Time flew by, and seven days passed in a blink of an eye.

Red Cotton Peak was crowded with people, most of whom had participated in the Mountain God Festival. Over the past few days, they had bought a lot of berries from Chu Liang. Now, they had all gathered their Five Elements symbols and were here to exchange them for the clue answers.

Looking at the young man with a gentle smile on his face, who seemed harmless to both humans and animals, slowly stepping onto the stage, the crowd below had mixed feelings.

Many of them had a love-hate relationship with Chu Liang.

During the first sale of clues by the Silver Sword Peak team, they had conducted private transactions, taking advantage of the information gap. When some people realized they wanted to resell the answers they had in their hands for profit, they found that almost everyone had already bought them.

There was no room left for them to resell.

When Chu Liang planned to sell the clue answers for the second time, some people were cautious, wanting to buy early and then sell at a low price, at least to break even.

Some people had even agreed early on to share the answers for free, not allowing the unscrupulous merchants to make money.

But they didn’t expect him to change the format this time.

The format of gathering the Five Elements symbols and then exchanging them for the answers made everyone unsure if they could get the answers, but it also made everyone want to try.

Unconsciously, they all fell into the trap.

The official answer only cost one sword coin per box, and it came with a golden patterned berry worth two sword coins… it was practically a giveaway.

Moreover, there was the attractive design of the Five Elements symbols. Maybe if you bought five boxes, you could gather them all…

In theory, a few people could pool together and gather one set of answers. But in reality, it was not the case at all. The card collecting was somewhat addictive. In the later stages, many people even started to buy the Earth symbols at high prices, forgetting why they started in the first place.

In the last two days of the berry box sales, the previously scarce Earth symbols began to appear in large quantities, allowing the vast majority of people to gather the Five Elements symbols.

This proved that what Chu Liang said about the equal distribution of the Five Elements symbols was true, it’s just that the Earth symbols were indeed accumulated at the end… This small accumulation probably increased the sales of the berries several times.

In this way, there was almost no room left for those who wanted to resell the clue answers.

Only Chu Liang made money.

It was inevitable that people would be envious.

But even if they were envious, they had to wait here, because he was indeed the only one who had the answers to the second stage clues.

In fact, in previous years at this time, the first stage might not even be over, and it was normal not to have solved the second stage clues, so everyone didn’t need to be anxious.

Those with integrity could choose to continue thinking on their own.

But Chu Liang had already solved it and was selling it. If you didn’t buy it, and everyone else did, then it would be meaningless when you finally figured it out.

They could only helplessly get involved.

“Fellow disciples!”

Chu Liang’s smile was as warm as a spring breeze.

“After seven days of hard work, everyone here has gathered the Five Elements symbols. And I will fulfill my promise and share the answer to the second stage clues with you.”

With that, he took out the four paintings, set them up like a lantern, and placed a candle in the middle.

“The answer is like this!”

At this time, it was a sunny outdoor, naturally unable to reflect shadows.

But the disciples of Shu Mountain were not fools. As soon as he set it up, they naturally understood the mystery.

“So these four pictures are not to be pieced together flat, but to be stood up! No wonder they couldn’t connect!”

“Those overlapping scenes need to be reflected to be seen clearly!”

“…”

Everyone suddenly realized, and exclamations of surprise were heard one after another.

Immediately, some people hurriedly flew back, wanting to try it out as soon as possible. In a short while, the previously noisy Red Cotton Peak was deserted.

Only the members of the Silver Sword Peak team remained here.

Lin Bei asked his accounting assistant, “How much have we made these past few days?”

The assistant simply replied with three words: “We made a fortune.”

…

Chu Liang did not directly reveal the location indicated by the second clue, but only demonstrated the method of solving it.

So the members of other teams all returned to their own places, tried it out, and then realized it was the pit valley of Pagoda Peak.

This landmark location was recognized by most people at a glance, and even if some people didn’t recognize it, they could easily find out later.

Because there was already a swarm of people heading there.

The first group of people who discovered it was the pit valley of Pagoda Peak, about a dozen or so, arrived there first and quickly found the location of the huge stone.

Just as they were about to push the stone away, they heard a “hurrah” sound! A silver light shot over like lightning!

Bang——

The Hakutaku cub was not as gentle with others as it was with Chu Liang, especially since this was a task assigned to it by the Shu Mountain high-levels, it could freely bump into people without punishment!

“Ah——” The disciple closest to it immediately became a star in the sky.

“It’s the little Hakutaku!” Someone exclaimed.

“Even the mountain guardian beast is a checkpoint guard?”

“Don’t panic, the little Hakutaku is not good at fighting, we have so many people, we can… wait?”

“What is that?!”When the young Hakutaku’s charge came to a halt, revealing its form, the cries of surprise abruptly ceased.

Because it looked quite different from its usual appearance.

Apart from its original scales, it was now draped in a layer of silver chainmail, which looked light yet sturdy, likely some kind of defensive magical artifact… Its horns were wrapped in layers of golden talisman paper, which appeared to be high-level spirit talismans, greatly enhancing the force of its charge… Its hooves were wrapped in clouds, each tied with a Wind Howl Pearl, specifically designed to increase the speed of spiritual beasts… In addition to these, there were some other less noticeable magical artifacts.

The young Hakutaku was fully armed!

Although it was naturally gifted and had the speed and strength of a fifth-level creature in its youth, it was not good at fighting and only knew how to charge.

Ordinary disciples of Shu Mountain, even if they were no match for it, could drive it away with one or two teams working together.

After all, normally at this stage, there would only be three to five teams left, and their strength should be quite outstanding, so they wouldn’t be completely stumped by this challenge.

They never expected that almost all the teams participating in the Mountain God Festival would get this clue, and now a large group of weaklings were rushing to the Pagoda Peak.

And the young Hakutaku had undergone a super upgrade.

How could they pass this?

With the current magical artifacts on the young Hakutaku, its pure speed and strength had been elevated to another level. This was completely different. Even with a human wave tactic, disciples of the third realm wouldn’t be able to harm it at all!

Thump, thump, thump, thump——

The dull sound of its charge hitting flesh was continuous. The first batch of more than a dozen Shu Mountain disciples who rushed over fell like rain, landing in the distant jungle.

Among them, a chubby little disciple fell to the ground without sustaining serious injuries, but he couldn’t get up for a while.

At this moment, a hand reached out and pulled him up.

“Thank you.” The chubby boy immediately thanked him.

“No need, it’s only right for fellow disciples to help each other.” The other party said.

The chubby boy looked up and saw a young man with thick eyebrows, big eyes, and slightly dark skin, radiating a strong yang energy.

It was Lin Bei.

“Brother… you look familiar?” The chubby boy frowned.

“I’m from the Silver Sword Peak team. I sold you the answer to the first clue before.” Lin Bei smiled.

“Oh right, I remember you!” The chubby boy stood up, rubbing his sore butt, and said, “I also got the answer to the second clue from you guys.”

“You’ve already got the answer, why aren’t you going in?” Lin Bei asked.

“Didn’t you see? The young Hakutaku is guarding there, not letting anyone approach!” The chubby boy said, “It hurts like hell when it charges.”

“It’s really frustrating to have the last clue right in front of us but not be able to get it.” Lin Bei sighed, “What should we do… Eh? How about I distract the young Hakutaku for you, and you take the opportunity to get the third clue?”

“Huh?” The chubby boy was startled, “Can you do that? And even if you can, isn’t that a bit…?”

“What’s wrong with it? We’re all buddies.” Lin Bei patted his chest, “How about thirty sword coins?”

“This…” The chubby boy hesitated for a moment.

From the first clue, the second clue… until now, he had spent dozens of sword coins, and he felt the investment was a bit high. But the third clue was right in front of him. If he took a chance and got lucky, he might be the champion of this year’s Mountain God Festival.

The opportunity to make a name for himself was right in front of him!

After struggling for a while, he gritted his teeth and said, “Okay! I’ll give it!”

Lin Bei immediately flew towards the center of the pit with a confident and imposing manner. The young Hakutaku was wreaking havoc there, but he looked full of confidence.

Flying straight to the giant rock, just as the young Hakutaku had sent a new batch of exploring disciples flying, Lin Bei stepped forward and shouted:

“Hey! Look at the magical artifact!”

(End of Chapter)