The Shifting of Offense and Defense

"We're pulling out," An Changqing made a prompt decision, whispering, "Stay alert, go back the way we came, and head to the designated Safe Point Two."

Although Long Ao still wanted to exchange a few words with the Kamiya team, he knew what was important and nodded.

The four of them ignored the two teams and quickly left the crystal cluster depression, retreating in the direction they came from. The other two teams didn't dare to pursue them, continuing to stare at each other in awkward silence.

On the way back, the atmosphere was somewhat heavy.

"Guan Jinyue... what does she mean by this?" Su Yuehe couldn't help but ask, her small face full of confusion. "She didn't fight, she didn't snatch anything, she just left, and she even abandoned her teammates."

"Maybe she felt that continuing to tangle with us wasn't worth it," An Changqing pondered. "She expended a lot of energy fighting Kamishiro Chizuru. If she clashed with us head-on, even if she won, she might suffer heavy injuries that would affect her subsequent actions. As for her teammates..."

He paused, "With her personality, I'm afraid she never really cared about her teammates in the first place."

Long Ao snorted coldly, "Acting all mysterious, selfish and profit-driven."

Although he was also somewhat arrogant, he was definitely not irresponsible enough to abandon his teammates in an enemy encirclement. No matter how much he might look down on his teammates, as long as he was the captain for a day, he would never give up on his team members.

Chen Guan didn't speak. He just silently adjusted his breathing and recovered his mental strength. He always felt that Guan Jinyue's retreat was not that simple.

"Baal..." Chen Guan muttered in his heart.

If Guan Jinyue was truly related to the demon Baal, her main goal was probably not just mere points. Giving up the Crystal Orchid and leaving the team might have some deeper meaning.

He glanced at the bullet comments, attempting to seek help from outside the world. At this moment, the bullet comments were also engaged in a heated discussion.

[Sister Guan just ran away? That doesn't fit her character.]

[She must be holding back a big ultimate move. I have a feeling something huge is going to happen in the secret realm.]

[Kamishiro Chizuru: Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here?]

[Kamishiro is actually quite pitiful. She's always being suppressed. She's clearly quite strong, but she just doesn't play in low-tier matches. She's either getting beaten up or on her way to getting beaten up.]

Chen Guan turned off the bullet comments and suppressed the doubts in his heart. If even the bullet comments couldn't help him, then there was no use thinking too much right now. The most urgent task was to recover his condition and deal with any unexpected changes that might occur next.

In order to avoid bumping into Guan Jinyue again, they changed their direction this time, heading towards the northeast.

Over the next few hours, they encountered several waves of wild creatures and conveniently completed a medium-difficulty gathering task. Their points steadily increased, but they did not encounter any teams from other academies, nor did they find any traces of Guan Jinyue. Everything seemed to return to the normal rhythm of exploring the secret realm.

However, the uneasiness in Chen Guan's heart did not diminish as time passed; instead, it grew stronger and stronger.

"The spiritual energy field here is becoming increasingly unstable," Su Yuehe said worriedly. "It's not a natural fluctuation. It's more like something is interfering with it, or extracting the spiritual energy of this space."

She looked at the sky. As the scout, she was very sensitive to any abnormal fluctuations.

An Changqing furrowed his brows tightly. "Contact the other groups and ask about the situation on their end."

Su Yuehe contacted the other Huaqing teams scattered throughout the secret realm. Most teams replied that everything was normal, but the reply from the team led by Zhao Qingyin was somewhat unusual.

She mentioned that there was a strange mist in the central area that kept drifting outward, and she saw Guan Jinyue walk into the central area all by herself.

Zhao Qingyin continued, "Guan Jinyue spotted me at the time, but she didn't do anything. She just waved a natural treasure worth thousands of points at me, and then walked into that mist."

"The central area..." An Changqing looked at the zone marked as the core of the trial grounds on the map. It was the area with the highest density of point-rewarding tasks, but it was also widely acknowledged to be more dangerous. Usually, no one would choose to go deep into it, since the efficiency on the outskirts was higher than inside.

"Should we go take a look?" Long Ao asked. It was normal for him to have such a thought. What if there was a hidden boss in the center? Huaqing was currently at the top of the leaderboard, and he didn't want to be overtaken. Guan Jinyue's actions had indeed given him a sense of crisis.

Huaqing had already taken first place in two rounds. If they won one more round, it would be a grand slam for the freshman year.

An Changqing hesitated for a moment.

According to the original plan, they should avoid high-risk areas and safely acquire points.

But... he shared a similar thought with Long Ao. What if it was a massive quest? Nobody wanted a sure-win situation to be overturned.

"Let's go take a look," An Changqing made his decision.

The four changed their direction and cautiously advanced towards the outskirts of the central area.

The closer they got to the central area, the more obvious the environmental changes became. The dim yellow sky seemed even darker, and dust flew everywhere in the air, occasionally making them swallow a mouthful of dirt.

When they arrived at the edge of an area marked as the Scorched Rift Valley, the scene before them made all four of them stop in their tracks.

They saw that the vast valley ahead, which should have been a dry riverbed, was now shrouded in a thin layer of dark red mist.

What was even more heart-palpitating was that dark red lightning silently flashed across the sky above the valley.

Without a doubt, this was the anomaly Zhao Qingyin had mentioned.

Right at that moment, a sharp roar came from the depths of the Scorched Rift Valley.

Immediately after, the dark red mist churned violently. Several tentacle-like dark shadows burning with dark red flames violently thrust out from the mist. Like demonic claws from hell, they swept towards a few small beasts on the edge of the valley that hadn't had time to escape.

The moment those quite powerful demonic beasts were touched by the dark red tentacles, they let out mournful screams. Their bodies shriveled up at a visible rate, ultimately turning into flying ash.

"Run!"

An Changqing shouted sternly, and the four of them turned and fled without hesitation.

That power was absolutely not something they could contend with. Just the escaping aura and that fleeting glimpse of the tentacles made them feel a fear originating from their very souls.

It was absolutely impossible to fight it head-on.

However, they hadn't run far when the ground ahead suddenly cracked open. Several dark red pillars of energy shot into the sky, forming a simple lockdown barrier.

"Damn it!" Long Ao roared furiously. A crimson aura erupted from him as he punched the barrier, but it only stirred up a ripple; the barrier didn't budge an inch.

An Changqing tried to slash it open with sword light, which was similarly ineffective. Chen Guan's mental shock was even more useless against the barrier.

"It's a pre-arranged formation that combines spiritual energy lockdown and mental interference." Su Yuehe calmed down and quickly guessed the cause and effect. "We've fallen into a trap. Someone deliberately lured us here."

As soon as she finished speaking, a silver figure silently appeared on a rock not far ahead of them.

Silver hair, moon-white martial attire, and a completely calm expression, it was none other than Guan Jinyue, who had returned.

She held her moonlit longsword. On the blade, however, wisps of ominous dark red patterns were now coiled, faintly echoing the dark red mist permeating the surroundings.

"Now." Guan Jinyue's cool voice rang out. She lightly raised the tip of her sword, pointing it directly at An Changqing as a captivating yet dangerous smile curled her lips.

"The tables have turned, An Changqing."