When system cheat becomes rampant!

The current time was only four in the afternoon.

The season in the wilderness outside the domains differed too much from that of Jiuzhou, and they had to abandon conventional methods, considering the possibility that it could be dark here for ten to fifteen days.

They were unable to use the Forfeit Talisman and the SOS Talisman, having run for half a day without escaping this withered forest. The situation was bad enough.

Xiang Beifei's greatest concern now was that this place might not just contain tree people, but also those bizarre Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage. With such a commotion stirred up now, those Ghost Whiskers would eventually come after them.

The tree people dreaded this mountain and dared not climb it, but what if the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage were not afraid of this mountain?

They were still uncertain about these matters, merely groping in the dark.

"By the way, do you have any impressions of the tree people and the withered forest?" Xiang Beifei asked.

Cheng Xin'an shook his head, "Before I came here, I had prepared thoroughly. I diligently studied the desolate beasts that are most likely to appear in this area, but I have no recollection of them."

Xiang Beifei muttered to himself, "That suggests neither the tree people nor the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage belong to the desolate beasts of this area."

"Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage? Are there Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage here?" Cheng Xin'an asked, surprised.

Xiang Beifei questioned, "You know about the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage?"

"I just heard about them recently! A new species of desolate beast recorded in the Jiuzhou Alliance's database! I read an article about them, it seems it was published by a professor from Liangzhou University! He named it 'Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage' in the paper! It's said to be a very troublesome desolate beast that parasitizes the corpses of the dead, maintaining the appearance of the person just before death!"

Cheng Xin'an spoke sternly.

Being a responsible SSR, especially when leading a team, he had earnestly prepared knowledge about the wilderness beyond the domains. Ye Changfeng's paper had just been updated in the Jiuzhou Alliance's academic database, and Cheng Xin'an had studied it.

"That being said, the name is rather fitting, apparently a student from Liangzhou University came up with it. Once you think about Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage, you probably can guess what its capabilities are," Cheng Xin'an added.

Xiang Beifei didn't know what to say.

Because the name seemed to be something he had mentioned offhandedly.

Cheng Xin'an continued, "But that paper mentioned that this desolate beast isn't found in Marquis Domain, but rather in places like the Tranquil Domain. How could it appear here?"

"We just encountered them," Xiang Beifei said. "And right in this forest. The team from Qingzhou University was scattered by the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage, we even had a skirmish just earlier."

Xiang Beifei glanced at Tang He.

Tang He paled and sighed silently.

Cheng Xin'an's expression shifted slightly, "You fought it?"

"Them." Long Guocheng corrected on the side, "There's more than one Ghost Whisker of Remnant Visage here."

"Them?"

Cheng Xin'an looked unsettled, "How come there's been no response from the alliance? They shouldn't be ignoring this!"

Currently, the space was locked down, and they couldn't leave the area, obviously exceeding the limits of a standard university elites' competition, indicating a major accident. With so many experts from the alliance and professors from nine elite universities present, their response shouldn't be this slow.

"What if these events, were premeditated by the desolate beasts?"

Xiang Beifei had initially thought this was merely a typical competition without expecting anything too bizarre, but ever since encountering the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage, everything had turned odd.

The Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage clearly possessed intelligence, and they should be aware of the power of the alliance and elite school experts. If it came to a direct confrontation, led by professors like Elder Luo, those Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage would be entirely exterminated.

Yet, the development of the situation had taken everyone by surprise.

The people from the alliance were unexpectedly slow to act! Not even a referee came to stop what was happening.

This was illogical!

The only possibility was that these Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage, knowing an elite competition was to be held here, had preemptively set a trap.

And this trap was this withered forest!

Qingzhou University might have been the first to encounter the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage, but according to Tang He, the slender-waisted woman didn't immediately attack them but instead guided them to this withered forest.

It was probably to avoid alarming the referees by attacking them outside, so she waited until everyone had entered the withered forest before commencing.

So far, the withered forest seemed to be an eerily peculiar area, capable of shielding the explorations of those from the alliance.

So, what was the goal of the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage?

Was it merely to kill them?

...

Xiang Beifei had a myriad of questions in his mind.

But he couldn't afford to ponder them any longer. At that moment, he suddenly felt as if there was something rumbling on the mountain, as if something was flapping, making the sound indistinct and the specific location unclear.

"There's a noise."

Xiang Beifei signaled everyone to quiet down and took a few steps from the cliff towards the forest, finding that the sound came from the wooded slopes of the cliff. The forest swayed in the wind, rustling.

"Are you all alright?" Xiang Beifei turned and asked.

"Almost, their injuries have stabilized," Xi Keyao said.

"Let's search this mountain, and this time, be careful."

Xiang Beifei made a decision.

It was unknown how long until daybreak. Although the tree people dared not enter, it also meant they were trapped in this mountain— they needed to figure out what was inside it, whether they could find the mountain's secret, and then find a way to leave this withered forest.

Everyone immediately stood up and roughly concealed their traces. Each person revived their spirit. In this kind of place, no one dared to take things lightly.

Xiang Beifei gestured to Cheng Xin'an, saying, "You and Ma Ziqian stay at the rear."

"Okay."

Cheng Xin'an walked at the end of the group, while Xiang Beifei led the way at the front. Ma Ziqian and Cheng Xin'an walked together. Even though Cheng Xin'an was an Awakener in the Meridian Opening phase, his abilities were ineffective against the tree people. Even though the tree people could not come up, just in case, it was still necessary to have Ma Ziqian accompany him for support.
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The forest was very gloomy. Since they had entered during the day and had gotten used to the sight of withered trees, seeing the vegetation returning to green now felt somewhat uncomfortable. With what had happened earlier, everyone now felt a shadow upon seeing green trees.

As they passed each tree, they paid close attention. However, as they walked past, the plants wilted under their step, which somewhat reassured them.

At least the dead trees posed no threat.

"What on earth is this place? Day and night are completely different."

Long Guocheng turned his head to look at the grass behind them. The trees had withered as they passed, but greened again as they moved away.

"A place that even those tree people dread definitely won't be easy," said Li Zimu.

Xiang Beifei continued to lead the group forward and soon they saw a stream flowing quickly through the trees with a tinkling sound.

The stream wasn't large, just over a meter wide, seemingly clear and bottom visible, with lush aquatic plants growing around it, flowing from the mountaintop all the way down—

But quickly, they suddenly realized something was amiss!

This stream seemed not to flow from up to down, but from the bottom up!

The stream flowed upstream!

Xiang Beifei stood by the stream, watching its flow direction. He picked up a leaf and dropped it into the water; indeed, the leaf was carried upstream.

"This stream is a bit strange."

The others also felt quite surprised, but they had seen too many anomalies along the way, so what was abnormal had become normal.

"The stream flows from the bottom up; there must be a confluence point at the top, should we go and check it out?" Li Zimu asked.

They were currently only halfway up the mountain, not at the peak.

"Let's check it out," Xiang Beifei nodded.

If it were a stream flowing downward, they might not care much, but a stream flowing towards the mountaintop indicated that there must be something there.

Perhaps this could explain why this mountain was so strange.

The group began to follow the stream toward the mountaintop. There was no obvious path here, just various tangled weeds, but that didn't matter; the weeds would collapse and die as they approached, more effective than any herbicide.

Since there was no road on the mountain before, it became a road as they approached.

Only the sound of their footsteps on dry leaves and the babble of the stream could be heard through the woods, exceedingly clear. Everyone kept silent, carefully distinguishing sounds around them, occasionally checking Long Guocheng's candle to supplement their vision.

Soon they discovered that the stream was not the only one; at the crossroads ahead, other streams merged and then continued flowing up the mountain. Along the way, they had already encountered three.

It seemed that water from many places below was flowing to the mountaintop. It was unknown what was at the peak, which made them even more curious.

About ten minutes later, Xiang Beifei suddenly perceived something and signaled for everyone to stop.

"What's wrong?" Long Guocheng asked.

Xiang Beifei stared intently ahead at the patch of woods, which was separated by an invisible fluctuation. There was a familiar space fluctuation here.

Quickly, Xiang Beifei suddenly realized what these fluctuations were!

"Be careful!" Xiang Beifei's brows slightly furrowed.

At that moment, a streak of light shot out from the darkness ahead towards them. Xiang Beifei extended a hand and directly blocked it.

"Who is it!"

A voice rang out cautiously from the darkness.

Xiang Beifei stared at the fluctuations ahead.

The fluctuations were familiar. Someone had used a system ability to guard this area. Anyone approaching would trigger the alarm; this was very similar to the protective formations they set up whenever they camped in the wilderness.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

A figure appeared in the woods ahead, accompanied by a light shining over.

"Is it you?"

A voice called out uncertainly.

Xiang Beifei's gaze slightly paused.

It was actually Zhu Xinjue!