David Carter had watched Emma Sullivan grow up since she was a child, so the moment he saw her furrow her brows, he knew exactly what she wanted to ask.

“This year’s Autumn Hunt will be in teams of six, led by senior brothers or sisters. Although teams are formed freely, with no restrictions on spiritual roots or cultivation level, it’s best if each team can gather all five elemental spiritual roots, and there must be at least one Golden Core cultivator to anchor the group.”

Emma Sullivan understood.

She looked eagerly at David Carter, as if it were only natural, “Senior brother, then I’ll team up with you.” No need to worry about teammates anymore.

Senior Brother Carter would naturally find good ones.

“Little junior sister, you know that your senior brother is always very popular in the entire Sword Sect.”

David Carter patted her shoulder, speaking earnestly, “This time, for the Autumn Hunt, you’ll have to work hard on your own, little junior sister. I’ve already formed my team.”

Besides, the two new students in his team were both quite strong. They had just learned the Qianhua Sword Technique and were already performing it with impressive skill.

Emma Sullivan wilted like an eggplant hit by frost, looking dejected.

She’d only been down the mountain for three days—how did it feel like the whole world had changed?

“There’s still more than a month before the Autumn Hunt. You can take your time considering your team, little junior sister. But you can’t slack off on your studies—you wouldn’t want to lose face in front of your junior brothers and sisters, would you?”

“……”

Very good, Senior Brother Carter had successfully grasped her weak spot.

Emma Sullivan cradled her assignments and returned to her own small courtyard.

Although she attended classes with the newly admitted disciples, she had her own private residence and didn’t have to squeeze in with others.

The window was wide open, and from a distance, she could see a mountain of scrolls piled on the desk, along with a stack of papers similar to the ones she was holding.

She had just taken a couple of steps when a gust of wind blew the top sheet of paper right onto her face.

With good temper, Emma Sullivan peeled the paper off her face, and the first thing she saw were a few vermilion characters: “After-class Exercises for Lesson One of the Thirteen Histories of Jian Zhen.”

She took a few more steps and found a sheet of white paper lying at her feet.

After picking it up, she saw similar words written on the back.

If only she hadn’t picked it up!

Which senior brother had delivered these assignments, swaggering up to leave them by the window, not even bothering to close it or weigh them down with a book?

In the Sutra Depository, a disciple dressed in snow-white robes couldn’t help but sneeze several times in a row. With a wave of his sleeve, the doors and windows all slammed shut.

Where did that evil wind come from, giving him a chill?

Looking closely, the cultivation manual he’d half-copied was now blotched with ink. Great, he’d have to copy it all over again.

After much effort, Emma Sullivan finally finished picking up all the papers scattered around the courtyard. She opened a book, ready to study seriously and finish the assignments Senior Brother Carter had left her.

Outside, there came the sound of things bumping and clattering—sometimes a crash, sometimes a swish. Emma Sullivan raised her hand to cover her ears, blocking out the noise.

“Crash—” A whole tree’s worth of flowers fluttered and fell.

A sword aura descended from the sky next door, slicing her courtyard’s silk tree into several pieces. The sword energy shook the tree so that all the pink blossoms fell like a sky full of feathers.

“Achoo…” Emma Sullivan rubbed her nose, feeling a bit itchy, and couldn’t stop sneezing several times.

Whose sword aura was that, flying around everywhere?

She could vaguely hear voices from across the way: “Brother Zhu, your Qianhua Sword Technique is truly masterful!”

Olivia Foster rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed by the praise.

“I’m still not very skilled with it. I just cut down the tree next door—hope I didn’t hurt anyone.”

“We’ve been practicing swordplay here for two days, and there hasn’t been a peep from the other side. I figure no one lives there.”

“If you’re really worried, I’ll climb the wall and take a look at the tree next door…”

Emma Sullivan waved her hand, setting up a barrier to block out the commotion outside.

Over there, someone finally managed to climb up to the top of the wall, only to find everything shrouded in mist. “Huh? Why can’t I see anything? Where’s that silk tree? It was just there…”

That doesn’t make sense. Such a big, lush silk tree—could it really have been turned to dust by Brother Reed’s sword aura?

Olivia Foster heard him muttering on the wall, not sure what he was saying. After hesitating a moment, he too climbed up.

All he could see was a vast expanse of white, with only a few faint pink dots visible through the shifting mist.

Thank goodness, the silk tree hadn’t been completely destroyed.

Chapter 15: The Dream Abyss Secret Realm

Time flew by, and soon it was the day of the Autumn Hunt.

Emma Sullivan had also formed her team.

Senior sister Sarah Green from the Disciplinary Hall, dual gold and water spiritual roots, main gold, mid-stage Golden Core.

Senior brother Daniel King, dual gold and water spiritual roots, main water, late-stage Golden Core.

New disciples: James Scott, dual wood and fire spiritual roots, main fire; John Walker, dual gold and earth spiritual roots, main earth; Lily Bennett, single wood spiritual root.

Their team had three Golden Core cultivators in total, which was considered very strong. In other teams, there were at most two Golden Cores; more commonly, the teams consisted of one Golden Core, two Foundation Establishment cultivators, and three new disciples.

The reason Emma Sullivan’s team had three Golden Cores was partly due to luck. Sarah Green and Daniel King both happened to have gold and water spiritual roots—gold gives birth to beautiful water, and their cooperation was naturally more powerful. What’s more, they were a Daoist couple, so of course they wouldn’t split up.

So when they found Emma Sullivan, it resulted in a three-Golden-Core team, and their overall strength instantly jumped up a notch.

As for Nascent Soul cultivators, they did not participate in the Autumn Hunt.

“Little junior sister, your team is really strong this year. Are you aiming for the top spot?” David Carter came over with a cheerful greeting.