"How long are we going to keep running?"

"Of course, the farther the better!"

Li Mingke's legs ached from running, but Bie Chen still pulled her to keep running.

In fact, Bie Chen had his own selfish motives.

Having finally found a chance to be alone together, of course we have to make the most of it!

However, Li Pinyue really trusts him a lot, actually entrusting her brother to him like this. Does she believe that he will definitely protect her?

Bie Chen mentally estimated the distance; they should have run far enough. "Let's rest here for a while!"

Upon hearing that he could stop, Li Mingke immediately plopped down on the ground.

"What exactly happened to Bai Tianshui's fellow disciples?" she asked, panting heavily.

The gentle breeze, the bright moon, and the starry sky—what a wonderful, leisurely time it was! And just like that, it was ruined!

"It must be because of unequal distribution, Master is biased, didn't you hear what her junior brother said? Such things are common in the immortal sects. Oh, or rather, it's the same in every realm of the Three Realms." Bie Chen spread his hands and shrugged.

"Yue'er went to help her. I don't know if they can win, considering the other side has such a large group of people and spirit beasts."

One spirit beast is worth one person; perhaps a spirit beast is even stronger than a person!

Unlike Li Mingke's concerns, Bie Chen had already made up his mind.

Li Pinyue's "Moon Swallowing the Sky" was incredibly powerful; those people would have had no chance of resisting it.

Li Pinyue is a genius that appears only once in a century!

"Your sister is very capable, so don't worry too much about her."

"How can I not worry?" She was still looking back.

"How about we wander around here for a bit, and then go back to them once they've almost finished fighting?" Bie Chen suggested.

"Well... alright." There's no other good way at the moment. If she gets involved, she'll only be a hindrance. It's better to stay out of it and not cause them any trouble.

“Didn’t they say there was a chance? Tianqing said he found it in a crack in the rocks, let’s look for it too.” Biechen picked up a stick and started rummaging through the pile of rocks.

Li Mingke also found a tree branch about a meter long and started searching like him.

After searching for a long time, the two found nothing.

“How could those people bury everything in the cracks between the rocks? They must have put it in different places.” Li Mingke found a relatively flat rock and sat down.

“That’s true.” Bie Chen sat down beside her, and the two remained silent.

"They should be done fighting by now, right? Shouldn't we head back?"

Li Mingke was still worried about her younger sister. She knew Li Pinyue was capable, but in her heart, her sister was still just a little girl.

Bie Chen looked back in the direction they had come from. "There's no more movement over there. Let's go back."

Bie Chen was still leading Li Mingke, who became increasingly confused as they walked. "Bie Chen, are we going the wrong way? I feel like we've already passed this cherry tree once before?"

Bie Chen stopped, bent down, and carefully examined the cherry tree in front of him. "What you said makes a lot of sense."

"Are you trapped in a maze?"

"possible."

Just as the two were whispering to each other, an impatient voice interrupted them.

"Hey, hey, hey, please don't be so ignorant! What do you mean by 'being trapped in a maze'? This is clearly a formation! Do you even know what a formation is?!"

The two turned around, and a pair of little brother and sister who looked extremely alike walked towards them.

"How can someone so young participate in the group competition?"

"Could it be that they sneaked in?"

"Perhaps they are dwarfs. I've heard that some cultivation methods can change the body's structure. Maybe they've practiced evil magic."

They pointed and gestured at the two of them.

The older brother, who was in the lead, was furious when he heard their words. "You're talking nonsense! Don't look down on us!" He put his hands on his hips. "Although we are young, we are here to participate in the competition because we are geniuses!"

"How old are you?"

"twelve!"

"What about the one behind you?"

"That's my sister, we're twins!"

"Okay, little brother, what are your and your sister's names?"

"My name is Ting Tong, and her name is Qian A."

Forget about younger siblings, they'll make them kneel down and call him grandpa in a minute!

Unlike Ting Tong's lively and cheerful nature, Qian A kept her head down, her hair covering most of her face, and hadn't said a word, silently following behind her brother.

"Okay, Ting Tong, right? Why did you use an array to trap us?" Li Mingke asked.

“It’s not that I wanted to trap you, you ran into our formation on your own.” He observed the two carefully. “You two are quite rare, the rich and the poor can get along together.”

He said to the two of them, "Now you have two choices: one, break the formation yourselves; two, play a game with my sister, and if you win, I'll let you go. How about that, fair enough?"

Fairness my ass!

It seems like the advantage lies with the brother and sister, right? They set up the formation, and they're definitely good at the game. She and Bie Chen are two hotheads; no matter which one they choose, they're doomed!

Li Mingke quietly asked Bie Chen, "Do you know anything about formations?"

Bie Chen shook his head, "I've never been involved in that field."

Li Mingke had no choice but to weakly say, "Let's choose to play games."

"Good, you made the right decision!" Ting Tong pulled her younger sister in front of her. "Come on, Qian'a, play some games with them for a while!"

Qian'a raised her head, and Li Mingke was shocked by her bright eyes hidden beneath her hair.

Qian'a took out two dice and placed one in Li Mingke's palm. "It's very simple. It's a simple comparison. Whoever rolls the higher number wins."

Li Mingke held the dice in his hand and shook them; they were no different from ordinary dice.

Surely this little girl wouldn't cheat?

Li Mingke looked at her suspiciously.

"What kind of look is that?" Ting Tong said displeased. "Don't judge others by your own standards!"

“You have nothing to worry about, this is entirely a game of luck,” Qian’a said. “Come on, throw the dice. If your dice are higher than mine, I’ll have my brother break the spell.”

Qian'a's voice was sweet and soft, but to Li Mingke's ears it was no less than the whisper of a demon.

"Wait!" Li Mingke called out to her, "If my points are higher than yours, I can leave. But what if my points are lower than yours? Do I have to keep playing?"

"Well..." she thought for a moment, "If you lose, you'll have to give us one of your magical treasures!"

"No, that's not fair!" Li Mingke shouted.

"Fair? We are fair! Are you in or not?" Ting Tong jumped out.

"I'm not playing!"

"Then you'll be trapped in this formation for the rest of your lives, just waiting to starve to death!" Ting Tong grabbed Qian A's hand. "Come on, Qian A, let's set up a new formation somewhere else, and then we'll come back to collect their bodies when they're dead!"

Seeing that the two were really about to leave, Li Mingke hurriedly called out to them, "Wait! Let's play, okay? Let's play!"

Neither of them had studied formations. If they didn't play, they would only face certain death; if they did, there was still a sliver of hope, albeit a very faint one.

"Okay!" They're back again.

Seeing how quickly the two returned, Li Mingke knew they were just trying to scare her and Bie Chen; they had long wanted to extort money from them!

She bit her cheek until it ached.

Hold on! Hold on! A small act of impatience can ruin a great plan!

Seeing that Li Mingke was dressed in gold and jade, Ting Tong knew he must have a lot of good things on him, so she gave her younger sister a wink.

What a little lamb! The one next to her looks rather shabby. What good is a pretty face if you're dressed like a beggar and probably don't have anything nice on you!

"First round, begin!"

The game between the two sides has officially begun!

With a gentle toss of her small hand, the cube-shaped die rolled on the ground.

Small! Small!

Li Mingke's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!

The dice rolled several times before finally coming to a steady stop on the ground.

"Four o'clock!"

It's four o'clock! That means I still have a chance to beat Qian'a!

Alright, let's see if fate will favor her!

"Hey—ha!" Li Mingke tossed the dice with a "whoosh"—a completely unskilled move.

The dice traced a beautiful parabola in the air.

Five! Five! Six! Six!

Ugh, why isn't it stopping?!

Every second was torture.

Three o'clock!

Li Mingke crouched down, clutching his head. He was so close!

Ting Tong chuckled, "Looks like your luck isn't so good this time. Qian'a, what's on her that you've got your eye on?"

Upon hearing this, Qian'a pointed to Li Mingke's neck.

Li Mingke immediately covered his neck with his hands.

Seriously? She has such a sharp eye? She's already revealing her true gender in the very first round!