Old Bird's real name was Ryan Walker.
His family had been neighbors with Ethan Carter's family for many years, and Ryan was a little more than a year older than Ethan.
As for how he had ended up with a nickname like "Old Bird," that went all the way back to childhood.
Ryan had been unusually gifted from a young age, especially when it came to projectile weapons. He could use a slingshot with almost supernatural accuracy. Saying that he could hit a bird from a hundred paces away without missing wasn't much of an exaggeration.
Around Ethan's neighborhood, Ryan had been famous for it.
When they were younger, he had often dragged Ethan into the woods to hunt pheasants, turtledoves, pigeons, and whatever else they could find.
Later, Ryan chose to seriously practice archery.
His plan had been simple.
He wanted to take advantage of his natural talent, obtain powerful bow-related Secret Arts and Secret Techniques in the future, and eventually make a name for himself as an archer.
And during his time at the academy, he really had displayed remarkable talent with a bow.
Ryan had been among the previous year's graduating class.
Like Ethan, he had chosen the Mount Pingdu Blessed Land.
But after entering Mount Pingdu, Ryan had completely disappeared.
More than a year had passed without a single piece of news about him.
Such disappearances weren't particularly unusual when dealing with hidden realms.
His family had long since assumed that he had died somewhere inside.
Ethan certainly hadn't expected to find him here.
Yet despite recognizing Ryan, Ethan didn't immediately rush out to help.
Quite the opposite.
He quietly retreated several steps and moved into an even more concealed position, allowing the surrounding trees and vegetation to completely hide his body.
People sometimes joked that the "watch" in Ethan's name might as well mean "sit back and watch from the sidelines."
That interpretation wasn't exactly accurate.
But Ethan really wasn't someone who enjoyed sticking his nose into other people's problems—especially when doing so meant risking his own life.
The strange Mystic Spirit chasing Ryan was obviously quite high-level.
And Ryan himself clearly wasn't some Level 1 or Level 2 rookie.
Ethan had no reason to assume that his own abilities surpassed Ryan's.
After all, Ryan had been trapped inside Mount Pingdu for more than a year.
If he had truly remained here that entire time without ever leaving, his level couldn't possibly be low.
Until Ethan understood the situation more clearly, blindly charging in would be foolish.
Still, he didn't leave.
The bizarre Mystic Spirit was unlike anything Ethan had ever seen.
He had never encountered it in any textbook at the academy, nor had it appeared in any of the information he had gathered about the Mount Pingdu Blessed Land.
That alone suggested it was at least Rare-grade.
It might even be Exceptional-grade.
And judging from its combat strength, its level wasn't low either.
If Ethan could find an opportunity to land the killing blow, there was a chance he might obtain something valuable.
Rare and Exceptional Mystic Spirits weren't creatures people could simply encounter whenever they pleased.
In regions frequented by large numbers of human cultivators, such valuable resources often had to be fought over.
Ethan continued observing while silently estimating the difference between his own strength and that of the Mystic Spirit.
Possibilities flashed through his mind one after another.
Distances.
Timing.
Attack patterns.
Escape routes.
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Ryan stumbled forward and rolled across the ground.
He had barely managed to push himself upright when the Mystic Spirit's enormous crimson hand came crashing down toward his head.
There was no longer enough room to dodge.
Nor did Ryan appear to have enough strength left to try.
Despair appeared in his eyes.
Then—
CRACK!
A black streak shot through the air from behind the Mystic Spirit.
The blade struck its neck.
Its head was severed instantly.
But the black weapon didn't stop there.
Carrying the remaining momentum of the throw, it continued forward and slammed into the tree directly behind Ryan.
The blade sank deep into the bark.
Only then did Ryan finally see what had saved him.
It was a short black blade shaped like a butcher's knife.
Still shaken, Ryan stared as the headless Mystic Spirit collapsed.
Then he looked behind it.
A young man was walking toward him.
Beside that young man stood an enormous white rabbit almost the size of a polar bear.
The person's face looked strangely familiar.
Ryan stared for a moment.
Then his eyes widened.
"Ethan...?"
Shock immediately turned into joy.
He opened his mouth to say something.
Before he could, however, countless crimson particles began emerging from the dead Mystic Spirit's body.
They floated through the air like thousands of glowing fireflies before rapidly gathering toward Ethan's hand.
Within seconds, they condensed into a blood-red crystalline core.
A Mystic Core.
Ethan held it between his fingers and focused his mind on it.
Information immediately appeared.
Secret Technique: Blood Palm Seal — Exceptional
Cultivation Requirement: None
Origin Energy Cost: 1.6
Technique Level: 1
Ethan barely hesitated.
He immediately circulated the Longevity Art and absorbed the Mystic Core.
The blood-red crystal dissolved into countless particles and flowed into his body.
Just like that, Ethan obtained his first Secret Technique.
And it wasn't merely Common or Rare.
It was Exceptional-grade.
That alone made it extraordinarily valuable.
Unfortunately, there was one rather obvious problem.
Ethan's maximum Origin Energy was currently only 1.
Blood Palm Seal required 1.6 Origin Energy to activate.
So even though he had successfully learned the technique, he couldn't actually use it.
He would have to wait until reaching Level 2 and increasing his maximum Origin Energy before Blood Palm Seal became usable.
Ryan watched the blood-red Mystic Core disappear into Ethan's body.
A trace of envy inevitably appeared in his eyes.
But considering that he had nearly died only moments earlier, he wasn't exactly in the mood to complain about lost loot.
"Ethan, what are you doing here?" Ryan asked excitedly.
"Did you forget? I'm only a year younger than you. I'm already eighteen." Ethan looked at him strangely. "I chose the Mount Pingdu Blessed Land today. It randomly transported me here."
Then Ethan narrowed his eyes.
"What about you?"
"If you're alive, why haven't you gone back?"
Ryan's expression immediately became bitter.
"You think I don't want to go back?"
He looked as though he had just swallowed something unpleasant.
"There's no Teleportation Station on this island. We can't leave."
Ethan paused.
"...Island?"
"This place is an island?"
"Yeah."
Ryan sighed.
"A huge one."
"And a damn strange one."
"There's no Teleportation Station anywhere. We can't even see the mainland from here. As far as we can tell, this island is probably somewhere far out in the ocean."
He gave Ethan a helpless look.
"Everyone who gets transported here becomes trapped."
It was as though Ryan had finally found someone he could vent to.
Once he started talking, everything he had endured over the past year came pouring out.
Ryan wasn't the only person who had been transported to the island.
There had originally been many others just like him.
And every single one of them had been a cultivator entering a hidden realm for the first time.
But there was something extremely strange about their arrival.
They had all appeared one year ago.
On exactly the same day.
They had found no evidence that anyone had ever been transported to the island before them.
And during the entire year afterward—
No newcomers had arrived.
Not one.
That was why Ryan had been so shocked to see Ethan here.
The Mystic Spirits inhabiting the island were equally strange.
Most belonged to species that had never been officially discovered—or, at the very least, had never appeared in academy textbooks or publicly available records.
Even more unusual was their quality.
High-quality Mystic Spirits were everywhere.
Rare-grade Mystic Spirits, which cultivators outside might fight each other to obtain, could frequently be encountered here.
Exceptional-grade creatures appeared from time to time as well.
There were even rumors of Unique-grade Mystic Spirits.
Certain areas of the island were particularly mysterious.
Within those regions, it was said that one might encounter Unique Mystic Spirits...
Or even Peerless-grade Mystic Spirits.
Fortunately, the levels of the island's Mystic Spirits didn't seem particularly high.
The strongest creature Ryan had personally encountered was only Level 10.
He had never seen anything beyond that.
Of course, it was also possible that creatures above Level 10 existed deeper within regions that Ryan and the others simply weren't strong enough to reach.
Originally, more than a hundred cultivators had been transported to the island alongside Ryan.
At the time, every one of them had been a complete beginner.
A rookie entering a hidden realm for the first time.
Many died during the early stages.
More than a hundred people had struggled to survive on the island for an entire year.
Now...
Only a little over thirty remained alive.
The strongest human cultivators on the island had already reached Level 10.
Ryan himself was only Level 7.
Among the surviving cultivators, he belonged to one of the weakest groups.
Ethan looked at him in surprise.
"With your talent for archery, how did you end up doing this badly?"
Ryan gave a bitter laugh.
"Don't even mention it."
"There's always someone better. There's always another mountain beyond the mountain."
He looked down at the wooden bow in his hand.
"Back home, in a little place like ours, I genuinely thought my talent was incredible."
Then he laughed at himself.
"This is embarrassing to admit, but I used to think I was basically the reincarnation of the God of Archery."
"I thought I'd eventually become some legendary figure."
His smile faded.
"It wasn't until I entered the hidden realm that I realized my so-called talent wasn't worth a damn."
"There are too many people more talented than me."
"I spent years practicing archery because I thought it was the one thing I was truly gifted at."
Ryan tightened his grip around the bow.
"And then I met people who could casually practice for a little while..."
"...and shoot more accurately than I could after years of training."
Ethan fell silent.
He couldn't claim to fully understand what Ryan was feeling.
But the situation reminded him of an old story.
Imagine being an unparalleled genius who cultivated bitterly for ten thousand years, finally overcoming countless tribulations and ascending into the Immortal Realm...
Only to discover that, after all that effort, you were nothing more than Random Heavenly Soldier Number One sent to surround and suppress some rampaging monkey.
Ethan could at least imagine how depressing that would feel.