He neither brazenly pulled out a medicine pouch, wearing his intent to attack on his face, nor did he display the caution and tension of someone about to face off in battle. He appeared to be full of openings, which paradoxically made it hard to grasp the right moment to counter him. This kind of bearing was something Nancy Fisher was seeing for the first time in someone his own age.

What would he do next?

Would he draw his sword, or go for a more direct punch or kick?

Perhaps waiting for him to make the first move was a mistake from the start.

Unconsciously, Nancy Fisher had already gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

It was at this moment that Brian Carter moved—he turned his body and strode off toward the other end of the fork in the road, as if he hadn’t noticed the tense atmosphere at all.

Nancy Fisher, who had just built up his momentum to its peak, almost choked; it felt like swinging a weapon with all his might at a target, only to hit nothing but air. He covered his mouth and coughed several times before he managed to suppress the surge of blood and energy in his chest.

What on earth… is this guy up to?

Meanwhile, the group of onlookers behind them erupted.

“Hey, where are you going? Get back here!”

“Do you even want the spirit fire or not?”

“Tch, I knew he was a coward. No way he’d dare go up against the Fei family.”

“And to think we were backing you up—how can you just walk away like this?”

The examinees shouted indignantly, treating Brian Carter as a traitor without a second thought.

“If you want the spirit fire, go get it yourself!” Brian Carter shouted back irritably. “What’s the point of just yelling over there? I never said I was going over—I can’t just walk around and enjoy the scenery?”

“E-enjoy the scenery?”

Maybe it was because they’d never heard such a “shameless” answer before, but everyone was momentarily stunned.

Even Nancy Fisher was no exception. He stared at Brian Carter, who was striding away with perfect confidence, and couldn’t come up with a single retort or sarcastic remark.

After all, the exam rules really didn’t say you couldn’t enjoy the scenery!

While everyone was still in a daze, Brian Carter had already circled around the base of the cliff and entered the dense forest.

The path, which had been fairly clear, suddenly became narrow and hidden—probably because no one had walked it for a long time, weeds and shrubs had grown together underfoot, and he had to use his wooden sword to clear the way just to figure out which direction the mountain path went.

According to the innkeeper, this fork would lead all the way up the green mountain, and hardly anyone in town had ever seen where it ended.

Half an hour later, Brian Carter stopped, panting for breath.

Walking in a real forest was no easy task. Never mind the annoying vines underfoot—the dew that clung to the low grass alone was enough to make anyone uncomfortable. After walking for a while, his pant legs and shoes were soaked through, and every step felt like he was trudging through mud.

And then there were the mosquitoes—the mountain mosquitoes didn’t just come out at night, but buzzed around in broad daylight. If it weren’t for the fact that his qi could repel small insects to some extent, he doubted he could have made it this far.

After some investigation, he confirmed that there were no graveyards or burial mounds along this mountain path, so the hope of finding another way to obtain the spirit fire was slim.

He also confirmed one thing: this path was definitely not made by the town’s hunters. Even though it was overgrown, its actual width and smoothness were comparable to the main road in Green Mountain Town—compared to the fork leading to the mountainside, this one actually seemed more like the real main road.

Why would someone build such a wide road on the mountain? Even with the help of a Daoist, it would be a massive project. What was even stranger was, after spending so much effort to build this mountain road, why was it now abandoned?

Unfortunately, with his own abilities, he couldn’t get to the bottom of it.

Just as Brian Carter was about to head back, his wooden sword, which he was using to push aside the weeds, suddenly struck something with a dull clang. The sensation was neither that of a vine nor of a rock jutting out of the ground.

He let out a soft “hmm,” squatted down, and parted the grass.

He saw a badly decayed wooden beam half-buried in the soil, about four fingers wide, its length hard to estimate at a glance. What surprised him was that this piece of wood, which bore obvious marks of planing, didn’t look like something carelessly left behind—about every half meter, there was a wooden peg driven into it, firmly anchoring it to the ground.

On top of the beam were countless long indentations. Though many parts had been eaten away by insects over the years, it was still clear that it had once borne many heavy loads.

It was a track.

Chapter 10: Reunion and Parting

……

Late at night, Brian Carter leaned against the head of his bed, examining a piece of metal he’d found by the track.

It looked like a bronze artifact, about a finger long and two fingers wide. After scraping off the green patina, he could just make out some engraved characters—though the script was hard to recognize, and seemed quite different from the writing currently used in the Great Qi Kingdom.

And that track…

Wooden rails weren’t anything rare. People had long ago come up with the idea of using straight wood to replace bumpy roads; with rollers, you could get things moving. The problem was that wooden beams could only bear so much weight, and were easily eaten by insects, so this kind of special road never became mainstream. No one wanted to spend a fortune building a road that needed repairs every few months—unless they had no choice, or there was an urgent need.