Building a sect from scratch.

Chapter 542 Mysterious Beast

Before long, the players gathered around the sleeping behemoth, chattering amongst themselves.

"Should I fight? How can I clear the level if I don't fight? But it doesn't have a red name! Should I fight or not?"

"Why don't we try hitting it? What if it turns us into a red name?"

"Hey, don't mess with the boss! What if you mess with some special prerequisite tasks or some Easter egg? You might not even get paid!"

"Then let's wait for the commander..."

"Speaking of which, why is it so ugly?!"

"Uh, it seems like the monsters in the [Endless Ruins] dungeon are all pretty ugly!"

"The monsters in the other levels aren't good-looking either!"

"This is especially ugly!"

"If the Land of Ruins had no light source and was pitch black everywhere, then you could understand what these monsters looked like,"

Amidst the chatter, [Handsome Guy] confidently declared, "It's just like the underwater world on our planet! Since no one can see each other anyway, we might as well just grow however we want!"

Some players are worried: "Hey, is it really appropriate for us to be standing around disturbing its sleep like this? What if it gets angry and attacks us?"

Someone replied, "I don't think so... Didn't the cumin guy just say that it glanced at us and then went back to sleep?"

A gamer with obsessive-compulsive disorder broke down and screamed, "It's 'Jiran'! 'Jiran'! 'Jiran'!"

Just as the players were wondering what to do, Fang Xianyu, who had been urgently notified of the incident, stared blankly at the strange beast he had never seen before.

How should I describe it?

It doesn't quite conform to human aesthetic standards.

Its body was covered with pebbles and clods of earth, and it looked like it hadn't moved in a long time, making it difficult to determine its skin color.

It looks more like a mammal overall because it has distinct limbs and bones—although it has six limbs, which are more like octopus tentacles, its tail is very long and has obvious joints, so it is probably not a mollusc.

Its head is like a seal's, round, and has two drooping whiskers, or maybe whiskers.

It has only one eye and one mouth on its face, and no nose. The eye and mouth are very large, vying for prominence on its face.

If it weren't for its belly still rising and falling and its mouth constantly breathing in and out, one would think it was a dead creature.

It was clearly awake, but unlike the other strange beasts or demons that wandered into Guixu Pass, it was not violent and showed no intention of attacking the players.

The strangest thing is that, just as [Jieran] said at the beginning, the moment [Jieran] approached it, it simply opened its eyes, glanced at [Jieran], and then went back to sleep.

Fang Xianyu wasn't sure if this strange beast was friendly to humans, or if it had its own civilization, or if it possessed high intelligence and could communicate. So, he specially gave it a green name above its head to prevent players from doing anything inappropriate and accidentally provoking it.

"Huh!? There really is a hidden quest! Look at its head!"

The first to notice the unexpected situation was the Emperor, who excitedly shouted in the group chat, "Look! It's a green-named creature!"

[Green Tomato] complained: "[Mysterious Beast]? This name is way too hasty!"

Then, a familiar notification sound rang out, and a new quest popped up in the quest logs of all players in the team—

[The Secret of Guixu]: [Intending to clear away the remaining dangers in the Five-Colored Array, we unexpectedly discovered a strange beast. What secrets lie behind this? Please explore its secrets as much as possible without offending the mysterious beast. (Rewards: 20000 Exp, 3000 Sect Contribution Points, 3000 Sect Prestige Points, Limited-Time Mysterious Item)]

"A hidden gold quest! Holy crap! I can even encounter a hidden gold quest in a dungeon!?"

"This is too abstract! How could that old black devil, the Great Emperor, actually get a hidden gold quest?!" Several players exclaimed in surprise. No one expected that they would encounter a hidden gold quest when they were just trying to earn some money!

The Jade Emperor was finally able to gloat. He loudly proclaimed into the microphone, "Speak! All of you, speak to me! Look at my eyes! Tell me! Who dares to question my authority again!?"

"Alright, alright, even if you've used some kind of mystical magic to change your fate and become emperor instead of a serf," [Handsome Guy], who had a fairly good relationship with the emperor, joked, then asked, "But the problem is we don't have a single clue. How are we supposed to complete this mission?"

"I think--"

Just as the emperor was about to offer his insightful opinion, a rumbling sound suddenly rang out.

Then, the ground shook violently, and several players lost their footing and fell to the ground.

Everyone instinctively looked towards the giant beast, and sure enough, the beast had opened its eyes at some point, and its expression seemed somewhat impatient.

The earthquake was caused by it shaking its whole body. Piles of rocks and clods of earth rolled to the ground, like a landslide. Soon, it stood up completely.

Hmm... its legs, or rather its tentacles, are so short that there's not much difference between when it's standing and when it's lying down.

However, just when everyone thought that something unexpected was about to happen, the giant beast stared at them for a few seconds, and then slapped its tail on the ground a few times.

As its tail slapped rhythmically, spiritual energy gradually gathered in the air. Before long, the spiritual energy formed a storm, and the strong winds forced the players to support each other to avoid being blown away in their natural state.

However, the behemoth was clearly not there to attack the players, because a huge hole was torn open in that massive spiritual energy storm!

Just like the dimensional rifts in anime, the giant beast's two front tentacles transformed into claws, pried open the two sides of the rift, and then poked its head inside.

This series of actions left everyone completely bewildered, and the speculations circulating in the team chat were incredibly varied:

"Wow! Is it trying to escape?! How are we supposed to complete this mission then?"

"It looks like they're about to tear something apart?"

"Could it be that the Five-Colored Array has been destroyed? I remember that the background story of this dungeon is related to the Five-Colored Array!"

"How about we try hitting it?"

"Don't cause trouble!"

The Jade Emperor also stopped some players from having dangerous ideas, loudly commanding in the group chat: "Don't mess around! Let's wait and see! It might be some special plot! We're all just employees, don't mess around and make the boss lose his rewards!"

As soon as the emperor finished speaking, the giant beast retracted its head and closed the crack again.

It's very abstract; it really is like closing a door, compressing the crack back in.

When the crack disappeared, the terrifying storm of spiritual energy also vanished, and everything that had just happened seemed like an illusion.

Then, the giant beast's head got closer and closer to the players, until it was less than a hundred meters away from the leader, the Jade Emperor.

Just as the Jade Emperor was urgently seeking help from his senior sister Baili Shuang in a private chat, the giant beast suddenly opened its mouth, and then—

With a "whoosh," I vomited.

However, what it vomited was not anything else, but a bunch of half-dead demons.

They were missing wings or legs, or even their heads were gone but their bodies were still twitching.

Of course, these demons are not too difficult to deal with. Most of them are only at the Foundation Establishment stage, and their combat power is even reduced because they are in a half-dead state.

"What...does it mean?"

Wu Tong, the only boss in the entire group, was just as dumbfounded as the other players and asked a question.