"Wan Tinggui! What do you think you’re doing?" Shi Chengfei still retained his last bit of rationality, looking directly into the girl’s sapphire-like dazzling eyes, opting not to take action against the girl before him.
The girl’s gaze was filled with indifference, and a cold smile hung at the corner of her mouth beneath the veil.
"Last time, because of your ridiculous vendetta, our Sect’s grand plan was nearly spoiled. Do you want to try that again?"
Shi Chengfei was so angry he was itching to bite, this person really knew how to bring up the most aggravating subject. Others show respect to the Saintess, but as one of the four envoys of Devouring Spirit, holding a lofty position, he held no fear towards the Saintess.
The only person he held in reverence was the Sect Hierarch, and even if it was the Hierarch’s daughter, if she couldn’t win his genuine respect, he wouldn’t show it.
"Liang Yi has already sent out intelligence to the Immortal Dynasty, and is obstructing our plans in the forest. Surely, this time, it can’t be chalked up to my personal feelings, right?" Shi Chengfei lifted his chin, this time intending to handle things by the book.
"Ying Xi is still here in Hua Sen Mountain, the Vermilion Bird envoy is waiting at the plan’s location, ready to seduce those people en masse. If you make a move, and Ying Xi comes out, who will stop him?"
Wan Tinggui reminded him in an indifferent tone, then turned her back, not sparing Shi Chengfei a single glance, leaving behind only a fading graceful silhouette.
"So you stay here; I’ll handle Liang Yi!"
"Lord Azure Dragon envoy, this..." Luo Yonghao, a loyal subordinate of Shi Chengfei, hesitated.
"Follow her. I want to see how this woman deals with Liang Yi, and if the opportunity arises, you take him down!"
A cold smile hung on Shi Chengfei’s lips, he didn’t believe Liang Yi could be so easily dealt with. After this woman failed, he would naturally step in, and then watch how Wan Tinggui could still be so arrogant.
"Young Hero Liang, the Devouring Spirit Sect is sending more people." Mu Shi was truly adept at playing the undercover role, seizing the moment before the enemy realized they had a traitor to faithfully relay the Devouring Spirit Sect’s intelligence.
"Who is coming this time?" Liang Yi asked distractedly, as their swift journey had already encountered several groups from the Devouring Spirit Sect. As they rescued more and more people, the Devouring Spirit Sect had begun to notice something was off.
Initially, it was just two people working together to capture cultivators participating in the competition, but the higher-ups of Devouring Spirit gradually realized that their squads were diminishing with each deployment.
The plan had been proceeding smoothly. They had not intended to capture everyone within the Secret Realm as that was not only impractical due to limited manpower.
Following this incident, the Immortal Dynasty would definitely perform a check on the participants. Infiltrating some members of Devouring Spirit into the ranks could reduce the chance of discovery amidst the false and true identities, but if everyone became affiliated with Devouring Spirit, there would be nowhere to hide! They would be bust in an instant!
Thus, their approach was to gradually capture outward from the Vermilion Bird envoy as central.
But now, the higher-ups gradually realized that within their capture radius seemed to be a black hole. Anyone from the Devouring Spirit Sect who encountered this black hole perished without a trace, and that group seemed to possess the ability to foreknow events.
Sending an early Fifth Realm cultivator their way, although the cult could not defeat them, they decisively chose to flee; sending two Fifth Realm cultivators, they couldn’t even find them. Sending Second and Third Realm cultivators was like serving them on a platter, outnumbered the opponent would just eat them alive, more would make the opponent run, unable to catch them.
Setting traps to lure them in, but those people simply wouldn’t fall for it.
The plan had been progressing excellently, but with the opponent’s continual disruptions, the progress significantly slowed.
"It seems that the Saintess herself is going to take action." Mu Shi swallowed unconsciously.
"I have only heard of the Saintess’s reputation since I’m too low-ranked to have ever seen her in person. Only from what others in the Sect say, the Saintess is said to be on par with any Chief of a Super Force."
"This could be a bit troublesome," Liang Yi scratched his head, feeling somewhat vexed; the Saintess seemed like an entity not to be trifled with.
The antagonist saintess is either naturally wicked or a fan-turned-hater!
"Senior Brother, I want to give it a try." Su Youyi raised her hand and volunteered eagerly. She too wanted to know how big a gap there was between her and the other forces’ chief true inheritors.
"Don’t be silly, you’ve just entered the early stages of the Fourth Realm, while they have been at the peak of Great Perfection for much longer and can attempt to advance to the Fifth Realm after accumulating enough strength. If you want to assess your strength, sparring with our elders should do; otherwise, no one will be more upset than I if you get hurt!"
Liang Yi held his junior sister’s delicate hand in a backhanded grip and shook his head, rejecting the suggestion.
"Then I’ll listen to Senior Brother." Su Youyi responded sweetly, pleased. If Senior Brother agreed, it would fulfill her desire for cultivation. If not, it would satisfy the little infatuation of her love.
"Hey, Piglet Xiaobei! Let’s make a deal, how about I trade my bellyband for that spare beast skin coat of yours?" Bai Xiaomo asked Ju Xiaobei with a close embrace.
At this moment, they were no longer clad in coarse linen clothes devoid of any attributes. Following behind the mighty Young Hero Liang, they’d crazily gulped down proverbial meaty soup.
In all their prior battles, they would pick up stones and wait for a chance to hurl them at members of the Devouring Spirit Sect. Although their damage output was virtually zero, it seemed that the system still recognized them as participants in combat.
After discussing it with some professional players they knew on the forum, Bai Xiaomo and Ju Xiaobei believed this was likely because the two NPCs, Liang Yi and Su Youyi, subjectively recognized them as teammates, which is why the system acknowledged their participation in the battles.
After the battles were over, they also received a tiny bit of experience, about the same as what a white-colored, ordinary daily quest would yield. It seems unrealistic to try to exploit loopholes in the system.
Experience aside, what really made players on the forums explode with envy was that these two lucky fellows already had a blue storage bag and an entire set of white gear!!
Looting bodies in this game isn’t as useful as the players imagined. At least you won’t get a full set of armors after slaying a non-humanoid monster.
Unless the non-humanoid monster’s lair has these things hidden, players might be able to dig them out from the nest.
So killing monsters does not equate to dropping equipment.
In just a few hours, the members of the Devouring Spirit Sect that they had sporadically encountered were all around level twenty. Though the gear stripped from their bodies was too high-level to equip, the storage bag still had lower-level, white-plate gear that they could wear, although it wasn’t good-looking.
Bai Xiaomo was wearing a headdress made from an unidentified bird’s feathers on top of a red cloak and a white coat, with silk shorts below, holding a staff that reached his eyebrows.
Ju Xiaobei, on the other hand, looked like a wild man, with beast skin gear all over his body and an unknown beast bone club in hand.
Ever since they started the game, they had been wearing beginner’s gear with no properties. After painstakingly completing tasks for two or three days, they just managed to get a set of clothes barely suitable for human wear – yet, they were not even white gear.
Now, they’ve finally made a huge upgrade and are wearing gear with properties, and moreover... Nᴇw ɴovel chaptᴇrs are published on novelꞁire.net
The two meddled with the items in their storage bag, playing around to their heart’s content. While other players might have backpacks, does everyone have storage bags?
In the game, whether it’s useful or not, if I have something others don’t, it means I’m awesome.
To get this gear, Bai Xiaomo and Ju Xiaobei had actually died three times; they were almost halfway through their weekly resurrection quota!
They also discovered that the resurrection rules inside the secret realm were different from outside.
Normally, after player death, one could only resurrect at the resurrection points in each area. However, within the secret realm, they could choose to resurrect right on the spot.
With this unexpected technique of reviving like a trickster, they managed to scare the Devouring Spirit Sect folks in the middle of the fight so badly they nearly dropped their weapons.
Damn it, just after casually squashing two insignificant bugs, they resurrected with a flash of white light and were back hopping and howling, charging forward again—how could anyone withstand that?!
It was also in that moment that Liang Yi and Su Youyi took the opportunity to win with ease and shared a portion of the spoils with them.