He'd rather run than be turned into a cannon fodder for the broken engagement.

Leng Huan and the others cultivated during the day and mined at night, and they spent two days in this way. On the fourth night, they continued mining.

As he dug, Leng Huan got tired and sat down to rest. Suddenly, he heard a soft rustling sound coming from outside the cave.

She walked to the cave entrance to investigate, and suddenly cried out in surprise, "Who are you?"

Fu Xun and Lin Miaoyan ran out upon hearing the noise, and the group stood together warily, adopting a defensive posture.

A figure draped in a black robe stood at the cave entrance. His face was obscured by the darkness, but he appeared to be a man. The black robe covered him from head to toe, creating an eerie sight for anyone who looked at him.

"I'm just passing by. It's dark outside and very dangerous. I'd like to ask to stay with you for the night..." The man in black robes had a hoarse voice with a strange, indescribable quality.

The people in the cave looked at each other. This person was really too strange. Fu Xun frowned. "No, you should find another place."

The man in black robes hurriedly took out a bag of spirit stones and tried to negotiate, "I can pay you spirit stones. I will only stay one night and leave tomorrow."

-

Meanwhile, the trial participants who were resting in various places all encountered the same situation—the men in black used various reasons to lure the cultivators, and finally seized the jade slips to make them automatically eliminated.

Knowing that this person was too strange, Leng Huan was somewhat tempted by the spirit stones in the storage bag, but he wasn't foolish enough to let a strange stranger stay with them late at night. "Please leave, sir."

After a long stalemate, the man in black seemed helpless and suddenly said, "Well, since that's the case, I have no choice but to take action..." As he finished speaking, his aura surged, revealing him to be a Foundation Establishment cultivator!

what? !

The group was startled. Fu Xun reacted swiftly, crushing a defensive talisman to block the man's attack. The man in black was unarmed, but the power of his iron fists was astonishing, slamming into the defensive shield with a series of thuds.

Leng Huanxin jumped up suddenly. Oh no, if this continues, he will soon break through her defenses!

With a flick of his wrist, the Exploding Sun Talisman appeared in his hand. Holding a short sword in his right hand, Fu Xun also crushed the talisman the instant the defense was broken. Instantly, a series of explosions erupted at the cave entrance. Lin Miaoyan activated her defensive talisman, and thankfully, the group was not hit by the falling rocks!

A pile of rubble fell from the cave entrance. The man in black, who had been blasted away, was now slowly and stiffly getting up, seemingly oblivious to the pain, and continued his attack.

The group tried their best to defend themselves. The man's attack methods were relatively simple, only unleashing psionic energy and iron fist strikes, but the power was immense and enough to give them a hard time.

"Brother Huan, something's not right with this guy!" A whooshing sound rang out as Fu Xun dodged the punch. After observing for a while, he finally realized something was amiss.

If it were a human cultivator, even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would get tired from constantly consuming spiritual energy like that. Being hit by that explosion would have injured even a Foundation Establishment cultivator, but this person showed no reaction, even though there was a gash in his chest and abdomen.

Dodging a psionic attack, Leng Huan took a moment to reply, "I think so too. He doesn't seem to be at the Foundation Establishment stage!"

"I'll give it a try." Fu Xun said, taking out several talismans in one go and heading straight for the man in black. With a feint, the attack talismans in his hand hit the man in black. With a few "bangs", accompanied by towering flames, the man in black was engulfed in flames.

The fire crackled and popped, but despite the horrific scene, the man in black remained silent, without a sound or a scream. A thought flashed through Fu Xun's mind.

After a stick of incense had burned, the fire went out, and the man in black robes had been reduced to ashes, revealing... his true face.

"—This!" Leng Huan exclaimed in shock, "How can it be fake? Is this a puppet?"

Lin Miaoyan nodded, squatted down, and used her sword to cut open the charred shell covering the inside. "It's a puppet, so realistic! This skull is startling from a distance, but you can see the difference up close."

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, looked at each other, and immediately understood that this was also part of the test.

-

After one night, most of the trial participants were gone. From that day on, a message spread throughout the secret realm: every night, a strange black-robed man would appear in the darkness, and he was impossible to kill.

Those who reacted quickly fled for their lives, while others succumbed to temptation and accepted spirit stones or rare spiritual medicines, instantly triggering the jade slip and being eliminated.

The remaining few hundred trial participants chose to team up and get through the last two days. The final day was the day of intense battle for the jade slips.

At this point, people have countless points, making them easy targets.

Defeating the puppets also yields a large number of points. They need to defeat one puppet every night, and their points will skyrocket. Leng Huan and his companions just need to survive until the last day and wait for the end.

But to their surprise, the cave they were in was eventually discovered.

"Hand over your resources now!" Five people arrived around noon. One of them, a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator, pointed his sword and said, "Hurry up, you can still log out automatically, otherwise we'll take action!"

Two late-stage Qi Refining cultivators were leading three mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators. Leng Huan and Fu Xun exchanged a glance and simultaneously threw talismans at them, taking the initiative.

"Bang---"

The man had barely finished speaking when, unexpectedly, Leng Huan and his group disregarded martial ethics and immediately started the explosion. They all retreated, and two of the slower-reacting mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators were injured and fell to the ground.

The two sides immediately engaged in a chaotic battle. Leng Huan had made rapid progress recently, and he seized the opportunity to beat up a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator. Fu Xun restrained another cultivator, while Lin Miaoyan dealt with the intact mid-stage cultivator.

The two were evenly matched, and their battle ended in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. After dividing the spoils, the others found no ore. Just as Leng Huan was about to continue into the cave, Fu Xun suddenly grabbed him: "Someone's coming!"

Leng Huan's heart skipped a beat. He sensed carefully and realized that it was a Foundation Establishment stage cultivator. He walked out from behind the huge rock, and there were actually four late-stage Qi Refining stage cultivators following behind him!

not good--

"Who are you?" Leng Huan asked rudely, glancing at Lin Miaoyan. They nodded to each other; she and Fu Xun had a tacit understanding, secretly holding wind-controlling talismans in their palms, knowing they couldn't defeat those people now.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator glanced at them disdainfully and said arrogantly, "I suggest you just give up!"

Leng Huan gritted her teeth and reached for her storage pouch at her waist: "Okay, don't hit us, we... retreat!!" Before she finished speaking, Fu Xun and Lin Miaoyan activated their wind-controlling talismans and fled with her!

They ran away decisively! They disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Foundation Establishment cultivator: "..."

He shouted "Quickly, chase after them!" and led a few others to give chase to Leng Huan and his group.

Leng Huan fled in the direction she had deliberately chosen—the place where she had encountered the bear beast on the first day—the King Kong Bear Cave.

She's going to get reinforcements!

Mother bear, help!

"Go find help!!!" Leng Huan didn't look back and ran forward as fast as he could, knowing that the others would catch up soon.

Thus, a chase ensued in the dense forest valley, with three people fleeing in front and five people relentlessly pursuing them. Suddenly, Leng Huan made a sharp turn, leading Fu Xun and Lin Miaoyan through the canyon. Ahead appeared a familiar sight: the golden acacia tree in front of the Golden Bear's house. Leng Huan's spirits lifted.

"Help!!!"

The two people behind him were stunned for a moment: "??" They continued walking at a brisk pace.

"stop!"

The pursuers caught up. They thought they had finally reached the end of their road and could no longer run, so they gave up and cried for help.

"Surrender now!" The Foundation Establishment cultivator rushed over and saw Leng Huan standing in front of him, panting heavily. He was overjoyed and raised his sword to strike, knowing Leng Huan was truly exhausted. He then released a burst of spiritual energy towards the Xiong family's gate. "Boom!"

The next second, a deafening roar came, and a bear the size of a small mountain suddenly appeared at the cave entrance in front of Leng Huan.

The Foundation Establishment cultivator was unable to stop in time and was sprayed in the face with the fishy smell and saliva from the bear's mouth, while Leng Huan had already ducked and retreated several feet away.

"Roar!" The bear-like beast roared again. Seeing that the trouble had been diverted, Leng Huan pulled Lin Miaoyan and whispered, "Let's go!"

Seeing that she wasn't looking at him, Fu Xun's eyes darkened slightly, and he had no choice but to gather his strength and follow Leng Huan and the other two away from this place of trouble.

Before turning around, Leng Huan glanced at the cave entrance and saw a bear cub there. She then looked away from the bear and the group of Foundation Establishment cultivators and quickly fled into the distance.

The mine cave was eight miles away, and they couldn't go back immediately. They had to wait until dark to return to the cave and spend the last night there.

"Fellow Daoist Leng, where are we going now? It's still two hours until it gets dark."

"There's a mountain stream nearby where a Foundation Establishment giant python lives. Let's go there to lay low for a while, so we can deal with any trouble that might come our way."

The group hid in a rocky cave, sprinkled insect repellent powder, and used the giant python to drive away a group of people with ill intentions. Under the cover of night, they returned to the mine cave and then spent the whole night mining.

The cave entrance was blocked, and the cave was dark. Leng Huan didn't notice until dawn, and was still excitedly digging for ore. Suddenly, she felt a tearing sensation, and the space around her distorted. They were teleported away and disappeared from the spot. The ore she had just dug out didn't have time to be stored away and rolled to the ground.

-