Chapter 15 - Magenta Mission
Several days later Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian came out of their room. The other girls were all stunned speechless when they saw them appear together. Each and every person was dumbstruck, apparently, the scene before their eyes was simply inconceivable.
Just what kind of person was Shen Molian? Within the academy, she was a famous genius and known as an untouchable ice queen. She was always coming and going alone, and no matter what kind of person she met, they were unable to enter her eye. But now, unexpectedly, she was walking together with Lin Haoxue and they even looked well acquainted! How could this not make everyone amazed?
There were many female students before Lin Haoxue who had wanted to live with Shen Molian. All of these people were not convinced and wanted to worm their way into being her friend, but all of them, without exception, were shooed away by just one explosive fist of hers. From then on no one approached her again so she gained her reputation as an ice queen.
"What"s wrong with them?" Lin Haoxue asked as she looked around and noticed the shocked expressions that they hadn"t managed to cover up. Feeling that something was slightly strange, she turned and asked Shen Molian.
"They"re probably amazed because you"re walking with me," Shen Molian said as expressionlessly as before.
"That"s it? Well although we"ve known each other for a few days, but in these past few days, I managed to figure out your personality. You really are quite cold so I guess that there have been many people who have eaten losses at your hand?" Lin Haoxue was quite clear about Shen Molian"s personality and mocked her slightly.
Shen Molian declined to comment, she just touched her long hair and continued walking.
"Haha, still the same," Lin Haoxue couldn"t help but laugh as she hurried to catch up with her.
Watching the backs of the two girls disappearing, the female students of the dormitory couldn"t help but gossip.
"What"s the ident.i.ty of this new student? She unexpectedly wasn"t driven away by Shen Molian and they are even walking together?"
"Only G.o.d knows… Originally things were getting lively and this was worth watching, but now it"s become boring."
"Hey, how do you think she managed to win Shen Molian"s favor?"
"We should go test her to see if she really has such strength, or if she used some other method?", "I"m convinced that she has the strength," another female student sourly stated, "to be able to gain Shen Molian"s eye is quite unexpected though."
"To be able to walk side-by-side with that ice queen, she must have some skill. If you want to court death, don"t bring us down with you," someone said with a heart full of lingering fear.
Everyone was busy having a lively discussion and talked at the same time about Lin Haoxue"s ident.i.ty and strength causing their curiosity towards her to peak. Although this was the case, the person implicated didn"t have any idea that within the hearts of the other students she was considered different as her and Shen Molian arrived at the Mission Hall.
The academy posted missions for the students on the five floors of the Mission Hall and the academy teachers were in charge of these missions.
Today there were quite a lot of people on the Mission Hall"s first floor, and when Lin Haoxue and Shen Molian entered, it gave rise to a loud commotion.
"Is she that Shen Molian? I heard that she is quite difficult to deal with?"
"Difficult to deal with indeed, only those words can describe her. She came to the academy just three months ago at the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm, but she has already convinced many people that she is one of the strongest freshmen. Don"t you think she is so awesome?"
The expression within the eyes of everyone turned fervent as they looked at the two individuals, or more precisely, as they looked at Shen Molian.
"You seem to be quite famous?" Seeing that the expressions of so many people were filled with reverence and envy, it was obvious these people were fanatically jealous of her. At this point, the average cultivator was unable to surpa.s.s her, so they wouldn"t be jealous of her, but instead, just feel a heartfelt reverence.
"You are quite bored?" Shen Molin shot her a glance before she walked towards the stairs leading to the second floor of the building under the glances of all the other students.
"On the first floor you can only apply for the simplest of missions, yellow missions," Shen Molian explained while walking side by side with Lin Haoxue, and she also introduced what the colors of the missions meant. They were ranked into four grades: yellow, blue, red, and black. Lin Haoxue knew that Shen Molian wouldn"t stop on the second floor either where one obtained blue missions for Profound Master realm cultivators.
Just as she expected, Shen Molian didn"t stop until she reached the fifth floor. What kind of mission could one obtain on the fifth floor? Lin Haoxue was not too clear.
"You came?" Looking at Shen Molian who came in, the old man who was in charge of the floor looked at them with sleepy eyes as he lazily greeting her. It was clear that they knew each other.
"That"s right. Teacher Xie, I came to receive that mission," Shen Molian was respectful to the teacher, something that was rare to see from her.
"According to the rules of the academy, this mission can only be taken by a team, have you found another student from the academy?" The old man was playing with a magenta scroll in his hands while he asked this question.
"I found a cla.s.smate."
"Oh, you found someone? Who is it? They must be a top-ranked student?" The old man listened to Shen Molian who said that she was planning to form a team, clearly interested.
"It"s her," Shen Molian pointed her finger at Lin Haoxue.
"Really now, a Late-stage Profound Pract.i.tioner," Teacher Xue looked at Lin Haoxue as if he saw something unexpected. "It"s a small girl who is still so young. Are you deceiving this old man? This isn"t your style."
"Teacher Xie, you might not be convinced by her, but aren"t you convinced by me?" Shen Molian said, "If she didn"t have the strength, don"t tell me I would ask her to form a team with me?"
"Good then, I am convinced by you and therefore also by her." Teacher Xie casually said, but the gleam within his eyes was incredibly bright. He recalled how three months ago he had seen Shen Molian for the first time. At that time, she was merely thirteen years old, just a small girl. When the other students at the academy noticed her low cultivation, they looked at her with contempt in their hearts, provoked her, and tried to teach her a lesson. But although she was merely at the Profound Pract.i.tioner realm, she had endless tricks up her sleeve. This unexpectedly even caused Profound Grand Masters to have a difficult time when facing her.
Now he saw this white-clothed young lady who seemed to be even smaller than Shen Molian. She hadn"t yet spoken, but his intuition told him that she was comparable to Shen Molian. Thinking of this, he suddenly asked, "What"s your name?"
"Lin Haoxue," Lin Haoxue was unaware that the old man suddenly changed his view of her.
"Hehe, interesting. Your name is very interesting. Good. I approve of the strength of you two," the old man suddenly laughed when he heard Lin Haoxue"s name.
"Since teacher Xie approves of our strength, then there should be no problem with us receiving the new magenta mission that just appeared?"
"This mission has the highest level of danger," the old man who was playing with the magenta scroll threw it to Shen Molian while shaking his head. "But I know your temper, if you don"t reach your goal you won"t give up. You are dismissed, go."
"Thank you, teacher." Shen Molian accepted the mission and was happy from the bottom of her heart. Lin Haoxue said to the old man with grat.i.tude, "We"re leaving."
As the two people departed, they didn"t see that the eyes of the old man flickered mysteriously with a trace of craftiness. He muttering to himself, "Unexpectedly there are two such interesting small girls. Don"t tell me that it"s a coincidence they managed to get together?"
No one noticed that after saying these words with a trace of sorrow, the old man had unexpectedly vanished.
"Is that old man truly a teacher at the academy?" Lin Haoxue suddenly asked. Her intuition told her that the ident.i.ty of the old man was far from simple, and just now, for a split second, she had felt a faint, familiar aura from the old man, an aura which left her feeling a little sad.
"I only know that his family name is Xie. Actually, I also think that he is far from simple, and he"s probably not just a teacher at the academy, but I have been unable to gather any info about him. It seems that you and I feel the same?"
Shen Molian asked, but after seeing that Lin Haoxue didn"t answer, she inclined her head to look at her only to see that the latter staring into the distant horizon. Her expression suddenly looked very lonely. She seemed as if she would disappear at any moment, causing one to feel sorrowful. Following her line of sight to see what she was gazing at, she found that there was nothing but clouds on the horizon. She suddenly felt that Lin Haoxue didn"t at all resemble a young child two years younger than herself, but instead, an angel that had fallen to the mortal world, an angel with a lot of history.
"Didn"t you say that there were only four mission colors: yellow, red, blue, and black? What kind of mission is this magenta one?" Sensing the inquiring gaze of Shen Molian, Lin Haoxue suddenly came back to herself and asked. In her daze just now, she couldn"t help but think about that mysterious person from her dream, wondering in which corner of the world he was.
"Magenta missions are a special kind. They very rarely appear and there might only be one every several years. The danger a.s.sociated with them is naturally not below a black mission. Because of some reasons, it is impossible for Profound Ancestor or higher-leveled experts to compete such missions; therefore, one has to be at the Profound Grand Master realm or below, but the dangers of a higher-ranked mission are still present." Shen Molian said to Lin Haoxue. "Although I"ve heard some information about the mission before, it was not very detailed. Come, let"s have a look together."
After she finished speaking, she unfolded the magenta scroll, and after reading the entire scroll, both of them turned silent.
"If we want to compete this mission we have to leave Taixing town?"
"Yes, we need to leave Taixing town and go to the south into the Demon Beast Forest. It"s no wonder that teacher Xie wouldn"t allow me to go alone. It really is quite dangerous, and even if a teacher wants to come to our aid, there would be no time."
"Demon Beast Forest?" Lin Haoxue repeatedly mumbled to herself. Although she wasn"t quite clear, she knew a few things about the dangers of the Demon Beast Forest. "Are you afraid?"
"Of course not."
"We should return to prepare some things."
"Right, I also think so," both girls look at one another and laughed, they had a fantastic tacit understanding of one another.