Qin Gu didn't mention whether he needed to go over there, but he guessed that Ruan Bei and his team wanted to catch up with his score.
Since that's the case, if he asks to join, the points he gains will be the same, so it's essentially a waste of his time.
Qin Gu was also a little curious: "How many points do you have?"
Ruan Bei covered the microphone and asked his teammates. If it were just him, he would have just said it directly.
Conan nodded, and Ruan Bei reported the results to Qin Gu, puffing out his cheeks and saying dejectedly, "We were just a little bit short. We'll try our best to catch up. You'd better watch out!"
Qin Gu was also surprised for a moment, then smiled and said, "Okay, let's work hard together and see who comes in first place."
He had no intention of stopping or giving way to Xiao Bei. He knew how hard Ruan Bei had worked this past month, and if he thought he could only win by giving way to him, that would be disrespectful to Ruan Bei.
From a complete novice when he first participated in the competition, Ruan Bei has now developed his courage and says with great confidence, "It will definitely be ours!"
Qin Gu's heart skipped a beat: "How about we make a bet?"
"What are we betting on?"
Qin Gu rubbed his fingertips against his phone, a smile spreading across his eyes: "We'll bet on who comes in first place. If you win, I'll grant you one request—anything. If I win..."
“Then I’ll grant you one request, anything is fine,” Ruan Bei immediately retorted, not to be outdone.
Qin Gu said happily, "Okay, then it's settled."
Ruan Bei thought for a moment and said, "What if, I mean, what if, we don't get first place?"
Although he was quite confident, and his teammates said they had a good chance of winning first place, nothing is absolute.
Qin Gu hadn't considered this possibility, nor did he like it. After a moment's thought, he tentatively asked, "Then let's call it a draw, and we'll each agree to one of our conditions?"
Ruan Bei: "...Then let's compare rankings! The one with the higher ranking wins."
What's the point of exchanging demands? Is he going to make a demand to offset Kunkun's demand?
"That works too." Qin Gu thought this was acceptable, although he didn't think he would lose.
So it was settled. The teammates overheard some of Ruan Bei's conversation and learned that he and Qin Gu had started another betting game. They were all in high spirits and said they would try their best to make Ruan Bei win.
Mao Xiaoqian also confirmed Jiao Yan's words with his elders. In that case, this mission can be considered.
They sent a message to Jiao Yan, and Jiao Yan replied with flight information.
Ghost King Forest is not in this province, and time is of the essence; they must get there as soon as possible.
Over the past month, they had gotten used to traveling at night. They met up with Jiao Yan's team at the airport, took a nap on the plane, and got off the plane before five o'clock.
Guiwanglin is located in a remote area. After getting off the plane, we took several hours of driving and changing buses. It was quite a hassle, and we didn't arrive until after nine o'clock.
At this time of day, when the sun is at its brightest, the Ghost King Forest is eerily gloomy. The tall, dense trees and lush foliage block out the sunlight, creating a world shrouded in shadow.
As agreed yesterday, Ruan Bei counted out eighteen Yin Qi talismans for Jiao Yan. Although Yin Qi talismans are rare, they are too few for a powerful ghost like a Ghost General.
Ruan Bei only had twenty-one bills in total. Jiao Yan originally wanted to take them all, but Ruan Bei felt he should keep a few in case of emergency. After some bargaining, he gave Jiao Yan eighteen bills to use as a way to pay for his great-uncle's journey.
The others waited outside the forest, while Jiao Yan entered Ghost King Forest alone. As for how he contacted his great-uncle, there must be some secret method involved.
Watching Jiao Yan's figure gradually disappear into the woods, Mao Xiaoqian stroked his chin and said, "If only his great-uncle could tell us about those people directly, we could complete the mission immediately."
In Ghost King Forest, it's much easier for ghosts to find people than for them to find people. This is still Uncle Jiao Yan's territory, and he has countless ghosts under his command. It's just a matter of a word for him.
Ruan Bei glanced at him in surprise, while Conan rolled his eyes without any politeness: "You wish! Why don't you ask Jiao Yan to invite his great-uncle to come out of seclusion and bring his ghost army to help us complete all the missions?"
Ghosts, especially those in Ghost King Forest, are mostly opposed to humans. Jiao Yan used the blood ties between the ghost generals in their previous lives to pave the way and took the Yin Qi Talisman as payment, at most making the ghost generals turn a blind eye to their entry into the forest.
If they simply let the ghost general do their bidding, then even if Ruan Bei brought over a hundred more Yin Qi talismans, it wouldn't make a difference, let alone these dozen or so.
This isn't about compensation; it's about face and status.
Mao Xiaoqian was rendered speechless by his rebuttal, and Jiao Yan, his indignant teammate, also swallowed his words.
The two groups continued to wait peacefully outside, together for Jiao Yan to come out.
They waited for almost half a day. They had finished lunch and even took a nap. Jiao Yan's teammates were starting to worry and wondered if they should ask for help. Finally, Jiao Yan returned.
"Ghost King Forest is really too big. It took me a long time to walk around just the outer perimeter." He went to his great-uncle for help, but of course, it wasn't that his great-uncle came out to see him; rather, it was that he went to see his great-uncle.
"Bigger is better," Ruan Bei said.
The outer perimeter is only so big, and those people definitely can't get inside. As long as they don't leave Jiao Yan's great-uncle's territory, their safety is greatly improved.
Jiao Yan recounted his conversation with his great-uncle, who agreed to let them enter the forest to search for someone and would not allow his ghostly subordinates to attack them without provocation. If any ghosts attacked them, they could retaliate, but they could not attack the ghosts in the forest first.
This is already very good. The biggest danger in Ghost King Forest is that there are too many ghosts, and it is very difficult to get out once you are trapped inside.
Now that the biggest danger has been eliminated, all they need to do is find someone.
All the necessary preparations had been made before the trip. Jiao Yan rested for a bit, ate something, and then everyone set off while it was still early.
It's unclear who the first group of people who recklessly sneaked in were, but the second group of people who went in for search and rescue were carrying special signal devices.
The Ghost King Forest is filled with yin energy that can block signals. The items those people are carrying are specially made by the Special Affairs Bureau for this situation.
The problem is that it only reacts when you get within 100 meters.
In addition, before the search and rescue team went in, they left behind a map of their planned route. It wasn't very detailed, but it showed the general direction. Ruan Bei and his team followed this map, which helped them find the person.
They set off at three in the afternoon, when it was already broad daylight. As they entered the dense forest, the further they went, the darker it became.
The surroundings seemed to be shrouded in a black fog, preventing sunlight from penetrating. Later, they even had to use flashlights to move forward.
A fine layer of sweat appeared on Yin Kai's forehead. He was very sensitive to yin energy, and in this environment, his blood and qi were boiling, and he was in a state of tension at all times, which made him very uncomfortable.
They encountered ghosts along the way, but initially there were only a few, just one or two here and there.
In an environment filled with yin energy, ghosts are like water droplets melting into the ocean. To others, they appear as small, dark clouds of mist, difficult to distinguish within a larger, lighter cloud.
Ruan Bei's ability to see ghosts came in handy once again. No matter how dark it was, he could see the ghosts from afar because they had limbs and facial features.
Upon hearing his warning, Jiao Yan immediately raised a pendant around his neck that appeared to be made of bone.
The ghost glanced at them from afar and then floated away.
The item was useful, and the group was very happy. Then they repeated the process of Ruan Bei issuing an alarm and Jiao Yan showing off the pendant.
They encountered more and more ghosts afterward, and at one point they encountered more than a dozen ghosts that surrounded them.
Mao Xiaoqian had almost drawn his peach wood sword, and Ruan Bei grabbed a handful of thunder talismans. The group of ghosts surrounded them for a while, exchanging a few words.
Ruan Bei pretended not to understand, but overheard the ghosts discussing how to kill them without the Ghost General's knowledge.
One of the ghosts was a warmonger who was eager to make a move. He excitedly said that it didn't matter, since these little things came in on their own, so killing them was fine, and they weren't afraid even if it went to the Ghost King.
Fortunately, the other ghosts were still rational. One ghost said that he felt Jiao Yan was a descendant of the Ghost General. The other ghosts felt that it was not worth it to offend the Ghost General by killing them, so they left after arguing.
After they walked away, Ruan Bei told the others about the ghosts' conversation. Everyone broke out in a cold sweat. Luckily, Jiao Yan was there; otherwise, if someone else had gotten the pendant, it might still have been useless.
This little incident has passed, and by nightfall, Ghost King Forest was pitch black, so dark that you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.
They stopped to rest, paired up to keep watch, and the others slept for a while.
In this kind of environment, it's impossible to get proper rest, but not sleeping for a long time is mentally exhausting.
Because Ruan Bei has the ability to see ghosts, he volunteered to guard the early morning hours, as this time is when the yin energy is strongest and accidents are most likely to happen.
Sure enough, as he endured his exhaustion and guarded the tent, he spotted a ghostly figure approaching in the distance.
Those ghosts probably thought that in such a dark night, the Taoist priests, who were already difficult to detect, were like blind men, so they came over without any concealment.
Who would have thought they'd run into this oddball, Ruan Bei, who woke up all his teammates with a single shout? The sleeping people hadn't taken off their clothes, and their magical artifacts were all left within easy reach.
Upon hearing Ruan Bei's warning, they scrambled to their feet. Ruan Bei had already activated the Soul-Capturing Bell, infusing it with as much spiritual energy as possible.
The advantage of this magical artifact is that it is a large-scale offensive artifact specifically designed to target ghosts, and has very little effect on humans because it acts on the soul, while the human soul is very stable within the body and is not easily shaken.
Ruan Bei's Soul-Capturing Bell blocked the ghosts' advance. As for whether they would accidentally hurt them, it was late at night, and these ghosts were clearly heading their way. Could they be kindly keeping watch for them?
Sure enough, when the lights came on, Ruan Bei recognized the ghost among the group of ghosts they had encountered during the day—the one that was determined to kill them.
He was accompanied by seven or eight ghosts, two or three of whom were familiar faces, whom he must have met during the day, while the others were unfamiliar.
Although the ghosts outnumbered the humans, the ghosts had the advantage of being in this place, and they didn't seem weak either. The weaker ones, like Old White, were no match for them in a one-on-one fight.
However, Ruan Bei and his teammates were not to be trifled with. They were teammates, so who would let their support go out for a one-on-one fight?
In a fierce battle, Yin Kai was at the forefront, and his skin was so stimulated by the evil aura that it cracked.
Ruan Beiyu's umbrella opens and closes intermittently, deflecting attacks and covering his teammates. The various talismans on it shine brightly, and any ghosts that get close will either die or be injured.
Ruan Bei held an umbrella in one hand and a sword in the other, and occasionally threw two lightning talismans. His combat power was unbelievably strong, and the ghosts he killed dared not approach him.
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