Chapter 257: Chapter 257 – Got there first?

Translator: 549690339

Naturally, people cannot just disappear, and while Seventeenth Sister wasn’t the most sociable, she was still a competitor in the Mad Demon Secret Land.

She was indeed competitive, and Xiao Ruyu had gathered information on her early on.

From the outside, it seemed like this young girl wasn’t aggressive, but in reality, she was cunning and always kept her tactics hidden.

And it was clear that she had given her all in the Mad Demon Secret Land this time.

Yet, such a person had gone missing under these circumstances.

Not just her, but the renowned Holy Maiden of Jade Top Mountain, Zhuang Huanling, had also vanished, and the team from Purple Garden Mountain, who had strong ties to Jade Top Mountain, was nowhere to be found.

Obviously, these three factions must have found some other way.

“Damn it, they actually beat us to it!”

Xiao Ruyu suddenly snorted in annoyance. Because everyone was gathered together, they all heard her words and were startled for a moment.

Xiao Wuwei, the Third Prince, was the first to react. He quickly scanned the crowd and realized that Seventeenth Sister, who was full of tricks, was gone, and his heart instantly filled with anger.

“Damn it, could she possibly have found another way?”

“This is absolutely impossible!”

Absurd, everyone knew that the environment within Mad Demon Valley was unique, and even if the Thousand Yuan Dynasty had joined forces with many other powers to explore it, they barely manage to find the route they had now after paying a hefty price.

This was already the quickest shortcut within their capability.

But if Seventeenth Sister Xiao Yuwei, no matter how capable she was, how could she possibly discover another way under such circumstances?

It was absolutely impossible.

Even for hundreds of advanced clones, finding another way out in this environment would take at least three days.

In a moment, everyone around also reacted. Everyone was curious about one thing.

That was, how the hell did she do it?

This couldn’t even be considered as cheating. From the time they arrived here to now, it hadn’t even been half an hour.

“Did anyone see where they went just now?” Suddenly, Xiao Ruyu asked in a cold tone.

People were glancing at each other, and in the end, they all shook their heads.

Good grief, if they had seen, wouldn’t they have exposed it?

Would they just let them leave so easily?

Seeing this, Xiao Ruyu clenched her teeth with anger, her fists tightened as she stared in the direction of the Dead Marshes.

So much time had passed, their opponents must have found a way into the Dead Marshes. Whoever managed to enter first would have the advantage.

It didn’t matter how she and the team from Jade Top Mountain and Purple Garden Mountain managed to cross the marshes. As long as they did it first, Xiao Ruyu and her team would be left behind.

And being left behind meant losing the advantage, and it needs no further explanation.

The Dynasty only gave them one day!

The most urgent thing now was to race against time!

Xiao Ruyu originally wanted to go back to see if Xiao Yuwei and others had left any clues. With so many people moving together, there must be traces left behind if they searched carefully.

But she couldn’t afford to risk the time.

If they continued to delay, they might lose to that young girl in the next challenge.

At this moment, Xiao Ruyu looked down at Xiao Wuwei standing beneath her.

Their eyes met in mid-air, both seeing the other’s determination.

They couldn’t delay any longer. If they continued to hesitate, they’d be done for.

“Everyone, what are your plans now?” Xiao Ruyu looked over the crowd and asked casually.

“Princess, we don’t know. We’re waiting for your suggestions,” someone quickly replied.

The rest of the crowd nodded in agreement.

On the surface, everyone seemed united, but at times like these, people’s minds were most chaotic.

They didn’t want to think, but they didn’t want to see others achieving first either.

So, they chose to stall for time.

Seeing this, Xiao Ruyu knew that if she didn’t speak up, none of these people would take action.

With that, Xiao Ruyu decided to force a breakthrough.

If all of them charged with full force, they would be able to make a hole in the swarming mad dogs. However, huge casualties would be inevitable.

“What’s the point of worrying now, everyone is looking to pass together, it’s their only chance,” Xiao Ruyu thought, then addressing the crowd she proceeded to finalize the plan.

As the princess of the Thousand Yuan Dynasty, her words carried a lot of weight.

After that, Xiao Ruyu began to arrange the specific plan for execution.

While everyone at the end of the stone forest was discussing how to break through, Jiang Xiaobai and AnRan had already split up with Xiao Yuwei’s group.

Xiao Yuwei had, of course, assigned Jiang Xiaobai a task. They needed to hunt a fierce creature known as the Purple Stone Beast in the Death Marshes.

This beast was similar to a mad dog, in technical terms, it was a canid.

However, unlike mad dogs, these creatures were solitary beings, even under special circumstances, no more than two or three Purple Stone Beasts could ever be spotted together.

To kill more Purple Stone Beasts in these circumstances, they would have to rely on luck and on tirelessly searching.

Of course, the Purple Stone Beast was not weak; it ranked among the top predators in the Death Marshes.

Even in its early stages of transcendence, it could handle multiple foes in the advanced stages of transcendence.

Fortunately, they’re solitary creatures. If these beasts were herd animals, they would simply be sending themselves to their deaths.

Xiao Yuwei had also taken Jiang Xiaobai’s actual situation into account, acknowledging that he should try to kill as many Purple Stone Beasts as possible. If he could kill twenty within a stipulated time, he would be rewarded with a hundred million top-grade spirit stones.

“Tch, a reward, that old woman really thinks she can treat me like her dog,” Jiang Xiaobai scoffed.

“Does she think too highly of herself?”

At his side, AnRan snorted, “If you think so, why don’t you run away then?”

“Hmph, do you think I don’t want to?”

Jiang Xiaobai rolled his eyes in exasperation.

Joking aside, he still had a task at hand with a potential penalty for failure.

There was just a little over a day left until the deadline.

“If I weren’t worried about this woman setting me up, not informing me about the conditions of the next route section, I would have run away a long time ago!” Jiang Xiaobai retorted.

AnRan continued to snort: “Bragging, who doesn’t know how.”

“Not to mention, fatty, you’ve been having serious issues lately. I’m your leader, can you not take my side for once?” Jiang Xiaobai exclaimed angrily.

“Hehe, Boss, I was just talking too much, don’t be angry.”

“But the Dead Marshes do seem dangerous. There’s not only the Purple Stone Beast, but also the Ghost Crocodile, the undisputed king of the marshes.”

AnRan said, his expression becoming tense, “The marshes are everywhere, we could get ambushed by Ghost Crocodiles at any moment.”

Before he could finish his sentence, a massive shadow suddenly emerged from the side.