A cultivator's path was divided into eight stages: Mortal, Disciple, Master, Chosen, Saint, Herald, Sovereign, and Eminence.
Most lower-tier cultivators could only hope to reach the Master stage. A rare few, gifted beyond measure, might break through to Chosen.
Upper-tier cultivators had the chance to touch the Herald stage, and with enough effort and perhaps a stroke of luck, they could rise to Sovereign.
But beyond them existed the special-tier cultivators, the rarest of all. True prodigies who could stand at the peak, stepping into Eminence itself. In the entire White Dragon Empire, only one man had ever reached that level, the Emperor himself.
To enter a demonic zone, one needed to be at least a Disciple. Exceptions were sometimes made in guilds, where stronger members protected weaker ones.
Meng Xuan had just joined the White Bear Guild, a small team of ten. He was the only Mortal among them. The others were already Disciples, and at least two carried the aura of newly advanced Masters. Ten teenagers, each brimming with ambition sharper than blades.
Inside the marble halls of the Jade City Demon Hunter Bureau, the air was heavy. The group stood in silence, signing crimson-edged forms that practically screamed danger.
The bureau is not responsible for any casualties that happen to an individual.
The words glowed faintly under the light. It was more than just a form. It was a line between life and death.
After signing, each person received a circular blue coin etched with glowing runes.
"A return coin," explained the man in the white uniform. His voice was flat and cold. "It is your only escape. Use it once, and it will pull you out of the demonic zone. Do not waste it."
When the explanation ended, another officer guided them into a chamber glowing with inscriptions.
"You are being sent to your chosen zone," he said. "Good luck."
Light swallowed them. The chamber dissolved, morphing into an entirely different world.
A purple moon hung high in the sky, casting a ghostly hue across the land. The terrain looked as if it had been painted from nightmares and daydreams alike. Mountains loomed in the distance, cloaked in thick violet mist. Below them sprawled crude cottages, twisted and uneven, clearly goblin work.
Meng Xuan inhaled sharply, eyes scanning the eerie landscape.
"This is it," someone murmured.
The guild had chosen a low-tier demonic zone, home to the goblin clans. Savage and unpredictable, most were only Mortal to Disciple rank, but their numbers made them deadly.
"Xiao Long," a skeptical voice broke the silence. "Are you sure this boy you brought can be a geomancer?"
A geomancer is someone skilled in navigating demonic zones just like a navigator on a boat.
A compulsory subject taught by the academy,but most students don't pay attention since it was boring.
Pei You, the stout guild master, frowned. "Safe zones and danger areas are not a game. One wrong step and we are all corpses."
Yan Xuchen, a girl in bright orange dress, spoke sharply. "How can someone without holy force guide us? We are practically digging our own graves."
Xiao Long crossed her arms, her gaze steady. "I chose him," she said coldly, nodding toward Meng Xuan. "And I made the right choice."
Meng Xuan smirked faintly. She still trusted him, after all this time.
He remembered the day he had subconsciously pulled her from chaos during the Academy Awakening Ceremony,probably due to anger. She had been bullied, and even now he did not know how he had done it.
Seeing her defend him now settled something inside him. He almost gave her a mental thumbs-up. She had always been like that, stubborn, clinging to him like wet clothes, impossible to shake off.
"Since we will be spending the next few days as a team," Xiao Long said with a playful smile, "should we not get to know each other?"
"Familiarity builds coordination. And coordination can save lives."
No one objected.
Pei You stepped forward with a grin. "I am Pei You, master of the White Bear Guild."
"Yan Xuchen," the orange-clad girl said curtly. "Vice master." She threw Xiao Long a cutting glance.
One by one, the rest introduced themselves. Pei You, Yan Xuchen, Xiao Long, Meng Xuan, Gao Ying, Xie Bai, Qiu Yuyang, Feng An, Lao Wen, and Yun Pei.
The hunt began.
Meng Xuan unfurled an ancient parchment map passed down by the Hunter Bureau.
Red crosses marked danger. Long strips warned of traps. Blue squares showed the lairs of hostile creatures. Green circles meant temporary safety, while white arrows pointed to goblin treasures which they all knew they must have been plundered by past hunters.
Some areas were slashed with black lines. Do not traverse. Forbidden even to Masters stage cultivators.
He turned north and entered the tall grass. It rustled around his feet like whispering spirits. Then he froze.
A flicker of fire.
Not far away, goblins clustered around a bonfire, cackling as they feasted. Their shrill laughter echoed like hyenas in the night. Short, green-skinned, with long ears and pointed noses, they wore scraps of hide and wielded crude weapons.
Meng Xuan ducked behind a tree, joined by several others. The goblins had not noticed them.
"We are about to begin the hunt," someone whispered. "If anyone wants to quit, the return coin is still usable."
Two young men flinched. First-timers, Meng Xuan thought. They clutched their weapons with trembling hands. Lao Wen and Feng An, both barely at Disciple level.
One of them palmed his coin and activated it. Light flashed, and he was gone.
"We are down to eight," someone muttered.
"More spoils for us," another said with a grin.
The battle began with Xiao Long.
Vines burst from the ground, twisting into tendrils that lashed forward. Two goblins shrieked as they were yanked into the air.
Then the tank charged, his body glowing with radiant jade light. His flesh shimmered like living metal.
"Woah," someone whispered. "That is the Jade Body Art. I heard if you master it, you can punch through mountains."
Meng Xuan stayed back, eyes sharp, surveying the field like a tactician. At the rear, Xie Bai, the quiet healer, watched her allies with calm precision, ready to step in at the first wound.
The goblins, enraged by the death of their kin, howled and charged. Clubs swung wildly. Chaos erupted.
And the true hunt began.