Zhang Yuanqing snapped his eyes open, a cold sweat breaking out across his back. Xiao Yuan, who had been watching her lover closely, immediately asked, "What did you see?"
Zhang Yuanqing said in a low voice, "A total wipeout. The giant dragon wiped us all out."
He gave a general description of the scenes he had witnessed during Stargazing and the shifts in the astrological signs.
Like a bucket of icy water dumped over their heads, the expressions of the four stiffened, and the joy and reassurance of having obtained the Lin wood vanished completely.
"It isn't night right now, and there is no starry sky. I only saw fragments. I can't pinpoint the details, nor can I trace more of fate's trajectories, so it's difficult to formulate a targeted plan," Zhang Yuanqing said with a heavy countenance.
The reason Ling Tuo could treat all living beings as chess pieces and manipulate destiny was that he could see the numerous paths and intricate details of the future—tantamount to reading the script beforehand.
A low-level Stargazer, by contrast, only saw the movie trailer.
There was no need to mention how misleading trailers could be.
If one deployed troops based on a trailer, fate would play them to death instead.
So beyond knowing the party would be wiped out, Zhang Yuanqing could offer no specific strategy.
"It doesn't matter. Stargazing has already served its purpose!" Huang Taiji comforted him with a solemn face. "If we had rashly moved to seize the dragon's eyes just now, we truly would have suffered a party wipe."
He gave the display case beside him a gentle push, altering the boat's heading so that it drifted toward the clay mask.
The skiff came to a halt in front of the clay mask's display case. Huang Taiji looked down and asked, "How can we pass the dragon breath trial?"
He had already grasped the dungeon's mechanics: for most matters, there was no need to rack their brains, as asking the clay mask yielded answers.
Even so, the dungeon was already at hell-tier difficulty.
The clay mask in the likeness of a kindly old man chuckled and said, "Win it over with virtue."
*Win it over with fucking virtue?!* Zhang Yuanqing nearly swore out loud.
Even as steady as Huang Taiji was, the corner of his mouth twitched several times. Knowing this was a lie, he asked once more.
"Subdue it with force!"
Huang Taiji's brows instantly furrowed. From the sound of it, there was no shortcut for this stage; they could only pass the trial through raw power.
He took a few seconds to choose his words, then asked anew, "Is there any way to evade the dragon breath trial?"
Having asked twice and eliminated the first incorrect answer, he finally received the true reply:
"The dragon breath trial cannot be evaded, but there is no limit on the number of participants. You may leave your strongest person behind to undergo the trial while the rest take shelter inside the blank scroll.
"The scroll is the only way to avoid the dragon breath. However, it harbors great danger of its own. Those who enter the scroll must emerge within fifteen minutes, or they will die inside."
Huang Taiji then asked how to enter and exit the scroll.
It was simple: throw oneself into the scroll to enter, and once inside, the method of leaving would naturally become clear.
The five conferred briefly and decided that Zhang Yuanqing would remain outside to face the trial while the others entered the scroll, trying to hold out for fifteen minutes, with ten minutes as the absolute baseline.
Qingzhu rowed the wooden paddle across the exhibition hall, arriving before the scroll.
"Hold out for fifteen minutes and survive the dragon breath trial, and we can clear this stage." Zhang Yuanqing took the paddle from Qingzhu's hands. He politely declined Alicia and Huang Taiji's defensive items, Xiao Yuan's healing gu, and Qingzhu's healing items. "You will be in danger as well. The inside of the scroll isn't safe either."
Considering that enduring the dragon breath trial on a wooden skiff demanded extraordinary balance and agility, Zhang Yuanqing asked Qingzhu for a Wood Monster item.
It was a jade-green stud earring.
Its function was to boost physical strength, agility, and balance. The enhancement to strength was negligible, but the increase in agility and balance was enough to let Zhang Yuanqing dance Gokuraku Jodo on a slender wooden oar.
"I'll go in first." Huang Taiji plunged forward into the blank scroll.
Xiao Yuan followed closely behind, followed by Alicia and Qingzhu.
Soon, the figures of the four appeared inside the scroll. Though composed of merely a few strokes of ink, they were lifelike and captured their essence so vividly that one could recognize them at a glance.
A few seconds later, ink rapidly outlined an ancient manor upon the blank scroll.
The ancient manor was rendered in an ink-wash style beneath an overcast sky. The lanterns in front of the gate emitted a dim red glow, exuding a distinctly Chinese sense of sinister horror.
The four ink figures stood before the manor, hesitating, seemingly sensing its terror and dread. Suddenly, all four turned their heads in unison toward the darkness behind them, their simplified faces displaying remarkably vivid expressions of fright.
In haste, they pushed open the manor's grand gates and fled inside.
The ink painting began shifting frame by frame, showing a long-deserted courtyard house, a courtyard overgrown with withered grass, an overturned millstone, and a crooked clothesline pole.
The four looked around warily in the courtyard, treading upon blue-stone paving stones split by wild grass, walking beneath upturned eaves. They pushed open the door to the eastern wing.
A funeral was being held inside: red candles, white banners, paper figurines, and a crimson coffin set in the center of the mourning hall.
Standing outside, Zhang Yuanqing watched as if viewing an ink-wash cartoon from his childhood.
*What a bizarre painting. On its own, it would make an entire dungeon. The difficulty looks formidable. Too bad I'm the only Night Walker in the team, or an ancient haunted manor like this wouldn't be frightening at all...* Zhang Yuanqing looked away, planted the wooden paddle against the wall with a shove, and the skiff cut briskly through the water toward the giant dragon sculpture in the west.
The giant dragon crouched atop a pedestal, cast entirely of brass, standing a full six meters tall. It reared its head in a roar, lifelike in detail down to every perfect scale.
Its eyes were inset with dark red cat's-eye gems, their vertical pupils crystal clear, seeming to possess the power to see straight through human hearts.
Zhang Yuanqing paddled the boat to a stop before the dragon statue. He raised the two-meter-long paddle and slammed it violently against the dragon's eye socket.
*Thump!*
The Lin wood struck the bronze statue with a dull sound.
The dark red cat's-eye gem in the dragon's eye socket did not budge in the slightest. Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to strike again, the gem suddenly rolled with a squelch and looked down at him, its slit pupil bursting with a chilling, cold gleam.
The statue had come to life!
Startled, Zhang Yuanqing planted a kick against the pedestal, sending the boat gliding backward to create distance.
The revived dragon abruptly spread its wings, its leathery membranes shuddering violently, like a person stretching after waking from sleep.
Moments later, it drew in its wings. Its long neck swelled, power surging instantly into its throat.
*Whoosh!*
A crimson fireball blasted out, hurtling toward the human not far away.
*The fireball's power isn't that great...* Calmly, Zhang Yuanqing took out the Yin-Yang Robe and draped it over himself. Bright flames surged from both palms as he caught the incoming fireball and shoved it downward.
The basin-sized fireball was pushed into the Ruoshui, hissing continuously as it extinguished and dissolved.
*If the dragon breath is only at this level, it'll be a breeze!* Zhang Yuanqing glanced at his lacerated palms, secretly encouraged.
The neck of the fire dragon atop the pedestal swelled once more. Its pointed maw parted, and with a whoosh, another fireball erupted, followed by fireball after fireball in rapid succession.
*Fuck, I shouldn't have raised a death flag!* Zhang Yuanqing's expression changed drastically. He swung the paddle frantically, rowing with all his might.
The skiff shot westward like an arrow, brushing past six or seven fireballs.
Yet the dragon was like a machine gun, spewing scalding fireballs from its gaping maw at a firing rate comparable to heavy artillery.
Zhang Yuanqing was ultimately unable to become one with the boat; dodging a single volley was already his limit. Gathering the divine power of the sun to condense a shield and using the wooden paddle as a spear, he twisted, leapt, and shifted across the two-meter-long boat, parrying, bashing, and dodging, letting fireballs skim past his body one after another.
Lin wood was unimaginably tough and impervious to both fire and water, making it a perfect weapon.
Suddenly, scorching wind blasted him from behind. With a resounding boom, a scalding fireball struck him in the back.
The expanding flames shredded his clothes and charred the flesh of his back. The violent impact sent Zhang Yuanqing stumbling, throwing him off balance as he tipped toward the Ruoshui.
At the critical moment, his waist muscles twisted, his plunging body spinning repeatedly to forcefully haul his downward momentum back, landing him sprawled at the boat's edge.
The Beast King item had done its job.
Ignoring the searing agony across his back, Zhang Yuanqing quickly turned around, only to see that the fireballs he had dodged earlier had not fallen into the water. Instead, they had curved through the air and were rushing toward him again.
At the same time, the dragon in the distance swelled its long neck and turned into a machine gun once more, unleashing a dense barrage of fireballs.
A pincer attack from front and back!
No matter how agile or well-balanced a Wood Monster was, remaining unscathed amidst such a storm of projectiles was impossible.
*Absurd! Ruoshui drowns all things—how are these fireballs floating in midair? The dungeon mechanics aren't playing by the rules!* Zhang Yuanqing cursed in his mind. The fireballs had undoubtedly received an enhancement from the dungeon, allowing them to ignore the Ruoshui's "gravity."
Flames roared in front and behind, the heat wave suffocating.
Holding the pale golden shield and swinging the wooden paddle, Zhang Yuanqing parried and batted away fireballs, slipping between paired incoming blasts, ducking and lunging.
Though he dodged most of the fireballs, he was still blasted until he was charred all over, giving off the pungent stench of roasted meat.
His internal organs were undamaged, but eighty percent of his body was charred. The agonizing pain put immense strain on his spirit.
*The flames have a burning effect that counteracts my self-healing. If this happens again, I'll probably die...* Zhang Yuanqing smelled the scent of death.
Fortunately, the dragon ceased spewing its breath. The first wave of the trial had ended.
Zhang Yuanqing took out the Mountain God Scepter and activated its healing function. At the same time, he grabbed an injector of Life Source Fluid and jammed it into his mouth. With a flurry of crunches, his steel-hard teeth crushed the glass tube; he swallowed the liquid, then spat out the shards.
His skin and blood vessels were charred; an injection was impossible.
With both methods working together, supplemented by a Night Walker's innate regenerative abilities, his flesh rapidly regrew. His charred outer layer cracked open, revealing raw, tender pink flesh.
*I wonder what form the second wave of the dragon breath trial will take...* Zhang Yuanqing turned his head to look at the hanging scroll to the east. The ink animation was playing frame by frame. He saw that only Qingzhu remained in the mourning hall.
Qingzhu was staring in terror at the blood-red coffin, which had opened a crack, from which a dark, purplish hand was reaching out.
A disheveled female corpse crawled out of the coffin, lunged at Qingzhu, and tore off his right arm.
Qingzhu sprinted madly around the mourning hall in horror, the female corpse pursuing him relentlessly.
Huang Taiji and the other two stood nearby with vacant eyes, as though oblivious to their companion's mortal peril.
*The crisis in the scroll has already erupted! I must clear this trial as soon as possible!* Zhang Yuanqing put away the Mountain God Scepter and brought out the Armor of Lightning and the bracers.
He had few defensive items. At the Saint rank, the Thunder God Set's electromagnetic protection was the strongest.
He had held back from using it earlier because he felt he could endure the first wave and did not want to expend his strongest defense too soon. After all, the electromagnetic shield had a cooldown period and carried the price of electric shocks and paralysis.
Zhang Yuanqing put on the bracers and the armor. Bright blue arcs of lightning enveloped his entire body, instantly searing his freshly healed pink skin.
*My body is somewhat paralyzed, which hinders my movements, but the electromagnetic protection should be able to buy me some time...* Zhang Yuanqing thought.
Right at that moment, he saw both of the dragon's eyes light up.
A crimson beam of light, as thick as an arm, erupted from its long snout.
A beam of light—too fast to dodge!
In the next second, Zhang Yuanqing heard the electromagnetic protection shatter with a pop. The armor composed of lightning collapsed along with it. In his chest appeared an arm-thick hole that penetrated clean through from front to back.
Chapter 791