Gryffindor simply exerted his overwhelming power, dragging the hawk directly into the Mirror World with effortless grace. When the hawk finally bore witness to the shimmering horizon and felt the raw, divine energy of his new surroundings, he froze in place, utterly stunned. The hawk had never expected such a breathtaking paradise to exist anywhere in the mortal world, let alone within the grasp of his master.

Bai Xifeng, however, remained completely oblivious to the hawk’s profound internal shock. Her focus was absolute, centred entirely on the treacherous path ahead. Surprisingly, there were no beasts guarding the cave’s exterior, allowing her to step into the yawning cavern with ease. However, the moment she crossed the threshold, the ambient temperature plummeted, transforming the air into a bone-chilling cold that bit at her skin.

As her eyes adjusted to the gloom, she saw walls embedded with faint, naturally occurring crystals that cast a dim, ethereal blue light throughout the winding tunnels. It was hauntingly beautiful, a subterranean cathedral of glass, but she was an experienced cultivator and knew better than to let herself be distracted by mere scenery. Danger often wore a beautiful face.

She had not walked for more than ten minutes when the ground beneath her boots began to vibrate. It was a low, rhythmic thumping that echoed through the stone like the beating of a massive, subterranean heart. Thump. Thump. Thump. From the deep, oppressive shadows of a side tunnel, a pair of glowing amber eyes ignited. Then another set appeared. And another. A pack of beasts emerged from the darkness, their predatory gazes fixed on Bai Xifeng with an intense, ravenous hunger.

It was a pack of Stone-Clad Wolves. These were no ordinary forest predators. They were monsters born of the mountain itself. Their fur had been entirely replaced by jagged, overlapping plates of Xien Stone, fused to their skin over generations of living in the cave’s mineral-rich environment. Their claws were like diamond-tipped chisels, capable of shredding through reinforced iron armour as if it were nothing more than wet parchment.

This was exactly the nightmare the registration staff had been so worried about.

"So... these are the guardians of this place." Bai Xifeng murmured, her voice steady despite the encroaching pack.

She did not summon her contracted beasts for assistance this time. Instead, her eyes drifted to her own hands. If she truly intended to improve her skills as an armament master, she needed to intimately understand the strength and durability of the materials she was about to harvest. What better way to test the stone than to shatter it with her own physical strength?

The lead wolf let out a guttural, gravelly growl and lunged toward her. It moved with terrifying speed for a creature encased in solid rock. Seeing their leader move, the followers bared their fangs and waited for the perfect moment to launch a coordinated secondary attack.

Bai Xifeng did not retreat. She stepped directly into the strike, her palm suddenly glowing with a concentrated, white-hot burst of Qi. She struck the lead wolf head-on.

Crack.

Her hand collided with the wolf’s stone-plated shoulder. The impact sent a heavy shockwave through her arm, the vibration telling her everything she needed to know about the mineral’s density and molecular structure. The wolf was sent tumbling back, a spiderweb of cracks appearing across its rocky hide, but it was not yet defeated.

"Impressive..." Bai Xifeng nodded, cataloguing the data in her mind. "The purity of the Xien Stone in their shells is far higher than I expected. If the surface guardians are already this sturdy, the ore at the heart of the cave must be extraordinary."

As the rest of the pack circled her, baring teeth that could snap human bone like dry twigs, a cold, determined light flickered in her gaze. She had made her decision. She was not just here to complete a simple quest. She was here to plunder. At the thought of the riches awaiting her, she grinned widely, an expression that was both beautiful and terrifying.

"Come..." Bai Xifeng challenged, beckoning the beasts with a slight wave of her hand. "Let’s see how much pressure your armour can take before it turns to dust."

The lead wolf howled. The wolves seemed to receive the order, rushing toward Bai Xifeng simultaneously. She utilised the same Qi-infused palm strike on a second wolf, but her analytical mind quickly shifted gears. If she continued to fight with pure force, she would eventually deplete her Qi reserves far too quickly. She needed a more efficient method to dismantle this pack.

Searching for a weakness, Bai Xifeng noticed that only their eyes and mouths were unprotected by the Xien Stones. Those small, vulnerable gaps became her new targets. Drawing her dagger, she realised she simply needed to be faster to strike those two points before the wolves could snap their jaws shut.

The battle became a blur of motion. Soon, the ground was littered with the shattered remains of the Stone-Clad Wolves. She dispatched the lead wolf last, retrieving her crimson-slicked dagger from its open mouth. She scanned the carnage, calculating the size of the pack she had just decimated. It appeared there had been more than a thousand of them.

Exhausted, she took a seat on the cold ground to rest. Her uniform was heavily stained with the dark, thick blood of the wolves. She felt a pang of hunger, but the metallic scent of death was so thick she feared she would throw up any food she tried to eat. She would wait until the mission was over.

Once she regained her strength, Bai Xifeng reached down and picked up a shard of armour from the lead wolf, rubbing her thumb over its jagged, crystalline surface.

***This novel is a contracted work with w e b n o v e l. c o m. If you do not read this novel on w e b n o v e l. c o m, that means it has been stolen. Thank you, from your shameless author, ZerahNeko*