364: Chapter 364 Let Us Row Our Boats

After giving his two pig-like teammates a piece of his mind via Sound Transmission, the Fifth Elder straightened his lapels and began to exert pressure once more.

He was not someone who sought out conflict for no reason.

After all, as a wandering Grandmaster of the unorthodox paths, he usually avoided such baseless provocations that could invite disaster.

But there was no choice; some things simply had to be done.

"Old Loach, didn't those old fogies of your family say they weren't interested in the things in this Secret Realm and would never return?"

"What happened? Did those old fogies return to nature?"

"Breaking the rules so eagerly and coming here with such a grand display—aren't you afraid those old fogies will visit your dreams to claim your life?"

The middle-aged man of the Dragon Clan took a deep breath to calm his emotions.

He understood what the other party was trying to do; it was nothing more than creating conflict and applying pressure without actually wanting to fight.

He was attempting to use this method to force him into a retreat or a response.

If this continued, he would either be squeezed out or forced to take action.

In either case, this Secret Realm would have nothing to do with them anymore.

But they had to come to this Secret Realm because it involved their future plans. This was a rare, major joint operation between the Four Dragon Tribes since the Yao Sovereign incident; he couldn't let things fall apart on his watch.

He never doubted whether he would be squeezed out or forced to act.

Because he knew that no matter how indifferent or composed he remained, there would always be a moment he couldn't hold out against a Cultivator who reached Void Refining through unorthodox paths.

And against such a trickster, the best method was to use sufficiently hard-line tactics and strength to make the opponent wary as well.

Even if it escalated the conflict or exposed part of their plan, this was one of the scenarios they had anticipated.

Though it wasn't the best option, since they had encountered this dog of a man, Lan Ruoyun, they could only choose the lesser path.

"Enough, True Lord of Law-Stealing and Life-Theft, stop these pointless probes."

"My actions are fully authorized by the Old Ancestor. We will not back down from this Secret Realm—not this time, and not in the future."

"This is a natural Secret Realm, a treasure bestowed by the heavens. Anyone can come and anyone can go; this is common knowledge."

"Whether we want to come or not, what business is it of yours? Are you trying to establish a monopoly again?"

Hearing this, the Fifth Elder's lip twitched.

"That's quite a heavy accusation you're pinning on me. Can I interpret this as you provoking our Qingxu Grotto-Heaven?"

As he spoke, the Fifth Elder tore open the space beside him and pulled out a rectangular box.

The moment they saw this box, everyone present except for the middle-aged Dragon man subconsciously felt their pupils tremble.

Seeing this, the middle-aged Dragon man also lowered his crossed arms.

"As expected."

"It's always like this—monopolies and deterrence. You Human Race are forever repeating the cycles of history."

Holding the long case in his arms, the Fifth Elder's confidence grew. Ignoring everything else, he pointed arrogantly at the middle-aged Dragon man, acting just as rampantly as Ao Ye had when pointing at the human Prodigies.

"So much chatter. Do you actually dare to clash?"

"Acting like you're so high and mighty. We haven't seen you out for eight hundred years, and now you pull this stunt? It's like a weasel giving New Year's greetings to a chicken—you've got no good intentions!"

"If it weren't for the fact that you haven't caused any trouble lately, I'd draw out the heavenly balance right now, pin you to the ground and whip you a few times, then take you back for interrogation."

"I'd let you taste the weight of our Qingxu culture."

Despite his words, the Fifth Elder was actually gambling, betting that the opponent would back down voluntarily. To this end, he also began to use the Power of Law for erosion.

Calculating the time, the erosion effect should be about to burst forth, forcing the opponent to reveal some of their true colors.

By then, the outcome of this dialogue would surely be known.

Just as the Fifth Elder was thinking the opponent might fly into a rage or endure and retreat, the middle-aged Dragon man did something that caught everyone off guard.

He also tore open space and took out a circular box from within.

The entire field fell into silence.

Taking out such a thing at this time—without even thinking, everyone knew what was inside.

Unlike the surprise when the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven side brought out the heavenly balance, the field was now permeated by a silent deadness and a faint sense of dread.

In the logic of great experts, things like the heavenly balance served only two purposes.

One was to efficiently clear away unnecessary small troubles. The other was to take it out for a stroll to deter small-timers and show the opponent their stance.

But 'heavenly balances never meet' was considered an unwritten rule in the cultivation world.

In this era, with the Mahayana not appearing, the heavenly balance was the most powerful force.

When two heavenly balances faced off, a minor matter could instantly escalate into a major event concerning the entire world.

This was no different from two Mahayana experts using their ultimate moves as soon as they met. If even the slightest friction occurred, the 'fun' would be immense.

It could be understood as two great nations testing each other: one jokes that they'll nuke the other if they come closer, while the other calmly opens a case and pulls out a button.

And so, the game began.

The Fifth Elder held the long case, and the middle-aged Dragon man held the circular box. Both sides were in a standoff, neither daring to move even an inch.

The people behind both sides, as well as the three from the third-party force, also didn't dare to move, concentrating all their energy on the heavenly balances in the hands of the two parties.

Even though the heavenly balances were right there and exceptionally stable, the tension in the air was terrifyingly thick.

In an instant, silence returned to the field and persisted.

"Let us row our oars~, the little boat pushes aside the waves~."

Inside this giant maze, if anyone looked up at this moment, they might be lucky enough to see two stacked dragon boats floating in the sky, and hear a beautiful song helping to soothe the mood.

Though, upon seeing this scene, they likely wouldn't be calmed by the song; instead, their scalps would probably go numb.

Just moments ago, Zhou Yan had stood on the wall, using a dragon boat placed across his stomach as support. He then used a basic attack with true damage to turn the dragon boat from an entity into a monster template, and finally used the next dragon boat to pick up this monster template, lifting it once more.

As expected, the monster dragon boat passed through the barrier and reached the top of the maze, and Zhou Yan immediately clicked to mount it.

At this point, the dragon boat was just falling, but because Zhou Yan was riding it and the dragon boat above was just stuck, he could roam atop the barrier.

According to Zhou Yan's calculations, this barrier was only about thirty centimeters thick, and the dragon boat below was just beneath the barrier.

Zhou Yan could return below the barrier to gather resources by adjusting his seating position.

So now, with full map vision, extreme speed, and an old player's item guide, Zhou Yan began an operation called "Gold Miner."

Zhou Yan pulled out yuanwu xielü and placed it on the boat as well.

Under his subsequent control, he adjusted its seat to be on the boat below.

This way, Zhou Yan was just above the barrier, observing the full map and making adjustments easily.

yuanwu xielü was just below the barrier, ready to descend at any time to answer questions or fight monsters for resources.

It could even use its extra-long branch extensions to wait for a Prodigy below to finish a task, then directly snatch their reward and sail away.

Consequently, a double-decker dragon boat began to weave through the great maze. Whenever there was a puzzle or a treasure guarded by monsters below, a branch-covered hunk would descend from the sky.

This also happened among the groups of Yao and human Prodigies.

They often exhausted their wits and strength to complete task after task, but whenever a reward appeared, a headless branch-man would sweep up all the rewards at extreme speed and then board a bizarre boat to quickly escape.

They couldn't fly or climb, so they could only watch silently as the other party sailed away rapidly.

It wasn't that no human or Yao among them thought of attacking that boat.

But Zhou Yan wasn't stupid. After his boat was hit once and lost quite a bit of health, he cleverly used the extensibility of yuanwu xielü to wrap the boat up.

This way, except for some minor damage from the shockwaves, most attacks were blocked by the indestructible yuanwu xielü on the outside.

As long as he wasn't killed instantly, Zhou Yan had plenty of ways to heal the boat.

Moreover, those strange abilities or Magic Treasures mostly required casting time.

The fact that they had time to throw out a couple of basic attacks when their rewards were stolen was already lucky; they wanted to use ultimate moves?

That was completely out of the question.

In this manner, Zhou Yan made a fortune.

While they were playing a maze adventure, Zhou Yan was playing 'Speed and Passion' and 'Gold Miner.'

It wasn't until Zhou Yan discovered the item he needed most that he stopped, narrowing his eyes as he looked down at several Yao passing a trial, as well as a familiar fellow.

He first scanned the surroundings, and after confirming that no humans or Yao were coming this way, he rubbed his hands together.

"I'll have to do this one personally!"

"You juniors won't be able to handle this Opportunity!"

Then Zhou Yan pointed his finger, directly swapping the dragon boat's position to come below the barrier.

He descended from the sky, shouting loudly.

"Junior, put down that Opportunity!"