Footsteps approached from afar. The teammates halted beside the charred, carbonized humanoid corpse. Brother Red Chicken gave the body a kick, sending up a puff of black ash.
"He's really dead! Finally dead!" Brother Red Chicken threw his head back and laughed three times. "I can go home and drink my soup now!"
Apart from Yin Ji, who remained relatively calm, looks of joy surfaced on everyone's faces. Gazing at the thoroughly dead Little Emperor, they all felt as if they were in a dream.
An S-grade mission—cleared just like that!
"From now on, we've earned our S-grade clear badge too." Natsuki's Love couldn't hide the smile on her cold, glamorous face. "This is a hidden rating—within official circles, I mean. Sometimes, even if your merits aren't quite enough, members who have cleared an S-grade dungeon receive much more attention and favor from the higher-ups."
Xiahou Aotian was beaming, his chin held high. "This is an indispensable glory and medal for the protagonist!"
He was thrilled—no, ecstatic. Experience points and rewards were secondary; the badge for clearing an S-grade dungeon was what truly mattered.
In the past, Xiahou Aotian had only cleared two A-grade dungeons and had never attained the glory of an S-grade clear, something he had always deeply regretted.
Now that the protagonist had earned an honor befitting his status, his joy knew no bounds.
"An S-grade..." Eagle of Freedom murmured under her breath. She took a deep breath, unable to suppress the delight on her face.
The "hidden rating" Natsuki's Love mentioned applied just as much within the Heaven's Punishment organization. This dungeon run would serve as a stepping stone for her promotion to Second-Level Gold Executive.
"Yuanshi Tianzun, you're amazing! If only I could match with you every time," Yun Meng said cheerfully.
Due to its internal structure and ethnic makeup, the Qinghe Branch placed little emphasis on rank and material gain. Her joy was the purest: she had survived a deadly ordeal!
At these words, everyone couldn't help looking toward Yuanshi Tianzun and the Demon-Subduing Pestle in his hand.
Initially, their impression of Yuanshi Tianzun had merely been that he possessed real skill.
However, it had been far from admiration or reliance—until the battle on the seabed. There, among Xiahou Aotian analyzing the formation, Eagle of Freedom acting as a Plague God, and Yin Ji keeping the army of yin corpses in check, he had forcefully distinguished himself and played a pivotal role.
After they came ashore, the mantle of team leader had subtly shifted to him.
That was why, once he devised a plan, the others had entrusted their lives to his hands almost without objection.
Reflecting on it now, it felt utterly unbelievable.
He was clearly only a level four, yet within the dungeon, he had outshone the level-five Xiahou Aotian and the level-six Yin Ji. This was a true genius, far beyond the ordinary standouts of the same level.
Those people could only be called elites.
Xiahou Aotian was silent for a moment before offering praise. "Yuanshi Tianzun, you... er... that item in your hand is pretty good."
*Would it kill you to praise me directly?* Speechless, Zhang Yuanqing could only give a dry chuckle.
Without the Demon-Subduing Pestle, even with the Yin-Yang Dial to counter the boss, half the team would have perished.
In truth, back on the seabed, had his personality not resonated so well with the Yin-Yang Dial, half the team would have died right then and there. Even so, Natsuki and Yun Meng had still died once.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Speaking of items, the Xie family's rule-based item goes to me. Any objections?"
The others exchanged glances, some frowning, others hesitating.
Zhang Yuanqing added, "As for the rewards for the two items, I'll share them with you according to your contributions. We can exchange contact information."
Hearing this, the group felt much better and nodded in succession.
In reality, even if Yuanshi Tianzun kept them all for himself, there was nothing they could do. The items were already in his inventory, making even the most extreme route of killing him for the treasure impossible.
Now that he was willing to share part of the rewards, what more could they say?
They immediately exchanged contact information.
"This protagonist contributed the most. Asking for eighty million wouldn't be over the line, right?" Xiahou Aotian said with an expectant look.
*Eighty million? You just want me to pay for your energy packs, don't you?* Seeing through Xiahou Aotian's shallow scheme at a glance, Zhang Yuanqing asked amiably, "Your main quest is complete. Why hasn't it settled yet?"
"It's settling right now," Xiahou Aotian said.
"Then hurry up and scram! Don't let the door hit you on the way out!"
"..." Just as Xiahou Aotian was about to snap back, he suddenly froze. A miniature, mist-shrouded cauldron materialized on his forehead, and his brown pupils turned purple.
On the other side, a hazy, mysterious nebula lit up on Yin Ji's forehead, starlight spilling over the surface of her body.
The process lasted about a dozen seconds. Once the surging auras inside the two calmed, Zhang Yuanqing noticed that their presence had grown significantly stronger.
"As expected of an S-grade dungeon! It gave eighteen percent experience points all at once! Clear one more dungeon next month, and I'll be able to reach level six!" Xiahou Aotian said excitedly.
Watching his teammates' envious and eager expressions, Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself: *Huh? Only eighteen percent? Every time I clear an S-grade dungeon, I get thirty or forty percent experience points...*
Just then, Yin Ji glanced over and said, "I'll head back first. Once I find a suitable item, I'll contact you."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Don't leak the intelligence about the items just yet."
He needed to discuss with Fu Qingyang how to leverage the items to negotiate with the higher-ups. He didn't want people from headquarters and the Jianghuai Branch waiting at Fu Family Bay the moment he left the dungeon—that would put him at a disadvantage.
His experience in Jinghai City had made him realize that while merits were great, they possessed a fatal flaw.
They couldn't be used to offset faults, and unexpected developments might occur before one could even redeem them—such as being barred from promotion for a whole year.
Of course, this was mainly because he leveled up too quickly and accumulated merits too rapidly.
For ordinary official walkers, the benefits of merits far outweighed money or other material perks.
"All right," Yin Ji nodded gently.
The next second, she and Xiahou Aotian vanished from the dungeon, returning to reality.
Once the two departed, Brother Red Chicken's face changed. "Oh crap! Our main quest is to survive for thirty-six hours! Time isn't up, so we can't leave! My chicken soup..."
*You're only realizing that now?* Zhang Yuanqing shot him a look.
"We've been in the dungeon for about sixteen hours, so there's plenty of time left. Let's search for materials together. There should be quite a few valuable materials in this dungeon," Natsuki's Love suggested.
The materials sold in the outside world were all collected by Spirit Realm walkers from dungeons.
"Too bad it's already burned to ash," Eagle of Freedom said, looking at the Little Emperor's remains with deep regret.
Just then, she noticed Yuanshi Tianzun walking toward the temporary palace. She shut her mouth at once and hurried after him.
Natsuki's Love quickened her pace to walk beside Zhang Yuanqing, guessing, "The monsters in this dungeon were concentrated on the seabed. We probably won't find much in the palace."
"I'm not here for materials." Zhang Yuanqing stepped over the threshold and entered the palace.
"Then what are you..." Natsuki's Love frowned.
Zhang Yuanqing didn't answer. Crossing the weed-choked courtyard, he arrived outside the main hall, Ciyuan Palace.
The temporary palace was quite small, rectangular in shape, roughly a hundred meters long and thirty meters wide, comprising three halls in total. The central one was Ciyuan Palace, the residence of the Little Emperor's mother.
The hall's layout was simple: the bedchamber on the left and the outer room on the right, furnished only with modest furniture and bookshelves—exceptionally austere.
Zhang Yuanqing took a turn through the bedchamber and outer room, then asked, "Natsuki, can you see anything?"
Natsuki's Love glanced at a stack of official documents on the bookshelf. "The only things of value are probably those."
Zhang Yuanqing gave a soft "Mm" and walked straight over to the bookshelf.
Ciyuan Palace's furnishings were simple and plain to see. He could naturally tell that the documents were the most valuable items, but that was all he could discern. If there were hidden compartments or subtle clues, he wouldn't be able to spot them—that required a Scout.
"Help me look through them." He pulled out an official document and patted away the dust.
"What are we looking for?" Natsuki's Love asked.
"No idea. Let's just read first." Zhang Yuanqing shook his head.
The documents contained a wide variety of topics, but broadly speaking, they could be divided into three categories: war intelligence, military court markets, and letters between the Yuan and Song.
Among the war intelligence, Zhang Yuanqing found many records concerning ancient cultivation organizations. In the late Southern Song, the righteous path had waned, and the Yuan army had absorbed numerous northern evil sects and renowned orthodox factions to march south on conquest.
The Southern Song imperial court had negotiated with the Yuan army while secretly sending letters to those sects, hoping those gifted individuals would return to the court to resist the Yuan together.
Yet the fall of the Southern Song was the inexorable trend of history, and no one answered the call.
"Huh!" Natsuki's Love suddenly handed over a document. "Take a look at this."
Zhang Yuanqing took it and read carefully. It was a piece of military intelligence, but it spoke of cultivators rather than Yuan troop movements.
It stated that cultivators from the northern Nine Poisons Sect and the Western Regions' Shadow Tower had advised the Yuan commander: *Refine the remnants of the Dragon Qi to stabilize the realm.*
Just that single sentence—no further details.
"This is what I was looking for." Zhang Yuanqing smiled.
"Is that thing very valuable?"
Brother Red Chicken came bustling over from behind.
Natsuki's Love and the others turned questioning gazes toward him. Instead of gathering materials, Yuanshi Tianzun had entered the palace specifically to find this document?
Did it hold some secret?
"It's not valuable, just satisfying my curiosity." Zhang Yuanqing looked around at his teammates. "Remember the Spirit Realm's introduction?"
Yun Meng was the first to answer: "'To prevent the Southern Song from rising again, the Yuan army dispatched gifted individuals to lay down the Dragon-Locking Formation, ensuring the soldiers on the seabed could never be reincarnated.'"
"In truth, the real objective was to refine a Dominator-level yin corpse. 'Refining the remnants of the Dragon Qi to stabilize the realm' refers to precisely that," Zhang Yuanqing explained smoothly.
"In the late Southern Song, the world's spiritual energy dried up. Well, you all should know this secret, being Saints and all. If you didn't, consider it a free gift from me.
"To get back to the point: by the late Southern Song, the Dominators of the cultivation world were almost all dead. The gifted individuals in the Yuan army wanted to use the dynastic transition and the embers of the Great Song to refine a Dominator-level yin corpse.
"Unfortunately, they failed. Dealing with tens of thousands of yin corpses was far too troublesome, so they simply abandoned them, leaving the Little Emperor behind on the seabed."
Brother Red Chicken suddenly saw the light. "So that's how it is! That's the dungeon's full story?"
"Yes." Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "Unfortunately, the hidden quest was already triggered, so the rewards have nothing to do with us."
"A hidden quest?" Brother Red Chicken froze.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "Otherwise, why do you think the previous team was wiped out here?"
Natsuki's Love came to a sudden realization. "You mean the previous team triggered the hidden quest and ended up completely wiped out, which caused the difficulty of the Sea of Yashan to change—not that their failure to clear it left items behind, thereby altering the difficulty?"
The gist was similar, but cause and effect were different.
*Actually, the Demon Lord survived, though he seemingly never told Yin Ji about it. Looking at it that way, did that guy backstab his teammates back then? Otherwise, why would he sigh into the Elvis speaker about 'exceeding performance quotas' or whatever...* Thoughts churned through Zhang Yuanqing's mind, but he maintained a calm exterior. "Exactly."
Enlightened, Brother Red Chicken borrowed a Transcendent-stage Water Ghost item from Yun Meng and headed toward the sea with the others.
If nothing else, the materials inside those tens of thousands of yin corpses were more than enough for them to make a small fortune.
Unexpectedly, the moment they stepped out of the palace, they saw the azure sky flooded with golden light.
A vast, majestic, upright, and overbearing aura descended over the entire Sea of Yashan.
"What's going on?" Brother Red Chicken turned pale with fright. Looking up at the sky, he cried in terror, "Isn't the dungeon over? Did we trigger a hidden quest?"
Under such abyss-like pressure, even a Fire Master couldn't muster the slightest will to fight.
Natsuki's Love wore a grave expression and silently summoned her short sword.
Eagle of Freedom and Yun Meng looked as if facing a mortal enemy, their faces unable to conceal their dread.
"Don't be afraid. That's a supreme existence I summoned—the great and holy, dignified and beautiful, noble and elegant Mountain Goddess Empress, and I am her favorite junior," Zhang Yuanqing declared in an exceptionally devout tone.
To everyone's ears, Yuanshi Tianzun's words were the most wonderful sound in the world.
*He summoned an entity of this magnitude back then?*
Along with their relief, an indescribable envy and jealousy welled up in their hearts. To be able to summon a being of this caliber in a dungeon, it would be hard for Yuanshi Tianzun to die even if he tried.
Unlike the others' envy, Eagle of Freedom thought further: *Could this be why Yuanshi Tianzun leveled up so quickly? Where did he get such a miraculous encounter?*
This was critical intelligence that could help the organization better understand the rise of a genius.
*I love the look in your eyes.* Keeping a calm face, Zhang Yuanqing said, "You guys head to the shore first."
Once the group left, the golden light in midair rapidly contracted, coalescing into a beam that descended before the palace gates.
Within the golden glow, a cool, dignified goddess stood gracefully, clad in splendid celestial robes, her black hair cascading like a waterfall. A faint, enigmatic smile touched her elegant, dignified face.
She looked like an unblemished, sublime flower grown in the celestial realm, descending lightly upon the mortal world.
Zhang Yuanqing dropped to his knees in a bow, declaring loudly, "Forgive me, Empress!"
Empress Sandao was slightly surprised and asked, "What offense have you committed?"
Zhang Yuanqing replied, "This junior should not have judged Your Ladyship before outsiders. Your Ladyship's peerless grace is timeless and unmatched—how could this junior casually describe it?"
The smile on Empress Sandao's breathtakingly beautiful face seemed to deepen slightly. She said coolly, "Hand over the Demon-Subduing Pestle!"
Zhang Yuanqing offered it up with both hands, raising it above his head.
The Demon-Subduing Pestle transformed into a golden streak of light and sank into the Empress's body.
*Alas, our affinity has come to an end. From now on, I'll have to walk the road alone...* A profound reluctance welled up in Zhang Yuanqing's heart. The Demon-Subduing Pestle and the Red Dancing Shoes were his very first items, the vital reliances through which he had made a name for himself and slain enemies.
He had grown attached to it.
The old crone flicked her finger, and a sheepskin scroll drifted toward Zhang Yuanqing.
"This is a simplified sacrificial rite. Whether in the mortal world or inside a dungeon, you may use it to communicate with me, and it can be used repeatedly," Empress Sandao said, her voice cool and melodious.
"Empress, this junior has one more request." Zhang Yuanqing carefully tucked the scroll away and said, "Recently, inner demons have grown within me, making my conduct obsessive and hard to control. I wish to ask Your Ladyship for a dharma artifact."
"Inner demons?" Her delicate brows furrowed slightly. "What object?"
"Commandery Princess Yinyao's Ghost Mirror," Zhang Yuanqing said.
Empress Sandao said, "Very well. Within ten days, I shall deliver the mirror to you."
She didn't even hesitate, giving away her disciple's important dharma artifact just like that.
Then again, she had given away the disciple herself without a second thought.
*Awesome!* A smile appeared on Zhang Yuanqing's face as he ventured, "Was Your Ladyship delayed by something?"
Empress Sandao shook her head. "I was already outside the Sumeru pocket realm."
Before Zhang Yuanqing could speak, she admonished him sternly, "The path of cultivation involves contending with heaven and contending with mortals. You may borrow momentum, but you must not rely solely on external strength. In the future, I will not aid you in any dungeon affairs."
"Thank you for the guidance, Empress. This junior will take it to heart." Zhang Yuanqing maintained a humble attitude.
*Sigh, no more cheating in the future.*
He then asked, "Empress, once you absorb the solar soul within the Demon-Subduing Pestle, will you be able to leave the Spirit Realm? Have you considered rebuilding the Pure Yang Sect in the mortal world?"
Empress Sandao said, "I will not leave the Spirit Realm in the near term."
"Why?"
"If I leave the Spirit Realm, I possess no character card and can hardly return. And within the Spirit Realm lies the hope of ascending to a Human Immortal." She made no secret of it.
"May the Empress soon ascend to a Human Immortal, enjoying longevity equal to the heavens, undying and imperishable!" Zhang Yuanqing dropped his head to the ground once more.
Sure enough, this junior never disappointed her.
Empress Sandao gave a faint smile. "Is there anything else?"
"Respectfully seeing the Empress off!" Zhang Yuanqing stayed prostrated.
Empress Sandao nodded gently, transforming into a streak of golden light that vanished into the horizon.
After nearly twenty hours of gathering materials, the group sorting their spoils by the shore heard the familiar dungeon notification:
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the multiplayer Spirit Realm quest—Sea of Yashan, No. 012, Difficulty Grade: S. Calculating rewards...]
Chapter 358