Published: February 12, 2025
Due to the good harvest on the last Bright Star, this time Ye Zhongming had Xiao Min take the stage.
This naturally carried risks, but Ye Zhongming had Xiao Min submit more equivalent items to lower the difficulty by seventy percent, so it should be fine.
It's normal to let others train when there is some certainty; one cannot rely entirely on Ye Zhongming, Xia Bai, and Red Hair to fight all the battles.
When Xiao Min hit the Soaring Crystal onto Jannadrah's Bright Star, it really startled her. After all, others' Bright Stars could not have their difficulty reduced; they could only challenge or purchase.
If she lost, Xiao Min wasn't afraid of dying, but she was truly worried about affecting Ye Zhongming's big plans.
Fortunately, the options provided by the spatial prompt eased Xiao Min's mind.
She could choose a solo challenge or a team challenge, but the team challenge would enhance the strength of the Guardian Beast by one level.
Without a second thought, Xiao Min chose team combat.
The entire Cloud Summit team appeared on this Bright Star.
Ye Zhongming expressed his appreciation for this choice.
Jannadrah was galloping ahead; he was likely about to reach the finish line soon. There were hardly any Bright Stars to occupy, and now encountering Cloud Summit, it was unclear whether Cloud Summit was unlucky or if Jannadrah was.
Ye Zhongming couldn't figure out the purpose behind this saint from West Asia's actions. Did he have a method to bypass others' Bright Stars?
However, since they encountered him, he had no intention of being polite.
Faced with a Guardian Beast, the members of Cloud Summit scattered and quickly slaughtered it.
After two minutes of combat, Ye Zhongming was somewhat surprised by the strength of this Guardian Beast.
It was one of the weakest Guardian Beasts, at the very bottom of the hierarchy, and it seemed it hadn't leveled up at all!
The King of Cloud Summit felt increasingly perplexed. Jannadrah not only didn't occupy as many Bright Stars as possible, but he also left the Guardian Beasts on the few he did occupy at their weakest state and didn’t upgrade them—what was going on?
If it weren't for Cloud Summit choosing team combat, which raised the Guardian Beast's level, perhaps Ye Zhongming could have taken it down in an instant himself.
The King of Cloud Summit would never think that Jannadrah was foolish. There must be a reason for his actions; it was just that Ye Zhongming didn't know what it was.
This only intensified his wariness.
Thus, Cloud Summit moved on while other factions did the same, occasionally encountering other factions' Bright Stars, either battling or paying a toll.
From this, one could see the character of these teams.
For instance, the Mechanical Genius would never bow to other factions. Whenever they reached someone else's Bright Star—mainly Ye Zhongming's and occasionally Jannadrah's—they would always choose to challenge.
Indeed, they achieved victories, having taken five Bright Stars from Cloud Summit alone. This made the members of Cloud Summit gnash their teeth in frustration.
However, there was nothing they could do, as they couldn't turn back to take down the Mechanical Genius; the rules forbade it.
Ye Zhongming remained calm about it.
Then there was the women's camp, a faction that surprised Ye Zhongming.
According to previous intelligence, this faction, being all women, wasn't particularly strong among the teams entering the roulette space.
Being here was generally considered a stroke of luck.
However, this faction advanced steadily. Ye Zhongming didn't know how others' Bright Stars fared, but whenever they passed Cloud Summit's Bright Stars, the women never hesitated to pay the toll, quickly moving on to the next process of hitting the Soaring Crystal.
During this time, everyone heard the roulette space prompt again; it signified that Jannadrah had reached the Mountain King Plateau. As the first to arrive, they received a reward, but the specifics of the space were not disclosed.
After this, Ye Zhongming clearly noticed that everyone’s pace was quickening. Even the great America and Ogre Chain improved their speed compared to before.