Almost immediately, Xu Qian used his light-footed skill to climb the swaying tree on his right. After nearly half a minute, amidst the pouring rain and some noise, a head suddenly emerged from the mud. The person who appeared was very thin, and his appearance was slightly blurred in the night rain. However, Xu Qian, who had his own cheat code, already knew the other party's ID—no, I mean name.

Zhou Guoqiang – a name that evokes a strong sense of nostalgia.

Soon, a second person appeared, also a short man named Hu Kai. Then a third person, also surnamed Hu, named Hu Xian, was the youngest, in his early twenties.

The three of them looked behind them in perfect unison, and it was only when they turned around that Xu Qian realized that all three of them had ropes tied around their waists.

"Count to three!" Zhou Guoqiang, who was the first to come out, shouted loudly.

"one two three!"

The thing below must have been incredibly heavy, and the three men were struggling to pull it. But they were clearly not going to give up. About five minutes later, a black wooden box was hoisted out.

"Be careful, be careful! This time it's really big, I'm going to get the 'wheel'..."

Xu Qian was taken aback. He remembered this box. There was a hidden underground river in Blue Moon Valley, and deep at the bottom of the river was an abandoned immortal mansion. The box was moved from there.

Oh no, the jade bead is gone!

If this group of people really brought these boxes out of the underground river, then they may have also discovered the Jade Pearl.

Xu Qian stared intently at the wooden box in the hands of the three men. The most straightforward way he could think of was to jump down, snatch it away, and then use his superb lightness skill to escape.

Of course, the plan was perfect, but in reality, many unexpected things always happen.

Just as Xu Qian put on the eggshell and prepared to jump down, a red notification suddenly appeared in front of him. The red light was unusually eerie in the rainy night and came very suddenly.

Xu Qian's mind suddenly paused for a second. In that instant, he was pulled off the tree by a force. In a flash, a large amount of water rushed in from all directions, flooding his eyes, nasal cavity, and even his throat.

-9880

-15800

-15800

Seriously injured.

At that moment, he clearly realized that something was crawling on him, gnawing on his flesh, and not only eating him but also smacking its lips.

By the dim light, Xu Qian could vaguely make out the shape of the thing—it had only one cloudy eye, which was neither a human eye nor any kind of creature he knew. Its body was covered with something that looked like a fungus, and he could vaguely see a faint glow.

Fortunately, he only took a few bites of it and then stopped. I don't know if it didn't taste good or if he had a new target.

From this vantage point, Xu Qian could no longer see the other party's movements. After hesitating for a moment, he decided to return to the camp to revive.

Soon, the Qi Pure Daoist, whose body was riddled with dents, disappeared, and a fresh-faced Meow Brother appeared at the foot of the mountain.

Xu Qian glanced at the time; more than an hour had passed, and he needed to hurry.

Just as he was climbing the mountain at top speed, everything that had happened in the pit was being washed away and covered by the heavy rain until it disappeared completely.

So when Xu Qian finally managed to climb up, all he saw was a large pit spewing 'bubbles'; there wasn't a corpse, not even a shadow.

Even more remarkably, all the yellow dots disappeared.

Just then, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck the sky, illuminating his face, and light and shadow danced across his features.

...

At the same time, Qin You, who was far away at school, opened his eyes and slowly exhaled after a long while.

"No spicy... sauce." The voice came from Fang Zhe in the bed opposite.

"..."

Qin You breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he turned over after waking up, he suddenly felt a pain in his arm. When he turned his head again, his gaze immediately returned to the Ming Cult's disguise. Sure enough, he had become the 'fish on the chopping block' once again.

After hesitating for a second between returning to camp and staying put, Xu Qian decided he could afford to wait, so he watched himself being gnawed away again and again.

The scene was so bad it wouldn't pass censorship, but it wasn't a big problem because after the other person finished eating the easy part, they left like a ghost, just like last time.

Xu Qian waited a while longer before resurrecting on the spot and activating his invisibility.

He has now arrived at the bottom of the sinkhole. Unlike last time, the entire mansion has been completely turned upside down.

"Boom—Boom—"

Xu Qian shuddered as the monster that had left returned, completely blocking the stone door in front of him. It stared at the spot where Xu Qian was hiding, making indistinct muttering noises and acting extremely agitated.

The reason it was irritable was that it clearly sensed something, but just couldn't find anything.

That's quite perceptive...

Xu Qian dared not let his guard down. He roughly knew that the other party relied on his sense of smell to find 'prey'. Although he could become invisible, he could not control his scent.

Just as he was hesitating about how to escape, his gaze suddenly turned to the ground. The rough stone slabs were full of traces of time, and more importantly, they were very brittle.

Thinking of this, Xu Qian looked up at the little monster in front of him and silently activated the Green Forest identity, which was an essential identity for a qualified Ming Cult member.

Soon, Xu Qian had laid all the traps he could. All that was left was to undo his invisibility and lure his enemies into the trap.

...

It took Xu Qian nearly ten magic nets to subdue the little monster, wrapping it up like a ball. It was precisely because of this that he had a chance to observe the monster in front of him.

He remembered clearly that he hadn't found anything so terrifying when he came last time; it was just an abandoned mansion. As for this one now, perhaps there were still corners he hadn't discovered? Xu Qian thought about it over and over and this was the only possibility. If it had accidentally come in from the outside, that would be even more impossible; there couldn't possibly be no news about such a 'strange event' outside.

Standing up, Xu Qian clapped his hands. He was certainly curious, but he had more important things to do now—find the jade bead.

Guided by the images in his memory, Xu Qian arrived at the entrance to the underground river, but new troubles arose.

Before him lay a lifeless expanse of black water, utterly still and undisturbed, eerily silent—a stark contrast to the scene he remembered.

Why is this happening? What's going on here?