Chapter 67: Entering the Nameless Mountain Range

The rest of the group nodded in unison. "Mm!"

Even riding the Sky-Swallowing Roc, it still took seven full days to reach the far northern edge of the Douluo Continent.

Disembarking from the Roc, they stood just outside the nameless mountain range.

A towering wall, hundreds of meters high, surrounded the entire mountain range. This wall was made of concrete, ten meters thick, and built specifically to prevent the Abyssal creatures from escaping.

In other words, all the Abyssal creatures were trapped within the mountain range.

Guard posts were stationed every hundred meters along the wall, each manned by hundreds of soldiers. Every soldier was at least a Soul Elder in strength.

This was clearly a soul master army!

These soldiers fought for humanity. Even when the Spirit Hall faced annihilation at the end of the original story, they continued to defend this mountain range, refusing to abandon their post!

"Line up to receive your soul power counter device and your ID number, along with one month's supply of food and water," Rost said.

More than a thousand people lined up into a long queue. However, the ID numbers were assigned randomly, not based on order in line.

The food and water were stored inside the soul power counter device, which contained five cubic meters of space—enough to hold all the supplies.

Gu Chen received his counter—a metallic bracelet etched with the numbers 0413. That was his ID number.

At the center of the bracelet was a white screen with a bright blood-red "0"—clearly indicating his current score.

Gu Yue Na and the others also received their bracelets. Gu Yue Na's code was 0726, Ling Xiaojiu's was 0806, Jin Zi's was 0123, Hua Buluo's was 0115, Luo Chen's was 0908, Feng Xiaoyu's was 0803, Xuan Mo's was 0034, and Xue Youyou's was 1222.

At the bottom of every bracelet, the number "1329" was displayed—apparently, this was the total number of students present.

If he remembered correctly, these nine people would be here for an entire year, as one year later was the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Elite Tournament.

These ID numbers would be their codenames for the year!

"You have one day to rest. Tomorrow, I expect to see you here in full spirits. I don't want to see you getting killed by Abyssal creatures the moment you enter the mountains!" Rost said coldly.

Gu Chen and the others fully agreed. After all, the creatures inside this mountain range were unknown Abyssal entities. If they were just Star Dou Forest soul beasts, they could still handle it.

But with Abyssal creatures, it was all unknown territory.

Although Gu Chen and Gu Yue Na could easily survive by unsealing their powers, doing so would ruin their plans—and also mean the death of Luo Chen and the rest. That was something Gu Chen refused to let happen.

One day later.

Gu Chen allowed himself to relax, basically sleeping the entire day.

He knew once they entered the nameless mountain range, there would be no more opportunities for restful sleep.

Gu Yue Na and Luo Chen did the same.

More than a thousand students, spread across ten thousand entrances.

Each group entered from a different entrance to avoid early encounters and fighting between teams.

As soon as they stepped into the mountain range, Gu Chen became alert. "I'll take point. Na'er, stay beside me. Luo Chen and Xiaojiu in the middle. Xuan Mo and Buluo on the sides. Jin Zi at the rear. Youyou and Xiaoyu flank us. Stay sharp, report anything immediately!"

"Yes!"

For some reason, once the nine of them entered the mountain range, everything seemed to dim. There were no other people, no wild animals, no soul beasts—no signs of life.

All the plants had been drained of life energy by the Abyssal creatures, leaving only dead trees and withered branches. Even the rivers had all dried up.

At first, Gu Chen had wondered why they needed to bring water—surely they could just find some within the mountain range.

Now he understood. There was no water at all. They were like lambs being led to the slaughter—prey awaiting the Abyssal harvest.

They traveled dozens of miles into the range. Perhaps it was luck, but they didn't encounter any Abyssal creatures.

Gu Chen took out a pack of compressed biscuits from his bracelet.

All the food stored in the bracelet consisted of bland compressed biscuits—three meals a day, each meal being one pack of biscuits and one pouch containing less than 200 ml of water.

"Hurry up and eat, keep your strength up," Gu Chen said as he quickly finished his rations.

After eating, the nine of them continued toward the center of the range.

While they could stay near the outer edge to survive the month safely, they knew one thing—this free food and water only lasted for the first month. If they didn't earn enough points, they wouldn't have food or water for the next month!

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a roar echoed from nearby.

Gu Chen leapt forward twice and stood atop a dead tree branch. His expression changed. "Three Ba'an!"

In the distance, three dragon-like creatures with dark green scales glowing faintly appeared.

They seemed to have heard Gu Chen's voice and charged toward him with furious roars.

"Chicken fried rice!" Luo Chen chanted again, tossing a bowl to Gu Chen.

Gu Chen ate the rice, and a basketball floated in front of him.

One Ba'an appeared before Gu Chen. Without him even controlling it, the basketball spun and slammed into the Ba'an's head repeatedly.

The creature shook its head and charged again.

Gu Chen summoned his Golden Dragon Spear—he remembered from the original story that it could devour the life force of Abyssal creatures.

With a powerful thrust, the spear pierced straight through the Ba'an.

The creature turned into gray mist and tried to escape—but the five-foot-long golden aura from the spear captured it and forcefully devoured its energy.

"Na'er, our Golden and Silver Dragon Spears can absorb the energy of these Abyssal creatures and prevent them from resurrecting," Gu Chen reminded her.

Gu Yue Na's eyes lit up. She summoned her Silver Dragon Spear and used a space shift to instantly appear before one Ba'an, thrusting three times in a row—piercing both eyes and the heart.

The spear flared with a silver glow and absorbed the creature's life force.

Meanwhile, Gu Chen killed the final Ba'an.

He looked down at his bracelet. The once blood-red "0" had turned into "10." Gu Yue Na's bracelet read "5."

According to the training camp rules, ten points could be exchanged for three meals' worth of food and water—one day's supply.

That meant to survive for a month, Gu Chen needed 300 points.

But for him, that wasn't too hard. The real challenge was helping his teammates earn enough points too.

They were a team!

"One Ba'an is worth five points. With nine of us, we need 2700 points for a full month's supplies. That means we must kill 540 Ba'an—or stronger Abyssal creatures," Gu Chen said grimly.

(End of Chapter)