Hong Lian looked at the significantly shorter branch in his hand, sighed, waved it a few times at the air, and then casually tossed it upwards.
Cultivators were, after all, cultivators; they possessed great strength. Hong Lian’s casual toss happened to strike the wild goose at the same time, also causing its falling trajectory to deviate slightly, landing just behind the people.
Everyone was startled by the thud and immediately turned to look. They saw that the wild goose had fallen, a bloody and mangled mess.
Suddenly, a flock of sparrows descended from the sky, circling the wild goose’s carcass and beginning to gnaw at it ravenously.
Although sparrows eating a wild goose was unusual, upon seeing the sharp teeth in the sparrows’ beaks, Wan Lei immediately found it perfectly normal.
“Was that the wooden stick you threw just now that made it veer off course?”
Wan Lei looked at Hong Lian.
Hong Lian nodded dazedly.
“I just threw it casually, I wasn't even looking at the sky. Who knew it would hit something? Luck, just luck.”
“If you hadn’t thrown it, that wild goose would have landed on us. Those sparrows would likely have attacked us too, thinking we were stealing their food. Hong Lian, your luck attribute is truly not for nothing.”
Wan Lei patted Hong Lian’s shoulder with genuine admiration.
“Naturally! The three of us brothers can come and go freely in the midst of an army. With this luck, even a god couldn’t kill us.”
This was truly bragging.
The group continued walking, arriving at the plaza.
“This is a wide-open plaza. As long as we stay alert to our surroundings and the sky, we should be fine for two hours.”
As Wan Lei spoke, Feng Bing pulled him aside.
“Boss, did you forget? Stay away from manhole covers. How dare you step on it.”
The moment Feng Bing finished speaking, the manhole cover flew up with a clang, and the roar of a monster echoed from below.
“Prepare for battle!”
Wan Lei drew his hammer, and everyone else also took out their weapons.
The manhole cover spun in the air before smashing down. However, it missed the group and instead struck a nearby stone statue.
The stone statue toppled with a crack. The group immediately moved away.
As the statue hit the ground, its head snapped off and rolled towards them.
At that moment, a monster’s head emerged from the sewer, and upon seeing them, it roared and prepared to charge out.
But as luck would have it, the statue’s head rolled rapidly and fell right into the sewer, knocking the monster back down.
Perhaps the monster was not very strong, perhaps the statue’s head was too heavy, or perhaps things native to this world naturally countered each other.
After falling back into the sewer, the monster let out a muffled sound and then fell silent.
“This… this is illogical. Is this the collision of curse and luck?”
Even Meng Meng’s eyes widened. This series of coincidences was simply too incredible.
Wan Lei smiled and said,
“Cough, cough, I told you bringing the lucky trio was the right choice, didn’t I? Meng Meng, we’ll prepare here. We can prevent any danger in advance, unless the cursed misfortune can suddenly appear from beneath our feet…”
Before Wan Lei could finish speaking, muffled thuds echoed from underground, followed by a strong tremor.
“Run!”
With a single command, everyone immediately took to the air, even Meng Meng and her dolls flew up.
“Boss, do you have a jinx attribute? Whatever you say happens?”
Hong Lian quipped while flying.
His remark made Fang Xiaoyu pause. She suddenly remembered that a long, long time ago, in the Star Sea of Thunder, Wan Lei’s jinx ability meant whatever he said would come true.
“No, no, we’re just cursed,” Wan Lei quickly explained. At this moment, he couldn’t afford to take the blame. What if he really did have a jinx attribute, and whatever he said happened?
The roaring sound from underground grew louder, and the ground’s tremors intensified.
Just as everyone held their breath and observed carefully, the ground suddenly exploded.
A colossal head burst forth from the earth, and then, this monstrous beast leaped out from underground.
It was a monster standing twenty zhang tall. Wan Lei and the others were like tiny ants before it.
The beast was corpulent and ferocious, with four horns on its head and two tusks gleaming with cold light. In its mouth, it held a small monster, similar to the one that had emerged from the sewer earlier.
If nothing unexpected happened, this small monster would become its meal.
Indeed, the beast swallowed the small monster in a few bites, then licked its lips as if still hungry, its greedy gaze fixed on the group.
“Roar!”
The monster roared.
“Is this the great monster we have to fight for two hours? Are we going to confront it?”
Wan Lei frowned.
“Boss, don’t worry. Our luck skill is not for show. Unless something unexpected happens to this monster, that is.”
Hong Lian declared with conviction.
The monster roared and leaped towards them. Wan Lei and the others immediately assumed an attacking stance.
Suddenly, a soft voice echoed from the sky.
“Karl, sit down, you’re being naughty again.”
Upon hearing this voice, the monster, which had already leaped into mid-air, defied the laws of physics, flipping Newton’s coffin lid. Without any consideration for inertia, it landed vertically on the ground.
Then, like a small dog, the monster sat on the ground, its eyes wide as it looked upwards, panting with its tongue sticking out subserviently.
The group looked up and saw a white-haired person, clad in a wizard’s robe, with an extremely hideous face, standing in mid-air with his hands behind his back.
“Who is this person?”
Wan Lei asked Meng Meng softly.
“Don’t know. My territory is the outermost part, and this is the innermost. I’ve never been to this area. But if you mention a name, I might have heard of it.”
Meng Meng replied in a low voice.
“Such pitiable creatures.”
The white-haired man looked at them with pity in his eyes.
“Are you cursed by the Death Crier bird? I see the aura of a curse on you.”
“What? Do you have a way to break this curse?”
Wan Lei asked warily.
“No, no, no, I won’t break the curse for you. On the contrary, I am here to bestow death upon you. For everyone cursed by the Death Crier bird, I will find them and send them to the Bridge of Sighs.”
As he spoke, the white-haired man raised his hand, and a door appeared beside him. Through the open door, the group saw a yellow river flowing, and above the river, an ancient and weathered stone bridge.
“We sing of death, we praise death. Death is bliss, death is transcendence. Ladies and gentlemen, please enter. Cross this door, and you will taste the joy of death.”
As he said this, Meng Meng’s face changed drastically.
“I know who you are! You are the Death Singer, a bad guy who collects lives.”