Although the NPC had high attack power, its movement speed was extremely slow. Jiang Yuan and the others huddled inside the protective shield behind the NPC, anxious as hell but helpless—the mobs outside were too terrifying; stepping out meant instant death.
"Bro, can you please move faster?"
Ding Ye, hiding inside the protective shield, stared at the snail-paced NPC and urged it anxiously, but it seemed deaf, plodding along at its own fixed speed.
After about five minutes, the NPC finally cleared all the mobs and led the group to the opposite side of the platform.
Having fulfilled its mission, the NPC walked forward a few steps on its own, then gradually vanished. Just then, a long box suddenly spawned on the ground.
[Quest Item: Heavenly Mechanism Dragon Box] Note: Opens to obtain the equipment "True Martial Sword." Equipping this grants the skill "Swords of the Universe."
"Who’s taking this quest item?"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng read the box’s description and glanced at the others. Ding Ye immediately raised his hand, curious and eager to give it a try.
"Alright, Ding Ye, you open it!"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng said to Ding Ye, who beamed with joy and scampered over to use the interaction key to open the Heavenly Mechanism Dragon Box.
As Ding Ye finished his action, Jiang Yuan and the others saw a uniquely shaped long sword appear on Ding Ye’s back, its blade engraved with the Big Dipper.
"This sword is meant to awaken the sword spirit on the platform, but can anyone tell me where the sword spirit is?"
Ding Ye checked the skill description of the "True Martial Sword" and looked at Jiang Yuan and the others with a bewildered expression.
The group exchanged glances. They were all first-timers in this dungeon, clueless about the sword spirit’s spawn point, so they could only shake their heads in response.
"Let’s split up and search. We can’t waste any more time."
Seeing the dungeon’s remaining time dwindling, Wen Ding Cang Sheng quickly addressed the team. The five members immediately fanned out in five directions, scouring the platform area around them.
"How’s it going? Found anything?"
After circling the entire platform, the group regrouped, and Wen Ding Cang Sheng asked everyone.
"No."
"Nothing."
"I didn’t find anything either."
Ding Ye, Jiang Yuan, Hamster Pudding, and Genesis Xiao Yun all shook their heads. Then Ding Ye suddenly spoke up: "Maybe only I can find it, because this sword only gives hints to me."
As Ding Ye finished, a flash of inspiration struck Jiang Yuan. He had the four team members other than Ding Ye stand at each corner of the platform, dividing the rectangular area into four sections. Then he had Ding Ye start from the farthest corner and search each section meticulously, like sweeping for mines, one block at a time.
Sure enough, when Ding Ye reached the area assigned to Hamster Pudding, the "True Martial Sword" on him reacted, its blade vibrating sharply with a buzzing sound.
"It’s probably around here!"
Ding Ye arrived at a spot with coordinates "388, 374" and found a small sword-shaped interaction key suddenly appearing before him. He stopped immediately, announced to the group, and then activated the skill inherent to the "True Martial Sword."
In an instant, the True Martial Sword on Ding Ye’s back flew out on its own, landed on the ground, and transformed into a towering boss, the "True Martial Sword Spirit."
"The boss is out! We can fight it, hurry!"
Ding Ye called out, immediately charging in to use a taunt skill to grab the boss’s aggro. The others reacted swiftly, rushing over to start dealing damage.
The boss had very low health. Hamster Pudding buffed everyone with status effects, and with a single burst of damage, the group instantly killed the giant sword-form boss named "True Martial Sword Spirit"!
[Ding! A boss, the True Martial Dual Venerables, has been spotted ahead. Defeat them as quickly as possible (the two bosses must die within 60 seconds of each other)!]
After swiftly taking down the sword spirit, a prompt rang in Jiang Yuan and the others’ ears. Then the five team members saw two nearly identical bosses appear not far ahead on the platform.
"These two bosses can’t die more than a minute apart, meaning we have to kill them at the same time. That seems a bit tricky!"
Ding Ye, hearing the prompt, turned to the team’s commander, Wen Ding Cang Sheng, and remarked.
"Here’s the plan: I’ll pull one and fight it, while you guys take the other. Keep me updated on the remaining health percentage of your boss so I can pace myself."
Jiang Yuan said, then began summoning his creatures.
"Summon Sand River Turtle!" "Summon Evolution!" "Heavenly Sand River Turtle!"
"Blood Covenant Scroll, channel the power of the stars to manifest as Xuanwu, pledge to me."
"Blood Covenant Scroll, channel the power of the stars to manifest as Zhuque, pledge to me."
"Blood Covenant Scroll, channel the power of the stars to manifest as Baihu, pledge to me."
Soon, a Heavenly Sand River Turtle and three sacred beasts were summoned by Jiang Yuan. Ordering Xuanwu and Baihu to cast Water Healing Shield and Unstoppable Shield on him, Jiang Yuan approached one of the bosses.
Seeing Jiang Yuan take one boss, Ding Ye quickly stepped forward, used a taunt skill, and pulled the remaining boss to the side.
"How much have you guys dealt?"
After a bit of damage, Jiang Yuan glanced over at Ding Ye’s group.
"Just dropped to 10% health. What about you?"
Wen Ding Cang Sheng cast a skill and took a moment to reply to Jiang Yuan.
"I’m at 20%. No worries, keep going. I’ll wait for you."
Jiang Yuan responded, then ordered all his summons to stop attacking. He tanked the boss’s hits with the Water Healing Shield, barely losing any health.
After a while, Ding Ye’s group finally brought their boss’s health down to 50%, and Jiang Yuan began to ramp up.
"Xuanwu Secret Art: Flood the Eight Wastelands!"
"Zhuque Secret Art: Blazing Blood Feathers!"
He unleashed two secret arts simultaneously. He refrained from using Baihu’s secret art because he feared triggering the 10% health reduction effect. Even without it, Baihu’s damage output was still impressive!
"Yuanzi, our boss is down to 20% health. How about yours?"
A few minutes later, Ding Ye shouted over to Jiang Yuan.
"Go ahead and fight until it’s at 5% health, then stop and wait for me."
Jiang Yuan’s boss was still at about 25% health. He told Ding Ye and the others to keep pushing, confident he could catch up.
Time ticked by. Ding Ye’s group had already brought their boss to 5% health and stopped attacking. Ding Ye held the aggro alone, letting the boss hit him, while the other four watched Jiang Yuan.
"Alright, I’m done! I’ll help you guys!"
Jiang Yuan burst down his boss and killed it, then walked over to Ding Ye and the others. He raised his hand to cast "Summon Follow," pulling all his summons over. Together with Ding Ye’s group, they finished off the remaining boss with just 5% health. The time between the two bosses’ deaths was less than ten seconds!