After the call was terminated, Tian Qingfeng looked over at Fei Baixue. Her cheeks were dusted with a light flush as she bit her lower lip, nervously tugging at the hem of her shirt.
Unable to bear the heavy silence, Qingfeng finally spoke up. "S-so... is there anything else you wanted to tell me?"
Baixue jolted as if startled awake. She stiffened, scrambling to her feet. "N-nope! I-I'm going back to my tent now."
She bolted for the exit. She was already halfway through the flap when Qingfeng's voice caught her. "Good night."
Baixue paused, glanced back to offer a breathless "You too," and vanished outside.
After she left, Qingfeng froze in place. His eyes were unfocused as he stared at the tent entrance in a daze.
The scene of Baixue blushing played over and over again, sprouting a bud of confusion within his mind.
After a long while, he snapped out of it and walked over to the lamp and turned it off. He crawled into the sleeping bag, muttering,
"Forget it. There's no use agonizing over it. It's going to be a hectic day tomorrow; let's go to bed."
After struggling to clear his mind for a long while, he eventually managed to fall asleep.
The next day, as the sun was coming up, Tian Qingfeng, Lu Tai, Chen Zhiyu, and Wu Haoran met at the edge of the camp barrier.
"You guys ready?" Lu Tai asked.
"I'm always prepared." Wu Haoran retorted with a smirk. "The question is whether you guys can keep up."
"Oho, confident are we?" Chen Zhiyu teased
"C'mon, stop bickering and let's go. The clock's ticking." Tian Qingfeng urged
As he said that, they all stepped forward and headed out beyond the barrier, leaving nothing but a series of ripples on the blue dome.
Deep within the plains, four young men trudged along the vast flat expanse as damp mud clung to their armored boots.
"Hey, Old Chen, how many points do we have now?" one of the young men inquired
"How should I know, old Wu? Why don't you ask Lu Tai?" An exasperated voice called out
"We currently have 132 points after the three 6th realms we hunted." Lu Tai called out after checking on the bracelet.
"How close are we to second place?" Tian Qingfeng asked
"We are just three points behind right now," Lu Tai replied
"I told you we could catch up," Wu Haoran said triumphantly
Seeing his smug expression, coupled with the slight exhaustion coursing throughout his body, Chen Zhiyu retorted in an annoyed voice. "Yeah, yeah, you were right.
"Have you guys spotted any 6th realm mutant beasts nearby?"
"Not yet," Tian Qingfeng replied, "it's mainly 3rd and 4th realm beasts as far as the eye can see. With some 5th realms speckled in every so often."
"You think there may be a 6th realm over there?" Wu Haoran pointed
Off in the direction he indicated, the 3rd and 4th realm beasts were gradually leaving the area, leaving a wide berth that only contained 5th realm beasts.
"Maybe there will be a 6th realm beast there." Wu Haoran suggested
"That area doesn't seem right." Lu Tai cautioned, "Why are the 3rd and 4th realms leaving the area in droves? They normally don't do that with a 6th realm."
"Maybe there are multiple 6th realms there," suggested Chen Zhiyu
"That's possible," Lu Tai said
"Let's head over," Wu Haoran said, walking in that direction.
As the group headed in that direction, they eventually ended up in an area populated only by 5th realm mutant beasts.
As they got closer to the source of the anomaly, they saw other teams heading in the same direction.
"Hey, look." Chen Zhiyu pointed, "Isn't that Hong Wuhao's team over there?"
Over in another direction, Team Crimson God was also approaching. Just as Chen Zhiyu pointed towards them, Hong Wuhao's team also saw them in return. Tang Qixia also waved her hand at them.
"Ignore them for now, it will take a while for us to even meet up." Wu Haoran said, "Focus on the goal."
"Got it." The other three responded.
As time continued, they began to see many other teams converging on this area. Most of them seemed to have stayed in the periphery, as when the team got closer to the center, only three teams were still advancing
On the right of Team Cloud Seeker was Team Crimson God, while an area to the right held Team Spirit Flower.
Once they neared the center, the 5th realm beasts became somewhat scarcer while 6th realm beasts became noticeably more abundant, increasing to about four or five in total.
The 6th realm beast closest to them was a 3-meter-tall chicken. As soon as each team saw a 6th realm beast, they ran in and engaged in a fight.
Likewise, Tian Qingfeng's group also did the same. Running in, they each performed the 8 Tigers' Fist in succession before earnestly beginning to whittle down the large mutant chicken's vitality.
After about an hour, Chen Zhiyu managed to drive his spear into its throat and decapitate it.
Pulling out his spear, Chen Zhiyu swung the spear in an arc to remove the blood on the spearhead before resting it on his shoulder.
"Whew, that took a while," he said, letting out a deep breath
"No kidding," Lu Tai replied as he fiddled with the screen projected from the bracelet.
Soon, a drone arrived and collected the mutant chicken carcass.
Seeing that all the 6th realms in their surroundings were already taken by the other two teams, the four of them decided to head deeper in.
Step by step, they inched closer and closer to the source of the anomaly. After about 15 minutes of cautious traveling, they eventually found a 6th realm mutant boar.
Crouching down in the grass, Wu Haoran began to address Tian Qingfeng, Lu Tai, and Chen Zhiyu.
"Alright, if we repeat what we do when hunting a mutant boar, we should be able to take it down, have the drone come pick it up, and return to camp before 11 am.
"The time right now is 10:16 am. Let's sync our astral link time."
Holding out their arms, the four of them initiated the group voice chat feature and then pulled up a time interface in the application.
"Let's get into position. When the clock is 10:20 sharp, we engage," said Lu Tai
Spreading out, they each got into position encircling the mutant boar.
Tian Qingfeng had the furthest position, having to circle to the back of the mutant boar.
In the suspense, when the clock struck 10:20 AM, Qingfeng dashed straight out.