Chen Bugu released the remaining water arrows, letting them freely pour onto the ground and the surrounding rock walls.
In an instant, all directions were covered by black, solid ice, and the cold seeped into the rocks, making the surrounding rock layers even harder.
This way, even if the Juyuan Beast King returned, they would have more time to react.
Chen Bugu walked over to Bai Ting, extending his hand to the pale-faced man, and the others also came over.
Bai Ting sat on the ground, looking up at Chen Bugu without speaking, only exhaling a sigh of relief, then took Chen Bugu's hand and used the leverage to stand up.
“It’s good that you’re not dead.”
Bai Ting's face was expressionless, he just said lightly, then turned to face the others.
Chen Bugu was startled, then smiled.
“Catch!”
Bai Ting reached out to catch it, only to find that it was the Beast Crystal of the Nine-Star Magic Beast.
“Not bad, you can even kill Nine Star now!”
Chen Bugu looked towards Yan Kuan and the others, and seeing that they were not only safe and sound, but their strength had also undergone earth-shattering changes, a wave of joy rose in his heart.
“Hmph, of course, what do you think we’ve been doing all this time? Wide Master, I’m already Eight Star.”
Yan Kuan stepped forward, his face full of an uncontrollable smile.
“I told you we didn’t need to worry about this guy.”
Lin Xiaoxiao stood to one side, hands on her hips, a smile on her lips.
“Chen Dage, welcome back.” Han Badou smiled.
Bai Ting threw the Beast Crystal back.
“Since you’re back, you should still be in charge of its safekeeping and distribution.”
Chen Bugu nodded upon hearing this, not being pretentious, and directly put away the Beast Crystal.
After gathering together, the group rested in place, recovering from their injuries, while looking at Chen Bugu, waiting for him to explain everything.
Chen Bugu then recounted his experiences from the beginning after separating from them.
When he narrated the chance encounter with Han Fuyu in the Starting Forest, even though Han Badou tried hard to hide it, the others still noticed a hint of excitement in him.
“Ba Dou, you won’t blame me for not protecting your uncle out of that forest, will you?”
“No, Chen Dage, you had no obligation to protect him. Whether he could leave that forest was his fate.”
Chen Bugu looked at Han Badou's calm face and nodded.
Although Han Badou said so, Chen Bugu knew he still cared in his heart.
However, as long as Han Fuyu and Wei Lai could reach Obsidian Town alive, they would meet again sooner or later.
When the Black Tortoise was mentioned, the others also understood Chen Bugu's “borrowing power” approach just now.
Yan Kuan had been curious why Chen Bugu, who was clearly still Black Iron Grade, could emit such a powerful white light beam. If he was really that strong, why would he borrow power to let the Magic Beast escape?
All these doubts now had answers.
So this guy used his big move right at the start?
The rest was just a paper tiger, only impressive on the surface?
“Damn it! You acted so well I thought you could solo it! Aren’t you afraid of messing it up by playing like this?”
Yan Kuan lowered his voice and whispered, as if worried that the Juyuan Beast King would hear and rush back to the scene.
“What else could I do? That’s a ‘King’ family Magic Beast. Ba Dou just said it, at least a Silver Two Star combat power. If we really fought, even if I took a few more ‘Burning Body Pill’, I’d only have a two-tenths chance of winning. Since we could communicate, it’s naturally best not to fight.” Chen Bugu said as a matter of course.
Only? Two-tenths chance of winning?
Bai Ting and Han Badou, hearing this, looked at Chen Bugu in unison, gaining a new understanding of his current strength.
Chen Bugu continued, mentioning his absorption of the Source of Freezing Water, Liu Chengfeng establishing the Obsidian Alliance, and other matters…
“By the way, where’s Amon? Why haven’t I seen that little fellow?” Lin Xiaoxiao, after hearing that Amon had absorbed the Black Tortoise's origin, was filled with concern for the little turtle.
“I left it with Wang Bin and Lin Lin. They also told me about you coming down.”
“I see, then everything connects… Wait, you just said you found the rope broken before you came down? So you pulled our rope away?”
Yan Kuan suddenly discovered a blind spot.
“Yes, I originally wanted to send you a signal by pulling the rope, but I didn’t expect to pull up the broken rope directly. That’s why I rushed down at full speed, guessing that something might have happened to you. Thankfully, Ba Dou left a mark, so I was able to find my way here.”
Yan Kuan and Lin Xiaoxiao, hearing this, looked at the bewildered Ba Dou in unison.
Previously, Ba Dou had speculated that the broken rope was taken by the enemy, but now it seemed that Chen Bugu had stumbled upon it by mistake.
“However, looking at it this way, perhaps we didn’t take the wrong fork at the beginning. It’s just that these earth-controlling Magic Beasts erased the marks, and they also opened new passages, which confused us.”
“Oh, right, and Chen Bugu pulling the rope away, that was the key to misleading Ba Dou.”
Bai Ting rubbed his chin with his right hand, analyzing with a serious expression.
Watching Chen Bugu and Ba Dou look at each other, the others exchanged glances and couldn't help but laugh.
“Since the problem of going back is solved, and we’ve probably encountered the strongest Magic Beast here, let’s continue looking for liuguang jade. The sooner we complete the commission, the sooner we can go back. What do you say, Captain?”
Bai Ting turned his head to look at Chen Bugu.
“No need to look, there’s no liuguang jade here.”
“What does that mean?”
“liuguang jade is a strengthening-type ore, mostly produced in underground rock layers rich in light and fire elements. Underground magma and high temperatures are essential conditions for its formation. But look at this place.”
Chen Bugu said, scraping off a layer of rock and soil from the ground and rubbing it in his palm.
“The rock and soil here are soft and unusually moist. And look at the glowing moss on the rock wall; the growth of this thing requires extremely high humidity. So, this place simply does not have the conditions for liuguang jade to form.”
Chen Bugu roughly repeated what the information dealer had told him from memory, and the others fell silent after listening.
“Chen Dage, do you mean this is a trap?”
Han Badou's expression was solemn. Connecting this to the Juyuan Beast here, he could only come to this conclusion.
The strength of the Juyuan Beast King could almost wipe out any team in the camp. This commission appearing in the camp seemed to be a trap to lure and kill.
“Ba Dou, do you remember who issued the commission?”
Ba Dou shook his head, then quickly began to think.
“I’m not sure. We dealt with the people from the breeding farm. We rarely inquired about the original owner of the commission, and we took the commission ourselves. So, even if this is a trap, it shouldn’t be aimed at us. Then, the essence of this commission is most likely not a lure to kill, but perhaps has other uses, such as scouting and surveying…”
“Assuming the other party knows there are powerful Magic Beasts underground but doesn’t know the specific situation, it’s very possible they are using the people from the camp as a test.”
“If the team that accepts the commission is completely wiped out, they can infer the lower limit of the danger level of this underground area based on the team’s strength. If someone in the team survives and brings back information, they can know more specific details. So, what they want is information?”
Han Badou quickly established a hypothesis, then began to question his own hypothesis.
“The people who issued the commission are from the city. They are clearly stronger, and surveying such a cave should be simpler for them. They are urging us to complete the commission, which means they should be in a hurry. So why don’t they directly commission a stronger team from the city?”
“Very suspicious, a cover-up? But why go to such extra trouble? Even offering generous rewards. Why? What do they want?”
Bai Ting and the others watched Han Badou talking to himself, not interrupting. They seemed to have grown accustomed to Han Badou’s process of self-deduction.
“No need to think, Ba Dou, I guess what they want is that.”
Chen Bugu stood up, pointing his finger at the central stone platform.
