Chapter 358: Playing Dumb

Su Yan clearly saw the doubt and hostility in Zhou Li's eyes, but she didn't care at all.

"When you say you came over, were Zhou Li and I lying on the ground?" Zhou Li stared intently at the two of them, especially Ma Chulan.

Compared to Su Yan, Ma Chulan was much more likely to expose a flaw.

"Yes." Su Yan's tone was incredibly firm.

"Then had the mist already dispersed when you arrived? How did it disperse?" Zhou Li's expression became exceptionally solemn as he asked the second half of the question.

His father had said that only after receiving the approval of the Profound Spirit Tree would the mist of the first trial disperse, opening the entrance to the second trial. Therefore, he and Zhou Chong had not even spared a thought for the family members who had met with trouble, rushing straight to the Profound Spirit Tree.

The only way to gain the approval of the Profound Spirit Tree was through piety. He and Zhou Chong had offered all their sincerity, yet an unexpected change had still occurred.

After they were controlled by the vines of the Profound Spirit Tree, they had no idea what happened afterward.

However, the current situation clearly indicated that someone had already passed the first trial, and that person could only be Su Yan or Ma Chulan.

But even so, the Profound Spirit Tree shouldn't have disappeared without reason.

Facing Zhou Li's questioning, Ma Chulan was terrified that saying something wrong might bring unnecessary trouble to Su Yan, so she simply remained silent, leaving everything for Su Yan to handle.

Su Yan's expression remained as calm as ever. "There was still mist when we found you, but while we were waking you up, the mist suddenly dispersed."

Could it be that the Profound Spirit Tree had been moved by them previously, so it spared them and dispersed the mist?

That was the only way Zhou Li could think of it, but his father had never said that the Profound Spirit Tree would disappear after receiving approval.

The Profound Spirit Tree was the most precious treasure of the Zhou family. Now that such a change had occurred, how could he explain this to his father upon his return?

"Young Master Zhou, what exactly do you want to ask us? We truly did not see that... tree or whatever it is. You couldn't possibly think that we stole a tree, could you?" Su Yan took the initiative, turning a passive situation into an active one.

Zhou Li's eyebrows knitted tightly together.

The Profound Spirit Tree was extremely spiritual; how could it possibly be stolen?

The current situation truly left him bewildered and baffled.

"I didn't mean that."

After calming down slightly, Zhou Li was barely able to maintain his composure.

After all, the upcoming trials would require Su Yan's help; he absolutely could not tear faces with her over something baseless.

Su Yan relaxed her expression. "It's just a tree, Young Master Zhou, don't trouble yourself too much. Perhaps you remembered the wrong place. Since you two are fine, let's hurry and regroup with the others."

"Young Master..." Zhou Chong felt they should investigate more thoroughly, but before he could speak, Zhou Li stopped him with a look.

Since things had come to this, the most important thing was to reach the final trial and obtain the ancestral treasure.

"Senior Sister Su is right. Let's go regroup with everyone now."

Hearing him say this, Ma Chulan's tense nerves finally relaxed.

Thinking about how Su Yan had obtained such a massive treasure for no reason, she couldn't help but feel excited as well.

Now that the mist in the forest had completely dispersed, finding the others wouldn't be too much trouble.

***

"Miss, are you alright?"

On the other side, Ruan Tao hurried back to Kong Nian, who was leaning against a tree, quickly checking her condition as he saw her pale face.

Half an hour ago, they had suffered attacks from those puppets. Even under his protection, Kong Nian, whose spiritual power was already nearly depleted, had been injured.

Just as they were about to collapse, the mist suddenly dispersed, and those puppets vanished without a trace.

When Ruan Tao saw this, his heart sank to the bottom, realizing that the puppets attacking them had actually all been manifestations of an illusion.

Yet, the injuries they sustained were very real.

At this moment, the exhausted Gan Hua, supported by Kong Yueling, approached the two.

The terror on Kong Yueling's face had not yet fully faded, but when the crisis arrived, she had actually been able to deal with the puppets before her.

But now, both of them froze when they saw Kong Nian.

Clearly, Kong Yueling was the weakest among them, yet Kong Nian was the one most heavily injured.

Kong Nian breathed the fresh air raggedly; her right arm was broken, and a hideous bloody scratch was torn across her face.

Kong Xiang immediately took out a medicinal pill and held it to Kong Nian's lips, then reset her dislocated right arm, but the wound on her face would not heal in a short time.

"Ruan Tao, how could Junior Sister Kong be injured so severely?" Gan Hua showed a look of disbelief.

Although the battle had been intense just now, he had been keeping an eye on their situation.

Ruan Tao had been protecting Kong Nian the entire time, and Gan Hua was certain that the current Ruan Tao was no longer the person he usually spent every day with.

However, he was smart enough to choose to pretend he knew nothing.

"Yeah, Junior Sister Kong is so capable, how could she be more injured than I am?" Kong Yueling truly couldn't help herself, even though she knew saying this might cause Kong Nian's dissatisfaction.

Kong Xiang, who was controlling Ruan Tao's body, looked at the two of them expressionlessly. "Those puppets just now were all manifestations of an illusion, and they could become stronger or weaker depending on the strength of their opponent. The reason your injuries are light is because your own strength isn't high, so the puppets' strength remained within a matching range."

Given his temperament, he would have been loath to explain so much to juniors, but to save Kong Nian's face, he had to offer this explanation.

Gan Hua and Kong Yueling suddenly understood.

If that were the case, everything made sense.

Although Kong Nian was weak, she was very satisfied with the excuse Kong Xiang had fabricated.

"Why did the mist suddenly disperse?"

She deliberately changed the subject.

Kong Xiang shook his head, clearly not knowing what had happened either.

However, since the mist dispersed and the puppets disappeared, there must be an inevitable connection between the two.

"We've all been injured like this; I'm afraid the others are in even greater danger."

Kong Nian deliberately put on an appearance of worry, speaking entirely for the benefit of Gan Hua and Kong Yueling.

As expected, the expressions of the two became serious.

The first person Gan Hua thought of was Su Yan, while Kong Yueling was still worrying about the suddenly missing Kong Yueqing.

"I wonder if Senior Sister Yueqing is still alive."

Kong Nian snorted inwardly; Kong Yueqing was destined to die here anyway.

"Senior Brother Ruan, please help me up. Let's hurry and regroup with the others; maybe we can still help someone."

The reason she didn't call on Kong Yueling and Gan Hua was that the spiritual power in her body was now completely empty; the moment they touched her, they would realize.

Just as her voice fell, several figures suddenly appeared in the distance.

"It's the Kong family people! They're over there!"

The newcomers quickly spotted them and ran briskly toward them.

(End of Chapter)