The Deadly Trap of Maze Ancient Forest!

Three days quietly arrived, and under the leadership of Vice Dean Yan Xiu, a group of people rode in a carriage and walked out of the city gate.

As the carriage drove out of Spirit City, the surrounding hustle and bustle gradually dissipated. Gu Changsheng sat inside the carriage, holding the materials about the Mental Attribute Spirit Beast Phantom Bookworm, and his gaze stared closely at the pages—an 800-year-old Phantom Bookworm was the most suitable; if the age was too low, the Spirit Ring effect would not be enough, and if the age was too high, he might not be able to endure it.

Hu Liena, who was sitting across from him, saw him reading the book the whole way, and she couldn't help reaching out her hand toward the pages and pressing them down: "Junior Brother, you've been reading for the whole trip. If you keep looking like this, you're going to read right through the book!"

Gu Changsheng raised his head, looked at Hu Liena in front of him, and said softly: "Knowing yourself and your enemy ensures victory in every battle. Reading a little more means a fraction less danger."

Hu Liena curled her lips: "You really are a boring person."

Although she said that, she slowly released her hand. After traveling a distance, she asked seriously again: "Are you really going to choose this Phantom Bookworm? But the age of the first Spirit Ring is close to a thousand years, this..."

Hu Liena stopped talking, her tone revealing anxiety. She gently pulled open the window in front of her and looked at the scenery outside.

Gu Changsheng did not speak, and simply continued flipping through the book. That serious look really made her a little uncomprehending: "Do you like getting stronger this much?"

Hearing these words, Gu Changsheng's hand paused slightly. The moment he raised his head, he spoke: "I do, because if you don't get stronger, you can only let others arrange your destiny."

Hu Liena suddenly froze. She seemed to have understood half of this sentence. She was originally a disciple of Bibi Dong, cultivated by Spirit Hall since childhood, and everyone felt her future was very bright; yet sometimes she herself always felt that her path had been arranged long ago—cultivate to get stronger and win glory for Spirit Hall. Perhaps in the past she would never have chosen to question it, but Gu Changsheng's words made her heart stir gently.

The next second, she asked quietly: "Junior Brother, then do you want to arrange your own destiny?"

Gu Changsheng closed the book, the corners of his mouth lifted slightly, and he just silently looked at Hu Liena: "Not just mine, Senior Sister's can be arranged too!"

Hu Liena was stunned. The next second, her cheeks grew slightly hot, and she hurriedly turned her head away: "Who is letting you arrange things? I am your Senior Sister, and you are under my protection now! I should be protecting you from now on, hum!"

Gu Changsheng looked at the prideful Hu Liena in front of him and did not refute, only smiling gently.

It was right at this moment that Yan Xiu, sitting at the very front of the carriage, said loudly: "Ahead is Maze Ancient Forest, pull yourselves together!"

When the two of them lifted the carriage curtain and looked out, a green forest appeared at the edge of their vision. That forest was very strange; clearly it was daytime, yet it was shrouded in a layer of faint mist.

Just as the carriage entered, that oppressive feeling gave one an indescribable sense of pressure. At this moment, Yan Xiu, standing at the front, immediately turned around, opened the carriage curtain, looked at Gu Changsheng, and said coldly: "Maze Ancient Forest has dense spiritual mists. After entering, no one is allowed to leave the team without authorization, especially you, Gu Changsheng. You don't have a Spirit Ring yet, and you must retreat at the very first instance when encountering danger."

"Understood!"

Just like that, the moment they stepped into the forest, Gu Changsheng felt a trace of chilliness. This was not the wind; it was a form of spiritual interference. At this moment, the Myriad Heaven Book was slowly opening in the depths of his soul:

[Spiritual mist detected.]
[Effects: Directional interference, perception deviation, slight auditory hallucinations.]
[Intensity: Low]
[Analyzing...]

At this moment, he watched the mist in front of him gradually transform into strands of gray lines, some places steady and some places chaotic. Yan Xiu walked at the very front, seeming very familiar with the route here: "Walk this way."

He pointed his finger toward the front-left, and the two red-haired guards did not doubt it and immediately followed. Hu Liena also noticed Gu Changsheng's abnormality and asked in a low voice from behind: "Junior Brother, what's wrong with you?"

Gu Changsheng did not turn his head to look at Hu Liena, only responding in a low voice: "Senior Sister, this path is wrong. The flow of the mist area is too chaotic; it doesn't look like it formed naturally, but rather like someone tampered with it beforehand."

Hearing this, Hu Liena's heart sank. She also seemed to think of something, and just as she was about to speak, Gu Changsheng shook his head repeatedly: "Shh, don't talk nonsense, we have no proof."

It was precisely at this moment that Gu Changsheng raised his vigilance to the absolute maximum. The team continued deeper, and the mist grew thicker and thicker, to the point that even the tree shadows felt increasingly distorted.

After about another half hour, Gu Changsheng suddenly stopped in his tracks, casting his gaze upon a fractured tree root nearby—there was a bit of faint yellow powder there. In the eyes of an ordinary Spirit Master, it would be utterly undiscoverable, because the Myriad Heaven Book issued a prompt at this moment:

[Beast-Luring Powder detected.]
[Residual time: Within one hour.]
[Function: Attracts snakes and Mental Attribute Spirit Beasts.]
[Judgment: Man-made!]

When he bent down and gently poked the powder with a branch, that pungent aura also slowly drifted out. The Spirit King guard's expression changed instantly: "Beast-Luring Powder? Someone has been here!"

When Yan Xiu saw this scene, he also tightly furrowed his brows: "There are naturally many Spirit Beasts here to begin with, and it's not surprising to occasionally find these things and residuals. They were probably left behind by other spirit-hunting teams."

This sentence was said much too quickly, so fast it was as if it had been prepared long in advance, as if psychological expectation construction had already been done. At this moment, Gu Changsheng raised his head and looked at Yan Xiu in front of him, his gaze extremely complex, but he still said indifferently: "Dean Yan makes a lot of sense."

It was precisely at this moment that the two were looking at each other, and Gu Changsheng did not want to expose them right now, because the real trap had not yet reached the point of closing the net.

Just as the two wanted to withdraw their gazes from each other, a Spirit King guard immediately shouted: "There is a Mental Attribute Spirit Beast!"

Yan Xiu's gaze flickered slightly, and the soul power on his body swept across instantly, his expression suddenly becoming extremely excited: "This thing seems to be the Phantom Bookworm!"

Hu Liena also subconsciously looked at Gu Changsheng. At this moment, Gu Changsheng's expression was very calm, because this Phantom Bookworm appeared far too coincidentally.

The next second, Yan Xiu immediately gave an order: "The two of you follow me in pursuit. Lady Nana, you and Changsheng stay here and do not move around."

At this moment, Hu Liena's expression changed slightly: "Dean Yan, you are going to leave all of us here? Shouldn't you leave a guard behind?"

"Lady Nana, rest assured. I have already scouted ahead; there is no one here, and this Phantom Bookworm's speed is extremely fast. If I am the only one, I am afraid I won't be able to catch it," Yan Xiu said. "This old man is doing this for Gu Changsheng's own good as well, and you will be even safer staying here."

With that, he directly led the two Spirit King guards and chased into the mist, the figures of the three quickly disappearing from sight.

The forest was exceptionally quiet, quiet to the point of feeling somewhat eerie. Gu Changsheng stood in his original spot as though he saw through everything, his eyes narrowing slightly as he began to carefully investigate using the Myriad Heaven Book.

Seeing Gu Changsheng unhurried, Hu Liena hurriedly reminded him: "Junior Brother, didn't you realize they did this on purpose? What do we do now?"

"Wait!"

A single word of "wait" made the already anxious Hu Liena before him even more bewildered: "What else are you waiting for? Don't you think it's dangerous here?"

At this moment, both Gu Changsheng's gaze and tone became even calmer: "Waiting for the people who actually want to kill me to come out!"

Upon hearing these words, Hu Liena's expression changed drastically. How could there still be people who wanted to kill him? Could there still be people who would go against Spirit Hall?