Seeing that no one objected, Kou Beiyue felt a surge of joy and added, "Well then, I'm heading out?"
Taboo-Free gave a slight nod. "Safe travels, brother!"
"Safe travels!"
Amid the well-wishes, Kou Beiyue lifted a corner of the cloak, slipped outside, and bounded across the ruins of collapsed walls and heaps of rubble, vanishing from his companions' sight.
Taboo-Free withdrew his gaze, looked at the chubby youth, and smiled. "Much as I hope he succeeds, you’d better prepare yourself to find another boss."
Huddled beneath the cloak, the evil faction members burst into laughter, chiming in one after another:
"Haha, that kid really is a simpleton—he acts just like a Fire Master. Doesn't he know the odds are heavily against him surviving this?"
"Probably didn't think that far ahead."
"Good Minister, do you have some kind of curse on you? Are you really an Illusionist?"
"Yes, I'm certain he is, because we Witch Doctors don't know such dreadful curses."
"Hahahahaha..."
The abandoned workshop was filled with merry laughter.
The chubby youth let out a cold snort, his tone dead serious. "You're all wrong. My boss is an exceptionally lucky man. Think about it: his combat strength isn't particularly outstanding for a Level 3, and he doesn't have any overpowered items, yet he's lived safe and sound to this day."
"Nonsense. Just because he hasn't died doesn't make him extraordinarily lucky. None of us have died either—does that make all of us blessed with great fortune?"
The chubby youth huffed, "Just you wait and see. He'll definitely come back."
Hongwei suddenly spoke up: "Rather than discussing these meaningless topics, I think we ought to relocate. With that kid's brain, if he fails to find the Mountain God faction and gets hunted by the monster, he'll definitely flee straight back here. When that happens, we'll all be finished."
***
Leaving the abandoned workshop, Kou Beiyue walked over to a scrapped car outside, unzipped his trousers, and happily relieved the pressure in his bladder, exhaling in relief.
It was already eleven in the morning. The sun beat down viciously, distorting the air in waves of sweltering heat that baked the entire city. The body-temperature fluid splashed against the rusted car frame, its traces evaporating almost immediately.
*The Lost City is enormous. Finding Yuanshi Tianzun is going to be tough...*
Kou Beiyue pondered for a moment and came up with a brilliant idea—the Art of Voice Transmission!
Once his mind was made up, he remembered that the monster had marked him. As a Bewitching Demon, he knew better than anyone how persistent and terrifying such tracking marks were.
What if he failed to find Yuanshi Tianzun and instead got intercepted by the monster?
Kou Beiyue pondered a bit more and found another solution: if that monster locked onto him, he would immediately sprint back and drag those evil class members down with him.
Having sorted out every problem, Kou Beiyue set off without a care, advancing swiftly along the street outside the abandoned factory.
After running for over ten minutes, he came to a stop at a crossroads overgrown with weeds and moss. Taking a deep breath, he unleashed his Voice Transmission Technique:
"Yuan—shi—Tian—zun!"
The full-throated roar echoed across the abandoned city, carrying farther and farther into the distance.
He shouted as he ran:
"Yuan—shi—Tian—zun!"
***
Inside a half-collapsed residential building, the members of the Mountain God faction sat cross-legged on the dust-covered floor, sheltering from the direct sunlight.
They held wooden bowls crafted by Wood Demons, sipping pure water filtered from puddles by Water Ghosts, and eating dog meat roasted by a Fire Master.
Contented sighs rose from the group.
Thirty hours had passed since entering the killing trial. They had managed only a token three or four hours of sleep, nibbled on a few wild fruits, and sipped a bit of mountain dew.
Even as peak Extraordinaires brimming with vitality, their condition was bound to decline, leaving them fatigued, hungry, and thirsty.
"Ah, this feels so good..." Jiang Jingwei gnawed on a wild dog leg, speaking indistinctly around mouthfuls of meat. "It's rare to eat this well in a Spirit Realm. Mmm, there aren't many three-day Spirit Realm trials either... My dad said that even though creatures in the Spirit Realm respawn, they aren't illusions; they're genuine flesh and blood."
Sitting lady-like with her legs tucked beneath her, an uchigatana resting in her lap, Asano Ryo's eyes brightened. She hastily asked, "Does your esteemed father mean that the Spirit Realm possesses the power to create life, and does so quite easily, like gods creating humans?"
Chewing her dog meat, Jiang Jingwei replied casually, "Isn't that obvious? High-tier Musicians can create life and bring the dead back, while Witch Doctors can modify living beings to breed human-beast hybrids, and all of them originate from the Spirit Realm."
Asano Ryo nodded repeatedly. Finding this younger Fire Master sister candid and open-hearted, she happily consulted her with more questions.
Hailing from the Island Nation, Asano Ryo knew more about the Spirit Realm and high-tier intelligence than loose practitioners did, but she was certainly no match for an aristocratic little princess like Jiang Jingwei.
Zhang Yuanqing leaned against the wall with his eyes closed to rest, minimizing his mental exertion while concentrating on manipulating Blood Rose.
He had been tangled with that monster for four or five hours. In this drawn-out war of attrition, Blood Rose had expended a tremendous amount of stamina, and Zhang Yuanqing's mental energy had taken a heavy toll as well.
Fortunately, when refining the yin corpse Blood Rose, Wood Demon attributes had been added. A Wood Demon's recovery rate was even superior to a Night Walker's, so despite the massive physical toll, she could recover quickly.
Just then, Crossing-River Pawn, who had been on patrol duty, hurried back into the building. Looking toward the wall, he called out, "Yuanshi Tianzun, someone is shouting for you!"
The idle chatter and eating ground to a halt. Everyone turned their heads, looking either at Crossing-River Pawn or at Yuanshi Tianzun.
Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes, startled. "What's going on?"
Crossing-River Pawn pointed outside. "There's an evil class member running around two or three hundred meters away, shouting your name at the top of his lungs. Do you need me to go kill him?"
Zhang Yuanqing pondered. "Who is it? What does he look like?"
Crossing-River Pawn gave a brief description of the man's appearance, and Zhang Yuanqing instantly recognized him.
*Kou Beiyue!*
*Did the Mountain Ghost faction kick him out?*
*Backed into a corner, has he come to seek refuge with me?*
*Relying entirely on yelling to communicate—his method of looking for someone is way too crude.* Zhang Yuanqing got to his feet at once. "I'll go check it out. You all stay here."
Without waiting for their replies, he briskly dashed out of the half-collapsed building, running in the direction Crossing-River Pawn had indicated.
After running about a hundred meters, he heard Kou Beiyue's calls. Following the voice, he soon spotted Kou Beiyue clutching a combat knife, looking around as he jogged, bellowing at the top of his lungs:
"Yuanshi Tianzun..."
"Over here!" Zhang Yuanqing called out.
The shouting stopped abruptly. Kou Beiyue whipped around in surprise and saw Yuanshi Tianzun standing atop a scrapped bus several dozen meters away.
"Finally found you!"
He dashed excitedly toward the bus.
Zhang Yuanqing pointed below his feet. "Get inside, let's talk."
He slipped into the bus first.
Kou Beiyue followed right behind and cut straight to the chase: "The Mountain Ghost faction is hiding in an abandoned factory. They've all been marked by the monster and are surviving under Dropout Fish's item right now...
"The catch is they can't move under it, and everyone's in a bad spot. So that pretty woman suggested allying with the Mountain God faction. I was quick on my feet and volunteered for the job.
"At last, I got a chance to see you privately."
He gave a brief rundown of the situation.
*Nobody would fight you for an errand like this, so why brag about being quick on your feet? Besides, you used the idiom wrong...* Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing fell into thought. "An alliance... Let me consider this."
His current situation offered only three paths: first, continue stalling; second, have Kou Beiyue the traitor lead their team to wipe out the Mountain Ghost faction;
Third, take down the boss.
Blood Rose could not keep stalling forever; her stamina would give out in two to three hours at most.
When that time came, he would either have to abandon the yin corpse or recall her. Recalling her would draw the monster right to them, repeating the previous terrifying game of tag.
And if he abandoned the yin corpse, the monster was extremely intelligent—once it killed Blood Rose, it would surely claim the Yinyang Robe...
"Right, you were marked too, weren't you?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"Yeah!" Kou Beiyue nodded, then asked curiously, "How did you guys escape the monster's pursuit? Speaking of which, I've been out for so long, yet it hasn't hunted me down."
*So the monster's aggro toward Blood Rose—toward me—has already surpassed everyone else's. Even if the Mountain Ghost faction dispels their item, they won't be the monster's primary target.* Zhang Yuanqing quietly discarded the "continue stalling" option.
The second option was having Kou Beiyue lead an attack to wipe out the Mountain Ghost faction.
Given the intelligence of those people, they would have definitely relocated after Kou Beiyue left; leading a surprise raid was virtually impossible.
If they faced them in a direct clash, while their side had superior numbers, the overall quality of both groups was roughly equal. Even if they won, it would be a pyrrhic victory. The survivors would be thoroughly drained, and by then, Blood Rose would likely have fallen, bringing the monster down on them immediately.
How could the remaining survivors fight the monster then? That was a genuine Level 4 Bewitching Demon.
Furthermore, his Yinyang Robe and Red Dancing Shoes were still with his yin corpse, preventing him from casting the Yinyang Formation and drastically reducing his overall strength.
Zhang Yuanqing shifted his thoughts to the possibility of cooperating to slay the boss.
To progress the quest, taking down the boss was a necessity. The benefit of an alliance was sharing the risk and minimizing casualties. The only concern was the Mountain Ghost faction playing dirty and backstabbing them during the boss fight.
Yet that cut both ways: if they could plot, his side could too.
Having weighed the pros and cons, Zhang Yuanqing reached a decision. "Fine, I agree to the alliance. The meeting place will be right here."
With business settled, he couldn't resist lowering his voice to scold, "Why on earth did you enter the killing trial? It's far too dangerous—don't you know your own limits?"
Kou Beiyue wasn't weak; he was at least mid-tier Level 3. But in a killing trial, that was merely the baseline.
With Kou Beiyue's intellect, he would either be killed by the lawful factions or betrayed to death by his fellow evil classes.
Kou Beiyue was indignant. "Xiao Yuan told me to come protect you!"
Seeing Yuanshi Tianzun giving him a side-eye, his momentum instantly deflated, and he confessed honestly, "Xiao Yuan said that with you around, I should seize the chance to advance to Saint so we can look out for each other. Otherwise, by the end of the year, my experience points will have increased, but I'll have no allies left, which would be even more dangerous."
*Well, your mom certainly has you all figured out. But does Xiao Yuan really have this much faith in me?* Zhang Yuanqing asked again, "What is your quest?"
"To kill the evil cultivator's resentment and obtain four pieces of blood jade from it. As long as the blood jade is placed into the cores of four arrays, that supreme presence lurking in the unseen can be summoned."
Zhang Yuanqing blurted out, "Fuck!"
Even though he had anticipated something like this, he still gritted his teeth.
Once that evil entity in the blood pool descended, the Mountain God faction would be completely wiped out. Conversely, under the trial's balancing mechanism, if the Mountain God faction won, their reward would surely be enough to annihilate the Mountain Ghost faction as well.
*Something isn't right. Although past killing trials were intense confrontation modes, survivors and new Saints emerged from both the evil and lawful camps. Yet according to the current trajectory of both quests, it's clearly headed toward the total extinction of one side.*
*Is this why Elder Shibu said past killing trials held no reference value? No one can predict what kinds of quests will appear in a killing trial...*
Kou Beiyue continued, "Taboo-Free mentioned he has two trump cards: one is an item bestowed by his evil organization, and the other comes from this trial itself. But as for what they actually are, I don't know."
*A trump card from this trial...* Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds and nodded. "Understood.
"Taboo-Free is the shot-caller in your faction, right?"
Kou Beiyue curled his lip. "He's only a tiny bit stronger than me, but everyone seems to treat him as the leader by default. Even A-Yi acknowledges his position."
"A leader doesn't necessarily have to be the strongest," Zhang Yuanqing explained, adding, "How's your situation over there? If possible, keep a low profile and slack off as much as you can."
Hearing this, Kou Beiyue puffed out his chest proudly. "I'm a boss over there too! I just recruited a new underling."
"Oh?" Zhang Yuanqing looked at him with newfound respect.
Kou Beiyue raised his chin. "It's that 'Good Ministers Slay Their Masters.' The moment he saw me, he was awed by my domineering aura and bowed down immediately. I didn't want to pay him any mind at first, but he has a flattering tongue, so I reluctantly took him in."
*Good Ministers Slay Their Masters? That guy whose bosses drop dead one after another?* Zhang Yuanqing rubbed the bridge of his nose, letting out a weary sigh. "Beiyue... sometimes, a person's fate is written in the heavens. If you die in this killing trial, don't blame me in the underworld..."
Kou Beiyue's mouth twitched. "Y-You've heard of that chubby guy's reputation too?"
Zhang Yuanqing snapped, "If you knew about his notorious name, why did you go looking for death? Do you think you've lived too long?! Never mind. Rest in peace when you go; I'll take good care of Xiao Yuan for you."
"..."
***
When Kou Beiyue returned to the abandoned workshop, just as Yuanshi Tianzun had predicted, that group had secretly relocated while he was away.
Having a marked target roaming outside served as bait to draw the monster's attention, allowing them to shift locations without worry.
Kou Beiyue immediately climbed onto the roof and shouted loudly:
"I'm back!"
His shout echoed far into the distance.
After shouting for several minutes, he finally saw the figure of Good Ministers Slay Their Masters darting out from a nearby street, waving at him excitedly from afar.
Kou Beiyue leaped down and ran toward his new underling.
The moment they drew close, the chubby youth took large strides forward, gripped Kou Beiyue's hands tightly, and spoke with utter sincerity: "You really came back alive! Boss, you're my boss for life!"
Remembering Yuanshi Tianzun's remarks from moments ago, Kou Beiyue recoiled slightly, pulled his hands away, and responded with a cold, detached "Mm."
"Where are the others?"
The chubby youth pointed to a vine-covered tower behind him. "They're hiding inside."
Kou Beiyue looked in the direction pointed. The tall building was draped in lush green foliage, with only the entrance showing signs of hacked and cleared vines.
The two entered the building one after the other. Sure enough, near the entrance, they saw the rest of the group draped beneath the dark cloak.
They were scrutinizing Kou Beiyue with startled eyes.
Taboo-Free asked in a low voice, "You actually returned. Well done. Did you see Yuanshi Tianzun? How did he respond?"
Chapter 269