The tense atmosphere stretched to its limit, shattered amidst the earth-shattering explosion and tremors.
The previously expressionless and sinister villagers looked like chickens being choked, unable to even scrape off the dirt that had fallen onto their heads. They stared wide-eyed as their village’s high priest, buried up to his neck by the soil from above, transformed from an ethereal figure into a pitiful phoenix, feathers scattered and in a pitiable state.
But that wasn’t the most devastating part.
The most devastating part was that the epicenter of the explosion was one of the two divine phoenix trees, believed by the villagers to be indestructible as long as they provided nourishment and offerings.
Yet, now, a massive hole had been blasted into one of these trees. If not for the soil and the remaining circle of trunk supporting it, they dared not imagine if the tree would collapse with a resounding crash.
It was as if their faith had been crushed before their eyes.
The villagers were dumbfounded.
Feng Bing and Ling Shu were no better off. They had silently worked for over a decade to end the killings in the village, where people were sacrificed as nourishment and offerings. During that time, they tried various methods to destroy these two demonic trees.
But what left them in despair was that these two demonic trees seemed as sturdy as forged iron. No matter whether they used fire, knives, or saws, they couldn’t harm these trees in the slightest. But now? These indomitable demonic trees in their hearts had been easily and silently blown up.
Blown up!
Everyone’s gaze focused on Wan Mei.
Previously, the villagers of Phoenix Village didn’t like this person naturally, so they ignored him no matter how handsome he looked. But now, they couldn’t ignore this guy anymore.
Feng Zhao, who had lost his divine aura, exuded a fierce aura. With a wave of his long sleeves, the dirt covering half of his body was blown away. Then, he stared intently at Wan Mei and said, “What have you done?”
Wan Mei raised an eyebrow, showing no signs of being threatened.
“Just a little experiment. It seems… the results are quite good.”
“However, the interior of this tree is truly surprising.”
Mo Yang heard this and glanced at the inside of the giant tree. The next moment, he almost vomited. The seemingly solid and robust phoenix tree contained petrified faces of various kinds!
Among these faces, Mo Yang saw one that resembled Feng Mengmeng very closely and another that resembled the upper half of Feng Hui’s face. Looking at these faces, a nauseating speculation formed in his mind. He quickly turned his head and looked at Wan Mei, the one who caused the tree to explode. This boss showed no discomfort on his face but rather a look of great interest.
Mo Yang pursed his lips as he recalled what Wan Mei had packed in his backpack when he entered the game. He saw that this person had brought several bags of powder of different colors and a row of small bottles that looked like perfumes. At that time, he thought this person had some special hobby, but now…
He was so naive.
This was definitely a high-risk, mad scientist who constantly conducted various experiments on the edge. If things went wrong, it could be a world-ending catastrophe.
“It’s impossible! Can you just blow up a divine tree like that? The divine tree possesses the protection of phoenix divine power and cannot be destroyed by mundane forces! Tell me! What have you done? You have destroyed our village’s divine tree, making you the greatest sinner of our village!”
The village chief finally regained his senses at this moment, his face filled with anger. “Priest, this is a sinful person covered in guilt! I request that he be killed and offered as a sacrifice to the divine tree!”
The villagers behind the village chief had a fierce and sinister expressions as they chanted, “Kill him!” “Kill him!”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Lbkfnfg, Mfcu Itjb vlv cba ulnf j vlgfma bgvfg yfmjerf tf cbalmfv atja atf qfgrbc bqqbrlaf, ktb mijlwfv ab tjnf mbcvemafv j rwjii fzqfglwfca, kjr tbivlcu j rwjii mgsraji-mifjg ybaaif lc tlr tjcv. Ktf ildelv lcrlvf atf ybaaif rtlwwfgfv klat vjhhilcu mbibgr, ulnlcu tlw j rfcrf bo ugfja vjcufg.
Zb Tjcu, ktb tjv cbk kjixfv ribkis ab Qjc Zfl’r rlvf, ibbxfv ja atf ybaaif lc tlr tjcv jcv ktlrqfgfv, “Glv sbe jvv atf ygluta iluta ajilrwjc ab la? Yatfgklrf, bgvlcjgs fzqibrlnf mbwqbecvr kbeivc’a tjnf jcs foofma bc atf vfwbclm agff.”
Wan Mei seemed somewhat pleased as he curved his lips. “Yes, unfortunately, I could only afford one symbol. Splitting it in half wouldn’t have been as effective.”
Mo Yang chuckled. After all, Wan Mei had just blown up the divine tree with a massive hole, yet he complained about the effectiveness not being good enough! He let out a sigh and reached out to grab Wan Mei’s hand, while his other hand pulled out his own Ming Guang symbol from his backpack and stuck it onto him. He said, “Throw it and let’s go!”
Wan Mei raised his hand and threw the bottle toward the other divine tree. Feng Zhao, who stood in place, sneered and flicked his sleeve, catching the small bottle in his hand. However, the next moment, a familiar loud explosion rang out again, and Feng Zhao once again ended up covered in dirt and ashes.
When his crimson eyes lifted, he saw Wan Mei being pulled away by Mo Yang, leaving him with a mocking smile. The man he had disliked from their first encounter extended his left hand, between each pair of fingers holding a beautiful and delicate small bottle.
He mouthed the word: “Foolish.”
Fury reached its peak within Feng Zhao, and he laughed in rage. His pale hands, which seemed eerie under the light, gently flipped, and a flute-like object, seemingly made of wood yet not quite, not quite jade, appeared in his hands. Then, an intense and eerie tune resounded throughout the underground of Phoenix Village.
As the flute music started, the villagers of Phoenix Village seemed to be stimulated in some way. Their already frenzied emotions suddenly amplified many times over. They began to howl and swiftly turned around at a speed that humans would find difficult to match, chasing after Mo Yang and Wan Mei like a pack of mad dogs.
Having maneuvered through the villagers and the tree roots that tried to impede their progress with their agile movements and protective charms, Mo Yang and Wan Mei heard a system prompt at that moment.
[Player Mei BaiWan, Yang Heigou, damaged the thousand-year-old Phoenix Tree, triggering a hidden quest: Rebirth Through Fire.]
[Players are requested to evade the pursuit of Phoenix Village villagers within the specified time and find the Phoenix Ring, the treasure of Phoenix Village, to be handed over to the High Priest, Feng Zhao.]
Mo Yang wanted to curse upon hearing this system prompt. There were at least 150 villagers, all of whom were now chasing them like deranged dogs, driven by the peculiar flute sound. In this situation, they had to find the Phoenix Ring, and even if they found it, they had to hand it over to Feng Zhao, whose favorability towards them had plummeted. It seemed like a suicidal mission!
However, the quest mentioned the “Phoenix Ring.” Combined with Wan Mei’s mention of an upgraded version of a binding item when they entered the game and the game’s announcement of the Phoenix Village’s only upgradeable item, Mo Yang was almost certain that this “Phoenix Ring” was the unique upgradeable item that allowed players to enter the same game together.
So, even if the quest seemed full of pitfalls, he and Wan Mei had to persist and complete it.
Their main goal in entering this game was to find the “Phoenix Ring.” If they missed this opportunity, they didn’t know if they would encounter such a rare item again.
Therefore, while pulling Wan Mei, Mo Yang asked, “Do you have any smoke bombs, flash grenades, or similar items to delay them? Once we’re out of this underground root maze, they won’t be able to find us easily.”
Wan Mei gasped for breath as they ran, and his life points were rapidly decreasing. He responded with a bit of frustration, “It’s already challenging enough for me to make a miniature explosive in such a short time. Do you think I can just create one with a beam of light from my left hand and a bullet in my right hand? You need to give me some time.”
Yang Heigou rolled his eyes. “So, you don’t have one then?” At this moment, he felt that the person who had seemed so impressive before suddenly lost their aura and turned into a burdensome weakling.
But this weakling couldn’t be discarded. Mo Yang decided that after this game was over, he would spend an extra half hour mining every day and consume nutritional food cards that increased his strength and speed. Otherwise, there would be no way to drag along a weakling in the game.
Finally, they managed to climb out of the circular passage underground and emerged from the well in someone’s courtyard, dripping wet. Seeing the water stains on the ground, Mo Yang hesitated for a moment before pulling Wan Mei, and like two water spirits, they jumped into the river that curved like a crescent towards Phoenix Village.
They were now completely soaked, so they had to take off their clothes in the water first and find a place to change into dry clothes to avoid leaving traces due to the wetness.
The pursuing villagers from Phoenix Village finally squeezed out of the well and followed the damp footprints to the riverbank, where they hurriedly jumped into the water like dumplings. At this moment, Mo Yang, using his last ounce of strength, dragged Wan Mei downstream to the flower field and gasped for breath, instructing him to undress.
“Fortunately, I still have a sweater and jeans. Looks like I need to bring more sets of clothing cards for the next game. We should also change our shoes quickly. Now, let’s think about where the Phoenix Ring might be,” Mo Yang said as he changed clothes.
He lowered his head and noticed the phoenix-patterned bracelet on his wrist, and he exclaimed, “If the bracelets we’re wearing are the Phoenix Rings, we can directly clear the game.”
Unfortunately, those two were just decorative items he had bought to fit in.
However, Wan Mei, looking at the bracelets on their wrists, suddenly said, “Perhaps we can create a pair of Phoenix Rings ourselves.”
Mo Yang: “???”
Wan Mei, the self-proclaimed novice, smiled cunningly, “Based on the known plot, the Phoenix Ring went missing after it was stolen by the beautiful woman. Otherwise, Priest Feng Zhao wouldn’t need to use the secret method to prolong the life of the Phoenix Tree.”
“It seems that although the beautiful woman was killed by her sister, her sister also didn’t find the Phoenix Ring. Perhaps her sister coveted the Phoenix Ring. Anyway, the Phoenix Ring is not in Phoenix Village.”
Mo Yang chuckled, “So, that trashy game wants us to find the Phoenix Ring and hand it over to Feng Zhao?”
Wan Mei raised his hand, “That means we can create a pair of Phoenix Rings. I noticed that almost all the young men and women in this village have similar decorative bracelets like the ones we’re wearing.”
Mo Yang quickly understood his meaning, “So, even if we don’t wear the bracelets we bought from outside, we can obtain the vessel for the Phoenix Ring from any two villagers and then create new Phoenix Rings?”
Wan Mei’s lips curled up, clearly satisfied that Mo Yang had caught up with his thinking.
“But where should we create them? Is it in the captive area?!”
Wan Mei continued to smile while Mo Yang cursed, “This garbage game!”
He basically understood how to create the Phoenix Rings. After that, the two of them sneaked toward the captive area, while above Phoenix Village, layers of dark clouds had gathered, dark and dense, with flashes of lightning seeming to strike soon.
As Mo Yang and Wan Mei ate some snacks that could restore their stamina and evaded the villagers who were running amok searching for them, they unexpectedly encountered Zhou Api. At that moment, he was firmly held down by two villagers from Phoenix Village and was on the verge of having his major artery bitten off.
Fortunately, Mo Yang grabbed a brick and knocked out the two villagers, saving Zhou Api from the brink of death. The relieved Zhou Api shed tears when he saw Mo Yang and Wan Mei unharmed.
“Boss! I knew you two would still be alive even if you disappeared. But Sun Buguai and Zhang Xiaoyao thought you two were in grave danger. We were debating whether we should go find you overnight when suddenly the ground beneath our feet shook violently. We thought it was an earthquake and hurriedly ran outside.”
“Once we were outside, everything was fine again, but just as we were about to return indoors, the ground shook once more. I felt something must have happened underground, so I wanted to go ask the village chief. But the others didn’t want to, so I bit the bullet and came out alone. Then I discovered the whole village was empty!”
Zhou Api still trembled with fear. “I secretly hid in a tree by the river and saw two people suddenly jumping into the river from a house. And that house seemed like it could spawn people. One after another, people ran out of that house, and then those guys started running rampant in the village, capturing people!”
“I heard Sun Buguai’s scream earlier…” Zhou Api didn’t finish his sentence, but Mo Yang and Wan Mei understood that the woman was probably in great danger.
“Alright, we’ll talk about the underground situation later. Come with us to complete a mission in the captive area,” Mo Yang said.
Although Zhou Api didn’t receive a mission, he felt reassured following the two bosses. Without hesitation, he became the vanguard. After about fifteen minutes, the three of them arrived at the captive area.
Most of the villagers were frantically searching for Mo Yang and Wan Mei in the village, so the captive area seemed relatively calm.
However, even though there were no people, the trees surrounding the captive area rustled as if they had come to life, accompanied by the fragrance of flowers and the sound of flutes.
“Uh, I’m feeling a bit dizzy. I need to drink some revitalizing potion!” Zhou Api, in a daze, quickly opened his water bottle and took a sip. After drinking, he proudly handed it to Mo Yang and Wan Mei.
“Black and White bosses, this is an item I found when I entered the game. I thought it might be useful in the village, so I spent 1000 Dream Coins to buy it. It seems like it’s useful now! Do you want to have a sip?”
Mo Yang looked at him and took out a limited edition pink pig head thermos from his backpack, opened the lid, and took a sip. “Do you think we were able to come back just like that?”
Of course, they had already drunk the revitalizing potion in advance, allowing them to find the underground hideout of the Phoenix Tree.
Zhou Api looked at the black pig head thermos that Wan Mei also took out and took a sip slowly.
“…” Well, the bosses were the bosses. Even their cups were limited edition.
After drinking the revitalizing potion, the three of them quickly made their way toward the stone wall of the captive area. As they walked, the branches of the trees suddenly began to move, swinging toward them. Each time a branch hit them, their health points would decrease by 5.
“Oh damn, this won’t work! We won’t be able to reach the captive area like this; we’ll be done for!” Zhou Api shouted. At the same time, the accumulated dark clouds in the sky reached their limit. First, a dazzling purple lightning flashed across the sky, followed by a deafening thunderclap, and heavy rain poured down.
Mo Yang looked at the burnt branches around them and saw several small, sharp metal needles on them.
“…Good idea,” Mo Yang praised Wan Mei.
Wan Mei smiled. “Just a little experiment with attracting lightning.”
Then the three of them entered the captive area, stepping on the charred branches and the dense network of lightning. At this point, the captive area was empty, with only the five crimson pools still filled with vibrant phoenix flowers.
Without hesitation, Mo Yang took off his wristband and threw it into the largest pool.
Wan Mei followed suit.
Zhou Api looked at their actions, feeling a bit puzzled about what they were doing. Unfortunately, he couldn’t find anything he could throw into the pool among his belongings. But then he looked at the jade pendant talisman he was wearing. He gritted his teeth, quickly took it off, and threw it into the pool.
Mo Yang turned to look at him. “What are you doing?”
Zhou Api cried out, “I just feel like following the bosses won’t go wrong…”
Yang Heigou, the boss, “…Okay, let’s see what happens when you throw a jade pendant in.”
While they were talking, the pool containing the wristbands and the jade pendant started visibly decreasing in volume. Soon, the water in that pool dried up, and the two wristbands and one jade pendant automatically flowed into the next pool.
This process was repeated for the remaining pools in the captive area, and after about ten minutes, all five pools were completely dry. Only two crimson wristbands and one jade pendant with a red dot in the center remained.
The next second, countless purple lightning bolts, as if they had witnessed something extraordinary, struck down one after another onto the two wristbands.
Zhou Api: “???”
Why didn’t they strike my jade pendant? Are they discriminating against my small-sized pendant?! I can’t keep up with the bosses’ pace!!!
Lonely dogs don’t deserve magic artefacts
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
+1 lmao, poor Zhou Api can’t have a good item
cause you’re a third wheel ~
I really like how Wan Mei has a genius brain while Mo Yang is also smart when it comes to logic. They’re such a good pair, where they can certainly keep up with each other. Power couple, indeed!
I’m so excited. What will happen next ah? Will they succeed in creating Phoenix Rings?
Thank you for the update ❤️💯
oh my. will those bracelets be their wedding bands now?
Lol, it’s a pair. Why you single dog item can mix in? Lol thank you