Pursuers

Mo Fan and Teacher Tang Yue were both Shadow Element Mages.

After exchanging a silent signal, they sank into the shadows the moment their opponent launched the next attack, gliding toward the position of the restrained Swift Star Wolf.

Their opponent had seen through the plan. Realizing Mo Fan and Tang Yue meant to free the Swift Star Wolf, the enemy stopped holding back on Magical Energy and directly deployed intermediate-level Plant Element magic, conjuring a Kun Grove around the beast and cutting off any chance of using it to escape.

Whoever it was, they were clever — staying hidden while using Plant Element magic to pin them down, clearly stalling for reinforcements.

It was a wise strategy. Tang Yue was already a High-Level Mage; if the enemy showed themselves, Tang Yue would cut them down in an instant.

Tang Yue maintained her Shadow Fade. Her mastery of the technique was far more refined than Mo Fan's — she could move at speed while splitting off two semi-substantial afterimages.

Those two afterimages took Mo Fan's place, circling through the Kun Grove to keep the Plant Element Mage occupied. As long as Tang Yue didn't reveal herself, the enemy would keep assuming both of them were still in there.

Mo Fan had already slipped free of the Kun Grove's range using Shadow Fade. He extended his Mental Intent, sensing the fluctuations of magic, and quickly pinpointed the Plant Element Mage's location.

Parting a patch of dense grass ahead, Mo Fan spotted a female Trainee Tribunal Agent standing some distance away beneath the tall growth. Her hands moved ceaselessly, faint green light swirling around her, Star Trails and Star Charts flickering into view in rapid succession...

He had to admit — this Trainee Tribunal Agent was a serious talent. Her command of Plant Element magic was far beyond Mu Nujiao's.

What she hadn't noticed was Mo Fan, slipping silently toward her under Shadow Fade.

"Enjoy standing out here in the cold!" Mo Fan's silhouette slowly materialized, a shadow Star Trail taking shape soundlessly beneath his feet.

"Who's there!" She was top-tier even among elites — the instant Mo Fan finished tracing the Star Trail, she caught the scent of darkness closing in.

"Little Dragon Girl — I'm your Yin Zhiping!" Mo Fan called out with a thoroughly scandalous grin, practically dripping with swagger.

A Giant Shadow Nail was already pinched between his fingers. The moment his laughter rang out, it flew without a whisper of sound — so silent it didn't disturb a single blade of grass, less a weapon than a ghost.

"Shameless!" the female Trainee Tribunal Agent snapped, flushing with fury.

Her gaze swept the area as she directed the surrounding vines with both hands, moving swiftly to lock onto Mo Fan's position.

The vines were just about to strike when a sudden chill pierced through her chest. The Trainee Tribunal Agent felt her entire body seize — a cold that reached to the very depths of her soul had locked onto the core of her being, leaving her unable to move so much as a muscle.

Most restraining techniques only controlled the bodies of Mages and Demon-Beasts, but the Shadow Element's Giant Shadow Nail carried an additional effect: shackling the mind. This was Mo Fan's first time using the second-level Giant Shadow Nail, and of all places, he'd ended up deploying it against a female Trainee Tribunal Agent in the middle of nowhere.

Body restrained, mind shackled — she was utterly helpless. Were he not so pressed for time, Mo Fan wouldn't have minded reenacting some of the more disreputable exploits of a certain Jin Yong character. But time was short, and he had a certain imperious lady with her snake in tow waiting on him.

"Until we meet again, gorgeous." Mo Fan tossed out a parting line, then dissolved into shadow and vanished into the moonlit darkness.

The Trainee Tribunal Agent stared after him, eyes burning with fury and humiliation, catching only the faint outline of Mo Fan's smirk fading into the dark.

Back where Tang Yue and the Swift Star Wolf were waiting, Mo Fan found that Tang Yue had already freed the beast from the tangle of vines binding it.

"It's injured. We'll have to move on foot," Tang Yue said, pointing to the wounds on the Swift Star Wolf's legs where the barbed vines had torn through.

"That girl's no pushover — she managed to hurt my Summoned Beast on the first move," Mo Fan remarked.

"Everyone selected as a Trainee Tribunal Agent is at the top of their field. Don't take them lightly," Tang Yue warned.

"Understood." Mo Fan gave a nod.

Without the Swift Star Wolf, the two had no choice but to press forward using Shadow Fade.

The area was thick with tall grass that rose as high as trees, and the moonlight cast deep, clear shadows across the ground. As long as their Magical Energy held out, they could keep moving through the darkness.

In the moonlight, their shadow-forms were like the swift silhouettes of low-flying birds — flickering between the towering grass clusters and vanishing in an instant, moving at tremendous speed.

What neither of them could have anticipated, however, was what appeared less than a kilometer behind them: several pairs of wings.

No matter how fast they moved, they couldn't outrun someone capable of flight. Mo Fan let out a rueful smile and turned to Tang Yue. "Our big friend didn't doze off, did it? How did it miss Mages with wings? I can't handle something at that level."

"Don't worry — they can't be High-Level Mages. Most likely a Trainee Tribunal Agent with Wing Enchanted Gear and a Summoning Element Mage with a flying Summoned Beast," Tang Yue said.

Mo Fan found zero comfort in those words.

*A Trainee Tribunal Agent with Wing Enchanted Gear.*

He knew how staggeringly expensive Wing Enchanted Gear was — there was no Intermediate-Level Mage anywhere who could realistically afford it. Just how wealthy did that flying Trainee Tribunal Agent have to be to possess such an extravagant luxury at their level?

And flying Summoned Beasts? Every one of them was priced at fifty million or more. As a Summoning Element Mage himself, Mo Fan had looked this up long ago. The Tribunal was truly a breeding ground for prodigies — someone actually had a flying Summoned Beast.

"It's a Razorfeather Sparrow — looks like it's in the Ascension Phase," Tang Yue said, her eyes fixed on the creature gleaming against the moonlit sky.

"Servant-class, Ascension Phase?" Mo Fan asked.

"What do you think?"

"..."

Mo Fan felt like screaming. Just a pack of Trainee Tribunal Agents, and every single one of them was freakishly powerful. At least he could use the Skyscraping Snake's senses to steer clear of actual Tribunal Agents — otherwise, with his current strength, he couldn't even take down a full-fledged Tribunal Agent.

"Mo Fan, I haven't been a High-Level Mage for long. There are some high-level spells I can only Release through a Star Chart Book. I'll deal with the Ascension Phase Razorfeather Sparrow and the three Trainee Tribunal Agents on its back — you handle the one with Wing Enchanted Gear." Tang Yue's expression was grave.

"Works for me. I can't stand rich kids flaunting their gear," Mo Fan said.

*An Intermediate-Level Mage with Wing Enchanted Gear...*

He simply couldn't accept it. Someone like that deserved to be dragged down and given a proper beating.