Chapter Forty-One: Wind Trail — Cliff Leap!

*Ten days later.*

Beneath dense forest canopy, a winding mountain path curved and twisted until it ended at a cliff ledge — where a group of twenty students in Tianlan Magic High School uniforms now stood.

No matter how much they had complained, no matter how disgruntled they'd been, they had ultimately set foot on the path of the bounty expedition. And in what felt like the blink of an eye, ten full days had passed.

Those ten days had been brutal. They'd hacked through thorns and brambles, marched under starlight, crossed mountains and pushed through jungle — hardships that defied easy description.

"That damned chief instructor — I really could curse him — exiling us out to this godforsaken place." Wang Sanpang plopped down on the ground with a wheeze, fanning himself with his cap.

"No kidding. What was he thinking? Thirty kilometers and we're still not there — this is day ten, right??" said Zhang Shuhua, the one everyone called Giraffe Neck.

"Thirty kilometers is a straight-line distance," Zhang Xiaohou said. "We have to climb mountains, cross valleys, skirt around peaks — the actual distance is way more than thirty."

Mo Fan's group totaled twenty students. This Field Expedition was designed to be completed entirely by the students themselves — no teacher to lead them, no instructor to follow, just a map pressed into their hands and left for them to figure out.

Days of mountain-trekking had reduced everyone to something resembling cavemen — dust-caked, clothes filthy, drenched in sweat.

"Once we cross this gorge, we shouldn't be far from Hundred Herbs Valley," said class president Zhou Min, studying the map. "That's where the chief instructor said to go."

"Holy crap, how are we supposed to cross this?" Wang Sanpang was the first to cry out. "Fly? It's got to be at least ten meters wide!"

Because sure enough, what lay before them was a cliff-flanked gorge.

The far cliff face was right there, tantalizingly close — but the churning, thundering river far below made every stomach drop. They could hear the water smashing into the rocks, its roar carrying clearly all the way up to them.

"So what do we do? We can't just give up halfway."

"Maybe... we turn back?" Zhang Shuhua ventured. "There are other groups — maybe one of them will pull it off..."

"You're spineless!" Zhou Min snapped. "How can you just dump it on someone else?"

"Then you tell me what we're supposed to do!" Zhang Shuhua shot back. "None of us can leap across a gorge like that."

"Wait — Zhang Yinglu, aren't you a Wind Element mage?" Xu Zhaoting glanced at a girl nearby, her hair pulled back in a ponytail. "Try jumping across."

The girl called Zhang Yinglu went instantly pale. "No — no way," she said, voice small. "What if I fall?"

"We have rope," Zhou Min said, eyes brightening. "Both sides have trees. If someone can jump to the other cliff and tie the rope to a tree over there, the rest of us can pull ourselves across hand over hand."

"Zhang Yinglu, don't you want that A?" Xu Zhaoting pressed. "You'd be jumping with the rope attached — if you don't make it, we pull you back. It'd basically just be bungee jumping."

"I don't care about the A!!" Zhang Yinglu was clearly terrified.

"Seriously?" muttered another girl — a Water Element mage. "You're a Wind Element mage. When we actually need you, you won't step up? Then what kind of mage are you?"

"Let's not force her," Zhou Min said.

With the group at an impasse, Mo Fan glanced sidelong at Zhang Xiaohou.

Zhang Xiaohou wasn't particularly distinguished in the Elite Class, so everyone had naturally pinned their hopes on Zhang Yinglu — she had the highest Wind Element scores among them. But asking a frightened girl to risk her life over a cliff gorge was another matter entirely.

"Monkey," Mo Fan said. "You up for it?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" Zhang Xiaohou thumped his chest.

"Then let's go."

Zhang Xiaohou stepped forward and turned to Zhou Min, Xu Zhaoting, Zhang Shuhua, and the other class officers. "Tie the rope around me. I'll do it."

Zhang Shuhua and Xu Zhaoting both looked skeptical, eyeing Zhang Xiaohou — hardly the standout student of the Elite Class.

Still, someone volunteering was better than everyone just standing there wringing their hands.

Zhou Min worked efficiently, quickly tying one end of the rope around Zhang Xiaohou's waist.

"Back up, everyone — give Zhang Xiaohou room for a running start."

The others gave him a thumbs-up all around. Several who had drifted near the cliff edge were already trembling from the gusting wind — who else had the nerve to actually jump?

"Relax, Monkey." Mo Fan tied the other end of the rope to a tree trunk on their side and seized the line with both hands. "If you don't make it, I'll pull you up."

Zhang Xiaohou flashed him a simple, honest smile.

He drew a long, slow breath and closed his eyes. Whether he was reaching for his Star Trail or simply steeling his nerves, no one could say.

Then his eyes snapped open. A pale green luminescence blazed in his pupils.

A fierce wind rose inexplicably around him.

Under Zhang Xiaohou's Mental Intent Control, the gale transformed — shaping itself into a corridor of wind stretching from the slope behind him all the way to the very edge of the cliff.

The trail itself was invisible, but the dust it swept from the ground traced its path for all to see: a vivid, unmistakable channel of rushing air.

"Wind Trail: Rapid Rush!"

The shout left his lips. The Star Mote trails wreathing his body blazed to their brightest.

**Whoosh—**

Clothing snapped. The wind screamed.

Zhang Xiaohou became a blur, shooting forward through the wind corridor he had conjured. Within the Wind Trail, his speed climbed — faster and faster, faster still.

The slope meant nothing to him now. His sprint parted the weeds underfoot like the prow of a boat cutting waves as he hurtled toward the cliff's edge.

"Jump — jump now!!"

Xu Zhaoting, Zhou Min, and Zhang Shuhua were riveted. Even Zhang Yinglu — the Wind Element girl who had refused — stood with her eyes stretched wide.

Zhang Xiaohou hit the cliff edge. His right foot slammed down with a crack that shattered the rock beneath it — and he launched himself into the air.

"**AAAAAHHHHH—**"

Airborne, he flew headlong into the howling wind rising from the gorge below. The force of it plastered his face into a grimace.

His body traced a slow arc between the two cliff faces, drawing closer — inch by inch — to the far side.

Mo Fan's grip on the rope tightened until his knuckles ached. *If his takeoff wasn't enough, I have to catch him — those jagged rocks at the bottom will tear him apart.*

All nineteen remaining students tilted their heads back, watching Zhang Xiaohou fly, their own hearts suspended in the air alongside him.

At last, he dropped.

His feet hit the very edge of the far cliff with a heavy thud, and his body rolled forward — once, twice, three times.

**Thud!!**

He came to a stop, face-first, against a large tree on the far side. Everyone across the gorge blinked in stunned silence.

Still slightly cross-eyed, Zhang Xiaohou turned around — and broke into the widest, goofiest, most good-natured grin imaginable, aimed at the nineteen students staring from the other side.

Ridiculous as he looked, Zhang Xiaohou's standing among his classmates had grown considerably in that instant.

Among the twenty, at least four or so were Wind Element mages. Zhang Xiaohou was the only one who had dared to jump.

What did better Wind Element test scores matter at a moment like this?

"Monkey, that was incredible!!" Mo Fan was first to shout.

Zhou Min, Zhang Shuhua, Wang Sanpang — all of them raised their thumbs.

"Let's cross!" Xu Zhaoting was first to grab the rope.

One by one, the remaining nineteen pulled themselves over the gorge without incident. Their first great trial of the Field Expedition: cleared. They had arrived at their destination — Hundred Herbs Valley.