Time was of the essence. Even though Xia Ruofei could basically confirm that he had grasped the characteristics of the Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences, he still needed to spend a lot of time searching for them because they were very rare.
At his current speed, it was very likely that he wouldn't be able to find all ten Star Fern Thorns' Soul Essences before the end of the mission.
Therefore, Xia Ruofei didn't dare to relax for a moment. After collecting the Star Fern Thorns' Soul Essence, he immediately flew to the nearest Star Fern Thorns with Ling Qingxue on his sword.
On the fifth floor of the Tower of Trials, the Sensory Mirror's map range was very small. Xia Ruofei couldn't grasp the overall situation of the Star Fern Thorns, let alone find the special Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences. Therefore, he could only follow the principle of searching for the nearest Star Fern Thorns.
This was more or less a matter of luck, but luck was also a part of one's strength. If his luck was so bad that he couldn't find a single Star Fern Thorn in the next few hours, then Xia Ruofei would accept this reality because he had already done everything he could to the best of his abilities.
When there were only three hours left on the mission, Xia Ruofei finally obtained the sixth Star Fern Thorns' Soul Essence.
When there were only two hours left on the mission, he had obtained the seventh Star Fern Thorns' Soul Essence.
At this speed, there wasn't enough time.
However, Xia Ruofei didn't give up. He continued to search with all his might. He didn't even have time to rest. Most of the time, he would pause for a moment to confirm the situation of the target before immediately flying forward on his sword. When he encountered the special Star Fern Thorns, he only spent two to three minutes setting up and activating the formation before collecting the Star Fern Thorns' Soul Essences.
Flying on the sword for a few hours with a person on board would consume a lot of energy.
Fortunately, Xia Ruofei still had a large amount of Yuan Qi stored in his Elemental Storage Bead. The amount of Yuan Qi of an early Yuanying cultivator at their peak state was at least several times more than the amount of Yuan Qi that Xia Ruofei currently possessed. Therefore, when Xia Ruofei's Yuan Qi began to deplete, the Elemental Storage Bead's usefulness became apparent.
It was because of the existence of the Elemental Storage Bead that Xia Ruofei was able to maintain a high speed and maintain his physical condition at a very good level.
Although time was running out, giving up halfway was never Xia Ruofei's style.
As long as he wasn't forcefully teleported out of the fifth floor of the Tower of Trials, he would continue to search.
With one hour left, Xia Ruofei obtained the eighth Star Fern Thorn Soul Essence.
Ever since Xia Ruofei grasped the characteristics of the special Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences, it took him about an hour to find a Star Fern Thorn.
However, this speed wasn't enough. He still needed two more Star Fern Thorns, and he only had one hour left.
Xia Ruofei silently put the Star Fern Thorn Soul Essence in his pocket before continuing to fly on the sword with Ling Qingxue.
When the mission notification panel showed that there were fifteen minutes left, Xia Ruofei successfully found the ninth Star Fern Thorn Soul Essence.
This time, he finally managed to move forward a little bit, earning himself 15 minutes of time.
However, it was obvious that this amount of time wasn't enough.
Even Ling Qingxue, who had always been very confident in Xia Ruofei, felt a little hopeless at this moment.
Xia Ruofei still didn't say a word. After obtaining the ninth Star Fern Thorn Soul Essence, he didn't waste a single second and continued to fly on the sword with Ling Qingxue.
With twelve minutes left, Xia Ruofei found eight Star Fern Thorns. Without exception, they were all ordinary Star Fern Thorns.
With ten minutes left, Xia Ruofei found another eight Star Fern Thorns, but he still didn't find anything.
With seven minutes left, Xia Ruofei still didn't find anything after searching nine Star Fern Thorns. He came to the vicinity of the tenth Star Fern Thorn.
However, he didn't immediately observe the characteristics of this Star Fern Thorn. Instead, he scanned his surroundings thoughtfully.
"Ruofei, why did you stop?" Ling Qingxue also knew that time was of the essence, so she couldn't help but remind Xia Ruofei when she saw him stop flying on the sword without any intention of starting it again.
Of course, Ling Qingxue also knew that with Xia Ruofei's temper, he wouldn't give up no matter what. She was just worried that Xia Ruofei would be distracted.
Xia Ruofei looked around and pondered for a moment before saying, "Qingxue, I think that if we continue searching, these six or seven minutes will be like a drop in the bucket. Unless we're really lucky, we won't be able to find those special Star Fern Thorns in such a short amount of time. Then … since there are only a few minutes left, let's try our luck!"
"Try our luck?" Ling Qingxue was slightly taken aback. "What do you want to do? I'll support you! "
Xia Ruofei nodded and said, "There's no time to explain. I'll go set up the array formation first!"
With that, Xia Ruofei jumped off the Qu Shuang Flying Sword with Ling Qingxue. He also reminded Ling Qingxue to be careful and not to run around.
Then, Xia Ruofei took out the array formation materials from the Ring-Tu space and started setting up the array formation.
What he took out wasn't the small area fire attack array formation that he had used countless times. Instead, it was the large area fire attack array formation that he had modified himself.
It was the array formation that he had used to deal with the Star Fern Thorns.
Xia Ruofei also realized that they wouldn't have enough time if they continued like this, so he stopped for a few seconds and used his spiritual power to investigate the surrounding situation.
In the end, Xia Ruofei discovered that the Star Fern Thorns were quite densely distributed within a one or two kilometer radius. It was much better than the situation where there were only one or two Star Fern Thorns within a few kilometers.
There wasn't much time left. Even if Xia Ruofei pushed his speed to the limit, he would only be able to see forty to fifty Star Fern Thorns at most. If these forty to fifty Star Fern Thorns happened to produce special Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences, then he would really be lucky.
However, Xia Ruofei roughly estimated that with the array formation that he had, which could cover a maximum of three kilometers, he could really carve out an area with a radius of two to three kilometers. It could cover at least a thousand Star Fern Thorns.
In that case, using an area of effect attack was definitely more suitable.
Therefore, if two arrays were to be used in different scenarios and requirements, then the answer might be completely different.
Xia Ruofei controlled the Qu Shuang Flying Sword and quickly shuttled back and forth within the two to three kilometer radius. He used the shortest amount of time to set up an area of effect fire array formation.
At this time, there were less than five minutes left in the quest.
Xia Ruofei didn't hesitate to throw out the crystals and activate the array formation with a hand seal.
This time, the array formation was expanded to a radius of nearly three kilometers. It was to cover as many Star Fern Thorns as possible.
However, this greatly increased the difficulty of setting up the array formation and the consumption of the array formation.
Fortunately, Xia Ruofei's array formation knowledge was very solid, and he didn't lack money. He didn't care about the consumption of the array formation in a short period of time. Therefore, he was able to set up the array formation very quickly.
After the array formation was activated, the raging flames seemed to have a life of their own as they continuously squeezed toward the center.
All of the Star Fern Spikes within the range of the attack were also alarmed. Sensing that their lives were in danger, they frantically unleashed their spikes. The whistling of the wind could be heard amidst the raging flames, and the entire formation was almost completely covered in spikes.
Xia Ruofei, who had already retreated to a safe distance, gently pulled on Ling Qingxue's hand. The two of them didn't move at all.
Xia Ruofei looked at the mess in front of him with mixed feelings.
In his Perceptive Mirror, he could still see the countdown timer on the mission prompt bar flashing second by second. There were only a little more than two minutes left until the end of the mission.
Xia Ruofei was very familiar with the power of the array formation. He wasn't worried that he wouldn't be able to get rid of the Star Fern Thorns in the array formation in this little bit of time. According to his estimation, the Star Fern Thorns in the array formation would be completely silent in a minute at most.
The biggest problem now was that burning all the Star Fern Thorns wouldn't help at all.
The number of special Star Fern Thorns that could drop Soul Essences was just too small. Previously, Xia Ruofei had searched non-stop for about an hour before finding one. He had only found one ten minutes ago. Now, there were hundreds of Star Fern Thorns in this area. He didn't have time to check them out. He immediately set up the array formation. The probability of a Star Fern Thorn Soul Essence dropping was really, really low.
Ling Qingxue's palms also started to sweat. She subconsciously held Xia Ruofei's hand tightly, as if she could give Xia Ruofei some strength by doing so.
In the array formation, the Star Fern Thorns' attacks quickly weakened. In about a minute, the Star Fern Thorns were completely silent. Xia Ruofei's judgment was still very accurate.
He waited for about thirty seconds. There was no point in rushing for time now. It was better to let the Star Fern Thorns burn more fully.
When there were thirty seconds left on the mission timer, Xia Ruofei used a spell to stop the operation of the array formation.
He didn't even have time to collect the materials for setting up the array. He directly stepped on the Curved Frost Flying Sword and flew five or six meters into the air. Then, he waved his hand from above. The ashes of the burning Star Fern Thorns immediately scattered with the wind.
It was difficult for Xia Ruofei to attack from a distance within a three-kilometer radius with his ki alone. However, it wasn't a problem for him to just fan away some ashes.
Immediately afterward, Xia Ruofei quickly searched the area of the array formation.
Ling Qingxue also clenched her fists and opened her eyes wide as she searched the array formation.
When there were only ten seconds left on the mission timer, Xia Ruofei and Ling Qingxue's bodies trembled slightly at the same time. The two of them locked their gazes in the same direction at almost the same time.
About a kilometer away from Xia Ruofei, a black Star Fern Thorns' soul essence was quietly lying on the wasteland that was still emitting a scorching aura.
Xia Ruofei's breathing immediately became a lot heavier. He couldn't help but reveal an overjoyed expression on his face.
"Ruofei! Star Fern Thorns' soul essence! Quickly collect it! "Ling Qingxue shouted excitedly.
Actually, at the same time that Ling Qingxue spoke, Xia Ruofei had already reached out his hand and grabbed at the air. That Star Fern Thorns' soul essence was lifted by Xia Ruofei's spiritual power and quickly shot toward him.
Three seconds later, the Star Fern Thorns' soul essence was tightly grasped in Xia Ruofei's hand.
The progress on the Perceptive Mirror's mission tab finally jumped to 10/10!
Xia Ruofei even took the time to glance at the countdown timer. There were only five seconds left on the mission timer!
Xia Ruofei let out a long sigh of relief. It was as if all the strength in his body had been sucked out. His entire body relaxed.
He controlled the Curved Frost Flying Sword to lower its altitude. Just now, in order to have a better view, as well as to quickly clear away the ashes of the Star Fern Thorns, he had flown to a height of five or six meters. This was already unprecedented. Under normal circumstances, he would fly close to the ground when he used Sword Kinesis Flight. The reason was that when he had flown to the top of the tree, he had felt a palpitating sense of danger.
At this moment, Ling Qingxue, who was waiting on the ground, was already jumping up and down in joy. Her eyes were filled with tears of excitement.
This mission was truly too difficult! Although Ling Qingxue wasn't able to help, she had witnessed the entire process of Xia Ruofei completing the mission. That indomitable spirit of never giving up made Ling Qingxue even more captivated by Xia Ruofei. At this moment, her expression was extremely similar to a little fangirl who had seen her idol.
"Ruofei! You're awesome! " Ling Qingxue was still very excited. As soon as Xia Ruofei landed, she took the initiative to hug Xia Ruofei tightly. She even took the initiative to give Xia Ruofei a big kiss on the face. "You're awesome!"
At this moment, the countdown for the second round of the mission had ended.
However, it was obvious that Xia Ruofei and Ling Qingxue had been determined to have completed this round of the mission. Therefore, the two of them were still in the wasteland and were not directly sent out.
"This was really close!" Xia Ruofei couldn't help but sigh. "Fortunately, luck was on our side in the end!"
"You're right!" Ling Qingxue said with a smile. "The last Soul Essence was really obtained by luck!"
"It doesn't matter how we obtained it. Anyway, we completed the mission!" Xia Ruofei said with a smile.
At this moment, in the Sensory Mirror's field of vision, the mission prompt began to appear again. Xia Ruofei hurriedly focused on it.
When Ling Qingxue saw Xia Ruofei like this, she knew that there was new information on the Sensory Mirror. Therefore, she didn't disturb Xia Ruofei. Instead, she held onto Xia Ruofei's arm and waited quietly.
There was quite a lot of scrolling text on the mission prompt — Congratulations! You have successfully completed the second round of the mission. You have collected 10 Star Fern Thorn Soul Essences. The third and final round of the chain mission on the fifth floor of the Tower of Trials has been successfully activated! Please follow the map to the designated location. The third round of the mission will be officially announced there!
After Xia Ruofei finished reading the text, he said to Ling Qingxue, "Qingxue, we've successfully completed the second round of the mission. Now that the third round of the mission has been activated, I hope our good luck doesn't slip away …"
Ling Qingxue heard this and asked nervously, "Has the third round of the mission been released? What's the specific content? Is time tight? "
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