"Is this the treasure from within the ruins?"
After finally getting through those mechanisms to reach the great hall, upon seeing a stone spherical object at the center of the hall, Pei Yu disdainfully said, as Zhong Liuyan turned to Dou Yanlan and asked
"How about it? Any problems?"
Shaking her head, Dou Yanlan said,
"I don’t sense anything abnormal, but still, be careful."
Pei Yu, with a careless demeanor, picked up the stone sphere and spun it on his finger, commenting,
"This thing is pretty light."
"You just hold on to it. What if it breaks and doesn’t count towards our score?"
Although the scores were given directly by the panel of judges, due to strong subjectivity, the official rankings would only use 30% of the judges’ scores. The remaining 70% was based on elimination time and the collected "treasures." Holding the stone sphere, Pei Yu curled his lips and said,
"If that happens, it’s their problem, and if our score doesn’t count, we’ll make a fuss."
"You try making a fuss with Elder Li. I’ll hold it; I don’t trust you to."
Zhong Liuyan snatched the stone sphere from Pei Yu’s hands, just as Qi Chen, who was leaning on Ah Mu by the doorway, murmured something. Suddenly, Ah Mu looked around alertly, hesitated for a moment, then stamped his foot lightly, causing a plethora of thorns to spread rapidly from under his feet in all directions. While Qi Chen looked on perplexed, a man with a black cat appeared out of thin air amidst a distortion of light and shadow. Qi Chen looked up quickly to check the crown of the Amu Tree and, seeing that Feng Yuan seemed to still be asleep, he sighed with relief and whispered,
"Just toss him far away."
With a wave of his hand, Ah Mu sent several vines flying that wrapped around the man before he could react, flinging him violently away. At that moment, as Zhong Liuyan and the others came out holding the stone sphere, they glanced at the figure disappearing into the distance. Zhong Liuyan approached Qi Chen and asked,
"Looks like someone trying to sneak in. They probably aren’t very strong."
"It must be so. Anyone stronger wouldn’t think of sneaking in surreptitiously."
"Is this the treasure?"
Looking at the stone sphere that resembled a cheap product, Qi Chen was somewhat speechless while Zhong Liuyan, with a touch of resignation, said,
"We can’t really expect them to use actual ancient artifacts, can we? If that were the case, the special service team would be busy afterwards."
"As for exquisite craftsmanship, to be honest, it doesn’t hold much significance. It’s just that this year they changed the schedule a bit. In previous years, it was all about arena battles."
The four chatted as they advanced toward the next ruin, successively collecting three stone spheres. The other ruins were either already claimed or were the site of intense competition among a large group of people. Considering Feng Yuan wasn’t particularly interested in this competition, they decided not to wake him up. Just as they were discussing which direction to head to next, a beam of light suddenly erupted from the mountaintop, causing Qi Chen to look at it quizzically and say,
"What’s happening over there?"
"Either a final battle or some new development."
Dou Yanlan said calmly, and Zhong Liuyan, looking up at the sky and stroking her chin, remarked,
"It’s still a while until noon. Wouldn’t a final battle at this time be too early?"
"Shall we go have a look?"
"Sure, merely exploring the ruins doesn’t help us much. Ranking is secondary; the main goal is to impress the recruitment teachers from those academies."
After glancing at Zhong Liuyan, Qi Chen, with a hint of amusement, said,
"What, have you given up already?"
Zhong Liuyan shook her head with a smile without explaining, while Dou Yanlan, stroking Cotton in her arms thoughtfully, and Pei Yu, staring at Qi Chen somewhat discontented, exchanged words and then decided to head towards the mountain top. Along the way, they encountered other competing teams in succession. Perhaps because they were not in front of any ruins, and the rules of the competition forbade seizing treasures from others, no one initiated a fight. Qi Chen, puzzled, observed the people around him and said,
"Why do they seem to be avoiding us?"
"It’s not ’seems to be.’ Didn’t you notice a strange pressure coming from Ah Mu? With the situation at the mountaintop unclear, no one wants to stir up trouble now, especially since those who’ve made it this far are all strong teams. Who would want to be eliminated for no good reason?"
Qi Chen looked at Ah Mu in surprise and said,
"Ah Mu has a strange pressure? Why don’t I feel it?"
Dou Yanlan also looked at Ah Mu with some puzzlement, as Zhong Liuyan shook her head and said,
"I don’t know. This pressure only appeared recently; it doesn’t seem like it’s Ah Mu’s own."
As Qi Chen looked towards the crown of the tree where Feng Yuan was, Dou Yanlan shook her head and said,
"He wouldn’t have pressure, or rather, wouldn’t show it."
Remembering Feng Yuan’s strange methods, Zhong Liuyan, somewhat puzzled, said,
"Could it be his doing?"
"Intentionally releasing pressure to avoid combat."
"No, battle is the best chance to demonstrate oneself, unless the target is a Spirit Beast Master."
Dou Yanlan said calmly. Qi Chen looked at Ah Mu and asked,
"Ah Mu, what is that strange pressure emanating from you?"
Ah Mu looked at Qi Chen with some confusion, as if he didn’t understand what Qi Chen was talking about. After observing Ah Mu carefully, Qi Chen didn’t notice anything amiss. Seeing other teams overtaking them, Pei Yu said anxiously,
"Aren’t we going yet? Anyway, whatever pressure there is, it doesn’t affect us."
Shaking her head, Zhong Liuyan said,
"You’re right. Let’s go."
Looking at the eerie area in front of him, Qi Chen seemed to remember something and looked towards Dou Yanlan. Noticing Qi Chen’s gaze, Dou Yanlan nodded and said,
"It should be the Data Domain."
"After all, that special Trumi is there. It’s not strange for it to concoct this thing."
"Then... should we wake him up?"
Facing the unknown, Qi Chen couldn’t help but worry. After thinking for a moment, Dou Yanlan shook her head and said,
"It’s best to wake him up. If I remember correctly, he said that within the Data Domain, you can either ignore damage or deal simulated true damage."
With a glance at Qi Chen, Dou Yanlan said calmly,
"Perhaps inside is the true battlefield."
Just as Ah Mu stepped into the Data Domain, Feng Yuan suddenly awoke. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around and said with confusion,
"Is this the Data Domain?"
"Yeah, huh? Agunas? How did you get here?"
Feng Yuan pulled Agunas out of the void with some confusion. Glancing at Feng Yuan, Agunas said calmly,
"I was a bit worried about you. Don’t worry, I just came to have a look."
At this moment, Elder Li happened to notice Feng Yuan and his group. He absolutely did not believe the report that claimed the discovery of the Data Domain had absolutely nothing to do with Feng Yuan and was entirely due to the efforts of Maomu City’s special service team—he found such a tale unbelievable. Seeing Agunas held by Feng Yuan, Elder Li squinted and scanned behind him. Big Cat and the others were resting nearby; Big Cat was reading a book, Najia was playing games with Dreaming Dragon Baby, and Agunas was holding a book, seemingly recording something. Looking back at the screen, it was indeed Agunas in Feng Yuan’s hands. Seeing Feng Yuan’s surprised expression as well, Elder Li decided against asking Agunas.
"So the pressure comes from Agunas?"
Zhong Liuyan looked at Agunas with some surprise. Feng Yuan scratched his head and asked,
With a glance at Feng Yuan, Agunas answered calmly,
"Divine Beasts pressure."
"Eh? Can’t you retract your pressure?"
"Not for the time being."
"The Art of the Doppelganger? No wonder."
Feng Yuan observed Agunas closely and understood what was happening. Scratching his head, he looked at Agunas and said,
"Why did you specifically use the Art of the Doppelganger to come and check?"
"It’s still too young. Some things might slip its notice."
Seeing Agunas gaze at him, Xiao Ji instantly became livid and angrily squawked at Agunas. Feng Yuan quieted Xiao Ji with a finger to its head and said to Agunas,
"Aren’t you the same? If we’re speaking about the time of birth, Xiao Ji is even older than you."
"It doesn’t have past memories."
"Wait, when you were clinging onto Drudgeon earlier, was it for this reason as well?"
Glancing at Feng Yuan, Agunas said grumpily,
"What else? Do you think I could suddenly learn to speak human language so fluently otherwise?"