The genius who counterattacked the mainland

After leaving the ruins, Xu Tiancai and the others continued their journey through this mysterious world. As they walked along a rugged path, the scenery around them became increasingly bizarre. Strange lights flashed across the sky from time to time, as if some mysterious power was surging. The plants along the road also grew more bizarre, some resembling twisted tentacles, while others glowed with an eerie fluorescence.

After walking for a while, they came to a small town. The town looked a bit run-down, with old houses and few pedestrians on the streets. However, they felt that there were some unknown secrets hidden here.

As they entered the town, they noticed a mixture of vigilance and fear in the eyes of the townspeople. Xu Tiancai approached an elder and asked him about the current state of the world. The elder hesitated before slowly speaking, "This world was once peaceful and beautiful, but since the rise of darkness, everything has changed. We live in fear, not knowing when disaster will strike again."

Xu Tiancai and the others explained their purpose. A glimmer of hope flashed in the old man's eyes. "Are you really here to save the world? Perhaps there's an ancient temple west of town. It's said to hold clues to fighting the forces of darkness, but it's also fraught with danger, and few dare approach."

Xu Tiancai and the others decided to go to the temple to investigate. They bid farewell to the old man and headed westward toward the town. Along the way, they sensed increasingly powerful magical fluctuations, which further confirmed their belief that the temple might be hiding something important.

Finally, they came upon the ancient temple. It stood on a barren landscape, shrouded in a mysterious mist. Its architecture was ancient and solemn, its walls engraved with mysterious symbols and patterns, as if telling of a long history.

They entered the temple cautiously. The interior was dark and damp, filled with an air of antiquity. Torches on the walls flickered faintly, barely illuminating the path ahead. As they walked along the corridor, they suddenly heard a low roaring sound from the depths.

Everyone immediately became alert. Xu Tiancai cast a lighting spell, making the surroundings even brighter. They continued forward and discovered a large room. Inside the room was a massive stone statue that looked like an ancient deity. It held a sword in its hand and gazed majestically ahead.

Just as they were observing the stone statue, the ground in the room suddenly began to shake, and many small holes appeared on the surrounding walls, from which countless arrows shot out.

"Everyone be careful!" Xu Tiancai shouted, and quickly cast a magic shield to protect everyone behind him. A rain of arrows hit the magic shield, making a crackling sound.

Su Yao and Lin were looking for the source of the attack and found that the small hole in the wall was controlled by a mechanism. Lin used her magic skills to try to crack the mechanism, but the mechanism was very complicated and it was difficult to find a clue for a while.

Alice concentrated her mind, sensing the magical fluctuations in the room, hoping to find a way to disable the mechanism. After some effort, she finally discovered a magic circle hidden in the corner, with a faint light flickering inside.

"Xu Tiancai, attacking that magic circle may be the key to shutting down the mechanism!" Alice shouted.

Upon hearing this, Xu Tiancai immediately gathered his magical power and launched a powerful attack towards the magic circle. After the magic hit the magic circle, the light flickered a few times, and then the mechanism in the room finally stopped working.

They breathed a sigh of relief and continued to observe the room. At the foot of the stone statue, they found a hidden compartment. Xu Tiancai carefully opened the compartment and found a tattered book and a sparkling crystal inside.

Xu Tiancai picked up the book and discovered that the text on it was written in an ancient magical language. It took him some effort to decipher it. The book described the source of the dark forces in this world and a powerful sealing magic that could temporarily seal the dark forces, but it required the collection of five mysterious gems to cast.

"It seems that we have to find these five gems to completely solve the problem of dark forces." Xu Tiancai said.

They picked up the crystal, and suddenly a map appeared in the crystal, marking five locations that might be the location of the gem.

Just as they were about to leave the room, a powerful dark aura suddenly rushed in. A huge black shadow appeared at the door, its figure blurred, emitting a strong dark power that made people shudder.

"Do you think you can get these clues so easily? You are so naive!" The shadow uttered a deep voice and attacked them. Dark power surged like a tide, instantly filling the entire room.

Xu Tiancai and his companions immediately cast their magic to fight the dark forces. They discovered that the shadow was incredibly powerful, far more formidable than any enemy they had encountered before. Xu Tiancai attempted to use the power of the crystal ball, but the shadow seemed to be somewhat restrained by it, and the effect was insignificant.

During the fierce battle, Su Yao discovered that the shadow's attacks had a certain pattern. Every time before it attacked, its body would tremble slightly. She told everyone about this discovery, and they decided to dodge and counterattack according to the shadow's attack pattern.

Xu Tiancai and Alice teamed up to cast a powerful joint magic attack on the shadow's weakness. Lin used magic to disrupt the shadow's movements, creating an opportunity for Xu Tiancai and Alice. Su Yao took the opportunity to find the shadow's flaws and prepare to deliver a fatal blow.

After a hard fight, they finally found a fatal flaw in the black shadow. Su Yao rushed forward without hesitation and used all her strength to pierce the weapon into the core of the black shadow. The black shadow let out a painful wail and then gradually dissipated.

After defeating the shadow, they left the temple and, following the map on the crystal, headed to the location of the first gem—a mysterious forest.

The trees in this forest were so tall and dense that sunlight could barely penetrate the gaps between the leaves. A thick fog filled the air, making it difficult to discern the direction. They entered the forest cautiously, constantly alert to any movement around them.

After walking for a while, they heard a strange sound, like the cry of some creature, but it was different from any sound they had heard before. The sound echoed in the forest and made people feel creepy.

"Everyone be careful, there may be dangerous creatures here." Xu Tiancai said in a low voice.

As they continued forward, they suddenly discovered some huge footprints on the ground. The footprints looked like they were left by some huge beast. The direction of the footprints was consistent with the direction they were heading, which made them feel a little uneasy.

As they went deeper into the forest, the fog grew thicker, blurring their vision. They had to slow down to avoid losing their way. Just then, a massive beast burst out from the fog. It was massive, like a giant bear, but its body was covered in sharp spines, and its eyes glowed red, giving it a ferocious look.

"What kind of monster is this?" Su Yao said in surprise.

The beast roared and lunged at them. Xu Tiancai and the others immediately dispersed to avoid the beast's attack. Xu Tiancai cast a fire spell to try to stop the beast's advance, but the beast didn't seem to be afraid of fire. It used its thorns to block the flames and continued to rush towards them.

Lin used earth magic to create a trap under the beast's feet, trying to trap it. After the beast fell into the trap, it struggled for a few times, but soon climbed out and became even more angry.

Alice continued to cast magic to attack the beast's weak parts such as its eyes and mouth, but the beast's defense was very strong and the magic attacks did not cause much damage to it.

Su Yao took the opportunity to go around the beast's back, looking for an opportunity to attack its back. She found a weak spot on the beast's back, where the thorns were sparse. She aimed at the weak spot, jumped hard, and stabbed the weapon into the beast's back.

The beast roared in pain and twisted its body wildly. Xu Tiancai and others took the opportunity to launch a more fierce attack and finally succeeded in killing the beast.

They continued to search for gems in the forest, and after a difficult exploration, they finally found the first gem in a hidden cave. The gem emitted a blue light and contained powerful magical power.

They left the forest with the gem and headed for the second location marked on the map—an old castle. The castle was located on a hilltop, surrounded by steep cliffs, and only a narrow path led to the castle.

They climbed cautiously along the path and finally reached the castle's main gate. It was tightly shut, engraved with mysterious symbols and patterns. Xu Tiancai tried to open it with magic, but it seemed protected by a powerful magical seal, preventing it from being opened easily.

They carefully observed the gate and discovered a hidden mechanism. It required pressing certain symbols in a certain order to activate. Xu Tiancai, relying on his understanding of magic runes, finally succeeded in activating the mechanism after several attempts.

The gate slowly opened, and an old smell blew in. They walked into the castle and found it eerie and scary inside. There were some tattered portraits hanging on the walls. The faces of the people in the portraits were blurred, as if they were watching their every move.

They were exploring the castle cautiously when they heard footsteps coming from a distance. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and they immediately became alert, ready to deal with any possible enemies.

A moment later, a group of ghostly creatures appeared before them. These creatures were translucent, with a faint glow around their bodies, and they pounced towards them with their fangs and claws bared.

Xu Tiancai and the others immediately cast magic to attack the ghostly creatures. They discovered that ordinary magic attacks had little effect on ghosts; only special magic could inflict damage. Alice recalled a spell against ghosts, recorded in a magic book she had found in the ruins, and quickly cast it.

Magical light illuminated the entire room, and the ghostly creatures cried out in pain in the light before gradually dissipating. They continued on, finding a second gem deep within the castle. This gem radiated a green light and, like the first, contained powerful magical powers.

They left the castle with the two gems and continued on to the next location. In the process of searching for the gems, they encountered various dangers and challenges, but they never gave up. As they found more and more gems, they felt that the hostility of the dark forces towards them was getting stronger and stronger.

On their way to the fourth gem, they encountered a sudden storm. The storm was so fierce, with howling winds, lightning and thunder, that they could hardly move forward.

"Let's find a place to hide. This storm is too dangerous." Xu Tiancai shouted loudly.

They found a cave nearby and hid in it. The cave was dark and damp, and filled with a damp smell. They rested in the cave for a while, waiting for the storm to pass.

However, the storm continued for a long time with no sign of abating, and they began to worry that it would delay the search for the gems and affect their plan to seal the dark power.

"We can't wait here forever. We have to find a way to get through the storm." Xu Tiancai said.

After some discussion, they decided to use magic to protect themselves and try to move forward in the storm. Xu Tiancai cast a protective spell, enveloping everyone, and then they carefully walked out of the cave and headed towards their destination.

The road in the storm was very difficult, the strong wind almost blew them down, and lightning flashed around them from time to time, making people tremble with fear. But they relied on their firm will and tenacious perseverance to move forward step by step.

After a lot of hard work, they finally passed through the storm and came to the location of the fourth gem - a mysterious lake. The water of the lake was crystal clear, but the bottom of the lake exuded a mysterious light, making people feel unfathomable.

They searched for clues about the gems by the lake, and suddenly found a huge whirlpool in the lake. The whirlpool kept spinning, as if it was going to swallow everything.

"Could the gem be under the vortex?" Su Yao guessed.

Xu Tiancai nodded: "It's possible, but it's very dangerous under the vortex, we have to be careful."

They decided to enter the whirlpool together to search for the gem. Xu Tiancai cast a waterproof spell, allowing everyone to breathe and move freely in the water. Then they jumped into the lake together and swam towards the whirlpool.

The vortex was so powerful that they had to work very hard to get close to its center. There, they found a glittering treasure chest. It was protected by a mysterious force and could not be opened easily.

Xu Tiancai and the others surrounded the treasure chest, casting various spells in an attempt to break the power protecting it. After some effort, the treasure chest finally slowly opened, revealing a gem emitting purple light - the fourth gem.

They left the lake with the gems and headed for the location of the last gem. According to the map, the last gem was in a mysterious valley. This valley was covered by a powerful magical barrier and could only be entered by finding the right way.

They arrived at the front of the valley and carefully observed the magic barrier. Xu Tiancai discovered some weak energy fluctuations on the magic barrier, which seemed to change according to a certain pattern. He tried to use his magic power to sense these fluctuations, looking for a way to break the magic barrier.

After a period of hard work, Xu Tiancai finally found a flaw in the magic barrier. He used the power of the crystal ball and combined it with his own magic to successfully open a passage and let everyone enter the valley.

The valley was filled with thick fog, in which flickered strange lights. They moved forward cautiously in the valley, searching for traces of the gem.

After walking for a while, they found a huge stone platform. On the stone platform was a gem emitting golden light. This was the last gem they had been looking for.

However, as they approached the stone platform, a group of dark shadow creatures suddenly emerged from all directions. These shadow creatures were more powerful and evil than any they had encountered before. They launched a fierce attack on Xu Tiancai and his companions, trying to prevent them from obtaining the gem.

Xu Tiancai and his companions immediately launched a counterattack, unleashing all sorts of powerful magic and skills to engage in a fierce battle with the shadow creatures. During the battle, they discovered that these shadow creatures seemed to be controlled by dark forces, becoming even more frantic and difficult to deal with.

But they did not retreat, Xu Tiancai and others worked together to continuously attack the shadow creature. After a hard battle, they finally succeeded in repelling the shadow creature and got the last gem.

They took the five gems and prepared to return to the temple to cast a sealing magic to completely seal the dark power. However, they did not know that a greater crisis was waiting for them...