Super Scholar Chen Sanyan

In just one minute, Zhou Wen accepted the friend request.

Jiang Changkong sent a message: "Brother Wen, something happened on my end. Where are you now?"

Zhou Wen turned on location sharing. "As long as you're fine. The Star Demons suddenly went berserk yesterday. I was worried about you."

"They're still on the road?"

Jiang Changkong saw that Zhou Wen's location was constantly moving.

Zhou Wen sent a helpless emoji. "Probably. I've been shaken off now."

Jiang Changkong was worried. "Shaken off? They discovered you?"

Zhou Wen: "Probably not yet. They just couldn't find my body, so they're obviously worried I'm still alive and secretly following. There are Star Demons blocking the way."

"The distance isn't too far. I'm coming right over."

Jiang Changkong looked at the distance and quickly left.

While hurrying along, he did not forget to check the Primordial Martial Compass.

The Primordial Martial Compass had four needles and eight small dots.

The eight dots corresponded respectively to initial, mid, late, and peak Star Qi, and from Early Nebula Level to peak.

The four needles corresponded to the four directions: east, south, west, and north.

Once it detected energy fluctuations, a dot of light would light up, and as he drew closer, the needle would keep vibrating.

Not long after he set out, the Star Qi Peak dot lit up, and the east needle vibrated.

Jiang Changkong walked straight over. Three Star Qi Peak demons.

This Primordial Martial Compass was useful after all. Although it could only search within a hundred-meter range, that was already impressive.

He directly blew apart the three Star Demons and gained 150 essence, energy, and spirit.

"The Primordial Martial Compass can't detect numbers."

Jiang Changkong looked at the Primordial Martial Compass and continued on his way.

Although it could not detect numbers, it still counted as a pretty good treasure.

He now understood that the two schools developed differently and had different focuses.

Martial arts schools focused on martial arts, with strong individual combat power.

Kexiang combined science and martial arts, matching martial arts with technological products.

Each had its strengths and weaknesses.

If students from a martial arts school were paired with Kexiang's equipment, that would be perfect.

Jiang Changkong checked the route. Liu Ya sent a message: "Changkong, are you on the road?"

Jiang Changkong: "Yeah. Thanks to Xiao Yu's phone, I've already contacted my senior."

"We've also contacted our senior sister. There are still a few hours of travel left before we can arrive."

"I'm almost there too. In a few hours, I should be able to meet up with my senior."

The two chatted off and on. Occasionally, Liu Jun and Lu Hong also sent messages over.

It was a way to kill time out of boredom and ease the loneliness and monotony of traveling.

"Let's start a video call. Sending messages one by one is such a hassle," Liu Ya said.

Jiang Changkong: "Sure."

The two turned on the video. Liu Ya aimed the camera at the three of them as they traveled.

Jiang Changkong was just about to speak when the Primordial Martial Compass lit up again. "Wait, I've found a Star Demon. I'll go beat it to death first."

A Mid Nebula Level one. He could not waste it.

The four of them: "We've also found a Star Demon. We'll go around it first."

Jiang Changkong: "..."

Bang!

He killed the Star Demon with one punch, extracted its essence, energy, and spirit, and continued on his way.

After quite a while, having gone around the Star Demon, the four said enviously, "We're so jealous. You gained something again."

"Your strength isn't bad either. You can hunt Star Demons," Jiang Changkong said.

Were these four too timid?

Although their strength was not much, with their battle armor, as long as they did not encounter a Late Nebula Level, they could totally kill one.

"No. Senior sister wants us to conserve energy. She said there's something major to do."

Liu Ya explained, then said, "If we can avoid them, we'll avoid them. We can't delay the major matter."

Jiang Changkong shrugged, having nothing to say, and started running quickly.

He sprinted all the way, killing any Star Demon he encountered on the spot, making the four so envious their eyes turned red.

After confirming Zhou Wen was all right, Jiang Changkong did not rush over. Any Star Demons he ran into on the way, he did not let off.

Two hours later, they ended the video call and each hurried on their way.

The four of them no longer wanted to watch him. It was too infuriating. He had gained so much that their hearts could not take it.

Along the way, Jiang Changkong also paid attention to his surroundings and found no markers left by Zhou Wen.

A little annoyed, he complained, "Brother Wen, if we didn't have our phones, I wouldn't even know how to find you."

Zhou Wen said angrily, "What are you talking about? We agreed on the taiji mark. Didn't you see it?"

Jiang Changkong said, "Where is it?"

"Not there?" Zhou Wen was surprised. "There's a rock not far ahead of you. Go look on top of it. It has to be there."

Jiang Changkong said nothing more. He pushed aside the weeds and found no rock at all. "Where's the rock?"

Zhou Wen said, "Impossible. There's clearly a rock there, palm-sized and black."

Jiang Changkong said, "Brother Wen, maybe a Star Demon kicked it away."

"Look carefully. It has to be there. Why would a Star Demon kick a rock for no reason?

Even if a Star Demon accidentally kicked it, it couldn't have taken it too far."

Zhou Wen was a little irritated. "I really did leave a mark."

Jiang Changkong frowned and began searching the area nearby.

Pushing aside the weeds and circling around once, Jiang Changkong saw a rock.

Palm-sized and black. It was the one Zhou Wen had mentioned.

There was a taiji pattern on it, but beneath it was an arrow pointing in another direction—not Zhou Wen's.

Jiang Changkong took a photo and showed it to Zhou Wen.

Zhou Wen immediately sent a cold-sweat emoji. "That arrow—you carved it?"

"It was there when I found it."

"I only left the taiji pattern. No arrow."

Jiang Changkong: "..."

Don't scare me. This joke isn't funny.

Zhou Wen said, "I might have been targeted. Zhang Hua's group must have split someone off to secretly mislead you."

"I'm coming right now."

Jiang Changkong's heart went cold. He quickly broke into a mad sprint, not even bothering to hunt the Star Demons on the road anymore.

If that pattern really had been moved by Zhang Hua's people...

Then Zhou Wen was very likely under the other side's surveillance.

Zhou Wen said, "No need to rush too much. Zhang Hua can't have too few people on his side.

At most, it's one or two. I left a lot of marks, and changing all of them will take time.

If they want to shake me off without alerting the senior girls, that'll also take time. I'm safe for now."

If they suspected Zhou Wen was secretly following them, Zhang Hua and the others would not be in a hurry to act.

If they were too hasty and alerted Ji Ziling and the others, Zhang Hua's group would be in serious trouble.

Shaking him off, then changing the markers to mislead Jiang Changkong—that was the safest plan.

It also gave him a little time.

Jiang Changkong, however, was not as relaxed as Zhou Wen thought. Though what he said made perfect sense, what if something went wrong?

The Primordial Martial Compass trembled. There were quite a few Star Demons along the way, but he let them all go.

Zhou Wen's direction also changed. He was no longer tracking directly, but taking a detour to meet up with Jiang Changkong.

The distance between the two of them rapidly shortened. By noon, they were less than a hundred meters apart.

The weeds were lush and overgrown. If not for location sharing, even that hundred-meter distance might have left them blindly fumbling around.

Jiang Changkong was just about to go over when the Primordial Martial Compass lit up.

Peak Nebula Level!

A Star Demon, or... a person?

Not daring to think too much, Jiang Changkong rushed toward Zhou Wen, while also telling Zhou Wen to speed up and come over.

"Changkong."

Zhou Wen called out in a low voice and arrived beside him.

Jiang Changkong held the Primordial Martial Compass. The needle trembled more and more violently. That thing was approaching!

Hiss, hiss.

The sound of something tearing through the air came over. A streak of red saber energy split the air, shooting straight toward Zhou Wen's back.

"Careful, Brother Wen."

Jiang Changkong shoved Zhou Wen aside, and a Taiji diagram lit up, blocking the blade energy.

Boom!

The blade energy fell. The Taiji diagram rotated, diverting nearly sixty percent of its force to the side.

The remaining forty percent of the blade energy radiated scorching heat. Jiang Changkong's expression changed, and he pulled back, raising another Taiji diagram before he finally blocked it all.

"Impressive. You actually took one slash from me without getting hurt."

A cold voice rang out. A figure stepped out from the weeds, holding a blade in one hand, looking at the two of them with indifference.

Zhou Wen's expression changed drastically, and he blurted out, "Super scholar Chen Sanyan?"