In the quiet passage.
Flame star and his three companions moved forward alertly, the vines clinging to the walls emitting a faint blue light.
This auxiliary path, used for delivering meals, was exceptionally long. They had been walking through the passage for nearly twenty minutes, and although they had not encountered any sentries, they still did not dare to relax their guard.
After all, though they had used Tree God City as bait to lure away most of the tree god guards, the number of guards remaining here was still more than the four of them could handle.
What they wanted to do was use their supernatural powers to stealthily steal the star core. They certainly did not want a direct confrontation.
“Flame star, do you think we might have been lied to?” the green-haired trainee suddenly asked.
“Do you think that guy has the guts to lie to us with the life of his only son at stake?” Flame star said disdainfully.
He could still remember the scene of that green elf kneeling and begging for mercy when he threatened him with a photo of the child.
A fellow like that, who had no dignity but possessed the fatal bond of family affection, would never dare to deceive him.
After walking for a while longer, E Chai, who was in the lead, suddenly raised his right hand and lowered his voice. “Wait! There’s movement ahead!”
The three following him immediately understood and stopped in their tracks, closing their mouths and preparing to strike.
After waiting for a full twenty minutes, E Chai lowered his right hand. Only then did they slowly breathe a sigh of relief and relax.
“What’s the situation?” Flame star asked.
E Chai shook his head. “I’m not entirely sure, but there was a significant amount of movement not far ahead just now.”
His supernatural power was **[Feathering]**, which allowed him to dissolve into feathers and control the feathers he condensed to attack or scout. He had just spread his condensed feathers out when he discovered the movement.
“Maybe we’re almost at the pool of grace!” the green-haired girl said softly.
A flash of excitement appeared on Flame star’s face. “I hope so!”
They had walked with full concentration through the deep, almost suffocating passage for nearly fifty minutes. Upon hearing that their destination might be just ahead, they involuntarily quickened their pace.
But once they emerged from the passage, the scene they encountered was not what they had imagined.
There was no pool, no source of water, and no vast underground space where tree god guards could live. The end of the passage was actually a room resembling a dungeon.
On the left and right sides were black wooden bars. The walls and floor were stained with the eerie color of dried green elf blood.
“He really did lie to me!” Flame star said through gritted teeth. E Chai’s expression was also quite unpleasant.
The green-haired woman, however, did not seem angry. Instead, she joked, “Didn’t you lie to him too?”
“Whose side are you on?” Flame star growled.
She shrugged and mimed zipping her lips, indicating she would stop talking.
“Wait, there seems to be something ahead!” E Chai suddenly turned his head toward the deepest part of the dungeon.
“What?” Flame star asked with a hint of hope.
“We’ll know when we go look!” E Chai strode forward and arrived in front of a tightly closed, heavy wooden door.
Even though they knew the probability of the pool of grace being behind that wooden door was pitifully low, there was still a sliver of a chance if they opened it, whereas there was none if they didn’t. In the end, they used their supernatural powers to open the door.
The thing behind the wooden door was indeed not the pool of grace, but it was something else they had completely never expected.
Flame star looked at the object. His expression shifted from surprise and horror to mockery and almost undisguised excitement.
The expressions of the other three changed in almost the exact same way, though they lacked the final mockery and excitement.
“I really didn’t expect this, haha!”
Flame star stepped forward, clicking his tongue in wonder as he looked her over.
In front of him, at the end of the room, heavy wooden shackles and vines formed a complex imprisonment device, suspending a beautiful, slightly short but perfectly proportioned blue-haired girl in midair.
It was Yun Ruoxi!
Her head hung low, and saliva mixed with blood dripped from the corner of her mouth, but there were no obvious wounds on her body.
After the seven tree god guards had escorted her here, they had immediately gone to report to the King.
They hadn’t had time to interrogate her yet, which resulted in Flame star and the others, who had timed their infiltration into the traveling palace perfectly, encountering her.
The tree god guards probably never imagined that anyone would come to this rarely used traveling palace dungeon, especially at such a precise time, so they hadn’t stationed anyone to guard it.
*Snap!*
Flame star suddenly reached out and pinched Yun Ruoxi’s face, slowly tilting her head up.
The three behind him were startled by his sudden move and hurried to stop him in lowered voices. “Flame star, are you crazy? Stop! She’s Xinglan!”
But Flame star ignored them completely. Instead, he used more force, pinching the girl’s mouth into a pout.
With a sickly smile on his face, he muttered to himself, “Xinglan! The strongest and most beautiful trainee in the battle camp. To think you would be caught by these natives!”
“Hahaha, didn’t expect that, did you? You failed. I, who was once killed in one move by you, actually infiltrated the traveling palace safely!”
“In this regard, you aren’t as good as me! You’re too weak! To actually mix with those naive kids! What can they accomplish? They can’t do anything!”
He laughed loudly, his speech becoming faster and faster as he leaned his head closer and closer to Yun Ruoxi.
The three behind him were dumbfounded, even forgetting to speak.
“I once only wanted you to look at me, but you refused. You weren’t even willing to move your eyes away from that damn A Zhen for a second—ha, what an ugly name! What part of that annoying and weak guy could possibly compare to me?”
“Now, the roles are reversed! Where is that A Zhen? Only I am here!”
“Does Flame star… like Xinglan?” the last trainee, who hadn’t spoken until now, suddenly asked.
“Do you even need to ask?” the green-haired trainee shrugged. “Many of the male trainees probably like Xinglan! I heard that even Mo Yuan treats Xinglan differently.”
[Wow, the entire battle camp is just a group of Lao Xi simps.]
[Mo Yuan doesn’t like Lao Xi; he probably wants her dead.]
[Wrong, Mo Yuan is just a morbid Lao Xi simp.]
“I’ll save you once today!” Flame star said seriously as he stared at the tightly closed eyes of Yun Ruoxi. “But don’t you dare refuse to give me even a single look again!”
[Simp.]
[Why is Flame star so humble?]
[A total simp, actually only wanting Lao Xi to look at him once.]
“She doesn’t need you to save her! I’m going to eliminate her right here!”
Just as Flame star was about to act, a man’s voice suddenly rang out from behind the four of them.
“Who?!” Everyone turned around in shock.
At the exit of the passage, several figures slowly emerged.
The one in the lead was the former Number 0001, now Number 0002—the brown-haired Mo Yuan!