Chapter 539: Unexpected Visitor

After climbing to the ninth floor.

Wu Xian observed the surviving new Juan people.

He still remembered that on the first day he climbed to the ninth floor, most were gasping for breath, drenched in sweat.

Yet they had only explored for an afternoon and escaped a pack of strange creatures, and now, climbing straight to the ninth floor, everyone was merely slightly out of breath.

It seemed the “Accumulated Toil Becomes Ghost” trait had significantly strengthened their physiques.

The new Juan people rested briefly, then opened doors one by one to deal with the black figures.

After deciding yesterday to use trash bins to farm the monsters, the Juan people had evenly divided the remaining black liquid in all six bins, ensuring maximum yield.

Thus, after opening the doors today, no one was ambushed by the black figures, and each bin held nearly half-full black liquid.

They carried the black liquid into the corridor, then gathered it all together, eventually creating four black figures.

The five Juan people who had already obtained the “Corrupted Sui Incense” stepped back; the remaining Xu Shen, Huo Shutong, and Wu Jige each took on one black figure.

Wu Jige used the “Six-Petal Ice Flower Spell,” a technique he had demonstrated before; when cast on the fake Guo Xiaodong, it couldn’t even fully freeze one arm, but when struck against the black figure, it killed instantly.

Xu Shen pulled up his shirt, revealing a black belt-like object that unfurled—a glossy black scorpion tail; its stinger tapped the figure’s head, and the figure dropped dead, blood oozing from eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.

This was the “Demon Art—Inverted Horse Poison Scorpion Tail.”

Huo Shutong first immobilized the black figure with the “Stop Movement Spell,” then pulled a fifteen-centimeter needle into her palm, blew gently upon it, and the needle shot forward, piercing the figure’s skull before returning nimbly to her hand.

The needle was pure white, its rear half engraved with exquisitely fine cloud patterns—this was the artifact “Xuannü Needle.”

Thus.

All eight Juan people had now killed a black figure once.

The remaining black figure was up for grabs.

Wu Xian still had two healthy Sui Incense sticks, so he did not compete; the spot went to Ma San, who easily killed the black figure with a single spell.

After the black figures died, their black liquid peeled away, revealing their true forms—all were those who had died tragically today.

One woman’s body had been torn into pieces and crudely stitched back together—it was Liu Shuli, torn apart by the “Teaching Assistants” in the sports field.

Ji Yaning, a surviving resort employee, burst into tears.

The dorm supervisor came upstairs as she had yesterday, sweeping the corpses into a dustpan with a broom, but her complaints had diminished—she seemed to have realized the danger these people posed.

Thus.

Discussion of the black figures ended.

Next, everyone began exchanging information about the statues.

Before departure, there had been twenty-three statues; Su Mi and Wen Tinghua had killed one student council member, so the training center now held twenty-four statues.

Four had already been worshipped, sixteen had been discovered, leaving only four undiscovered.

Wu Xian had found one statue—the “Celestial Official—Southern Pole Elder Star”—useful, but not what he wanted most right now.

He asked around, and eventually found what he sought with Wu Banqing.

The Earth Official—Demon God Chiyou Statue! Wu Xian’s greatest advantage in this blessed land was the “Human Art—Sitting Meditation”; through meditation, he could gather resources needed for all arts.

Demon Arts included Cat’s Three Legs, Ghost Arts included Ghost Painting Talismans, but he still lacked a combat-oriented Human Art or Demon Art.

To avoid wasting resources gathered through meditation, Wu Xian’s first priority was to collect all four arts.

Others, too, made their own trades.

After trading ended, there was little left to discuss. At this moment.

Eight Juan people remained alive in the blessed land.

They were: Wu Xian, Su Mi, Wen Tinghua, Ma San, Kang Tiantian, Wu Jige, Xu Shen, and Huo Shutong.

Nine new recruits remained alive.

They were: the old man Hai Weijiang, Jiang Zisheng (who had changed his name), four female college students—Wu Banqing, Jin Shasha, Liu Siyi, and Xu Yuening—two male college students—Xia Wentao and Wei Kang—and Ji Yaning, the female resort employee.

Though five had died, compared to other blessed lands, this was not particularly brutal.

But no one felt optimistic about tomorrow.

For tomorrow would be the training center’s first minor exam! No one had any information about the exam, and the school offered no details; there was no way to prepare in advance. All they could do was strengthen themselves before it arrived and pray the exam wouldn’t be too monstrous.

The new Juan people bid farewell and returned to their rooms.

Suddenly.

This work is compiled and uploaded by Liujibook.

Everyone heard footsteps approaching from the stairwell, accompanied by the sound of flesh dragging along the floor.

All held their breath, staring at the stairwell.

Up came a man, face drenched in blood, dragging one arm of a corpse—the corpse’s back was a bloody, mangled mess from friction! The man bore a scar across his face and snow-white hair.

Wu Xian recognized him—he had been the best-performing native during the physical education class.

The white-haired native was stared at by seventeen eyes, several of which radiated unhidden killing intent.

He knew these people had the power to kill him.

For during today’s language class, he had been watching Wu Xian closely—even Wu Xian’s deliberate concealment had failed to fool his eyes.

But he would not, could not, show fear.

So he straightened his posture and stared directly at Wu Xian and the others.

“I am Xue Chenghe. I came up here today just to ask one question: you all can see the statues, right?”

At these words.

The atmosphere instantly turned tense.

Wu Xian’s fingertip produced a playing card; Ma San narrowed his eyes; even Wu Banqing pulled out a small dagger she had somehow found.

But Xue Chenghe remained calm.

He feared the ghosts in the training center, but not people; in this chaotic wartime, men with killing intent were the most plentiful.

“My roommate was very clever—he noticed from day one that you people were unlike us.”

“So he observed you closely, and found you always gathered together, some of you could perform strange abilities, and just now you split up searching for something.”

“Therefore, he concluded you were the ones the Student Council was looking for—the ones who could see the statues.”

Wu Xian raised an eyebrow slightly, tucked away the playing card, and looked at the corpse Xue Chenghe had dragged in.

“This… is your roommate, isn’t it?”

Xue Chenghe nodded and dropped the corpse to the floor.

“Yes. He wanted to report you to the Student Council. I warned him—he wouldn’t listen. So I killed him!”

(End of Chapter)