54. Hidden Danger?
Seeing Gong Yiling’s confident demeanor, Qiu Shui finally nodded.
Although her master seemed unreliable and often acted strangely, she… had never been wrong.
Even the most absurd-sounding things she said always turned out to be true.
Indulging her master’s whims wasn’t a big deal.
Qiu Shui stood up. “Then I’ll go look around. Master, take care of yourself and Little Heehee.”
“You too. If you encounter danger, run. Knowing when to retreat is the most important lesson of our sect!”
“Pfft…” Qiu Shui chuckled, then left.
“Phew…”
Gong Yiling held Lu Xinyao and sat down, stretching.
Honestly, the heat and dense fire essence here made her thirsty.
She adjusted her clothes, accidentally dropping the three number cards she had tucked inside.
“Ah… almost forgot about these.”
Gong Yiling picked up a card and weighed it in her hand. “Losing these gets you expelled, huh…”
She scoffed at this claim.
She knew about the Heart of Blazing Flame. Based on the descriptions in the book, it was just a simple secret realm.
After the fall of the Heartflame Empire, the male and female protagonists had visited it once, taking only a few items to preserve the empire’s hope for revival.
There were no restrictions on number cards.
Gong Yiling examined the cards, a thought crossing her mind.
She took a deep breath and threw the cards away.
All three of them.
According to Shangguan Long, she should be expelled from the secret realm now.
But… nothing happened.
Well, if anything changed…
It seemed to have gotten cooler.
“What a piece of junk.”
She then tossed away the three cards on Lu Xinyao, who slept even more soundly.
So, what was the point of those cards?
They weren’t even demonic spirits—
Suddenly, Gong Yiling noticed something strange.
The discarded cards were moving, slowly crawling towards her, as if they had legs.
Were they dropping the act now?
Gong Yiling placed Xinyao aside, stood up, and walked towards the cards. “What are you?”
The cards lined up before her, silent and motionless, except for maintaining their formation.
“If you want to tell me something…”
Gong Yiling felt these demonic spirit fragments must have some purpose. She bent down to communicate with them, but suddenly, she shuddered and jumped back.
The next second, the cards vanished, replaced by four deep claw marks on the ground.
What was that!?
Gong Yiling quickly retreated to Lu Xinyao’s side, assuming a defensive stance.
But for the next minute, nothing happened.
Yes.
Nothing at all.
As if it had all been an illusion, but the claw marks on the ground were undeniably real.
“What’s going on?” Gong Yiling was bewildered.
She trusted her senses. If she hadn’t reacted in time, she would have been prey.
But that invisible beast, having clearly discovered her, didn’t attack. This was puzzling.
Then, she thought of something.
“System?”
“Dead.”
“Isn’t there a notification for encountering a world boss?” Gong Yiling asked, “That thing didn’t seem ordinary.”
“The trigger for a world boss encounter is being targeted and tracked by it, not just seeing it.”
“So that’s how it is…?”
That made sense.
Otherwise, she would be forced to fight every boss she encountered.
That would be suicidal.
However… this confirmed one thing.
That creature hadn’t noticed her, which was why the system didn’t trigger the boss quest.
But why?
As Gong Yiling pondered this, she saw several people running towards her, their faces filled with terror.
“Why are you still here!?” One of them, a renowned genius, stammered, “There’s a demonic beast!”
“Yes, there is a demonic beast here.” Gong Yiling replied calmly. “I just saw it. Did you see it too?”
“You saw it?” They looked around fearfully, clearly traumatized.
“But with your strength, you managed to escape its attack?” After confirming the area seemed safe, one of them said in disbelief, “Even Po Huaisheng was taken by that beast!”
Po Huaisheng… the name sounded vaguely familiar, probably a young cultivator of some renown, taken by the demonic beast while they were together.
“Was it… an invisible attack? And then he just vanished?” Gong Yiling asked tentatively.
Her description matched what they had seen.
But just then, something happened!
A gust of wind swept past, and the woman at the back of the group suddenly disappeared.
“What!?”
This sudden disappearance shocked everyone.
A living person vanishing into thin air, without even showing her face, how was that possible?
Panicked, the cultivators attacked the surrounding area indiscriminately.
Spiritual arts and martial skills exploded, tearing the ground apart, the noise even disturbing Lu Xinyao’s sleep.
But it was all futile.
The unseen attacker remained unharmed, snatching two more cultivators, leaving only terrifying claw marks on the ground.
What was…
Gong Yiling covered Lu Xinyao’s ears, trying to figure out who this invisible attacker was.
Suddenly, she had a realization.
“Listen to me! Throw away your number cards!”
