Chapter 102: Summon the Evil God or Summon the Dragon God?
Deep within the dark forest, ten tall knights clad in silver armor and helmets dashed swiftly through the trees, their movements swift and precise.
Among them, a woman in a snow-white skirt moved like a ghost, her figure flickering forward as if skipping frames. Strangely, her eye sockets held no pupils—only swirling layers of dark purple.
As she advanced, countless fragments of light floated through the forest, trailing behind her like streams of data before vanishing into her eyes.
Suddenly, Cha Naxue's flickering form came to an abrupt halt. She landed gracefully on a thick branch, her swirling violet gaze shifting slowly.
Panda's large head emerged from the soil. "Master, have you found it?"
"That tree, five meters beneath it." Cha Naxue's vortex-like pupils dissolved, reforming into calm, light-purple irises as she pointed. "Go. Retrieve the key."
"Yes!" Panda grinned, impressed by his master's abilities. Without hesitation, he burrowed back into the earth.
Cha Naxue's spirit weapon was called [Amidst Nether].
One of its abilities, Nether Eyes, allowed her to perceive all information from the next second and the past three days wherever she went.
In her vision moments ago, she had witnessed an event from an hour prior—when the Mijia Beast was still explaining the rules. A golden key had descended from the sky, embedding itself into the soil beneath a large tree.
According to the rules, a thousand bark keys were hidden throughout the forest. Only one, the golden key, could unlock the seal of the tree house.
"Found it!"
Panda quickly resurfaced, his chubby hand clutching the golden key.
Cha Naxue was about to nod when her expression sharpened. "Run!"
Whoosh—
A dark green arrow streaked through the night. Panda ducked his head, vanishing into the earth just in time.
Bang!!
The arrow collided with a knight's shield, exploding into emerald light. The surrounding vegetation withered instantly.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Hundreds of dark green arrows lit up the sky.
"Sister Naxue, come to your brother's arms~" Gongsun Ze's teasing voice rang out as he sprinted amidst the volley, followed closely by Yulina and eight knights.
Boom!!!
The forest trembled. Trees toppled in waves.
In the distance, atop a hill, a man in white and a woman in black stood side by side, observing the battle below.
"Third-level spiritual pressure… one, two… wow."
Xia Feng raised an eyebrow, amused. "Gongsun Ze really knows how to act. He's already at the third level, yet he refused to fight back when I beat him up. This guy's definitely playing the fool to catch the tiger."
Mu Qingtong glanced at the battlefield. "The female knight beside Cha Naxue—Silver—is also third-level."
Xia Feng nodded. "I remember her. She barely speaks, and she doesn't seem the sharpest, but I didn't expect her to be this strong."
"So, these two groups have been wary of each other all along."
Realization dawned on him. "Oh no, we're being underestimated. They don't seem to take us seriously at all."
He turned to Mu Qingtong, smirking. "Miss Mu, can you tolerate this?"
The black-clad woman tilted her head slightly, her delicate face puzzled. "Mr. Xia, you seem quite idle. From the start, you've made no effort to search for the key. Are you even here to complete the task?"
"Key? Who said we haven't looked for it? Look, I found one here."
Xia Feng pulled out a bark key—the one he had taken from No. 17 after killing him.
"Huh?"
But the moment he held it up, the outer brown bark crumbled away, revealing a smooth, silver-white key beneath, glowing faintly.
Mu Qingtong studied it curiously, then took out her own bark key to compare.
"It's definitely different," she murmured.
"But wasn't the real key supposed to be golden?" Xia Feng frowned, rubbing the silver key between his fingers. No information came to mind—it seemed utterly ordinary.
Mu Qingtong shook her head. "The rules said there are a thousand bark keys hidden here, and only one—the golden one—can unlock the tree house's seal. But they never said the others were useless. It seems you got lucky."
Lucky?
Xia Feng's hand instinctively brushed the Ancient Warblade at his waist. Was this his own luck… or the princess's mysterious influence?
Still, the silver key's purpose remained unclear. For all he knew, it could just be a decoy.
"Let's go. Back the way we came."
They didn't linger near the battlefield—getting dragged into the fight would only reveal their strength prematurely.
Ten minutes later, the clash ended.
The first-level knights lay dead. Panda was severely injured. Yulina had unleashed an unknown fourth-level attack. And Gongsun Ze had seized the golden key.
The battlefield was littered with blood and dismembered limbs.
Cha Naxue, Yin, and Panda had vanished into the forest.
"Heh~" Yulina's bloodstained eyes gleamed as she watched Cha Naxue retreat. "All that effort… just to hand the prize to me."
"Enough gloating. Set up the formation," Gongsun Ze ordered coldly.
Yulina's gaze flickered with momentary confusion before melting into adoration. "Yes, Brother Gongsun~"
Ignoring her, Gongsun Ze scanned the area, ensuring no observers remained. Then he strode to the blood-soaked center of the battlefield, dug into the gore-drenched soil, and planted a jade-white sapling.
Yulina arranged the eighteen corpses in a circle around it—heads outward, feet inward.
"Brother Gongsun… will this really summon the evil god Anubis?"
Carving intricate patterns into the ground, Gongsun Ze smirked. "In half an hour, the Soul-Summoning Tree will mature. Then, anyone within three thousand meters bearing the God's Mark will sense it—and through it, we can call upon a god across time and space!"
Right now, he was the only one in this disaster space with the mark. The odds of a second person having it were negligible.
"Of course, that's assuming we retrieve Wen Zaiye's artifact first."
Standing, he dusted off his hands and grinned toward the shadowed trees.
"When the time comes… these ignorant mice will have the honor of witnessing a real god!"
"As expected of Brother Gongsun! You're amazing~" Yulina clung to his arm, swaying her hips, eyes starry.
A flicker of disgust crossed Gongsun Ze's face.
Truthfully, he'd grown bored with her. If not for her status, he wouldn't have wasted his mind-control ability on her.
His original target had been Cha Naxue—but even with the Black Moon Goddess's corruption, her mental defenses were bafflingly strong.
"Time for a new plaything."
Mu Qingtong's image flashed in his mind. His earlier mental probe had failed—she was hiding her power.
But it didn't matter. Once Anubis descended, everything would fall into place.
A dark glint lit Gongsun Ze's eyes as his lips twisted into a cruel smile.
"And as for Xia… it's time to settle accounts with that arrogant fool."
(End of Chapter)