Building a sect from scratch.

This unexpected turn of events stunned everyone. They instinctively huddled together, their eyes fixed on the spot where the strange bird had been dragged into the ground—a conspicuous, dark pit. It wasn't too close, so they couldn't see it clearly, but no one wanted to go up and examine it closely.

"Don't you guys think... it's a little too quiet here?"

The player with the ID "Guan Tang Bao" was known for his meticulousness in the guild and was the first to notice something was wrong.

Upon hearing what Guantangbao said, the others' expressions changed as well.

Indeed, everyone knows what the wild forests are like. Even though we rarely encounter them on Earth, the game "Ten Continents Chronicles" is full of undeveloped wild forests, with a rich variety of sounds such as birdsong, cicada chirps, and babbling brooks.

Now, in the woods where everyone is, all you can hear is the sound of leaves and branches rubbing against each other; there isn't even the most common chirping of insects.

It was as quiet as a dead place.

"Proceed with caution."

Nietzsche, as the group leader and also the squad leader, gave Mai a word of advice and then casually chose a direction to start walking.

Although the trees around were of unknown species, they were all lush and verdant, appearing to be full of life, yet not a single animal could be seen in the forest.

Strange sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting dappled shadows that were chilling and eerie.

Everyone followed Nietzsche cautiously, and after passing through the entire forest, nothing happened.

Beyond the forest lay a reddish-brown rocky ground, uneven and full of puddles, scattered with all sorts of weapons and magical artifacts, resembling an ancient battlefield—the very scene projected from the stone pillar in the sky that we first saw!
Upon seeing this, the players couldn't help but cheer and quickened their pace, rushing towards the ancient battlefield.

One player exclaimed excitedly, "Wow! This is a bonus quest?! I wonder what the trigger conditions are. The more the merrier!"

The alchemist with the ID 【皇竹草】 was a new member of the community and this was his first time joining a group. He wasn't very familiar with some of the rules, so he asked, "Group leader, should we bid now or wait until we get back?"

Nietzsche replied, "The usual rule, we'll take the photos back at camp!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than several headless figures emerged from the ground one after another!
"Fuck!"

Wu Ke, who was running the fastest, was startled and uttered a vulgar curse.

That curse was like a switch that turned on, and more headless figures appeared in the distance!
This time, not only Wu Ke was shocked, but other players also exclaimed "Holy crap!"

The sunlight suddenly seemed to become extremely scorching, making people's skin feel dry and uncomfortable. The headless figures stood straight in the direction of the players, neither moving nor standing still, standing there blankly, which was extremely eerie.

Guantangbao exclaimed in the team's microphone, "Look at the status bar!"

The players then realized that everyone had a continuous bleeding debuff!

[High Temperature]: [Currently operating in a high-temperature environment, continuously losing health.]

At the same time, an extremely terrifying and unknown pressure came from within, and Nietzsche almost collapsed to the ground with a thud. She made a decisive decision and said, "Retreat! Retreat back to the woods!"

The players turned tail and ran, quickly retreating back into the woods.

However, this action seemed to provoke the headless figures, and the hundreds of headless figures suddenly rushed over!

The players panicked even more, preparing their skills, weapons, and items as they retreated and observed. A surprising scene unfolded – the moment the group of headless figures entered the forest, they were immediately swept up by vines that burst from the ground, just like the strange bird before, and dragged underground.

One headless figure after another rushed into the woods, and vines kept sprouting from the ground and pulling at them.

Nietzsche hesitated for a moment, then commanded, "Take a detour! Go back and check the situation!"

The players, panting heavily, flew back to the ancient battlefield, carefully avoiding the area they had just been in, and ventured deeper into the heart of the battlefield.

This time nothing strange happened. After walking for a short while, they saw a huge jade-carved stone platform.

The jade carving platform was over a hundred meters wide and more than a meter high. It looked as if it was carved from a single piece of jade. The material looked somewhat familiar, as if it were the same material as the jade floor that everyone had stepped on when they first entered this ancient mansion.

In the very center of the platform was a pillar of light, within which floated an exquisitely carved jade box, still made of the same material.

Before Nietzsche could speak, Wu Ke, who was used to being a guinea pig, stretched out his hand and said, "I'll give it a try!"

Nothing happened.

The jade box was taken away; it was empty. The players passed it around to examine it. Four large characters were engraved on it: "Bestow Eternal Life upon You."

The mage in the team, [Sea Turtle Qi Pure], muttered under his breath, "Grant you eternal life...that sounds kind of creepy..."

Guantangbao thought to himself, "Could those headless people just now have been granted eternal life?"

Huang Zhucao couldn't help but rub the hairs standing on end on her arms: "Ugh! That's so mean!"

Nietzsche gestured to Guantangbao, who had the most Qiankun bags in the team, and said, "Let's put them away for now, just in case they're some kind of quest item!"

Guantangbao casually tossed the jade box into his Qiankun bag and replied, "Alright!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the names of the third squad in the team all turned gray!
From the microphone came Renxin Huadao's almost distorted voice: "Don't get it wet!"

Unfortunately, this sentence appeared at the same time as Wu Ke, who was not paying attention to the team panel. Wu Ke himself was grinning widely, chuckling to himself, and stirring up the puddle on the ground while muttering to himself, "It's so sunny here, yet there's still water. That's pretty strange!"

Just as he finished speaking, a bolt of lightning suddenly struck down from the sky, hitting Wu Ke squarely—

With a loud bang, Wu Ke was smashed into an afro.

I don't know if it was because Wu Ke was a high-level cultivator, or because he was a body cultivator with a high health bar, but in any case, the heavenly lightning didn't kill him. It just knocked him to the ground, where he was convulsing and his health bar was almost empty.

All the players were startled by this turn of events. Even the team's healer, Huang Zhucao, was stunned for a moment before reacting. She hurriedly pulled out several kinds of pills and stuffed them into Wu Ke's mouth.

Nietzsche then inquired about the situation from the annihilated Xin Huadao: "What happened? How did you all get wiped out?"

Renxin Huadao immediately began to complain bitterly: "We walked to the edge of that 'Stone Pillar Square' and then saw a very wide river. So we went down to check the situation. Nothing was wrong at first, but it's my fault. I said I would go to the river to take a look. As soon as we got to the river, as soon as we touched the water, a huge bolt of lightning struck our heads... no, I mean, several bolts of lightning struck our heads. Then we were all wiped out. We didn't even have time to react! It was terrible!"

(End of this chapter)