Thunder King Salon closed his eyes, focusing all his efforts on healing himself, while sending a message to the organization to dispatch stronger personnel. He vowed to avenge this arrow!

——

It was already late at night. By the huge lake, hundreds of people were scattered densely, some gathered in groups of threes and twos, some surrounded by a large number of people, and some kept to themselves away from the crowd.

The only thing they all had in common was their silence; everyone was seriously operating their cultivation techniques, striving to increase their strength as much as possible, hoping to seize the artifact in the upcoming moments.

As dawn was about to break, the sky was pitch black and impenetrable. Everyone stopped their cultivation techniques and stood up, knowing this brief darkness would soon give way to the break of dawn.

The reason everyone stood up was because the fluctuations of the artifact suddenly changed, giving the impression that it was ready to burst forth at any moment.

As the first ray of morning light appeared, it was immediately reflected on the calm lake surface, which then began to slowly churn.

Xiao Tian and the others felt a thrill, sensing the slight tremors from the ground beneath them, and a determined gleam shone in their eyes.

The anomaly kept everyone on high alert; now was the time to test everyone's reactions.

Many experts renowned for their swift body techniques had already prepared early, ready to snatch the artifact the moment it appeared and swiftly escape.

The churning of the lake continued for a full quarter of an hour, during which the tremors from the ground beneath them grew stronger!

Later on, even disciples with relatively weak skills could no longer maintain their stance—such as Yun You, Yun He, and Yun Mie, the three rookies.

Terrified, the three couldn't help but crouch on the ground, their hands on the earth, ignoring the bone-chilling cold seeping through, fear gripping their hearts.

The rest of the experts, in this quarter of an hour, remained on high alert, not even blinking, their feet rooted as their bodies remained steady.

"Bang!"

A loud noise captured everyone's attention; a prism-shaped crystal shimmering with beautiful colors suddenly emerged from the lake, spraying water five zhang high, scattering in every direction.

Suddenly feeling like they were caught in a torrential downpour, everyone quickly waved their arms, using True Qi to disperse the incoming water, then hurriedly looked toward the center of the lake.

It was only then that everyone saw the artifact's appearance; it was a prism-shaped crystal, its entire body exuding five colors corresponding to the Five Elements.

The crystal floated up and down, hovering ten meters above the lake's center, with sunlight casting a colorful shine on its slowly rotating, multicolored body.

The people in this icy snowy world stared intently at the beautiful yet not dazzling light, as if they were looking at the most beautiful fairyland, longing expressions appearing on their faces.

Moments later, everyone snapped out of their daze, understanding that even though that enchanting feeling was captivating, most of those who reached this place were experienced experts, knowing hesitation was not an option.

Years of brutal experiences told these masters that sometimes a single mistake could lead to eternal damnation!

There were numerous experts with extraordinary skills who let a single moment of carelessness end in failure.

Suddenly, a rapidly moving figure approached the Five Elements Crystal almost instantly, reaching out to grab it.

Just as he was about to touch the crystal, a sharp, sword-like True Qi hit him a moment earlier than anticipated, forcing him to withdraw his hand temporarily.

In that instant, the opportunity had been lost forever, experts from all directions executed their unique skills, both targeting the one close to obtaining the crystal and considering methods to get the crystal themselves.

Strangely, Xiao Tian's group didn't face targeting from the nearby experts, the reason for which was not hard to guess.

Surely, after witnessing the battle between Xiao Tian and Thunder King Salon, everyone felt even more intimidated by him, so no one dared to stir up this hornet's nest unnecessarily.

However, this didn't mean that if Xiao Tian and his group made a move for the Five Elements Crystal, no one would dare to intervene.

In the chaos, unless they were confident, no one would recklessly act, especially with some waiting to attack or seize the crystal from others.

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Tian nodded to his group before suddenly leaping into the air, flying directly towards the Five Elements Crystal at the lake's center.

In the next moment, under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Lin Bingxuan and Melinda exchanged a glance, then vanished without a trace, leaving behind not even a hint of their presence, astonishing Celestial Punishment Daoist and others once more.

With Lin Bingxuan's support, every strike Melinda made was potent, primarily disrupting those eager experts, clearing obstacles in front of Xiao Tian.

In an instant, most experts targeting Xiao Tian were attacked mysteriously, throwing them into a panic.

However, amidst the widespread chaos, everyone focused on those around them, paying no attention to these minor details.

Even though Lin Bingxuan and Melinda together cleared more than half of the obstacles, the remaining stragglers were still difficult to deal with.

Plus, with less than half his True Qi remaining and his injuries yet to heal, fending off those stray attacks was not easy.

At this moment, dozens of birds flapping their wings like hunting eagles, dove straight at Xiao Tian, spitting out a thin flame less than five meters away from him.

Xiao Tian furrowed his brow immediately. If there's anyone capable of creating such mutated creatures...

Without a second thought, Xiao Tian counterattacked with his True Qi. The thin flames ricocheted back, instantly charring the flame-spitting birds. With a gust of wind, they turned into black powder, drifting away.

Although the power of these thin flames wasn't significant or destructive, the method of attack was utterly annoying, akin to flies buzzing noisily around one's ears, impossible to swat away.

With a shift of his gaze, Xiao Tian quickly locked onto the few individuals releasing these birds, all of whom were top-notch talents from the Water Drop Organization, though their skills slightly inferior to Thunder King Salon.

Even so, these could at least hold their ground against Celestial Punishment Daoist and the others, possibly even prevailing in battle.

It seems the Water Drop Organization went all out this time!

Arriving at this conclusion, Xiao Tian had no time to think further as the sound of flapping wings filled his ears. Ahead, at least a thousand similar birds as before came charging like dark clouds.

The large flock of birds flying in such numbers obscured the sun, which had just risen over the horizon, casting darkness over the Five Elements Crystal, capturing everyone's attention.