The Seven-Tailed Centipede boss had less than 200 million HP left. After another minute of sustained damage, it collapsed, and countless small centipedes burst out from its surroundings.
Jiang Yuan commanded his three sacred beasts to clear out the hundreds of small centipedes on the ground. He glanced at the task list—the countdown had just over 30 seconds left.
"Lucky that Yuanzi's artifact skill triggered, or we might not have finished it in time!" Ding Ye sighed in relief and said to the group.
After picking up the loot dropped by the boss, a jade-green immortal herb appeared at the spot where the boss had fallen.
[Ding! Hand over the collected immortal herb to the crane to complete the task.]
At that moment, a notification chimed in everyone's ears. As the team leader, Wen Ding Cang Sheng stepped forward without hesitation, completed the gathering action, and presented the herb to the crane.
"Screech!"
The crane extended its long beak, took the herb, spread its wings, and soared into the sky, quickly shrinking to a tiny dot.
"Creak!"
As the crane flew away, a door sound echoed, and the white jade-carved building's entrance swung wide open.
The group filed in. The first floor was empty, with a wooden staircase in the southeast corner. Following the stairs to the second floor, Jiang Yuan saw a statue standing in the center.
Wen Ding Cang Sheng followed the system prompt, walked up to activate the statue, and a spatial rift slowly formed.
Emerging from the rift, Jiang Yuan felt as if they had arrived in the sky—looking down, all he saw were layers of clouds.
Before them lay a vast platform, and they stood at its very edge. The platform's floor was engraved with a massive Bagua array, faintly glowing.
A tower-like structure stood in the middle of the platform. Jiang Yuan checked its health bar—not too thick, only 300 million HP.
"Ah!"
"Ah!"
As the team's two warriors, Ding Ye and Wen Ding Cang Sheng naturally took the lead. But the moment they stepped onto the platform, two beams of white light shot out from the Bagua array on the ground. With a scream, they didn't even have time to react before they fell dead on the spot!
"Stop! Something's wrong here!"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng, now a corpse, tried to warn the others, but Jiang Yuan, Cang Shu Bu Ding, and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun had already stepped in. They met the same fate as Wen Ding Cang Sheng, collapsing one after another!
"Never thought our first team wipe would happen like this. Unbelievable."
After respawning, the five stood at the platform's edge, staring at the Bagua array ahead. Wen Ding Cang Sheng let out a helpless chuckle.
"We can't step onto this platform now. What do we do?" Cang Shu Bu Ding asked, looking at the towering structure ahead.
"Looks like it's up to you two ranged classes, Jiang Yuan and Xiao Yun," Wen Ding Cang Sheng said, turning his gaze to Jiang Yuan and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun. Then he pulled Ding Ye to sit down on the spot.
"Lucky you, getting to slack off in this stage." Jiang Yuan glanced at the two melee fighters sitting on the ground, a wry smile tugging at his lips as he began summoning his beasts.
Fortunately, when Jiang Yuan's summons entered the platform, the Bagua array didn't react. And Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, with her ultra-long attack range, could hit the tower in the center of the platform while standing right next to Ding Ye.
"Meow! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
Bei Luo Shi Men on Jiang Yuan's shoulder wanted to join in, but the moment it jumped in, a beam of white light from the Bagua array sent it flying backward. It scrambled up from the ground, letting out a pained cry.
"Bei Luo, just stay put!" Jiang Yuan glanced at Bei Luo Shi Men, worried it might get into more trouble, and quickly told it.
"Meow!"
Bei Luo Shi Men nodded, hopped back onto Jiang Yuan's shoulder, and sat still, not daring to move again.
300 million HP wasn't too much, but it wasn't little either. Luckily, Jiang Yuan's summons had decent damage output, and with Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, the two of them didn't take too long.
After just over ten minutes, the tower collapsed, and the Bagua array pattern on the ground vanished.
The group cautiously stepped onto the platform, finally breathing a sigh of relief—no one dropped dead.
Walking forward along the platform, they followed a spiral staircase upward. Jiang Yuan and his four teammates arrived at another platform, where six figures stood—all bosses, named "Zhenwu Pavilion Sword Attendants," numbered one through six.
"Oh my god! So many bosses! How are we supposed to fight this?" Ding Ye stared at the six bosses, unsure which one to taunt.
Ding Ye tentatively attacked Sword Attendant Number One, and the other five swarmed him, locking him in place, completely immobilized.
Each of the six sword attendants had a different control effect: Number One could stun, Number Two could freeze, Number Three could put you to sleep, Number Four could silence you, preventing skill use, Number Five was the worst—it kept hitting Ding Ye with a "no healing" debuff, and Number Six caused continuous HP loss.
"Ahhh! Help!" Ding Ye was surrounded by the six sword attendants, bombarded with various status effects, stuck in place. He frantically called out to Jiang Yuan and the others.
Cang Shu Bu Ding, eager to save him, rushed in to heal him but was instantly frozen into an ice sculpture.
"Not good! Fall back to a safe spot!" Wen Ding Cang Sheng shouted, signaling Jiang Yuan and Chuang Shi Xiao Yun to retreat. Then they watched as Ding Ye and Cang Shu Bu Ding's health bars emptied, and they fell dead.
The group huddled in the safe zone, waiting for Ding Ye and Cang Shu Bu Ding to respawn, then started discussing a plan.
"These bosses have insane crowd control. The moment you step in, you're stuck like a statue, can't do anything. It's terrifying!" Ding Ye recalled the fear of being dominated by the six sword attendants, still shaken.
"Xiao Yun, try standing here and see if you can hit one of the bosses." Standing in the safe zone, Wen Ding Cang Sheng looked at Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, the team's longest-range attacker.
"Okay!" Chuang Shi Xiao Yun nodded, drew her bow, and loosed an arrow that shot like a meteor toward Sword Attendant Number One.
Swish!
Hit by the arrow, Sword Attendant Number One's hollow eyes locked onto Chuang Shi Xiao Yun, and it began walking stiffly toward her.
"Haha! It works!" Seeing the other five bosses stay put while only Number One approached, Ding Ye laughed and said to Wen Ding Cang Sheng.