Chapter 67: Battling the Sky Beast, Hidden Scoring Points

Yao Qingshan had previously participated in two aerial combat-style survival challenge matches.

The first was aerial karting, primarily focused on racing. Competitors had to grab as many accelerators as possible, collect rewards from treasure chests, and avoid or hunt down blocking aerial beasts.

It was very similar to the aerial maps in QQ Speed in real life.

The second was floating island treasure fishing, where the main objective was to fish up the most valuable items, occasionally interrupted by aerial beasts. Hunting these aerial beasts yielded a few rare items.

However, neither of the first two matches was as difficult as this one. This time, the focus was primarily on hunting aerial beasts. Since aerial beasts could fly, hunting them inevitably required frequently leaving the floating island map.

Although levitation stones could provide temporary flight, the duration was far too short—only thirty seconds.

Moreover, if too many levitation stones were consumed, one would end up with too few left by the time the task was tallied, missing out on the reward for having the highest number of levitation stones in the match.

Yun Zhi sighed and said, "If the spatial safe house were still usable, wouldn't that make this an absolute slaughter?"

Before Yun Zhi could even finish asking, the white clouds in the sky, which had returned to a random shape, suddenly transformed into an "X" pattern.

The chat group system announced, "On the competition grounds, the survival system will not grant you such a massive loophole. Give up on that thought!"

Yun Zhi: "…Sigh."

It seemed shortcuts were out of the question.

Yun Zhi turned to look at Ziji. "Weren't you a sword cultivator in the past? Can't you use sword flight?"

Ziji replied speechlessly, "I used to be able to, but not anymore."

His current body practiced an ability-based system without a shred of spiritual energy. What was he supposed to fly with?

Yun Zhi could only look at Yao Qingshan. "How do you guys usually play on the aerial combat maps?"

Yao Qingshan explained, "In the first two matches, to avoid falling off the map, people generally tied sturdy ropes to their vehicles or the buildings on the floating islands, and used them in conjunction with levitation stones to engage in aerial combat… But the quality of the ropes is usually not great, and they easily get snapped by aerial beasts."

"In short, the main thing is to finish the fight quickly."

Yun Zhi thought for a moment, summoned an ice-type energy stone in her left hand, and conjured an ice ladder with her right.

"What about this?"

Yao Qingshan hadn't expected Yun Zhi to have this trick up her sleeve. He quickly said, "This move works. Even if the levitation stone runs out of time or the rope snaps, there's still a fallback plan to return to the floating island."

He then looked at Ziji. Although Ziji's mental power was at tier 6, on the aerial combat map, tier wasn't the most important factor; having more self-preservation methods in aerial combat was what kept one alive until the end.

Yun Zhi took out the Dream Stalker Bracelet and deliberately had Ziji go out first, moving several dozen to a hundred meters away.

Ziji knew she wanted to test the bracelet's feature where if one party encountered a life-or-death crisis, the other would be automatically teleported to them.

He nodded in cooperation, put on the matching Dream Stalker Bracelet, and walked outward.

Yao Qingshan felt a bit puzzled, but he roughly guessed they were testing whether another special item worked in the survival world.

Yun Zhi first removed her Peace Amulet and Vajra Amulet, put them away in her spatial storage button, and said to Yao Qingshan, "Brother Yao, please use tier 3 strength to try attacking me."

Yun Zhi didn't really want to call her grandfather "Brother," but calling him directly by his name seemed a bit impolite, while calling him Comrade Yao felt too distant.

Next, they were going to fight side by side, teammates who would entrust their backs to one another.

She had no choice but to call him "Brother" for now.

Yao Qingshan had no objections to this. He knew Yun Zhi wanted to test the item, but he still nodded and threw a punch fiercely toward the direction of Yun Zhi's head.

If Ziji failed to appear in time, his fist would stop three centimeters away from Yun Zhi.

Fortunately, the Dream Stalker Bracelet was very reliable. Sensing that the attack Yun Zhi was subjected to far exceeded the tier 2 level of its wearer, it immediately formed a spatial teleportation portal right in front of Yun Zhi…

The next moment, Ziji, who had been a hundred meters away, suddenly appeared in front of Yun Zhi, releasing a tier 4 mental defense barrier that effortlessly blocked Yao Qingshan's punch.

It even forced Yao Qingshan to take a few steps back.

This was because Yao Qingshan had deliberately held back his strength, making the attack the weakest tier among tier 3.

Fearing any accidents, Ziji had raised the defense barrier by one tier.

Having survived in the survival world for many years, Yao Qingshan was naturally quick-witted. He quickly grasped how Yun Zhi and Ziji used this bracelet item.

"In other words, if Ziji falls off and both of us are on the floating island, we can use this trick to get him back onto the floating island map!"

Yun Zhi nodded. "Exactly!"

However, this still wasn't flexible enough…

It would be even better if the Dream Stalker Bracelet could become a teleportation item, allowing her and Ziji to teleport to each other's side at will with a single thought…

Yun Zhi looked at Ziji. "Didn't you say you used to know artifact crafting? See if you can improve and upgrade the functions of this Dream Stalker Bracelet."

Ziji was somewhat speechless. What he knew how to craft were magical treasures and artifacts from the immortal cultivation world, whereas this strange bracelet was a product of the bizarre world, alright?

Besides, the supreme flames ranked in the top ten of his previous life's contract were also on him.

And this was still a survival world completely unrelated to any of the previous systems…

However, since Yun Zhi had made the request, and he didn't want to disappoint her, he had to at least try.

"Alright, give me your Dream Stalker Bracelet too, and I'll study it."

"By the way, give me some more space-type energy stones. I plan to carve a few more runes that absorb spatial energy onto it."

The space-type energy stones had also been provided by Bai Miao. This stuff was quite rare in the interstellar era, and the quantity wasn't large—only one thousand in total, of which Yun Zhi had previously given Ziji one hundred.

However, if he wanted to enhance the spatial teleportation attributes of the S-grade bizarre artifact, space-type materials were definitely indispensable, and one hundred wasn't quite enough.

Yun Zhi said, "I have five hundred in my spatial storage button, I'll give them all to you. See if that's enough for now?"

Yao Qingshan also took out quite a few space-attribute materials from his system backpack.

"These are the levitation stones I obtained on the aerial combat map the last two times, this is the blood of a Rift Beast, this is the beast core of a Phantom Void Beast, this is the feather of a Blazing Sky Bird… By the way, in my smelting workshop, there is a furnace capable of smelting any material below tier 9…"

With so many materials—especially the furnace that could replace the function of strange flames—Ziji immediately found it completely feasible to modify the teleportation function of the Dream Stalker Bracelet.

A few hours later, the originally unremarkable silver Dream Stalker Bracelet had a gem-like Phantom Void Beast core and two small Blazing Sky Bird feathers inlaid onto it by Ziji, with teleportation and defense runes carved on its inner wall.

In addition, it had absorbed the energy of three hundred space-type energy stones, one thousand levitation stones, and one thousand attribute-less energy stones.

In short, not only was the autonomous teleportation function to the other party's side—which Yun Zhi desired—brought into reality, but it could also help them engage in prolonged suspension combat without needing to manually replace stones one by one.

Ziji explained, "Used solely for suspension combat, it can levitate for five hundred minutes, which is nearly eight hours and a half. Coupled with the teleportation and automatic defense functions, the energy consumption rate inside will be a bit faster, but once the energy is depleted, it can be replenished."

Yun Zhi happily said, "Ziji, you are simply amazing!"

"Also, Brother Yao, thank you for providing the materials too!"

Yao Qingshan chuckled bitterly. "You two got dragged into this entirely to save me. If anyone should be thanking anyone, it should be me thanking you! Ensuring your safety is something I should be doing anyway."

Yun Zhi said, "Let's put that aside for now. Let's make a detailed plan for quickly hunting aerial beasts and rapidly sweeping through all hidden scoring points! If there's enough time, let's come up with a backup plan B!"

Although once on the battlefield, reality often caught up faster than plans, making extra preparations was never wrong.

During Ziji's modification of the Dream Stalker Bracelet just now, Yun Zhi hadn't been idle either, having Yao Qingshan introduce common types of aerial beasts, their characteristics, and so on.

Yun Zhi quickly summarized the key points for Ziji and then proposed several of her own ideas.

Three cobblers with their wits combined equal Zhuge Liang the master mind, not to mention that the three individuals here were exceptionally smart.

Yao Qingshan even possessed practical combat experience with aerial beasts twice over, possessing extremely rich experience in quickly scoring points at hidden scoring locations whose details were already known.

After another two hours, the three of them finally discussed two viable battle plans.

With still some time left, Yao Qingshan introduced them to information regarding other well-known players.

On the aerial combat map, their enemies were not just aerial beasts, but other players competing with them for aerial beasts and even floating islands.

He also led them to a nearby wilderness map to let them experience the feeling of killing monsters.

The monsters in the survival challenge instance would be much harder to kill than those in the wilderness, but at least they could be used to practice hands and teamwork.

Unwittingly, midnight arrived.

Next, they needed to get a good rest.

Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock was when the survival challenge match would begin!

Before going to sleep, Yao Qingshan checked the registration page on the system panel once more to confirm that the names of Yun Zhi and Ziji had been added to his team members.

All of this was real, not some illusion he had conjured up in his mind!

This time, he was determined to win the championship of the survival challenge match!

Harboring firm determination and full anticipation, the three of them quickly fell asleep.

The next day at seven in the morning, the three of them woke up.

Yun Zhi and Ziji ate energy nutrient supplements.

Yao Qingshan ate tier 9 beast meat; the nutrient supplements in Yun Zhi's hands were primary grade and couldn't support his physical energy consumption.

This also meant that on the floating island, he couldn't engage in prolonged continuous combat and needed to occasionally stop to eat, drink, and relieve himself…

But there was no helping that; all the other players were the same.

The three of them checked their carry-on items once more, and soon, the time reached 7:55 AM.

A mechanical electronic voice echoed from the sky: "The 5501st Survival Challenge Match! All participants, enter the arena now!"

A beam of white light enveloped Yao Qingshan, Yun Zhi, and Ziji, causing them to disappear on the spot.

The next moment, when the three of them reappeared, they were located on a floating island of only twelve square meters.

Around them were many floating islands similar to theirs, some smaller, some larger.

For a solo participant, the floating island was only four square meters; for a four-person team, it was sixteen square meters.

The distance between floating islands exceeded one hundred meters, but with their enhanced eyesight, seeing things clearly beyond a hundred meters wasn't a difficult task.

At the very beginning of the challenge match, all floating islands were on the same level line, but as time went on, that might not remain the case.

Floating islands would descend at a rate of one meter every ten minutes.

Dropping levitation stones into the base core right in the center of the floating island could prevent the island from descending.

A twelve-square-meter floating island required throwing in three levitation stones to maintain its altitude without descending for half an hour!

In other words, the levitation stones they obtained not only needed to be consumed in large quantities if they wanted to maintain suspension combat status, but also required significant consumption to keep the floating island from falling.

If they continued to expand the scale of the floating island, the number of levitation stones required to keep it from descending would increase even further, though the maximum cap was one hundred stones per hour.

If they didn't continue expanding the island's scale, the volume would be too small, reducing the probability of encountering aerial beasts.

Aerial beasts would preferentially attack larger floating islands!

There were two ways to expand a floating island: 1. Use materials dropped from aerial beasts to expand. 2. Annex other players' floating islands!

Additionally, the levitation stones accumulated by players could be used for suspension combat and to keep the floating island from descending, but they would not be counted toward the total number of levitation stones obtained in this event.

These were all the detailed rules of this survival challenge match.

Yun Zhi and Ziji didn't have survival system panels, so Yao Qingshan shared his panel for them to view.

Aside from that, there were the top four rules that Yun Zhi and Ziji had already seen last night.

True to form, the hidden scoring points were not listed above.

Having learned in advance that this was an aerial combat map and having made plenty of targeted preparations, Yao Qingshan was quite confident about securing the final victory of this survival challenge match.

After understanding the rules, the time hit eight o'clock.

Around the floating island, lower-tier aerial beasts began to appear—tier 1 to 3 space-type slimes.

Resembling semi-transparent jelly throughout, the slimes didn't possess much combat power, nor were they very fast. Their only attack method was spitting green phlegm toward players.

This phlegm had fairly strong corrosive properties and easily damaged the equipment on players.

To enhance their defensive capabilities, Yun Zhi and Ziji put on the equipment Yao Qingshan had procured for them.

Hampered by the fact that their physiques were both tier 2, the upper limit of the equipment could not exceed tier 3.

Still, having equipment was better than having none!

Relying on lightness techniques, Yun Zhi easily dodged the phlegm of a tier 1 space-type slime.

With a gentle wave of the laser sword in her hand, she resolved that tier 1 slime.

The slime's body transformed into white specks of light and disappeared, leaving behind only a soybean-sized levitation stone suspended in mid-air.

Remembering Yao Qingshan's earlier introduction that a tier 9 aerial beast contained nine levitation stones in its body—yet its strength was far beyond nine times that of a tier 1 slime—Yun Zhi asked in puzzlement, "Brother Yao, according to this rule, wouldn't everyone love to team up with rookie players or low-tier players? The more low-tier aerial beasts there are, the easier it is to get levitation stones."

At this moment, the aerial beasts' tiers were still quite weak, making it very easy for the three of them to deal with them, and the tier 9 Yao Qingshan was particularly leisurely.

Yao Qingshan explained, "However, higher-tier aerial beasts have a much greater probability of dropping treasure chests, whereas low-tier aerial beasts almost never have chests. And if you want to expand the floating island, the various materials inside the treasure chests are indispensable."

To expand a floating island, one had to use materials dropped from treasure chests within the challenge instance; building materials brought in from the outside world could not be used.

Yun Zhi said, "Oh, I see. Then a configuration with three high-tier players and one low-tier player in a team is the optimal one."

Yao Qingshan countered, "But low-tier players die very easily. When a teammate dies, the total number of levitation stones obtained by the entire team decreases directly by a fraction… For example, in a four-person team, it decreases by a quarter, which makes it very uneconomical."

Teaming up with low-tier players could indeed increase the number of low-tier aerial beasts and make it easier to acquire levitation stones.

However, once high-tier aerial beasts started appearing frequently later on, having a lagging low-tier teammate would instantly turn previously accumulated advantages into disadvantages.

Yun Zhi nodded. "Rest assured, Brother Yao, Ziji and I probably won't hold you back."

Yao Qingshan: ……

It was obvious. Which normal low-tier player could bribe the survival main system and get the challenge match rules in advance!

Which normal low-tier player could possess divine-grade items capable of hovering for several hours while also featuring teleportation and defense functions!

Yao Qingshan even suspected whether Yun Zhi's system had done something outrageous to the survival main system.

The survival system's operational style gave off the feeling that it wanted him to win the championship of this survival challenge match even more than Yao Qingshan himself did.

Even the number of tier 1 to 3 aerial beasts gathering near their floating island was the highest.

Within one minute of the match starting, the appearance of five to ten aerial beasts was normal.

The ones appearing on their floating island were invariably the maximum limit of ten!

Aerial beasts would randomly appear within fifty meters around the floating island, but theirs were all extraordinarily close to the island—just a few meters or a dozen meters away.

Aside from a few tier 1 aerial beasts appearing in the first minute to let Yun Zhi and Ziji adapt to their strength, everything afterward consisted of tier 2 aerial beasts!

Upon discovering that Yun Zhi relied on a laser sword and Ziji relied on lightning balls with the highest lethality, and that taking down tier 3 aerial beasts across tiers was also a breeze for them, the creatures appearing around their floating island became exclusively tier 3 aerial beasts.

Theoretically speaking, tier 1 and 2 aerial beasts didn't drop treasure chests, and tier 3 aerial beasts had only a one-percent chance of dropping a treasure chest.

Yet after killing just over twenty tier 3 aerial beasts, they had already dropped three wooden chests…

Hearing this, Yun Zhi still complained, "What is this, they're actually just the lowest-tier wooden chests. I really want to see what bronze, iron, silver, gold, platinum, and diamond chests look like soon."

Yun Zhi knew the drop rate of normal chests, but hadn't she given the survival system a generous gift of eighty thousand energy stones? Aside from a welcome gift, it should at least grant a bit more favorable treatment!

Yao Qingshan: ……?!

What, were you actually expecting tier 3 aerial beasts to drop bronze chests?

Although official data published showed that tier 3 monsters had a 0.01% chance of dropping a bronze chest, that was a one-in-ten-thousand probability!

Just as Yao Qingshan wanted to say that having wooden chests was already quite good, Yun Zhi's laser sword once again slashed down a tier 3 slime.

In its place, besides three levitation stones, lay a bronze chest.

Yao Qingshan: …………

He'd better keep his mouth shut.

A pay-to-win player was simply terrifying beyond measure!

What, this was his teammate? Then there was no problem!

Seeing that Yun Zhi wasn't struggling to kill tier 3 aerial beasts, Ziji still stayed quite close to her so he could provide support at any moment.

Yun Zhi also noticed this approach of his and said, "Ziji, the aerial beasts' tiers aren't very high right now, so you can do this. Once their tiers get higher and higher, you mustn't do this anymore, or else I'll end up becoming a burden to you. Besides, if I really encounter danger, don't we have the Dream Stalker Bracelet? What are you afraid of?"

Ziji nodded. "Mm, I know!"

He also realized that his actions had been a bit driven by sentiment; it was probably because Yun Zhi was his best friend, which inevitably made him value her more and want to look after her a bit.

However, to keep Yun Zhi from feeling psychological pressure, he forced himself to distance himself slightly from Yun Zhi and hunt more aerial beasts.

When the first batch of tier 4 aerial beasts appeared—which happened to be the rather difficult-to-handle Rift Beasts—Yun Zhi no longer rushed to the very front, instead retreating to the center of the floating island to focus on dismantling treasure chests, expanding the island, and dropping levitation stones into the island's base core.

Besides the perimeter of the floating island, the base core where levitation stones were placed was also one of the random spawn locations for aerial beasts.

To prevent the levitation stones in the base center from being stolen and eaten by aerial beasts, too many couldn't be dropped at once.

However, for someone as wealthy in assets as Yun Zhi, she had no such concerns.

She laid out a trapping array and a maze array around the floating island base, shrinking the range to just four square meters, ensuring that any aerial beast that entered would get lost, completely unable to find where the levitation stones were, and unable to escape even if it wanted to!

Yun Zhi, who held the array disc's control core, was entirely unaffected by the array disc.

Thus, she could easily launch surprise and backstab attacks on tier 4 aerial beasts!

Controlling the number of tier 4 aerial beasts within a range that wasn't too taxing for her to handle, Yun Zhi engaged in a rapid slaughter!

Though her speed in harvesting levitation stones wasn't quite up to par with Ziji and Yao Qingshan's, it was definitely not slow and far exceeded normal tier 4 players.

Yao Qingshan had kept a sliver of his mind constantly focused on the situation on Yun Zhi's side…

Although Yun Zhi and Ziji had both come to rescue him, perhaps because Yun Zhi's strength was lower, or perhaps because she looked like a delicate young girl who seemed to need protecting more, or perhaps because she possessed a pair of bright almond eyes similar to Dou Wanqin…

In short, the frequency with which Yao Qingshan monitored Yun Zhi's state was several times higher than his attention on Ziji.

Discovering that this girl could easily handle even tier 4 monsters made him realize that he had still underestimated her.

This girl was truly a monstrous talent!

Of course, Ziji's level of abnormality was no less inferior. Clearly only at tier 2 physique, he possessed tier 6 mental power.

He first used his mental power to immobilize those tier 4 aerial beasts, causing them to briefly lose the will to resist, and then effortlessly struck straight at their weaknesses.

Unless they were lightning-type monsters, very few monster bodies were immune to being struck by lightning.

The floating island's area gradually expanded as more and more treasure chests were harvested, growing from the original twelve square meters into a true "small island" several square kilometers wide.

After the island grew larger, the aerial beasts it attracted became even more numerous.

When tier 6 aerial beasts began to appear, they were accompanied by many tier 1 to 3 aerial beasts, specifically set up targeting Yun Zhi.

Relying on her array formation, Yun Zhi found dealing with tier 5 aerial beasts slightly strenuous, and facing tier 6 aerial beasts… left her with only the option of running.

Although Yun Zhi had easily captured a tier 6 entity back in City X and blown up another… that was because their physiques were only tier 2 to 4, they had committed many bad deeds and couldn't withstand the questioning illusion array, and they were especially terrified of heavenly thunder.

Using the questioning illusion array against aerial beasts was useless.

The laws of the Heavenly Dao were incomplete here; lightning talismans could be used, but no matter how many were used, they couldn't summon heavenly thunder.

Right now, Yun Zhi was dodging the attacks of a tier 6 Blazing Sky Bird.

She couldn't directly ask her other two teammates for help either.

Because one of the hidden scoring points required the lowest-tier player in the team to cross tiers and kill aerial beasts higher than their own tier.

Tier 9 required one, tier 8 required two, and tier 7 required three.

For aerial beasts of this level, she could rely on Yao Qingshan to help beat them down until they had only one breath left, and then step in to deliver the finishing blow.

However, for tier 4 to 6 aerial beasts, the requirement was four tier 6s, five tier 5s, and six tier 4s, which demanded that Yun Zhi kill the aerial beasts herself. She could use items, but she couldn't rely on teammates for help.

This was one of the biggest hidden scoring points and had to be completed by her alone.

The other two major hidden scoring points were set according to the respective situations of Ziji and Yao Qingshan.

Ziji needed to rely on his own abilities to hunt three tier 7s, two tier 8s, and one tier 9 aerial beast.

That's right, even though his physique was only tier 2, the survival system still set hidden tasks based on his mental power level of tier 6.

As for Yao Qingshan, he needed to consecutively kill nine tier 9 aerial beasts, with the interval between each not exceeding ten minutes—a difficulty that was by no means small.

Right now, it was Yun Zhi, the lowest-tier player, who first encountered a hidden scoring point.

She had already completed the tier 4 and 5 aerial beasts; now, only the four tier 6 ones remained.

Fortunately, the survival system also knew her tier was too low and wouldn't release all four tier 6 aerial beasts at once to attack her, sending them one by one instead.

Yun Zhi felt quite helpless. The creature chasing and attacking her was a tier 6 Blazing Sky Bird.

Besides spatial teleportation attributes and the ability to fly, this bird also carried fire attributes!

Had Yun Zhi not happened to be a water type that countered it, she would have long since been burned by the fireballs it spat.

Suddenly, Yun Zhi thought of a somewhat cheeky idea…

She tested it first, throwing a activated fireball talisman in the direction of the Blazing Sky Bird.

A tier 3 fireball hurtled toward the Blazing Sky Bird.

The Blazing Sky Bird was completely baffled by Yun Zhi's maneuver. What was wrong with this human; wasn't she water-type?

If not for the fact that her body was enveloped in the water mist it hated most, and that she was exceptionally good at dodging with messy footwork, she would have long since become its meal!

However, the little fireball snack she gifted it wasn't bad either.

Happily opening its beak, the Blazing Sky Bird "swooshed" and swallowed the half-meter-wide large fireball transformed by Yun Zhi's fireball talisman whole.

It even smacked its lips in satisfaction, looking at Yun Zhi with expectant little eyes.

Although the Blazing Sky Bird would absolutely not let this human go, it didn't mind having a few extra bites of delicious little snacks before enjoying the main course.

Trying to use this method to win its favor and make it give up chasing her was utterly impossible!

Seeing that the fireball talisman indeed attracted the Blazing Sky Bird, Yun Zhi quickly took out three more fireball talismans, activating them simultaneously while secretly scattering a large handful of soul-bewitching powder into them, wrapping it with mental power hidden inside the fireballs.

That strand of mental power could distinctly feel the piercing pain of being scorched, but Yun Zhi gritted her teeth and endured it.

Before long, this much larger fireball was also "swooshed" down into the Blazing Sky Bird's belly by the bird.

It seemed that besides fire energy, there was something else rather strange inside?

The Blazing Sky Bird's intellect was too low, and things it couldn't figure out were quickly cast to the back of its mind.

The gigantic Blazing Sky Bird let out a hoarse "quack" and urged Yun Zhi.

Hurry up, keep feeding big grandpa fireballs, or I'll eat you!

Having achieved her goal, Yun Zhi naturally was unwilling to waste any more fireball talismans. With a water-type energy stone in her left hand and a water ball conjured in her right, she splashed it out to extinguish the fire blade the Blazing Sky Bird spat at her.

After being led around on a stroll for a full minute by Yun Zhi, the Blazing Sky Bird realized this human hadn't fed it those fireballs containing peculiar energy again. Losing its patience, it prepared to spit out a dragon of fire toward her to roast her directly before swallowing her whole.

Right at that moment, it suddenly went black before its eyes, and the entire bird plummeted straight down from the sky, crashing heavily onto the ground of the floating island.

By this time, the floating island had grown to be several square kilometers wide, truly living up to its name as a "small island."

Holding her laser sword, Yun Zhi stepped forward and cleanly severed the head of the tier 6 Blazing Sky Bird with a single stroke.

Yun Zhi said to the sky, "I hope the next three tier 6 aerial beasts are all Blazing Sky Birds! Oh, and let me rest for an hour before sending new tier 6 Blazing Sky Birds over, okay?"

This type of aerial beast lacked intelligence and was precisely countered by her water system; coupled with the soul-bewitching powder, killing them was the easiest!

Yao Qingshan had said that the frequency of mid-to-high-tier monsters descending upon the floating island center was once every half hour to an hour.

Yun Zhi felt her request for one hour was entirely within a reasonable range.

Survival Main System: ………

After accepting your 8 thousand energy stones as a welcome gift, the things you're asking me to handle really are numerous!

It seemed this young girl being selected by the Myriad Realms Chat Group system wasn't someone who let others take advantage of her easily.

She was numb to it—soft-mouthed after eating people's food, short-handed after taking people's things.

What else could the survival main system do? It couldn't possibly drive away Yun Zhi, who was protected by the Myriad Realms Chat Group system, and the same went for Ziji, who carried monstrous merit and shouldered the mission of saving another high-end major world. Keeping someone like him if gifted for free was something it didn't dare do either.

After all, it was just a developing small world.

To prevent these two freaks from coming back to its world and wreaking havoc once they grew even stronger, the survival main system could only silently modify the backend data and do as Yun Zhi said.

The chat group system remarked, "Zhihi, as expected of you. I thought you were really a sucker, eagerly sending free money to that survival system fellow. Turns out you did it to keep it cooperating with you and lowering the task difficulty all along!"

Hiding inside the trapping array to rest, Yun Zhi absorbed water and ice-type energy stones to rapidly recover her abilities.

"No way, I genuinely just wanted a little hint at the beginning. Isn't it because the survival system is warm and hospitable, and because it likes me so much, it took the initiative to provide me with some minor assistance?"

Chat Group System: ……?!

You really have no shame at all. Continually shearing off its wool wasn't enough, you still insist on phrasing it as voluntary gifts from the other party.

Previously, the chat group system had carefully concealed what it did to the survival main system, afraid that once Yun Zhi discovered its true nature of "bullying the soft and fearing the hard" and "throwing weight around as a system," she might not like it…

As it turned out, this host was even more shameless than it was.

Very well, quite reassuring.

Everyone was cut from the same cloth; no need for anyone to look down on anyone else!

After resting for an hour, Yun Zhi's physical strength had recovered sufficiently when another tier 6 Blazing Sky Bird arrived.

Using the exact same method, after tricking and killing three more tier 6 Blazing Sky Birds, the hardest part of Yun Zhi's hidden scoring point could be considered complete.

Next, although the tier 7 to 9 aerial beasts would be even harder to deal with, she could sit back and reap the rewards, letting Yao Qingshan carry her through and stepping in at the very end just to deliver the finishing blow.

For Yun Zhi—who could hover in mid-air, teleport, and possessed countless automatic defensive measures—there was absolute zero danger.

Now, the pressure shifted entirely to Ziji, who had to rely on his own abilities to slay several tier 7 to 9 aerial beasts.

Yun Zhi came to the edge of the floating island to observe Ziji, who had begun dealing with a tier 7 aerial beast.

As for the center of the floating island base, Yao Qingshan—who had taken a mid-session break and conveniently handled eating, drinking, and relieving himself—was currently standing guard there.

Seeing Yun Zhi walk over to watch, Ziji didn't ask her to stay away either.

Anyway, Yun Zhi had plenty of protective measures on her; she could watch all she wanted.

Ziji unleashed his tier 6 mental power to its fullest. Though somewhat strained, he still managed to suppress a tier 7 Phantom Void Beast and then simply and brutally bombarded it with lightning.

Surprised, Yun Zhi levitated slightly closer and asked, "How are you completely unaffected by the Phantom Void Beast's illusion attributes, and how is your mental power able to suppress it?"

Ziji explained, "My divine soul has stayed at the Great Completion Golden Core realm for four years, and it's polished to be one or two times stronger than the divine souls of many Nascent Soul cultivators. Furthermore, my will is firm; illusion-based attacks have negligible effects on me unless the opponent's tier far exceeds mine."

"The illusions constructed by that Phantom Void Beast were seen through by me in a single second, and its total mental power was only a third of mine. When I used divine soul attack techniques to directly smash its sea of consciousness, how could it possibly have any tricks left?"

"A sword cultivator who cannot cross tiers to slay monsters is simply the weakest of the weak. What I'm doing is just standard operating procedure!"

Yun Zhi: ……

You've managed to show off every single ounce of arrogance there is.

The remaining two tier 7 aerial beasts were also easily resolved by Ziji.

After that came the tier 8 aerial beasts.

Yun Zhi told Ziji to return to the floating island first to rest and properly recover his state.

As the tiers of emerging aerial beasts grew higher, their appearance frequency became slower, and their numbers dropped from an entire swarm at the beginning to just a single one appearing at a time.

Several hours later, the first tier 8 aerial beast quietly arrived, reaching the edge of their floating island, which had expanded to double its previous size.

This was a Rock Void Beast.

Most of its body was composed of rock, making it impervious to pain and largely immune to lightning strikes.

This one was truly troublesome to deal with.

Worried, Yun Zhi said, "If it really doesn't work out, we can take this Rock Void Beast over for Brother Yao to handle. Once we encounter an 8th-tier aerial beast that's easier to fight, you can make your move then."

Ziji—who had already recovered his optimal state with the help of ability recovery potions, lightning-type energy stones, and energy nutrient supplements—shook his head.

"Don't worry, although this Rock Void Beast has a very resilient physical body, mentalism is its weak point, and that happens to be my strong suit. I'll go test it out!"

Yun Zhi retreated to the rear, pulling out many Vajra Talismans in advance and sticking them onto her body to avoid being accidentally struck by the combat aftermath between Ziji and the tier 8 Rock Void Beast overhead.

Yao Qingshan, who had finished resting, also walked over.

This was the system-allocated opportunity for mid-tier players to achieve their second hidden scoring point. Until the first tier 8 aerial beast was killed, a second one would temporarily not appear.

Yao Qingshan asked, "Do you think he can kill the tier 8 Rock Void Beast?"

The Rock Void Beast was the hardest tier 8 aerial beast to kill; its defenses were high and its health pool was thick, making it even harder to kill than ordinary tier 9 aerial beasts.

Thinking it over, Yun Zhi nodded. "He can do it!"

Ziji would never attempt anything he wasn't completely confident in, and mental power truly was his forte!

A tier 6 practitioner who had trained in divine soul attack techniques versus a tier 8 entity that possessed a tier advantage but had never trained in divine soul attack techniques—who could say a tier 6 had no chance of winning?

Unaware of these details, Yao Qingshan assumed Yun Zhi was merely avoiding pessimistic remarks while Ziji and the beast had yet to decide the outcome.

He curiously asked again, "Yun, what is your relationship with Ziji? Is he your partner?"

Yao Qingshan wasn't overly sensitive to matters of romance, but he could still sense that Ziji protected Yun Zhi everywhere.

And Yun Zhi held deep trust in Ziji as well.

This wasn't the first time Yun Zhi had her relationship with Ziji misunderstood.

Earnestly, Yun Zhi replied, "Not a partner, he's my best friend!"

Yao Qingshan remarked, "Oh? It's rare for opposite-sex friends to become such good friends. What if you find a partner in the future, and they don't want you and Ziji getting this close?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Yun Zhi answered, "Then I'll just change partners!"