Chapter 559: Chapter 458: Something in the Night

The sky turned dark.

The glow of the moon and stars had completely disappeared.

Han Zhan and the others gathered around the bonfire, straining their eyes to look into the distance, but they couldn’t even clearly see the Flat Peach Tree a bit farther away.

The dense night enveloped everything in the distance, as deep as ink.

And amidst this endless night, quietly and silently, something unknown was brewing.

"What should we do?" Gongyang Jin spoke while looking at Han Zhan.

"There are two options." Han Zhan pondered for a moment before speaking.

"One is to split up and scout the area, alerting immediately if anything unusual is found."

"The other is for everyone to move together, which is safer but relatively slower."

Unfortunately, everyone’s realm hasn’t fully recovered; otherwise, they would have many more tactics at their disposal.

As Han Zhan spoke, Shang Siteng shook her hand, and the Nuwa Stone behind her shone brightly. Then, tiny communication chips appeared in her hand.

"Put these on, we can achieve localized communication."

To be fair, even a seemingly foolish Shang Siteng can be quite reliable in certain aspects.

"I can summon seven Izaki Young Snake Battle Spirits to scout ahead for you," Xia Youwei added.

"In that case, let’s split up," Han Zhan decided with a slight nod.

The Peach Garden is vast, and all the surrounding fences have disappeared, making it possible for invasions from any direction.

Despite having seven people, their defensive power is extremely weak.

Splitting up can reduce the guard pressure to the maximum extent.

"Everyone take a torch, and be careful!"

After Han Zhan finished speaking, he picked up a torch, chose a section of the area, and headed into the night.

The other girls followed suit.

Thus, in seven different directions, faint torchlight illuminated corners of the darkness.

Han Zhan moved quietly.

As a Sword Cultivator and Martial Artist, he had absolute control over his body.

Listening closely, the only sound besides the crackling of the burning torch was silence.

Not even a hint of wind.

The darkness in front of him flowed like ink, moving in the opposite direction as Han Zhan stepped forward.

Hiss... hiss...

In his ear, the static of the radio microphone sounded, and after a brief adjustment, he heard the other voices over the group channel.

Li Lingzhen: "Everything is normal on my side."

Shang Siteng: "Everything is normal here too."

Xia Youwei, Nuannuan, and Jiang Lingling also reported in succession that everything was normal.

The channel fell silent again.

Han Zhan suddenly frowned and stopped, "Something’s wrong, where’s Xiao Jin? Why hasn’t she spoken?"

"Sister Jin?"

"Could Sister Jin be in trouble!"

"Impossible, the area she chose is adjacent to mine, how could I not have heard anything?"

Just then, a trembling voice suddenly came over the chat channel:

"I... I’m scared..."

"..."

The timid Gongyang Jin was back online.

Hearing Gongyang Jin’s voice, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

Li Lingzhen even spoke up to comfort her, "It’s okay, Sister Jin, we’re all here. If anything happens, we can support each other."

"That’s right, plus the Battle Spirits are scouting ahead. If there’s any danger, they’ll alert us in advance, double insurance."

The other girls thought Gongyang Jin was just afraid of exploring the night alone, so they comforted her reassuringly.

Yet, Han Zhan’s frown deepened.

Something was off.

If Xiao Jin was afraid of the dark, she would have shown it initially.

But when everyone decided to split up, she had no reaction.

Therefore, Xiao Jin wasn’t scared because she was alone or because of the darkness.

As a Sword Cultivator, her Sixth Sense was sharp, and though her realm was sealed, her Sixth Sense wasn’t. So, Xiao Jin only turned into a timid state when she encountered danger!

"Not good, Xiao Jin is in danger!"

"Youwei, switch to the Young Snake Battle Spirits’ view!" 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

"Siteng, Nuannuan, you two are closest to Xiao Jin, move closer to support her!"

Han Zhan decided quickly.

But he was still one step too late.

The faint torchlight representing Gongyang Jin’s position suddenly vanished.

Without a trace of abnormal sound.

Immediately, they heard the cold hum of the Queen Mother of the West in their ears.

"The Flat Peach Tree has withered."

"Can’t even handle such a small matter?!"

The next second, everything went black for them. When they regained consciousness, they found themselves outside the Rhombic Crystal Area of the Peach Garden.

The Fruit World had reset once again!

Han Zhan’s palm felt slightly warm, thankfully, his number was still "2," unchanged.

Reborn Gongyang Jin now had her palm number changed from "3" to "2."

She was the only one who died on the first night.

"Xiao Jin, what exactly happened? What was it, and how did it kill you?"

Facing Han Zhan’s inquiry, Gongyang Jin shook her head blankly. "I don’t know."

"You don’t know?"

"Yes, I had no reaction at all, just felt a chill all over, and then completely lost consciousness."

Instant kill.

Without even seeing the opponent’s shadow, she was suddenly killed.

After night fell, what exactly entered the Peach Garden that was so formidable?!

For a moment, everyone felt heavy-hearted.

They weren’t afraid of difficulties, but facing the unknown, they felt a deep sense of helplessness.

With everyone revived, the entrance to the Peach Garden opened again.

But this time, no one was attracted by the scenery inside; this Peach Garden seemed to have transformed into a terrifying monster devouring life.

"Let’s go in," Han Zhan took a deep breath and entered first.

On the second entry into the Peach Garden, without any orders, everyone quickly got into action.

The first rule was already cracked, Shang Siteng and Han Zhan accelerated the layout of the entire irrigation system in the Peach Garden.

Due to swift actions, no time was wasted, and the perimeter irrigation was assisted by Gongyang Jin, Li Lingzhen, and Nuannuan, with Flowing Light and Shadow and Creation of Living Beings mutually supporting.

Freed Xia Youwei and Jiang Lingling then each made new arrangements for half of the Peach Garden area.

Xia Youwei played the Fu Xi Zither, and lines of Izaki Young Snake Battle Spirits began crawling out from the Ancient Resentful Sunset Array, climbing up the trees for real-time monitoring.

Jiang Lingling activated the Haotian Tower, embedding sealing traps formed by special symbols into the ground.

After the previous defeat, everyone was motivated.

"Full of enthusiasm indeed."

At this time, Taibai Jinxing’s voice rang out, appearing outside the Peach Garden without notice.

"Venus," Han Zhan, upon seeing Taibai Jinxing, seemed to think of something and quickly walked over, "The Peach Garden is dangerous after nightfall. Do you have any solutions?"

Han Zhan’s straightforward question caught Taibai Jinxing off guard.

"Without the Empress’s token, I can’t enter..."

Taibai Jinxing tried to repeat his previous words but was interrupted by Han Zhan.

"Just leave some means to deal with danger, there’s no need for Venus to enter the Peach Garden."

"Well... alright then."

Taibai Jinxing reluctantly agreed, shaking his duster.

At this moment, the girls’ eyes toward Han Zhan changed.

Is that even possible?!