Almighty Genius

Chapter 2050 - 1552: Rival!

First update, seeking subscriptions, monthly tickets~~~~...

The puppet is back, as if the strange incident just now had never happened...quietly staying in Qin Fang's Props Box.

However, Qin Fang clearly couldn't really pretend that nothing had happened, vaguely sensing that this puppet is no longer the same as before.

It's just that, Qin Fang temporarily couldn't figure out what exactly was different... This made Qin Fang quite frustrated and somewhat helpless.

"I hope it's nothing bad..."

Feeling helpless, Qin Fang could only silently comfort himself in his heart since the puppet is a very important "companion" to him.

At certain crucial moments, the puppet played an extremely important role, even helping Qin Fang avoid deadly threats time and again.

Once, when facing high-explosive bombs, it shielded Qin Fang from all the impacts...

Once, when facing the deadly assault of the Three-eyed Viper, it blocked the super stab from the viper...

Once...

Qin Fang still remembers its every help, each time it could help Qin Fang make an impossible comeback, turning the tide just when it was about to fall...

Now, Qin Fang's strength has indeed grown a lot, from being an insignificant figure to a grandmaster-level expert, with the potential to advance to Great Grandmaster Level, even Supreme Level in the future...

But Qin Fang very much hopes that this puppet can always stay by his side, helping him climb step by step to that supreme peak!

However, that eerie scene just now made Qin Fang feel a bit uneasy and somewhat worried about this puppet.

It's not for his own safety, mainly fearing that some special accident might happen to the puppet… It has no life, yet it can function normally like a human. Qin Fang can't figure out why, but he's most afraid of such a puppet losing this ability for some reason!

Qin Fang regards the puppet as his companion and certainly doesn't want his companion to just "die" like this...

"Forget it, just let it be..."

However, facing the changes in the puppet, even Qin Fang's grandmaster-level scouting skills didn't detect any issues, so Qin Fang was at a loss.

Since there's no way to figure out the situation, Qin Fang didn't dwell on it further; at least the puppet has now returned to "normal."

"Let's continue on..."

Basically, everything here has been settled, and there's nothing that Qin Fang wants to linger on. Not to mention, all that remains here is a heap of corpses, both human and serpent, with an extremely strong odor that makes one feel a bit nauseous, so of course, Qin Fang didn't want to stay here for long!

So Qin Fang immediately left, retracing his steps back along the passageway.

It's just that, perhaps Qin Fang didn't notice that the bodies on the ground and the blood seeping from them were slowly being absorbed into the stone walls of these passageways in a strange manner.

Originally supposed to be smooth as a mirror, the stone walls had narrow, almost invisible lines running through them, and the blood was flowing along these lines... Only because the passageway was too dimly lit, making this scene not so clear.

Of course, even if Qin Fang discovered it, there wasn't much he could do about these eerie lines... They were too intricate and dense, unless the entire stone wall was leveled flat, perhaps stopping the flow of blood, but that would be too great of a task and not beneficial to Qin Fang at all, so why bother?

In this mountain maze, there's no distinction between day and night, everything must be judged by one's own intuition.

As for those time-keeping devices, even watches are useless here, as the magnetic interference is too strong.

Perhaps because time could not be accurately monitored, people might feel that time passes too quickly or that it drags on endlessly...

Qin Fang, however, was indifferent to this; now that the Luminous Pearl was in his hands, he could just wait quietly for the portal to open, and he could leave this maze safely.

But, would he just stay hidden like this?

Obviously not!

Qin Fang wasn't interested in other Luminous Pearls, but he was very interested in other treasures or herbs in this maze.

He even considered, if he could explore the entire maze within three days, he wouldn't mind picking all the herbs!

But, this was just a beautiful wish of Qin Fang, unlikely to truly be accomplished...

Even though Qin Fang's small map had already lit up a portion of the maze, it was just a small part, far from having a bird's-eye view of the entire maze!

In fact, Qin Fang unexpectedly discovered at some point that this maze wasn't just on a flat plane at all; it actually had layers...

That is to say, it's very likely that Qin Fang and the other trialists are actually in the same location, just at different levels.

"Oh come on~~~"

When Qin Fang realized this, he couldn't help but raise his middle finger and curse angrily, expressing deep disdain for the designer of this maze.

But it was just disdain, really. Judging from when this maze was built, the designer has probably kicked the bucket long ago.

"It's not too bad, anyway, there's still plenty of time..."

Qin Fang thought about it and became much more relaxed about the situation. If the maze map were easily uncovered, it might not be very big.

If the map isn't big enough, the likelihood of trialists bumping into each other greatly increases, and the number of treasures would significantly decrease.

With this in mind, Qin Fang felt that the bigger the maze, the better, so he could find more and better treasures or herbs...

Qin Fang remained calm and soon carried on with his journey. He continued along another passageway, advancing forward as the dark spots on the small map lit up little by little.

This passage was actually a corridor leading to the next level. Following it, Qin Fang successfully entered another passageway.

However, the area of the map he had just fully illuminated immediately disappeared, as this was no longer the same horizontal level.

But Qin Fang didn't mind. He quickly adapted to this new environment, and his small map had already explored the surroundings within tens of meters of his current position.

It couldn't really be called an environment, but the basic paths became much clearer... At least one of them was definitely a dead-end, and Qin Fang wouldn't choose to go there.

That dead-end passage was very spacious and wasn't very long. With no underground dark river or anything like that, it most likely wouldn't have anything good.

Of course, whether or not there was really nothing would rely on getting close enough for Qin Fang's scouting skill to accurately detect it.

Qin Fang didn't plan on going over there because he would pass by the neighboring route of this dead-end while going another way. The stone wall separating them was only three to four meters thick, which couldn't block Qin Fang's scouting skill from checking it out, so going or not wasn't important.

If there's something good, Qin Fang might confirm it first and then run over. But if there's nothing, he saves himself the extra trip!

After all, if something is there, making multiple trips is worth it, but if there's nothing, even a few extra steps feel like a loss!

As expected, the result was just as Qin Fang had anticipated: it was empty with nothing there, and Qin Fang was relieved he didn't waste a trip.

But soon, Qin Fang got frustrated again...

"Huh... has someone been here before?"

When Qin Fang passed a place that seemed to possibly hide treasures or herbs, he was surprised to find... someone had already beaten him to it.

It can't really be called beating him to it; rather, they arrived slightly earlier than him.

"This... should be the Three-Yuan Vine, right?"

Qin Fang carefully inspected the scene and discovered from the remaining traces that there was originally a Three-Yuan Vine here, which is a rare herb in vine form, sprouting three branches, and in fairly abundant quantity...

Unfortunately, Qin Fang was one step too late, and the Three-Yuan Vine was already uprooted by someone, leaving only some withered branch remnants and not a single scrap for Qin Fang.

"Being able to recognize the Three-Yuan Vine... this must be a master with quite some knowledge of herbs!"

Although he didn't see the person, Qin Fang had already made a simple analysis... The Three-Yuan Vine appears as a withered vine and isn't very eye-catching. Most people find it hard to recognize its true value.

Despite the maze having stone walls everywhere, many plants have grown here, some for many years.

It's precisely for this reason that the Three-Yuan Vine isn't very noticeable in the maze; it's almost impossible for those who aren't experts in herbs to recognize it!

"The technique was precise, and the harvesting method was quite good; this is a formidable opponent..."

Qin Fang studied the person's method of harvesting the Three-Yuan Vine carefully, and it was quite clean and neat—probably the same as if Qin Fang had done it himself.

With such skills and formidable strength, this is definitely a tough adversary... Qin Fang couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive!

Of course, it was merely apprehension, not fear. Even the mother Godslaying Worm he had seen wasn't as scary as this; dealing with one mere human expert is trivial...

"I need to pick up the pace a bit, or all the good stuff will be snatched away..."

The real concern for Qin Fang was this: when a master knowledgeable about herbs arrives before him, the herbs ahead are likely to be taken by the person first, leaving Qin Fang empty-handed!