The First Summoner - Chapter 72

On the journey to Western Region Academy, the roc had to stop and rest periodically.

Eight days passed. The first part of the trip went smoothly, but as Shen Yan approached the great kingdoms and factions, the conspicuous roc could no longer fly openly.

She continued on foot, intending to buy a horse in the next city.

The purchase went smoothly. She also bought food and clothing and stored them away.

As she rode toward the city gate, she sensed several people secretly watching her.

She remained calm and left the city.

Soon afterward, several shifty-looking men surrounded her with lecherous smiles.

“Little girl, hand over your valuables and serve us well. Then we’ll spare your life!”

Shen Yan pulled the reins with her left hand and stopped her horse. She regarded them indifferently; she could sense that their cultivation was around the seventh level of the Yellow-rank realm.

The Spirit Phoenix Divine Sword materialized in her right hand.

“Those who block my road die.”

The men laughed.

Before they could dismiss her threat, the young woman in purple swung from horseback. A blade of gale tore through the air.

Clang—

One strike sent them flying.

As they screamed, she vanished from the saddle and reappeared with her sword at their throats.

Her speed gave them no chance to escape.

She beheaded every one. Two heads were carried some distance by the sword wind.

Passing travelers stared and hurriedly took another road.

Seeing storage rings on the corpses, Shen Yan bent to collect them. Then her sharp gaze snapped toward one of the severed heads.

A large hand rose from the ground and smacked the bloody head aside.

It rolled away like a ball.

Shen Yan straightened at once and gripped her sword.

“Who put a head over the exit to our passage?!” a voice shouted.

Thick grass concealed the hole. A hand pushed it aside, and a boy of sixteen or seventeen poked his head out.

He had handsome, well-proportioned features, striking long red hair dusted with soil, and bright black, catlike eyes filled with youthful energy.

Their gazes met.

He surveyed the area and frowned. “Did you block the entrance with that head?”

“Not intentionally.”

Shen Yan glanced around the mouth of the tunnel, wondering where it led. And that red hair—was he a member of Chifeng Kingdom’s imperial family?

Someone suddenly tugged the youth downward, and he disappeared.

Shen Yan turned to leave, but another voice called, “Second Miss Shen?”

She stopped and looked back with an unreadable gaze.

The man emerging from the hole was Zhuge Weiran, Seventh Prince of Chifeng Kingdom.

Shen Xue’s party had harmed him badly in Lingyan Forest, but he now looked fully healed, with good color and a faint smile.

“Seventh Prince.” Shen Yan nodded in greeting and prepared to mount.

“Where are you going, Second Miss Shen?”

“Western Region Academy.”

She did not conceal it. Zhuge Weiran had struck her as upright and decent.

He seemed unsurprised. “We’re also going there for the entrance test. Would you like to travel with us?”

Shen Yan looked at him doubtfully. Only his upper body stood above ground.

“How?”

“We have an underground passage that reaches Western Region City much faster.”

The red-haired boy shouted from below, “Pay us and we’ll take you! No money, no passage!”

Shen Yan fell silent.

“How much faster?”

“Half the time,” Zhuge Weiran answered.

“How much?”

The boy shouted first. “However much you have! The more, the better!”

Zhuge Weiran looked embarrassed. “My ninth younger brother is rather direct. Since we know each other, you need not pay.”

Shen Yan hesitated.

She knew little about the region’s routes. Despite all her travel, the map indicated she had covered less than a third of the distance.

After considering, she nodded. “Then I’ll trouble you.”

“It is no trouble. I’ll go first. Follow me down.”

“All right.”

When he disappeared, Shen Yan approached the hole. A faint light glowed below.

She put away her sword but remained alert, then jumped through the narrow opening.

Thud.

Her feet touched the ground.

Only Zhuge Weiran and the green-clad boy stood in the dim passage. Numerous skeletons lay around them—some pierced by arrows, others poisoned.

The tunnel contained mechanisms.

Perhaps illusions as well.

The green-clad boy put his hands on his hips and tilted his head.

“So you’re Shen Yan—the former piece of trash who became a genius?”

Shen Yan stared at him.

“Enough, Youlin,” Zhuge Weiran warned.

An old woman’s voice came from the darker passage ahead.

“Have you two had enough fresh air? It’s time to leave!”

Zhuge Youlin answered immediately, “Coming, Great-Aunt!”

Zhuge Weiran pressed a raised section of the wall. A thick iron plate covered the entrance, extinguishing the final sliver of daylight.

He produced a luminous pearl and turned carefully to Shen Yan.

“Let’s go. Follow my exact footsteps, or you’ll trigger the mechanisms.”