The Speedrun Begins with Choosing Hunter

"Ugh... Nnh..."

Zhou Yun awoke groggily to complete darkness, only faintly discerning several iron bars.

Yes, iron bars.

Each one was as thick as a wrist and looked incredibly sturdy.

With her experience, she could tell at a glance that these bars were forged from high-quality darksteel. Not even a military expert known for their immense strength could break them.

Of course, back at the Celestial Profound Sect, they would have been reinforced with talismans, but a place as small as Ling Province likely wouldn’t have a Talisman Master.

The Martial Dao was so widespread because everyone had a chance to practice it, but there were many other Great Daos in the world.

As stray thoughts surfaced, Zhou Yun felt a fiery sting on her right cheek, which was now clearly swollen.

She didn’t entertain any foolish thoughts about why her captor hadn’t shown her any mercy.

Zhou Yun tried to struggle to her feet, but she found her body was sore and weak, completely unable to move.

"Sigh..."

Zhou Yun let out a soft sigh.

’If only I hadn’t come searching for immortals with Senior Brother Xu,’ she thought. ’Now look at this mess. Xu Hui’s fate is unknown, and I’ve been imprisoned.’

Just as she was feeling dejected, a familiar voice sounded.

"You’re from the Celestial Profound Sect?"

Zhou Yun snapped her head up. In the pitch-black darkness, she could vaguely make out a figure hidden in the shadows.

"You searched me?"

Zhou Yun suddenly retorted.

"Of course."

The person’s reply was blunt.

"..."

Zhou Yun fell silent. After a long moment, she spoke again. "Are you from the Divine Mansion Sect?"

Before she had even finished speaking, the young man she had seen at the foot of the mountain slowly emerged from the darkness.

By the faint moonlight, Zhou Yun could see he was a very ordinary man, handsome at best.

Bai Yuan gazed at the unfamiliar female disciple from the Celestial Profound Sect before him, but he didn’t answer her question.

"What did you come here for?"

Just a moment ago, while he was on the main peak, he had suddenly felt a slight tremor. Though it was faint, his keen perception told him something was wrong.

Moreover, he was surprised to discover that the source of the vibration coincided with the location of the Tier Eight Great Demon.

So, Bai Yuan had immediately rushed over.

When he arrived at the foot of the mountain, he happened to see Zhou Yun fleeing down the mountain in a panic.

Zhou Yun fell silent again. "Believe it or not, my senior brother and I came here to search for immortals."

"..."

This was the first time Bai Yuan had heard such a refreshingly unconventional reason.

Anyone else would have thought the woman before him was playing a trick, but only someone like Bai Yuan, who knew of the Divine Mansion’s existence, would understand that this Celestial Profound Sect disciple had come looking for the Divine Mansion.

"Your senior brother?"

He pressed on.

Zhou Yun sighed softly. "My senior brother loves to search for immortals. He heard there was an Immortal Cave Mansion here, so he came to investigate..."

She concisely recounted everything that had happened that day.

Her senior brother, Xu Hui, was now missing and his fate unknown, and the young man before her was clearly from the Divine Mansion Sect.

There was nothing shameful about today’s events, and she might even be able to get help from the Divine Mansion Sect.

The name of the Celestial Profound Sect still carried a lot of weight in the Northern Territory.

Bai Yuan’s expression finally changed.

’All roads lead to the same destination. The ancients were right,’ he thought.

Besides Demon Hunters, this woman’s senior brother, Xu, had actually discovered the Divine Mansion’s existence through another method.

The reason the Divine Mansion had remained undiscovered for so many years wasn’t because the seekers were not strong enough, but because their expertise wasn’t a match.

As for the white light that had enveloped Xu Hui, Bai Yuan guessed it must have been the work of that Tier Eight Great Demon.

Zhou Yun said, "I’ve told you everything I know. Can you let me go now?"

"No."

Bai Yuan refused decisively, then turned and walked out of the cell.

Not long after he left the cell, Yu Hui approached him.

"Sect Leader, how should we handle this female disciple from the Celestial Profound Sect?"

Bai Yuan mused for a moment. "Keep her locked up for now."

If she were a disciple from any other sect, he would have killed her to silence her without a second thought.

But the Celestial Profound Sect was the number one sect in the Northern Territory. Even Jiang Changping wouldn’t dare to offend them lightly.

Now that the disciple surnamed Xu had disappeared on Shenfu Mountain, the matter was impossible to explain clearly.

’You can know a person’s face but not their heart.’ He still couldn’t be sure if the female disciple named Zhou Yun was telling the truth. Besides, even if he released her, there was no guarantee the Celestial Profound Sect would see it that way.

They might even covet the Divine Mansion, causing the Divine Mansion Sect to repeat its past mistakes.

In short, this female disciple of the Celestial Profound Sect absolutely could not be released.

’If the Celestial Profound Sect investigates, the worst-case scenario is that I deny ever seeing them,’ he resolved.

...

「Three days later.」

The Celestial Profound Sect finally arrived in Ling Province.

"Daoist Cangsong, it’s been a long time."

The Prefect of Lingzhou, Jiang Changping, personally came to greet them, smiling at the old Daoist with an immortal-like bearing who walked at the very front.

Although the old Daoist looked to be no more than seventy, he was actually over one hundred and twenty years old—a true old monster.

"Lord Jiang."

Cangsong Zhenren performed a Daoist salute.

He and Jiang Changping had met once twenty years ago at Bailu Academy. The Celestial Profound Sect had gone to Bailu Academy for a Martial Dao exchange, and at the time, Jiang Changping had been an Instructor at the academy and one of the participants.

However, this scholar from Bailu Academy had later traded his brush for a sword, rising through the ranks to become a General and then a Prefect. Now, his status was equal to Cangsong’s own.

"Everyone from the Celestial Profound Sect has traveled a long way. Please, settle in and rest first."

Jiang Changping waved his hand, and a group of young servants efficiently led the members of the Celestial Profound Sect to an inn next to the Prefecture Magistrate’s Office.

The Celestial Profound Sect had only taken action after being personally persuaded by the current Grand Tutor. Naturally, the various Prefecture Magistrate’s Offices didn’t dare to be neglectful, or they would be slapping the Grand Tutor in the face.

The relationship between the Xuan Yang Court and the sects had always been delicate.

Although His Majesty the Emperor intended to unify the Jianghu, he still had to rely on these sects to govern the vast territory and resist the Northern Demon Sect.

That was why the previous Prefect, even if he wanted to deal with the Divine Mansion Sect, had to do so under the pretext of fighting the Demon Sect.

Even so, the slightest misstep would have resulted in his demotion.

But being an official was always a matter of "advance or be pushed back," and that Prefect had no other choice.

The members of the Celestial Profound Sect settled into the inn.

Jiang Changping, meanwhile, returned to the Prefecture Magistrate’s Office to handle his affairs.

In Cangsong Taoist’s room, a Little Daoist Child lit a stick of incense made from Agarwood, and a wisp of blue smoke curled upward.

"Xu Hui and Zhou Yun still haven’t returned?"

Cangsong Taoist spoke slowly, his eyes closed as he sat cross-legged on the bed.

"Senior Brother Xu and Senior Sister Zhou have not yet returned."

"Nonsense."

Cangsong Taoist snorted coldly.

The hands of the Little Daoist Child holding the incense couldn’t help but tremble.

After a long silence, Cangsong Taoist finally spoke again. "Have your Senior Brother Chen go to Huanglong Prefecture, find those two, and bring them back."

"Yes."

The Little Daoist Child, as if granted amnesty, hurriedly turned and walked out the door.

After the door closed, Cangsong Taoist slowly opened his eyes.

The heritage of the Celestial Profound Sect was intricate and complex. Broadly speaking, it was divided into the lineages of the Three Religions, but the smaller subdivisions were too numerous to count.

The Daoist Sect alone had no fewer than a dozen branches. The branch belonging to Xu Hui and Zhou Yun’s master was currently powerful, and even he did not want to offend them.

If that weren’t the case, how would Xu Hui have dared to sneak away?

’He’s just found himself a good backer, that’s all.’

’As for that nonsense about searching for immortals?’

’A fool’s dream!’

...

「In the dungeons of the Divine Mansion Sect.」

"What will it take for you to let me go?"

Zhou Yun looked helplessly at the young man before her.

She had been trapped here for three full days. Of course, she had thought about escaping, but the poison in her system was too potent, and all her antidotes had been confiscated, leaving her no chance of escape.

The man before her would come to see her every so often. He rarely spoke, and most of the time, she was just talking to herself.

Zhou Yun was truly getting fed up with these sunless days.

She came from a prominent family; when had she ever been wronged like this?

However, she also knew that the wisest thing to do right now was to not provoke the man in front of her. Otherwise, the consequences would be far more than she could bear.

Bai Yuan stared expressionlessly at the woman from the major sect.

The Celestial Profound Sect truly lived up to its reputation as a major sect of the Northern Territory; Zhou Yun possessed techniques he had never seen before.

If he hadn’t secretly increased the dosage of the Water Spirit, Zhou Yun might have actually managed to forcefully dissolve it with her internal energy.

To have reached the threshold of the Zhigan realm before the age of thirty was as rare as a phoenix feather in Ling Province. Even for someone on the path of a Three Religions Martial Master, it was astonishingly impressive.

But the question of how to deal with Zhou Yun was giving him a major headache.

Lu Shanshan had already received intelligence that Cangsong Taoist of the Celestial Profound Sect had arrived in Ling Province with a group of disciples.

The unexplained disappearance of two disciples in Huanglong Prefecture would certainly attract Cangsong Taoist’s attention.

With the current strength of Bai Yuan and the Divine Mansion Sect, they were no match for a behemoth like the Celestial Profound Sect and had to proceed with caution.

"Hey, don’t go."

"Whatever you want, we can negotiate."

Seeing Bai Yuan turn and leave without a word, Zhou Yun grew even more frantic.

Disciples of major sects were, in fact, the most afraid of death. She was no different and really didn’t want to die so absurdly in a small province in the Northern Lands.

Bai Yuan walked out of the cell.

"I’ll leave this to Commander Yu’s care."

Yu Hui smiled and nodded. "Sect Leader, you can rest assured."

Normally, a small matter like guarding the dungeon wouldn’t require his personal attention. But the Celestial Profound Sect behind Zhou Yun was too powerful, forcing them to be cautious. Otherwise, if anything went wrong, the consequences would be unimaginable.

The Celestial Profound Sect acted with extreme arrogance in the Northern Territory and was no stranger to matters like wiping out entire sects at the slightest provocation.

Don’t be fooled by Murong Tian’s previous carefree appearance; the position of Sect Leader was not an easy one to hold.

Now, although Murong Tian’s cultivation was crippled, he was enjoying a rare period of leisure.

It was said that he had even taken in three beautiful maids recently.

Everyone in the Divine Mansion Sect knew that the Meng Ruo Sect Master was not one for women. It seemed now that he had just been too busy—so busy he didn’t even have time to sow his wild oats. Only recently had he finally let his true nature loose.

Now that Bai Yuan was the Sect Leader, he understood this feeling deeply.

They say power is the best aphrodisiac, and the feeling of deciding life and death with a single word was indeed an easy one to get lost in.

A single sentence from him now could change a person’s destiny. Such was the power of authority.

...

「A secluded inn in Huanglong Prefecture.」

"Senior Brother Chen, Senior Brother Xu and Senior Sister Zhou disappeared on Shenfu Mountain."

A Little Daoist Child said.

This Little Daoist Child had a tender face and was barely three feet tall, yet his expression was that of a solemn old man.

The other person in the room, a middle-aged Daoist, nodded. "Understood."

These two were Chen Qing and Luo Zhenyi, who had come to Huanglong Prefecture on orders from Cangsong Taoist to investigate the whereabouts of Xu Hui and Zhou Yun.