Chapter 3
Shi Anxu was startled and instantly became alert.
Oh no, what bad luck! He was just talking to Mu Qingzhou about Warcraft, and then Warcraft appeared.
Mu Qingzhou drew his Qingyuan Sword and took a half-step forward without making a sound, protecting Shi Anxu behind him.
The plant branches on the flowerpot were moving more and more, and a blood-white magical beast suddenly appeared. It was of medium size, about a foot tall, with a pair of large antlers resembling deer antlers on its head, and obsidian-like eyes staring straight at them.
“It’s a snow deer!” Shi Anxu breathed a sigh of relief. “It’s a relatively docile sixth-tier magical beast. No wonder you said it has gained sentience, Junior Brother.”
"We must not let our guard down." Mu Qingzhou glanced at the flowerpot from which the snow deer had sprung out. "It has called for help."
Shi Anxu suddenly realized, "No wonder it kept running away; it was trying to lure us here."
As soon as the words were spoken, two or three snow-white deer darted out from behind the flowerpot to the front of the deer they had first seen, and firmly protected it behind them.
Shi Anxu was somewhat surprised to see this. The three in front were clearly larger than the one behind, and their horns were also more robust. It seemed that three males were pursuing one female.
He hesitated for a moment, reluctant to harm them, but the magical beasts imprisoned in the Jade Spirit Tower for their trials were all wicked and he couldn't be lenient.
Shi Anxu took out the Fallen Petals Fan and looked directly at the three snow deer through Mu Qingzhou, waiting for their attack.
This stalemate didn't last long; the three snow deer soon charged at them, their antlers raised.
Their antlers have a faint luster of ice crystals. If you are hit by their antlers, not only will your body be pierced, but you will also be frozen into an ice sculpture.
Mu Qingzhou imbued the Qingyuan Sword with spiritual power, twirling it in a perfect sword flourish, and a sharp sword aura slashed straight at the antlers of a snow deer.
The other two noticed that Shi Anxu was weaker, and they all pointed their horns at Shi Anxu.
Although Shi Anxu was a good-for-nothing, he was not someone to be trifled with. The Falling Petal Fan unfolded with a "whoosh," and spiritual power was imbued into the fan surface. He swung it forcefully at the two snow deer, cutting off a section of their antlers.
Mu Qingzhou noticed Shi Anxu's situation and his moves became even more ferocious. He took the snow deer's inner core with a single sword strike and then flashed over to help Shi Anxu.
When Shi Anxu saw Mu Qingzhou come to help him, the tension in his body eased a little. Together with Mu Qingzhou, they dealt with the other two snow deer and took their inner cores.
Just as the two put away their inner cores, Jiang Linyu and the others caught up. Judging from their good mood, they must have had a very fruitful harvest.
Jiang Linyu: "I noticed a strong spiritual energy fluctuation here just now, and I thought it must be you, so I came here following the sound."
Gu Yu added, "Jiang Linyu has already allied with us. This tower is very similar to the underground palace, with many traps. If we work together to get out of this level, we can spread the points from the monsters we kill evenly, which will give us a better chance of winning."
Shi Anxu thought that they had indeed noticed many mechanisms along the way, but they were all destroyed. It seemed that they had followed the snow deer and taken a safe route.
Shi Anxu glanced at Mu Qingzhou. Given their current situation, forming an alliance with Jiang Linyu and the others was the best option. However, considering Mu Qingzhou's dislike of noise, he worried that Mu Qingzhou might not be able to adapt.
Perhaps sensing Shi Anxu's gaze, Mu Qingzhou looked up and met his eyes.
Upon seeing his eyes, Shi Anxu recalled everything that had happened on the flying boat. He quickly looked away, no longer wanting to look at Mu Qingzhou.
"Alright, we'll form an alliance with you too."
Upon hearing Mu Qingzhou's voice, Shi Anxu turned around abruptly and looked at him with some surprise.
Mu Qingzhou found his senior brother's dazed expression rather endearing.
He reached out and pulled Shi Anxu aside, saying with a laugh, "Senior brother, I prefer quiet, but right now safety is the most important thing for us. I can endure it."
Shi Anxu knew that Mu Qingzhou had taken his previous words to heart, so he patted him on the shoulder and said, "Yes, yes, it's just that we'll have to trouble you, junior brother. Let's leave this floor as soon as possible."
Gu Yu and the others were waiting for them there, so they didn't chat for too long. They quickly returned and indicated that they could leave.
The group moved forward cautiously, spontaneously forming a formation of Jiang Linyu, Mu Qingzhou, Shi Anxu, Qin An, and Gu Yu.
Jiang Linyu and Gu Yu are currently the two most capable members of their tacitly agreed-upon team, serving as the "vanguard" and the "rear guard."
The group walked for a long time, encountering only some very simple mechanisms, and faced no other dangers.
The surroundings were as quiet as when they were chasing the snow deer, and a bad premonition immediately spread in their hearts.
It can't be such a coincidence, can it? They quietly disturbed the snow deer's den before, and now they're quietly disturbing some kind of spirit beast's den?
It has to be said that Shi Anxu's jinx was quite accurate; after a short while, Jiang Linyu, who was walking in front, stopped.
He transmitted his voice to them, saying, "Many magical beasts have gathered ahead, and judging from their auras, they are mostly at the eighth or ninth rank."
Everyone gasped in shock.
Qin An cried out in a panic, "What do we do? What do we do? There are definitely no way we can defeat these spirit beasts! Are we all going to die here? I haven't even had a chance to experience what it's like to be an immortal yet!"
Gu Yu seemed to think Qin An was somewhat embarrassed and scolded, "Shut up, what else can you do besides panic?"
Qin An shut his mouth in frustration and stopped speaking.
Shi Anxu felt that the area around him was much quieter.
Jiang Linyu: "With so many high-level magical beasts ahead, it's impossible to go directly. We need to think of another way to get through."
Gu Yu: "There must be a reason why all the magical beasts are gathered together. Why are they all peacefully gathered together? Could they be plotting something?"
Mu Qingzhou: "You overestimate the intelligence of these magical beasts."
Gu Yu's face turned pale.
Shi Anxu was about to burst out laughing inside. His junior brother usually didn't talk to others, but when he did, he always said something surprising.
As he was laughing, a sudden inspiration struck Shi Anxu.
Yes, although high-level magical beasts have developed intelligence, they aren't as clever as Gu Yu described; they basically still follow their bodily instincts. Therefore, what's most attractive to them right now is leaving this place, so their current location must be the exit from this level.
While Shi Anxu was deep in thought, the others were arguing about why the monsters had gathered here.
Shi Anxu interrupted them, saying, "They're gathered there because they want to get out; that's the exit from here."
Jiang Linyu asked, "How did you determine that?"
Shi Anxu then recounted all of his previous analysis in one go.
Mu Qingzhou was the first to speak up: "Senior brother's idea is good. I also think that's the exit."
Shi Anxu's idea was clearly the most reasonable among all their ideas, and Jiang Linyu and the others had no objection and agreed with his idea.
Shi Anxu: "Since everyone agrees with my idea, the next step is to figure out how to deal with these monsters."
Qin An: "But we are no match for these monsters."
Mu Qingzhou: "A mechanism."
Qin An asked, puzzled, "Huh? Why are you talking about mechanisms now?"
Shi Anxu carefully examined the surroundings but found no trace of any mechanism being activated.
He explained, "The place where the monsters gather is the exit, and according to normal thinking, there must be a mechanism at the exit. There are no signs of the mechanism being activated around here, so it must have been damaged due to disrepair over the years. We can find the mechanism and catch them off guard."
Qin An nodded. "I see."
After determining the possible location of the mechanism, the group split up to search for it.
Unlike the others, Shi Anxu was not cautious; he carefully touched the walls and the floor with his hands.
He fumbled around for a long time but couldn't find anything.
If you're really going to make such a well-hidden mechanism, at least make it better. It made them search for ages before finally finding it.
After Mu Qingzhou finished searching his side, he came over to help Shi Anxu. He found the mechanism in no time.
As expected, he was the person he was supposed to help. The Chosen One is indeed lucky; he found him as soon as he arrived.
The two worked together to repair the mechanism and then activated it.
Countless powerful arrows formed from spiritual energy shot from the wall towards the horde of monsters, instantly killing or wounding half of them.
Several people drew their weapons and, taking advantage of the chaos, charged into the horde of monsters.
Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou worked together seamlessly. He crippled the monster with three blows, and Mu Qingzhou killed it with a single sword strike.
The heavily damaged monster horde couldn't withstand their tactics and was quickly wiped out.
After the group divided the inner core equally, they walked into the stone door that had opened after the arrows had been fired.
After a fierce battle, everyone was injured to varying degrees, except for Shi Anxu and Mu Qingzhou, who were completely unharmed.
Qin An had clearly noticed this as well, and looked at Shi Anxu, asking, "Hey, we're all injured, how come you two are alright? You didn't slack off, did you?"
Shi Anxu replied, "No, we are also working very hard to kill monsters. This is a recording stone. You can see for yourself if you don't believe me."
As he spoke, he handed the recording stone to Qin An.
Qin An didn't get the recording stone from Shi Anxu's hand, so he just snorted and turned back to Gu Yu's side.
Shi Anxu scoffed. He really wanted to just say that they were all weak and no one was as good as Mu Qingzhou. The lousy cultivation techniques they practiced were nowhere near as powerful as the techniques treasured by their master. These days, cultivation techniques were incredibly rare and valuable; they were just practicing inferior ones. If it weren't for the scarcity of resources on the peak, preventing Mu Qingzhou from obtaining proper cultivation resources, he would definitely crush them.
Thinking of this, Shi Anxu suddenly had a flash of inspiration. He remembered that reading novels in modern times required a paid subscription, so he could subscribe to cultivation techniques in the same way. Those virtual coins would be equivalent to cultivation resources, so he wouldn't have to worry about Mu Qingzhou's future cultivation resources. He could start preparing them after the competition ended.
Mu Qingzhou saw Shi Anxu's face furrow and then smile.
He thought his senior brother had been cursed by Qin An, so he walked forward with a cold face, intending to beat Qin An up.
Shi Anxu thought he had discovered another monster and wanted to kill it alone, so he pulled him back. "Junior brother, don't even think about killing monsters alone again. You still haven't listened to what your senior brother said."
Mu Qingzhou knew that Shi Anxu had misunderstood, so he explained, "Qin An cast a spell on you, so I'm going to teach him a lesson."
Shi Anxu now realized that it was his expression that had frightened Mu Qingzhou.
He softened his tone, "You misunderstood Qin An. I was thinking about something just now, that's why I looked like that."
Mu Qingzhou realized he had misunderstood someone and felt somewhat embarrassed. He silently lagged a few steps behind Shi Anxu.
Shi Anxu smiled and continued to ponder his grand plan.
Suddenly, a strong smell of blood wafted over.
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