Chapter 128: Spring Grass Clears the Level

Amidst the banter, the second round of the first stage concluded, and Zhou Jingchen led the team into the second stage.

The second stage was titled "Spring Grass and Lotus Bloom: Parting is Easy in the Spring Breeze."

"Xiuxiu, grab the pregnant woman and take her to Xu Jun. Everyone else, clear the mobs. Watch out for the whirlpools, or you'll be teleported to other parts of the map. Once the mobs are cleared, gather at Xu Jun. Pets on passive."

As soon as he finished speaking, he charged into the fray.

Except for the Water Ghost King, the other mobs barely tickled them. Yu Qian, once again slacking off, simply followed behind Wen Xiu and waited at Xu Jun’s location.

"The bosses for this stage, Black and White Impermanence, must be killed at roughly the same time, or they will go berserk. Also, during the fight, the mini-boss White Minor Impermanence will spawn periodically. Kill it as soon as it appears."

He paused, then added, "Qianqian, just focus on keeping everyone's health capped; don't worry about anything else, but pay close attention to Sha Wujing’s health."

"Got it."

Everything sounded clear in theory, but problems arose once they actually started.

The group didn't pay attention to the bosses' health bars; White Impermanence died too early, while Black Impermanence still had a full bar of health remaining. Consequently, the six of them suffered their first team wipe of the Spring Grass instance in the second stage.

The people in the voice chat were delighted by their failure, laughing quite provocatively.

Zhou Jingchen found it amusing. He rubbed his eyes before letting Sha Wujing restart the encounter. "Everyone, keep an eye on the health of both bosses this time."

Having died once, they knew where the problem lay, making things much easier. Even though her equipment wasn't fully optimized, Yu Qian, having maxed out all her skills, found healing to be a breeze. With a tanky giant turtle absorbing the damage, she only needed to cast "Suspended Pot" when someone’s health dropped significantly; otherwise, she only needed to monitor Sha Seng’s health.

She had run the Spring Grass instance countless times, but this was the first time it had felt so effortless. Indeed, it all came down to the capability of one's teammates.

The third stage, "Spring Grass and Lotus Bloom: Love Long as Lotus Silk," consisted of three phases. The first phase was to destroy the trees. The only caveat was that you could only hit one tree at a time; otherwise, if you pulled them all and failed to kill them, they would inflict various status ailments—confusion, immobilization, stun, and sleep—the kind that couldn't even be cleared by a Heart-Protecting Pill.

The second phase involved two phoenixes that would lay eggs. These eggs had to be destroyed quickly, or they would hatch into new phoenixes.

The third phase was the final boss, the Great Emperor of Fengdu. You could attack him directly at first, but after losing one health bar, he would automatically replenish it and spawn fireballs. A fireball would randomly chase a player; if touched, the player would be instantly turned into an ice coffin. Teammates had to shatter the coffin to revive the player. Sometimes, even after the coffin was broken, the player remained in a void state; in such cases, one had to use the item from their inventory: "Xu Jun’s Tears."

The player being chased by the fireball had to run, kiting it around the map until it disappeared or the boss died. Meanwhile, the other five players could focus on attacking the boss, while keeping an eye out for mobs and the toxic circles on the ground.

Seeing the six of them finish the Spring Grass instance, the others, now understanding the strategy, couldn't wait to tackle the subsequent instances and immediately formed their own groups to give it a try.

The rest decided to listen to the explanations for all three instances before attempting them.

Meanwhile, the six of them were opening their loot. This weekly Spring Grass instance guaranteed forty Soul-Subduing Tokens, with a chance to drop Heirloom Fragments and the "Heirloom Scripture Talisman" used to upgrade heirlooms.

Zhou Jingchen’s luck was as good as ever; he opened three Heirloom Scripture Talismans, along with other fragments. The others didn't fare too badly either, all obtaining various items. Only Yu Qian received nothing but the mandatory Soul-Subduing Tokens.

Even Wen Xiu had better luck than her.

Comparison is the thief of joy. If someone else had been as unlucky as her, it might have been fine, but being the only one with such poor luck made it quite embarrassing.

Yu Qian felt aggrieved. They were all players, even paying players—why was the game picking on her? She felt so wronged she was on the verge of tears.