Chapter 141: Spirit-Binding Island

What Liu Zhi said was not false. Originally, if it was just a matter of gathering spirit pearls, it would have been effortless for him to seize the championship, as forcible plundering was what his squad excelled at.

However, the new rule required finding the Spirit-Suppressing Stone. This item was the most troublesome. Although higher-ups claimed the object had not left the Spirit Void, the Spirit Void was so vast—where was one supposed to look for it?

Along the way, they had searched the surrounding Blue-Fish Six Islands countless times over the past few days, yet there wasn't the slightest clue about the Spirit-Suppressing Stone.

Naturally, having more people help would make things go smoother.

"What kind of damn stone is this? Even if we have to turn the Spirit Void upside down, you all better find it for me!" Dropping these words, Golden Eye walked forward coldly.

Behind him, Liu Zhi and the others breathed a heavy sigh of relief. At least they wouldn't be eliminated immediately.

Ma Dalong waved at them. "From now on, your task is to help the boss find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone."

"No problem, you can count on it!"

...

On the other side.

Xiang Nan was acting as if nothing was the matter. He farmed monsters when it was time to farm monsters, and ate meat when it was time to eat meat.

Anyway, with the Three-Channel Taoist around, along with Zhang Xing, Du Yu, and other members of the Eagle Alliance, plus another wave of people who had come to form an alliance, it didn't even fall to him to fight.

Su Yao, standing aside, even started to feel a bit bored. "Xiaonan, what's going on here? Have we somehow become VIPs under special protection?"

Li Xiang was open-minded about it. "Isn't this great? I feel quite wonderful about it."

Just a moment ago, the Three-Channel Taoist led Zhang Xing and the others to wipe out a few more squads, handing large bundles of spirit pearls over to Li Xiang, which left him beaming with joy.

"No wonder everyone wants to be the boss. The feeling of having others work their lives out for you is really not bad."

"You guys shouldn't be too careless either. If we want to win the championship, just having a lot of spirit pearls is useless; we still need to find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone," Xu Jiya reminded them from the side. "We absolutely cannot let Brother Xiang Nan lose the bet!"

"That may be true, but a whole week has passed, and Brother Nan isn't flustered at all. I really admire that! Brother Nan, what are you actually thinking? Are we still fighting for the championship or not?" Li Xiang felt a bit puzzled inside.

"Nonsense! Do you think my bet with the Crazy Yama was just a joke?" Xiang Nan said calmly.

Li Xiang grew even more confused. "Since that's the case, why haven't we looked for the Spirit-Suppressing Stone along the way? The Blue-Fish Six Islands are so vast, yet we've stayed up in the helicopter the whole time and never went down to search. Last time I said I wanted to go look, you even stopped me and told me to just focus on farming monsters. Why is that? Looking at how confident you are, do you happen to know where that thing is?"

"Take a guess." Xiang Nan shoved a skewer of roasted meat into his mouth and looked at Li Xiang with amusement.

"Stop keeping us in suspense, Xiaonan. I really want to know too." Su Yao, standing nearby, also wore an eager expression.

Meng Qingwan glanced at Xiang Nan, then looked at the calm-faced Xu Jiya, and nudged her arm. "Xiaoya, do you know as well?"

Xu Jiya smiled faintly. "Tell me, why did the Crazy Yama set this rule?"

"Of course it's in the hope that the students can find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone. This Spirit-Suppressing Stone has been missing for about a month now. If this drags on any longer, the fierce beasts in the Spirit Void are going to advance in rank, and by then, who knows how many transcendent-tier beasts will come out and wreak havoc," Li Xiang said as if it were only natural.

"If you're this anxious about it, could the people at the top not be anxious?" Xu Jiya asked in return.

"What do you mean?"

"For a whole month, the higher-ups must have sent quite a few people to look for it; I heard the Dragon Abyss Army even came. Coupled with the searches by various squads during this period, have any of you heard of any squad finding the Spirit-Suppressing Stone?"

"Of course not. If it had been found, what would be the point of everyone else fighting for it?"

Meng Qingwan's eyelashes flickered as if she had suddenly understood. "In that case, the Spirit-Suppressing Stone isn't on the Blue-Fish Six Islands at all. It probably isn't on this Central Island either, otherwise it would have been found long ago."

"Exactly," Xu Jiya continued. "Therefore, the Spirit-Suppressing Stone can only be in one place."

"Spirit-Binding Island!" Su Yao took over.

"Spirit-Binding Island? But that's a restricted zone!"

"Oh!" Realization dawning on him, Li Xiang nodded repeatedly. "I get it now. Xiaoya's analysis makes sense. Spirit-Binding Island has always been a forbidden area in the Spirit Void, and no one has ever dared to enter, even when the military came to look for the Spirit-Suppressing Stone. This time, the Crazy Yama didn't set any rules, nor did he emphasize as he usually did that entering forbidden areas is prohibited. Could he have done it on purpose? Did he hope someone would take advantage of a Spirit Void expedition to break into the forbidden zone and find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone? No wonder he insisted that the champion must find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone."

"So now you finally understand why I didn't let you guys search for any spirit stones along the way—because apart from Spirit-Binding Island, there simply are no Spirit-Suppressing Stones anywhere else." Xiang Nan ate his skewer and spoke unconcernedly.

"Xiaonan, are we really going to Spirit-Binding Island?" Meng Qingwan frowned slightly, her eyes filled with worry.

"To find the Spirit-Suppressing Stone, we have to go," Xiang Nan said casually.

Hearing this, everyone's expressions changed.

"That's a restricted zone. No one has ever dared to go there for all these years. You can imagine the danger."

"They say there are transcendent-tier grand beasts on Spirit-Binding Island. You go in with your life, but you don't come back alive."

"That's right, Brother Xiang Nan," Xu Jiya also looked at Xiang Nan. "The Spirit-Suppressing Stone is indeed most likely on Spirit-Binding Island, and the Crazy Yama's rules have also provided convenience for everyone. We understand this logic, and other squads must have figured it out too. But look at these past few days—no one has dared to take the risk."

Xiang Nan stuck a bamboo skewer into the dirt and slowly stood up. "Ordinary people can't go there anyway. The islands in this Spirit Void are all connected by land, except for Spirit-Binding Island, which is surrounded by water on all four sides. How could it be that easy to get up there?"

"Are you saying that bringing a helicopter in means you anticipated all along that we'd be going to Spirit-Binding Island?" Su Yao asked with wide eyes.

"I'm not that divine. I only found out about this rule the Crazy Yama cooked up right before coming in. Besides, the bet has already been made; if I don't win this championship, where will I put my face?"

"Xiaonan, is face really that important? If we go to Spirit-Binding Island, we might not even be able to keep our lives," Meng Qingwan worriedly said.

"The Crazy Yama said there are no rules, but he didn't exactly say we are allowed to go to the restricted zone either. No matter how you look at it, this whole thing seems unreliable. Even if we come back alive, who knows what punishment awaits us for trespassing in a forbidden area?" Li Xiang hesitated as well.

"Hey, hey, can you guys have a little adventurous spirit?" Su Yao, on the other hand, wore an excited expression. "A Spirit Void expedition is a Spirit Void expedition. We've been wandering around this Spirit Void for a week, and where is the real danger? Even when we ran into a fourth-tier fierce beast, the Three-Channel Taoist took care of it in just a couple of moves. It's so boring; I've been wanting to do something exciting for a long time. Spirit-Binding Island, I think we can go take a crack at it. Xiaonan, I'll go with you."

With that, Su Yao looked at Xiang Nan with a proud expression. As for the fifth-tier human-faced tiger beast they encountered that night, Su Yao still didn't mention a single word.

She had seen with her own eyes Xiang Nan subduing a transcendent-tier beast using the Clearing Heart Incantation, so even if Spirit-Binding Island was extremely dangerous to others, it wasn't necessarily so for Xiang Nan.