Just as Shi Feng was recalling intelligence related to the Fallen Ark, Qingfeng Zhujiu had already made his way to the entrance of the great canyon. He carefully produced an orange-red, sixteen-sided crystal.
The moment the crystal appeared, an invisible wave of force rippled outward, growing stronger with each pulse as it crashed into the surroundings.
"What the hell is that thing?! Why does it feel like my entire body is filled with lead?!"
Bai Qingxue couldn't help but shift her gaze to the orange-red crystal. The longer she stared, the more terrified she felt—as if the crystal itself were an abyss of damnation, making her very soul tremble with uncontrollable fear.
It wasn't just Bai Qingxue who was shocked by the crystal Qingfeng Zhujiu had produced. Banxia Qingcheng and the others felt it too.
Only the Midnight Tea Party and a handful of people like Shi Feng remained unfazed.
This kind of pressure—Shi Feng and the few others had experienced it before. It was divine might!
The gap between deities and mortals in terms of life was fundamental. Since the orange-red crystal had been forged by a god, it naturally carried a trace of divine presence. For ordinary people, this presence was almost unbearable—as though someone living in open air had suddenly been dropped into dense mercury. Not only would their entire body feel impossibly heavy, but even breathing became a struggle.
With each successive pulse emanating from the orange-red crystal, the entire great canyon began to tremble. Slowly, a purple-gold, five-layered magic array took shape in midair.
"As expected—it's connected to the Fallen Ark. But have the Midnight Tea Party lost their minds, coming here to take this risk now?" Shi Feng watched Qingfeng Zhujiu hold the orange-red crystal high above his head while continuously chanting incantations. His expression darkened immediately. "Everyone, pull back!"
"Pull back?" The Zero Wing members all looked at Shi Feng in confusion.
"What do you think you're doing?" Anshang and the others glared at Shi Feng as he prepared to retreat, their anger rising.
The contract had been signed. Although there were no penalties stipulated, to suddenly walk away at the eleventh hour looked exactly like they were trying to break the agreement. Moreover, the Midnight Tea Party's quest had now been exposed—there was no way they could simply let Shi Feng's group leave.
"There's no time to explain. If we don't leave now, we're all dead!" Shi Feng turned on his heel and left without a second thought, not even pausing for a moment.
He had previously assumed the Midnight Tea Party's quest was related to the Fallen Ark, but he had never imagined they were actually trying to activate it—a relic that had lain dormant for countless millennia.
The activation of the Fallen Ark had once shaken the entire Divine Realm. When the Ark stirred to life, it also awakened many of the abyss creatures that had been severely wounded in ancient times. Those creatures already possessed the strength of Legendary monsters when they first awoke, and their power only grew over time. The entire Ghost Cry Ridge had become a death zone for players.
Back then, several major powers had attempted to explore the secrets of the Fallen Ark, dispatching an army of over ten thousand. Every player in that force was at Tier 2, with a minimum level of 60, and it included no shortage of top-tier experts—more than enough to handle five or six Legendary monsters. Yet the entire army was annihilated with no survivors. Worse still, the defeat only served to further fuel the abyss creatures' growth…
With their current team—where not a single player had even reached Tier 2—staying here meant certain death.
"Weiyang-jie, they're leaving. What do we do? Should we stop them?" Huanglang Langzi hurriedly turned to Weiyang Qianhen.
"Don't bother. We're leaving too." Weiyang Qianhen glanced at the departing Shi Feng, shook her head, and turned to leave as well.
"But what about the Party Leader?" Yunzhong Sha looked anxiously between Weiyang Qianhen and Qingfeng Zhujiu, who was still conducting the magic array.
"Once the ritual begins, it can't be abandoned midway. The situation has changed, so the Party Leader will have to be sacrificed." Weiyang Qianhen said without the slightest hesitation. "Though it's not a total loss. At least we can hide at a distance and observe what happens when the array activates."
Weiyang Qianhen made it sound casual enough, but the rest of the Midnight Tea Party felt a chill run through their bodies.
They had fought side by side, risking their lives together. And that was their Party Leader—to simply abandon them like this…
But since even the Vice Party Leader had made the call, and the Party Leader himself could do nothing, they had no choice but to obey. They followed Weiyang Qianhen out of the area covered by the magic array.
The moment the Midnight Tea Party stepped outside the array's range, five enormous steel giants appeared on the ground.
Fallen Ark Guard Captain. Special Life Form. High-rank Grand Lord. Level 65. HP: 120,000,000.
Fallen Ark Patrol. Special Life Form. Grand Lord. Level 63. HP: 57,000,000.
Seeing this, whether it was Weiyang Qianhen's group hiding in the woods or Shi Feng's team, everyone drew a sharp breath.
"What kind of monsters are these?! Their HP is absurd, and that pressure they're radiating is incredible!" Shuise Qiangwei stared at the creatures, her scalp tingling with unease.
Even from several hundred yards away, the pressure was this overwhelming. If they fought at close range, their combat effectiveness would surely suffer. By her estimation, they'd be fortunate to perform at seventy percent of their normal strength. If it truly came to a fight, they would be completely wiped out.
The Midnight Tea Party's members understood all too well how powerful these guardians were. They were simply not on the same level of existence. The Guard Captain in particular was at least two or three tiers above the High-rank Grand Lord they had just killed—nearly comparable to a Legendary monster.
Against these creatures, every trick and trump card they had prepared beforehand was a complete joke.
While the Midnight Tea Party members were stunned by the steel giants' appearance, Weiyang Qianhen's gaze had already fixed on Shi Feng.
"Does he know something?" Weiyang Qianhen couldn't help but recall Shi Feng's decisive attitude from before, her mind racing with speculation.
The Fallen Ark's existence was indeed highly classified, but given the capabilities of Shi Feng's group—and the fact that they had said they were here on a quest—it was quite possible they knew something about the Ark as well. Otherwise, how else could one explain the way Shi Feng's group had turned tail the moment they saw the magic array being activated?
What Weiyang Qianhen didn't realize, however, was that what truly worried Shi Feng wasn't the steel giants that had appeared, but the abyss creatures inside the Ark. If those creatures escaped, it would completely derail his plans to farm Qingwu Wood. Naturally, he had no intention of helping the Midnight Tea Party.
With the appearance of the steel giants, Qingfeng Zhujiu—who had been conducting the magic array—was unsurprisingly killed in a single strike by the Fallen Ark Guard Captain. He died beyond any hope of revival.
As Qingfeng Zhujiu perished, the magic array began to dissipate, and the steel giants vanished along with it, returning the great canyon to its former tranquility.
Once the calm settled, the Midnight Tea Party members wanted to confront Shi Feng's group. But Weiyang Qianhen was the first to intervene, stopping her enraged teammates and walking toward Shi Feng and the others on her own.
(To be continued.)