Chapter 6: Lao Niao (Bonus chapter for Alliance Leader Shangxian Qitian)
Lao Niao's real name is Liu Bufan. He was an old neighbor of Chen Guan's family and was a little over a year older than Chen Guan.
The reason he got the nickname Lao Niao was because he was extraordinarily talented as a child. His slingshot skills were divine; it was no exaggeration to say he could hit a bird from a hundred paces without missing. He was very famous in Chen Guan's neighborhood. When they were young, he often took Chen Guan into the wilderness to hunt pheasants, turtledoves, pigeons, and the like.
Later, Lao Niao chose to practice archery, hoping to acquire some archery Secret Methods and Secret Skills in the future based on his talent and make a name for himself. He indeed showed strong archery talent later in the academy.
Lao Niao was among the previous graduating class of the academy. He also chose the Blessed Land of Pingdu Mountain. However, ever since entering the Blessed Land of Pingdu Mountain, there had been no news of him. It had been over a year without any word. Such things happen often, and his family members all thought he had long since died in the Secret Realm.
Chen Guan hadn't expected to see him here, but he didn't immediately plan to help. Instead, he retreated a bit, shrinking into a more hidden corner, letting the trees conceal his figure.
Others said that the character 'Guan' in Chen Guan's name meant 'to watch from the sidelines'. While not entirely accurate, Chen Guan indeed didn't particularly like to meddle in others' affairs, especially when it required him to take risks.
The Mystic Spirit's level was clearly much higher. Lao Niao wasn't a level one or two rookie either. Chen Guan didn't think his abilities would be stronger than Lao Niao's.
Lao Niao had been in Pingdu Mountain for over a year and hadn't left. His level couldn't possibly be low. Before understanding the situation clearly, Chen Guan didn't want to act rashly.
However, Chen Guan didn't leave either, because that strange Mystic Spirit was something he had never seen or heard of. It wasn't in any school books, nor was there any information about this kind of Mystic Spirit in the data Chen Guan had found about the Blessed Land of Pingdu Mountain. He figured it was at least a Rare quality Mystic Spirit, possibly even a Scarce quality Mystic Spirit, and its level was quite high. If he could find an opportunity to kill it in the end, he might gain some benefits.
After all, Rare Mystic Spirit and Scarce Mystic Spirit aren't something you just stumble upon. In areas with more human cultivators, these resources have to be fought for.
While watching, Chen Guan was assessing the distance between his strength and the Mystic Spirit's, calculating various possibilities.
Lao Niao scrambled and stumbled. Just as he managed to get up, he saw the Mystic Spirit's red palm slapping down towards his head. He had no room or strength left to dodge and instantly felt great despair.
Crack!
A cold black shadow flew from behind the Mystic Spirit, directly chopping onto the Mystic Spirit's neck and actually severing its head.
The force of the black shadow didn't stop, chopping into the tree behind Lao Niao. The blade embedded itself in the bark. Only then did Lao Niao see clearly that it was a black short knife shaped like a butcher knife.
Lao Niao was still shaken. After the Mystic Spirit's headless body fell, he saw a person and a white rabbit as huge as a polar bear appear behind it. The person even looked somewhat familiar.
"Chen Guan..." Lao Niao was both surprised and delighted. He wanted to say something but saw many red particles overflowing from the Mystic Spirit's corpse. Like countless fireflies, they gathered towards Chen Guan's hand, instantly transforming into a blood-red Mystic Core.
Chen Guan held the Mystic Core in his hand and obtained the Mystic Core's information with just a brief contemplation.
Secret Skill: Level 1 Blood Handprint (Scarce).
Cultivation Requirement: None.
Qi Consumption: 1.6.
Skill Level: 1.
With almost no hesitation, Chen Guan directly circulated the Longevity Skill and absorbed the Blood Handprint Secret Skill, gaining his first Secret Skill, and a Scarce quality one at that. It was already quite rare.
Unfortunately, Chen Guan currently only had a Qi limit of 1 point. Even after learning the Blood Handprint, he couldn't use it. He would only be able to use the Blood Handprint after he advanced to Level 2 and his Qi limit increased.
As the Mystic Core turned into particles and integrated into Chen Guan's body, disappearing, Lao Niao felt a bit envious. However, having just escaped death, he had no mind to think about anything else.
"Chen Guan, how are you here?" Lao Niao asked happily.
"Did you forget? I'm only a year younger than you. I'm already eighteen. I just chose to enter the Blessed Land of Pingdu Mountain today and was teleported here. What's your situation? Since you're not dead, why haven't you gone back?" Chen Guan countered.
Lao Niao's face instantly turned bitter like a gourd: "Do you think I don't want to go back? But there's no teleportation station on this island. I can't go back at all."
Chen Guan was slightly taken aback: "This is an island?"
"Yes, it's a very large island, and it's extremely strange. Not only is there no teleportation station, but you can't even see the shadow of the mainland nearby. It's probably in the ocean far from the mainland. Everyone who was teleported here is trapped on the island..." Lao Niao seemed to have finally found an outlet and poured out all his experiences and suppressed frustration from the past year.
Lao Niao wasn't the only one who was teleported to this island. There were many others like Lao Niao, and they were all cultivators entering a Secret Realm for the first time.
The strange thing was, they were all teleported here a year ago, and they all arrived on the same day. They hadn't found anyone who was teleported here before, nor had anyone been teleported here since. That's why Lao Niao was so surprised to see Chen Guan here.
The Mystic Spirit on this island were all very strange. Most were undiscovered or hadn't appeared in textbooks and 資料. There were also a great many high-quality Mystic Spirit.
Rare Mystic Spirit, which you'd have to fight for outside, could often be seen here. Scarce quality Mystic Spirit could also be found from time to time, and even unique secret spirits might exist.
There were also some very mysterious areas on the island. In those areas, there might be unique secret spirits or even Peerless Secret Spirits.
However, the Mystic Spirit on the island weren't too high-leveled. The highest-level Mystic Spirit Lao Niao had seen was only Level 10. He hadn't seen any higher-level Mystic Spirit, though it was also possible that their strength wasn't enough to reach higher-level areas yet.
There were over a hundred cultivators who were teleported in on the same day as Lao Niao. Because they were all rookies just entering a Secret Realm at the time, many people died initially. Over a hundred people struggled to survive on the island, and only about thirty or so were still alive now.
Currently, the highest-level humans on the island were already Level 10. Lao Niao was only Level 7, considered among the weakest of those still alive.
"With your archery talent, how did you end up in such a bad state?" Chen Guan was a bit surprised, not expecting Lao Niao to be doing so poorly.
"Don't even mention it. There are always people stronger than you, and heavens beyond heavens. Back in our small place, I thought my talent was excellent. To put it shamelessly, I used to think I was the reincarnation of the Archery God and would definitely become a legend one day." Lao Niao gave a bitter smile: "It wasn't until I entered the Secret Realm that I realized my talent was nothing. There are too many people with better talent than me. The archery I thought I was good at and practiced so hard for so many years isn't even as accurate as someone who just practices casually."
Chen Guan listened somewhat silently. Although he couldn't empathize with Lao Niao's feelings, he had heard that story: an unparalleled prodigy who cultivated for ten thousand years and finally ascended to the immortal realm, only to end up as just one of the nameless heavenly soldiers participating in the encirclement of the monkey. He could somewhat imagine how depressing that must be.
