Chapter 7: Assessment Mission

Xingxi knelt perfectly upright, her silver cloak, embroidered with brilliant stars, unstained by a speck of dust. She had spent six hours traveling thousands of miles to Kunka, where she had slain thirty-seven enemies who were sabotaging a Dark Star branch. Not a single drop of their blood had touched her. Yet, no sooner had she returned than the next mission arrived.

This was nothing unusual for her; what she had not expected was the specific query posed by the tombstone.

"Where is the Prince?"

Xingxi’s nature was indifferent and cold, but that did not mean she lacked the capacity for thought. While the title "Prince" was unfamiliar to her, she understood instantly whom the tombstone meant.

"I will take you to him."

With these words, Xingxi rose, tapped the tombstone lightly with her finger, and vanished from the spot. She had not truly disappeared; she was merely moving at incredible speed. She darted above the dense forest, traversing thousands of meters in mere seconds, and appeared before Su Ziye.

Su Ziye had not yet finished his roasted meat.

"Have you changed your mind?" Su Ziye asked, unsurprised by her arrival, as he held up a skewer.

Behind Xingxi, the black tombstone, seemingly drawn by invisible threads, finally arrived before Su Ziye as well.

"Your Highness," the tombstone spoke calmly. The voice was no longer the elderly male tone from before, but had shifted to an unfamiliar female voice.

"Have you come to respond to my previous request?" Su Ziye asked, looking at the tombstone.

"Following the deliberation of the Star-Track Council, we have, in principle, accepted your request to join the Dark Star," the tombstone replied unhurriedly.

"In principle? So that means you haven't actually agreed yet, right?" Su Ziye said with a smile.

"Correct, for we require the Prince to prove his potential," the tombstone replied placidly.

"And how should I prove it?" Su Ziye was not surprised.

"The one beside you is our weapon, the most outstanding being ever created by the Dark Star. At the age of fifteen, in the Forest of the Fallen Sun, she successfully slew a Heaven-tier magical beast and obtained its magic crystal core, marking the final stage of the Weapon Project." The tombstone stood suspended in the void. "At that time, she had not yet reached the Heaven-tier."

"Because of this, she became one of the overlords within the Forest of the Fallen Sun, granted the right to maintain her own territory. With our permission, she has spent most of her time living within those borders."

"And your point is?" Su Ziye asked.

"Your Highness, you have also yet to step into the Heaven-tier, though you possess the Blade of Desolation and, in effect, Heaven-tier combat strength," the tombstone explained further. "We require you to hunt a Heaven-tier magical beast within the next month and obtain its crystal core. This process will be supervised by the weapon throughout."

The tombstone turned its attention to Xingxi: "Likewise, for the coming month, until the Prince completes his mission, you shall receive no new orders."

Xingxi knelt silently, burying her face into the rotting leaves on the ground to signify her acceptance of the command. The next moment, the tombstone vanished into the void.

Su Ziye smiled, watching the empty space where the tombstone had been, and shrugged with a touch of helplessness. "What, do you really view me as a monster on her level?"

"Or perhaps, if I’m not on her level, I’m not qualified to join your Dark Star?"

Su Ziye turned to look at Xingxi. "Look, you’ve become my nanny now. Would you like to sit down and have something to eat?"

Xingxi did not answer. She merely watched Su Ziye quietly, her golden eyes, usually devoid of emotion, holding a flicker of complexity.

"Why?" she asked softly.

"If I said it was because of you, would you believe me?" Su Ziye smiled.

"Never trust me. I am not worthy of anyone's trust," Xingxi said calmly, then took a step back.

With that single step, she faded into the darkness. Yet, Su Ziye knew she had not gone far. Her current mission was to supervise his hunt for a Heaven-tier beast; therefore, she would observe him from the shadows twenty-four hours a day—though, of course, without any protection.

Su Ziye sighed and continued to eat his roasted meat in silence. Only when he had finished all his supplies did he wipe his greasy lips, look into the void ahead, and ask, "If I were to kill something in your territory now, would you drive me out?"

After a brief pause, Xingxi’s reply came through—perhaps she feared Su Ziye might actually try it.

"I would."

"Aren't you worried that I might die and cause your mission to fail?" Su Ziye asked in a bored tone.

"That would count as a failure of your assessment," Xingxi replied logically. "Adapting to the environment of the Forest of the Fallen Sun and surviving is a mandatory part of the trial."

"I forgot that this was once your own assessment," Su Ziye said with a hint of self-mockery.

"Can you come out and keep me company?" the youth asked.

There was no answer from the darkness. Su Ziye knew he had asked in vain.

"Then, can you tell me how many of you were left to participate in the final assessment back then?" he asked.

"If I recall correctly, twenty-seven children were chosen from two tribes."

"How many were left by that stage?"

There was a moment of silence in the darkness before the reply came.

"Seven."

"A decent number," Su Ziye said, smiling at the sky. "So, seven children ended up killing the teachers who raised them, right?"

A faint, sharp killing intent rippled through the darkness, but it lasted only a fleeting moment before calm returned. Su Ziye wiped a cold sweat from his forehead.

"Let's change the subject."

"In the end, how many managed to kill a Heaven-tier beast and obtain their cores?"

This time, the answer came from the dark.

"Seven."

"So it’s that easy, then," Su Ziye chuckled. "Though I feel like I might not be able to do it." He looked into the shadows. "As far as I know, out of the twenty-seven in the final Weapon Project, you are the only one alive today."

"Why, exactly, is that?"

The answer from the darkness came without hesitation.

"Because I helped them kill their targets."

"And so, an additional assessment was added."

"During that assessment, I killed them."

"I see," Su Ziye said with a smile.

"You killed the teachers who raised and taught you, and you killed all the companions you grew up with. In this world, is there anything left for you to care about?" he asked.

The darkness remained silent for a long time—so long that Su Ziye thought she would not answer.

"No."