28: Chapter 28 The Secret of the [Treasure Map]

The Cultivators in the forest had all gathered together and encountered a group of cannon-fodder contestants on the run.

Although they had just experienced a battle and were being pursued by dragon flames from behind, they did not let this opportunity to farm contribution points slip by.

Ten minutes later, the battle ended.

Zhao Xin sat on a large rock, let out a long sigh, and said, "Phew, fellow Daoists, let's rest here for a moment. Ruan Laoqi, come over and repair the weapons."

After these two battles, aside from some Cultivators sustaining minor injuries, the greatest loss was to their weapons.

Those Elven Dark Guards and the Minotaur Beastmen they had just encountered were not particularly strong, but their oak armor and hide defense were not low, and they would occasionally pop out some kind of unknown magical shield.

As a result, all their weapons had their edges rolled.

Ruan Laoqi came to the front of the group holding a hammer, grinning, and shouted, "Coming, coming! Everyone who needs their weapons repaired, come over here. Five contribution points to repair one."

Ruan Laoqi was one of the only two Artifact Refiners in White Jade Capital. All the weapons of the Cultivators here had been hammered out by him, one strike at a time. Although the weapons he produced were a bit crude, it was better than having none at all.

Ying Sha handed his dual blades to Ruan Laoqi, then leaned against a large tree and said, "Zhao Xin, hurry up and lie on the ground to listen. Which direction should we attack next?"

Zhao Xin was a sixth-level Qi Refining Cultivator with a single Earth spirit root and a unique skill called "Earth Listening." As long as he lay on the ground and listened carefully, he could map out all information within a ten-mile radius in his mind.

Zhao Xin sighed, shook his head, and said, "It won't work. The temperature of the Candle Dragon's flames is too high. Much of the ground has either been melted or blasted apart, so I can't hear anything at all."

Seeing this, Ying Sha was helpless. "Alright then, I'll go scout the surroundings first."

Just as Ying Sha was preparing to climb a tree, an annoying voice came from not far away.

"Fellow Daoists, everyone, eyes on me. I have something to say."

Ying Sha frowned and snapped, "Liu Quan, speak quickly if you have something to say, or get lost."

"Hehe, Boss Ying Sha, don't be so impatient. Take a look at this."

Liu Quan took out a slip of paper and unfolded it in front of everyone. It was a map with several emerald green light dots marked on it.

"My god, a [Treasure Map]! Where did you find it?"

Ying Sha turned into a black shadow, snatched the map from Liu Quan's hand, and said excitedly.

"I found it earlier in that female demon's tent, right under that wooden carving. It was hidden quite well, but it met its match in me."

Before embarking on the path of cultivation, Liu Quan had been a 'Saint of Thieves' in a mortal kingdom, proficient in mechanism arts and treasure-hunting geomancy. Later, he had stolen a Qi Refining cultivation technique, which directly launched his cultivation journey.

Upon hearing the words [Treasure Map], the surrounding Cultivators also became interested and immediately crowded around.

Ying Sha waved his hand to swat away the grubby hands reaching in and snapped, "Don't grab, don't grab! Let me see where we are first."

Seeing everyone so excited, Liu Quan scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Uh, Boss Ying Sha, this isn't a treasure map. If I haven't guessed wrong, these should be the coordinates of enemies in the secret realm."

Ying Sha shook the map in his hand and confirmed repeatedly, "You mean the green dots on this map are the locations of our enemies?"

"Yeah, after we finished killing the Minotaur beast, one of the green dots on the map disappeared." Liu Quan glanced at the Minotaur corpse at his feet and nodded earnestly.

"What a bummer, I thought we could plunder treasures in the secret realm." Ying Sha sighed in disappointment, but he suddenly remembered something and said, "Everyone, search the bodies. See if this group of Minotaur beasts has any maps on them."

"I already searched the bodies; didn't find any," Liu Quan said.

"Your hands are really fast, kid." Ying Sha sneered, then felt a bit puzzled. "Why did that female demon have a map, but these Minotaurs didn't?"

There was no helping it; to these Cultivators, if one were to measure the enemies' strength in meters, the gap between the Forest Elves and the Minotaur Beastmen was only two or three centimeters.

They had no idea that the Forest Elves they had killed earlier were official contestants of this Virtual Divine Realm.

"Don't be disappointed. Even though there are no secret realm treasures, being able to obtain the enemies' whereabouts is extremely good for us."

Zhao Xin patted Ying Sha on the shoulder to comfort him, then turned to the Cultivators behind him and said earnestly, "Since we have the map, let's prepare to set off."

"Kill all these beast monsters and restore the glory of our human Cultivators!"

"For Lord Immortal Monarch! For contribution points!"

"Brothers! Let's do it!"

"Swish!"

Dozens of weapons emitting cold light were raised above their heads. At this moment, the Cultivators entered slaughter mode.

...

Chu Gehang and Chen Jianfeng were moving rapidly across the snow, practically turning into two streaks of light—one gold and one green.

The two of them had not even considered the possibility that this map might not be a treasure map.

In their view, upon entering a secret realm, no one would be bored enough to mark people on a map.

After they left, the Cultivators who had just finished killing the Armored War Bear did exactly as Chu Gehang had said, forming five teams on the spot and heading off in different directions to hunt down those gods and deities.

After half an hour of rapid travel, Chu Gehang and Chen Jianfeng arrived at the red dot marked on the map.

To their surprise, all that lay before them was a thick layer of ice and a pile of ice pillars over ten meters high; there was absolutely no sign of any treasure.

The two exchanged glances and then walked into the cluster of ice pillars to explore.

However, the moment they stepped into the cluster of ice pillars, those tall pillars suddenly glowed with blue light, and several huge, obscure runes appeared on them.

Seeing this phenomenon, Chu Gehang realized something and shouted, "Not good, it's a trap! Run!"

Chen Jianfeng did not hesitate and turned into a sword shadow, dashing out of the formation.

The next second, a huge pillar of light rose from the center of the formation, enveloping the two of them.

The pillar of light dissipated.

Inside the formation, the figures of Chen Jianfeng and Chu Gehang had already vanished.

But not long after they disappeared, the ice surface in the center of the formation collapsed from the middle. The ice pillars acting as the formation's eye didn't fare any better; a fissure cracked open along the length of each pillar, and then they all collapsed.

Raising the perspective and looking down from high above, an exaggerated sword mark pierced through the entire ice surface of the formation, splitting even the ice pillars that served as the formation's eye.

God War Rookie Tournament, official backstage area.

"F***! Which idiot destroyed the Divine Realm's teleportation array? That was a Sky-High Tech module worth 10,000 star coins!"

"Team No. 2, how are you managing things? Such an important teleportation array module, just gone like that?!"

"Supervisor, this has nothing to do with us. Although there is a delay in teleportation, this time the delay was only 0.5 seconds."

"Heh, a single strike delivered in 0.5 seconds that wiped out both the formation and its eye? Go ahead and try to cut one for me to see. If you can cut it, I'll twist my own head off and give it to you."

"No, Supervisor, I..."

"Say no more. The cost of this module will be deducted from your team's wages."