The system map didn't provide any answers. The five of them spread out to search in different directions. Soon, Canghai sent a message through the team channel, saying he had found a clue somewhere.
It was an abandoned mine tunnel, and at the end, there were a few mine carts filled with stones. Everyone gathered around and noticed a hidden opening. This opening had previously been covered by the crossbeams of the mine tunnel, but Canghai had accidentally discovered that these beams seemed to have been moved.
Sangtian transformed into a black panther and sneaked into the hole. After a while, she quietly spoke through the team channel, "This is the lair of a bunch of demon beasts, uh... all demon deer. There's a level 20 boss, and over twenty others around level 17 or 18. Below is a huge cave, the terrain's a bit complex, but if you come down, you'll definitely get noticed. What should we do?"
Du Chen asked, "Can't we just pull them up one by one and kill them?"
"...This isn't a game, the aggro is probably bound," Sangtian replied.
Canghai observed the opening for a bit and then said to Sangtian, "Pull one up, let's see if we can block it."
"Hey, are you sure about this? If we die, things will get really messy," Du Chen called out, signaling Xiao Yue to bind a Soul Stone to Canghai.
"In theory, it should work...—If not, everyone just hop into the small bowl and run," Canghai said confidently.
Du Chen muttered to himself, "Canghai must've gotten a huge shock to try something this risky," as he got into a fighting stance. One hand held his big sword, while the other gripped a small bowl, ready to escape at any moment.
Sangtian called out, and soon after, a black panther shot out of the hole, with a demon deer chasing right behind it.
As soon as the demon deer's front hooves appeared at the opening, Canghai threw a freeze talisman, instantly freezing the deer in place. Its massive body blocked the entrance completely, preventing the other demon deer from getting through.
After a few more kills using the block tactic, the other demon deer figured out a way to deal with it. When one deer's body got stuck in the entrance, the other demon deer would shove it with their heads, forcing it out of the way before quickly jumping through.
Even so, only a few managed to get out. The demon deer were too large for the size of the opening, and Canghai was always calm and waiting for the right moment to block them.
After some effort, they cleared out several waves of monsters, and no more demon deer appeared from the entrance.
Du Chen found it odd. "Why hasn't the boss shown up yet?"
Canghai frowned. "Yeah, I even saved some moves to deal with the boss." He pulled out a thick stack of talismans from his bag.
Sangtian twitched her lips, but before anyone could respond, she disappeared into the hole again. Not long after, her voice, slightly weaker, came through the team channel. "The boss hasn't moved from its spot. But... it seems like it's noticed me, it keeps staring at me... Ah!"
Hearing Sangtian's painful scream, the others were startled and quickly scrambled down the hole.
The terrain in the cave was indeed complicated. It was an enormous chamber, with transparent, glowing spiritual stones forming cylindrical columns that looked like palace pillars. The crystal pillars were densely packed, growing from both the ground and the ceiling in opposing directions. The luminous glow from the spiritual stones illuminated the entire cave, casting an almost magical, crystalline light that made the whole place look like a fantasy world.
However, the four of them didn't have time to admire the beautiful scenery. They had to jump down from the crystal pillars, and ahead, Sangtian, in her giant bear form, was taking hits from a massive white stag demon, blocking its attacks with sheer force. There was a horrifying pool of blood on the sparkling floor.
Du Chen quickly stepped in to take over, and Sangtian transformed back into her human form, retreating to the back. Her arms and legs were still covered with fresh, gruesome wounds, blood staining her clothes, looking terrifying. Canghai had already thrown a healing talisman, but seeing the injuries, he wasn't satisfied and quickly cast a quick healing spell while asking her if the wounds hurt.
Sangtian took a sip of water and caught her breath, but before she could respond, she quickly shouted to Du Chen, "Watch out for the boss's antlers—they suddenly get really long!"
Before she finished speaking, they heard the giant stag let out a loud cry. Its antlers, massive and twisted like tree branches, suddenly shot out, becoming like countless flexible, sharp vines, reaching out to entangle and surround them.
The attack was too fast, and most of them didn't have time to react, so everyone took some damage. Canghai and Sangtian quickly returned to the team, healing everyone.
The giant stag's methods of attack weren't many, but they were all difficult to handle.
In addition to the vine-like antlers that attacked in a group, the stag also had a violent single-target charge that gave Du Chen trouble. His huge sword, which he had once jokingly called a "door-sized sword," was actually knocked out of his hands with a single charge from the stag. The sword flew with such force that it sliced through a spiritual stone pillar as thick as two people's arms, causing it to crash to the ground and break into pieces.
Du Chen quickly recalled his sword and held it in front of him. Just then, the giant stag came up with a new move. It suddenly raised its front hooves and stomped heavily on the ground. The violent tremor made everyone lose their balance, causing them to fall to the ground, struggling to get up.
The white giant stag stood at around four or five meters tall, incredibly strong, yet for some reason, it remained in place, only focusing on stomping Du Chen and occasionally using its long, vine-like antlers for ranged attacks.
Although their cultivation techniques weren't yet mastered, the five of them had game skills to rely on, with a variety of abilities and two healers to back them up. The battle became a stalemate. Du Chen and his team were patient—after all, when fighting a boss, you had to grind it out.
As the boss's health dropped to about a third, the giant stag suddenly became agitated. Ignoring its many injuries, it lowered its head, braced its legs, and began shaking its entire body.
"It's about to unleash its ultimate attack, fall back!" Du Chen shouted.
He enlarged his spiritual sword into a massive shield-like slab, about as wide as two people standing side by side, and held it in front of him. The others quickly retreated about ten paces, looking for cover and preparing their survival skills.
Suddenly, the giant stag stopped shaking. Its fur bristled, and from its coat, numerous green seeds were ejected like a storm of projectiles, raining down on the team.
The five quickly dodged, but as the seeds landed near them, they exploded on contact, like small bombs, leaving countless bloody, gory wounds on their fragile human bodies.
Fortunately, after releasing its ultimate attack, the giant stag became sluggish. If it had launched another group attack, the already battered team would likely have been wiped out.
They quickly retreated to heal, but then they saw the stag lower its head and begin munching on the scattered spiritual stones. After just a couple of bites, it stood up, visibly energized, and the deeper wounds on its fur seemed to be healing. The giant stag let out a triumphant cry, its red eyes now fixed hatefully on Du Chen and his team.
The five of them could only brace themselves and continue the fight. After healing, the stag's strength increased even further. With a simple kick, Du Chen's massive sword was dented.
Du Chen's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the hoof-shaped dent in his sword. "That really hurts! What should we do? By the way, where's Lord Diwei? I haven't seen him since earlier."
Just as Du Chen spoke, a small face popped up from behind a cluster of intersecting crystal pillars. Diwei, in his tiny form, was clinging to one of the pillars like a koala. With a serious expression, he said, "Do not expect anything from me. In this child-like state, I am powerless to fight."
"What? You can't do this! What if Xiao Yue dies? What will you do then?" Du Chen still wasn't giving up.
Diwei frowned, his cheeks puffed up slightly as he sighed and pressed his lips together. "If that happens, I too have no choice but to return to the void. I can only hope that you all do not fail."
No matter what Diwei's reasons were, knowing that this powerful external aid wouldn't be stepping in, the five of them had no choice but to use every trick they had. They summoned all their magical artifacts, and Canghai and Tongxinfen took out their stockpile of talismans and distributed them to the others.
As time passed, the giant stag boss began to weaken. When its health was almost gone, it didn't eat any more spiritual stones to recover. Instead, it let out a long, mournful cry, as if filled with endless despair and sorrow. The giant stag, with its blood-red eyes, fixed its gaze on the five humans in front of it. It stomped its hooves, crushing the stone beneath, and its muscles bulged as a faint green glow radiated from its antlers.
In an instant, the stag's antlers shattered, breaking into countless thin, blade-like pieces that sparkled in the light from the surrounding crystal pillars. They looked almost like a rain of petals, beautiful but deadly.
These blade-like "leaves" were light and small, but their speed was terrifying. The sound of rustling filled the air, and the five of them were quickly marked with blood-red cuts. They all realized that this was the stag's final desperate attempt and scrambled for cover behind the crystal pillars, using all their life-saving skills to survive this last attack.
After a long while, Du Chen didn't hear any more sounds. He cautiously peeked out from behind the crystal pillar. The giant stag lay motionless on the ground, its antlers completely gone, leaving only its bare head. Du Chen manipulated his spiritual sword to fly over and poked the stag's body a few times. It didn't move—clearly, it had breathed its last.
The five of them emerged from their hiding spots, clothes torn, and bodies bruised and battered. Du Chen touched one of the gashes on his cheek and winced in pain. "D*mn, if it weren't for the game skills, my face would be ruined by now."
"You're wrong, boss," Tongxinfen, whose injuries were the least, replied. She had used her 'fridge' skill in time, so her sleeves were the only thing damaged, making her look the best of the bunch. "Men look better with scars on their faces. Look at characters like Jianxin, Kakashi, or Luffy… all of them have scars, and they're super popular, right?"
Du Chen rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You make a good point… Hey, Canghai, leave me a scar, will ya? Hmm… maybe right under my eye, that would look pretty cool."
Canghai ignored him, healing Du Chen as he sat down to recover mana. After a few sips of water, he said flatly, "Sorry, that option isn't in the skill set. Also—it's already healed."
Du Chen ran his hands over his face in disappointment. "Ah, my handsome face…"
"Well, you could always cut yourself and leave a scar. Maybe the system won't register the blood loss, and you can still have one," Sangtian suggested.
Du Chen was still torn between wanting to look cool and the pain of a potential self-inflicted injury when the other four had already finished healing. They changed into fresh clothes and began exploring the cave.
After they stored away the giant stag's body, they discovered it was covering a hidden stone slab. Lifting the slab revealed a smaller stone cave, where a large, pregnant doe lay weakly, her eyes filled with tears as she stared at the humans in front of her, a mixture of sadness and resentment in her gaze.
The five of them fell silent as they met the doe's complex and painful eyes.
Along their journey, they had seen the remains of humans, devoured by beasts. In their terror, they had also felt anger, convinced that the beasts were savage and merciless, so they had killed without hesitation. But now, seeing this doe and knowing that the stag had fought to the death to protect her and their young, they couldn't help but feel a sense of pity for the creatures. The stag, in its final moments, had been willing to sacrifice everything to take the enemy down with it, showing an almost human level of determination and love.
A shared thought suddenly emerged in their minds: Were these beasts truly as mindless and savage as they had been led to believe? Were they really nothing more than animals driven by instinct, or did they have some form of intelligence?
While it was true that they had to eliminate the threat, no one could bring themselves to strike the doe. They watched her limp away, her steps slow and heavy, and none of them spoke.
Once the doe had left, they began gathering the scattered shattered spiritual stones, realizing that, despite the somber encounter, the journey hadn't been a total loss.
As Du Chen was picking up the broken stones, he noticed a peculiar piece about the size of a fist. The color seemed unusual, so he reached down to grab it. Holding it up to his face, he saw that the crystal-clear stone contained what looked like a faint blue liquid flowing inside. Just as he was about to call the others over to look, everything suddenly went black, and he lost consciousness.
When Du Chen awoke again, he found the others standing silently in front of him, all wearing strange expressions. He scratched his head, wondering what had happened while he was unconscious, and pulled each of them aside to ask. However, they all avoided his gaze, either turning away or pretending to be busy with other tasks.
Canghai, standing to the side, began reciting poetry: "There is a gentleman, like cutting, like polishing, like sculpting, like grinding…" Du Chen, clearly puzzled, gave him a confused look. Canghai shook his head in amusement, then turned away to do something else. Du Chen, left alone, clutched his head and thought for a long time, trying to figure out what had happened, but he couldn't come to any conclusion. Eventually, something else caught his attention, and he quickly forgot about it.
Canghai, meanwhile, discovered that meditating and running the Great Cycle in the spiritual vein allowed for much faster absorption of spiritual energy, leading to faster cultivation. So, the group decided to stay in the underground cave for several days to meditate and practice. Soon, all five of them had leveled up again, reaching the seventh level of the Foundation Establishment stage.
One day, Du Chen and the others left the mine. They mounted their swords and circled the White Deer Mountain, scanning the area, but they didn't encounter any more beasts. Deciding there was no further danger, they returned to their sect to report.