Mystery Descends: My Exchanges Are Not Equal

The grief-stricken person was a burly man dressed in coarse black hemp clothing.

"My war pet! It's dead! What on earth did this?!"

Behind him stood a man draped in a black robe, tall and gaunt with sunken eyes.

At this moment, the man in the black robe silently stepped forward, placing his palm on the Diao Jing White Tiger, emanating waves of soul power.

After a moment, he frowned slightly and said, "Hun Yan, your Diao Jing White Tiger wasn't killed by a fierce beast, it was done by humans."

The burly man's eyes widened a little: "Xiao Mo, you say the White Tiger was killed by humans? There's such a strong human nearby? It shouldn't be possible!"

Xiao Mo's face was shrouded within the black robe, and he spoke in a low voice: "Look at the White Tiger's body, no external injuries, yet its bones are broken inch by inch, and its organs have been shattered into pieces. If it was done by a fierce beast, there should be external injuries, not internal ones."

Hun Yan furrowed his brow and said, "That may not be true! Some fierce beasts possess special talents that could also kill the White Tiger!"

Xiao Mo sneered: "Then look at the footprints around here, they are clearly human, not beastly."

Hun Yan quickly looked around, indeed seeing several messy footprints.

He gasped deeply: "Xiao Mo, we clearly checked this area, no signs of human activity. A thousand miles away, there are some weak tribes, but they can't possibly contend against the White Tiger, could it be..."

"Now that people have appeared, could it be that those challengers have shown up?!"

Xiao Mo nodded slightly: "If my guess is correct, that's exactly the case!"

Hun Yan was surprised: "Seven days ago, the Great World underwent sudden changes, and it was only then that our tribe could use the teleportation array. Challengers shouldn't have appeared in the Great World so quickly!"

Xiao Mo spoke softly: "Among them must be some exceptional individuals who could descend early."

Hun Yan furrowed his brow: "To break through the world's restrictions and descend upon the Great World within seven days, their power must indeed be extraordinarily strong!"

Xiao Mo nodded slightly, then said: "Indeed, very strong! However, you need not worry, our tribe received an indication that the challengers this time come from a Small Thousand World."

Upon hearing this, Hun Yan smirked slightly, speaking with an air of pride: "The humans from a Small Thousand World are far inferior to the humans from our Middle Thousand World. Moreover, we are among the top ranks in the Middle Thousand World, compared to peers of the same level and realm, we can absolutely crush them."

Hearing this, Xiao Mo remained non-committal: "That is true, so we don't need to be overly concerned. On the other hand, our tribe has waited for millennia, and new challengers have finally appeared."

"This time, we must act and kill off this batch of challengers! This is the last opportunity given to us, we must seize it!"

Hun Yan also smiled slightly: "Indeed! Our tribe's luck is quite good; the challengers assigned to this Great World come from a Small Thousand World, this time, we can definitely achieve our tribe's redemption!"

"By the way, what exactly is the benefit of killing a challenger?"

Xiao Mo sneered coldly: "For now, there's a target, so why not try and find out?"

Hun Yan: "You mean the person who killed my Diao Jing White Tiger?"

Xiao Mo: "Exactly! The blood in your Diao Jing White Tiger is still warm, that person shouldn't have left too long ago. In my view, he left at most less than half a quarter of an hour ago."

Hun Yan: "My Diao Jing White Tiger had combat strength at the Yellow Tier Peak, the person who could kill the Diao Jing White Tiger likely possesses Half-Step Profound Tier strength."

Half-Step Profound Tier strength, with Comprehensive Combat Power ranging from thirteen thousand to eighteen thousand.

Profound Tier Combat Power, even at a low-grade Foundation Establishment, the weakest can reach at least twenty thousand combat power.

Hun Yan continued: "Both you and I have Half-Step Profound Tier combat power, even if we catch up to that person, it will take a hard fight to take them down. If we're unlucky and they escape, it wouldn't be worthwhile."

Xiao Mo was silent for a moment, nodding slightly: "Makes sense!"

Their tone seemed as though they were confident about dealing with Wang Teng, never considering the possibility of their own failure, only contemplating that Wang Teng might escape.

Xiao Mo's eyes flickered: "Let's do this. We'll return to the tribe and let the Clan Leader decide!"

Hun Yan's eyes lit up: "The Clan Leader is a Profound Tier powerhouse, if he takes action against a Half-Step Profound Tier from a Small Thousand World, it must be an easy task."

Xiao Mo smiled: "If the Clan Leader learns new challengers have appeared, he'll definitely be pleased."

Hun Yan sighed: "My only worry is that by the time we return, finding that challenger might prove difficult."

Xiao Mo smiled confidently: "Rest assured! That person will definitely return. Don't forget, we were attracted here by the Spiritual Eye Spring, which can provide a steady supply of Basic resource Spiritual Spring Water. With such resources, he can't not come back."

"Moreover, if my calculations are correct, he passed through here likely to get to Heaven-Reaching Lake to find the Ancient Divine Hall!"

Hun Yan: "Makes sense! However, even if he reaches Heaven-Reaching Lake, he has to first activate the area's coordinates for the Ancient Divine Hall to start manifesting, which will make him wait for about an hour."

Xiao Mo chuckled: "Exactly, let's go! We need to hurry back to the tribe and report to the Clan Leader!"

"It's time to leave! It's just noon, but the fog in this ancient town is getting denser. Initially, we could gather some Soul Wood in Moon Exploration Ancient Town, but the plan's difficult to execute now that my Diao Jing White Tiger is dead!"

Hun Yan looked sadly at the corpse on the ground.

Xiao Mo sighed: "Indeed! Without the Diao Jing White Tiger, when the fog fully descends upon Moon Exploration Ancient Town, it's no place for people to stay. We must hurry and leave! The dense fog is about to completely engulf the town, we can't linger!"

Xiao Mo glanced around at the gray fog, visibility was now less than five meters.

This scene made his heart uneasy.

He seemed quite wary of the fog-covered Moon Exploration Ancient Town.

Hun Yan also glanced at the gray fog, knowing they couldn't afford any more delay.

"Let's go!"

At once, the two of them stood back-to-back, stepping onto the teleportation array and placing a Source Stone into the central groove of the array.

"Buzz~!"

The next second, the teleportation array lit up with dazzling spiritual light.

As the grand array operated, the two of them transformed into white light and vanished.

In the gray fog, the atmosphere of Moon Exploration Ancient Town became even more somber.

"Wooo~!"

In the depths of the ancient town, it seemed something was awakening...

At the same time, Wang Teng finally arrived at Heaven-Reaching Lake.

As far as he could see, he beheld an expansive, boundless grand lake.

The lake's surface shimmered with light, crystal clear all the way to the bottom.

However, he didn't see any trace of a great hall.

He quickly pulled out the map, confirming the location was correct.

Could the map be wrong?

Wang Teng muttered to himself.

Just then, a familiar mechanical voice transmitted a message.

[Tip: You have entered the Heaven-Reaching Lake territory.]

[Tip: Detection of your identity as Celestial Court Master, the Ancient Divine Hall has been automatically activated, surrender will begin soon, surrender time one hour.]

[The surrender countdown begins!]

[60:00]

[59:59]

[59:58]

...

Hearing this prompt, Wang Teng noticed divine patterns reflected on the lake's surface.

When he raised his head to look, he was instantly shocked by the scene before him!

Mysterious runes shuttled back and forth.

Endless streams of data poured down, forming every brick and tile of the Ancient Divine Hall.

In no time, a phantom of the divine hall appeared above the lake, suspended in the sky ten thousand feet high.

Its structure mostly hidden in the clouds, making it hard to see the full view, only giving a sense of misty vastness, majestic and sacred.

That was the Ancient Divine Hall!

Truly magnificent!

Wang Teng gazed up at the altitude with awe.

At this moment, endless streams of data continued to flow from the void, incessantly perfecting the Ancient Divine Hall.

Right, with the divine hall so high up, how could one go up if they didn't have flying skills?

Just as this thought arose, he noticed the phantom of the divine hall on the lake shattering, ripples dispersing widely.

Dozens of black strips hung down from the bottom of the divine hall, resembling plant roots, dipping into the lake.

As he focused his gaze, he realized those black strips were bronze chains, connecting the lake surface and the divine hall.

They were simply too far apart, looked like a Celestial God Tree from afar, with countless roots hanging down.

It seemed that those without flying skills could only climb up to the divine hall via those ten-thousand-foot bronze chains from the lake surface.

Now it made sense why this lake was called the Heaven-Reaching Lake.

Because with these ascending chains, the lake could reach the heavens!

That said, climbing up from the bottom of the bronze chains would consume quite a bit of stamina.

However, for Wang Teng, that was simply not a problem.

But right now, Wang Teng still couldn't go up.

The divine hall's surrender would last for an hour.

During this time, he couldn't ascend to the Ancient Divine Hall.

It seemed Wang Teng could only wait.

At this moment, he sighed with emotion.

But then again, waiting an hour might not be such a bad thing after all!

This time, in pursuit of speed, he hadn't had the chance to digest many of his gains.

This was the time to go back, fully absorb those gains, and enhance his own strength.

He thought of the S-Level Divine Domain evolution bounty.

This was a chain bounty.

Once activated, it must be pursued stage by stage.

Who knows, would each stage of the bounty have a time limit?

If there was a time limit, after completing the first stage, he would have to rush to do the next stage bounty, leaving no time to digest his previous gains.

It could also be that due to insufficient strength, he might fail midway through the bounty.

Given this, he might as well fully digest his previous gains, elevate his strength to a higher level, and then accept the bounty, increasing his chances of success.

Thinking this way, Wang Teng suddenly became clear.

Also, his visit to activate the Ancient Divine Hall was an essential step.

Even if he returned, he could use home teleport authorization to instantly return here.

With this thought, Wang Teng initiated homecoming.

A minute later, white light descended from the sky, and Wang Teng's figure disappeared by the Heaven-Reaching Lake...