In less than ten minutes, the disciples returned, carrying large bags and parcels.
Bai Ran frowned slightly at their bulging packages but said nothing.
"My name is Bai Ran. First, introduce yourselves, stating only your name and cultivation level," she instructed them.
The woman addressed as Senior Sister Ran stepped forward. "My name is Ran Shuang, Nascent Soul Stage seven."
Bai Ran nodded. A male disciple also came forward. "My name is Ma Huai, Nascent Soul Stage five."
"I am Wen Hongyi, Nascent Soul Stage six."
"Sun Jianning, Nascent Soul Stage five."
...
After all the disciples had introduced themselves, Bai Ran continued.
"This training is as mercenaries to undertake missions. The Mercenary Guild is located 170 kilometers north of the Divine Sound Sect."
Bai Ran scanned the group. Sun Jianning weakly raised his hand. "Um... Aren't you bringing us? Why are you just telling us the location?"
Bai Ran chuckled. "For this journey, no means of transportation or flying beasts are allowed. You will all travel by aerial flight."
As soon as she finished speaking, the disciples erupted.
"What do you mean! That place is so far from the guild! Are you trying to exhaust us to death by flying!"
"Exactly! I brought so much stuff! How can I possibly fly with it!"
"I don't care, I'm taking a carriage!"
...
Listening to the disciples' complaints, Bai Ran's thin lips parted, her voice chilling. "In a life-or-death situation, would you still choose to bring so much?"
The disciples fell silent, but it was clear they were not entirely convinced.
"One hour. If you do not reach the guild within one hour, I will consider you to have forfeited the competition," Bai Ran declared, surveying them.
"No way! One hour!?"
"That's so short!!!"
The disciples' faces were filled with disbelief. One hour! That meant they couldn't stop for a moment!
They would have to travel at full speed just to make it!?
"Fifty-nine minutes and fifty seconds remaining," Bai Ran said, holding a small pocket watch.
The disciples gasped. She wasn't joking! Soon, they began to drag their belongings and set off.
Sect Leader Xiong chuckled. "Even their storage rings can't fit all that. Carrying so much on their person, they certainly wouldn't arrive on time."
That little girl is truly wicked, he thought, looking at Bai Ran.
He saw Bai Ran stretching her joints. "I need to leave too."
Immediately, a blur of afterimage flashed, and the little girl was gone.
...
"Hurry up! Or we'll be late!"
The disciples hurried along, but their belongings were so heavy and numerous that it significantly slowed many of them down.
"Ah! I don't care anymore! I'm throwing this stuff away!" Ma Huai shouted, unfastening his parcel.
"If you throw away your things, what will you do during the mission? Will you go hungry and cold?" Sun Jianning clutched his belongings tightly.
"Discard some of it," Ran Shuang advised them. "If you discard some, you can move faster, and we won't go hungry or cold during the mission."
The disciples nodded in agreement and threw away a portion of their belongings.
"Over forty minutes left!" someone shouted, and everyone immediately accelerated.
...
"I'm so tired! I can't take it anymore!"
"My spiritual energy is almost depleted..."
More than forty minutes passed, and they had only covered half the distance...
The exhaustion caused everyone to slow down.
"Damn it..." Ma Huai gritted his teeth, threw away all his remaining parcels, and rushed forward desperately.
"Ma Huai!" Ran Shuang exclaimed, frowning as she watched his retreating figure.
Without discarding everything, they couldn't swing their arms freely, and their speed was severely hampered...
Ran Shuang stopped, placed some necessities into her storage ring, and then discarded all her parcels.
Seeing this, the other disciples began to discard their parcels as well...
...
Inside the guild hall, Bai Ran sat, watching the time on her watch.
A figure stumbled in. "I! I made it!"
Bai Ran looked up. Ma Huai leaned against the table, gasping for breath. "I'm the first one!"
One after another, most of the disciples arrived.
Bai Ran put away her watch. "Time's up."
She surveyed the disciples who had arrived. Indeed, their large and small parcels were nowhere to be seen.
"Ning Xue, Xiao Ya," Bai Ran stood up. "You two are eliminated."
"Why!" Xiao Ya exclaimed angrily, looking at her. "We clearly arrived within the time limit!"
"Exactly! Why should we be eliminated!" Ning Xue chimed in.
"Why?" Bai Ran looked directly at them. "Do you really think I wasn't following you?"
It was like a bucket of ice water poured over them. Xiao Ya clenched her fists. "You... you were following us the whole time?"
So their act of taking a carriage... was seen clearly...
"Please leave," Bai Ran said coldly.
Upon hearing this, Ning Xue was about to say more, but Xiao Ya forcefully pulled her away.
"The remaining nine of you are qualified," Bai Ran said, a smile gracing her lips as she looked at them.
The disciples were overjoyed, but they had no strength to respond.
They were simply too exhausted.
Bai Ran tossed a bottle to them. "Take one pill, and your strength will be restored."
Ran Shuang opened the bottle, and an extremely rich medicinal fragrance wafted out. "This! This is a seventh-tier pill!"
"It's a seventh-tier pill!" The disciples crowded around.
"Give me one."
"I haven't gotten one yet!"
The pills were snatched up in a frenzy. The disciples who swallowed them immediately felt spiritual energy surging into their bodies.
Soon, the disciples' strength was almost fully restored.
"Captain Bai, are you an alchemist?" Ma Huai asked curiously. Bai Ran nodded.
"She's actually an alchemist!"
They knew that having an alchemist in a mission team was like having a treasure!
Alchemists were rare, and a single alchemist was worth a treasure trove!
Bai Ran's expression remained calm, showing little fluctuation.
She placed three pieces of paper on the table. "I have already registered your mercenary identities. The content on these papers is our mission for this time."
Ran Shuang leaned closer to the papers and read aloud. "S-rank mission, collect ten spirit beast cores... SS-rank mission, collect the fangs of a thousand-year python... SSS-rank mission, snatch the egg of the divine bird Bi Fang?"
"We should definitely choose the S-rank mission to collect beast cores!" Sun Jianning shouted.
"I also think the S-rank mission is safer," Ran Shuang said. The disciples around them nodded in agreement.
Bai Ran shook her head. Just as the disciples thought she didn't want to take the mission, Bai Ran spoke.
"We will accept all three."
"All of them!?" The disciples' eyes widened, unable to believe what they had heard.