391: Chapter 391 Something's not right! Something's very wrong!

"No, use your brains, you two! How could a hole that small possibly wash me down!"

"This intensity is wrong, very wrong!"

Watching himself about to go offline, Zhou Yan was out of options; this was completely targeted at him.

The icy water swept over his body. Although it couldn't kill him, with the cold water's impact plus the subsequent spinning, he likely wouldn't survive.

Life really is full of surprises. He had such a smooth journey coming here, only to stumble in a place like this.

Zhou Yan had thought this was his Opportunity. Even though he kept reminding himself that his luck wasn't that good, he still held onto a glimmer of hope, thinking some Great Power was plotting for him.

Now it seemed he had just been wallowing in self-pity.

"O vast Heavens, why have you treated me so poorly?"

Just as Zhou Yan finished his last words, he felt his body begin to spin. At that moment, he suddenly discovered that health bars appeared above the heads of the blonde guy and the girl.

"Oh!"

Zhou Yan instantly perked up and tried to open the panel as fast as possible.

"As expected, it's still there!"

Ignoring everything else, he immediately released the Room Sun Rabbit. The rabbit scooped him up, knocked the two aside, and finally crashed out through the window.

Witnessing this bizarre scene, the two were scared witless.

"Ah! What was that! A r-r-rabbit... Has a rabbit become a spirit?"

The blonde guy's face was full of terror, unable to believe his eyes.

Gate of Sickness.

Xuanyuan Qingyao walked out of the last medical clinic in this town.

"As expected, it's either an incurable disease or requires a massive amount of money."

"It should indeed be an incurable disease. As for those asking for money, they probably just want to swindle some cash at the end and hang onto my life for a few more days."

Xuanyuan Qingyao looked at her relatively healthy-looking palm.

"With this appearance, I should still be able to pull off a scam, right?"

Zhou Yan had said her task was to survive, and to live as well as possible.

After checking during this period, without treatment, she should be able to live for about half a month. If treated, it could be extended by a few days; the more treatments, the longer she'd live.

It seemed to be a rather torturous chronic illness.

The current condition of Xuanyuan Qingyao's body was still alright. From the outside, she looked like a slightly sub-healthy young man.

And although the internal state was a mess, she could at least still run and jump.

However, her entire net worth was only enough for one dose of medicine, and she was isolated and without help. She couldn't save herself through others' assistance, and after taking the medicine, she would starve to death due to lack of money.

But Xuanyuan Qingyao was not flustered. She swaggered into various banks and gang-run loan shark dens.

Gate of Death.

Shi Suiyan had just opened her eyes when she found herself in the middle of a battlefield. Before her was a battered and broken saber. Feeling her body, she was wearing only a layer of cloth, without even a bit of leather armor.

"Kill!"

A man suddenly tumbled down from the trench. With a face of madness, he brandished a long saber and slashed toward Shi Suiyan.

At this moment, Shi Suiyan's mind was still a bit muddled. She simply threw the saber on the ground, using the rebound force to plunge it into the opponent's neck.

As the opponent fell, Shi Suiyan conveniently took his relatively sharp saber.

"This is a battlefield, so how am I supposed to die?"

Shi Suiyan recalled Zhou Yan's words. If it were just a simple death, she wouldn't have appeared on a battlefield; it was too easy to die here.

Even killing just one enemy meant it wasn't a loss. Counting the one she just dealt with, it seemed fine to die now, but it definitely wasn't that simple.

Shi Suiyan stood up holding the saber in one hand and felt her body—it was a frail female soldier.

"There are even female soldiers on the battlefield, and so frail at that. It seems the war has reached a certain level of intensity. But if it's only melee combat, it shouldn't have reached this point?"

Shi Suiyan muttered to herself while looking at her hands. Just then, an explosion erupted beside her. Her ears instantly rang, and she fell to the ground, her vision blurring.

"Mere Mortals, how dare you overstep!"

She vaguely saw a huge crater nearby and heard an ethereal voice tinged with anger. Now she knew why it had turned out like this.

"I didn't expect it, everyone's arrived so fully this time."

Above the frozen lake, a solitary boat sailed quietly. At the bow sat a person wearing a straw raincoat.

Holding a fishing rod, he looked at two water mirrors that had abruptly appeared in the air beside him.

Inside the water mirrors was endless darkness, with only a withered tree quietly emitting light.

"What, is there someone you know here?"

A large face suddenly appeared in the originally dark space; it was the Bodhi Tree Spirit from before.

This move gave the man a start, causing the fishing rod in his hand to wobble.

"Strange, strange. Usually, don't you have that form with zero aesthetic sense, no better than a mannequin for changing clothes?"

"Why have you revealed your true form now?"

These words seemed to strike a chord with the little loli Tree Spirit. Her already sour face turned even sourer, her brows furrowed enough to crush a giant ant in front of a palace.

"Damn it, just talking about it makes me angry!"

"Hey, hey, stop right there."

"You've already violated the precept of anger the moment you spoke. I don't want to hear the rest of what you have to say; it'll probably be full of your personal bias and exaggerations."

"I—!"

The Bodhi Tree Spirit was about to retort when the man interrupted her ahead of time.

"Don't say another word, or I'll cut off your call."

"Tsk."

The Bodhi Tree Spirit was still somewhat angry but ultimately endured it.

"Are you about to kick the bucket, you old monk? Since your acquaintances are here this time, are you prepared to hand the thing over?"

The Tree Spirit finally chose to change the subject.

After all, she thought about how she had honestly followed the rules, only for someone who didn't follow the rules to come and perform a clean sweep on her. She had killed him in anger, yet the guy hadn't been eliminated.

This feeling of having an admin account stolen and being unable to kick the person out would make anyone angry, let alone her, a mere ordinary Tree Spirit.

The man didn't follow the Tree Spirit's lead but said somewhat strangely.

"The test for that young man, did you adjust it?"

The Tree Spirit was choked up for a moment and said awkwardly.

"You... he's not among the people you know either, is he?"

Seeing the man about to turn his face, she hurriedly explained.

"You can't blame me, you can't blame me! If you don't believe me, go check the records. I only just realized this guy is incredibly bizarre!"

"Clearly, for those who leave, except for a few, their memories are deleted. Even if they remember, they can't easily tell others, let alone someone with such a low cultivation level."

"But that guy is like he's using a cheat; he took everything he could and picked my bodhi fruits so clean. Once he reaches the end, isn't it practically guaranteed he'll win?"

"And haven't you looked at what this guy did in the Gate of Life? What kind of thing was that rabbit that just flew out like that? Which part of this is normal?"

"Your time is clearly running out. Shouldn't you save the chance for the people you know?"

The man seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he opened his mouth and swallowed his words. He just set the fishing rod aside and turned his face to enlighten her.

When that face turned around, one could see half of it covered in decay, while the other half was shrouded in Buddhist light.

"They are people I am familiar with, so I understand their depths better. Thus, to me, they are more worthy of trust."

"However, my intention was never to form a clique. Him being able to reach this step is his destiny. Never mind him releasing a rabbit in the Gate of Life; even if he leaped out of the Gate of Life, so what?"

"That is also his skill, and it is the purpose for which I established the Four Gates."

"In the end, you are still attached to appearances."

Seeing the man's face, the Tree Spirit couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy. Ultimately, she withdrew her control over the Gate of Life.

"Of the residual consciousness in the Eastern Extreme Secret Realm, only you and I remain. I will eventually dissipate, and you will be the final watcher."

"A pity this consciousness does not have the power of universal salvation. So even I cannot help you quickly anymore."

Hearing this, the Tree Spirit seemed to realize something. She looked up again, her eyes filled with astonishment.

"What are you going to do? Don't you still have time?"

The man just turned his head and looked toward the center of the lake again.

"This is not my end after all. My final trump card has always remained there. I don't know what's going on; clearly so much time has passed, yet it has only been triggered once."

"Since an old friend has returned, if I don't give him a little guidance and have him run some errands for me, it would be too much of a waste of his abilities."

"I suspect the methods this fellow left behind have tormented me quite a bit as well."

The Tree Spirit wanted to say more, but the water mirror had already shattered. She could only stomp her feet in the void space to vent her anger.

On the frozen lake, the man also took off his bamboo hat and placed it quietly beside him.

Under the warm winter sun, a bald head shone brightly.

"Sigh, quite a few old friends have come, but unfortunately they're too fragmented. But since you're the only complete one, don't blame me."

He was laughing to himself when he suddenly felt something and looked into the lake again.

"They're all moving quite fast. It seems the result isn't far off."