Chapter 836 - 271: Mu Qingge’s Hunting Ground!
What do you mean, the highest realm of frustrating someone is to ignore them?!
The smugness in the eyes of the man with the golden mask vanished, replaced by a menacing and terrifying gaze. He felt that his taunting and arrogance were utterly useless in front of Mu Qingge.
Her calmness and disregard made him feel like a mere clown, only performing these pointless acts to provoke the enemy!
He was no longer composed, no longer felt confident of victory.
It wasn’t that he found Mu Qingge difficult to deal with, but at this moment, all his previous emotions had turned into rage towards her!
"Hmph!" He angrily withdrew his raised hand, his voice hoarse and harsh, squeezing through his teeth: "Kill him—kill him—! Kill him for me—!"
He suddenly raised his hand, pointing at Mu Qingge.
Mu Qingge sneered inwardly, ’Angered and humiliated, huh?’
She swung her Linglong Spear again, sweeping across a vast area. Among the hundred people attacking her, more than a dozen bodies fell. Her eyes showed disdain; did having more people help in a group fight?
With so many attacking her alone, the ones who could truly challenge her were still only a few. The rest were merely there for show, yelling and cheering from the sidelines.
With a single order, the man with the golden mask had more than two hundred people, along with a dozen in the Golden Realm, all charge towards Mu Qingge.
Behind them came the unwilling yelling of the man with the gold mask, "Hmph! Since you don’t know what’s good for you, I’ll kill you first. Then I’ll slowly find the Heaven-Burning Furnace! Your death is caused by your arrogance! I’ll teach you well what it means to provoke someone you shouldn’t have!"
Hundreds of people surrounded and attacked Mu Qingge; the scene was indeed quite shocking.
Her eyes were serious, icy cold.
Even a lion would use all its strength to catch a rabbit. Mu Qingge never acts arrogantly or recklessly, never foolishly courageous! Faced with such an obvious disadvantage, she certainly wouldn’t stay to be abused.
A cold smile emerged on her lips as she glanced at the man with the golden mask who dared to act arrogantly from behind others, mocking, "You lost because you talk too much."
With a strong wave of her Linglong Spear, flames erupted from the spear’s tip, roaring like a Fire Dragon, rushing towards those charging at her.
In that Fire Dragon, not only did it contain the Taichu Urgent Fire, but also the Eight Desolations Void Flame.
The two flames intertwined and charged towards them, and those who got in contact with either, let out miserable screams and turned to black ash.
The arrogant laughter of the man with the golden mask abruptly stopped.
This strike easily took the lives of over thirty people and forced back those masked ones who tried to besiege her, making the gold-masked man’s eyes bulge with rage, wishing he could flay Mu Qingge and torment her brutally.
However, Mu Qingge only smirked mockingly, turned around, and dashed towards the nearest underground cave, unhesitatingly leaping in.
Damn it!
The golden-masked man’s eyes nearly spewed fire!
In those angry eyes, there was also hidden greed. Not only greedy for the Heaven-Burning Furnace, but also for the Holy Artifact in Mu Qingge’s hand.
As the flames dissipated, the hundreds of silver-masked figures who chased to the dark cave entrance also unknowingly halted.
"Jump! Jump down and kill him for me!" The golden-masked man walked over, shouting loudly at the hundreds of people.
One of the Golden Realm members said solemnly to him, "Sir, this Nine Springs Cave has countless connecting pathways underground, like a labyrinth. If we jump in after him, we might all get trapped here."
This subordinate still maintained some rationality.
The fame of the Nine Springs Cave is not just hot air. Many have tried to challenge it, only to end in failure, with their deaths unknown in some corner of the cave.
At the moment, Mu Qingge jumping in was seen by them as seeking death.
Let alone whether she could find the right path out, just the dangers within would further reduce her chances of survival.
So, they might not need to chase.
Yet, the golden mask furiously retorted, "You idiots! The Heaven-Burning Furnace is still with him, I want that furnace! All of you go down, find him, kill him, and bring back the furnace!"
"But, if we all go down and he comes out from another entrance, what then?" another Golden Realm member hesitantly asked.
The man with the golden mask finally calmed down.
He was silent for a while before pointing to a few of the Golden Realm members, "You, split into two groups, half of you go down to pursue. I’ll stay with the others up top. I want him to have no escape!"
The faces of those assigned to enter the cave turned grim beneath their masks.
Yet, they did not dare to defy the golden mask man’s orders, so they had to follow his instructions and led their men into the cave Mu Qingge had just jumped into.
...
Underground, the caves interconnect, with a slight dampness in the air.
Mu Qingge swiftly navigated through the tunnels, not caring about direction.
As she walked, she sneered inwardly. If those men didn’t follow, fine. But if they did, this labyrinthine cave would become her perfect Hunting Ground.
In this terrain, she was confident she could annihilate them!
After putting away her Linglong Spear, Mu Qingge took out a sniper rifle from her Sumeru Container, and attached a silencer to the barrel.
The military weapon she traversed with, once again in her hands, felt as handy as ever. Previously, during the battle in the Taixuan Demon Realm, she took some beast cores from the Demon Palace’s warehouse.
Those beast cores were incomparable to the spirit beasts of the Middle Ancient Realm.
The energy conversion from them could directly break through the Golden Realm’s defenses and claim a life!
Mu Qingge shouldered the sniper rifle, a cold smile on her lips, ’Let’s see who’s unlucky enough to give me a perfect start.’
In the Nine Springs Cave, the terrain of the cave rose and fell. It was a maze, extending both horizontally and vertically to unknown depths. Stretching for hundreds of miles, it was complex and fraught with danger.
Nearly two hundred silver-masked men followed Mu Qingge into the cave, bewildered when faced with the various branching paths.
What to do?
The leader paused in silence, then instructed those behind him: "Spread out and search, and once you find something, don’t attack—find a way to inform the others."
With that, the six Golden Realm members, each leading twenty men, entered different branching paths.
One of these groups happened to follow the path Mu Qingge took.
The cave, like a web of many threads, extended infinitely. Almost every segment led to a crossroads, forcing them to split further.
Gradually, when the first person appeared before Mu Qingge, he was already alone.
’Here they come!’
Mu Qingge slightly moved her neck, stiff from waiting too long. Hidden in the shadows, she aimed at the Golden Realm member who was looking around.
’The first shot, and it’s a Golden Realm! Truly a perfect start!’ Mu Qingge laughed to herself.
Her sniper rifle aimed at the back of the man’s head, her trigger finger as steady as a rock—
Swoosh—!
A faint bullet sound emerged, and the transformed energy bullet spun out from the barrel, effortlessly breaking through his physical defenses. It directly pierced the back of this Golden Realm’s head and exited through his forehead, dissipating into the air.
The Golden Realm blinked widely, seemingly unaware of what had transpired, before his life was taken, falling heavily to the ground.
Mu Qingge emerged from the shadows, squatting beside the corpse, and used the gun muzzle to lift the mask on his face.
The mask fell, revealing an unremarkable face, with a bloody hole. Mu Qingge didn’t linger her gaze on that face, instead, she searched his body for any clues.
Yet, in the end, she found nothing.
Not only was there nothing to indicate his identity, but there wasn’t even a Sumeru Container.
"It seems these people came fully prepared for this action," Mu Qingge murmured. "To be able to assemble so many experts for pursuit, and all for the Heaven-Burning Furnace. Moreover, the pursuers were mostly experts. Just who are these people who hide their identities so well?"
Mu Qingge realized her grasp of the clues was too limited.
Previously, the Alchemy Institute’s dean had warned her that someone would covet the Heaven-Burning Furnace. However, he hadn’t elaborated, leaving her unable to pinpoint the target at this moment.
However, in the Middle Ancient Realm, there were only a few forces capable of launching such a large-scale hunt for her.
Of course, this didn’t include the forces she was unaware of.
’Just how many forces on this continent haven’t I noticed? Who exactly are these people hunting me, coveting the Heaven-Burning Furnace?’ Mu Qingge had already listed a possible roster in her mind but couldn’t be certain.
"It seems I still need to find an opportunity to return to the Alchemy Institute and clarify some necessary questions," Mu Qingge squinted her eyes and murmured softly.
She had a feeling that after she spoke with the Alchemy Institute’s dean again, she would uncover the true faces of those hunting her today!
She flicked a wisp of flame onto the corpse, burning it to ashes.
Mu Qingge left with her sniper rifle, beginning her hunt.
Like a Netherworld Leopard, she lurked in the shadows. Every time a figure passed her, they were shot dead with a single bullet, their bodies then eradicated.
Gradually, the masked pursuers in the cave unknowingly dwindled, yet they remained unaware.
This Nine Springs Cave had virtually become Mu Qingge’s personal hunting ground.
"Something’s wrong!" A Golden Realm member suddenly realized.
He emitted the prearranged signal, gathering everyone around him.
Yet, when only about twenty people finally appeared before him, his expression beneath the mask was exceedingly grim.
"Why is it only you?" the Golden Realm member asked sternly.
Among the six Golden Realm leaders, only he remained! Where had the others gone? Had they moved too far beyond the summoning range, or met with misfortune?
The twenty-odd people looked at each other.
They, too, were unaware of what had transpired.
Meanwhile, Mu Qingge, who had overheard the gathering whistle from the shadows, remained motionless, her clear and calm eyes fixed on the twenty-something people not far from her...