Sang Qingzhou's flattery made Lü Chengming feel comfortable. He didn't mind being used by Sang Qingzhou. For him, Ji Yunxi was surely going to die in this illusory realm.
"Seems like Young Master Sang has also suffered at the hands of this woman?"
Sang Qingzhou squeezed his hands. "I'm different from you, Young Master. You underestimated her, while I'm simply inferior to her. So I had no choice but to come and beg you."
Lü Chengming was satisfied. Someone had given him a perfect excuse for his failure. He wasn't so stubborn as to refuse the opportunity to save face. So he smilingly motioned for his guard to take the sleeve arrow from Sang Qingzhou's hand.
"I understand. Just wait for the news."
Watching them walk further and further away, Sang Qingzhou felt pleased.
Ji Yunxi, just wait for your death!
Feng Xingzhi and his group were walking slowly along the stream when suddenly Li Jiuge pointed at the small footprints on the ground and whispered in surprise, "Look, what's this?!"
Ji Yunxi turned her head and saw that the footprints were small and cute, obviously belonging to a young animal.
She was overjoyed. Although she already had a contracted spirit beast, it didn't mean she didn't want another one.
The two exchanged a look and quickly followed the footprints.
Not far away, a small beast was snow - white all over. Its pink little paws were dirty with soil. It seemed a bit unhappy and squatted in place to lick its paws. Its big ears flapped, showing its presence.
Ji Yunxi saw it from afar and was extremely delighted.
The little beast seemed to smell something nice. It sniffed and turned its head to look around, and happened to meet Ji Yunxi's eyes.
Thinking it would run away, Ji Yunxi stood still.
Unexpectedly, this little fellow wasn't afraid of people at all. It tilted its head and walked towards her.
Ji Yunxi picked it up in her arms and wiped the dirt off its body. It seemed very comfortable and immediately showed its little belly.
"You little thing are really good at being cute!"
As soon as she finished speaking, the little thing scrambled up and burrowed into Ji Yunxi's arms, looking around warily.
Ji Yunxi also felt the change in spiritual energy. She turned her head and saw Qing Xuan who suddenly appeared.
Seeing his master holding something in her arms, Qing Xuan looked at her pitifully. "Master has a new favorite. Are you going to abandon me?"
Such an expression on such a big person made Ji Yunxi quite helpless. "If you're so idle, go and find out where the other keys are. Stop being a nuisance here."
Qing Xuan's expression cracked. He stared at her in disbelief with wide - open eyes, then let out a whimper and ran away. His crying and sniveling appearance happened to be seen by Feng Xingzhi, Ji Yunyi, and Li Jiuge.
"What... happened to him?" Li Jiuge had never seen Qing Xuan like this before and was a bit worried.
Feng Xingzhi leaned over and saw Ji Yunxi holding a small beast in her arms. Then he smiled and said, "Because his master is holding a new thing in her arms."
Li Jiuge was overjoyed when she saw the small beast and immediately stepped forward to touch it. Unfortunately, the small beast only showed her a little butt, hiding its head completely in Ji Yunxi's arms.
Ji Yunxi shook her head at Feng Xingzhi. "Qing Xuan is acting up again. It seems that only Lu Shu can keep him in check!"
Even so, Qing Xuan still gave them great help.
In a short while, he came back with four keys.
"Here. I've found them all. Five in total. Let's get ready to go to the second level."
In the center of the altar on each level, there was a formation that could directly teleport those who wanted to leave. It was also a way to escape left by Kunlun Mountain. But leaving also meant failing the assessment.
Ji Yunxi came to the formation and looked up to see a row of numbers. These were the number of people on each level in the small world.
They had just reached the second level when they saw that there was already one person on the fifth level.
Everyone was stunned for a moment, thinking they had misread.
"We've just reached the second level, and this person is already on the fifth level?"
Ji Yunxi thought that there must be many powerful people in here, but this person was particularly outstanding.
Feng Xingzhi didn't care. "There's nothing to be surprised about. After all, the five of us need to find five keys, but he only needs to find one, so naturally he's faster. As we go higher, the difficulty will increase, and he may not be faster than us alone."
Ji Yunxi thought for a moment and felt that Feng Xingzhi was right. She nodded in agreement.
On the second level, the dense forest had changed. Before, the trees were thick, but on this level, they were much taller.
However, there were many vines coiled around these tall trees, with sharp thorns on them.
"We need to be careful. There might be something on these thorns."
"Right. We must be careful."
Qing Xuan walked forward alone to scout the way, while the other four followed closely to look for the keys.
Although there were changes in the trees on the second level, it was generally similar. They also came to the stream and followed it downstream. Immediately, they found several lairs of fierce beasts.
They didn't even disturb the fierce beasts' rest and quietly left with the keys.
On the way, the five of them didn't meet anyone else. It was as if they were the only ones in this world. It wasn't until they reached the fifth level that there was finally a great change.
As soon as they entered the fifth level, the illusory realm suddenly turned into a desert. There was nothing but yellow sand around.
"Why... aren't we in the forest anymore?"
Feng Xingzhi looked around, his eyes darkening.
"It's okay. The illusory realm changes randomly. We need to stay calm. Once something happens, we must gather together and never separate."
Just as he finished speaking, a hurricane drifted over.
Ji Yunxi frowned looking at the direction it came from. "Be careful. This wind is strange."
They tried to run in the opposite direction to avoid it, but found that the wind was getting closer and closer. No matter how they ran, they couldn't escape. Unless they separated and fled for their lives individually, only one or two of them might be able to avoid being swept in.
Ji Yunxi seemed to understand that this wind was deliberately trying to separate them. So while running, she shouted, "Let's get together! Don't separate! It just wants to separate us!"
Feng Xingzhi also realized this and immediately came to Ji Yunxi's side and grabbed her hand.
Ji Yunyi and Li Jiuge also came over, and the four of them got together.
"Where's Qing Xuan?!"
Only then did they realize that Qing Xuan had already disappeared. He had left to scout the way.
Ji Yunxi immediately panicked and shouted loudly, but it was of no use. Seeing the wind approaching, all four of them were swept in.
The wind raged. They closed their eyes tightly but never let go of each other's hands.
After a while, the wind began to weaken. Ji Yunxi immediately mobilized her spiritual energy to keep them from being thrown hard to the ground.
When they opened their eyes again, the desert disappeared, and they were back in a forest.
A small head poked out from Ji Yunxi's arms. Obviously, it had also been through a rough time.
The forest was filled with fog. Ji Yunxi could barely see Feng Xingzhi's face. "Azhi."
"Xixi, I'm here."
"What about Second Brother and Jiuge?"
"We're all here."
But where was Qing Xuan?
A sense of uneasiness rose in Ji Yunxi's heart. She immediately tried to contact Qing Xuan through the master - servant contract but found that she couldn't reach him at all.
Qing Xuan had completely disappeared from everyone's sight.