Among the "Seven Mansions of the Black Tortoise," the third one, Nü Tu Fu, looked like a massive bat. Its wings stretched about five to six meters wide, with two sharp fangs protruding from its mouth and blood-red eyes.
[Ding! Congratulations! Your team has defeated the boss Nü Tu Fu and obtained the item "Nü Tu Fu Waist Token!"]
Ten minutes later, with the explosive damage from several powerful DPS in the team, Nü Tu Fu was easily slain. A system notification rang in everyone's ears, and they received the third boss waist token.
"Hurry, let the cheat lead us to the next boss!"
As the group walked out of the cave, Ding Ye eagerly looked at Jiang Yuan and urged.
In no time, led by the "cheat"—the sacred beast Black Tortoise—Jiang Yuan's team found the rat-headed, human-bodied boss, Xu Ri Shu, by a pond.
It had a rat's head with round, beady little eyes, and wore armor similar to Dou Mu Xie's, with several flags stuck on its back, much like the attire of martial generals in Peking opera.
The seven bosses of the Black Tortoise Mansions shared the same attributes, making them easy to take down. In just about two minutes, the team had reduced Xu Ri Shu's health by over seventy million.
A few minutes later, when Jiang Yuan and the others had brought the boss's health below half, two other teams that had also finished their third boss and were searching for the fourth one spotted them.
Unsurprisingly, a minute later, all ten players from those two teams were sent back to the respawn point by Jiang Yuan, adding another 10 points to his kill count.
Just as Jiang Yuan's team finished off Xu Ri Shu and followed the sacred beast Black Tortoise to find the fifth boss, Wei Yue Yan, they ran into trouble.
The dozen or so teams Jiang Yuan had previously killed by turning red had gathered another group to form an alliance, scouring the map for the five members of Jiang Yuan's team. They finally cornered them halfway.
"Let's go!"
Jiang Yuan summoned two sacred beasts to wipe out the dozens blocking their path, then, with a name tag so red it was nearly black, said to his team. Guided by the Black Tortoise, they set off to find the fifth boss, Wei Yue Yan.
But when Jiang Yuan and the others reached the boss under the Black Tortoise's guidance, they found that Ao Shi Long Huang's team was already fighting it, and all five of them had also turned red, clearly having killed others to steal the monster.
"Let's go. They didn't steal ours earlier, so we won't steal theirs."
Since Ao Shi Long Huang hadn't snatched their boss when they were fighting the second one, Jiang Yuan chose to return the favor. He said to his team and continued searching for another Wei Yue Yan that had spawned elsewhere.
Soon, at another location, the sacred beast Black Tortoise discovered another Wei Yue Yan, spawned near a pile of rubble.
After about ten minutes, they killed Wei Yue Yan and obtained the corresponding waist token. They had now taken down five of the Black Tortoise Mansions. All they needed were the last two bosses, Shi Huo Zhu and Bi Shui Yi, to complete this round of the constellation challenge!
Half an hour later, guided by the Black Tortoise, Jiang Yuan and his four teammates smoothly found the final two bosses of the Black Tortoise Mansions. After killing them, they obtained the sixth and seventh waist tokens.
"Done! We can go turn in the quest!"
Ding Ye was thrilled, shouting from his mount as he prepared to race back to Flowing Cloud City.
"Hold on. You've all turned white, but I'm still red! Let me buy an item to cleanse it!"
Jiang Yuan signaled Ding Ye to wait. Since the others hadn't fought, their names quickly turned white, but Jiang Yuan had killed dozens, accumulating over 150 kill points. He needed to buy the item "Pardon Decree" to clear his red name.
Each "Pardon Decree" could wash away 50 kill points. Jiang Yuan bought four, spending two thousand Dragon Kingdom coins, to turn his name white again.
After cleansing his red name, Jiang Yuan and his teammates returned to Flowing Cloud City, found the NPC "Constellation Challenge Supervisor," and turned in the quest.
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the Black Tortoise Mansions challenge! You have gained 3 billion cultivation points!]
The notification sounded, and everyone in the team except Chuang Shi Xiao Yun leveled up to 130 or above.
"Xiao Yun, how much more cultivation do you need to level up?"
Looking at Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, who was at level 129, Jiang Yuan immediately asked. If she could quickly reach level 130, their team could skip the Black Tortoise Mansions and take on the Vermilion Bird Mansions challenge.
"Still 10% short. I should be good after doing a few sect quests. Wait for me here a moment."
Chuang Shi Xiao Yun smiled apologetically at Jiang Yuan, said a few words, then ran to the Flying Celestial Maiden and teleported to her sect.
By the time Chuang Shi Xiao Yun finished her quests and reached level 130, it was already 9:40, leaving only about two hours until the event ended.
Once Chuang Shi Xiao Yun rejoined the team, Jiang Yuan immediately accepted the Vermilion Bird Mansions challenge quest from the "Constellation Challenge Supervisor" and led the team to a place called Three Wonders Terrace in the southern part of the celestial realm map.
The Vermilion Bird Mansions consisted of seven bosses: Jing Mu An, Gui Jin Yang, Liu Tu Zhang, Xing Ri Ma, Zhang Yue Lu, Yi Huo She, and Zhen Shui Yin.
While Jiang Yuan and the others were waiting for Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, Ao Shi Long Huang's team had already turned in the Black Tortoise Mansions quest and started on the Vermilion Bird Mansions ahead of them.
Currently, only their two teams were in this area, so Jiang Yuan had no intention of stealing Ao Shi Long Huang's monsters. Instead, he summoned the sacred beast Vermilion Bird and began searching slowly.
When they found the first boss, Jing Mu An, under a waterfall, Jiang Yuan noticed its health had increased from 300 million to 400 million.
Though the boss had an extra 100 million health, it only meant a few more minutes of fighting for Jiang Yuan's team.
An hour later, Jiang Yuan's team had taken down all seven bosses of the Vermilion Bird Mansions, returned to Flowing Cloud City to turn in the quest, and immediately accepted another to continue.
By the time they finished their second round of the Vermilion Bird Mansions, less than 20 minutes remained until the event ended.
As time passed, it quickly reached 11:30, and the system issued a server-wide announcement.
[The Constellation Envoys on all maps have returned to the celestial realm!]
With the night's event over, many players had significantly boosted their levels. Ao Shi Long Huang topped the level leaderboard at level 136, followed by Wen Ding Cang Sheng and Jiang Yuan, both at level 135.
Meanwhile, Ding Ye and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, who had previously made it onto the leaderboard, were pushed out again.