The nuns trembled as they took off their cloaks, and only when they saw that no more wild fruits were being thrown at them did they breathe a sigh of relief.
An Yirou said with lingering fear, "Luckily, my sister and Zhou Xu were there, otherwise we would have really been hurt."
Song Juan and others echoed her sentiments.
"Hey, what are those threads behind you?" Su Ying asked softly and gently.
An Zhengzheng used magic to remove the silk thread from her back. The thread was faintly visible in her hand, shimmering with a faint red color.
“It should be the points for killing monsters. I have twenty-two here.” An Zhengzheng scanned the number with his naked eye and got the count right away.
Zhou Xu also held up a silk thread and said, "I have seventeen threads here."
"It seems I'm slightly ahead." An Zhengzheng raised an eyebrow and smiled, putting all the silk threads into her pocket.
Zhou Xu said, "...There are still seven days until the end of the trial."
His words clearly conveyed a sense of dissatisfaction.
An Zhengzheng curled her lips into a confident smile, her voice cold yet filled with excitement: "Then let's wait and see the final result."
"Okay." For some reason, Zhou Xu also felt a little expectant.
His gaze swept over the group of female cultivators. Apart from An Zhengzheng, their faces clearly showed panic, fear, and relief at surviving the ordeal.
An Zhengzheng, however, remained calm and composed, her confidence evident in her eyes.
She was truly different from other female cultivators.
With a slight movement of his Adam's apple, Zhou Xu unconsciously moved closer to An Zhengzheng in the following challenges.
An Zhengzheng also noticed this, her brows furrowed. It seemed that the next challenge would be difficult, and even Zhou Xu became nervous.
After battling several tree demons and snake spirits, the team encountered a bear spirit who had cultivated for over three hundred years.
“This is the bear that tears people apart from the announcement…” An Zhengzheng was very wary. “Solving it will at least get me fifty points.”
Upon hearing this, everyone's expression turned serious.
The higher the score, the higher the level of the monster, but it also means that it is more difficult to kill. One careless move and you will be killed by it, resulting in a failed challenge and exit from the magic circle.
"Everyone be on guard. Mountain bears are afraid of fire. You all use fire-starting spells to guard the rear, lest other monsters take the opportunity to attack."
Along the way, An Zhengzheng also figured out the strength of several female cultivators. Yu Er and An Yirou were second only to An Zhengzheng and Zhou Xu.
Even so, fighting the man-ripping bear was still quite difficult for them; they were already doing well to protect themselves.
An Zhengzheng decided to have them hold the rear and deal with attacks from behind, while she and Zhou Xu would face them head-on.
The other four female cultivators, led by An Yirou, stood in the four directions, forming four walls of fire and enclosing a square.
Yu Er acted quickly, running first to An Zhengzheng's side. An Yirou was somewhat surprised, but still took over the front wall of fire.
Zhou Xu was puzzled: "It's only the first day I entered the magic array, how come I've already encountered a 50-point Man-Tearing Bear?"
Logically, they should have met on the fourth or fifth day.
An Zhengzheng also felt strange: "Could it be that we're just really unlucky..."
Before they could finish speaking, a four- or five-meter-tall black bear bared its teeth and pounced on them.
His gaze was fixed fiercely on An Zhengzheng.
An Zhengzheng frowned. Why was that?
However, she didn't have time to think much about it, because the black bear was getting closer and closer, and they had to take action to protect the people behind them.
The female cultivators, led by An Yirou, had already used fire-starting techniques to create a wall of fire around them.
The raging fire crackled and popped, and the man-ripping bear dared not approach recklessly, its attack suddenly slowing down.
"Fortunately, the test points my sister provided emphasized the art of fire-starting..."
An Yirou's forehead was covered in sweat.
Song Juan was also a little scared: "Yes, luckily we practiced with the key points. If we hadn't practiced, my ability to start a fire definitely wouldn't have lasted long..."
Su Ying nodded quickly. Although she was the weakest in the team and didn't dare to speak easily, she agreed wholeheartedly.
Yu Er remained silent, her face growing paler with each word she heard.
Her gaze towards An Zhengzheng and Zhou Xu was ambiguous.
An Zhengzheng and Zhou Xu exchanged a glance, both understanding the meaning of cooperation in each other's eyes.
The next second, Zhou Xu rushed out of the wall of fire first, using the Crimson Flame Sword as a guide to force the Man-Tearing Bear back five meters away.
Upon seeing that someone was outside the range of the firewall, it grinned.
"roar--"
"roar--"
"roar--"
After three angry roars, the Man-Tearing Bear charged at Zhou Xu with its thick, powerful legs.
Each bear's leg was as thick as five or six people. With each step it took, the earth shook, and a strong wind nearly extinguished the wall of fire.
An Yirou and the others were terrified and had to unleash even more spiritual power to build the wall.
Zhou Xu remained calm, made a hand gesture, and froze the large black bear for three seconds to buy time for An Zhengzheng.
An Zhengzheng followed closely behind, cleaving the sword in two with a palm strike.
He summoned the spiritual power of Gan Jiang and Mo Xie once more, soared into the air, and thrust the two swords straight into the eyes of the man-tearing bear.
"Roar—" Blood tears welled up in the black bear's eyes as it broke through Zhou Xu's spell suppression in terror.
Zhou Xu acted decisively, drawing his Crimson Flame Sword and stabbing it into the black bear's heart.
With a loud thud, the black bear collapsed to the ground and did not get up.
After a brief period of shaking, the world returned to calm, and the black bear vanished without a trace.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The fire wall stopped, and An Yirou, Song Juan, and Su Ying's legs went weak, and they all collapsed to the ground.
"That was absolutely terrifying..."
At the same time, twenty-five glowing red threads converged behind An Zhengzheng and Zhou Xu.
But this time, An Zhengzheng didn't go to get it right away. Instead, amidst everyone's surprised gazes, she walked up to Yu Er.
Her already aloof face was now as cold as a block of ice.
"You'd better tell me what happened."
An Zhengzheng's tone was not friendly.
Yu Er's face turned pale instantly, and she stammered, "W-what are you saying..."
Everyone was stunned by An Zhengzheng's actions and looked at them with confusion.
An Zhengzheng stared straight at her, his tone icy: "Don't force me to fight you here."
Along the way, An Zhengzheng's strength was evident to all. Yu Er bit her lower lip and looked to Zhou Xu for help.
He was looking in this direction with a blank expression.
No, we cannot accept this! We absolutely cannot accept this!
At this moment, Yu'er had only one thought in her mind.
If she were to admit to this in front of so many people, her image in Zhou Xu's eyes would be completely ruined.
Yu Er shook her head, vehemently denying it: "I don't know what you're talking about..."
Seeing this, An Zhengzheng sneered and used her internal energy to catalyze the process, relying on her high cultivation level to directly knock out all the items from the Jade Er Treasure Bag.
There were wild fruits scattered on the ground, along with some honey from the roadside.
"Wasn't this honey placed where the Six-Eyed Serpent Demon resided?"
An Yirou was shocked.
When they passed the snake demon's challenge, they were all frantically slaying snakes.
Unbeknownst to them, Yu'er had brought the beehive from the top of the snake's nest with her.
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