Carrying the bamboo basket, Zhang Yuanqing returned to the robber's tunnel. Walking down the narrow corridor into the burial chamber, he took the three items out of the basket, placed them neatly inside the alcove, and turned to leave.
After a few paces, he suddenly froze and looked down at the bamboo basket in his hand. A question surfaced in his mind:
*Why did I take this with me too?*
*Isn't that taking being an honest person a bit too far...?* Carrying the basket, Zhang Yuanqing left the main burial chamber, traversed the six-meter-long corridor gate, and arrived in the outer chamber.
He first set the bamboo basket aside, then bounced lightly on his feet, leaping two meters into the air with ease, and pulled down the yellow paper talisman pasted onto the brick wall of three voussoirs and three courses of brickwork.
*Whoosh—*
The paper talisman spontaneously combusted, leaping with pale-golden flames.
Not daring to let those flames lick him, Zhang Yuanqing quickly let go, allowing the talisman to drift to the ground and turn to ash.
"Done! Four hours left until I return. Time to head back to the village first."
Zhang Yuanqing slipped on the Red Dancing Shoes, remembered to pick up the bamboo basket, and walked up the steep brick wall as if traversing flat ground, squeezing into the opening of the robber's tunnel at the top.
A few minutes later, he returned to the village entrance, quietly waiting for ten o'clock to arrive—waiting for the twenty-four hours to end.
"The Mute Village trial is so difficult, so the rewards should be pretty generous. I wonder if they'll award me all three items, and what the hidden quest will give..."
"Still, if someone had a walkthrough, this Grade A trial wouldn't actually be hard at all. After entering the Spirit Realm, just make a beeline for the ancient tomb, hide out for the night, come out the next day to gather the items, and bring them back to the tomb. That'd be a perfect clear."
"I just don't know whether the hidden quest resets every time or is a one-off. It all depends on what the settlement rewards are." Zhang Yuanqing let his thoughts drift aimlessly.
Take the hidden quest in Yinyang Town: the reward item had been the Yinyang Robe. Because the item was unique, the hidden quest in Yinyang Town had only existed once.
Zhang Yuanqing knew, however, that not all hidden quests worked that way. Some hidden quests existed simply to boost a Spirit Realm walker's experience points.
Spirit Realm walkers capable of unearthing hidden quests were rewarded with more EXP, allowing their leveling speed to pull away from the mediocre crowd.
With time to kill, Zhang Yuanqing went over the trial's information in his mind once again:
*Right, Lady Sandao was mentioned in this trial. The old crone and the commandery princess belong to the same lineage, and the old crone's slumber seems quite similar to the princess's.*
*After living for two cycles of sixty years, when her lifespan was nearing its end, the princess knew she couldn't extend her life in the Dharma Ending Age, so she followed her master's example and entered a slumber through some secret technique to cling to life?*
*No, her state isn't the same as Lady Sandao's. The feeling the old crone gave me was of a living person, while the princess has completely turned into a yin corpse—she refined herself into an undying yin entity...*
*That coffin was probably a crucial link in her plan, which was why she had to 'borrow' the old crone's jade coffin. Tsk, if only I could learn this method of refining oneself into a yin corpse. Any yin corpse I refine in the future would wipe the floor with those made by other Night Walkers.*
*From what is currently known, the last batch of 'cultivators' existed in the Ming dynasty; by the Qing dynasty, cultivation had become completely impossible. But the setting of Mute Village isn't the Ming dynasty. That itinerant Taoist was most likely also a figure from the Ming dynasty. Looked at this way, he actually lived for quite a long time too.*
At last, after several long hours of waiting, dense yin qi surged from deep within the village, blotting out the sky like thick smoke and plunging daylight back into darkness.
*The princess is here. Did she realize the talisman in the ancient tomb was destroyed, and she's returning underground?*
Zhang Yuanqing turned his head to look around, only to suddenly realize that the yin qi was heading straight for him!
*!!!*
The majestic, terrifying yin qi swept forward like an ocean tide, surging from all directions and blotting out the pale daylight. On the other side of the small path, the yin qi parted to reveal the commandery princess in her gorgeous red dress.
Her face was exquisite yet pale, pure black filling her eye sockets, and her pupils were blood-red like rubies.
Separated by a dozen meters, the two confronted each other in silence.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing felt as if he had been thrown back to the previous night. An intense fear surged in his heart, and the calves of his legs began to twitch again.
Just as he was considering whether to draw his handgun and gloves to bolster his courage, the princess in the distance gave him a slight nod, a touch of gentle warmth flashing through her fierce pupils.
Immediately afterward, the yin qi receded like an ebbing tide, taking the princess along with it.
"She's gone?"
Zhang Yuanqing felt the tension drain from his body, and his calves stopped trembling.
He watched as the yin qi withdrew from the village, drifting toward the rear mountain like a heavy blanket of low-hanging clouds.
After another ten-odd minutes, the Spirit Realm chime rang in his ears:
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the solo Spirit Realm trial—Mute Village, Code: 1018, Difficulty: Grade A. Calculating rewards.]
[Rewards settlement in progress... Obtained items/tools: Yin Jade Doll (Replica), Ghost Mirror (Replica), Blood Rouge (Replica)]
[EXP Awarded: 25%]
[Main storyline settlement complete. Ding! Congratulations on completing the hidden quest—Commandery Princess Yin Yao's Gratitude! Calculating your rewards...]
[Obtained items/tools: Yin Jade Doll (Replica) x 3, Ghost Mirror (Replica) x 3, Blood Rouge (Replica) x 3]
[EXP Awarded: 15%]
[Hidden quest settlement complete!]
[Ding! Character card reward activated. Reward tool: Teleportation Jade Box]
[Settlement concluded! Exiting the Spirit Realm in five minutes...]
The next second, a black full moon emerged on his brow, and from that scalding imprint burst a surge of majestic lunar energy. In a nearly tyrannical manner, it washed through his body, merging into every cell and fusing into every bone.
His body temperature soared rapidly. His skin turned red as a boiled shrimp, and he twitched involuntarily, feeling as though his life tier was transforming and his genetic sequence was being restructured...
Once his temperature dropped and returned to normal, Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly opened his status panel:
[Name: Yuanshi Tianzun]
[Race: Human]
[Class: Night Walker]
[Level: 3]
[Skills: Night Tour, Spirit Devouring, Lunar Spirit, Moon Howl, Charm Art, Spirit Talismans]
[Experience: 58%]
[Morality Points: 2,100]
[Reputation: 40]
His experience had reached 58%. Zhang Yuanqing clearly felt that his stamina, strength, and spirit body strength had increased significantly.
This trial had granted him a whopping 40% EXP. Without using any items, he was confident he could easily beat his self from one minute ago. Back when he fought Zhao Chenghuang's Ghost Transformation, even with the support of the Red Dancing Shoes and his combat saber, he had still been on the back foot.
If he had possessed his current EXP back then, he definitely wouldn't have been in such an awkward state.
"Now I can truly be considered in the upper echelon of Level 3—assuming I rely purely on myself, that is..."
Zhang Yuanqing then opened his inventory and checked the items rewarded from the quest.
The item descriptions of the three trial items were largely unchanged, but their type had changed to consumables, and an extra note had been added:
[Although replicas, their power is identical to the originals. Duration: thirty minutes.]
"The clear reward was a replica of each of the three items, usable once each. But completing the hidden quest earned me the princess's gratitude, which increased the replicas' usage count to three times each."
"From the looks of it, these three items are the core hazards of the Mute Village trial and serve as the trial's foundation, so they couldn't possibly be given to Spirit Realm walkers as permanent rewards. The hidden quest will refresh too..."
"This Spirit Realm trial belongs to the category of immutable trials—or rather, a trial whose difficulty will never decrease, only increase."
The items in the trial wouldn't decrease, and the difficulty rating would never drop. If Zhang Yuanqing had died here, the Red Dancing Shoes would have become another major hazard in Mute Village, potentially raising the trial's rank to Grade S.
Although not obtaining the "genuine articles" was a bit disappointing, having nine total uses across the replicas of the three items meant that, combined with his other tools, they would last him a very long time.
"These three items will definitely shine in the killing trial. And once I ascend to Saint, there will be Saint stage items to obtain. Yeah, replicas or not, they're plenty good enough."
Zhang Yuanqing then took out the tool rewarded by his character card. It was a jade box ten centimeters long and five centimeters wide.
Carved onto the box's surface was a pattern vaguely depicting space collapsing into a mysterious passage, with countless turbulent currents swirling around it.
The item information promptly surfaced:
[Name: Teleportation Jade Box]
[Type: Jade Ware]
[Function: Teleportation]
[Description: Originated from an indescribable thief who committed countless crimes throughout his life and had enemies across the realm. However, his elusive, god-like stealth left his enemies utterly helpless, leading them to target his family and friends instead. To allow his loved ones and friends to escape when targeted, the thief crafted this tool. Every thirty days, the jade box produces one teleportation jade talisman. These talismans can stack.]
[Remarks: You may crush a talisman to teleport to any place you have previously visited. Note, however, that every third time, it will trigger a random teleportation.]
After reading the item description, Zhang Yuanqing's first thought was: *Holy crap, this thing is insanely overpowered! A god-tier lifesaver.*
His second thought was: *Holy crap, I know what the Demon Lord did to the princess!!*
Previously, he had found it bizarre. Given the princess's level, the Demon Lord during his Transcendent stage had been barely stronger than an ant. How could he have done something to infuriate the princess?
Seeing this tool, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly understood.
That bastard the Demon Lord must have used a teleportation jade talisman to come back later! By then, he had definitely already become a Saint.
Thinking this, Zhang Yuanqing patted the Cat King Speaker in his trouser pocket and muttered, "Tonight, I'm going to listen to the Demon Lord and the princess's..."
Just after patting the speaker, Zhang Yuanqing's hand suddenly froze. "I know how Brother Bing put the Cat King Speaker in Jinshui Amusement Park!"
Brother Bing knew he would enter Jinshui Amusement Park because the trials Zhang Yuanqing entered were all ones the Demon Lord had previously visited.
Zhang Yuanqing had known that for a long time, but what he hadn't known was how Brother Bing had managed to stash the Cat King Speaker inside Jinshui Amusement Park.
It was a teleportation jade talisman!
Brother Bing and the Demon Lord knew each other. It was very likely they had teamed up in Jinshui Amusement Park and met there, only to discover that they were both servants of the Deceitful Eye Judge, subsequently maintaining secret contact.
Only that could explain why Brother Bing knew he would enter Jinshui Amusement Park and was able to stash the Cat King Speaker there.
As the Demon Lord's associate, having one or two teleportation jade talismans was completely reasonable.
*I can return to Mute Village in the future too. When the time comes, I could ask the princess about things and borrow some items while I'm at it. Hmm, I could go back to Jinshui Amusement Park as well to see the Ghost Bride...*
What did being able to return to a trial mean?
As far as Zhang Yuanqing knew, no Spirit Realm walker had ever been able to return to an old trial. In the future, even if he missed a hidden quest, he could go back and claim it!
*Wait, then why didn't the Demon Lord go back to retrieve the Yinyang Robe back in his day? Uh, he was probably already in the Saint stage, or even at the peak of the Saint stage by then, so he most likely looked down on the Yinyang Robe...*
At this moment, the countdown ended. The bleak, dilapidated village rippled like water.
***
Kangyang District Police Station.
Leaning on his cane, Li Dongze walked into the office area and asked, "Guan Ya, has Yuanshi returned?"
Holding up her phone, Guan Ya waved it slightly and said in a heavy voice, "It's powered off."
Li Dongze knitted his brows. "It's already been twenty-four hours. He should be back by about now."
Guan Ya's face was filled with worry.
Because of what Yin Ji had said, they, who had initially been full of confidence, had been on edge since yesterday morning. The closer it got to twenty-four hours, the more nervous they became.
She was already completely unable to work normally (binge movies and TV shows).
Furthermore, rumors on the official forum claiming that Yuanshi Tianzun was about to perish were growing increasingly rampant. Mainly, people were spreading hearsay that the Demon Lord and the Taiyi Sect Master had both stated that Mute Village was a certain-death trial!
Although officials had posted refutations on the forum since last night, nobody believed them—people even mocked the officials for spreading fake news!
After winning the championship in the arena tournament, Yuanshi's fame had reached its absolute peak, like oil poured onto a raging fire. Thus, once word got out, it drew immense attention.
This morning, Guan Ya had seen posts on the forum claiming they had caught wind that the evil organizations were already waiting to hold a victory celebration!
Chapter 233