveling through mountains and forest sixteen hours every night, and that I have killed numerous beasts and killers while I was still at the academy? What about the fact that I have developed a sense for danger even better than Demon Fighters?” he thought to himself.

“Let’s go.”

Qian Jin grabbed onto Gabriella’s small hand; he instantly felt this timid girl’s whole body shake. She tried really hard to pull back her hand with her little strength.

“To be honest, I don’t really grab a girl’s hand often.” Qian Jin looked at Gabriella awkwardly. “However, for some reason, after we left the academy, I felt like some kind of danger is waiting ahead of us, but I can’t really wrap my head around the source of the danger. If I don’t grab your hand, I’m afraid that you won’t be able to dodge it when it comes,” he said.

Gabriella carefully peeked through her mage hat and observed Qian Jin. She wanted to see if he was telling the truth or not.

“This damn kid!” The Fatty Nasda secretly stomped his feet on the rotten leaves in frustration. “After we complete this mission, I will have to ask Lucas to pay me more! It doesn’t matter what this kid is doing; his body is positioned in a way that will allow him to enter a battle mode any second. Who trained him? Does Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy have such an outstanding instructor?”

Number Three, the thin warrior Shelt, shook his head as he smiled bitterly. He could tell that this skill couldn’t be taught by any academy. It looked like an intuition that was shaped by being a part of numerous battles and fights. He could tell that this style fit Qian Jin perfectly.

However... Shelt couldn’t believe that a Grade One Warrior Student who wasn’t even yet sixteen years old would have the chance to go onto the battlefield and kill hundreds, if not thousands of demons. “How young does he have to be if he did fight demons on the battlefield at this age? How lucky is he to survive at the Human-Demon Battlefront and not die?” Shelt thought.

“That doesn’t make many sense!” Shelt could only go with the estimate that made sense, which was that Oakland’s Warrior and Mage Academy really had a great instructor, and he or her had secretly taught Qian Jin when he just enrolled into the academy.

“They started to travel again...” Number One squinted his eyes; there was a cold murderous intent leaking from them. “We can be almost certain that those two are headed to Four Season Valley. We will take the gamble! Shelt, find a way to surpass the targets without attracting their attention and set up a good trap around the entrance of Four Season Valley.”

Shelt looked at the strong bow in fatty Nasda’s hand as he bent his back and lightly nodded. “Pay attention to my actions later! I believe that you also don’t think he is only a Level 7 Warrior.”

Nasda and Number One both lightly nodded. Although it was surprising to see a young man without bloodline power achieve the rank of Level 7 Warrior despite being younger than sixteen, for some reason they all felt that the strength this young man had was more powerful than a Level 7 Warrior’s. He could even actually be a Level 9 Warrior!

“Level 9 Warrior?” Nasda shook his head forcefully and tried to get rid of this ridiculous idea from his head, but he couldn’t throw it out of his head. If all three of them didn’t have this feeling, they would have attacked the target when they entered Sunset Mountain on the first day.

There was no way that three Level 9 Warriors could fail to kill a Level 9 Warrior when they fought together. However, if the target really was a Level 9 Warrior, they weren’t sure if they would suffer any casualties if the target fought back viciously when he knew he was going to die. If they could kill the target with a single strike, then that would be the best situation.

Fatty Nasda paid close attention to the thin warrior Shelt; Shelt moved stealthily and had to travel in a big arc to surpass the target if he didn’t want to attract the attention of the target. Also, he had to bend his back and tiptoe if he didn’t want to make any sounds. With all this considered, the time he had to spend on traveling was close to two hours. By that time, Qian Jin would be very close to Four Season Valley.