Su Xi felt a pang of regret. Such a precious Zhu Guo, and it was eaten by Liu Piaopiao. If she had obtained it all and refined its essence with the laboratory, her cultivation would surely have advanced further after consuming it.
Liu Piaopiao's cultivation had already reached the Foundation Establishment stage. Although Su Xi had knocked her out, she quickly regained consciousness.
As soon as she woke up, ignoring the throbbing pain in her head, she immediately searched for the Zhu Guo. However, after searching the surroundings, she found nothing.
She hadn't expected anyone to dare snatch her belongings, and she was so enraged she felt like she would explode.
Who on earth was so lacking in martial virtue?
However, despite her anger, Liu Piaopiao dared not linger.
Otherwise, once the Crimson Blood Flood Dragon returned, not only would she fail to find the Zhu Guo, but she would also become its prey.
Having obtained the Zhu Guo, and guided by the fire-burning stick, Su Xi returned to her team. On the way, with nothing else to do, she immediately refined the essence of the Zhu Guo using her laboratory.
Seeing that the others were still recovering and would not finish anytime soon, she swallowed the hawthorn-ball-like object in her hand.
Only by increasing her strength could she survive.
After consuming the pill, Su Xi suddenly felt a burning sensation in her dantian, as if someone was scorching her with flames. The pain caused beads of sweat to form on her forehead, and her body instinctively began to circulate the Ling Xi Finger technique taught by Lin Qing.
As the cultivation technique was circulated repeatedly, the discomfort gradually subsided, and her understanding of talismans deepened.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Xi opened her eyes. The uncomfortable sensation was gone, leaving her feeling refreshed and invigorated.
"En!" Su Xi stretched languidly and suddenly noticed that the four people beside her were staring at her with wide eyes. Even Wu Yufeng had a look of surprise on his face.
Seeing the shock in their eyes, Su Xi touched her nose and asked curiously, "Why are you all looking at me like that?"
Even if she were beautiful, they shouldn't be staring like this.
Xu Jiu swallowed hard and asked incredulously, "You... you don't feel anything at all?"
"What should I be feeling?" Su Xi looked at Xu Jiu, her face full of confusion.
Could it be that these people could predict the future and knew she had snatched the Zhu Guo?
Seeing Su Xi's genuine expression, Xu Jiu's face became even more complex.
Back then, to reach Foundation Establishment, he had paid a hefty price to purchase a large number of Foundation Establishment Pills and consumed many rare treasures before he barely managed to establish his foundation.
Yet, Su Xi had broken through just by meditating for a while?
Was there any justice?
Was there any fairness?
Xu Jiu knew that there were many geniuses in this world who could achieve things that ordinary people couldn't in a lifetime, without much effort.
He just hadn't expected to encounter one and be so disheartened.
Upon hearing Xu Jiu's explanation, Su Xi quickly lowered her head and scanned herself internally. She instantly discovered that she had indeed reached Foundation Establishment.
With this confirmed, a smile appeared on Su Xi's face. Increasing her strength in this place meant a greater chance of survival.
Although Wu Yufeng was also shocked by how easily someone had reached Foundation Establishment, he managed to control his expression. As a genius himself, his own Foundation Establishment had not been overly difficult. Su Xi's process was even smoother, but everyone had their own destiny, and it was not entirely unacceptable.
He did not want to dwell on these matters and turned his gaze to the forest ahead, saying, "There's something strange about this forest. We should focus our attention on it."
His cultivation had reached a bottleneck, so he urgently needed a new opportunity for a breakthrough. The current trial was precisely what he needed.
Upon hearing this, the group proceeded towards the eerie forest.
Their team's strength was not weak to begin with, and now that Su Xi's cultivation had reached the Foundation Establishment stage, they were sure to achieve a good ranking. Even their fear of the strange forest had diminished somewhat.
After walking for a short while, they suddenly heard a scream from the depths of the silent forest, which instantly drew their attention.
Exchanging glances, they adjusted their path and headed towards the source of the scream, wanting to know what had happened.
Soon, they saw a patch of ground stained red with blood, with scattered fragments of internal organs and torn flesh emitting a foul odor.
"What happened?" Tang Xiaodie, barely suppressing her nausea, her little face pale.
She had never witnessed such a gruesome scene and had never imagined that the sect trials would involve losing one's life, and in such a brutal manner.
Wu Yufeng crouched down and touched the bloodstains on the ground. They were still warm, indicating that the person had died recently. He muttered to himself.
In previous trial competitions, there had never been any reports of disciples getting into trouble.
After all, everyone carried a teleportation jade pendant. As soon as they encountered danger, they could be teleported out immediately. Therefore, injuries were common, but deaths were rare.
However, intact jade pendants were scattered around, indicating that these people had died before they could even crush the jade pendants.
This situation had only one explanation: these people simply had no time to crush their jade pendants.
Hearing Wu Yufeng's analysis, Su Xi's expression grew serious.
Based on the scattered traces on the ground, at least four people had died, but there were only two jade pendants. Did the remaining jade pendants fall elsewhere, or were they rendered useless?
Recalling the conversation between Liu Piaopiao and Ouyang Yuxin earlier, a bad premonition surfaced in her mind. However, she decided not to tell the others.
It wasn't a lack of trust, but rather the knowledge that if she spoke, it would surely cause panic. Once the morale of the group faltered, it would be difficult to lead them.
"Everyone be careful. I feel like these corpses were killed by a demon beast," Tang Mingfeng said, his eyes on the bodies.
"Demon beast?" Xu Jiu asked incredulously, "What level of beast could have such power to kill these people so quickly?"
The time between hearing the scream and their arrival was less than a quarter of an hour. Moreover, it wasn't one person who died, but several.
Tang Linfeng raised his head, his expression grim. "Based on my judgment, this demon beast is likely at the peak of level three, or even higher, which is why it possessed such immense power to kill so many people so swiftly."
"Peak level three?"
Hearing Tang Mingfeng's analysis, everyone's expression became solemn.
Peak level three was comparable to the peak of the human Golden Core stage. Even with their numbers, they would only become food for the demon beast if they encountered it.
They couldn't understand why such a powerful demon beast would be present in the trial. Was it unknown, or intentional?