Following the flow of the river downstream, a massive stone platform appeared at the end. This seemed to be the only place in the Jade Corridor where plants existed.
The platform featured a circular dome, its edges entwined with green vines that extended down the pillars supporting the structure.
Several Spirit Realm Rangers had already arrived at this location.
Everyone stared solemnly at the monster on the stone platform—a stone giant nearly five meters tall, with numerous vines growing across its body.
The Vine Giant threw a punch at a challenger who was trying to dodge, and the immense impact smashed him into the ground.
Cracks spread across the floor. When the Vine Giant lifted its fist, there was only a sunken pit below; the challenger's figure was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing that the challenger had been eliminated, the Vine Giant crouched down and remained motionless. The light barrier surrounding the stone platform fell, and the pit from moments ago gradually repaired itself, returning to its original state.
Whenever a challenger attacked the Vine Giant and it stood up, the surrounding light barrier would drop, preventing the challenger from escaping and others from entering.
"Another failure. Which of you is going next?"
Turner spoke, looking at the other Spirit Realm Rangers with a wary attitude.
He couldn't be sure if everyone here already possessed their first jade stone. Everyone was on guard against one another, fearing a sudden sneak attack.
Although it seemed possible to ask everyone to show their jade stones, no one made such a proposal.
What if the other person had nothing, while they showed two jade stones and became a target?
There was no rule saying that if someone was found to have nothing, everyone would gang up to eliminate them first.
Even if someone suggested showing them, it would likely end with only one person revealing theirs while everyone else tacitly chose to keep theirs hidden.
"This stone statue is too strong. I have no way to defeat it. You guys go first,"
one Spirit Realm Ranger suggested. He could see that they were absolutely unable to defeat this statue.
"You guys go ahead, I'll look for another way..."
"I'll observe a bit more..."
Everyone understood they couldn't defeat this stone giant, yet the river flowed here; it seemed this was the only place to obtain the third jade stone.
"Why don't we go together?"
A female voice made a suggestion, and everyone looked over.
It was a woman with purple hair wearing red leather armor suited for movement. She had a capable aura about her, wore no ornaments, and held a greatsword in both hands.
"Don't be ridiculous. Can there be cooperation between us?"
"I highly doubt you've even obtained the first jade stone."
"Even if we cooperate to defeat this statue, how would we distribute the jade stone?"
Almost all the Spirit Realm Rangers present had spent a long time in this trial—ranging from three days to over a week.
They had all gone through a lot of trouble just to collect one or two jade stones.
This Spirit World Tour had already drained too much of their energy. During this trial, other Spirit Realm Rangers would attack them from time to time.
Only here, at the end of the river and before the final jade stone, could they find a brief, temporary peace.
No one was willing to trust others. Although many trials didn't explicitly say so, it was understood that one could snatch what others had collected.
At this final stage, they naturally couldn't let their guard down. No one wanted their investment of many days to go down the drain.
One had to realize that just being able to enter this trial required great luck; there would likely be no second chance to enter.
Weilin Te sighed. She knew she couldn't convince these people; they had lost all trust in 'companions' long ago during their mutual attacks.
Yet Weilin Te vaguely sensed that cooperation was the key to obtaining the third jade stone.
Although those who had stepped up so far were all melee classes, Weilin Te had observed that this Vine Giant required the cooperation of two people to defeat.
She noticed that when swords and axes struck the vines, they snapped almost instantly.
However, when facing the hard rock, melee weapons were useless, only able to slowly chip away some debris.
When a challenger who knew the Ignition Spell went up, Weilin Te noticed that the flames surprisingly couldn't burn the vines well, but when they touched the rock, she could clearly sense the rock layer shrinking slightly.
A Spellcaster and a melee fighter must cooperate to defeat that Vine Giant, Weilin Te thought.
She had originally intended for everyone to attack together. Although everyone present was a melee class, many on the Spirit World Tour knew a bit of magic bestowed by the Spirit Realm.
It was just that their firepower was insufficient; each person could probably only cast five or six times before running out.
She felt that if everyone cast Spells, the Vine Giant would definitely not be able to withstand their attacks.
But this group of people had been traumatized by the mutual attacks of those trying to get the first jade stone; no one dared to cooperate with anyone else.
She shook her head. Even when she said something that completely contradicted their perceptions, no one proposed that everyone unite to eliminate her first.
Everyone should have a jade stone in hand. They didn't want a chaotic battle, fearing that a rashly triggered fight would lead to someone sneak-attacking and stealing their jade stone.
---
After Furan obtained the blue jade stone, she was attacked by many people while traveling along the river.
"Why are these people acting like they're crazy? They just come up and attack without saying a word."
Furan crushed these attacks with her overwhelming stats. One person was sliced in half by a single Wind Blade from Furan while mid-charge.
It seemed that because she already had a red jade stone, these people dropped nothing after they died—not even a knife.
What Furan found strange was that, except for the person she killed to get the red jade stone, the other attackers didn't seem to speak. No matter what she said, they ignored her.
Furthermore, they seemed to have some issues with their intelligence. She would even make preparations for throwing a Wind Blade, yet the opponent only started to dodge when the Wind Blade was already flying, resulting in them being hit directly and dying.
She didn't even know how they fought. Who waits until the attack is out before dodging? They were hardly like humans.
After she finished off these mobs, she also saw the stone platform in the distance.
And nearby, Weilin Te was already waiting there.
She knew she couldn't look for people over there. She had to intercept them before they reached the stone platform and explain things to them. Once they were allowed to go over and were exposed to that tense atmosphere, nothing she said would work.
Weilin Te's eyes lit up as she saw the person in front of her wearing a robe—they should be a Spellcaster.