Lu Er looked at the map secretly while the temple slowly moved toward the top of the mountain.

  [198/500]

  'Come on, come on, don't disappoint me. I've already done my part.' He prayed internally.

  Every second the temple moved closer to the top counted. He had made many arrangements—including angering people he shouldn't—all for one scheme to work. The pieces were in place; all that remained was to wait.

  And suddenly, the survivor count started changing. A slight smile reached his face as he continued staring at the numbers.

  [197/500]

  …

  [196/500]

  …

  [195/500]

  …

  …

  [191/500]

  "Huh, what's happening?" He said aloud, trying to capture everyone's attention, his voice rising with manufactured surprise. "Why is the survivor count down so fast?"

  And sure enough, it did capture everyone's attention. Everyone started to look at the survivor count out of curiosity.

  "Maybe someone started a battle?"

  "You mean like us?"

  "Yeah, that time we reduced quite a number of survivors."

  "Who do you think are the ones fighting? Maybe there are other scions."

  "Wouldn't that be insane?" Yao Ming laughed. "We already have two scions from two different families right here."

  They continued to chatter among themselves as the temple tore through the cotton-like clouds and reached the top.

  The peak of the pillar-like mountain unfurled itself in breathtaking splendor, a sight that stole the breath from their lungs. The scenery visible from this elevation versus what lay below presented a contrast as stark as day and night. Below there were only rocky mountains, jagged ridges, and precipitous cliffs, the entire landscape shrouded in dim grey illumination as dense clouds obscured the sun's warmth. The only large source of light was the golden ray that shot upward from the peak.

  Meanwhile, the terrain atop the summit basked beneath a crystalline azure sky, fresh sunlight cascading down to spread gentle warmth throughout the area. Verdant grass and wild weeds carpeted the ground before them, creating the illusion of an island floating atop the clouds themselves. This was not the only such 'floating' island—numerous similar ‘islands’ dotted the skyscape all around. However, the more distant they appeared, the less greenery they possessed, gradually reverting to resemble the same barren rocky peaks and cliffs as the world below.

  There, a few hundred meters in front of them, lay a chest from whom a golden ray shot up into the sky.

  "All right, I will take the reward and come back." Lu Er walked toward the entrance but stopped near Hua Yong, his voice carrying a note of challenge. "Wait for me, ok."

  "Don't worry, pal. I'm sure you will get many chances in the future. I'll take this one." He said with a small snicker loud enough that Hua Yong could hear it, and then continued toward the chest.

  Walking on those fields was a pleasant experience he hadn't felt in a while. The crunchy fresh grass released an earthy scent with each step, and the warm sunlight soothed him to the point that he had an urge to just lay down and take a good nap.

  Just as he reached halfway to the chest—

  "Lu Zhiheng! Watch out!" A shout carrying his name reached his ear, the voice sharp with alarm.

  Immediately, he jerked sideways, but the spear still grazed the side of his stomach, spilling blood and guts onto the pristine grass beneath him.

  "Aaaargh—" Grabbing the wound, he writhed in agony as he fell sideways on the ground.

  Meanwhile, Hua Yong came running from the back and dashed right past him without a second thought. He only stopped for a second there to retrieve his weapon from where he'd dropped it.

  "Hua Yong! What are you doing?!" Xia Sahui shouted, her voice cracking with fury. She picked up her weapons and satchel and ran after him. The rest of the group watched as the scions were going astray.

  "Should we do something?" Cai Hong asked, his voice uncertain, his eyes darting between the fleeing figures.

  "Do what?" Hu Jian replied. "Just let them handle themselves, it's not our business. It'll be fine. They're smart."

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  Lu Er kept the pressure on his wound, his fingers pressing against the gaping flesh in a futile attempt to hold his insides in place. Xia Sahui reached him and took out a healing pill from her pouch. With some effort, he managed to pop the pill in his mouth.

  The pill slowly started to mend the wound, the ragged edges of flesh slowly knitting together.

  Hua Yong stood in front of the chest, his chest heaving with exertion. "Heh, fools!" He reached out to open it.

  Suddenly, the chest moved.

  "What?" He tried to reach again, it moved again, sliding away from his grasping fingers every time.

  "What is happening?" He repositioned himself and jumped directly onto it, but the chest grew legs and ran away! Four wooden legs sprouted from its base, and it scampered across the grass with surprising speed, the golden light bobbing along with its movement like a beacon leading nowhere.

  He fell—but managed to land on his legs, his balance shifting instantly. 'What is this bullshit?!' He quickly ran after the golden chest.

  The treasure chest ran to the edge and then jumped onto the other mountain with ease.

  Hua Yong stopped near the cliff for a moment, hesitating whether he'd be able to make the jump. The gap was enormous, the drop below nothing but clouds. But he took a few steps back and shot forward with full speed. Though the jump wasn't humanly possible, Hua Yong had taken strength and agility enhancing pills, so he was able to somehow make it.

  He rolled onto the other side and then continued, his momentum carrying him forward as the chase resumed.

  Lu Er was still on the ground, his wound healing slowly. "Go after him."

  "No, you need to get better first." Xia Sahui's voice was sharp with frustration. "If you don't survive, then it'll be worthless."

  "Don't let him take it! Go!" His voice was desperate. "I'll follow after you. This is what I want."

  Hearing this, Xia Sahui gave him a slight nod and ran toward the edge, her silhouette disappearing into the distance.

  Lu Er lay on the grass while sunlight created a slight halo visible with his closed eyes.

  'Ah, it's so comfortable. I got my wish fulfilled this easily. Haha, but I didn't expect the chest to grow legs and run away. This might be little problematic.'

  The comfort washed away the tiredness, and the pill washed the pain. Soon, the wound was completely healed.

  Lu Er looked at the survivor count. And it was still going down, one every few seconds.

  'I need to hurry up.' He thought as he got up and followed the direction of the golden light that was still visible. He ran straight all the way to the edge and without stopping, jumped. The entire chasm was covered in a single leap.

  After running for some time, the green fields slowly turned into rocky mountain tops. The most peculiar thing about these mountains was that even though they were situated so high, none of them were covered in snow and instead were covered in either greens or grey.

  After burning through quite some time, he slowed down as Xia Sahui and Hua Yong appeared far into view near a cliff.

  On the end of the cliff was the golden chest. There was nowhere more to go, the other mountain was about five hundred meters away, so the chest was essentially just captured at this point. Unless they somehow managed to not catch it even after all that.

  "Hua Yong, what are you doing?! We had an agreement! Are you breaking the agreement this easily?!" Xia Sahui's voice was raw with betrayal. "Is this Hua family's honour?"

  "Hah, I never swore anything on my family's honour. It's your fault for believing something as childish as a verbal agreement."

  "You! You will regret this!" She shouted as she threw her quiver and bow on the ground and lashed onto him with a sword that she had obtained during the earlier exchange for Unawakened attacking the temple. The temple guardian's abilities didn't work outside the temple—so she had to go back to the basics.

  Hua Yong replied with a hostile stance, ready to strike with his spear. Normally, the sword would obviously be disadvantageous against the spear but that would only be the case normally. And Xia Sahui was not normal, she had a soul gift, that too of telekinesis.

  She tried to close the gap but Hua Yong didn't let her, his spear keeping her at bay with lazy precision. She quickly used her gift to shoot an arrow toward him, which got a reaction. Hua Yong had to dodge the arrow and him doing so allowed Sahui to close the gap instantly. She aimed a slash directly at his hands to disable him from fighting further.

  Hua Yong used the spear to block the blow and tried to counterattack by swinging his spear horizontally.

  She was slightly taken aback by his strength but continued putting pressure with aggressive attacks, each strike carrying the weight of her frustration and fury.

  She thrust her sword forward after a few more exchanges which Hua Yong completely ignored and slashed her leg instead. The hit connected as a nasty wound opened up on her shin.

  In return, Hua Yong was only slightly grazed by the stab near his shoulder before he pulled back. Immediately after the injury, Xia Sahui slowly started getting overwhelmed by Hua Yong. She used her gift quite a few times to keep the battle equal on both sides but each use drained her.

  "I'm here!" Lu Er shouted from a distance.

  Finally, she would be able to take a slight break when Lu Er joined the battle. Her face had paled a bit too much as she looked visibly exhausted, the color drained from her cheeks by blood loss and expended energy.

  Unfortunately, Hua Yong had also heard him, he had to do something if he wanted to win.

  "Ahhh! I'll face the results later!" He shouted and quickly jabbed forward, his spear a blur of motion. Xia Sahui, though injured, wasn't useless, so she continued to dodge, moving around the mountain, maintaining her distance.

  "Watch out!" Lu Er shouted as she stopped abruptly realizing that she was nearly a step away from the cliff. The realization came too late, the spear jabbed at her torso, opening another deadly wound.

  "Arghhh!" The cry was torn from her throat.

  The golden chest took the opportunity and quickly found its way around them and ran away, its wooden legs carrying it further into the distance.

  "Lu Zhiheng, take the chest!"

  "If you get near that chest, she dies, you bastard!".

  For a moment, Lu Er stopped and looked at them with visible hesitation and confusion.

  It didn't last for long. Hua Yong pushed Xia Sahui with his spear, she tried to revolt but was helpless and got herself thrown off the cliff.

  "Noo!!" Lu Er abandoned the chest immediately and jumped toward Xia Sahui.

  Thankfully, at the last moment, he was able to grab onto her, his grip iron-tight despite the awkward angle. Slowly, he tried to pull her up.

  Hua Yong stabbed the spear right through his kidney.

  "Gah!" He shouted.

  "Sorry, I hate to do this, but I can't let you follow me anymore." Hua Yong said in an almost apologetic tone, but Lu Er could hear the slightly playful tone beneath the surface.

  Hua Yong continued to stab him as he slowly pulled Xia Sahui up. Lu Er got stabbed multiple times in his leg and back—but he didn't loosen the grip.

  Just as he managed to get Xia Sahui to grab onto the cliff, her fingers finding purchase on the rocky edge, Hua Yong aimed to stab at his heart, the spear tip glinting in the sunlight, promising a quick end.

  Hua Yong almost succeeded.

  Suddenly, Lu Er jerked toward him: "Ahh—I will take you with me, you asshole." He grabbed his clothes and pulled; his momentum dragged both of them toward the cliff's edge.

  Hua Yong, startled, immediately kicked him, throwing himself back and Lu Er into the cliff.