Chapter 147 Chapter 147 (Catching Bugs)
Little Golden Dragon was so angry that he almost lost his temper.
What the hell, what kind of shit are these teammates! They're just rubbing salt into its wounds!
“Ouch!”
The owner actually joined in the mischief!
It had just stepped out from the shadow of the rabbit head, and now it was asked to take the lead again - wasn't this just watching the fun and making trouble?
The little golden dragon was so angry that he slapped his tail, but the other mysterious beasts were rolling on the ground laughing. Xia Muqing couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth, she was extremely happy.
But in the end, she said, "Forget it, forget it. I was just kidding. Let's all go together so we can look after each other."
"Let me see the mission for this floor - to seize the 'Fire Cloud Spirit'?"
Xia Muqing raised her head and glanced towards the volcano.
Just at this moment, the earth trembled, and the crisscrossing gullies cracked a little more. A sharp buzzing sound came from the distance. The thick smoke in the crater suddenly grew stronger, and a few sparks burst out.
"'Fire Cloud Essence' must be collected near the crater, and this volcano is about to erupt. And what does 'seize' mean?"
Who to fight for it from and how to fight for it?
Xia Muqing was thinking about it when the Swift Dog suddenly looked stern and raised its head to the side: "Awooo!"
Master, look, there is someone on the other side!
Xia Muqing looked up in surprise.
Across a long and deep crack, there was indeed a figure on the rolling hills opposite. It was a girl, wearing an elegant black dress and a long red scarf tied around her neck, which was bright and exquisite.
Xia Muqing had an impression of this person: "It seems to be... contestant number 6?"
"Shh, she's so fast! We're on the 25th floor."
But that didn't seem right. Xia Muqing took another look and tried the ranking. The No. 6 sign was clearly on the 13th floor, which was still far away from her.
At this time, the system prompt sounded:
[Beep! Two players have been detected entering the same area. Special mode is now activated: Battle for Position!]
[Both sides must obtain the Fire Cloud Spirit located at the crater before the volcano erupts. If one Beastmaster holds the Fire Cloud Spirit for more than one minute, they automatically win.]
[If the lower-level player wins, they can exchange their current tower level with the higher-level player.]
[If the high-level player wins, they will move up 5 levels, and the low-level player will move down 5 levels.]
If the battle fails to end before the volcano erupts, both sides will fail and fall 10 floors.
[Attention!!! The temperature inside the crater is extremely high. If you accidentally fall in, your tower level will be reset to zero and you will return to the basic tower level! !]
"Wow, it's a game of grabbing a spot?"
Xia Muqing raised her brows slightly, and said with great interest: "Interesting, this design is quite rich."
The little golden dragon's eyes lit up: "Ah!"
Okay, okay, you want to fight, right? Just let it go!
Isn’t this much simpler than exploring, bugs, and rabbits?
Xia Muqing: "Be careful, she is very powerful."
Being able to suppress Guan Yun and Xue Yao to occupy the No. 6 position, the opponent's level is definitely not low.
And if I remember correctly, girl number 6's mysterious beast happened to be of the fire type...
While thinking about countermeasures in her mind, Xia Muqing kept walking, quickly crossed the cracks in the ground, and rushed towards the crater.
Girl No. 6 was no match for her, running just as fast as her, her red scarf fluttering behind her. The two of them sprinted across the massive chasm, sending dust flying beneath their feet.
She even had some energy left, and smiled at Xia Muqing sideways: "Xiao Xia Divine Beast Master? What a coincidence, we actually met in the same scene. Can you add me on WeChat when you get out?"
"Hahaha, I like you...but I won't let you win this round. If you win, you can go to the 25th floor!"
Xia Muqing also smiled at her and said, "Okay, then let's have a competition."
"Xiaofeng, evolve!"
“Ouch—”
The Gale Dog ran a few quick steps and suddenly leaped forward. Its small body instantly expanded in the surging mysterious wind, transforming into the mighty Feng Luo Lord.
The azure light roared like a torrent, and the flowing clouds and heat waves were quickly pushed aside. Lord Feng Luo's feet created wind, and he pushed hard with his back feet. His body instantly jumped several meters away, leaving Xia Muqing and girl No. 6 and her group behind.
Speed is what the Swift Dog is best at.
Letting it go first will naturally take the lead and help it seize the initiative!
Girl No. 6 was not to be outdone and immediately summoned her own mysterious beasts: "Melting Flame Crocodile, Fiery Tail Bird, Rainbow Star!"
A mysterious light exploded, and three mysterious beasts instantly appeared beside her.
Xia Muqing: “……!”
She only remembered that girl No. 6's Xuan Beast was of the Fire Attribute, but she didn't expect that the other party was actually biased to such an extent - the three contracted Xuan Beasts were all of the Fire Attribute!
Moreover, Hongguang Xingdou is definitely a divine beast. Even if the other two are only quasi-divine beasts, it can be seen from their extremely determined eyes that they must have gone through countless trials and tribulations.
"So powerful!" Xia Muqing exclaimed sincerely, "You've trained your profound beasts really well. The Molten Flame Crocodile and the Fiery Tailed Sparrow are almost reaching the level of Divine Beasts, right?"
Girl No. 6: "Haha, I don't dare to talk about Mystical Beast training in front of Xiao Xia's Divine Beast Master, but unfortunately, this competition venue, I have the advantage of time and location."
"Melting Flame Crocodile, stop Lord Feng Luo!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the Molten Flame Crocodile roared and dived into the ground.
Under the cover of its mysterious power, the solid earth seemed like a flowing river - everything it passed through turned into flowing magma, and the red streams tore through the earth, blocking the way forward for Xia Muqing and others.
Its speed was not as fast as Lord Feng Luo's, so it played to its strengths and avoided its weaknesses. It did not directly compete with Lord Feng Luo in terms of leg strength, but instead used the method of blocking the beastmaster to force Lord Feng Luo to turn back.
It was very effective. Lord Feng Luo, who was rushing in the front, slowed down a little and looked back at Xia Muqing uneasily.
Speed is its strong point, but loyalty is even stronger than that, deeply engraved in its soul.
Xia Muqing shouted loudly: "Don't worry about the back, keep going!"
At this time, she had already rushed to the edge of the flame flow set up by the Molten Flame Crocodile, and grabbed the little golden dragon's tail with her backhand.
The little golden dragon roared towards the sky and transformed into a several-meter-tall gilded sky dragon. It rolled up its tail, which was as thick as a pillar, and grabbed Xia Muqing's waist, carrying her off the ground quickly!
The heat wave swept across Xia Muqing's cheeks, but could not cause any harm to her.
Across from her, girl number 6 felt somewhat lost and helpless: "All her profound beasts can fly and can even carry people. This is too bad..."
Her eyes wandered. "But on the other hand, isn't this also her disadvantage? Although my Fiery Tail Sparrow and Rainbow Star can't carry me, they won't restrict me. Can I attack freely?"
"Go, Fiery Tail Bird, Rainbow Star, stop Xiao Xia's Beast Master!"
The two mysterious beasts transformed into streams of light and pounced towards the gilded sky dragon.
Xia Muqing smiled bitterly: "Are you all coming for me? Instead of chasing Lord Feng Luo, you're going to attack me, a slow beastmaster, first?"
What a flexible confrontation strategy. The opponent is obviously not a "nerd" who can only play games, but an adventurer who has been in another space and has rich experience and strong combat reaction ability.
Girl No. 6: "It's an emergency, so don't be offended—Rainbow Stars, beware of Yin-Yang Butterfly's spiritual abilities!"
A flash of rainbow light shot out and collided with the purple light skill performed by the Yin-Yang Butterfly, as if two clusters of fireworks exploded in the air, scattering a patch of light as brilliant as a star rain.
The illusion skill "Soul Pulling" of Liang Yi Butterfly was intercepted!
Xia Muqing raised her eyebrows.
The other party knew her very well. Xiao Zi was a relatively inconspicuous one among her three mysterious beasts, but girl No. 6 knew the skills of Liang Yi Butterfly very well and could accurately interrupt the skill beforehand.
"It seems that you have done a lot of homework to deal with me?"
Girl No. 6 smiled and said, "After all, this is the prestigious No. 1 Arena, so I can't be too serious. But it's not just you. I've carefully researched all the opponents who made it to the finals."
"I have my own sources of information... To be honest, our group mainly engages in intelligence gathering and trading. It's called the 'Wuji Adventure Group.' I wonder if Xiaoxia Divine Beast Envoy has heard of it?"
Xia Muqing nodded: "Of course I have heard of it."
The famous intelligence supply and marketing group, the homepage of the Adventurer's Home forum always has an introduction and recruitment post for the "Wuji Adventure Group". The requirement for joining the group is to practice to the extreme in a certain aspect - it seems that girl No. 6 really meets their recruitment standards.
Girl No. 6: "After the competition, you're welcome to come and discuss business with our group! We're open to buying or selling intelligence, as long as it's not malicious or detrimental to the interests of all Beastmasters. The price is negotiable... Fiery-tailed Sparrow, hurry!"
Taking advantage of Xia Muqing's thoughtful look, she ordered the Fiery Tail Bird to swoop up, and its sharp beak shot straight at the gilded sky dragon's tail!
Xiao Jin reacted quickly and turned sideways - the light from its beak brushed against the scales on its back, making a sharp buzzing sound of intense friction.
Xia Muqing quickly hugged the little golden dragon: "......?"
"Is this how your group negotiates business with people? Suddenly a fight breaks out in the middle of a conversation?"
Girl No. 6 smiled frankly and said, "Business is business, and competition is competition."
"And Xiao Xia, the Divine Beast Master, this little trick is nothing in the alien space. As long as you can survive, you can use any means there."
Hearing her say this, Xia Muqing nodded in understanding.
Yes, that’s the truth.
The Tower of Babel simulates District 13, not a battle arena.
"In that case, I won't be polite," Xia Muqing waved her hand, "Xiao Jin, use your special ability!"
"Force the Molten Flame Crocodile out first, and don't let it cause trouble underground!"
The Molten Flame Crocodile's ability to change terrain is very strong, and its adaptability to volcanic areas is also incredible. In just a moment, the Molten Flame Crocodile was almost surrounded by Xia Muqing. If it was allowed to slip away like this, Xia Muqing would not even have a place to stay.
“Ouch!”
The gilded sky dragon let out a long roar, and its huge body fell down. It first put Xia Muqing down, and then a ball of mixed energy gathered at the tip of its tail and slammed the ground hard.
The "disorder" feature is rarely used after the little koi turns into a dragon.
But using it less doesn't mean it's not powerful enough. Sometimes, it can even be more effective when used suddenly - at least the Molten Flame Crocodile didn't expect this trick, and was caught off guard and forced out of the molten flame. The large area of molten flame that was finally catalyzed also returned to solid ground with the fluctuation of mysterious power.
"And then... the force field!"
Red light burst out, covering the surrounding area!
The Fiery-tailed Bird in the sky was just spreading its wings, about to turn its feathers into thorns, when suddenly a heavy mysterious force enveloped it. The air around it seemed to have weight, pressing it down heavily towards the ground, catching it off guard.
Fiery-tailed Sparrow: “!!!”
"Don't panic!" Girl No. 6 shouted, "The Gilded Sky Dragon's gravity field is within the information we know—"
At this moment, a cluster of dazzling flames suddenly burst out from the volcano in the distance.
The roar of Lord Fengluo followed, and the roar resounded through the sky: "Awoo!"
Xia Muqing and girl No. 6 both had their eyes light up.
Lord Feng Luo has found the 'Fire Cloud Essence'!
Sure enough, in the distance, the wind was blowing and the clouds were flowing. Lord Feng Luo, holding a fiery red crystal in his mouth, turned around and ran quickly. The turbulent wind blew away the sparks that were flying along the way, covering it with a layer of red windbreaker.
“Boom—”
The earth trembled, thick clouds rolled in the sky, and the rising black smoke dyed half of the sky a thick dark color.
Fire Cloud Spirit, originally a mineral found on the edge of the crater, is normally buried beneath thick volcanic ash, appearing an unremarkable gray. It is also incredibly hard. Only during an eruption does it take on a dazzling red hue, like a flower of fire blooming amidst the scorching molten flames.
When it becomes loose enough to be collected, it often means that the volcano is not far from its final eruption.
Sure enough, as soon as Lord Feng Luo turned around, huge amounts of steam gushed out from the mountain pass, and the air was filled with a pungent smell of sulfur. The thick clouds in the sky pressed down even more gloomily, and lightning flashed faintly in the clouds.
Xia Muqing's pupils shrank as she watched: "Earth light?"
The signs have appeared, and there is really not much time left for them!
"Xiao Jin, maximum force!"
The red light intensified and became so rich that it looked black. The gilded sky dragon activated the force field to the maximum, suppressing the opponent's mysterious beast.
Lord Feng Luo was extremely fast, returning to Xia Muqing in the blink of an eye. He spat out the crystal from his mouth, and Xia Muqing hurriedly reached out to grab it.
“Crash!”
A strange rainbow light suddenly shot out and rushed towards the Fire Cloud Spirit at lightning speed!
Xia Muqing glanced out of the corner of her eye - the Molten Flame Crocodile and the Fiery Tail Bird were still fighting with the Gilded Sky Dragon under the pressure of gravity, while the Rainbow Star had unexpectedly left the ground at some point, and its fluorescent body flashed a few times, almost teleporting between her and Lord Feng Luo!
The speed of the explosion at that moment was even faster than Lord Feng Luo!
Xia Muqing was immediately shocked: "Amazing, it's not affected by gravity?"
Girl No. 6 was a little proud: "Haha, you didn't expect that, did you?"
"Xiao Jinghong has a very rare trait: resistance! I suppressed it so it wouldn't show up in the semi-finals, wanting to show it off during the crucial finals. Now it just happens to come in handy."
She waved her right hand vigorously: "Xiao Jinghong, grab it quickly!"
Just as the Fire Cloud Spirit was about to fall into the rainbow light, suddenly, a cold light flashed in the eyes of Lord Feng Luo, and a mysterious power emanated from his body.
Rainbow Star swallowed it with a "wow", and the Fire Cloud Essence was already at its mouth - but the next second it suddenly made several "Pooh" sounds in pain and spat out a large amount of sand and gravel.
What it chewed into its mouth was not the Fire Cloud Spirit, but the volcanic rock standing beside it?
Not only that, Hongguang Xingdou blinked in confusion, only to find that he had been kicked out of the battle zone at some point and instantly appeared on a hill more than ten meters away from Xia Muqing.
And just now, the one approaching this position was clearly the Yin-Yang Butterfly...
"hiss!"
Girl No. 6 was also stunned: "Shift, shift? Or is it time and space intertwining?"
Xia Muqing steadily caught the Fire Cloud Spirit and smiled at her: "Yes, it is the intersection of time and space."
"I didn't even use my full strength in the semi-finals."
"Space-time skills..." Girl No. 6 pursed her lips, her greedy eyes almost melted Lord Feng Luo.
"I only heard that Lord Feng Luo mastered the confinement-type blocking skills, but I didn't expect that he had a deeper understanding of time and space. My god, this is so tempting."
She smiled bitterly, shook her head, and spread her hands. "Alas, there's nothing I can do. The intertwining of time and space is too powerful. I don't have any chance of winning at all."
Even if she gets it, she can lose it in an instant.
The space-time skills are notoriously buggy, so how can she play it?
It is true that the characteristic of Rainbow Star is resistance, but it also requires a short period of time to start up. I just took advantage of Xia Muqing's inattention and caught her off guard. It will be difficult to use it later.
Especially in front of Lord Feng Luo, who possesses super perception abilities.
Seeing that girl No. 6 readily admitted defeat, Xia Muqing waved her hand at her: "Thank you, thank you."
She pinched the Fire Cloud Essence. It felt smooth to the touch, and the warmth from it, like a hand warmer, continuously flowed into her skin. It felt quite comfortable to touch.
Although she lost the battle for position and was about to fall off the tower, girl No. 6 did not look particularly sad.
She looked at Xia Muqing curiously, her eyes constantly scanning from Fengluo Lord and Gilded Sky Dragon: "Time and space intersect, this is a big intelligence... Ahem, don't worry, our group has a bottom line, and we won't sell your information casually."
"And compared to this, I'm more curious about how Swift Dog learned the space-time type moves. Is there any learning method?"
"No... Well, come to think of it, it all comes down to your profound beast's talent, its comprehension, and its willingness to delve into research."
"My little Jinghong should have the potential to learn space-time skills, but he just can't. It drives me crazy."
"By the way, didn't I tell you my name yet? My name is Ji Hong, with the grass radical "Hongha"..."
The girl became happier and happier as she talked, and suddenly became a chatterbox.
It wasn't until the system announced the end of the battle and the results of the position swap that she paused, still unsatisfied, and waved to Xia Muqing repeatedly: "Be sure to wait for me when you get out, and don't forget to add me as a friend!"
Xia Muqing didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "Okay, okay."
After finally seeing off girl No. 6, Xia Muqing breathed a sigh of relief.
It was hard to describe. She was not very good at dealing with this kind of outgoing social expert. The last minute gave her more pressure than the previous battle.
But making friends with Ji Hong is obviously a good thing, and Xia Muqing is also very interested in the large amount of information that the Wuji Adventure Group has.
She rubbed her hands together and said, "Let's go and continue climbing the tower!"
"It can reach 5 levels... Hmm, why does it suddenly feel like it's too little? Why not Xiao Jin play as a forward..."
Little Golden Dragon: “???”
I know the master hasn't given up this idea yet!
It shrank silently and slipped into Xia Muqing's sleeve, with its tail tightly wrapped around her wrist.
It was absolutely impossible for it to play forward, not in this lifetime. Even if it saw something fun and magical, it would never—
"Ah, Xiao Jin, look, there's a golden sea over there!"
Little Golden Dragon: “Ah!!”
Where, where?
…
Time passes by every second.
When the game was halfway through, the rankings of the 10 players had already been clearly divided.
Inside the monitoring room outside the Tower of Babel, the work group members who maintained the Ark's auxiliary aircraft, the association examiners and others looked at the red dot "No. 1" that was far ahead and couldn't help but marvel at it.
"As expected of Xiaoxia's Divine Beast Master, he has outstanding strength and excellent vision."
"The others have some shortcomings, which can delay them on certain floors, but Number 1 has been jumping continuously all the way up. There's no single floor that could hold her up for more than an hour."
"Yes, yes, and their endurance is also amazing. It's been 12 hours, and many people's profound beasts have had to stop and rest to recover their strength, but her little ones are still jumping around as if nothing happened."
"The Yin-Yang Butterfly's recovery ability is terrifying... And that Gilded Sky Dragon is simply a child of luck! It can even crash into hidden jump passages. If it reaches an alternate dimension, wouldn't it be a blessing?"
"That requires the ability to avoid disaster first. Don't forget that every good fortune for the Gilded Sky Dragon is preceded by bad luck. Speaking of which, Lord Feng Luo's spatial skills are the most powerful. Interweaving time and space, this is a divine skill that's even better than a divine skill..."
"Who said it's not a divine skill?"
"...Ah? Can a mysterious beast have more than one divine skill?"
"I heard it's possible, but it's so rare that most people don't know about it. So, Daxia currently has around 200 divine beasts, of which only a third possess divine skills, and those with multiple divine skills are probably only in the single digits."
"……ox!"
Immediately afterwards, the conversation among the group of people gradually went off track, from talking about the selection competition to the divine beasts, and then to the cultivation of mysterious beasts. In the end, after going around in circles, it all came back to Xia Muqing, and they all expressed their admiration for her amazing ability to cultivate mysterious beasts.
Three mysterious beasts. Others can dominate the country by raising one, but she raised three at a time.
Hearing other people talking, Chi Zi pursed his lips and smiled.
She thought to herself, "Actually, there are more than three."
Ark Xiaoxue has always been by Xia Muqing's side. Although others regard it as a tool like a portable computer or analyzer, Chi Zi, who has had close contact with it, knows that Xia Muqing is carefully cultivating it as a special mysterious beast.
Ark Xiaoxue is also a miracle. With the help of the "emotional sensing" feature of the Yin-Yang Butterfly, her personality and self-awareness are becoming more and more complete.
Chi Zi was no longer able to analyze the data flow within its body.
The amount of information explodes, and the server crashes every time it is analyzed. Even the operating speed of the Ark host will be reduced to the extreme - analyzing emotions with data is such a difficult task.
What the Ark host failed to achieve, Ark Xiaoxue is far ahead of it.
"When it becomes a mysterious beast, others will probably be shocked."
That is a more legendary thing than cultivating the Wind Luo Lord and the Gilded Sky Dragon, and it is enough to open up a whole new direction in beast taming.
…
Xia Muqing didn't know what people outside were feeling.
She just worked her way up the tower, skipping level after level—just like a speedrunner.
The other contestants also exerted their strength, and from time to time, the little red dot would suddenly jump upwards, appearing at a new height spanning more than ten floors. This feeling of someone chasing them relentlessly filled Xia Muqing with a sense of crisis.
"Look, the second place is only 28 floors away from us, and they're about to catch up!"
"Oh my god, No. 2 has already reached the 67th floor, and we haven't even reached the 100th floor yet?"
"The level jump speed has slowed down. We've become more lax than at the beginning."
The mysterious beasts: “…?”
Is our beastmaster being overly cautious?
The speed of jumping levels slowed down, wasn't that normal? After all, the higher you went, the more difficult the tasks became. The latest level actually required them to rescue a blue-fluorescent fire butterfly from a cave full of Sky Nether Poison Spiders...
There were more than twenty Sky Nether Poison Spiders, and the eggs were densely hanging on the ceiling of the cave, which made several mysterious beasts suffer from claustrophobia.
The Yin-Yang butterfly drooped its antennae: "Eh, eh?"
Why does it feel that if any other beastmaster were to come, no one would be able to pass the 99th level?
Xia Muqing said softly, "Don't underestimate the other contestants. Although we're currently ranked first, they might have hidden tricks up their sleeves. If we encounter another battle for a spot, we might still be defeated if we're not careful."
"Okay, everyone's worked hard. How about we take a break before climbing to the 100th floor?"
Half an hour later, the mysterious beasts that had gotten a rest regained their spirits and were in high spirits.
Xia Muqing also took a few bites of dry food, then stood up and wiped her mouth.
"Let's go up the tower!"
“Wow—”
The world changes, and the scenery changes drastically.
The scene of the 100th floor appeared before Xia Muqing. She only saw a tall gray wall. Before she could take a closer look, the little golden dragon suddenly shouted excitedly, "Ah!"
Master, look to the right!
Xia Muqing turned around suddenly.
Not far away, Xu Feiying was staring at her with scorching eyes. The Leviathan behind him had a dark look in his eyes, and spots of scarlet seeped from between his teeth.
"I didn't expect to see you here."
Xu Feiying's voice was a little excited and impatient: "Are you challenging the 100th floor?"
"Okay, as long as I beat you, I'll be the one to reach the 100th floor!"
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