Li Rui clasped his fists, "Daoist, this place is fraught with danger, I can't be at ease leaving you here alone."
Chongxuzi's expression tightened, and he made a hand gesture saying, "As soon as I entered the temple, I noticed a fierce aura between the young hero's brows. It seems I judged by appearance unfairly. I ask for your forgiveness."
"Ha, haha, it's not like that, not like that."
Li Rui chuckled dryly, "Daoist, no need to blame yourself, I'm just a naturally fierce-looking guy."
He remembered his own talent, initial affection -5, scare level +20.
An NPC that appears to be of a higher level has a degree of immunity to such ordinary talents, not easily frightened.
He incidentally noticed on his panel that the skill point obtained after solving the live sacrificial event could be added to the Big Bito skill, so he directly put it in.
[Skill - Big Bito lv2.]
[Effect: Basic physical attack. Augmented by physique and spirit attributes. Critical strike upon hitting the face.]
[Attack type: Fist and palm.]
[Level up effect: 5% damage increase, gains basic shock effect.]
During training, it was mentioned that this global Secret Realm is different from actual video games. Character upgrades can only increase attribute points, while skills, talents, and their allocation need to be acquired through various tasks, events, and encounters within the Secret Realm, each point is extremely precious, and many people, even at level 20 or 30, may only have skills at lv2 to lv3.
Demon Wind Temple is a level 1-5 dungeon, and that giant bone monster is at least around level 4. In principle, it is an extremely difficult event to complete, hence the reward of a skill point.
Now it seems that this thing is indeed useful. After Big Bito upgraded to lv2, the damage increase isn't high, but it adds an attack special effect.
Encountering something like the giant bone monster again, it would have a longer stun time after being hit.
Li Rui quickly glanced at his equipment again.
[Cloth Wristband.]
[Item Level: 3.]
[Quality: Common]
[Attribute: Defense +3.]
[Permanent: No.]
As expected, it's nothing special, Li Rui anticipated this. After all, with his unlucky nature, one cannot expect much from randomly rewarded things, but it's better than nothing, so he equipped it.
"Looks like I'll need to find other ways to get high-quality equipment later."
His experience in exploring the Secret Realm isn't rich enough yet, so he doesn't know what methods to use for now. He's just pondering if knocking out those bosses that drop equipment would provide a chance for good loot?
He didn't spend much time dwelling on it, those are matters for later.
"Daoist, in your opinion, what should we do now?" Li Rui asked, looking up.
Chongxuzi pondered for a moment and said, "Since we have to drive away the evil and calm the spirits, we need to eliminate the evil source first. Otherwise, destroying all these pavilions and towers only addresses the symptoms, not the root cause."
Li Rui asked, "The evil source?"
"Young hero, you might not know, but decades ago, Cloud Temple was still a flourishing Buddhist place, sheltering one side. But for unknown reasons, it became a place of fierce spirits."
"Initially, I didn't quite understand, but the accumulation of bones forming that monster just now is enough to show that someone seems to be performing some kind of evil ritual in this temple."
"If it's a ritual, there must be a corresponding object, either a powerful spirit monster, a vengeful ghost, or even someone practicing dark arts. In short, I must eliminate it, otherwise, it's hard to return peace to the surrounding people."
Chongxuzi spoke calmly.
Li Rui nodded, "Indeed, we should eradicate evil for the people, our joint strength can accomplish great things."
Chongxuzi smiled slightly without exposing him, knowing well the great disparity in power between the young man and himself.
"Then the question is, what should we do now?" Li Rui asked.
The old Daoist shook his duster, just about to speak when his brow furrowed suddenly.
At this moment, Li Rui quickly said, "Something's not right, there's something here."
Chongxuzi was quite surprised. Indeed, a Yin Sha Qi was forming, but it wasn't complete. Ordinarily, such a thing should be hard to detect.
Yet this seemingly young fellow, only in his twenties, felt it simultaneously with him, this was peculiar.
"Young hero, I'm afraid things aren't going well."
Li Rui stared at him seriously for a few seconds and furrowed his brow, "What do you mean?"
"... My view is that the evil source seems aware of my existence and is gathering power to confront me. It's better for you to leave quickly."
"No way!"
Li Rui stated firmly, "We share blessings and hardships, brothers don't say such things!"
Chongxuzi didn't have time to ponder how he became a brother, just seeing a black wind blowing, collapsing all the halls around the courtyard, revealing giant bone pits, and more giant bone monsters appeared along with the twisted monks.
Some with four legs growing beneath their robes, some sitting lifelessly on the beams, their extraordinarily long arms hanging down. The demon monks and evil monks from before also gathered from all sides, groaning and roaring towards the two.
Li Rui realized that it was related to his luck, had someone luckier come instead, Chongxuzi wouldn't be here, and these monsters would not have been simultaneously activated.
Now, even if this old Daoist possesses divine power, in the midst of chaotic spells flying everywhere, raging thunderstorms, if his level 2 character gets caught by an unknown AOE, he might just die on the spot.
With a grave expression, Li Rui knew he had to find a way to protect himself, and, driven by a sudden idea, shouted, "Daoist, watch out!"
As he shouted, he hoisted Chongxuzi onto his shoulder.
His thought was simple; in such times, it's definitely best to stay as close as possible to this possibly dozens-level Daoist. How to stay closest? Of course, stick together!
And thus, he suddenly realized a new principle.
What's tougher than level 3 armor? Carrying your teammate on your shoulder as level 4 armor.
Others' clinging to thighs is metaphorical; he went literal, focusing on being straightforward and honest.
Chongxuzi was still assessing the evil spirits' situation, thinking of strategies to expel the demons and annihilate the Yin Sha. But unexpectedly, his own companion made the first move.
At this moment, Li Rui was already sprinting away with the old Daoist.
Chongxuzi lay over his shoulder feeling dizzy, not just because of his profound cultivation and esteemed status in Shenxiao Palace, where no one dared disrespect him, let alone carried off.
The most crucial point was, he felt this kid was running in the wrong direction.
"Young hero, your earnest desire to protect me is touching, but if we want to escape danger, shouldn't we be running outside the temple? Why are you heading towards those demons?"