Class Monitor, Wanna Go Exploring?

Dabao: "Chirp~ (Master, are you done yet~)"

Erbao: "Chirp chirp~ (Starving, starving~)"

"Alright, alright."

Ji Ruo couldn't be bothered with the hassle and simply pulled out grilled meat from Rosie's stash—within the storage space of the All-Encompassing Mirror, the current rule was 'time-stop preservation,' so the food stored inside remained exactly as it was, unchanged in the slightest.

Under Rosie's exceptionally pained little gaze, the two little Wind God Falcons devoured over a dozen pieces of steaming, fragrant grilled meat before finally falling asleep in contentment.

Afterward, Ji Ruo told Liang Shixian that he was going to explore and asked if Liang Shixian wanted to come along.

But Liang Shixian rolled his eyes, saying he needed to cultivate seriously and had no time to play around with Ji Ruo, telling him to be careful and watch his safety, and so on.

Ji Ruo agreed readily, with Little Rosie perched atop his head and a small wooden stick in hand, heading deeper into the Wind God Falcon's nest.

"Walk~ on the little path in the countryside~ with a little wooden stick in hand~"

Loudly singing a crooked song of his own composition and lyrics, Ji Ruo swung the little stick and strutted with a swagger that acknowledged no one.

"Meow~ meow meow meow~ meow meow meow~"

A little cat's moods come and go quickly; Rosie, lying on top of Ji Ruo's head, meowed along with his singing, not following his tune but sounding just as happy nonetheless.

Just now, when Ji Ruo said he'd take her out to play, she immediately forgot about her precious item being confiscated by him.

Liang Shixian: "..."

Watching this childish master and pet sing and dance as they gradually faded into the distance, he felt helpless yet also a bit envious—he couldn't be as carefree as Ji Ruo. This was the dangerous Ten Thousand Beast Mountain, the nest of the Wind God Falcon, ruler of the mountain's skies. Reason told him to be cautious, but Ji Ruo's behavior kept breaking the tension.

"Sigh, I wonder when Ji Ruo will ever grow up."

Liang Shixian shook his head with a sigh, then focused entirely on his cultivation.

Ji Ruo walked for about twenty minutes, looked around, and, finding no other creatures nearby, summoned the All-Encompassing Mirror with its long name from the Card Collection Album.

"My turn! Draw a card!"

Ji Ruo suddenly shouted, then raised the index and middle fingers of his left hand, pinching a card that looked like a child's doodle from thin air.

The crude lines on the card depicted the shape of the All-Encompassing Mirror.

And that line was the necessary incantation for using the system's Card Collection Album.

Light shimmered on the card, and in an instant, it returned to its original form.

"Meow! (My treasure!)"

Rosie said, reaching out a claw to grab it, but Ji Ruo pressed her down on top of his head. Her short limbs flailed wildly as she babbled incomprehensibly, as if protesting Ji Ruo stealing a little cat's treasure.

This mirror had two special effects. Ji Ruo had already tested the storage function, and using it consumed almost nothing.

Now, he planned to try the other effect.

From the description, it seemed to be able to shuttle through space.

"All-Encompassing Shuttle!"

Ji Ruo muttered softly, instinctively ignoring the function's original name and giving it a nicer one instead.

The next moment, a blood-red vortex appeared before Ji Ruo—a teleportation portal.

And on the other side of the portal was the Nine-Eyed Demon Spider's nest he had visited earlier.

"So the portal's recorded spatial coordinates refer to places I've been? Or..."

Ji Ruo briefly sensed the consumption and roughly estimated that, at his current level, he could probably open over a hundred such portals.

Waving his hand to dismiss this portal, Ji Ruo tried again.

This time, instead of choosing a specific location, he vaguely murmured in his mind: "Martial Exam examinees, alive or dead."

No portal appeared.

"Need to be more specific?"

Ji Ruo thought for a moment and tested: "Tree Demon?"

No portal appeared.

"The Tree Demon clan I've come into contact with?"

Whoosh—

A portal appeared. Through the blood-red vortex, Ji Ruo could clearly see the scene on the other side.

He could even hear the sounds from over there.

"Rustle~ (Leader, maybe we shouldn't?)"

"Rustle rustle~ (Yeah, the Wind God Falcon isn't something we can fight! Shouldn't we just leave the Fertilizer Tree brothers alone?)"

The thick-trunked Tree Demon Leader shook its leaves and barked angrily: "Rustle rustle rustle rustle~ (Nonsense! How can we not save them? Sure, we Tree Demons can survive on just sunlight and water, but who doesn't want to wake up at night to a hot meal? Even if passing little demons occasionally produce some fertilizer, do they do it every time?

If we rescue the Fertilizer Tree brothers, at the very least, we'll grow stronger in the future! Our fertilizer supply will be secured!

If there's a chance to eat, who'd be willing to live day in and day out on 'basic welfare' (referring to sunlight and water sources)?)"

"Rustle~(But...)"

"Rustle~(But what but! Since we're here, we're here!)"

"Rustle~(No, chief, the Wind God Falcon's nest is ten thousand meters up in the sky. We can't fly—how do we rescue him?)"

The Tree Demon Leader said, "Rustle~(Dummy! We're tree demons. What's a mere ten thousand meters? Give me a few tens of thousands of years, and I'll definitely grow that tall! By then, the Wind God Falcon will surely have died of old age, and we can smoothly rescue our Fertilizer Tree brother! Persistence is victory, brothers!)"

"Rustle~(Awesome, awesome!)"

"Rustle~(As expected of the chief. How come I couldn't think of such a perfect plan?)"

The Tree Demon Leader proudly swayed its branches: "Rustle~(Otherwise, why would I be the chief? This is wisdom!)"

Ji Ruo was stunned.

These guys... were trying to save him?

He was a little touched, sure—but the way these tree demons planned to rescue him was just...

Ji Ruo didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Give you tens of thousands of years? By then, my bones would have turned to dust!

After a moment's thought, Ji Ruo stepped into the teleportation gate.

The moment he passed through the gate, a third of the blood energy in his body was consumed.

He didn't notice that a faint black glow also flickered on Rosie's surface. Since Rosie was black by nature and the glow was extremely faint, it wasn't conspicuous.

Ji Ruo didn't notice this, and Rosie didn't seem to either. Ji Ruo was just shocked—the consumption for crossing was so much greater than opening the gate?!

But thinking about it, it seemed normal.

After all, it was crossing space!

He looked up. Using the powerful eyesight of the Qi Pulse Realm, Ji Ruo spotted a tiny black dot ten thousand meters above—the Floating Island where the Wind God Falcon lived.

Having verified that the crossing function worked, Ji Ruo turned his gaze back to the tree demons still discussing their rescue plan. These tree demons had good hearts!

Thinking this, Ji Ruo suddenly spoke: "Chief."

Those tree demons had already been terrified just by coming beneath the Wind God Falcon's nest. Any sound or movement that wasn't their own could spook them—and so Ji Ruo's voice froze them in place.

Ji Ruo, both exasperated and amused, said, "Don't worry, chief. It's me."

"Rustle~(You... Fertilizer Tree brother?)"

"That's right."

The [Sense of Immersion] skill really is something!

These guys were scared out of their wits, yet they still remembered him.