Chapter 354: 354
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When Silver Holy Maiden Qin Shuang saw Ji Yuan, she immediately said. "Master Ji Yuan, please follow me to a somewhere quiet place."
Ji Yuan nodded as he quickly followed her.
Her footsteps were extremely light and she seemed to be evading the cultivators that were on patrol on purpose.
Along the way, Ji Yuan saw that it was the cultivators from the rear team that was on patrol; they had been assigned by Gong Xiaotian to patrol the perimeter of their camps.
Ximen Wudi was overheard grumbling to the cultivators that were with him, "Who does this Gong Xiaotian thinks he is? How dares he order us around."
A cultivator was also heard humming coldly, "He is indeed too overbearing to us!"
Another cultivator said, "Actually there is nothing wrong with his strategies…"
"You're in our team now so everything is wrong with his strategies." Ximen Wudi said coldly. "It is either you are for us or against us."
All of a sudden Ximen Wudi had caught hold of a female cultivator by her waist, "My little beauty, shall we go elsewhere for a little enjoyment?..."
The female cultivator did not struggle but merely nodded and Ximen Wudi had lifted her from the ground into his strong arms.
Ji Yuan: …
This Ximen Wudi is really a badass cultivator…
Ji Yuan did not stay for too long to eavesdrop upon Ximen Wudi and his group because Qin Shuang had moved quietly into the dense forest canopy.
So he quickly followed her.
All of a sudden he had an uneasy thought as they had moved quite far already from the main camp.
He began to rub his chin to ponder; is she taking me to a quiet place to violate me?
Xiang Li was also thinking of the same thing as well, "Big Brother, she is taking you to a quiet place to bang you?"
Ji Yuan answered her with a deep frown, "Xiang Li, what is wrong with you. There is nothing but dirty thoughts in your mind."
Fairy Anyang giggled, "I'm betting that our Lord and Big Brother here is also thinking of the same thing."
Ji Yuan: …
How come she is able to read my mind?
She is dangerous…
Fairy Anyang asked Ji Yuan, "Are you thinking of something funny right now?"
"Haha, of course not." Ji Yuan answered sheepishly.
Ji Yuan and Qin Shuang continued to trend lightly as they moved further and further away from the main camp.
Qin Shuang was leaping from tree to tree and she was purposely avoiding all the paths.
Ji Yuan grew more and more suspicious at every passing moment. But still, he continued to follow her as he looked at her butt…
Along the way, Ji Yuan was quite startled to find that there was a lot of hanky-panky that were going on in the darkness.
There were many couples in the darkness of the perimeter of the camp...
He even saw Gong Xiaotian with a female cultivator and he had his pants down. And this female cultivator was even from his Team 10...
Ji Yuan had realized that these cultivators were exchanging their bodies to cement some sort of an alliance.
But why is she showing me all these?
Xiang Li giggled, "Is she hinting you something?"
Ji Yuan frowned, "She is trying to show me something…"
Better not tell Xiang Li lest she is corrupted by all these hanky-panky that were going-on.
All of a sudden Qin Shuang had stopped in her tracks on top of a tall tree as she whispered very softly. "Did you see all that?"
Ji Yuan nodded lightly, "But what is the point of showing me all these? They are free to make alliances."
Qin Shuang quietly said as she looked at Ji Yuan with a nervous look, "This is not my first time in this trial."
Ji Yuan smiled, "Oh? Isn't that good? Then you can be our guide then."
Qin Shuang looked even more nervous, "There are some cultivators who are also not the first time but they are pretending to be a first timer."
Ji Yuan furrowed his brows, "Why would they do that for?"
"Like that Maiden Yun Chi too." Qin Shuang slowly said. "I've seen her before."
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan frowned; the mystery seems to deepen…
Then why did she want to pretend to be a first timer?
No wait, she has never claimed to be a first timer in the first place…
He was suddenly unhappy that she may be a secret lover of another cultivator; Darn, she didn't give me her first time here...
"Gong Xiaotian is not telling you or the other first timers the whole truth as well." Qin Shuang quietly continued.
Ji Yuan: ???
Qin Shuang explained, "When you reach the site of the stone page, there will be a black stele to instruct you on how to obtain the Fallen God Relic. He has conveniently missed that out and so did the others. Out of fear from them, I did not dare to tell you earlier."
Ji Yuan frowned, "Don't tell me that they have conspired to get me? I've thought that this Gong Xiaotian is a nice man. But why didn't they tell me everything? And what is this about?"
Qin Shuang answered weakly, "There are two things that they didn't tell you is that one of your Escape Talismans will be consumed. If you don't have any Escape Talisman, you cannot retrieve the Fallen God Relic even if you have the number 404. This is the hidden rule."
Ji Yuan: …
Then it means that he would be the only one who would be using up his Escape Talisman? For the greater good of the faction?
But it doesn't seem like a big deal…
"This may seem like a minor loss to you if you have three Escape Talismans to spare." Qin Shuang explained weakly. "But you have to remember that we've to complete the trials here three times in order to obtain the full Fallen God Relic."
Ji Yuan nodded slowly, "Yeah I know…"
"If the cultivators cannot obtain the number 404, all the other cultivators that add up to 404 will need to use up their Escape Talisman in order for everyone else to complete this trial." Qin Shuang quietly said.
"Um that is why they are protecting me, right?" Ji Yuan said weakly.
"On paper, this doesn't sound wrong." Qin Shuang said solemnly. "But we're all proven wrong. Because this is an S Rank Trial and is not an easy trial to complete."
"Explain." Ji Yuan asked weakly.
"There are other factions too and they will all try to kill the number 404 of the opposing factions." Qin Shuang explained slowly. "The old birds here have all realized that and hence they have evolved the strategies to protect the number 404."
Ji Yuan nodded, "This makes sense."
Qin Shuang continued. "But when the number 404 is killed, the rest of the factions will need to sacrifice their numbers and their Escape Talismans…"
"And the leaders shall pick the unlucky cultivators for it." Ji Yuan smiled bitterly. He had finally got it.
He added, "And in order not to be picked by the leaders, many of the cultivators are sacrificing their bodies in order to be gratified by the leaders."
Qin Shuang was flushing lightly when Ji Yuan had said so in such a blunt manner.
She quickly said, "Gong Xiaotian is actually not working alone. At least forty cultivators are in his core team. They go everywhere where he goes."
Ji Yuan rolled his eyes…
But he was soon smiling, "Well, there is nothing to worry about. I am the number 404 and as long as I'm alive until the very last, only my Escape Talisman will be used up. It is better for me to sacrifice than the others."
"Then you will owe Gong Xiaotian a big favor because he has protected you for this time. In the next time, you will be expected to use your number as a favor back should the next number 404 dies." Qin Shuang explained.
Ji Yuan muttered weakly, "It sounds fair…"
"It sounds fair," Qin Shuang interrupted. "Except that he is using the good man card against you. After using up one of your Escape Talismans, are you still confident of overcoming this trial? You've seen how dangerous the trial is. But of course, you can still use the Escape Talisman to exit the trial completely as a last resort."
Ji Yuan frowned; he can't use the Escape Talisman because he was quite worried that the Death God Mingwang had setup a sword array outside that would trigger when he had appeared outside.
Once the sword array has been triggered, he may be caught between a clone of the Death God Mingwang and his true self at the same time, since the Death God Mingwang can sense that his sword array is being triggered and he can use the Escape Talisman instantly appear outside the trial to corner him.
He doesn't want to fight the Death God Mingwang until he was sure of winning or unless he had no other choices.
He can be a real turtle if there is a need and he intended to be a turtle this time.
Qin Shuang quietly urged him, "I will advise Master Ji Yuan to give up this trial or just spend your time in the Red Mansion. It is because this trial is quite impossible to complete."
Ji Yuan said firmly, "Thanks for sharing this with me but I won't give up on this trial."
Qin Shuang slowly nodded and her petite face looked a little sad as she said. "The second thing that you have to know is that the faction that kills the other faction's Number 404 will be able to obtain 1 Escape Talisman for the entire faction..."
Ji Yuan was startled; don't tell me that I'm in danger from the other cultivators as well?!
"Also, you may not know this. Gong Xiaotian, Ximen Wudi and many of the cultivators in our faction are actually working in conspiracy with the others from the other factions against our own."
"Also in the last round, Ximen Wudi is actually the leader of the faction while Gong Xiaotian is the rear leader. They're actually working together and pretending to be at odds so that they can secretly work with each other."
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
He muttered weakly, "This sounds a little complex. Why do these cultivators love to play politics so much?"
Qin Shuang weakly said, "It is either you join them or you will be their cannon fodder."
Ji Yuan muttered in realization, "I see their plans now. They want to kill all the Number 404 for one another and then uses the innocent first timers' numbers to obtain the Fallen God Relic. In this way, they can obtain an extra Escape Talisman and the Fallen God Relic at the same time."
He began to frown; Gong Xiaotian is just pretending to be nice to him so that he can gain his trust first before backstabbing him on the back later, depending if he has the opportunities later. No matter what his plans actually are, he would never suspect him...
Ji Yuan asked curiously, "Why are you telling all this?"
"That is because she likes you." Xiang Li giggled.
Ji Yuan: …
"Aren't you supposed to be gone for the night?" Ji Yuan muttered to Xiang Li in his soul sea before he quickly returned his attention to Qin Shuang.
"The reason why I'm telling you all these are because I am hoping to make amend for my past acts against you." Qin Shuang slowly said.
Ji Yuan nodded but he could not resist asking her, "And how did you know so much?"
Qin Shuang averted her beautiful golden eyes, "You've forgotten that I am the Punishment Elder. I have to be observant enough in order extract the useful information to be used in their trials."
Ji Yuan kept his mouth shut and he resisted the urge to chuckle in this situation; it was because he had fooled her previously so she was actually not as observant as she had thought.
"Thank you for telling me all these." Ji Yuan grinned. "I was never upset with you. Go in peace."
He had suddenly seen her in a new light and she was very attractive in his eyes.
Qin Shuang is actually a really attractive maiden. The Celestial Orthodox Sect actually have numerous great beauties and he had heard that one of the criteria for promotion within the Celestial Orthodox Sect is beauty itself.
"Really?" Qin Shuang gasped softly, "You will really forgive me?"
"I really mean it. I can swear by my soul sea." Ji Yuan said firmly.
"I believe you…" Qin Shuang said with trembling lips. "But Sacred Maiden Xue may not forgive me. I've almost killed you…"
Ji Yuan interrupted with a soft laugh, "Qianxue isn't that petty, I know her very well."
Then he started to rub his chin as he muttered silently; or maybe not.
He had suddenly remembered that she had placed a dead and alive bounty on him for a hundred years, renewing the bounty to new heights every year...
All of a sudden he said solemnly to Qin Shuang, "You can go now. I need to do something else first."
Qin Shuang was startled by his sudden solemnness but she quickly returned a quick nod before disappearing into the darkness.
The reason why Ji Yuan had suddenly asked Qin Shuang to leave was because he had sniffed blood scent in the air.
His nose was extremely sharp.
He quickly slipped into the darkness and before long, he had quietly appeared in the another location.
He had spotted Yun Chi and all around her were dead bodies of at least a dozen cultivators.
From their armlets, it seemed that they had belonged to the White Faction and were probably planning a raid on the Green Faction.
Ji Yuan had turned ashen;
It was because Yun Chi had dismembered all these cultivators to pieces in the most ruthless way while maintaining her pleasant smiles.
She did not have any weapons in her hands to do her ruthless killing because Ji Yuan saw that she had a pair of white wings on her back and it was dripping with blood.
The wings that were attached on her bare beautiful back was not formed by any profound animus but were real wings that looked like sharpened blades.
Ji Yuan had to blink his eyes to check if he was really seeing things, checking if it is some sort of a profound treasure…
This Yun Chi isn't human?!
"Who is that!" Yun Chi had suddenly turned around and her white sharpened wings appeared to withdrawn into her bare back in a blink of an eye.
And her golden eyes had suddenly turned murderous.
Ji Yuan had not expected that she would be able to sense him because he was merely blinking his eyes…
Ji Yuan laughed weakly as he stepped out of the shadows. "Haha. If I tell you that I didn't see anything, will you believe me?"
Yun Chi seemed to have lost the pleasant smiles that were on her countenance earlier and she was now looking at Ji Yuan coldly, "I don't believe."
Ji Yuan still had one more trump card to use.
He laughed weakly, "I'm Number 404."
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When Silver Holy Maiden Qin Shuang saw Ji Yuan, she immediately said. "Master Ji Yuan, please follow me to a somewhere quiet place."
Ji Yuan nodded as he quickly followed her.
Her footsteps were extremely light and she seemed to be evading the cultivators that were on patrol on purpose.
Along the way, Ji Yuan saw that it was the cultivators from the rear team that was on patrol; they had been assigned by Gong Xiaotian to patrol the perimeter of their camps.
Ximen Wudi was overheard grumbling to the cultivators that were with him, "Who does this Gong Xiaotian thinks he is? How dares he order us around."
A cultivator was also heard humming coldly, "He is indeed too overbearing to us!"
Another cultivator said, "Actually there is nothing wrong with his strategies…"
"You're in our team now so everything is wrong with his strategies." Ximen Wudi said coldly. "It is either you are for us or against us."
All of a sudden Ximen Wudi had caught hold of a female cultivator by her waist, "My little beauty, shall we go elsewhere for a little enjoyment?..."
The female cultivator did not struggle but merely nodded and Ximen Wudi had lifted her from the ground into his strong arms.
Ji Yuan: …
This Ximen Wudi is really a badass cultivator…
Ji Yuan did not stay for too long to eavesdrop upon Ximen Wudi and his group because Qin Shuang had moved quietly into the dense forest canopy.
So he quickly followed her.
All of a sudden he had an uneasy thought as they had moved quite far already from the main camp.
He began to rub his chin to ponder; is she taking me to a quiet place to violate me?
Xiang Li was also thinking of the same thing as well, "Big Brother, she is taking you to a quiet place to bang you?"
Ji Yuan answered her with a deep frown, "Xiang Li, what is wrong with you. There is nothing but dirty thoughts in your mind."
Fairy Anyang giggled, "I'm betting that our Lord and Big Brother here is also thinking of the same thing."
Ji Yuan: …
How come she is able to read my mind?
She is dangerous…
Fairy Anyang asked Ji Yuan, "Are you thinking of something funny right now?"
"Haha, of course not." Ji Yuan answered sheepishly.
Ji Yuan and Qin Shuang continued to trend lightly as they moved further and further away from the main camp.
Qin Shuang was leaping from tree to tree and she was purposely avoiding all the paths.
Ji Yuan grew more and more suspicious at every passing moment. But still, he continued to follow her as he looked at her butt…
Along the way, Ji Yuan was quite startled to find that there was a lot of hanky-panky that were going on in the darkness.
There were many couples in the darkness of the perimeter of the camp...
He even saw Gong Xiaotian with a female cultivator and he had his pants down. And this female cultivator was even from his Team 10...
Ji Yuan had realized that these cultivators were exchanging their bodies to cement some sort of an alliance.
But why is she showing me all these?
Xiang Li giggled, "Is she hinting you something?"
Ji Yuan frowned, "She is trying to show me something…"
Better not tell Xiang Li lest she is corrupted by all these hanky-panky that were going-on.
All of a sudden Qin Shuang had stopped in her tracks on top of a tall tree as she whispered very softly. "Did you see all that?"
Ji Yuan nodded lightly, "But what is the point of showing me all these? They are free to make alliances."
Qin Shuang quietly said as she looked at Ji Yuan with a nervous look, "This is not my first time in this trial."
Ji Yuan smiled, "Oh? Isn't that good? Then you can be our guide then."
Qin Shuang looked even more nervous, "There are some cultivators who are also not the first time but they are pretending to be a first timer."
Ji Yuan furrowed his brows, "Why would they do that for?"
"Like that Maiden Yun Chi too." Qin Shuang slowly said. "I've seen her before."
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan frowned; the mystery seems to deepen…
Then why did she want to pretend to be a first timer?
No wait, she has never claimed to be a first timer in the first place…
He was suddenly unhappy that she may be a secret lover of another cultivator; Darn, she didn't give me her first time here...
"Gong Xiaotian is not telling you or the other first timers the whole truth as well." Qin Shuang quietly continued.
Ji Yuan: ???
Qin Shuang explained, "When you reach the site of the stone page, there will be a black stele to instruct you on how to obtain the Fallen God Relic. He has conveniently missed that out and so did the others. Out of fear from them, I did not dare to tell you earlier."
Ji Yuan frowned, "Don't tell me that they have conspired to get me? I've thought that this Gong Xiaotian is a nice man. But why didn't they tell me everything? And what is this about?"
Qin Shuang answered weakly, "There are two things that they didn't tell you is that one of your Escape Talismans will be consumed. If you don't have any Escape Talisman, you cannot retrieve the Fallen God Relic even if you have the number 404. This is the hidden rule."
Ji Yuan: …
Then it means that he would be the only one who would be using up his Escape Talisman? For the greater good of the faction?
But it doesn't seem like a big deal…
"This may seem like a minor loss to you if you have three Escape Talismans to spare." Qin Shuang explained weakly. "But you have to remember that we've to complete the trials here three times in order to obtain the full Fallen God Relic."
Ji Yuan nodded slowly, "Yeah I know…"
"If the cultivators cannot obtain the number 404, all the other cultivators that add up to 404 will need to use up their Escape Talisman in order for everyone else to complete this trial." Qin Shuang quietly said.
"Um that is why they are protecting me, right?" Ji Yuan said weakly.
"On paper, this doesn't sound wrong." Qin Shuang said solemnly. "But we're all proven wrong. Because this is an S Rank Trial and is not an easy trial to complete."
"Explain." Ji Yuan asked weakly.
"There are other factions too and they will all try to kill the number 404 of the opposing factions." Qin Shuang explained slowly. "The old birds here have all realized that and hence they have evolved the strategies to protect the number 404."
Ji Yuan nodded, "This makes sense."
Qin Shuang continued. "But when the number 404 is killed, the rest of the factions will need to sacrifice their numbers and their Escape Talismans…"
"And the leaders shall pick the unlucky cultivators for it." Ji Yuan smiled bitterly. He had finally got it.
He added, "And in order not to be picked by the leaders, many of the cultivators are sacrificing their bodies in order to be gratified by the leaders."
Qin Shuang was flushing lightly when Ji Yuan had said so in such a blunt manner.
She quickly said, "Gong Xiaotian is actually not working alone. At least forty cultivators are in his core team. They go everywhere where he goes."
Ji Yuan rolled his eyes…
But he was soon smiling, "Well, there is nothing to worry about. I am the number 404 and as long as I'm alive until the very last, only my Escape Talisman will be used up. It is better for me to sacrifice than the others."
"Then you will owe Gong Xiaotian a big favor because he has protected you for this time. In the next time, you will be expected to use your number as a favor back should the next number 404 dies." Qin Shuang explained.
Ji Yuan muttered weakly, "It sounds fair…"
"It sounds fair," Qin Shuang interrupted. "Except that he is using the good man card against you. After using up one of your Escape Talismans, are you still confident of overcoming this trial? You've seen how dangerous the trial is. But of course, you can still use the Escape Talisman to exit the trial completely as a last resort."
Ji Yuan frowned; he can't use the Escape Talisman because he was quite worried that the Death God Mingwang had setup a sword array outside that would trigger when he had appeared outside.
Once the sword array has been triggered, he may be caught between a clone of the Death God Mingwang and his true self at the same time, since the Death God Mingwang can sense that his sword array is being triggered and he can use the Escape Talisman instantly appear outside the trial to corner him.
He doesn't want to fight the Death God Mingwang until he was sure of winning or unless he had no other choices.
He can be a real turtle if there is a need and he intended to be a turtle this time.
Qin Shuang quietly urged him, "I will advise Master Ji Yuan to give up this trial or just spend your time in the Red Mansion. It is because this trial is quite impossible to complete."
Ji Yuan said firmly, "Thanks for sharing this with me but I won't give up on this trial."
Qin Shuang slowly nodded and her petite face looked a little sad as she said. "The second thing that you have to know is that the faction that kills the other faction's Number 404 will be able to obtain 1 Escape Talisman for the entire faction..."
Ji Yuan was startled; don't tell me that I'm in danger from the other cultivators as well?!
"Also, you may not know this. Gong Xiaotian, Ximen Wudi and many of the cultivators in our faction are actually working in conspiracy with the others from the other factions against our own."
"Also in the last round, Ximen Wudi is actually the leader of the faction while Gong Xiaotian is the rear leader. They're actually working together and pretending to be at odds so that they can secretly work with each other."
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
Ji Yuan: …
He muttered weakly, "This sounds a little complex. Why do these cultivators love to play politics so much?"
Qin Shuang weakly said, "It is either you join them or you will be their cannon fodder."
Ji Yuan muttered in realization, "I see their plans now. They want to kill all the Number 404 for one another and then uses the innocent first timers' numbers to obtain the Fallen God Relic. In this way, they can obtain an extra Escape Talisman and the Fallen God Relic at the same time."
He began to frown; Gong Xiaotian is just pretending to be nice to him so that he can gain his trust first before backstabbing him on the back later, depending if he has the opportunities later. No matter what his plans actually are, he would never suspect him...
Ji Yuan asked curiously, "Why are you telling all this?"
"That is because she likes you." Xiang Li giggled.
Ji Yuan: …
"Aren't you supposed to be gone for the night?" Ji Yuan muttered to Xiang Li in his soul sea before he quickly returned his attention to Qin Shuang.
"The reason why I'm telling you all these are because I am hoping to make amend for my past acts against you." Qin Shuang slowly said.
Ji Yuan nodded but he could not resist asking her, "And how did you know so much?"
Qin Shuang averted her beautiful golden eyes, "You've forgotten that I am the Punishment Elder. I have to be observant enough in order extract the useful information to be used in their trials."
Ji Yuan kept his mouth shut and he resisted the urge to chuckle in this situation; it was because he had fooled her previously so she was actually not as observant as she had thought.
"Thank you for telling me all these." Ji Yuan grinned. "I was never upset with you. Go in peace."
He had suddenly seen her in a new light and she was very attractive in his eyes.
Qin Shuang is actually a really attractive maiden. The Celestial Orthodox Sect actually have numerous great beauties and he had heard that one of the criteria for promotion within the Celestial Orthodox Sect is beauty itself.
"Really?" Qin Shuang gasped softly, "You will really forgive me?"
"I really mean it. I can swear by my soul sea." Ji Yuan said firmly.
"I believe you…" Qin Shuang said with trembling lips. "But Sacred Maiden Xue may not forgive me. I've almost killed you…"
Ji Yuan interrupted with a soft laugh, "Qianxue isn't that petty, I know her very well."
Then he started to rub his chin as he muttered silently; or maybe not.
He had suddenly remembered that she had placed a dead and alive bounty on him for a hundred years, renewing the bounty to new heights every year...
All of a sudden he said solemnly to Qin Shuang, "You can go now. I need to do something else first."
Qin Shuang was startled by his sudden solemnness but she quickly returned a quick nod before disappearing into the darkness.
The reason why Ji Yuan had suddenly asked Qin Shuang to leave was because he had sniffed blood scent in the air.
His nose was extremely sharp.
He quickly slipped into the darkness and before long, he had quietly appeared in the another location.
He had spotted Yun Chi and all around her were dead bodies of at least a dozen cultivators.
From their armlets, it seemed that they had belonged to the White Faction and were probably planning a raid on the Green Faction.
Ji Yuan had turned ashen;
It was because Yun Chi had dismembered all these cultivators to pieces in the most ruthless way while maintaining her pleasant smiles.
She did not have any weapons in her hands to do her ruthless killing because Ji Yuan saw that she had a pair of white wings on her back and it was dripping with blood.
The wings that were attached on her bare beautiful back was not formed by any profound animus but were real wings that looked like sharpened blades.
Ji Yuan had to blink his eyes to check if he was really seeing things, checking if it is some sort of a profound treasure…
This Yun Chi isn't human?!
"Who is that!" Yun Chi had suddenly turned around and her white sharpened wings appeared to withdrawn into her bare back in a blink of an eye.
And her golden eyes had suddenly turned murderous.
Ji Yuan had not expected that she would be able to sense him because he was merely blinking his eyes…
Ji Yuan laughed weakly as he stepped out of the shadows. "Haha. If I tell you that I didn't see anything, will you believe me?"
Yun Chi seemed to have lost the pleasant smiles that were on her countenance earlier and she was now looking at Ji Yuan coldly, "I don't believe."
Ji Yuan still had one more trump card to use.
He laughed weakly, "I'm Number 404."
When Silver Holy Maiden Qin Shuang saw Ji Yuan, she immediately said. "Master Ji Yuan, please follow me to a somewhere quiet place."Ji Yuan nodded as he quickly followed her.Her footsteps were extremely light and she seemed to be evading the cultivators that were on patrol on purpose.Along the way, Ji Yuan saw that it was the cultivators from the rear team that was on patrol; they had been assigned by Gong Xiaotian to patrol the perimeter of their camps. Ximen Wudi was overheard grumbling to the cultivators that were with him, "Who does this Gong Xiaotian thinks he is? How dares he order us around."A cultivator was also heard humming coldly, "He is indeed too overbearing to us!"Another cultivator said, "Actually there is nothing wrong with his strategies""You're in our team now so everything is wrong with his strategies." Ximen Wudi said coldly. "It is either you are for us or against us."All of a sudden Ximen Wudi had caught hold of a female cultivator by her waist, "My little beauty, shall we go elsewhere for a little enjoyment?..."The female cultivator did not struggle but merely nodded and Ximen Wudi had lifted her from the ground into his strong arms. Ji Yuan: This Ximen Wudi is really a badass cultivatorJi Yuan did not stay for too long to eavesdrop upon Ximen Wudi and his group because Qin Shuang had moved quietly into the dense forest canopy. So he quickly followed her. All of a sudden he had an uneasy thought as they had moved quite far already from the main camp.He began to rub his chin to ponder; is she taking me to a quiet place to violate me?Xiang Li was also thinking of the same thing as well, "Big Brother, she is taking you to a quiet place to bang you?"Ji Yuan answered her with a deep frown, "Xiang Li, what is wrong with you. There is nothing but dirty thoughts in your mind."Fairy Anyang giggled, "I'm betting that our Lord and Big Brother here is also thinking of the same thing."Ji Yuan: How come she is able to read my mind?She is dangerousFairy Anyang asked Ji Yuan, "Are you thinking of something funny right now?""Haha, of course not." Ji Yuan answered sheepishly.Ji Yuan and Qin Shuang continued to trend lightly as they moved further and further away from the main camp.Qin Shuang was leaping from tree to tree and she was purposely avoiding all the paths.Ji Yuan grew more and more suspicious at every passing moment. But still, he continued to follow her as he looked at her buttAlong the way, Ji Yuan was quite startled to find that there was a lot of hanky-panky that were going on in the darkness.There were many couples in the darkness of the perimeter of the camp...He even saw Gong Xiaotian with a female cultivator and he had his pants down. And this female cultivator was even from his Team 10...Ji Yuan had realized that these cultivators were exchanging their bodies to cement some sort of an alliance. But why is she showing me all these?Xiang Li giggled, "Is she hinting you something?"Ji Yuan frowned, "She is trying to show me something"Better not tell Xiang Li lest she is corrupted by all these hanky-panky that were going-on. All of a sudden Qin Shuang had stopped in her tracks on top of a tall tree as she whispered very softly. "Did you see all that?"Ji Yuan nodded lightly, "But what is the point of showing me all these? They are free to make alliances."Qin Shuang quietly said as she looked at Ji Yuan with a nervous look, "This is not my first time in this trial."Ji Yuan smiled, "Oh? Isn't that good? Then you can be our guide then."Qin Shuang looked even more nervous, "There are some cultivators who are also not the first time but they are pretending to be a first timer."Ji Yuan furrowed his brows, "Why would they do that for?""Like that Maiden Yun Chi too." Qin Shuang slowly said. "I've seen her before."Ji Yuan: Ji Yuan: Ji Yuan: Ji Yuan frowned; the mystery seems to deepenThen why did she want to pretend to be a first timer?No wait, she has never claimed to be a first timer in the first placeHe was suddenly unhappy that she may be a secret lover of another cultivator; Darn, she didn't give me her first time here..."Gong Xiaotian is not telling you or the other first timers the whole truth as well." Qin Shuang quietly continued.Ji Yuan: ???Qin Shuang explained, "When you reach the site of the stone page, there will be a black stele to instruct you on how to obtain the Fallen God Relic. He has conveniently missed that out and so did the others. Out of fear from them, I did not dare to tell you earlier."Ji Yuan frowned, "Don't tell me that they have conspired to get me? I've thought that this Gong Xiaotian is a nice man. But why didn't they tell me everything? And what is this about?"Qin Shuang answered weakly, "There are two things that they didn't tell you is that one of your Escape Talismans will be consumed. If you don't have any Escape Talisman, you cannot retrieve the Fallen God Relic even if you have the number 404. This is the hidden rule."Ji Yuan: Then it means that he would be the only one who would be using up his Escape Talisman? For the greater good of the faction?But it doesn't seem like a big deal"This may seem like a minor loss to you if you have three Escape Talismans to spare." Qin Shuang explained weakly. "But you have to remember that we've to complete the trials here three times in order to obtain the full Fallen God Relic."Ji Yuan nodded slowly, "Yeah I know""If the cultivators cannot obtain the number 404, all the other cultivators that add up to 404 will need to use up their Escape Talisman in order for everyone else to complete this trial." Qin Shuang quietly said. "Um that is why they are protecting me, right?" Ji Yuan said weakly."On paper, this doesn't sound wrong." Qin Shuang said solemnly. "But we're all proven wrong. Because this is an S Rank Trial and is not an easy trial to complete.""Explain." Ji Yuan asked weakly."There are other factions too and they will all try to kill the number 404 of the opposing factions." Qin Shuang explained slowly. "The old birds here have all realized that and hence they have evolved the strategies to protect the number 404."Ji Yuan nodded, "This makes sense."Qin Shuang continued. "But when the number 404 is killed, the rest of the factions will need to sacrifice their numbers and their Escape Talismans""And the leaders shall pick the unlucky cultivators for it." Ji Yuan smiled bitterly. He had finally got it.He added, "And in order not to be picked by the leaders, many of the cultivators are sacrificing their bodies in order to be gratified by the leaders."Qin Shuang was flushing lightly when Ji Yuan had said so in such a blunt manner.She quickly said, "Gong Xiaotian is actually not working alone. At least forty cultivators are in his core team. They go everywhere where he goes." Ji Yuan rolled his eyesBut he was soon smiling, "Well, there is nothing to worry about. I am the number 404 and as long as I'm alive until the very last, only my Escape Talisman will be used up. It is better for me to sacrifice than the others.""Then you will owe Gong Xiaotian a big favor because he has protected you for this time. In the next time, you will be expected to use your number as a favor back should the next number 404 dies." Qin Shuang explained.Ji Yuan muttered weakly, "It sounds fair""It sounds fair," Qin Shuang interrupted. "Except that he is using the good man card against you. After using up one of your Escape Talismans, are you still confident of overcoming this trial? You've seen how dangerous the trial is. But of course, you can still use the Escape Talisman to exit the trial completely as a last resort."Ji Yuan frowned; he can't use the Escape Talisman because he was quite worried that the Death God Mingwang had setup a sword array outside that would trigger when he had appeared outside. Once the sword array has been triggered, he may be caught between a clone of the Death God Mingwang and his true self at the same time, since the Death God Mingwang can sense that his sword array is being triggered and he can use the Escape Talisman instantly appear outside the trial to corner him. He doesn't want to fight the Death God Mingwang until he was sure of winning or unless he had no other choices. He can be a real turtle if there is a need and he intended to be a turtle this time. Qin Shuang quietly urged him, "I will advise Master Ji Yuan to give up this trial or just spend your time in the Red Mansion. It is because this trial is quite impossible to complete."Ji Yuan said firmly, "Thanks for sharing this with me but I won't give up on this trial."Qin Shuang slowly nodded and her petite face looked a little sad as she said. "The second thing that you have to know is that the faction that kills the other faction's Number 404 will be able to obtain 1 Escape Talisman for the entire faction..."Ji Yuan was startled; don't tell me that I'm in danger from the other cultivators as well?! "Also, you may not know this. Gong Xiaotian, Ximen Wudi and many of the cultivators in our faction are actually working in conspiracy with the others from the other factions against our own.""Also in the last round, Ximen Wudi is actually the leader of the faction while Gong Xiaotian is the rear leader. They're actually working together and pretending to be at odds so that they can secretly work with each other."Ji Yuan: Ji Yuan: Ji Yuan: He muttered weakly, "This sounds a little complex. Why do these cultivators love to play politics so much?" Qin Shuang weakly said, "It is either you join them or you will be their cannon fodder." Ji Yuan muttered in realization, "I see their plans now. They want to kill all the Number 404 for one another and then uses the innocent first timers' numbers to obtain the Fallen God Relic. In this way, they can obtain an extra Escape Talisman and the Fallen God Relic at the same time." He began to frown; Gong Xiaotian is just pretending to be nice to him so that he can gain his trust first before backstabbing him on the back later, depending if he has the opportunities later. No matter what his plans actually are, he would never suspect him...Ji Yuan asked curiously, "Why are you telling all this?" "That is because she likes you." Xiang Li giggled.Ji Yuan: "Aren't you supposed to be gone for the night?" Ji Yuan muttered to Xiang Li in his soul sea before he quickly returned his attention to Qin Shuang. "The reason why I'm telling you all these are because I am hoping to make amend for my past acts against you." Qin Shuang slowly said. Ji Yuan nodded but he could not resist asking her, "And how did you know so much?"Qin Shuang averted her beautiful golden eyes, "You've forgotten that I am the Punishment Elder. I have to be observant enough in order extract the useful information to be used in their trials."Ji Yuan kept his mouth shut and he resisted the urge to chuckle in this situation; it was because he had fooled her previously so she was actually not as observant as she had thought. "Thank you for telling me all these." Ji Yuan grinned. "I was never upset with you. Go in peace."He had suddenly seen her in a new light and she was very attractive in his eyes.Qin Shuang is actually a really attractive maiden. The Celestial Orthodox Sect actually have numerous great beauties and he had heard that one of the criteria for promotion within the Celestial Orthodox Sect is beauty itself. "Really?" Qin Shuang gasped softly, "You will really forgive me?""I really mean it. I can swear by my soul sea." Ji Yuan said firmly."I believe you" Qin Shuang said with trembling lips. "But Sacred Maiden Xue may not forgive me. I've almost killed you"Ji Yuan interrupted with a soft laugh, "Qianxue isn't that petty, I know her very well."Then he started to rub his chin as he muttered silently; or maybe not.He had suddenly remembered that she had placed a dead and alive bounty on him for a hundred years, renewing the bounty to new heights every year...All of a sudden he said solemnly to Qin Shuang, "You can go now. I need to do something else first."Qin Shuang was startled by his sudden solemnness but she quickly returned a quick nod before disappearing into the darkness. The reason why Ji Yuan had suddenly asked Qin Shuang to leave was because he had sniffed blood scent in the air.His nose was extremely sharp.He quickly slipped into the darkness and before long, he had quietly appeared in the another location.He had spotted Yun Chi and all around her were dead bodies of at least a dozen cultivators. From their armlets, it seemed that they had belonged to the White Faction and were probably planning a raid on the Green Faction. Ji Yuan had turned ashen; It was because Yun Chi had dismembered all these cultivators to pieces in the most ruthless way while maintaining her pleasant smiles.She did not have any weapons in her hands to do her ruthless killing because Ji Yuan saw that she had a pair of white wings on her back and it was dripping with blood. The wings that were attached on her bare beautiful back was not formed by any profound animus but were real wings that looked like sharpened blades.Ji Yuan had to blink his eyes to check if he was really seeing things, checking if it is some sort of a profound treasureThis Yun Chi isn't human?! "Who is that!" Yun Chi had suddenly turned around and her white sharpened wings appeared to withdrawn into her bare back in a blink of an eye.And her golden eyes had suddenly turned murderous.Ji Yuan had not expected that she would be able to sense him because he was merely blinking his eyesJi Yuan laughed weakly as he stepped out of the shadows. "Haha. If I tell you that I didn't see anything, will you believe me?" Yun Chi seemed to have lost the pleasant smiles that were on her countenance earlier and she was now looking at Ji Yuan coldly, "I don't believe."Ji Yuan still had one more trump card to use. He laughed weakly, "I'm Number 404."
