Edited by Aelryinth

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Drawing the Earth Star Pattern was not too difficult for Mo Fan. He expected to succeed at it after cultivating diligently for a few days, so he decided to clear his mind of the unimportant matters and dove into his golden-brown world!

Time passed swiftly. Mo Fan totally forgot about sleeping and eating when the thought of learning a new powerful spell crossed his mind.

Knock knock knock!

Mo Fan suddenly heard a few heavy knocks on the door. He found them very annoying, as he was only a few Stars away from completing the Star Pattern. He would be able to cast the spell with ease if he could spend half a day more on it!

"What is it?" Mo Fan decided to respond after he recalled he was still a member of the group. After all, he had disappeared for two days!

"Fan Mo, are you in the room? Is everything fine?" Lin Qihui's worried voice came from outside.

Mo Fan rose to his feet and walked to the door.

He opened the door and saw Lin Qihui standing there nervously. He had an uneasy look in his eyes. He let out a relieved sigh as soon as he saw Mo Fan.

"What's wrong?" Mo Fan asked.

"Some people from our group are missing," Lin Qihui told him earnestly.

"Missing? What do you mean?" Mo Fan asked, surprised.

"We went for an adventure on the mountain this morning. After all, it is important for us to gain some practical experience. Everyone except you went along.

"We encountered some demon creatures who forced us to split up. We agreed to part ways temporarily to ensure our safety, and regroup at the foot of the mountain later. However, we waited until evening for the other group, but they did not show up," Lin Qihui told him with a grimace.

"Aren't they carrying communication devices?" Mo Fan asked.

"They are useless, the disturbance is too strong in the mountain," Lin Qihui shook his head.

"So who's missing? Where's Tao Jing?" Mo Fan asked. Lin Qihui was silent. "Tao Jing was with the other group?" Mo Fan frowned.

"Mm, it's my fault for failing to take care of the group. I've already asked the Magic Association for help, but the Magic Association says it's too early to organize help for them. I'm worried they might be in danger," Lin Qihui sighed.

Zhou Donghao came up while the two were talking. He glanced at Lin Qihui and Mo Fan before saying impatiently, "Senior, there's no point wasting time on him. He doesn't even have the guts to go to the wild. We should hurry up and search for them inside the mountain again."

"Fan Mo is pretty strong, it will be safer if he comes with us," Lin Qihui said quickly.

Lin Qihui believed having an extra person was safer for the team. He had no idea how strong Mo Fan was. He had only seen Mo Fan being chased around by the Rock Monster to keep it busy.

He had no other choice. Saving women had always been his sacred duty. He would find himself grieving if anything happened to a pretty gentlewoman like Tao Jing!

"We should be glad as long as he isn't a burden to us!" Zhou Donghao snorted.

Mo Fan completely ignored the man, and followed Lin Qihui outside.

The remaining people of the group had already gathered downstairs. They were surprisingly righteous, having volunteered to help after learning the missing members might be in danger.

---

The group did not go inside the cave. Even the military would have trouble rescuing people inside the cave, which was as complicated as a maze. The desolate mountain was rugged and craggy, so there should be no problem finding the missing group if they did a thorough sweep.

"What's going on? Is something serious happening?" Mo Fan saw a huge army had gathered at the entrance of the city.

"The military is planning to eliminate the threats to the Barrier Core by taking the initiative to wipe out the demon creatures within five kilometers of the city. Otherwise, they will struggle to handle them if too many demon creatures show up at once in the next few days," Lin Qihui told him.

"How many days left until the Barrier Core is set up?" Mo Fan asked.

"Three or four days? I'm not too sure, either," Lin Qihui admitted.

"Let's not waste our time talking and go to the mountain. The search is going to be a lot harder when it's dark."

Taking advantage of the delayed sunset, the group formed a search team and quickly went over to the mountain.

The mountain was like a staircase. They soon reached a tall cliff, and after they climbed to the top of it, they were immediately greeted by another. The cliffs were stacked irregularly on top of one another. They were able to jump between them at times, but for those that were too far apart, they had no choice but to climb with their hands.

---

"I'll take a look up there, the view is clearer. Are you sure this is where you split up with them?" Mo Fan asked.

"It's so high, how are you going to get up there?" the female student with glasses, Cao Juan, wondered.

"Yeah, it's not like you can fly!" Lin Qihui looked up and realized how steep the cliff was. It was unlikely a normal person could climb up there.

Mo Fan did not respond. He jumped directly onto the straight cliff.

He jumped surprisingly high into the air. When he reached the highest point, a golden-brown Star Orbit surrounded him. A rocky spar emerged from the wall like a bamboo shoot, right under Mo Fan's feet.

Mo Fan kicked the rock and launched himself higher into the air once again.

Another stone beam popped out from the wall, and Mo Fan launched himself higher once again. He was slowly disappearing from the others' view.

More rocks popped out of the wall as Mo Fan made his way up, and he soon reached the top of the cliff. The rest of the group was dumbfounded after witnessing him.

It was extremely rare to see anyone using the Earth Element in such a manner. More importantly, his strength and agility were comparable to a powerful demon creature!

"Humph, he's only good at useless tricks like that!" Zhou Donghao said disdainfully, trying to break the mood.

Mo Fan was able to see the mountains nearby from the top of the cliff. He looked down trying to search for Tao Jing and the missing members, and suddenly noticed something wriggling rapidly in a crack between the slopes not far away.

Mo Fan tried to get a closer look at it. He was having trouble identifying it. It simply looked like mud.

The problem was, the mud was moving down the mountains. It seemed to be heading for the students!

"Something is heading your way. Look out!" Mo Fan immediately yelled at the group when he sensed something was not right.

"What did you say? Are they close to us?"

"I said, something dangerous is heading your way! Hide, now!" Mo Fan raised his voice.

"Oh, that way? Sure, we'll try searching in that direction!" Lin Qihui responded.

Mo Fan could hear Lin Qihui's response, but the man's hearing was obviously not as good as his own. He looked down again and noticed the wriggling mud was getting even closer to the students!

"Damn it, I asked you to run, run!" Mo Fan jumped down from the cliff, yelling at the people below who were unaware of the situation they were in.