Wu QiaoHua blocked the red monkey's claws that tried to scratch her. She looked at her friend, Xin Mei, who backed her up and attacked the monkey from behind, stabbing it. Side by side, they worked together to lure the monkey away from the plant it was guarding as the outer disciples hid in order to find a chance to grab the herb.

Wu QiaoHua's sword was filled with chi as she swung it and tried to stab the beast. The beast jumped back a few times and suddenly noticed the outer disciples that were nearing its plant. The monkey beast let out a screech and jumped towards them.

"Watch out!" Wu QiaoHua blocked its way and Xin Mei attacked. They were finally able to stab it together and it vanished before their eyes, like ash dispersing into the sky.

Wu QiaoHua blinked and sheathed her sword. "I can never get used to seeing that," she said in a quiet tone.

Xin Mei smiled. "We defeated it!" She walked towards the small field of Grey Barley.

One of the outer disciples, Peng MinYi, smiled widely and uprooted one. "We collected three different herbs already!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Xin Mei nodded. "It's good that we haven't had any problems so far." She turned to the other two outer disciples, one female and one male, who were also grabbing a Grey Barley from the batch on the round.

The girl around fourteen, Tan Mei, timidly glanced around before she grabbed another one. "When does the beast reappear again?" She had already asked this question once before, causing the other boy, Luo Li, to roll his eyes.

"Tan Mei, how many times must we repeat this? At least a few hours!" The arrogant boy, Luo Li, grabbed another one and smiled happily.

"Let's leave the rest for the others," Wu QiaoHua suggested.

Luo Li pouted. "But we already did that for the previous batch. And wouldn't that make it easier for the others?"

Xin Mei smiled. "Let's do as QiaoHua says! Didn't we also grab our first herbs from a batch with a defeated beast? The less time we take to grab the same herbs, the more time we have to search for new ones. Remember, those who collect the best will get rewarded."

Wu QiaoHua smiled and sighed in relief, glad Xin Mei was here. "Then let's go."

Xin Mei nodded. "Also, the next time we find another guarded plant, Luo Li and Tan Mei, you are to fight the beast with me, while QiaoHua and Peng MinYi lie in waiting." The whole purpose of this trip was to get all disciples to gain more experience fighting beasts and collecting herbs at the same time in order to help their growth as cultivators.

"But I want to help too!" Peng MinYi said, feeling disappointed.

"You will get plenty of time to fight," Wu QiaoHua said with a smile. "But you already fought with me and Xin Mei previously. It's only fair to let Luo Li and Tan Mei do so next."

Peng MinYi looked at Wu QiaoHua's cute smile and nodded dejectedly. "Alright..."

"We have to see if you three can defeat a beast by yourself later, so it'll be good to see where your levels are," Xin Mei explained.

"Ohhh." Wu QiaoHua nodded along with the outer disciples. She didn't really think about letting the outer disciples fight by themselves since it could be dangerous. In fact, she was a bit afraid since she thought she would have to fight with Xin Mei alone the whole time due to the inexperienced outer disciples in their team. She looked at her bright friend and was glad she had someone here to help.

"I wonder how SuSu is doing," Wu QiaoHua wondered as they walked while keeping their eyes on their surroundings.

"Knowing her, she would do fine. You and I ended up together through a fair draw, but SuSu was asked by one of Master Ruan's main disciples to join."

Wu QiaoHua smiled. "I know. Their team may be doing better than ours," she sighed. Wei SuSu was pretty good at planning in advance and her sword moves also swift, which was probably why she was asked to join a good team.

Luo Li glanced at Wu QiaoHua and whispered to Tan Mei, "Hey, Eldest Senior Sister's cousin doesn't seem to be as talented as her. I wanted to join thinking it would be easier with Wu QiaoHua here, but Senior Sister Xin seems to be doing most of the work."

Tan Mei stared at him with her normal baggy eyes. "I know. Though she's not bad and was able to make it and become an inner disciple."

Luo Li sneered. "Probably through her connections. I heard Eldest Senior Sister frequently sent her pills and herbs even when she was an outer disciple..."

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Xin Mei looked at them with fierce eyes and they quickly shut their mouths.

"N-nothing!" Luo Li quickly said. "I just thought it would be good to get more experience."

Xin Mei nodded. "Oh, then I should give you more chances to prove yourselves."

Tan Mei's brows dropped and she felt remorse for even talking with this dunce! She just wanted to get out of the forest without getting hurt. Now it would take more effort... She sighed. She glanced at Xin Mei. It seems Wu QiaoHua also had friends who actually cared for her and weren't just nice to her as a pretense to get closer to Wu LiJing.

After being able to get two more herbs, it was already getting dark and they had to settle down and get ready for the next days, which would be more about survival.

"We need to get a good rest," Xin Mei said. "Thankfully, no matter what, as long as we don't provoke the beasts in this forest, whether it be while the forest is visible or not, we'll be fine."

"We'll have to be extra careful tomorrow," Wu QiaoHua said. The outer disciples nodded in unison. "Then let's gather some firewood and eat the food we packed."

All disciples were given a small storage ring to store dried food for the next three days since the beasts in the forest couldn't be hunted and eaten. There was also a little more space to store their herbs. Once they ate their food, there would be more space for storage in case they grabbed other things. All they had to do was think about the food that was packed and it would pop out in their hands. After they made a fire, they ate and readied themselves for the next day.

Wu LiJing silently ate beef jerky as she watched Wu QiaoHua from afar and smiled, knowing they were doing well. She rested and decided to meet up with Wu QiaoHua tomorrow instead. She had to let Wu QiaoHua grow by herself after all. Wu LiJing didn't show herself and let the team do their work as she grabbed some random herbs and defeated other beasts around to collect a good amount and sell for some money.

After a while of being in the forest, she decided it was a good idea to sell these herbs for a good price in the market. She needed to save up in case she needed to ask for more investigations from Jin RuiYing. Paying others to do your work could be quite expensive. All these years, she learned that money could solve a lot of things.

Wu LiJing laid down on the big tree branch and closed her eyes.

When it was dawn, Wu LiJing awoke. She stretched a little and looked around. She was still on a branch, however, the distance from the ground had increased twofold. Insects and birds could be heard flying and chirping, compared to the complete silence from before. The trees also looked older and lusher than before because of much taller and bigger trunks and branches.

She heard some close chirping and looked to her left - there was a nest of birds. No, they weren't normal birds; they were blue bird beasts with a red mohawk. She looked closer and noticed that the nest was made of dead spiritual herbs and grass. The mother bird was currently feeding her bridlings. The forest was definitely more lively compared to before.

Wu LiJing stood up and looked around for Wu QiaoHua's team. They couldn't be seen, meaning they were elsewhere due to the change of the forest. She frowned. She should've stayed closer. She closed her eyes and tried to sense her chi from Wu QiaoHua's body. After a moment, she opened her eyes.

Just as she was flying in the air silently, while hiding behind the trees, she suddenly paused and landed quietly on a tall branch. Her eyes narrowed. There was a group of people dressed in teal clothing.

As she looked closer at their uniform, she contemplated. Did other sects have their disciples enter as a form of test as well? She decided to move in closer.

A pretty woman with clear eyes and pouting lips was standing in front of four other males. Her expensive golden hairpins hanging from her two braided buns on her head sparkled from the sunlight as she moved. Her teal clothing seemed to be made of a different material compared to the other disciples, and a fancy teal whip with gold engravings could be seen hanging on her side.

"Why is it so hard to find someone in here?! It could be dangerous if we don't find that man soon... what if he already escaped?" The pretty woman bit her lips nervously.

A very tall man with a pronounced jaw replied with a calm face, "Senior Sister, please calm down. We were able to track him here. Since the forest has already changed, he can't escape easily. We just have to find him before the two days are over."

Lin YaWen looked at the expressionless face of the man before her and sighed. "I know. I know, Niu. But Master has given us this important mission and we let him escape to the east. If she knew, she would be angry with us." 

Wu LiJing frowned. They were here on a mission? After a moment longer of listening, she stealthily retreated and went around in order to reach Wu QiaoHua's team.

On the way, she spotted one of their disciples alone, fighting with a two-headed wolf that was twice his size. She flew over before its claws reached the inner disciple and swung her sword. A flash of light hit the wolf and it was pushed back.

"Eldest Senior Sister!" The disciple smiled with hope. His robes were a mess and blood could be seen, dripping from both of his arms.

The wolf turned its attention to Wu LiJing and growled, showing its large canine teeth. Her body emitted a cold aura and she flew towards it at the same time that it jumped towards her.

She twisted her body to create momentum and swung her sword with a bigger release of chi this time. The wolf was hit again and crashed to the ground. However, it did not give up and quickly got up, baring its fangs. It attacked with its claws and Wu LiJing quickly dodged in the brink of time.

"Be careful, Eldest Senior Sister!"

"Stay back," she said.

Wu LiJing gripped her sword and jumped, however, this time, it let out a howl that was deafening to the ears. She frowned and felt her eardrums throb as she fell to the ground. She landed on her feet and furrowed her brows.

She swung her sword towards it but felt her chi attack weaken suddenly, and it missed the wolf. The howl was refraining her from using her full power. The wolf stopped howling and tried to bite her with its two heads. Her chi release was unstable...

But it couldn't stop her from using her body strength. Instead of focusing on using spiritual energy, she ran forward and slid under the large wolf. With all of her arm strength and just a little chi focused on the tip of her blade, she swerved her sword sideways. One of the wolf's forelegs separated from its body and it cried in pain as blood gushed out from the wound.

"You better escape now if you don't want to suffer," she warned as she raised her sword. The wolf growled louder in anger and one of its head attacked her. Wu LiJing jumped up to avoid its head and swung her sword six times in quick succession. It was so fast, the Moon Sect disciple watching was in awe when the wolf suddenly froze and fell to the side, both of its head rolling on the ground first.

"E-eldest Senior Sister! That was amazing!" the disciple smiled and ran over to her. He quickly bowed.

"Thank you!" Sheng Ai had thought he would die but he didn't expect to run into Wu LiJing! He suddenly felt his eyes get a little wet.

Wu LiJing swung her sword once to get rid of the blood and sheathed her sword. She looked at the disciple. "Where are the rest?" It wouldn't be good if they were in trouble as well. Since her master did task her with looking after the sect disciples, she couldn't just ignore them.

Sheng Ai's face suddenly fell. "I became separated from my team when we entered this area. There was suddenly a steam of fog and when I looked back, I was alone and lost. Then I seemed to have stepped on a precious herb by accident since I couldn't really see well and was attacked by this two-headed wolf..."

Wu LiJing also noticed that this area was more foggy than before. "Where's the herb?"

"Ah!" Sheng Ai quickly brought her to the single herb the wolf was guarding. It was a Purple Bean Sprout. It aided in draining normal poisons from the body. Although it had been stepped on, it was still alive and standing.

He quickly uprooted it and presented it to Wu LiJing with both hands respectfully. "Here, Eldest Senior Sister!"

Wu LiJing stared at the plant and then at him. She sighed. "I don't need it." She turned around.

"What?" He looked up at her and blinked. "T-then..." Where was he to put the plant? It was his? "Eldest Senior Sister! It wouldn't be fair; I didn't even defeat the wolf!"

Wu LiJing glanced at him. "We should find your teammates."

He stared at her and then smiled brightly. "Yes, Eldest Senior Sister! Thank you!" He happily put the herb away in his space ring.

After he treated his wounds with the simple medicine in the ring provided from the sect, he quickly followed Wu LiJing silently. After a while of walking, they came upon his teammates. He happily ran towards them. When he turned back to thank Wu LiJing, she was already gone.

"Where's Eldest Senior Sister? Eldest Senior Sister!"

"Sheng Ai! What are you talking about?"

Sheng Ai frowned. "Eldest Senior Sister helped me when I was attacked earlier and even led me back here!" He just wanted to thank her again.

"Eldest Senior Sister? Really? Are you hallucinating?" His teammate laughed.

"Really! Eldest Senior Sister helped me when I almost died from a two-headed beast!" Sheng Ai tried to convince his teammates as he showed them his wounds.