The Scaled Fear Crocodile was already at the end of its strength. Though the three of them were injured, they still managed to take it down. However, they didn't immediately retrieve its Demon Crystal. Instead, they sat cross-legged and recovered their Yuan Power.
Seeing this, the three behind the ancient tree finally made their move. They concealed their auras and crept forward. The other three were badly injured, so they hadn't noticed anyone behind them.
Long Jiuyyao brought his hand down in a chopping strike, and the bald man leading the group collapsed. The two women followed suit, knocking out the other two.
Long Jiuyyao used the Bone Sword in his hand to cut open the flesh over the Scaled Fear Crocodile's chest and extract a fist-sized, diamond-shaped Demon Crystal. He then proceeded to butcher the entire monster, taking more than half of its meat and leaving them only a portion.
After all, they were fellow clansmen. There was no need to go too far. The Demon Crystals from the monsters they had hunted were also found by the two women. They had sixteen in total, but the trio didn't take all of them either, leaving as many as three behind.
With the fourteen Demon Crystals they already had and the fourteen they'd taken, they now had twenty-eight. That should be enough to put them near the top.
After finishing, the three didn't linger. As soon as they had what they came for, they hurried away. Long Jiuyyao was delighted. Who wouldn't love getting something for free?
Before they left, however, they carried the three unconscious men to a relatively secluded spot, so passing monsters wouldn't feast on their corpses.
Since they'd already reached the depths, there was no need to return to their old shelter. They decided to find another safe place and build a new one.
Night gradually fell over the sky. The dense fog in the mountain depths never lifted, and now that darkness had descended, the roars of various monsters echoed around them. The danger level had risen sharply.
Long Jiuyyao led the way with the Bone Sword in hand. A faint white light shimmered between his brows as strands of spiritual power spread out ahead to scout the path.
The two women clung tightly to the hem of Long Jiuyyao's clothes. The pitch-black surroundings made them uneasy. In the end, Yuan Xin wasn't satisfied with merely holding his clothes and wrapped both arms tightly around his right arm. Long Jiuyyao glanced at her helplessly.
Lan Xinhuang was proud by nature. The fact that she was holding Long Jiuyyao's clothes already meant she'd set aside her pride; she would never cling to his arm the way Yuan Xin did. Still, without realizing it, she had edged closer to him.
Long Jiuyyao had considered lighting a torch. It would illuminate their surroundings and dispel the darkness, but it would also reveal their position. They knew nothing about the distribution of monsters in the mountain depths. If the nearby monsters swarmed them, the cost would far outweigh the benefits.
On a pitch-black night, Long Jiuyyao could sense the path ahead more clearly with his spiritual power than with his eyes. The fog in the mountain depths did hinder spiritual power, but against Long Jiuyyao, who had condensed his Natal Celestial Talisman, that effect was negligible—almost nonexistent.
Fortunately, the three of them were lucky. They didn't encounter any monsters along the way and found a very secluded spot. They lit a fire and roasted meat to replenish their strength. As usual, Long Jiuyyao kept watch through the night.
"Who was it?! Which bastard ambushed me and stole the Demon Crystals from the monsters we hunted?" A furious curse rang out for miles through the dark, silent mountain depths.
A bald man stood staring, red-eyed, at the empty spot beside the monster's corpse where they had stored their Demon Crystals. They were gone.
Remembering how the three of them had risked injury to kill the Scaled Fear Crocodile, only to have someone else reap the benefits, the bald man suddenly smashed a boulder several meters tall beside him.
"Brother Gu Lie, now that it's happened, why don't we go back and rest up first? The Mountain Survival event is only halfway over. Those thieves couldn't have gone far. We can search for them tomorrow," Green-robed Su Qing suggested.
At his words, Gu Lie's fury gradually subsided. Just as he was about to carry back what remained of the monster's body, another man spoke up.
"Brother Lie, most of the Demon Crystals from the monsters we hunted earlier are gone too." Wang Li's face was grim.
"What did you say?" Gu Lie spun around and grabbed him by the collar, a faint red glimmer in his eyes.
Even Su Qing, who had just tried to calm him down, twitched at the corner of his mouth. His expression turned terrifyingly dark.
If they'd only lost the Scaled Fear Crocodile's Demon Crystal, that would have been a minor loss. One crystal wouldn't decide the final outcome anyway. But now most of them were gone. How could they accept that?
Gu Lie snatched up the monster hide they used to store their Demon Crystals. Three lonely crystals met his eyes, and a trace of murderous intent rose within him.
As he stared at the three that remained, Gu Lie saw nothing but mockery—blatant mockery. The thieves could have taken them all, yet they'd left three behind, one for each of them.
Long Jiuyyao had only left the three crystals because he knew how hard they'd worked to hunt the monsters and couldn't bring himself to take everything. But Gu Lie and the others wouldn't see it that way. They could only find the gesture irritating and insulting.
"Hahaha!" Gu Lie laughed in his fury. But instead of flying into a rage, he reined in his aura and silently carried the remaining monster corpse and Demon Crystals back to the cave.
Behind him, Su Qing and Wang Li knew that Gu Lie had become murderous. Though their status as fellow clansmen would keep him from actually killing the thieves, he could still make sure they paid dearly for their underhanded tactics.
Long Jiuyyao, who was currently refining his spiritual power, had no idea that the three Demon Crystals he'd left behind would cause him considerable trouble later.
Time passed in a flash. Night faded, and daylight spread across the sky.
Long Jiuyyao looked at the two women still fast asleep. Today, they would truly explore the mountain depths and hunt for Demon Crystals.
His gaze lingered on the still-sleeping Lan Xinhuang, and the corners of his mouth lifted before he noticed it himself.
He lightly brushed her pretty nose with his index finger. Lan Xinhuang's eyelashes fluttered. Long Jiuyyao quickly withdrew his hand and turned to look at Yuan Xin, who was sleeping soundly nearby.
Long Jiuyyao pinched Yuan Xin's soft cheek. Only after he'd disturbed them did the two women reluctantly get up to wash.
"We didn't come all this way to sleep in. If you want to sleep in, wait until this is over and sleep as much as you like," Long Jiuyyao said, ruffling Yuan Xin's messy hair.
The three ate a simple breakfast, then headed north.
Time flew by. Of the month-long event, only seven days remained. In recent days, nearly all the participants had discovered one another, but no one had clashed over Demon Crystals. The harmony seemed strangely unnatural.
Nine teams had appeared in the mountain depths and encountered one another. Their meetings had been brief, but two teams still hadn't shown themselves: Long Jiuyyao's group and Liu Qing's group.
At that moment, everyone was searching for the last few monsters.
High above the mountain range, a warship dozens of meters long sailed through the sky. Several Dragon Clan Deacons looked down at the scene below. The leader spoke up. "Of the three hundred monsters, only the last five Creation Realm monsters remain. The survival event is almost over, isn't it?"
They were the Enforcers for this trial, responsible for maintaining order and protecting the participants. Naturally, they wouldn't appear unless someone faced a life-threatening crisis. If they did appear, it meant one team's run had come to an end.
A White-robed Deacon replied, "The moment those five monsters at the Creation Realm Great Accomplishment die, this harmonious atmosphere will break."
They'd seen this sort of thing many times before. For the tournament's Spirit Martial Art prize, the teams would inevitably fight to take their opponents' Demon Crystals or protect their own.
If they weren't too old, they would have wanted to take part in the Mountain Survival event themselves. Spirit Martial Arts were rare, after all. Possessing even one could greatly raise a person's overall strength.
"Roar!" A feeble growl came from deeper within the mountain range.
A man sat, drenched in blood, atop a monster as tall as a small mountain. Dark red blood poured from the beast's enormous wounds, turning the ground into a sea of blood.
With a crimson, diamond-shaped Demon Crystal in hand, the man's figure flickered. He appeared beside his teammates, whose clothes were stained red as well.
"Sangshen, Diezhao, keep this Crimson Earth Sword Ridge Dragon's Demon Crystal safe. Time is almost up. It's time for us to make our move," Liu Qing said with a wild grin.
The two nodded, but their eyes went to the dead Creation Realm monster, the Crimson Earth Sword Ridge Dragon. What drew the eye most was the sword-like ridge on its back, covered in intricate secret patterns that were every bit as impressive as a genuine spirit treasure.
The Crimson Earth Sword Ridge Dragon could produce a spirit treasure within its own body. It was an extremely rare and powerful variant beast. Liu Qing had been astonished when he found it, because once it reached the Samsara Stage, the sword ridge on its back could rival a Pure Origin Treasure.
After several days of pursuit by the three of them, it had finally been slain.
Liu Qing naturally wasn't going to pass up a treasure like this. Though the sword ridge only possessed the power of a High-grade Spirit Treasure, it was more than enough for him at present. What's more, it was a spirit treasure that could grow. As long as he had sufficient resources, it was only a matter of time before it became a Pure Origin Treasure.
As Liu Qing swung his weapon, the Crimson Earth Sword Ridge Dragon's corpse was cut apart. The moment he took the sword ridge in hand, a cool warmth surged through him, soothing his wounds.
In no time, most of his injuries had healed. He rubbed the hilt with his index finger, where indistinct bone characters were carved. Its name was "Crimson Soul."
Farther into the mountain range, a man and two women pressed onward. The fog was gone, and everything before them was bright. Faint black light shimmered on the man's chest.
Every so often, the man lowered his head to look at it. The two women were walking ahead of him, so neither noticed anything unusual.
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