Chapter 361

Chapter 361: Renewed Collaboration

Three hours after the ruins were opened, Zhou Luo and his three companions had already encountered multiple attacks.

This included that Second Level Spirit Beast, formations, poisonous insects, and so on.

It was clear that this Golden Core master did not want others to interfere with his goal.

But before the lure of the spiritual artifact, the so-called backup plans ultimately proved useless when dealing with each move as it came.

Just after Zhou Luo and the others passed through a passage and entered a new cave chamber.

This time, they did not encounter danger; instead, they met acquaintances.

Shangguan Qianxue and Song Zhan stood side by side opposite them, Shangguan Qianxue holding an emerald-green sword, both with calm expressions as they looked at them.

After such a long time, the two groups finally met face to face.

Shangguan Qianxue, with her beautiful, unruffled eyes, looked towards Zhou Luo and spoke first, "Long time no see."

As soon as these words were spoken, a flicker of surprise crossed the eyes of Long Yunshuang and Qi Chuan.

They hadn’t expected that Zhou Luo actually knew the other party.

Since the other party took the initiative to speak, Zhou Luo couldn’t pretend not to know any longer; he could only give a faint smile and say, "Dao Friend Qianxue, long time no see."

Shangguan Qianxue’s gaze traveled over the three, and she continued, "It seems you also haven’t found that spiritual artifact."

It was not a secret to either group that there was a spiritual artifact in the ruins.

After all, everyone’s background was not shallow; perhaps only Zhou Luo might have needed to guess to know. Moreover, his goal was not the spiritual artifact, but the dual cultivation techniques.

As soon as she spoke, before Zhou Luo could reply, Long Yunshuang said with extreme assertiveness, "The spiritual artifact is mine."

She had her pride, and coupled with their three at the Foundation Establishment realm, now that they met on a narrow path, the other side had a lower chance of victory.

She also had the confidence to say this, and if it could scare off the other side, that would be even better.

On this ruins expedition, her goal was singular, and that was to obtain that spiritual artifact.

Rather than pretend and placate, it was better to straightforwardly state her baseline.

Hearing these words, Shangguan Qianxue slightly frowned.

Song Zhan, beside her, laughed and said, "Fellow Daoist, aren’t you being a bit too confident?"

He was an Immortal Sect disciple and a Second Level Formation Master, with many methods against enemies. Moreover, for this occasion, to help them smoothly obtain that spiritual artifact, their master had prepared many methods for them.

Don’t be misled by the difference in numbers; when it came to a real fight, who would win was hard to say.

Long Yunshuang’s beautiful eyes darkened, her face became frosty, and the atmosphere instantly dropped to an extreme low.

Both sides stared at each other; it was somewhat tense and confrontational.

At this moment, Zhou Luo finally spoke, "Inside here, there aren’t just our two groups; if you fight here, it will only be losing more than you gain."

The idiom of a snipe and clam fight, where a fisherman gains, is known to all, and this principle is especially a truism in the cultivation world.

So unless one is a desperate criminal, when taking action, everyone makes full preparations to ensure they won’t become the snipe or clam.

Zhou Luo’s words somewhat eased the tense atmosphere.

Everyone was smart and naturally knew that fighting here would do more harm than good.

After he finished speaking, Shangguan Qianxue looked at Zhou Luo, a glimmer of light shining in her eyes: "We can cooperate. Once we find the spiritual artifact, it will be up to everyone’s own ability."

There were many cave passages here. After entering one, there were still more passages waiting ahead.

If only two or three people explored, it would be too time-consuming and draining.

But with five people, the difficulty was reduced considerably because they could explore multiple passages separately.

The reason Shangguan Qianxue chose to cooperate was just one aspect; the main reason was that she saw potential in Zhou Luo’s ability.

During the previous trip to the Illusionary Forest, she had realized that the other party was not ordinary.

Now that he could advance to the Foundation Establishment realm, it further convinced her of his extraordinariness. Choosing to cooperate with him, although risky, was still a relatively correct choice.

Zhou Luo did not speak; he just turned his gaze to Long Yunshuang.

Among these three people, she was the one in charge.

Feeling the gaze, Long Yunshuang pondered for a moment, then took out several talismans: "Fine, but you must equip these."

This was a tracking talisman that could record the holder’s location in real-time.

Since they were going to explore passages, they definitely needed to monitor everyone’s locations.

Long Yunshuang tossed two talismans over and added: "As long as the location information from the spiritual symbols disappears, our cooperation ends immediately."

Her attitude was very firm, and with her cold voice, she seemed a bit unkind.

But this was quite normal.

Because once the location information vanished, it meant that the other party had likely found the correct place.

"Then how would we know your location?" asked Song Zhan.

As a formation master, he wasn’t very familiar with some information about Second Level symbols.

"You can also find us through those talismans," said Long Yunshuang.

"Then we have no problem," Song Zhan nodded.

After a brief discussion, both sides confirmed the direction of cooperation. Then, after communicating with each other, they selected three most likely passages.

With five people and three passages, the personnel assignment became an issue.

Before others could speak, Shangguan Qianxue was the first to express her desire to explore together with Zhou Luo.

The reason was simple: since it was cooperation between two parties, they should mutually cooperate to show sincerity.

This decision made the remaining three show a hint of surprise.

Especially her Senior Brother Song Zhan; his gaze at Zhou Luo changed from the initial indifference.

However, they couldn’t find any reason to refuse.

Eventually, Shangguan Qianxue smoothly walked with Zhou Luo toward one passage, Song Zhan and Long Yunshuang went to another, and only Qi Chuan went alone to the last passage.

The passage was long, exactly ten meters.

In the dark passage, Zhou Luo asked curiously: "Why are you following me?"

"Because I think if the spiritual artifact truly exists, even if you’re not the first to find it, you’re likely the one who will get it," Shangguan Qianxue said calmly in the darkness.

Unconsciously, the scene from when they landed on the island surfaced in her mind: he had eliminated opponents one after another without them noticing. If not for her powerful background and strength making him wary, she might have been dealt with by him too.

Traveling with such a person had benefits: he could resolve most dangers for you, but the risk was that he could be the greatest danger.

This was a double-edged sword; if used properly, it could avoid a lot of trouble.

Shangguan Qianxue was very confident in herself, so she chose to follow him.

Hearing this answer, Zhou Luo was quite surprised.

He hadn’t expected this woman to be so confident in him.

However, he wasn’t that interested in the spiritual artifact.

Not that he was truly uninterested, but he knew that in such fierce competition, he didn’t need to choose a treasure that would make him everyone’s target.

Whether they were Immortal Sect disciples or of royal status, he didn’t want to offend any of them.

Of course, if there were no dual cultivation techniques, that would be a different matter.

Since the other party wanted to follow him, he might as well let her.