Lu Qingyun had decided on a 'plan'.
And this plan was that the group would allow him to dash alone in the streets of the underground city.
There were a few cultivators that were hiding in the buildings above the streets and they had recognized him as the good-for-nothing first realm cultivator.
They were instantly overjoyed to see that an easy prey had foolishly appeared right in front of them. This easy prey was worth a full contribution point and time was running out for most of them.
Lu Qingyun had immediately turned into a dark alley.
One by one and even two by two, the cultivators began to follow Lu Qingyun hastily as they were afraid of losing sight of him.
As soon as the cultivators had stepped into dark alley, one by one and two by two, they were quickly butchered by Leng Qiuyue, Qian Jingjing and Ling Xiu.
Leng Qiuyue smiled endearingly, "Senior brother, your turn to make the killing blow."
Lu Qingyun inhaled deeply, "Forgive me…"
The unfortunate cultivator stammered out, "Wait! Let me join your group…I can be of some use…we can hunt the desolate beasts together…"
*Slash*
Lu Qingyun smiled weakly, "Good bye."
In no time, they all had three contribution points each. All in all, six cultivators had fallen into their hands in this manner. All of them were third realm cultivators and were no match for Leng Qiuyue, Ling Xiu and Qian Jingjing who were all fourth realm cultivators.
"We have cleared eight streets but there is still no sight of the portal." Lu Qingyun said.
Then he turned to ask Ling Xiu, "How much time do we have now?"
"Exactly 30 minutes." Ling Xiu said quietly as her watery eyes looked anxiously at him.
Lu Qingyun nodded, "We have taken some time to lure and ambush the cultivators. Now we need to find the portal that will lead us to the fourth trial."
Qian Jingjing asked, "But how do we know which direction to go? We are lucky that our vicinity does not have any high level cultivators or powerful teams. But if we are to go to the other areas of the underground city, we will be in unfamiliar territory and it will be easy to corner us. Surely we can't fight our way through so many cultivators?"
Lu Qingyun pondered for a while before he said quietly, "Actually there may be a way."
"Huh?" Ling Xiu and Leng Qiuyue said at the same time.
"Everyone knows that we have only thirty minutes left now. Therefore time is running out for most of the cultivators. No matter who they are and whether they have completed the contribution points, all of them will be desperate to find the fourth trial portal." Lu Qingyun pointed out.
"Especially during the last fifteen minutes." He added.
Qian Jingjing smiled weakly, "Brother Qingyun, your Sister Jingjing is a little dumb. So what is the plan?"
"Just follow me." Lu Qingyun smiled awkwardly.
Leng Qiuyue, Ling Xiu, Qian Jingjing: …
When Lu Qingyun had said that, he was also asking Yan'Er in his inner cultivation sea. "Yan'Er, I need your help."
Yan'Er asked, "Yes Master?"
"I need you to track someone."
"Who?"
"Yue Lingxi. Can you do it?" Since Yue Lingxi was a desolate cultivator, her desolate aura could be picked up by Yan'Er. This was what Lu Qingyun was thinking right now.
Yan'Er closed her eyes, "I can try."
A minute later, Yan'Er replied sheepishly. "I can't sense her desolate aura. She is too far away."
Lu Qingyun pondered again before he said, "I'm going to lead my group on a dangerous run. I need you to guide me to her whereabouts or directions when you can pick her desolate aura."
Yan'Er chuckled, "Alright. Yan'Er will do my best."
Lu Qingyun added with a firm tone, "No sleeping or napping."
Yan'Er rolled her eyes as she chuckled.
Lately he had found out that Yan'Er had been napping instead of cultivating because Yan'Er had a sleepy expression whenever he was talking to her as of late.
Yan'Er asked, "Master, you like this big sister?"
Lu Qingyun frowned, "I am actually trying to elude her. If we chance into her then we are goner. But on the other hand, she may be closer to the portal than we are. So knowing her general direction may be a helpful hint as well."
"Yan'Er, can you sense the fourth trial portal?"
"I think so. The energies level of a portal is pretty hard not to miss once we are close. But I can't sense it now so it is probably not near." Yan'Er replied after a while.
"Great. We're going to need your help to find the portal then." Lu Qingyun said with a soft sigh. They just had only thirty minutes left.
As Lu Qingyun and his group ran hastily down the streets to search for the portal, they had encountered many cultivators. Since they had already got their three contribution points, they did not bother with them as long as they were not being attacked.
At the same time, most of the cultivators were also avoiding their group because they were a bigger group and moreover most of them were actually afraid of Qian Jingjing. It was because Qian Jingjing was well known to them as a peaked fourth realm expert and the sword art of the Spirit Sword Manor was not a sword technique that they could mess up with.
Many of the cultivators had done their homework before the tournament started and they were mindful about confronting the cultivators that were from the four regional powerhouses.
There were a few fourth realm cultivators that had wanted to take Lu Qingyun's life but when they saw Qian Jingjing, they could only shake their heads quietly and quit the scene.
Lu Qingyun had thought these cultivators had quit the scene because they had the superior numbers and not because of Qian Jingjing. He had actually failed to do his homework properly on the four regional powerhouses. Or rather, he had been in deep depression prior to the start of the tournament after he had been defeated by the Three-Destinies Old Men.
Yan'Er had suddenly said, "That terrifying big sister is ahead of us. Also Yan'Er can sense the portal as well. But that big sister seems to be waiting at the portal."
Lu Qingyun had suddenly turned pale.
Did it mean that Yue Lingxi was waiting at the portal to kill him?
–
–
–
Above the stage, many of the celestials were watching nervously.
It was because the number of cultivators that had fallen as the minutes flew by were simply too horrifying.
Thirty minutes ago, just five hundred cultivators had fallen.
But as the countdown was left with only thirty minutes, more than a thousand and five hundred cultivators had fallen.
In the end, no one really bothered about the contribution points anymore. Everyone was fighting against one another in a desperate bid to find the portal. Almost all the survivors had more than three contribution points.
"That Yue Lingling is too formidable. She has already killed more than ten cultivators…"
"Her group is too ruthless. They had killed more than thirty cultivators already. This is too exceeding…"
"That Lu Qingyun is really too despicable. He had lured so many cultivators into an ambush."
"I never know that the Spirit Sword Manor will resort so low as to ambush the others. So this is how the Spirit Sword Manor is able to become one of the regional powerhouses. What a joke!"
"The Clear Sky Pavilion has found the portal. Qiuxiang Huan, Qiuxiang Hanyu and Shangguan Furong have all entered the fourth trial portal…"
"Weird. Why didn't Yue Lingling enters the portal? She seems to be waiting for someone?!"
"Lu Qingyun and his group are now approaching where Yue Lingling is now."
"Finally that good-for-nothing cultivator Lu Qingyun is out of luck. He is going to get massacre by her."
"Yue Lingling is alone now…"
"It is going to be a four versus one fight…"
Qin Keqin was gasping, "Yun'Er, run!"
She turned around and said panicky to Shen Yufeng, "Quick. Use your divine lightning to strike that Yue Lingling down!"
Shen Yufeng: …