Ling Shuang spread the beast-hide map across the cold rock surface, her fingertip pressing heavily on a scarlet ink dot.
"Spirit-Eating Ancient Vine."
Su Chen bent down, his gaze locking onto the spot.
Beside the ink dot were the old man's messy notes: a plant-type ferocious creature, its roots fed on marrow.
"This thing is extremely rare even among Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts."
Ling Shuang traced the lines on the map with her fingertip, her tone as calm as if she were ordering a homestyle dish.
"Its main root is buried deep in an underground river. Within three miles, every tree and every patch of moss is one of its tentacles."
Chu Yao frowned. "You want to forcibly fuse with a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring of the same type?"
"Paired with the Heavenly Net Immortal Vine, its control range can cover several miles."
Ling Shuang swung her feet, a trace of obsession flashing in her eyes.
"As long as I'm standing on the ground, everything within that range will be my hunting ground."
Mo Qianye, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke, his voice carrying a chill.
"How far is this from the Titan Giant Ape's territory?"
Ling Shuang raised two pale fingers.
"Two miles."
The rocks fell instantly silent.
The dry rations in Jiang Tieyi's mouth got stuck.
Yan Wuji froze with his waterskin halfway to his mouth.
Ye Linglong's crimson pupils narrowed slightly as she stared fixedly at that number.
Two miles.
To a Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast's senses, that was no different from provoking it right under its nose.
Su Chen said nothing. He took the map and slowly ran his fingertip along the contour lines.
The underground river's flow, the drop in the riverbed, the density of the vegetation.
These dull bits of data rapidly rearranged themselves in his mind.
"How thick is the Ancient Vine's main root?"
"The old man wrote that it's as thick as a roof beam, embedded deep in the riverbed."
Su Chen drew the short blade at his waist.
He carved the first mark into the rock: underground river.
Then came the second: Ancient Vine root system.
The final horizontal line was like a guillotine blade, cutting across the boundary two miles away.
"For this battle, Jiang Tieyi and Mo Qianye are removed from the combat roster."
Jiang Tieyi froze. "Big Brother?"
"The Wild Gravity Field will cause faint tremors in the earth's crust, and the Soul Power fluctuations of the Nether Phoenix Heavenly Flame are too conspicuous."
Without looking up, Su Chen used the tip of his knife to draw ten points of light across the stone.
"The Shadow Leopards will move first. They'll sever the outer feeder roots and cripple its sensory network."
"The Dark Golden Terrorclaw Bear will seal off the east and cut off its retreat back to the underground river."
"The Thunder Eagles will fly close to the ground and use Thunderfeather Blades to precisely sever the root nodes."
Su Chen looked at Chu Yao.
"You'll be upstream. Pour the toxins from the Myriad Poisons Domain into the underground river with the current."
Chu Yao nodded, her expression solemn.
"Yan Wuji, you'll decide victory or defeat."
"The moment the Ancient Vine regenerates its roots, the temperature of its main root will rise. That's when its defenses are at their weakest."
"At that moment, you need to freeze the entire underground river and cut off its energy source."
Yan Wuji looked at the coordinate less than two hundred feet from the main root.
"I have to release it at close range?"
"Ling Shuang will use the Heavenly Net Immortal Vine to clear a path for you."
Su Chen's knife tip finally stopped at the edge of the map.
"The entire battle must be finished within fifteen minutes."
He swept his gaze over the group, his eyes cold to the bone.
"Time starts when the first Shadow Leopard makes its move."
"If we can't take it down in fifteen minutes, everyone retreats."
"No looking back. No rescuing anyone."
Jiang Tieyi swallowed as he looked at the dense web of tactical lines carved into the stone.
"Su Chen, is your brain made of iron?"
"I've mined for ten years, and I've never seen work this precise."
Chu Yao crouched down, her fingertip tracing her own route forward.
Poison at the seventh minute, infusion at the ninth.
Every step was like walking a tightrope.
"What if its roots are longer than estimated?"
"The Shadow Leopards expand their range by two hundred feet, the Thunder Eagles fill the gap, and every node is pushed back by two minutes."
Su Chen answered immediately, as though he had already rehearsed these plans thousands of times in his mind.
"The cost is that Ling Shuang will have only three minutes left to absorb the Soul Ring."
Ling Shuang gave a low laugh, madness in her voice.
"Three minutes to absorb a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Ring? You really think highly of me."
Su Chen looked back at her coldly.
"If you don't have what it takes, get out of the team now."
Ling Shuang's smile vanished. She rolled up the map and tucked it into her clothes.
"I've never backed down."
Night deepened.
The mist in the forest carried a damp, rotten stench.
Chu Yao toyed with three pitch-black medicine bottles between her fingers. They contained potent toxins enough to paralyze a Ten-Thousand-Year Soul Beast.
Yan Wuji immersed both hands in the icy stream, sensing the rhythm of the current in advance.
Mo Qianye leaned against a tree trunk with his sword in his arms, like a stone statue.
Jiang Tieyi sidled up to Su Chen and lowered his voice.
"Honestly, are you scared?"
Su Chen sheathed his short blade, his fingers rubbing the patterns on its hilt.
"I am."
Jiang Tieyi was stunned.
"At a distance of two miles, if the Titan Giant Ape so much as rolls over, we're all dead."
Su Chen looked toward the depths of the forest. It was pitch-black there, like an ancient giant beast opening its jaws.
"That's why I left the retreat route to you and Mo Qianye."
"If anything happens, you use the gravity field to slow it down, and Mo Qianye uses a wall of fire to cover the retreat."
Jiang Tieyi was silent for a long time, then heavily slapped his knee.
"Understood."
Ling Shuang was the last to approach. She looked at the deep marks carved into the rock by Su Chen's blade.
"Su Chen."
"Yeah."
"Thanks."
Su Chen turned and walked into the darkness, his voice drifting back on the wind.
"Live through it first. Then thank me."
Moonlight pierced the canopy and fell upon those tactical lines, casting a deathly pale glow.
Tomorrow.
Fifteen minutes.
A wager with their lives.
Before you continue