This was a special summit held in Jianghai City, with the theme of countermeasures against threats to public safety.
“We managed to interview a member of the extremely busy Jianghai City Hunter Association. Thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to receive us, Miss Chen Ye.”
“Miss Chen Ye, in recent years, Erosion Beast attacks have become frequent, and their numbers continue to rise. The damage caused by the previous attack reached an unprecedented level. What are your thoughts on this?”
“I believe the public shouldn’t be anxious. We will predict the emergence of Erosion Beasts in advance and quickly release information, prioritizing everyone’s evacuation.”
***
“Bam!”
It wasn’t the TV being turned off—it was the door being opened.
“Hey, hey, Yao Yao, your brother’s back.”
“Ignore him. Let’s keep watching TV.”
Su Yao said to her best friend Zeng Yan, who was sitting beside her.
“Brother Xiangyang, hi.”
Zeng Yan ignored her friend and greeted the young man standing at the door.
“It’s Xiao Yan. You girls keep playing. I’ll go to my room and not bother you.”
In front of the TV, the two girls watched as the young man walked straight to his room and pushed the door open.
“Yao Yao, Hunters are so cool! Do you think someday I could resonate with a Soul Weapon and become a Hunter?”
“What are you thinking? Being a Hunter means fighting Erosion Beasts every day. It’s too dangerous.”
Soul Weapons were strange arms that descended into the world alongside the Erosion Rifts, taking countless forms.
Hunters were the collective term for humans who resonated with Soul Weapons, formed contracts, and gained extraordinary power.
Hunters went by codenames in the Association, and those codenames were the names of their Soul Weapons.
According to public data from the Hunter Association, only women could resonate with Soul Weapons and become Hunters.
However, in the long river of history, there had been one exception.
A man had successfully resonated with a Soul Weapon, breaking that iron rule.
He was the Hunter hailed as the “strongest in history”: Yuehua.
***
The room was dark, but Su Xiangyang’s body was tightly wrapped in a ball of pure white light.
The young man’s figure kept shrinking within the halo, his outline gradually softening.
When the light slowly faded, what remained was the black-haired Witch who had appeared on the battlefield earlier.
Su Xiangyang—no, she now called herself Su Wanyue—suddenly had a figure by her side that no one else could see.
The figure looked exactly like Su Wanyue, as if stamped from the same mold, except for her clothing and hair color: she wore a pure white long dress, and her hair shone like woven silver threads.
“How long will you keep pretending? Do you really covet that ugly shell? The power of a Witch far surpasses that of the Hunter Yuehua. You are a Witch now.”
“Shut up.”
“Ara ara, you’ve been declared dead in the Hunter Association, haven’t you? How much longer can that body of yours hold? In my opinion, you should return to the Void Realm. If you’re worried, you could bring our little sister along.”
“Serafica, if you keep talking nonsense, I won’t mind dying together with you.”
Su Wanyue issued a warning.
“Alright, alright. What a stubborn fool. Are you so fixated on finding the Witch who killed your mother? Are you still going to participate in that competition? You’ve already lost the power of Yuehua, haven’t you? Still want to wield a blade?”
Su Wanyue didn’t answer.
***
“Alright! The battle is heating up! Contestant Su Xiangyang is locking onto his opponent with a sharp gaze.”
“But the female swordsman before him doesn’t seem to care about him at all—the new Hunter star of Jianghai City, Miss Fei Yan!”
“This match will decide who earns the right to participate in the triennial Duel Tournament in the Capital City: will Fei Yan live up to expectations, or will Su Xiangyang pull off an upset and create a miracle?”
The announcer on the spectator platform explained excitedly.
The two held their specially made weapons, facing each other in the tensest stance, firmly locked on each other’s figures.
The opponent in the finals was Fei Yan, a Hunter who had recently completed resonance with her Soul Weapon.
In terms of seniority, she was still Su Xiangyang’s junior.
But just as the Witch coexisting with him had said, this body was far from what it used to be.
He had to avenge his mother, who had been killed by a Witch, so he needed to obtain the qualification to go to the Capital City.
In the end, Su Xiangyang won the match.
Years of combat experience couldn’t be compared to a newcomer’s.
When Su Xiangyang left the arena, he heard many sighs.
Looked like another sad day for the gamblers.
Walking out of the arena, Su Xiangyang headed straight to an inconspicuous café.
He sat down in a corner, looked at the person across from him, and spoke: “Captain Chen Ye, you should know that following a Witch is a very dangerous thing.”
Chen Ye gently shook her head.
To Su Xiangyang’s surprise, Chen Ye apologized to him first.
“I’m sorry for what I did to you the other day. I apologize.”
“If you only came for this, I’ll be leaving.”
Su Xiangyang was about to leave.
“The Witches are trying to form an alliance.”
Hearing her sudden words, Su Xiangyang frowned.
“An alliance?”
“That’s right. They want to do something in Jianghai City. Although our investigation over the past few days has shown us that you’re indeed different from other Witches, Space Magic, as far as I know, can only be used by Blazing Sun-level Witches.”
“Wait, you mean you think I’m the leader of that alliance?”
“At least we considered the possibility,” Chen Ye said calmly, “Even if you’re not the leader, it’s very possible you’ve become one of them.”
Su Xiangyang sighed, ‘So they still don’t trust me.’
“Sorry, it seems no one came to recruit me.”
“That’s true. That’s why we sought you out—to ask for your help. One of the important Witches in that alliance is hiding inside No.1 Middle School. I want you to infiltrate the school with me.”
Su Xiangyang’s heart tightened upon hearing this.
No.1 Middle School—wasn’t that the middle school his little sister attended?
“Even I couldn’t sense it. How did you find out?” Su Xiangyang asked.
“We received reports of residents going missing around that school, so I sent personnel to investigate,” Chen Ye continued.
“Didn’t they come back? Those people you sent?”
“No, they came back on time.”
“Huh?” Su Xiangyang exclaimed.
“They were replaced. Their entire existence was swapped. That’s why we urgently need your power.”
“It seems she’s not a weak Witch,” said the white-haired Witch who suddenly appeared beside Su Xiangyang.
After his parents had passed away one after another, Su Xiangyang only had his sister left as family.
He absolutely couldn’t allow anything that threatened his family to exist.
“Alright, I agree. Prepare a fake identity for me, and I’ll go with you.”
“Understood. I’ll arrange it.”
Chen Ye nodded and stood up.
“We’ll contact you again in twenty-four hours.”
“Miss Witch, no matter what you’ve been through in the past, I still thank you on behalf of the people of Jianghai City.”
With that, Chen Ye turned and left.