Chapter 284

Having lost face, he naturally dared not be arrogant anymore, and simply lowered his head, trying to shrink into the crowd without daring to speak.

With Xu Jintang joining the operation, the encirclement and suppression went exceptionally smoothly.

In no time, they had almost wiped out all the monsters inside the cave.

Xu Jintang clapped his hands at the cave entrance, "There might be some low-level demonic beasts inside, but they're not much of a threat. Everyone can just go in."

"Okay." Feng Qianyue stepped forward and nodded to her, "Thank you for your hard work."

Before everyone entered the cave, Feng Qianyue spoke up again, "Miss Xu contributed the most to this battle against the monsters, so when we distribute the supplies later, I suggest giving her an extra ten percent. What do you all think?"

"No problem!"

"Yes, yes, if it weren't for Miss Xu, we might not have had such a smooth experience."

"Sure, I totally support it!"

The response from the crowd was very enthusiastic.

Xu Jintang didn't stand on ceremony, after all, he had contributed a lot.

She smiled and nodded, "Okay, then I won't refuse."

An hour later, everyone finished taking inventory of all the supplies at the treasure site.

Only then did someone notice Liu Zichang, who had been mingling with the group.

"Hey, I have a question. If someone in the team keeps slacking off, does that mean they don't need to be allocated supplies?"

As the man spoke, he kept glancing at Liu Zichang out of the corner of his eye.

The others quickly realized what was happening and turned their gazes to Liu Zichang.

Liu Zichang's already awkward expression turned ashen.

"What do you mean by 'fishing in troubled waters'? I also contributed some effort just now."

"To be fair, I was standing right next to him the whole time we were fighting the monsters," someone next to Liu Zichang suddenly raised their hand.

He continued, "He did put in some effort, just not as much. He couldn't handle most Fifth Tier demonic beasts, but he could barely manage to put up a couple of hits with Fourth Tier ones."

A burst of laughter erupted from the crowd.

At first, seeing Liu Zichang's high-profile and flamboyant manner, everyone assumed that he was extremely capable.

When it came to actually fighting, he could only manage to hit a Fourth Tier monster twice.

"Alright, let's not delve into it further. Since they've put in the effort, let's allocate the resources as usual."

The gazes of the crowd toward Liu Zichang became even more mocking.

Xu Jintang also glanced at Liu Zichang, and after seeing the constantly changing expression on his face, he didn't say anything more.

In the final distribution of supplies, Xu Jintang received the most, followed by Feng Qianyue, and then the others divided the remaining supplies equally.

A week passed quickly.

In the central area of the Spirit Realm, within a lush forest, dozens of small teams cautiously huddled together.

Dressed in silver-white robes, Chu Er stood ostentatiously at the front. "Listen to me, everyone. We've been in the Spirit Realm for quite some time now, and we'll be teleported out in a week. This central treasure point is vast and rich in resources; there's definitely enough for everyone to share, so there's no need for conflict now. Besides, there are many high-level demonic beasts here; we should cooperate."

Xu Jintang and Feng Qianyue across from each other exchanged a glance and remained silent.

The whole thing started when Feng Qianyue's treasure-hunting needle discovered the central treasure location first.

On their way there, they encountered several other teams that had also discovered the central treasure location.

The Central Treasure Site is the largest secret realm in the entire Spirit Realm, containing the most treasures and resources, so naturally no one is willing to give it up.

As a result, more than a dozen teams gathered around the treasure's opening point.

"That's true, but with so many people, if someone tries to cheat and take advantage of the chaos, there's nothing we can do. I think we should just let things take their course. How much each person gets depends on their own strength. If you're strong, you can just grab it yourself; what you grab is yours."

Managing too many people is difficult; it's an unsolvable problem.

Upon hearing this, Chu Er immediately rolled his eyes and sighed resignedly.

From the moment he arrived here, he has been trying to persuade everyone to join forces and cooperate.

The monsters within this central treasure are definitely not something a single small team can handle; it will require everyone working together to have a chance.

But there are too many people, and their minds are cluttered.

The group has been here for over an hour and still hasn't reached any decision.

"Hey, to be honest, how about our two teams team up?" Seeing the other teams still hesitating, Chu Er leaned close to Xu Jintang and whispered.

Xu Jintang glanced at him, "How do we cooperate?"

"Our two teams should be about the same strength, so let's go together and split the supplies 50/50," Chu Er said.

Xu Jintang looked at Feng Qianyue, "What do you think?"

Feng Qianyue hesitated for a moment, "You two... knew each other before?"

Chu Er cleared his throat. "Yes, we're old friends. You can trust me unconditionally when it comes to character."

Xu Jintang had not seen Chu Er since the last performance competition between the five major military academies.

It was quite a coincidence that we met in the Tongbao Spirit Realm this time.

Xu Jintang pursed his lips and fell into deep thought.

Chu Er is likely to be a key player in this league, so cooperating with him would also be a good opportunity to test his abilities.

"Sure, let's cooperate." Xu Jintang nodded readily.

Feng Qianyue nodded in agreement, "Okay."

While the other teams were still suspicious of each other, Chu Er quietly slipped away to the treasure's activation mechanism and quickly twisted the stone statue.

After the statue twisted, the treasure point mechanism was immediately activated.

The attention of everyone nearby immediately turned to them.

Who opened the treasure spot?

"Haven't we discussed how to allocate the supplies yet?"

"Sigh, after discussing this for so long without any results, we might as well just start it and let everyone use their own methods."

After activating the mechanism, Chu Er quickly slipped back into the group without attracting anyone's attention.

After waiting a while, Chu Er stepped forward, pretending to be nonchalant, to take charge. "Alright, alright, now that it's started, there's no point in wasting any more time. Let's each use our own methods."

After saying that, he turned and gave Xu Jintang a wink.

Xu Jintang gestured, "Let's go."

The next second, the two teams led by Chu Er and Xu Jintang were the first to rush into the treasure point.

The treasure is located in an underground tomb.

The entrance leads directly to a seemingly endless staircase.

The underground environment was dark, with a faint musty smell in the air, and layers of moss grew in the corners of the steps.

Chu Er led the way, saying, "Damn, it's chilly in here, kind of creepy."

"Do you think there might be some people in here who aren't quite dead yet, and who've become one of those strange vegetative states?"

"Holy crap! That startled me! Why did the light suddenly turn on?"

At first, no one thought it was scary, but they couldn't stand Chu Er's constant nagging.

"Brother, can you be quiet? It wasn't scary at all, but your jump scares really frightened us," Feng Qianyue finally couldn't help but say.

"The thing is, this place is really scary, don't you guys think?" Chu Er asked, looking surprised.

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights on both sides of the corridor suddenly went out, and then for some unknown reason, they came back on.

The flickering lights instantly created an eerie atmosphere.

At the same time, the sound of rushing water rang out.

Xu Jintang was also startled and quickly turned around to look at the direction from which the sound of water came.

Suddenly, a small opening appeared in the wall of the left corridor, as if some mechanism had been triggered.

The babbling water flowed down from the small opening.

"This should be a mechanism in the tomb chamber. Once someone enters, these lamps and water features will automatically activate," Feng Qianyue explained calmly.

Chu Er patted his chest lightly, still shaken. "That scared me to death."

Xu Jintang snapped out of her daze and grabbed Chu Er, "You go to the back, I'll lead the team."

"That's great." Chu Er quickly stepped back.

Xu Jintang walked to the front.

They had been walking along the underground steps for over an hour, and the road ahead still seemed endless, with no idea which direction it led to.

Even if this treasure trove is huge, it's impossible that we haven't reached the inside in over an hour, so something must have gone wrong.

Xu Jintang arrived at the newly activated mechanism, bent down, and placed his hands on the flowing water.

The clear water flowed through my palm, bringing a refreshing coolness.

"The water must have flowed from next door. There might be some kind of secret passage nearby, everyone search for it." Xu Jintang quickly came to a conclusion.

The crowd immediately dispersed, each heading in a different direction to search.

About half a minute later, someone discovered a lamp that appeared to be the trigger for the mechanism.

"Come and look at this lamp," one of the team members said, raising his hand.

Xu Jintang quickly moved closer, his gaze sweeping over the lamp hanging in the corner of the wall.

The dim, yellow light cast a soft golden glow on the ground.

The team member who first discovered the lamp reached out and turned the lamp base. "This lamp base seems to be able to rotate, but I don't know what mechanism it has after turning it."

Xu Jintang raised his hand and gestured, "Get ready for battle."

The people behind him immediately took out their magical weapons and gathered their spiritual power to prepare for action.

Xu Jintang nodded to the team members next to the lamp, "Spin it."

The team member took a deep breath, looked away, and gripped the lamp holder.

There was a creaking sound.

The lamp holder, which hadn't been repaired for a long time, was unscrewed.

Immediately afterwards, the entire underground passage began to shake.

Xu Jintang and the others began to lose their balance.

A few seconds later, the intense tremor subsided, and a hidden door had unknowingly opened on the left wall.

Everything returned to silence.

A faint light emanated from within the hidden door.

Xu Jintang waited for a while, and seeing that there was no movement, he gestured to go in and take a look.