maze
In a secluded spot, Lu Siyao, who had just killed dozens of bats before emerging from the cave, shook off the bloodstains on her clothes.
Looking up, she saw the same light screen and instantly understood its function. It was also at this moment that she received messages from Xiao Ke and her teammates.
"Looks like I need to accumulate some points before I can find another opportunity to spar," Lu Siyao murmured to herself, as she cleaved the bat-like monster that attacked from behind with a backhand sword strike.
The sound of it hitting the ground with a 'thud' carried a quality not present in the cave earlier. Lu Siyao turned around and quickly spotted the conspicuous jade slip on the ground.
Immediately, she slowly raised her head and looked back at the cave she had just emerged from, then returned to the cave without hesitation.
A moment later, the leaderboard on the screen suddenly changed dramatically. Everyone could see this change, and Lu Siyao's name appeared out of nowhere.
They swiftly moved from an unseen location to the second-place spot.
Xiao Ke, who had just dealt with a monster somewhere, looked up and smiled: "Senior Sister Lu is amazing."
Seeing this, disciples from other sects gritted their teeth: "How come all the good things happen to the Xuantian Sect?"
Some disciples who had fought the opponent looked gloomy; they had brought three people, yet they still couldn't win the fight. Could it be that disciples from major sects were simply more powerful than those from smaller sects?
Because of the drastic changes in rankings, many people have set their sights on the disciples of the Xuantian Sect. Since they can't find them themselves, they'll just steal them from others. After all, as long as they don't intentionally injure the other party, it's all reasonable here.
Unseen battles are quietly taking place within the Boundless Tower.
Inside the maze, the group walked for about half an hour without finding the exit. At that moment, the Boundless Tower fell into darkness again, and the moon slowly climbed into the sky.
"Why don't we try to break the wall?" Yangming, who was at the very back, had long disliked these walls, but he hadn't said anything because everyone was focused on finding an exit.
Upon hearing this, Ruan Qingyu continued walking without stopping: "You can give it a try."
As soon as he finished speaking, Yangming punched the wall beside him without hesitation. The force of the punch carried the scent of earth, whipping up rubble like a landslide.
Immediately afterwards, a muffled sound rang out. Yang Ming grunted and took two steps back, only to be grabbed by the arm by Jin Chengcheng behind him.
"How foolish! This is a sect competition, not a secret realm training exercise." These elders wouldn't just set things up arbitrarily and let their disciples destroy them. Jin Chengcheng had mostly deduced the elders' temperaments from her own family's elders.
Liu Feng, who hadn't spoken a word from beginning to end, coughed lightly: "Obviously, flying and brute force are not allowed here. So there are no traps or mechanisms here; it's just a maze."
As they spoke, Liu Feng kept an eye on Ruan Qingyu's expression. Seeing that she wasn't looking at him at all, he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.
After turning another corner, Ruan Qingyu finally spoke: "This maze is constantly in operation; it's not static. Since we entered, the maze has undergone a complete transformation every half hour."
While Liu Feng was healing, she had used her divine sense to observe him for a while. Unfortunately, the maze seemed to have a restraining effect on divine sense.
So much so that she only had time to send her divine sense a thousand meters away before it was blocked by something gentle yet powerful.
Seeing that she quieted down after saying that, the impatient Jin Chengcheng couldn't help but ask, "And then?"
"That's why the maze changes its exit every half hour, which is why we can't find the exit." After all, since they came in, they haven't stopped except when they met their teammates.
After walking all day, we should be nearing the exit by now.
Thinking of this, Ruan Qingyu's voice became firm: "So, in half an hour, we need to speed up. The faster the better, we can use any movement technique."
As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Feng and Jin Chengcheng both looked at Yang Ming, who smiled sheepishly and said, "I'll try my best. If it doesn't work out, I'll wait for the next round."
Unexpectedly, Ruan Qingyu retorted in an unyielding manner: "We can't wait for the next round. If a new round starts, you won't know if your exit is the furthest from you."
Upon hearing this, the expressions of the group all turned serious. Jin Chengcheng glared angrily at Yangming: "If you can't keep up, just drag me along."
After saying that, Jin Chengcheng released her long whip and wrapped it around her and Yangming's arms.
Her gaze fell on the golden magical artifact, and Ruan Qingyu suddenly had an idea: "Could your magical artifact be a little longer?"
Although she didn't know what she wanted to do by asking this, Jin Chengcheng still did as she was told: "Is this okay?"
The whip suddenly grew much longer. This whip was made for her by a famous weapon-refining master at the request of her elders after she entered the Daoist path. It would grow with her, and could be said to be her second life.
"My speed is probably the fastest among you. When Chengcheng's whip wraps us up, if you can't keep up, I can carry you along." Although flying is not allowed here, low-altitude flight is a piece of cake for Phoenix.
Judging that the time was almost up, Ruan Qingyu looked at Jin Chengcheng. The latter quickly understood, and her long whip suddenly stretched out, wrapping around the waists of everyone present.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the maze walls gradually stop rotating, and Ruan Qingyu unfolded her fiery wings, creating a wave of heat.
Jin Chengcheng, who was closest to Ruan Qingyu, frowned slightly but managed to hold back. A protective barrier quietly rose around her, separating her from Ruan Qingyu.
The next moment, they heard Ruan Qingyu shout loudly, "Run!"
In an instant, the group started running together. At first, they couldn't immediately notice the difference. But after the third breath, Yangming, who was at the back, found himself almost being carried away.
He ultimately restrained himself from lifting his feet off the ground and letting Ruan Qingyu carry him. After all, with his weight on him, if he were to put all his weight on Ruan Qingyu, he wouldn't be human.
At this moment, Ruan Qingyu saw no maze, no one else. She had only one thought: to run! The wind whistled past her ears, making her hair fly wildly.
In the blink of an eye, she had run past five corners. The people behind her, entangled in long whips, also quickened their pace.
Wutong's voice rang in his ears: "Miss Ruan, you can sense things outside now." From the moment he started, he had been following her instructions and had been using the music to sense changes in the outside world.
Once he sensed an echo different from the maze walls, he immediately informed Ruan Qingyu. At that moment, he noticed the echo was different and immediately spoke up.
After he finished speaking, Ruan Qingyu flew even faster. Unbeknownst to anyone, her spiritual energy was being rapidly depleted.
"Wutong, I know that music cultivation has an auxiliary effect," Ruan Qingyu said, taking a moment from her busy schedule.
Suddenly, Wutong understood. A melodious blue zither tune rose and fell, this time audible to everyone. They felt their previous exhaustion seem to have eased.
She even felt more powerful, gritting her teeth and continuing to charge forward. Since she had chosen to believe in Ruan Qingyu, she naturally had to give it her all.
With the help of the parasol tree, Ruan Qingyu gritted her teeth and made a firm decision. She completely exhausted all her spiritual power, and the fire wings on her back suddenly spread out even wider. The howling wind, which was originally relatively gentle, was now almost like a blade grazing her face.
At this moment, Ruan Qingyu noticed that the previously motionless wall seemed to begin to move slowly. Had half an hour passed? No!
Ruan Qingyu gritted her teeth: "Where is the location with the fastest echo?"
Wutong replied quickly, "It's right in front of you."
Having gotten the answer she wanted, Ruan Qingyu leaped forward, closing the distance to the exit once more. A quarter of an hour later, she saw with her own eyes that the exit was now a third of the way blocked by the newly moved wall. She took a deep breath and rushed out.
Once outside the maze, Ruan Qingyu turned around without hesitation and pulled on the whip at her waist, yanking Yangming backward.
"Finally out." Yangming stood up, panting heavily. He knew that although he had suffered a major setback, this little thing was nothing to him.
The important thing is that he saw with his own eyes that he almost couldn't get out.
Jin Chengcheng recovered, withdrew her whip, and sincerely thanked Ruan Qingyu.
Just as the group was still basking in the joy of surviving the ordeal, four gleaming white objects suddenly flew out of the maze behind them, which had closed its doors.
It landed squarely in the hands of the four people. The four looked down and saw that there were four jade slips. After seeing the numbers on them, the four were immediately startled.
After navigating the maze, the jade slip actually awarded me fifty points!
Instantly, Ruan Qingyu subconsciously looked up at the leaderboard on the screen. Sure enough, the names of the three people, including the unlucky Liu Feng, whose rankings were previously invisible, were now rapidly rising.
Having swept the top ten spots, it was clear that only a handful of them had obtained the fifty-point jade slip. Ruan Qingyu let out a soft exhale; her name remained in first place.
She blinked involuntarily at the thought of being ranked second. Although she didn't know how Lu Siyao had managed it, she knew that she had earned her points by navigating various traps, so she figured the other person had done it much the same way.
Lu Siyao, who was being worried about by Ruan Qingyu, looked at the endless stream of bats inside the cave and thought to herself that she probably wouldn't be able to leave the cave.
Each bat is worth ten points; as long as she kills them quickly enough, this cave is a goldmine for scoring points. Little did she know, her teammates were simultaneously celebrating her success and gritting their teeth in frustration.
As three unfamiliar names suddenly appeared on the leaderboard, many sect cultivators felt a pang of sadness, wondering where these people had found the jade slips.
Now everyone knows that the points on jade slips are different, and the only way to quickly increase them is to find jade slips of higher value.
Meanwhile, Liu Yan, who hadn't had many jade slips along the way due to the desolate landing site, looked up. She clicked her tongue in amazement at the names of her teammates on the screen.
Was she about to win without lifting a finger? It was a rare and wonderful feeling, as the team marched towards victory without her having to do anything. Liu Yan was overjoyed, and her steps forward became even more energetic.
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