I Am Awesome!

Crack! Snap!

The frenzied green growth lashed its vines about, striking the surrounding structures with reckless abandon. Fortunately, this wasn’t a residential area in the city center; otherwise, a video of this would surely have gone viral across the internet.

Uncle Shui already held a long water-blade in his hand. He watched the frantic vines with a composed gaze, gripping the hilt with both hands and holding it across his chest. As he took a step forward, his wrists and arms began to move in a rhythmic dance, manipulating the hilt as if he were performing a staff routine.

The plant seemed to sense something. The vines that had been flailing aimlessly gradually slowed, like predators catching the scent of prey. They rose into the air, coiling like a cluster of vine-colored vipers, their sensory “leads” sniffing the air until they finally “looked” toward Uncle Shui.

Seeing that things were taking a turn for the worse, Xu Feng hurriedly hissed a warning.

“Uncle Shui! They’ve spotted you!”

Hearing the alert, Uncle Shui slowed his pace. He executed a full body rotation while flourishing his blade, leaving behind blue trails of splashing water in the air that resembled the curves of a Taiji diagram.

The vines seemed to confirm Uncle Shui as their target. They hesitated no longer, lunging forward in a desperate swarm! In an instant, the sky was blotted out by a dense canopy of green.

“Watch out, Uncle Shui!” Even knowing he possessed special abilities, Xu Feng couldn’t help but cry out.

“Flowing Intent,” Uncle Shui muttered simply. His body seemed to be propelled by a sudden gale, vanishing instantly from the spot where the vines were meant to strike.

Thump! Thump!

Dozens of vines smashed through the pavement, the impact sending a tremor through Xu Feng and the dusty buildings. The sound was no less deafening than a high-speed car collision. It was terrifying to imagine the fate of anyone caught in that strike.

The vines that missed their mark writhed against the earth, struggling to pull themselves free, but they had clearly exerted too much force and were stuck.

Uncle Shui stood at the base of the tangled mass of vines. He was still dancing with his blade, but the battle intent in his eyes had begun to erupt. His grey pupils momentarily turned a deep, glowing blue.

“Sever!”

Uncle Shui swung his blade upward. The water-edge transformed from tangible to intangible, splitting into over a dozen smaller blades the moment it made contact with the vines.

Swish! Swish!

Clean, crisp snapping sounds accompanied the whistling of the water-blades through the air. The vines were severed all at once, spraying green sap like geysers of blood!

“Skre-eek!”

A horrific, shriek-like wail echoed from beneath the earth. The wounded vines retracted rapidly into the ground, seemingly realizing that Uncle Shui was not someone to be trifled with.

Uncle Shui glanced at the thoroughly destroyed concrete road, then turned and shouted to Xu Feng.

“If you see anything trying to slip away, tell me where it is! I’ll catch it!”

“Got it, Uncle Shui!” Xu Feng widened her eyes, scanning the surrounding terrain for any sign of a fleeing shadow.

With Xu Feng acting as his eyes, Uncle Shui felt confident enough to re-condense his water-blade. He raised the hilt high, took aim at a crack in the ground, and plunged the blade deep into the earth.

“Spread.”

The hilt in his grip began to vibrate. The color of the soil beneath his feet underwent a dramatic change, shifting from earthy yellow to a deep black, the transformation spreading outward at a rapid pace.

About five meters away from Uncle Shui, a mound suddenly bulged out of the ground. Like a mole, it used the soil as cover to flee toward the perimeter.

Xu Feng caught sight of the abnormal bulge immediately and shouted to Uncle Shui.

“Over there! It’s trying to escape!”

“Understood!”

Uncle Shui yanked the water-blade free, his body vanishing and leaving only a few droplets of water behind. He dashed in front of Xu Feng and delivered a massive swing of his water-blade, sending a crescent-shaped wave of pressurized water crashing into the ground.

Boom!

Uncle Shui’s aim was unerring. The mound was hit dead-on, water splashing everywhere as the churning of the earth ground to a halt.

“Did you knock it out?” Xu Feng peered from behind Uncle Shui, craning her neck to look at the puddle.

“Hard to say.” Uncle Shui kept his blade ready, casting a wary glance behind them to ensure nothing had been missed.

Crack! Crack!

The clumps of earth were suddenly pushed aside! A bright green head poked out first.

“Uncle Shui!” Xu Feng tugged at his sleeve.

“I knew it wasn’t dead.” Uncle Shui was about to step forward again when the head began to emit green gas like a smoke grenade.

Amidst the faint green haze, the creature leaped out. It had a head roughly the size of a basketball, supported by two spindle-thin legs that looked like bamboo skewers.

“Ugh!” Xu Feng reacted with instant disgust. The thing was hideous!

With a flick of his blade, Uncle Shui used a stream of water to dispel the green gas, but the creature had already scrambled dozens of meters away, relying on its grasshopper-like “legs.”

“Tsk!” Uncle Shui drew his blade and gave chase, but the thing was too fast; it was about to vanish around the corner of a building.

This is my first mission, after all. I can’t let it start like this.

Xu Feng pulled off her hair clip, summoning “Xiao Hei” behind her.

“Xiao Hei! Catch that monster!”

Whoosh!

The moment the wings beat, Xu Feng felt the wind hitting her face with much more force than usual. The world through her eyes began to turn grey, as if she had gained infrared vision, and the fleeing, ugly creature was now highlighted in green.

“Don’t you dare run!” Xu Feng’s voice whipped past Uncle Shui along with the gale. He froze for a split second in surprise but continued the pursuit.

Xu Feng’s flight speed was remarkable. Within seconds, she had overtaken the creature. She snatched up a discarded wooden plank along the way—hardly noticing its weight—and brought it crashing down right on the creature’s head!

“Take this!”

Thud!

The plank shattered into two pieces. The creature lost its balance, tumbling across the ground like a ball until it slammed into a wall and came to a stop.

Xu Feng dropped the remaining half of the plank from the air. Her vision returned to normal, and the blood-red tint faded away.

Uncle Shui arrived panting. He kicked the creature’s head away from the wall, forcing its front side to be exposed to the sunlight.

It was essentially one giant eye set into a green sphere covered in sharp spines. Its skin looked like a cactus, but its two long legs were as thin and sharp as a grasshopper’s.

Xu Feng deactivated her flight and landed, running over to Uncle Shui’s side. she looked down at the thing, which was quite an assault on one’s “SAN” (sanity) points.

“So ugly!” Xu Feng looked up, unable to bear a second glance.

“Ugly as it may be, it’s a genuine Dream Husk, Level 4.” Uncle Shui smiled, then looked at Xu Feng solemnly.

“Level 4?” Xu Feng didn’t understand the numerical ranking of Dream Husks.

“That’s right. Every three levels of a Dream Husk correspond to what a member of the Dream Protection Bureau can handle. Member rankings go from the lowest, C, to the current highest, A. Feng, congratulations. Based on your current estimated strength, you’re at the level of a B-rank member.” Uncle Shui gave her a thumbs-up, and Xu Feng beamed with joy.

“Wait, really?! I’m that strong!” Xu Feng stomped her feet, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

“You really are. Want to do a high-five to celebrate the successful completion of your first mission?” Uncle Shui held out his right hand.

“Yes!” Xu Feng reached out and high-fived him in celebration.

Atop a distant abandoned high-rise, a plume of white smoke drifted away with the clouds.

Feiguang sat sideways on the edge of the roof, smoking a cigarette as he watched the black sedan drive away below.

Beep-beep.

Feiguang’s phone rang again.

“Hello? Boss, could you please not hang up so fast this time?” Feiguang pleaded immediately.

“Hang up? Feiguang, are you wishing for my early death?”

“Uh, never mind. Why are you calling?”

“You were keeping watch—the Dream Protection Bureau took the item, didn’t they?”

“Yes.” Feiguang crushed his cigarette butt.

“Good. Things are about to get interesting. Your little junior sister and your master might be in for some trouble.”

“He is my teacher, not my master. And she is not my junior sister,” Feiguang corrected him with a displeased look.

“Haha. You call them teacher and student, but looking back at how he raised you, wasn’t it just a master-disciple relationship? Anyway, enough talk. Head back; your sister is still waiting for you.”

The call finally ended with a delayed click. Feiguang put his phone away and let out a long, helpless sigh.

The clouds continued to flow, and the figure on the rooftop quietly vanished.