421: Chapter 420 Everyone Has Arrived

Hearing the Minotaur's faint warning, Long Shan restrained his ferocious look and grinned. "Stinking monkey, you really are quite lucky."

Cai Hou scratched his head through his straw hat. "Brother Long, let's make a deal. Can you give me a break?"

Long Shan gave a light chuckle but said nothing more. He stepped aside, set up a tea table with a wave of his hand, and began to brew tea.

Wisps of green smoke rose, and a faint fragrance of tea filled the air.

"Putting on an act, your brain is sick." Shen Ba crossed his arms, glanced sideways, and let out a sneer.

Long Shan's movements paused slightly, but then he continued drinking his tea as if he hadn't heard a thing.

After a while, Lin Liguo, Wu Wanqiu, and the other six Night Watchers also climbed up with great difficulty.

The moment Lin Liguo and the others reached the summit, they all collapsed onto the ground, gasping for air. They were on the verge of collapse, their sweat mixed with blood.

"Hmm? You few... actually didn't lose anyone, and you all made it up."

Long Shan glanced over, then cold-smiled. "It seems that the stuff that kid gave you to drink is truly a precious treasure!"

Wu Wanqiu panted a few times and frowned. "This shouldn't have anything to do with you, right?"

Long Shan rubbed his face and sighed. "I can see you're not together, but such an important treasure—he'd rather waste it saving a few walking corpses like you than give it to me..."

Long Shan tilted his neck and gritted his teeth. "This really makes me very unhappy!"

"Walking corpses?" Wu Wanqiu said in a heavy voice. "What do you mean by that?"

Long Shan grinned ferociously. "Exactly what you think it means."

As soon as he said this, the many Night Watchers sat up, staring at Long Shan with full alertness.

Wu Wanqiu wanted to say more, but Lin Liguo stopped her.

He shook his head slightly and whispered to everyone, "None of these people have normal brains. Talking is useless. Everyone, be careful."

Everyone nodded in unison.

"I said I would kill at least three captain-level Night Watchers to satisfy my hatred."

Long Shan smiled grimly. "You few will serve as the appetizer."

Just then, heavy footsteps echoed from below again.

Li Na helped the Double Cannon Brothers climb up.

"Even you guys made it up?"

Long Shan's attention was diverted.

He sniffed and asked in a deep voice, "I smell the fragrance of wine on you. It couldn't be that mummy who saved you, could it?"

"Um..." Li Na was slightly startled, then she nodded.

Crack!

Long Shan suddenly crushed the teacup in his hand, tilted his neck, and his expression gradually became hideous. "Damn mummy! He really has an overflowing amount of compassion!"

"I asked him for wine, and he'd rather pour it out than give it to me, causing several of my brothers to die miserable deaths!"

Long Shan stared fixedly at Li Na and the others, killing intent plain in his eyes. "Why did he save you?! Did you give him some kind of benefit?"

Li Na's eyes were full of wariness. She took a step back and shook her head. "No."

"No? No!! Meaning he gave it to you for free?" The grin on Long Shan's face became even more distorted. "Good, good, good. What a fellow. My urge to strangle him to death is getting stronger and stronger!"

At this moment, the Minotaur's voice rang out again: "Fifth to tenth place, each person receives 20 points!"

The Minotaur pointed at Lin Liguo and the others, then at Li Na and the two brothers.

"After tenth place, 10 points per person!"

Everyone couldn't help but look at the Minotaur.

Shen Ba said somewhat impatiently, "It's about time to start the second stage, isn't it?"

The Minotaur shook his head. "Not everyone is here yet. We have to wait a little longer."

Shen Ba frowned slightly and went to the edge of the mountain to look down.

However, the darkness encroaching from below seemed capable of swallowing light sources.

Looking down, the visibility was only about a dozen meters. Any further down was just a pitch-black abyss.

"He couldn't have died at the bottom of the mountain because he was so focused on using his wine to save people that he didn't leave enough for himself, could he?" Long Shan said with a snort.

"Impossible, he couldn't have died!" Wu Wanqiu blurted out.

"That's not for certain." Long Shan sneered repeatedly. "If he could come up, he would have come up long ago."

Wu Wanqiu frowned deeply and looked down with some worry, but she couldn't see anything.

"Heh! Dying down there would be letting him off easy," Long Shan said.

Wu Wanqiu subconsciously clenched her fists.

As time passed and Wu Wanqiu's heart grew more anxious, a sound suddenly came from below.

"He's here!"

Wu Wanqiu's face lit up with joy, and Lin Liguo and the others also stood up.

However, when the little girl in the gothic dress appeared, everyone present was stunned.

Everyone's faces were full of suspicion.

Although the voice and appearance were completely different between the two...

For a Transcendent, nothing was impossible.

"Is this... that mummy?" An astonished expression appeared on Long Shan's face.

"What mummy? I don't know, I didn't see one!" Xuan Xuan shook her head repeatedly like a frightened rabbit.

"Then who are you?" Long Shan asked with a frown. "Why are you here?"

"I'm just like you, an ordinary challenger."

Xuan Xuan urged, "What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and start the second stage."

"Fourteenth place, 10 points!" The Minotaur wrote down a small line of text and then said: "We can't leave yet. We can only proceed to the next stage when everyone who passed has arrived."

"Who are you?" Xuan Xuan asked, blinking her eyes.

The Minotaur answered in a muffled voice: "I am the Administrator here, and also the supervisor of your current mission."

"Oh! No matter who you are! There's no need to wait here anymore. That mummy is already dead. Let's hurry up and go to the next stage!" Xuan Xuan waved her hand in a hurry, not wanting to stay for a single moment.

"What? You said he's dead?" Wu Wanqiu turned pale with fright, then immediately said flatly: "That's impossible!"

"I saw it with my own eyes, he's dead." Xuan Xuan continued to urge the Minotaur, saying repeatedly: "Let's go, let's go quickly..."

Everyone looked at the little girl with varied expressions. Some still felt that this little girl was very likely Chu Xuan in disguise.

"In any case, everyone is here now. Should we proceed to the next stage?" Shen Ba's face grew more impatient.

The Minotaur was silent for a moment, then nodded. "In that case, then we shall..."

Before he could finish his sentence.

Footsteps suddenly sounded from below.

Everyone couldn't help but look down the mountain.

Tap, tap, tap...

The footsteps grew closer and closer.

Until finally, a blood-stained figure wrapped in bandages finally fell into everyone's sight.

Originally, everyone's visibility was only about a dozen meters.

But with the appearance of this figure, the darkness drew closer with every step he took.

He carried a tank, tilting his head back to drink wine from time to time. With every step he took, a large amount of blood seemed to be squeezed out of him.

This blood pooled at his feet and flowed down the steps until it disappeared into the darkness, where the sound of licking could be heard.

Seeing this scene, everyone's expressions couldn't help but turn slightly solemn.

"Oh no, how did he come up so fast..." Xuan Xuan sucked in a breath, lamenting inwardly: "Over the limit, he's totally over the limit. Why would such a monster be assigned to the same mission as us!"

Cai Hou patted Fat Pig's bald head and mused, "Fat Pig, do you think this guy is so strong that he's intentionally slowing down to use the heavy pressure to train himself, ending up in this state? Or is he so weak that he's relying entirely on treasures to forcibly sustain his life just to get up here?"

"Hehe... I don't know, whatever you say goes." Fat Pig gave a simple-minded laugh.

"Stinking monkey, don't you have an Inspection Skill?" Long Shan pointed at Chu Xuan below. "Why don't you check his quality?"

"If I said all I see are question marks, would you believe me?" Cai Hou said with a sigh.

"Question marks?" Long Shan spat and said, "You're a veteran who's completed multiple life-and-death missions. Are you really that lacking in confidence that you think you're seeing an existence far beyond yourself?"

"You should know that only those of the same rank are assigned to the same mission!"

"And within the same rank, if you can't see anything, there's only one possibility..."

"He's wearing an item that blocks inspection! Because your Inspection Skill level isn't high enough, all you see are question marks."

Long Shan stared coldly at the person below and smiled grimly. "So, the truth is that this person is too weak. He barely reached the top by relying on that special treasure wine in the tank."

Hearing this, Xuan Xuan gave Long Shan a strange look and silently moved a few steps away, trying to keep her distance from him.

Cai Hou gave a thumbs up and chuckled. "Brother Long, your analysis is spot on. I was thinking the same thing."

Long Shan pointed at Cai Hou and gave a light chuckle, his face full of disdain. "You stinking monkey, don't think that just because you flatter me a bit, I won't cause trouble for you."

Cai Hou chuckled twice and said nothing more.

Long Shan turned his gaze back to the bottom of the stairs. As Chu Xuan approached, he couldn't help but sneer and shake his head:

"Exerting so much effort just to come up."

"Even if he really manages to make it up in the end, he'll only get 10 points."

Long Shan shook his head. "These points are clearly extremely important for the next stage. The fewer points you have, the faster you die. Minotaur, am I right?"

As he spoke, Long Shan glanced at the Minotaur.

"You're being too absolute, but it's true. At the same level, the higher the points, the greater the advantage in the second stage," the Minotaur said.

Long Shan raised an eyebrow. "In that case, Shen Ba, the 50 points you got are quite a lot."

Shen Ba crossed his arms, the corners of his mouth turning up high. Although he didn't speak, his gaze as he looked around at everyone present was full of mockery and disdain.

Feeling Shen Ba's gaze, everyone's faces turned incredibly ugly.

And it was at this moment that Chu Xuan finally stepped onto the last stair.

"Fifteenth place, receives..." The Minotaur's voice appeared at the right time, but then suddenly stopped.

Everyone heard only half of it and there was no follow-up, so they all looked at the Minotaur.

"Cough, cough!"

The Minotaur coughed twice before slowly saying: "The last place receives 100 points!"

As soon as he said this, everyone looked surprised and found it somewhat unbelievable.

The smile on Shen Ba's face froze instantly.

He narrowed his eyes, stared at the Minotaur, and said in a cold voice: "Why is it that everyone else's points decrease as their rank drops, yet this last person gets 100 points!"

The Minotaur stared into Shen Ba's eyes and was silent for a moment before speaking:

"First of all, I never said that the faster you climb, the more points you get! This last person persisted until the final moment, which happens to mean he endured the gravity pressure from all angles without any blind spots. That's why he's able to get the most points."

"Secondly..."

The Minotaur suddenly smiled at Shen Ba. "As a challenger, you are not qualified to question me. I hope you can remember that."

"Finally, I'm warning you one more time. As the Administrator, although I cannot actively take action against you, if anyone dares to be disrespectful to me, I will really kill them."

After speaking, the Minotaur let out a 'huo-huo-huo' laugh.

"Is that so..."

After hearing the Minotaur's words, Shen Ba stared at Chu Xuan with a deep gaze and chuckled. "Kid, your luck really is good enough for you to take such a big advantage."

Chu Xuan gave the other party a faint glance and put away the greed tank.

At this moment, without the gravity pressure on the Mountain Road, the effect of the high-grade life essence had diminished significantly.

The bonus to health points was now negligible.

However, after this journey, Chu Xuan's total health points had now reached 5,300.

Such a health pool was terrifying for an ordinary level 10 Transcendent.

"What kind of wine were you just drinking? I'm very interested."

Shen Ba licked his lips, an evil smile appearing on his face. "I'm willing to offer a price to buy it. 100 spirituality value for 1 jin. What do you think?"

Chu Xuan also smiled. "You're really generous. Why don't I just give you some?"

"Very well, then it's a deal. I want 1,000 jin. You'd better not go back on your word!" Shen Ba leaned his face closer:

"The agreement must be fulfilled when the Combat Ban ends, otherwise I'm not sure what will happen next."

"I want 1,000 jin too." Long Shan walked over with one hand in his pocket. He slicked back his hair and stood in front of Chu Xuan, grinning:

"The deadline is also before the end of the Combat Ban. If you don't give enough, I'll make your life a living hell."

At this moment, both Shen Ba and Long Shan had their eyes on Chu Xuan.

Everyone in the area had different expressions.

Chu Xuan calmly met their gazes. "Then it's settled. When the Combat Ban ends, don't go running off. Let's see which of you has the ability."

Long Shan and Shen Ba both smiled grimly.

"The first stage, the Mountain Road, is over!"

The Minotaur opened his arms and shouted loudly: "The next stage, Mysterious Ancient Castle!"

"Everyone, please make good use of the points in your hands to purchase appropriate abilities and allocate them."

"This second stage is the beginning of the Symphony of Death!"

The Minotaur let out a strange 'huo-huo' laugh and led everyone inside one by one.

When the last person stepped inside, the castle gate slammed shut with a heavy thud.

Immediately afterward, a burst of melodious music played, echoing in everyone's ears.

And amidst this melodious music, outside the castle, the darkness gradually encroached, pervasive and all-consuming.

(Today's 4,000 words are published in one chapter)