Free Web NovelChapter 407: Chapter 394: Core
Gu Ming saw this and felt a twinge of envy, but he didn’t say anything. He knew that at this moment, everyone was benefiting from Mianmian.
His gaze swept over the focused and excited faces of his teammates. He silently suppressed his emotions and glanced at his system.
He saw no alarms or other warnings from the system. ’Looks like the situation is under control. We can keep moving forward.’
"Faced with the ruins of the Primordial Dream Butterfly, which the top experts have explored countless times, the second sublevel has not posed much of a threat to you. You continue to press forward under the guidance of the various teachers..."
In reality, the group was gathered around Mianmian, their expressions cautious, afraid to take a single wrong step.
They copied the method, using group Relay Cultivation to circulate their Cultivation Techniques, advancing step-by-step along the safe path.
Before long, they finally reached the fourth fork in the path, where they found an unconscious student in a corner.
This student was a core member of the Outdoor Adventure Club. Despite being a Four-star Beastmaster, he was now lying silently on the ground, his brow furrowed and a cold sweat beading on his forehead.
He was clearly trapped deep within multiple layers of the Illusion Realm.
And next to a dark fissure more than five meters away, his Pet Beast was wedged precariously at the edge, its body half-suspended. It looked as if the slightest movement would send it plunging into the abyss.
Gu Ming didn’t rush forward to investigate. He even cautiously retracted his Divine Sense, simply holding his breath to observe.
Everyone held their breath, their gazes fixed on the area where light and shadow intertwined, wreathed in an aurora.
The air seemed to freeze, leaving only the faint hum of the constantly shifting Illusion barrier.
Several High Tier Beastmasters exchanged a look, their expressions grim as they stepped forward.
Spiritual Power surged around their bodies, forming a tangible shield as they stepped into the range of the aurora.
In an instant, the Illusion warped. Countless distorted streams of light and shadow surged forward like a tide, attempting to erode the intruders’ minds.
The leading expert snorted and summoned a Pet Beast in a hooded cloak, ordering it to form a hand seal.
A pure light spread from the palms of his Ghost Pet Beast, struggling to maintain a small safe zone.
Another summoned their Pet Beast, a pure silver Spirit Fox. Beams of azure light shot from its eyes, continuously analyzing and deciphering the Illusion’s structure.
Sweat trickled down their foreheads. Maintaining this state was clearly taking a huge toll.
The patterned rings around Mianmian’s body flickered rapidly as it strained to calculate the Illusion’s shifting patterns, guiding everyone along the most logical path to break through.
Time ticked by, second by second, and the tense atmosphere weighed on everyone’s mind.
Lu You watched the difficult rescue intently, her Divine Sense stretched to its absolute limit.
Finally, with a crisp CRACK, a temporary gap was torn in the Illusion barrier.
One of the experts, reacting with lightning speed, immediately threw a specialized rescue rope, precisely looping it around the endangered Pet Beast.
Everyone pulled together, successfully yanking the Pet Beast back to the safe zone just an instant before the barrier snapped shut.
The rescued student was still unconscious. Startled awake, his Pet Beast quickly nestled beside its master and whimpered softly.
With every subsequent step of the exploration, the difficulty increased, and time stretched on.
After nearly half a day, the group had only managed to descend a little over six hundred meters.
By this point, even though the Beastmasters could use Relay Cultivation to distribute the attacks from the Illusion Realm among thirty Pet Beasts, the pressure was still immense.
"Everyone, let’s stop the rescues here for today. To be honest, exploring any further will be very difficult. We all need to rest."
A rescued student, who had only recently woken up, was now standing among the group.
Because they were deep within the Yichuan Ruins and surrounded by dangerous Illusory Speed Auroras, no one dared to leave the group and return to the surface alone. They could only brace themselves and stick with the team.
The team leader, Chief Arno, shook his head and said,
"Everyone, we can rest, but we can’t go back.
"We’ve already explored this far. Besides, you’ve all seen the effectiveness of Mianmian, as well as Lu You and Gu Ming’s Relay Cultivation Method.
"If we had to start over from the beginning, we’d waste at least thirty to forty percent of our Spiritual Power just getting back here. That’s enough Spiritual Power to save a lot more people.
"But the Illusion Realm on the levels below is growing stronger. We have to rescue not only the students, but also the teachers who are lost. For now, we have no choice but to hold our position here."
Chief Arno’s words made everyone exchange glances, but no one could refute him.
After all, what Chief Arno said was right. The group had no choice but to remain.
Gu Ming, on the other hand, didn’t mind. ’In fact,’ he thought, ’staying with a group of top experts will allow my system to reach its full potential.’
Lu You was both the most encouraged and the most terrified.
She was encouraged because everyone desperately needed her Pet Beast’s help.
She was terrified because her social battery for the day was completely drained.
The number of words she’d spoken today might have been equal to her entire verbal output for the past six months of school.
Just then, she noticed Gu Ming wink at her. He mouthed a word and made a hand gesture that only the two of them would understand: ’Dream dive!’
In front of Eight-star experts, Gu Ming didn’t even dare use Divine Sense to communicate, fearing he would be discovered.
Now, in order to save more people, Gu Ming decided to start training in the Dream Cultivation Space to maximize Mianmian’s abilities.
Lu You naturally understood his reasoning. She immediately nodded and moved closer to Gu Ming with her Pet Beast.
Gu Ming then sat down cross-legged and said to Chief Arno,
"She and I are going to enter seclusion to cultivate and recover our Spiritual Power. Could you all please keep watch for us?"
The experts around them immediately nodded in agreement.
The recently rescued teachers and students all looked over, their gazes filled with surprise and curiosity.
They had all assumed Gu Ming was just incredibly lucky, tagging along behind the experts to gain some exploration experience.
They never expected that these two were apparently the absolute core of the exploration.
’What was going on?’
The teacher who had just escaped the Illusion Realm was completely baffled.
The club member who was rescued first said with lingering fear in his voice,
"Lu You’s Pet Beast is a larva of the Myriad Phenomena Butterfly. It can sense the layout of the dreamscape here."
That may be so.
But the teachers still didn’t quite understand.
After all, no matter how attuned a larva of the Myriad Phenomena Butterfly was to this place, it was ultimately just a One-star Pet Beast.
Even with emergency nurturing using everyone’s top-tier medicines, bringing it infinitely close to the Two-star level, its actual abilities were still very weak.
It was so fragile it would practically shatter at the slightest touch here.
But that was precisely what made Mianmian so precious here, to the point that it was being protected by a group of master Beastmasters.
Gu Ming closed his eyes and gently took Lu You’s small hand in his right.
Surrounded by strangers, the rare, familiar presence of Gu Ming brought an inexplicable sense of peace to the severely socially anxious girl.
The two immediately entered the Dream Cultivation Space, their minds returning to the depths of the Yichuan Ruins’ second sublevel.
