Demons Descend

No wonder this instance lasts for three days.

No wonder this instance limits daily playtime.

No wonder this instance is suitable for all players.

So it turns out this isn't a trial instance at all, but a survival construction instance!

"The next wave of monsters will attack in 04:25"

There's no time to waste. Although it's unclear how difficult it will be to gather resources, this instance is designed for four people. Yan Qing estimates that the difference between high and low levels lies here—advanced players gather faster, while low-level players are slower.

And the fastest way to gather resources is undoubtedly with all four people, and they must arrange what resources each person will collect, not just pick up trash randomly. If Yan Qing isn't mistaken, in the original game, all four people should have construction rights, meaning everyone must also discuss the direction of construction. Otherwise, if even one person messes around, everyone's instance experience will enter an unpredictable stage of fate.

This is probably Yan Qing's least favorite type of instance: high interaction, strong communication, no entry barrier, and teammate quality entirely dependent on luck. If you're lucky, the three-day instance interaction with four teammates might lead to good friendships; but if you're unlucky, it's a game-external PVP experience of hanging teammates on the game forum for three days of relentless criticism.

Fortunately, he at least has one teammate who listens to commands.

"Young Miss, do you have the ability to move stones?"

"Ah?" Qian Gongyu was a bit confused, but still answered, "Yes, I have the Ox Bone Finger Chain, a token that allows my fingers to generate the power of nine oxen."

"Time is pressing, so I'll be brief: I want you to move as many stones as possible near the wooden house within the time it takes to brew a pot of tea."

The cold and aloof Jiang Shi left the wooden house after speaking, leaving behind the stunned Qian Gongyu and two top-tier wealthy heiresses she couldn't afford to offend.

Qian Gongyu opened her mouth, trembling as she turned to look at Shang Xin Lei and Jie Yuanshao, revealing an extremely awkward smile: "T-Two, two, my guard, she, she... I'm sorry, I apologize for her rudeness!"

Not to mention a mere Black Belt, even she, a Blue Belt from an Esteemed Class, if she dared to speak to Shang Xin Lei and Jie Yuanshao like that, the latter could directly kill her on the grounds of being humiliated and wouldn't face any consequences.

Although the Liang Kingdom doesn't allow noble warriors to have the freedom to kill people everywhere like the Qi and Zhou Kingdoms, it instead grants more 'legal killing' rights—lower-class people must strictly adhere to etiquette and give sufficient respect to Scholar Clan nobles, otherwise, Scholar Clan nobles can arbitrarily beat or kill impolite lower-class people.

"The time it takes to brew a pot of tea is very short, Little Yu, aren't you going to act?" Shang Xin Lei said with a smile.

Li-Little Yu!?

Qian Gongyu was instantly dazed by this immense surprise, too excited to speak, feeling that this trip was too worthwhile. Even if Shang Xin Lei wouldn't offer her any help, as long as Shang Xin Lei called her 'Little Yu' in front of others, the Qian Family could escape from the notorious quagmire—just being able to speak to the Shang Family's Fourth Young Miss is enough to make other Esteemed Classes look at her with new respect.

Watching Qian Gongyu stagger out of the wooden house as if she had drunk fake wine, Shang Xin Lei looked at Jie Yuanshao: "I plan to help out, aren't you going?"

"Of course not. According to the information I've gathered, hallucinations will attack in at most the time it takes to brew a pot of tea. Staying in the wooden house is the safest option, there's no reason to go out and move stones." Jie Yuanshao sat cross-legged on the ground without moving: "On the contrary, you seem to favor that guard so much. Even if you want to bring her under your command, having kindness without authority is not the way to control people."

"It's a waste that you claim to be proficient in the art of judging people. Didn't you see that Jiang Shi is the type of person who would never submit to anyone?"

After speaking, Shang Xin Lei also left the wooden house, leaving only Jie Yuanshao alone inside, meditating with her eyes closed.

"There is a natural hierarchy between all things, how can anyone be independent? Even if they are unwilling in their hearts, they will eventually bow to the pressure of circumstances." Jie Yuanshao murmured in a low voice: "Everyone will bow—including you, Shang Xin Lei."

She glanced outside the wooden house. Although their entry time was in the early morning, the Secret Realm has its own celestial phenomena. At this moment, the Wandering Star Forest was as dark as midnight, with only a few rays of moonlight illuminating the jungle. As they left, the originally small wooden house suddenly became very empty, and darkness engulfed all the space.

Logically, participants would bring lighting tools such as candles, but Jie Yuanshao came here to temper her will and didn't bring any props that could reduce the difficulty. She sat silently in the darkness for a few seconds, then stood up and walked to the door, muttering to herself: "I'm just here to remind them to come back quickly, the trial hasn't even started yet, how could I be afraid..."

The time it takes to brew a pot of tea passed quickly. Qian Gongyu only managed to move two large stones over. Shang Xin Lei didn't move stones; she shaved three stones into oval shapes, then pushed them, and they rolled to the vicinity of the wooden house.

On the other hand, Jiang Shi, who had ordered them to move stones, returned empty-handed herself.

Seeing this scene, Jie Yuanshao immediately revealed a look of disgust, but before she could say anything, she saw Jiang Shi stretch out her hand towards the open space next to the wooden house, and then a large pile of wood appeared out of nowhere and fell onto the open space.

Seeing this scene, everyone's pupils shrank, and Qian Gongyu couldn't help but shout, "Jiang Shi, you actually have a storage item? And the space is so big, how many levels of refinement does this item have to be..."

"I don't have a storage item," Jiang Shi said.

This kind of answer was undoubtedly unsatisfactory. Even Qian Gongyu felt that Jiang Shi was being a bit impolite, what difference was there between this and treating them like fools? But soon they had no time to pay attention to the small matter of the storage item.

Because the earth was shaking.

Rumble rumble rumble—

With the violent shaking, the wood and stones around the wooden house were like they were being manipulated by invisible earthwork craftsmen, turning into materials and being used in construction at an unbelievable speed. First, the wooden house was instantly disassembled, and then recombined with the newly added wood and stone materials, turning into a larger and more spacious solid stone house.

Some of the stones turned into neat blocks of stone, piled up outside to form a wall; and some of the wood was assembled into huge wooden crossbows with crackling sounds. Because Jiang Shi brought back a lot of wood, a total of six wooden crossbows were built and installed in the yard.

When everything settled down, Shang Xin Lei and the other two were speechless. They were all like little country girls who had never seen the world, touching the stone house here, touching the wall there, reaching out to touch the wooden crossbow, their faces full of shock.

Of course, they weren't shocked by these things. If this copy allowed them to bring in servants and supplies, even Qian Gongyu would have the ability to arm this place into a fortress. But this was a randomly teamed Secret Realm, and the trial illusions came very quickly, so even if they had the idea of ​​transforming the stronghold, they didn't have time to put it into practice.

Since ancient times, everyone has believed that the Wandering Star Forest Secret Realm is a Secret Realm for tempering willpower. The Heralds can only hide in the wooden house and endure the pressure caused by the illusions of the outside demons. No one has ever thought of transforming the wooden house, and no one has ever tried to transform the wooden house.

The three of them realized that the history of the Wandering Star Forest was about to turn a new page here.

"Buzz—"

An extremely harsh and unpleasant scream came from the wind. Jie Yuanshao's face suddenly changed drastically. She beckoned everyone to quickly enter the house and immediately close the door, saying quickly, "Don't try to break the appearing demons. These demons are all illusions, immortal and indestructible monsters. Even if a Third Refinement Herald kills them a thousand times, they will be resurrected in an instant. The only thing we can do is stay here and persevere until the demon tide ends."

As soon as she finished speaking, thick fog rose from the jungle, and huge monsters walked out of the fog. Some of them were shaped like lizards, some were like strange birds, some had tails like scythes, and some had winged lions, but no matter which one, their bodies were unusually huge, and the scales and fur on their bodies were very thick.

In front of them, this upgraded stone house seemed vulnerable.

However, most of the monsters just passed by, hurriedly stepping into the thick fog and not knowing where they were going. Only one lizard monster stayed.

"Ferocious Lizard Demon!" Jie Yuanshao's expression was serious: "This is a demon that only appears in the Second Refinement Secret Realm!"

As the Ferocious Lizard Demon roared, a large group of small ferocious lizards appeared in the thick fog, turning into hundreds in the blink of an eye. They roared at the stone house one after another, their roars forming a piece, like rusty butcher knives, cruelly torturing their ears and souls!

Everywhere they looked, there were demons!

"Don't be nervous, don't get excited, don't go out!" Jie Yuanshao pulled them, but she herself was shaking: "They can't attack the sanctuary, but the closer they are to us, the greater the pressure we will bear, and in the end, we will even collapse mentally and become useless... So if you feel like you can't hold on, you have to run into the thick fog during the gap between the two demon tides, so you can withdraw from the Wandering Star Forest."

"Don't be killed by the demons, although you can directly withdraw from the Wandering Star Forest, your Soul will suffer great trauma, and your strength will basically be unable to continue to improve."

"Most people can't last through the first half hour, but our house is bigger and has walls, so it might be easier." Speaking of this, Jie Yuanshao couldn't help but look at Jiang Shi and blamed, "You should have put the wooden crossbows in the house, so we can operate them. Building the wooden crossbows outside is meaningless at all—"

Whoosh!

When the small ferocious lizard stepped within fifty meters of the sanctuary, the wooden crossbows in the yard immediately automatically aimed and fired! With the sound of the bowstring breaking through the air, an arrow crossed the wall, crossed fifty meters of grass, and pierced through the head of the small ferocious lizard!

Blood splattered, and a miserable wail sounded. The small ferocious lizard fell to the ground like a rag and could no longer stand up.