Chapter 60: Competing for the Flower

Withered Bone Residue.

Beneath their feet lay not only fresh, warm corpses, but also a layer of accumulated residue from who knew how many years.

With every step the group took, crisp and spine-chilling cracking sounds rose, the desiccated bones crunching and grinding under their soles. The sound, one after another, made their scalps prickle.

Just how many lives were buried beneath this Hundred Flower Valley?

The deeper they ventured into the valley, the denser the withered bones underfoot became, and the clearer, more continuous the grinding, crunching sounds grew, echoing incessantly in their ears.

White Night, the most observant, noticed something amiss.

The old woman traveling with them was clearly stepping on the same field of withered bones, yet she made not a single sound. She wasn’t in a spectral form like herself; her feet were solidly planted on the ground, leaving shallow footprints even in the softer soil. Yet, no matter how she walked, there was not a hint of bone-crunching noise. It was truly bizarre and puzzling.

Before White Night could ponder it further, the sounds of battle ahead were suddenly right upon them.

They witnessed firsthand a group of people locked in a frenzied struggle over a single blooming, eerie crimson-glowing Strange Flower.

The scene was bloody and brutal. Everyone had bloodlust in their eyes, fighting like beasts over carrion.

The moment the red flower was seized by one man, before he could even stuff it into his mouth, his entire arm was severed clean at the shoulder by a blade, and the flower tumbled to the ground.

Instantly, countless others pounced to snatch it. Blades flashed, swords clashed in chaos, and blood sprayed everywhere.

Someone desperately shoved the red flower into their mouth, only to have their head lopped off the next second. Another hand reached into the fallen head’s mouth and forcibly dug the flower back out.

The final survivor was a burly man who had lost an arm.

Propping himself up with his sword in his remaining hand, covered in blood, he swallowed the flower.

The next moment, an astonishing transformation occurred.

At the stump of his severed arm, flesh and muscle wriggled and grew frantically. In mere moments, a perfectly intact arm had regrown. Even the gruesome wounds from the battle all over his body completely healed.

The man’s face flushed with vigor. He excitedly flexed his new arm, feeling the surge of power within. Then, his eyes fixed intently deeper into the Hundred Flower Valley. He picked up his sword from the ground and charged forward without a backward glance.

White Night and her companions stood not far away, witnessing this entire mad process.

If not for Su Shuang’er holding her back tightly, Gu Jiao would have long since uncontrollably rushed into the fray.

“Why are you holding me back? They’re no match for me at all. What right do you have to stop me?”

Gu Jiao’s voice suddenly rang out, carrying undisguised anger and resentment. Even though Su Shuang’er was clearly protecting her, Gu Jiao’s gaze was glued to the depths of the valley, her whole body radiating a frantic, uncontrolled agitation.

Just as Su Shuang’er was about to explain, Mu Yingying, who usually loved to banter, didn’t waste a single word this time. She simply raised her hand and delivered a solid slap to the back of Gu Jiao’s head.

“Snap out of it!” Mu Yingying scolded sharply. “Even with your strength, in that chaotic mess just now, could you guarantee you wouldn’t get hurt or killed? You’re bewitched!”

Only after receiving that slap did Gu Jiao jolt back to her senses. The madness in her eyes faded, replaced by fear and shame.

She finally realized she had, as if possessed, lashed out at the teammate who was protecting her.

“I’m sorry…” Her voice was hoarse. “I… I lost my head again for a moment.”

Seeing this, Su Shuang’er and Mu Yingying just shook their heads, not taking it to heart.

“You’d better control yourself,” Su Shuang’er said gravely. “I can’t hold you back every single moment. My primary task is to protect Little White Night.”

“I know.” Gu Jiao agreed verbally, but the urgency and craving in her eyes were impossible to hide completely.

Mu Yingying and Su Shuang’er both saw it but didn’t press further.

The path ahead was perilous; they could only continue forward.

The deeper they went into the valley, the more chaotic and frenzied the battles they witnessed became.

Humans and Weirdness tangled together, fighting to the death over a single small, faintly glowing flower.

Only those who ultimately survived the围攻 and managed to absorb the Flower Power were considered the true victors of the struggle.

White Night’s group never joined the roadside scrambles for flowers, instead becoming invisible amidst the chaos, with no one bothering them.

Yet, Gu Jiao was repeatedly affected by the surrounding madness, struggling with the urge to rush into the fights. It was only thanks to Mu Yingying delivering several more solid slaps along the way that she was barely kept lucid.

When they reached a relatively calmer stretch, Gu Jiao, rubbing the back of her head with lingering fear, complained to Mu Yingying, “Could you hit a little lighter?”

“Lighter?” Mu Yingying glanced at her with a half-smile. “Should I have Shuang’er do it instead? Her hand is much stronger than mine. Then it wouldn’t just be a sting; I’m afraid she might knock your skull clean off.”

“Never mind then,” Gu Jiao quickly waved her hands. “You can hit harder. I haven’t found a better flower yet. Can’t afford to fall here in this chaos now; need to preserve strength. Come on, let’s keep going.”

With that, she urged everyone to press deeper.

The group walked a long way further into the gorge. The blood by the roadside had converged into trickling streams, flowing down the slopes towards the lower depths of the valley.

The colorful Strange Flowers covering the mountainsides, nourished by the blood, bloomed even more brilliantly and eerily. The profusion of flowers, amidst the scent of blood, carried an indescribable strangeness.

White Night noticed the old woman beside her seemed somewhat different from before.

Her previously faltering steps had become light and steady, her hunched back gradually straightened, and even the deep wrinkles on her face had lessened noticeably. The entire woman looked visibly younger.

White Night took all this in, her heart filled with astonishment.

What concerned her more was that the old woman, watching the scenes of疯狂厮杀 and corpses strewn everywhere by the roadside, showed not a trace of fear on her face. Instead, she wore a faint, gentle smile.

Her gaze was like that of an old farmer looking at a field about to yield a bountiful harvest, brimming with unconcealed joy.

White Night had a guess.

This old woman must have an extremely deep connection to this bizarre Hundred Flower Valley.

‘Could she be absorbing power from these dead bodies?’

Her mind churned with speculation, but her expression remained unchanged as she continued observing silently.

Even now, she still sensed no malice or danger from the old woman, but she dared not let her guard down in the slightest.

Anyone deeply entangled with this strange Hundred Flower Valley, who also knew that mysterious little girl within the valley, must possess unfathomable power.

Such a person absolutely must not become an enemy.

White Night understood clearly that even if their group’s strength were multiplied tenfold, they likely wouldn’t stand a chance against her.

Just as White Night was staring at the old woman, lost in thought, the old woman suddenly turned her head. Her gaze locked precisely onto White Night, and she grinned at her.

From her previously empty, toothless gums, two neat, gleaming white new teeth had now unmistakably appeared.

“Little White Night, you’ve been staring at me. Have you figured something out?”