Leaving the Maze

Xu Mu led Chen Xuan and the others toward the left. They had barely taken a few steps when another fork appeared.

However, Xu Mu did not stop at all. He continued leading them forward, and within just a few minutes, they had passed through so many forks that no one knew how many there had been.

“Brother Mu, I’m completely lost. Everything around us is covered in ice, and it all looks exactly the same.”

Chen Xuan swung his cleaver hard and struck the ice again. “We can’t even carve marks here. We don’t know whether we’re going in circles.”

“Don’t worry. Leave everything to my brain. I’ve remembered it all.”

Xu Mu smiled, then glanced at Zilan Yin behind them. “If you don’t believe me, you can go on by yourself.”

“Of course I believe you.”

There was no way Zilan Yin would leave. The endless forks had already completely confused her.

By now, she couldn’t tell which direction was forward, backward, left, or right. She didn’t even know where they had entered or where they had come out.

They continued deeper into the maze. When they turned into another passage, they suddenly spotted snow monsters ahead.

The snow monsters here were slightly smaller than those outside, but even so, a single one of them was enough to completely block the entrance.

Boom!

The moment the snow monsters saw Xu Mu and the others, they charged at them.

“Releasing power here won’t have any consequences.”

Li Hongdou struck out with one palm.

Boom!

The flames she released completely filled the passage, shattering the snow monster ahead in a single move.

“Good. Let’s keep going.”

Xu Mu continued leading the way. Before long, they encountered another fork, with passages to both the left and right.

If they took the left passage, they would run into an eighth-rank expert from the Black Moon Clan. However, Xu Mu chose to go right. Everything could wait until after they obtained the treasure.

This maze was quite useful. Xu Mu had a natural advantage here, and if he fought Ye Chen inside it later, it would increase his chances of victory.

After walking for another ten minutes or so, they encountered another snow beast ahead.

Li Hongdou had just raised her hand when Xu Mu stopped her.

“There’s no need. We’ll take this route.”

“Xu Mu, what’s going on? How do you know which way to go?”

Li Hongdou asked curiously.

“Yeah, Brother Mu, I’m curious too. It feels like every path you choose is the right one. We haven’t encountered a dead end even once.”

Chen Xuan also spoke up from the side.

“That’s because I possess an extremely powerful spiritual-sense technique. I release my qi and use it to sense which paths lead to life and which lead to death.”

Xu Mu casually made up an explanation.

“I didn’t know there was a technique like that. That’s incredible.”

Zilan Yin exclaimed in amazement. “Then does that mean you can also sense where the snow beasts are?”

“That’s right. These snow beasts keep moving around inside the maze. They don’t stay in one place.”

As Xu Mu spoke, they encountered another snow beast ahead. “If I’m not mistaken, their purpose isn’t to kill. They’re here to clean up.”

As he spoke, he casually took out a spatial ring. He retrieved a piece of clothing from it and tossed it into the distance.

Just as Xu Mu had expected, the moment the snow beast saw the clothing, it rushed over and swallowed it whole.

It even used its tongue to clean the ice beneath it afterward.

“I understand now. Since we can’t carve marks into the surroundings, we can only leave objects behind to determine whether we’re going in circles. But the snow beasts clean up those objects, making it impossible for anyone to find their way.”

Chen Xuan shook his head slightly. This maze was truly terrifying, especially since it could not be damaged.

A great many people must have died here. Their corpses had probably been cleaned up as well.

As they spoke, Xu Mu turned left. After walking a dozen meters, they were stopped by a wall of ice.

“Heh, looks like your spiritual sense can make mistakes after all.”

Zilan Yin covered her mouth and giggled. “We should have gone right instead of left.”

“It won’t make a mistake.”

Xu Mu stood there and waited quietly.

Seeing this, Zilan Yin walked over to the ice wall blocking their path. She first attacked it with qi, then tried attacking it without using qi.

The ice did not move in the slightest, proving that this was a genuine wall.

“Xu Mu, if you took the wrong path, we can just turn around. What are you waiting for? Don’t tell me you’re waiting for the wall to open by itself?”

After saying this, Zilan Yin looked at Chen Xuan and Li Hongdou. “You two should say something to him. If he admits his mistake now, no one will blame him.”

“I believe in Brother Mu. Besides, if Brother Mu really made a mistake, then the path ahead would have been wrong too. We would have been trapped in a loop long ago.”

Chen Xuan smiled at Zilan Yin. “If you don’t believe us, you can go back the other way.”

Li Hongdou nodded as well. She had experienced several dangerous situations with Xu Mu, and nothing he had guaranteed had ever gone wrong.

“You’re both hopeless. You…”

Buzz!

Before Zilan Yin could finish speaking, the ice wall blocking their path suddenly disappeared.

“What the heck?”

Zilan Yin’s eyes widened.

“Quick, move! The passage will only remain open for two or three seconds.”

Xu Mu immediately headed toward the other side.

Chen Xuan and Li Hongdou had yet to move when Zilan Yin hurried after him first.

She smiled and wrapped her arm around Xu Mu’s, forcing a flattering grin onto her face.

“Hehe, Xu Mu, you’re amazing.”

[Favorability +10]

She knew very well that if Xu Mu knew the walls here could disappear, then he would definitely be able to find a way out.

Just as Chen Xuan and Li Hongdou arrived, the walls returned to their original state.

“Don’t waste time.”

Xu Mu pulled his hand free. “If they fail to notice the wall from before, they’ll keep circling around the same area.”

From what he could sense, it was obvious that after passing through this hidden door, most people would make a point of searching for it.

But the maze was far more disgusting than they had imagined.

In the dead ends in the latter half, half of them were hidden doors.

They would wait painstakingly in front of a door for ten minutes, only for it to open for three seconds—then they would discover that they were still going in circles.

However, Xu Mu was the one person this place could not trap.

After passing through more than a dozen hidden doors in succession, Xu Mu finally reached the end.

The path ahead was blocked. There was one door on the left and another on the right.

The left path led to the exit. No matter which route they chose on the right, they would eventually return to where they had started.

Xu Mu led the group to the left, only to be stopped by a dead end.

He pressed his hand against the wall. Sure enough, it was the exit of the formation.

“This is it.”

With that, Xu Mu left.

The others followed him out as soon as they saw this.

After leaving the maze, they found themselves in another cave. Once they walked out of it, they saw the shattered land stretching into the distance.

Countless dried bones lay scattered across the ground, with varying amounts of spirit stones around them.

Clearly, the force of the attacks had been so powerful that even the spatial formations inside the storage rings had been shattered.

Li Hongdou was completely stunned by the sight.

This was the first time she had ever seen a scene on such a massive scale. No wonder the Battlefield of the Gods was so important.

Just the spirit stones scattered across the ground were enough to exchange for an unimaginable number of precious heavenly treasures.

[Affinity +30]

She took a deep look at Xu Mu. If it had not been for the man standing before her, she would never have encountered such an opportunity.

“What are you standing around for? Hurry up and look for the treasures.”

Xu Mu immediately jumped into action. His storage space had been prepared precisely for things like this.

He stuffed every last one of the scattered spirit stones inside.

Once he had cleared out everything here, Xu Mu would immediately return to deal with Ye Chen. This was an excellent opportunity.

After all, they also had the help of an eighth-stage expert from the Black Moon Clan.