Zi Sha seemed like quite the emaciated fellow, a tall and thinly guy with stringy hair and a pale complexion. He looked at us wearily and nodded a greeting. Beside him, Yi Ding Si was a chubby fellow with a mop of messy black hair, and a nervous tic. He grinned nervously when he saw us and raised a pudgy hand to wave.

The second girl of the group, Jiu Bu Liao, was a mousy person who was just over a meter and a half in height, and her black hair was allowed to flow freely to her shoulders. She seemed to be in a bad mood for some reason, sulking in a corner. I should also add that she was the last person to arrive, being almost an hour late despite us having agreed on the meeting time a few days ago.

Tong Xue, Lian Rou and I exchanged glances. Zi Sha and Yi Ding Si were one thing, but Jiu Bu Liao"s presence really did not bode well for us.

"Okay. Now that we"re all here, let"s go!"

I clapped my hands, trying to sound optimistic. The three unfamiliar members stared at me, and then scoffed.

"What are you so excited about?"

"You do know where we are going, right?"

"…the Toxic Marshes, right?" I asked, bewildered. "You guys know what you signed up for, right?"

"…well, yes." Jiu Bu Liao glanced at the other two guys, who were scowling grumpily. "This is our last chance. If we don"t succeed in this mission, we"ll fail and flunk out of school."

"We"re short of credits, and this mission is the only one that offers us enough credits to stay in the academy," Zi Sha added bitterly.

"We"ll definitely die," Yi Ding Si moaned, oblivious to the irony as always. Tong Xue, Lian Rou and I glanced at each other, already irritated by their defeatist att.i.tude.
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Speaking of credits, the three of us had more than enough to pa.s.s. This mission was just a bonus, and we were in it for the rewards, rather than because we needed the credits to pa.s.s. As the mission was pretty dangerous and high-ranked, the rewards it offered were substantial, so we were willing to take the risk.

For me personally, I was less interested in the rewards and more invested in the experience the mission provided. I craved more combat experience, and for the chance to test my skills in an actual battlefield. Plus I had an irrational hatred against poison users, and was more than happy to partic.i.p.ate in wiping them out.

However, our current teammates seemed reluctant to take the risk, and were only here because they would flunk out of the academy otherwise. Unfortunately, with that sort of defeatist att.i.tude, they were going to die anyway, never mind fail their credits.

"If you follow us, you should be able to pa.s.s." Tong Xue, surprisingly, was the one who step up and a.s.sure them. "We have plenty of experience, and we"ve accomplished most of our missions. As long as you listen to us and be careful, there shouldn"t be any problems."

"That"s right!" I agreed enthusiastically. "Believe in yourselves! You just haven"t unlocked your hidden potential yet! This is a great chance for you guys to gain experience and improve your combat abilities!"

"Get real." Zi Sha glared at me venomously. "We aren"t you. We have no talent, and can never match up to geniuses like you."

"…you do know I"m not a genius, right?" I felt a headache building behind my temples. "I don"t have any talent. I had to work my way up the ladder with sheer grit and tremendous amount of effort. I"m a b.l.o.o.d.y One Star Const.i.tution pract.i.tioner, for heaven"s sake! What about you guys?"

"Two Stars."

"I"m also Two Stars."

"Three Stars," Zi Sha admitted.

"Then what"s your f.u.c.king excuse?" I snapped. "If a One Star Const.i.tution pract.i.tioner like me can find a way to accomplish my missions, then why are you guys all acting as if you"ll fail already? Stop whining and start doing something about it!"

Everyone stared at me, taken aback. I glared back at the terrible trio, my qi leaking out and intimidating them.

"Or would you prefer to drop out of the mission? We can leave you behind if that"s what you want. We don"t need you guys to drag us down and become a burden. We have enough things to worry about without having to take care of you."

"No, we"ll go." The terrible trio hung their heads in shame. Good. About time they man up and quit their whining.

"All right then." Lian Rou tried to take charge, especially now that the trio seemed intimidated by me and Tong Xue. "Let"s get on the bus."

We boarded a bus just outside Wu Ling Academy. Apparently the bus was going to take us to the town next to Sen Lin Forest, or at least the the part of Sen Lin Forest where the Toxic Marshes were located.

It was a town named Duchun Village. As we sat in the bus, I noticed something peculiar. Glancing out of the window, I caught a glimpse of a bunch of helicopters and what looked like a gigantic colorful b.u.t.terfly.

They were following the bus we were in.

Frowning, I wondered why Song Ting Yu was following us. What would interest her in the Toxic Marshes? Was she also invested in the extermination of the Black Venom Cult?

Well, we would find out. Soon.

Thsu bus took about forty minutes to deliver us to Duchun Village, and we disembarked from the bus.

"Do you guys need to get any last-minute supplies?" I asked, just to be sure. We all had made our preparations before we departed from the academy, but these things happened. Even I realized I had forgotten something sometimes just before I went for a mission.

"Nope," Tong Xue replied.

"I have everything we need," Lian Rou a.s.sured us.

The terrible trio glanced at each other warily, wondering if I was going to unload into them if they admitted that they forgot something, and I sighed heavily.

"Don"t worry. Even I forget stuff sometimes. If you need something, buy it. Don"t worry about being embarra.s.sed or whatever. Your life is more important than your pride."

I made a show to check my inventory to ensure I had everything in order. The trio sucked in a nervous breath and also checked. Fortunately, none of them seemed to have missed anything and they expressed their readiness.

"All right! Let"s go!"

I put on a cheerful demeanor and led the way toward Sen Lin Forest. As my friends and teammates followed me, I couldn"t help but notice that the airborne vehicles (and Flowing Cloud Rainbow b.u.t.terfly) had landed to unload their pa.s.sengers. Song Tong Yu and her bodyguards were following us on foot.

It was only natural. Sen Lin Forest was much too dense and the terrain much too treacherous for anyone to explore its interior in vehicles. I wasn"t sure why Song Ting Yu and her entourage were so determined to follow us into such risky areas, but I sure as h.e.l.l hoped they were prepared. Did they have antidotes on hand?

Most likely they did. Song Ting Yu was an intelligent girl. She probably already made the appropriate preparations for their trip into the Toxic Marshes.

The six of us continued onward, with our three new teammates unaware that we were being followed. Lian Rou, to be fair, was also ignorant that we were being shadowed as well, but Tong Xue as usual spotted them shortly after I did.

"Is it my imagination, or are we being stalked?" he asked.

"Huh?"

The other four turned to stare at him. I raised my hand in a rea.s.suring manner.

"Don"t worry, it"s just a group from the Martial Arts Alliance. They"re probably here for their own mission. If anything, they"ll probably help us instead of attack us."

"You know them?" Zi Sha asked me incredulously. I nodded.

"Now that you mention it…" Tong Xue glanced at our stalkers, who were trying their best to keep their distance and hide among the trees. And doing a bad job at it, I might add. Tong Xue could spot them, but that was perhaps due to his training in the now-extinct Smart Shadow Sect. "They look like that Song Ting Yu and her bodyguards who visited our school a week or so ago."

"That"s exactly who they are," I affirmed.

Everyone gaped at me. What? Was it that surprising?

However, I didn"t want to alert our followers to the fact that we were aware of their presence, so I signaled to my team to keep quiet and continued walking. They glanced at each other warily, but followed my lead.

Tong Xue, in particular, trusted me. Lian Rou was also pretty familiar with me, and despite Tang Qi Hong"s death, we didn"t exactly drift apart. Most likely because I continued to hang out with Tong Xue – more so than Zhu Jiao lately, now that I thought about it.

"Why are they following us?" Lian Rou asked curiously, glancing behind. Song Ting Yu"s group ducked their heads behind the dense foliage and trees in hopes of avoiding her gaze, but they failed so comically that I could only shake my head.

"Probably the same reason as us. To exterminate the Black Venom Cult." I shrugged. To be honest, I didn"t know, but it certainly wasn"t because Song Ting Yu was infatuated with me to the extent that she wanted to follow me wherever I went. I wasn"t that delusional.

Not to mention, such characters didn"t exist in reality. No real girl would just simply throw herself into your arms because of plot reasons or because you were "nice". Love was a more complex emotion and romance a more complicated process than simply a harem of girls falling for you and resorting to all sorts of r.e.t.a.r.ded strategies to catch your attention just because you were nice" or because you saved them once.

Speaking of which, I had never saved Song Ting Yu before, so I doubted it was because of that. And while I was aware that her charm technique had backfired and she sort of grew infatuated with me, I was confident that by now she had found a solution to it and had got rid of the charm technique that imprinted my figure in her heart.

So the only reason was probably the Black Venom Cult in the Toxic Marshes. But if that was the case, they could just join us and cooperate with my team, rather than stealthily sneak around and trying to stay hidden from us for some moronic reason.

Should I go confront them? I wondered. Probably not. Best to let them do what they want for now, and catch them by surprise later. If everything worked out, I might be able to trick Song Ting Yu"s group into b.u.mbling right into the Black Venom Cult"s hideout, and letting them fight and weaken each other before swooping in to steal the credit.

That might sound cruel, but don"t forget. Song Ting Yu and her lackeys were from the Martial Arts Alliance, a hated enemy that tried to invade and wipe out the Nine-Tailed Fox Sect. I certainly hadn"t forgotten about that.

If the Martial Arts Alliance and the demonic sects decimated each other, that was fine by me. No, that was the ideal scenario. Nine-Tailed Fox Sect will have our revenge!

So we continued on, pretending that we hadn"t detected Song Ting Yu and friends. Pa.s.sing through the outskirts of Sen Lin Forest, we advanced deeper into the heart of the forest. The terrain was growing more treacherous, the ground becoming softer and damper, and the trees more gnarled and curled.

I could even detect a trace of wetness in the air. We were getting close.

"Be careful," Lian Rou warned as she glanced around, evidently recognizing the place. As she mentioned before, she was pretty familiar with the Toxic Marshes and their inhabitants. "We"re nearing the marshes. There should be Marsh Serpents here."

Fortunately, we had antidotes to counteract the relatively mild venom of Marsh Serpents. I say relatively mild, but without an antidote, a bite from the poisonous Marsh Serpents could kill a full-grown man in hours. Longer, if the victim was a martial artist, because we could use our qi to suppress the poison until we find an antidote.

Even so, these were the least of our worries. Marsh Serpents were comparatively small, especially when contrasted to the deadlier denizens that dwelled in the depths of the swamps of Toxic Marshes.

Our feet sank uncomfortably into the softening ground, and Jiu Bu Liao stumbled. Fortunately, Yi Ding Si was on hand to catch her.

"Careful!" Lian Rou warned again, watching out for creatures in the marsh. "There will be Bog Bugs in the shallow waters. They are too small to present a danger, but in great numbers they can suck the blood of an adult man dry."

"Gotcha," I said and adjusted my gla.s.ses. They scanned through the dark, murky waters of the nearest swamp, but my lenses didn"t pick up any life signs.

"…can we really do this?"

"Hmm?"

I turned to look at Yi Ding Si. He was pale and trembling slightly as he looked around at the threatening depths of the forest. The verdant greenery had been replaced by a darkness, with an ominous fog hanging over the swamp. The waters were a sickening gray, and the bark of the increasingly gnarled trees were dark and withered. Very few leaves hung onto their claw-like branches, and those that did remain looked gloomy and diseased.

"Can we really defeat the Black Venom Cult? I mean, we are just a bunch of kids with not much combat experience. I can"t even complete a single mission. I"m so weak…can a kid like me really defeat full-grown martial artists in the Black Venom Cult?"

"Speak for yourself," Tong Xue snapped crossly. "Fei Wu, Lian Rou and I all have a fair amount of combat experience."

"We don"t," Zi Sha cut in grumpily. "Maybe you three have, but the three of us don"t."

"Then why are you coming along?" I demanded, getting sick of their whining. Now I understood why the Royal Road people on Discord found me so irritating and drove me away. They were sick of my incessant whining as well. Now that I got to experience somehow complaining nonstop, I was getting a little annoyed myself.

"Because if we don"t then we"ll flunk out of the academy," Jiu Bu Liao replied.

"But according to you guys right now, you"re going to fail the mission anyway because you don"t have the confidence to fight the Black Venom Cult, even though you signed up for the mission. And when you fail and return, you will not receive the credits and will flunk out and be drop out of the academy anyway. So why bother going through all this trouble and partic.i.p.ating in the mission in the first place, taking all these risks, since you"re convinced you will fail anyway?"

The three of them stared at me, their jaws dropping. As I expected, they didn"t have a proper reb.u.t.tal against the points I raised.

"If you think you"re going to fail, then go home and drop out. Stop dragging us down with your negativity. I"m not telling you to be overconfident and complacent, but at the very least stop whining about how you"re going to fail when you haven"t even begin the mission!"

The three of them fell silent, unable to refute my reprimand. They lowered their head, but didn"t budge.

"But…how do we win?" Yi Ding Si finally mustered the courage to ask. "Even if we have artificial qi, those veteran martial artists in the Black Venom Cult are still stronger than us! If we try to attack them, we will definitely die!"

"They are in higher cultivation stages than us too!" Zi Sha added fiercely. "Fighting them head-on is simpy suicide!"

Both guys were oblivious to the irony as always. For non-Chinese speakers, Yi Ding Si sounded almost exactly like "definitely die" in Mandarin, and Zi Sha sounded almost exactly like "suicide" in Mandarin.

"So what?" I retorted furiously. "If they are stronger, you will automatically lose? You think this is some sort of ridiculous xianxia story where everything is dependant solely on cultivation levels? If you"re weaker than your opponent, then find a way to overcome that gap in strength! Look at humans. They are naturally weaker than animals like tigers, lions, leopards, bears and other top predators. But how did we rise to become the dominant species on the planet? We didn"t become physically stronger than the predators that could tear us apart with their claws and fangs. We developed weapons. We found ways to fight back. We invented arrows, and then guns."

I jabbed a finger at the stunned trio to emphasize my point.

"We adapt. We improvise. We invent. You"re weaker than a magical beast? Use a weapon to slay it. Your opponent is stronger than you? Use a weapon to make up for your strength. Of course, most of the time, they are more skilled with a weapon than you. But if that"s the case, find an alternative route of attack! If they"re stronger, you might be faster. Or set up ambushes! Rely on stealth! Find and exploit your opponent"s weaknesses! No matter how high their stages or cultivation realms are, they are only human. They are not G.o.ds. They definitely have weaknesses. Find them and use them to your advantage! No one is this world is perfect."

Everyone was staring at me. Tong Xue shrugged and shook his head in amus.e.m.e.nt, probably because he was used to me raving and ranting. Lian Rou, even less so, but she didn"t say anything and just nodded quietly.

The terrible trio, on the other hand, merely snorted.

"You"re delusional."

"Keep thinking that, if that makes you feel better."

"One day you"ll meet those G.o.dlike existences and truly understand how wrong you are. There exists absolute differences between martial artists. Some are born to be above others, some are more talented than the others."

"Then why do you guys bother?" I countered. "Evidently you"re not one of those talented ones, so why even bother cultivating and learning martial artists? Why haven"t you guys dropped out already? Why risk your lives taking this mission? Isn"t it because you want to stake everything on that miniscule chance to pa.s.s?"

The three of them said nothing, and just trudged past me wordlessly. The hypocrites clearly didn"t want to listen to a single word I said, while selfishly saying whatever they wanted and forcing their negativity onto us, and forcing us to listen to their whining.

Wow…how shameless could they get?

Shaking my head, I was about to follow them, but Lian Rou was quicker.

"Wait! Don"t go that way! It"s dangerous!"

"Oh, shut up!" Zi Sha snapped. "What"s with you three, acting like you"re better than us, all because you completed a bunch of missions and have some combat experience? You think that gives you the right to talk down to us?"

…what the f.u.c.k?

Yeah, I mean…you failed all your missions and had no combat experience – by your own admission. Of course we were definitely better than you. We had earned the right through our achievements. What have you guys achieved other than whining?

And they were furious at us for "acting better than them" instead of wisely taking our advice and doing something about their failures? Was there something wrong with them?

"Watch your tone, you condescending p.r.i.c.k," Tong Xue snarled. The moment they turned on Lian Rou, he snapped. "I"ve put up with your whining for long enough, but if you think you"re better than us, then feel free and complete the mission on your own. We don"t need the credits. We can just abort the mission and leave you guys to do this yourself."

"Actually, let"s do that," I suggested, already turning away. "It"s clear they don"t need us, and I"m sick of their whining."

"Me too," Lian Rou agreed with a sigh. She waved a hand at the trio. "Good luck making through the Toxic Marshes on your own."

"We don"t need your help!" Jiu Bu Liao huffed as she stomped off.

"We can do this on our own!" Zi Sha added before joining her. I gaped at him. Seriously? Where did this new confidence come from? As much as I was glad that they were more confident than before, earlier they were moaning about how they had failed every mission before this, and how it was impossible to defeat the superior Black Venom Cult with their current strength. What was with this sudden change in att.i.tude?

This made no sense whatsoever.

At the very least, Yi Ding Si looked hesitant.

"Er…" he stammered. "I don"t think that"s a good idea…"

"Then you can fail on your own!"

Yi Ding Si sighed and shook his head. He glanced at us one last time, looking more grumpy than apologetic, and then trudged after his two companions.

We watched them wade through the swamp. My headache worsened as I wondered how stupid they could be to step right into the murky waters whose depths concealed all sorts of dangers, from gigantic aquatic monsters to venomous creatures. But no, they decided to just wade through the d.a.m.ned thing.

Did they have a brain in those skulls of theirs? No wonder they failed their missions so far.

"Are we really going to let them go like that?" Lian Rou asked worriedly, watching as they moved into the distance.

"Do we have a choice? They don"t want our help. And we have no obligation to sacrifice our lives and die with them."

My words might sound ruthless, but I honestly had no intention of dying because of someone else"s stupid mistakes, recklessness and arrogance.

"Wu is right," Tong Xue agreed with a sigh. "If they want to commit suicide, let them. I don"t want to die with them."

"Why do you both think we"ll die if we try to take care of them?" Lian Rou asked, confounded. "Shouldn"t it be our jobs to keep everyone alive?"

"Probably," I admitted. "But the fact that they ignored your warning about that direction being dangerous and just plunging into the swamp like that recklessly shows that they are h.e.l.lbent on making our job impossible."

"…you"re right." Lian Rou groaned and slapped her forehead. "After I explictly told them that it was dangerous…it"s like they"re deliberately trying to kill themselves."

"Let"s hope they wise up and get out of there before anything happens," Tong Xue muttered.

No sooner than the words had left his mouth when there was a sudden scream from the direction where the troublesome trio had disappeared to. The three of us exchanged knowing glances, and then quickly ran along the swamp. Tong Xue and I hung back, letting Lian Rou lead the way. Her familiarity with the swamp would make a huge difference.

As we expected, the trio were being attacked by a gigantic Marsh Serpent. Several dozen meters long, and head almost a meter wide, the creature lunged at the shrieking trio as they splashed violently in the bog, trying to escape from the creature.

"For heaven"s sake…"

Cursing under my breath, I used my footwork techniques to cross the distance in an instant. Freezing the murky water and creating steps of ice, I landed right next to the Marsh Serpent. The sleek predator turned to me, its maw yawning wide to reveal two ma.s.sive fangs dripping with venom and a single forked tongue.

I beheaded it immediately with a single swing of my Shadow Fox. The Marsh Serpent stared at me stupidly for a moment, then its head fell off its neck with a spray of blood, causing a huge splash of disgusting liquid across the area.

The terrible trio gaped at me for a moment, still unable to comprehend what had just happened.

"What are you waiting for?!" I bellowed. "For another magical beast to attack you? Get out of the swamp now!"

As if afraid that I would decapitate them next, the three of them scrambled out of the marsh, making a huge mess and spraying swamp water all over the grayish gra.s.s as they stumbled onto relatively dry land.

"Mr. Fei…" Yi Ding Si moaned. "I don"t feel so good."

Was he going to turn into ash or something?

"I feel dizzy…"

"Ugh!"

Both Zi Sha and Jiu Bu Liao were also suffering similar symptoms. All three of them crashed onto the ground, sprawling over the earth as they writhed.

"Oh no…"

Lian Rou hurried over and frantically pulled at their layers of clothing. As I made my way back to dry land by a combination of my footwork techniques and freezing a small part of the swamp to create footholds, I magnified my gla.s.ses and caught sight of countless bugs wriggling on the terrible trio"s pale flesh.

"Bog Bugs…they are sucking their blood at an alarming rate!" Lian Rou exclaimed.

"Is there anything we can do?" Tong Xue asked urgently as he joined her. He tried to swat at the Bog Bugs crawling all over the three"s skin, but Lian Rou stayed his hand, most likely because she didn"t want him to get bitten as well.

"We need to destroy all the Bog Bugs at once."

"And how do we do that?" Tong Xue demanded.

"Any of you know fire techniques?"

Tong Xue and I shook our heads. I was a user of ice techniques, not fire. If I was a Mary Sue like Qin Lie, probably I could use all sorts of elemental techniques, from lightning, earth (or magnetic), ice and fire, but I wasn"t a mult.i.talented Mary Sue who could use all elements and doubled as a genius blacksmith. Neither was I the Flame Emperor Xiao Yan who possessed all the Essence Flames and doubled as a receptarier.

This was way out of my league.

"Do ice techniques worked?" I asked. Lian Rou shook her head.

"Ice will just freeze the Bog Bugs and keep them in stasis. I guess it"ll kill them, but I was hoping for something cleaner. Something that would disintegrate them."

"I should be able to disintegrate them with Absolute Zero," I offered. Lian Rou scowled at me.

"Won"t you kill these three in the process as well if you use Absolute Zero on them?"

"No big loss," I joked, but if I was going to end up killing them anyway, then I might as well save my qi and let the Bog Bugs do the job.

Lian Rou sighed. "No choice. We"ll have to do this the hard way then." She rummaged through her storage device and produced a lighter. Closing her eyes, she infused the device with her qi, and then flicked it open. Thumbing it, she produced a small flame.

Then she enlarged it with her qi, transforming it into a huge torrent of fire that washed over the writhing trio.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

"UUUUUUUUUUGH!"

"KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

G.o.ddammit, just hearing the three of them shriek was making me flinch.

"Just put up with the pain for now," Lian Rou told them, completely unsympathetic. I swear, if I didn"t know her well enough I thought she was enjoying their agony. "The process will take a while, but I have to be very thorough. I don"t want to leave any of the Bog Bugs behind."

The trio were in too much pain to formulate a coherent reply. They merely curled into fetal positions and screamed as the flames ravaged their bodies.

Tong Xue and I exchanged a glance and remained where we were, probably to stay on guard against other predators and venomous creatures from the Toxic Marshes. Not far away, Song Ting Yu and her entourage stopped and maintained their distance, watching us from afar and probably wondering what was going on. Not that we cared. We had more important things to do, such as setting up a temporary perimeter while Lian Rou treated the troublesome trio.

It seemed like we were going to be stuck here for a while.