Mingxi smiled: "Almost."

God-level is only one level higher than Venerable-level, so there really isn't much difference... right?

As a God-level being, Yao Xuan naturally had the ability to control his pressure and aura. Even if someone witnessed his power, because all information about God-level Transcendent creatures in this world is based on rumors, and human civilization has never seen a true God-level Transcendent creature.

Therefore, no one would ever suspect that Yao Xuan was a God-level being.

"He is a mixed-blood, and his bloodline mutated, so it's normal that you don't recognize him."

Yao Xuan is indeed a mixed-blood. His father was a Sedimentary, but his mother was a Jiuyi Tapir.

This situation is actually very common among Transcendent creatures.

It's just that bloodline mutations are rare.

So Mingxi wasn't lying.

Lan Qin and Shi Lei realized she didn't want to say more, and neither of them pressed for details. Their questioning, driven by curiosity, was already slightly impolite.

"It seems that bloodline mutations in Transcendent creatures aren't entirely bad. Just like Ming God's Ling Tianzi, our Lan Yueliang, she mutated into a Transcendent creature with dual opposing Ice and Fire attributes. Who dares say she isn't good now?"

Shi Lei laughed heartily, and when he mentioned Lan Yueliang, his tone was as if Lan Yueliang was a child he had raised, filling him with pride.

"Sister Ming, your Pet Beast is also mixed-blood and mutated, but judging by his strength, he is incredibly powerful. This proves that mixed-bloods also have their day!"

What the heck is "mixed-bloods also have their day."

If Yao Xuan hadn't evolved into a Celestial Mystery Nine Radiance Python, he would have been just an ordinary Sedimentary.

Lan Qin also slapped her husband's head, looking speechless. She gazed at Yao Xuan, then at Mingxi, her expression extremely complicated, finally dissolving into a hearty laugh: "I'm starting to suspect that the Divine Craftsman hosting this challenge might be... a huge mistake!"

Regardless of the Divine Craftsman's true purpose, with 'Mingxi' present, it's likely he won't be able to achieve his goals.

On the contrary, they, the couple, were fortunate!

Leaving the bizarre yet perilous fluorescent mushroom forest was like escaping from a beautiful and dangerous dream.

Led by Shi Lei and his wife, Mingxi and the others did not stop, advancing toward their final destination: Tianguan Mountain, which stood at the junction of heaven and earth, overlooking all living things.

"Be careful, Sister. The Baidai Forest has more than one deadly zone like the Point of No Return. Because of the gear stone and the geographical environment, this place is extremely strange! Plants don't look like plants, and stones don't look like stones."

Shi Lei held a long saber, helping his wife and Mingxi cut away the thorny vines that occasionally 'ambushed' them.

Tarenta and Metal Monster cleared the path ahead.

"Alright, thank you, Brother Shi."

The path underfoot was indeed difficult. None of the Pet Beasts they dispatched were Flight-type, so they had to rely on their own two legs.

The closer they got to Tianguan Mountain, the steeper the terrain became, covered everywhere in lush vines and thorns, like a green carpet spread over the earth.

The surrounding scenery began to lose its soft greenery, replaced by grey-brown exposed rock layers, gnarled, low-lying, cold-resistant shrubs, and unknown, pale mosses stubbornly poking out from the rock crevices.

The air became crisp, carrying the chill of melting snow. Each breath felt like their lungs were being cleansed, yet the thinness of the air brought a slight sense of pressure.

The sky seemed closer, displaying a deep, nearly transparent azure blue. A few wisps of clouds, like scarves carelessly tossed by a goddess, wrapped around the mountainside.

"Tianguan Mountain, we've arrived."

Along the way, they encountered other Beastmasters vying for qualification. The opponents glanced at their group—some were wary, some guarded, and some held malice.

But none were foolish enough to attack them at this time.

It wasn't that they didn't dare, but that the timing wasn't right.

Besides Beastmasters and the wild Transcendent creatures active in the Baidai Forest, they also encountered a large number of patrolling mechanical beasts.

These mechanical beasts wouldn't attack anyone; their main purpose was surveillance and recording.

The Divine Craftsman must have manufactured an unknown number of these mechanical beasts; the quantity they saw alone already amounted to thousands.

Even though most of the mechanical beasts were low-level, generally D-grade, manufacturing so many wouldn't just be time and labor-intensive; the materials alone were unaffordable for ordinary people.

Not even an entire country could necessarily produce this many mechanical beasts in one go.

After all, the mainstream of this society is the Pet Beast.

Furthermore, ordinary people, considering the cost of living, wouldn't choose expensive mechanical beasts. For the average person, intelligent robots that lack combat ability but can solve many daily needs are more cost-effective.

Getting back to the point.

Tianguan Mountain, looming before them, had fully revealed its majesty, like an ancient giant god.

The entire mountain seemed to be constructed from the hardest grey-black giant rocks, having withstood eons of wind and frost, etched with the ravines of time.

Pristine white snow covered the summit and the shady mountain hollows, glittering with dazzling, cold light under the sun, intertwining with the dark rock face to form a painting of stark contrast and power.

It stood in Silence, emanating a mighty pressure that made the soul tremble; merely gazing upon it was enough to make the timid retreat.

The wonder of Tianguan Mountain was not its beauty, but a nearly cruel ruggedness and variability, brimming with primal power.

"Sister, have you heard the various legends about Tianguan Mountain?"

Shi Lei chatted with Mingxi while hacking away at the rocks blocking their path.

Mingxi nodded: "I've heard a few things."

If the Baidai Forest was the Silent Hill of Anji Country, then Tianguan Mountain was the Valley of Terror within Silent Hill.

The terrifying legends about it were widely circulated in Anji Country, especially in the taverns of Gear Town and the Baidai Forest, often used by old regulars for casual conversation over drinks, and by people from Anji Country as a tool to frighten crying children at night.

"Even though you've heard them, I still want to tell you again, hahaha..."

Shi Lei was clearly the type of person who enjoyed discussing the legends of Tianguan Mountain.

"According to the legends, the ridge line of Tianguan Mountain was formed from the spine extracted from a Vicious Wind Ghost, which is why the mountain frequently experiences mountain winds. They surge out ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) from the mountain fissures, containing powerful air blades.

The sound of the wind is mournful and sharp, like countless vengeful spirits wailing in your ear."

The 'Rending Wind' he spoke of on Tianguan Mountain could not only easily blow lighter Transcendent creatures and frail adults into the abyss, but more terrifyingly, it could also interfere with, and even partially tear apart, a creature's mental perception and energy circulation.

If exposed to the Rending Wind for too long, one would feel their thoughts becoming sluggish, and their consciousness seemed about to be ripped out of their body.

Hence, Tianguan Mountain gained the terrifying reputation of being able to scatter people's souls.

"And there's the Ice-Devouring Rock..."

Ice-Devouring Rock is the material that forms the main body of Tianguan Mountain.

Its surface appears rough, but is actually extremely smooth, making it difficult to grip and climb.

But its true horror lies in the characteristic of 'Devouring.'

This type of rock is extremely cold and continuously, slowly absorbs the body temperature of anyone who touches it.

Short contact only results in bone-chilling cold, but prolonged exposure will cause even Fire-type Transcendent creatures to feel their temperature draining away, their movements becoming stiff and sluggish, until they are completely frozen from the inside out, turning into a lifelike ice sculpture, becoming part of the mountain landscape.

Thus, there is a rumor that the various ice sculptures seen in the shady spots of the mountain wall were not formed by natural erosion, but are the eternal gravestones of adventurers and Transcendent creatures who once climbed Tianguan Mountain... because the ice sculptures genuinely exist.

Therefore, this rumor has indeed prevented countless people from rashly attempting the climb.

However, peeling back the layers of these terrifying legends, those who understand the truth know the real value and influential status of Tianguan Mountain.

This majestic mountain range is the most crucial geothermal energy node and natural climate regulator for the Baidai Forest and the surrounding vast region.

It acts as the spine of the earth, gathering and channeling immense telluric energy. The summit is the core convergence point of this energy, which has consequently nurtured countless rare and precious minerals seldom seen elsewhere.

For example, the Dreamlight Crystal containing dream energy, the extremely hard Obsidian Iron, and rare Transcendent creatures that have adapted to the extreme environment.

Some of those rumors are true, and some are false; some are benevolent, and some are malicious.

It's nothing more than human machinations.

The three chatted as they walked, arriving at the foot of Tianguan Mountain before 9 PM.

They were not the first to arrive.

There were thousands of routes leading to Tianguan Mountain.

With a Divine Artifact dangling in front of them like a carrot, even if the challenge was set up unreasonably, many Beastmasters still flocked to it.

Thus, by the time they arrived, the competition for the third batch of black-patterned flags had entered a heated, even brutal, phase.

The one hundred flags were cleverly placed atop isolated, small Ice-Devouring Rock pillars covered in a thin layer of frost.

Beastmasters and their Pet Beasts not only had to guard against overt and covert attacks from all directions, but also constantly deal with ice-blue, scorpion-shaped mechanical beasts that suddenly darted out from rock crevices, shadows, or under snow piles.

These mechanical beasts were entirely dark blue, their shells shimmering with a blend of metal and ice crystal luster. Their tail hooks could shoot rapid-freeze rays capable of instantly freezing rock. Even more troublesome, they could use the Ice-Devouring Rock's environmental coloring for camouflage, and even briefly submerge into the rock itself to launch impossible-to-guard-against surprise attacks.

Mingxi and the two others naturally joined the group scrambling for the flags.

With Yao Xuan guarding them, the process was akin to a leisurely stroll.

The pervasive coldness and stamina-draining effect of the Ice-Devouring Rock seemed to encounter an invisible insulating layer when approaching a certain radius around Mingxi, greatly reducing its effectiveness.

Thread of Fate, YYDS.

The camouflage and stealth of the Ice Erosion Scorpions were completely exposed under Yao Xuan's serpentine eyes. Often, before he even launched an attack.

Yao Xuan seemed to merely glance at them lazily, and their core energy sources would inexplicably overload, emitting a wisp of smoke before collapsing inertly on the ground, or they would be directly flipped over by a subtle force, struggling helplessly with their six legs in the air.

Shi Lei and his wife's Tarenta and Metal Monster barely needed to worry about defense; they simply followed the path Yao Xuan carved out and easily retrieved the flags.

Tarenta even boredly smashed a few of the Ice Erosion Scorpions trapped by Yao Xuan, collecting some seemingly intact parts. These parts, being metal, could serve as its food. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

But the other participants were not so lucky.

Mingxi personally witnessed a three-person team fighting fiercely with another group for a flag on a rock pillar. Just when they managed to repel their opponents, they were surrounded by four Ice Erosion Scorpion mechanical beasts that had been lurking nearby.

Rapid-freeze rays crisscrossed. Although one person's Pet Beast had excellent resistance, its leg was grazed by a ray, instantly covering it in thick ice, severely reducing its mobility. The Beastmaster's face was filled with despair.

She also saw people being shoved off the smooth Ice-Devouring Rock slope during the chaos, screaming as they slid toward an unknown abyss.

"It's just a civilian challenge. How many people are going to die?"

Lan Qin saw these scenes and couldn't help but exclaim.

It wasn't that she was overly compassionate, but as a normal human, seeing so many people tragically die one after another for an item that didn't even have a shadow yet...

It felt like a sorrow for their own kind.

They, the couple, were incredibly lucky—their ancestral graves must have been smoking—to travel with Mingxi and receive her selfless protection. But without Mingxi, they probably would have become one of the tragically deceased themselves, right?

"So that Divine Craftsman is definitely harming people."

Mingxi didn't have much of an opinion; Yao Xuan had already drawn the Threads of Fate for these people anyway.

If he didn't intervene, it meant that those who died were not good people.

Or perhaps, he couldn't interfere with their fate.

"Sister Ming, what exactly do you think he wants to do? He can't just be trying to kill more people, can he?"

"This challenge isn't his way of trying to capture all of us in one swoop, is it?"

"And that so-called Divine Artifact—it's not just a baseless pretense, is it?"

Witnessing this brutal fight and slaughter, Shi Lei couldn't help but try to guess the Divine Craftsman's intentions. It wasn't his fault for rambling; what legitimate competition had so many tricks?

It was just a spot in the competition, yet they had to overcome countless obstacles. When a certain Mr. Lin chose his concubines back then, it wasn't this exaggerated.

Naturally, Shi Lei and his wife weren't the only ones having these thoughts; many people harbored the same suspicions.

But a Divine Artifact was truly extraordinary. Even if many people had doubts, they held onto the slim hope of 'What if it's real?'

This was the so-called refusal to give up until the last moment.

If Mingxi guessed correctly, the Divine Craftsman wasn't holding a fair selection, but rather conducting a cruel and efficient Gu-raising ritual.

He used the Divine Artifact as bait, using the Baidai Forest and Tianguan Mountain as a fighting arena, forcing the participants to struggle on the edge of life and death, solely to select the suitable 'Gu King' from among them.

As for the lives of the vast majority of others, he didn't care at all.

Mingxi's brow furrowed tighter and tighter.

She was not a soft-hearted Samaritan, having witnessed the law of the jungle in secret realms, but such large-scale, inhumane placement of people in mortal danger, just to satisfy one person's ambition or hobby, filled her with deep disgust.

"It seems I'll have to stir up some trouble."

Thinking this, her mind felt much clearer.

When she saw a young Beastmaster, whose own strength was mediocre, fiercely protecting the injured, slightly wilted potted orchid in his arms, facing the step-by-step advance of two Ice Scorpion mechanical beasts—though his face was pale with fear, he still didn't retreat, his gaze as stubborn as a rock.

Mingxi walked over.