Day Wanderer

[Settling rewards... Item/Prop obtained: Five-Clawed Golden Dragon] [Ding! Congratulations on your successful class change. You have advanced to Level 7 Day Wanderer.] [Experience rewarded: 12%] [Main quest settlement completed!] [Calculating leaderboard rewards... Item/Prop obtained: Dressing Mirror] [Settlement completed!] [Ding! Character card reward activated. Reward item: Six Pure Roots Bamboo] [Settlement finished! Exiting the Spirit Realm in ten minutes.] Zhang Yuanqing heard the Spirit Realm system prompts chime in his ears. At that moment, a long-lost surge of excitement rose in his chest. Finally—finally!—he had stepped into the Dominator stage and become a Day Wanderer. Though still far from contending with a demigod, he would at least no longer be a helpless pawn. If Ling Tuo wanted to manipulate and toy with him at whim again, the risk would be significantly higher. This pawn was now formidable enough. No longer ignorant and inexperienced like before, he was very likely to see through schemes, leap beyond the chessboard, or strike back with a deadly turnaround. Furthermore, after becoming a Day Wanderer, his survivability had dramatically increased. As long as he didn't provoke peak Dominators or demigods, and wasn't besieged by multiple high-level Dominators, Zhang Yuanqing was confident he could preserve his life. No more hiding, no more scraping by just to survive. He could now openly present himself before any organization. For someone who had kept his secrets bottled up ever since becoming a Spirit Realm walker, this brought an immense sense of security and exhilaration. Just then, a sudden heat flared between his brows. The dazzling nebula transformed into a Blazing Sun mark, with fiery red outer flames and a molten-gold solar orb at its core. Wisps of burning energy flowed through the Blazing Sun mark into his body, steadily tempering his cells and bones, restructuring his genes. Two to three minutes later, once his transformed body was acclimated to the power of the sun, a majestic, torrential solar divine power surged in like water through an opened floodgate. "Ugh..." In the distance, Yin Ji let out a pained groan and bent over, her expression tight with agony. Even having practiced the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record, and even having undergone preliminary conditioning moments ago, she still found the influx of solar divine power difficult to endure. *Is it really that painful?* Zhang Yuanqing glanced at her, muttering to himself. From his perspective, the marrow-cleansing and tendon-refining process earlier had felt like almost nothing, and the current empowerment of solar divine power only brought a mild sting. Moreover, his body was like a parched sponge, greedily and actively drinking in the divine power of the sun. Before long, the influx of solar divine power ceased. As usual, Zhang Yuanqing opened his status panel, taking in the changes that came with becoming a Day Wanderer and examining his newly acquired skills. [Name: Yuanshi Tianzun] [Race: Human] [Class: Day Wanderer] [Level: 7] [Skills: Night Wanderer—Night Walk, Spirit Devouring, Lunar Spirit, Howling at the Moon, Charm Art, Spirit Talisman] [Star Official—Astrology, Star Illusion, Star Escape, Body of Stars] [Day Wanderer—Body of the Sun, Sunrise, Purification, Blazing Sun God of War] [Blazing Sun God of War (Active): Temporarily enhances strength, speed, and defense, creating a solar domain spanning a radius of one hundred meters. Within the domain, all non-solar powers are suppressed.] [Sunrise (Active): Condenses divine solar power into a sun, suppressing all powers within a fifty-meter radius.] [Purification (Active): Dispels curses, pollution, pathogens, and mind control.] [Body of the Sun (Passive): Grants significant immunity to negative-effect skills.] Zhang Yuanqing quickly grasped the four newly learned skills; they felt etched into his genetic code, as though he had mastered them from birth. With the mastery of Blazing Sun God of War, the Night Wanderer class finally possessed close-quarters combat capabilities—and exceptionally potent ones at that. At the Dominator stage, the Ancient God of War was universally recognized across the First and Second Districts as the strongest in melee, followed by the Day Wanderer, Fire Stealer, and Great Monster. The Day Wanderer belonged to that second echelon precisely because of the Blazing Sun God of War skill. Of course, its consumption was tremendous. With Zhang Yuanqing's current reserves of solar divine power, he could sustain the Blazing Sun God of War state for only ten minutes. Sunrise was the Day Wanderer's most domineering skill. Within a fifty-meter radius, all spiritual powers were suppressed: skills could not be released, and items lost their functions. This even extended to the Day Wanderer's own items, as well as their Lunar and astral powers. Sunrise paired with Blazing Sun God of War could swiftly tear apart Dominators of the same level. For a Level 7 Day Wanderer, however, this combination was vastly draining and could easily deplete all solar divine power. If an enemy possessed a unique life-saving ability, it could easily backfire. Zhang Yuanqing was already clear on Purification. Aside from gu poison, which could not be instantly expunged, it could resolve any form of hard crowd control. Body of the Sun, like Body of Stars and Body of the Lunar, was a passive trait. In addition to vastly augmenting physique, strength, and defense, it granted immunity against hard crowd-control skills. Classes like Voidwalkers, Foul Evil Spirits, Great Monsters, and Chaos Dominators would face a despairing chance of a "miss" when dealing with a Day Wanderer. Naturally, this immunity wasn't absolute; with enough attempts, an effect would eventually land. If the difference in status was substantial—say, half an experience bar's gap—the success rate would be very high. If there was a full level of difference, attacks would land nine times out of ten. *Melee prowess, ambush potential, and stargazing... Tsk, tsk, the Day Wanderer is absurdly overpowered. No wonder there are so few of them!* After getting used to his newfound strength, Zhang Yuanqing rubbed his hands in anticipation and opened his inventory. Of the three items, he first took out the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon. It was a palm-sized golden dragon statue. Its scales, mane, and whiskers were sculpted with lifelike precision, and its dragon eyes glowed bright and clear, making it look far more like a living creature than a sculpture. [Name: Five-Clawed Golden Dragon] [Type: Statue] [Function: Spirit Manifestation] [Description: A sculpture carved from golden flame crystal. Having absorbed the essence of numerous spirits, it developed sentience and can transform into a divine dragon. Form One: Combat Pet—transforms into a divine dragon to assist in combat. Form Two: Mount—can be mounted as a flying divine dragon. Form Three: Protection—the divine dragon coils around an arm, condensing a protective shield.] [Remark 1: It is not very bright.] [Remark 2: It is very lazy.] *A Dominator-grade item of exceptionally high quality. Although not on par with rule-type artifacts, it will easily serve me up to peak Dominator.* Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed, though a string of question marks immediately flashed through his mind. He had no idea what this item's drawback was. Normally, storing an item in the inventory completed the bonding process, naturally imparting both its functions and drawbacks. Yet with this Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, he felt no penalty at all. *Could it be because its spirit hasn't manifested yet?* Zhang Yuanqing mused. With only two minutes left on the countdown, he decided to test the item after returning to reality. Putting the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon back into his inventory, he proceeded to examine the other two items. [Name: Dressing Mirror] [Type: Mirror] [Function: Summoning] [Description: An ancient ghost mirror passed down from antiquity. It frequently appears in women's boudoirs. If mistakenly used, a female ghost will emerge from within to hunt down the person grooming themselves.] [Remark: Must be used once every 24 hours, or a hair-combing female ghost will emerge from the mirror to hunt down its master.] The Dressing Mirror was as large as a washbasin and cast in antique bronze. It was a high-grade Saint-level item. If a living person looked into it, they would be hunted down by a vengeful ghost; if a female ghost looked into it, it would summon another female ghost of equivalent rank. It was essentially the ghostly equivalent of the Yata no Kagami. The drawback required a female ghost to use it for grooming every day; otherwise, the malicious spirit inside would hunt its owner. "Not bad. I can give this to Six Waters." Zhang Yuanqing nodded in satisfaction. He wasn't disappointed in the least that the Dressing Mirror was a Saint-level item. Dominator-grade items were exceedingly rare to begin with; under normal circumstances, clearing a killing instance with high enough points yielded one Dominator-grade item. After that, unless it was a Dominator instance rated Rank A or higher, Dominator-grade items were practically never rewarded. This killing instance had reached the upper limit of the Dominator stage, making it even deadlier than an S-rank instance, so receiving a Dominator item was a given. Zhang Yuanqing moved on to inspect the third item—the Demon Lord's item. [Name: Six Pure Roots Bamboo] [Type: Herbaceous Plant] [Function: Six Pure Roots] [Description: A sacred relic of ancient Buddhism. Lashing the flesh with this bamboo switch dispels distracting thoughts from the mind and leaves the mental platform clear and serene.] [Remark: Prolonged use makes one fond of being abused.] This item was a slender bamboo switch, one meter long and about as thick as a finger—a Dominator-grade item for the Illusionist class. Its attributes were brief and its function simple, with the drawback that extended use turned the wielder into a masochist. *This could work wonders in battle!* Zhang Yuanqing suddenly felt a twinge of pity for the Demon Lord. Clearly, this item had been used by the Demon Lord to combat corruption. The deepening corruption from the Fallen Holy Grail had drastically altered his temperament. His insatiable lust was only one aspect of it; there had undoubtedly been other negative consequences. He must have sought out this item precisely to resist the creeping rot of that taint. Having checked all three items, Zhang Yuanqing shifted his gaze toward his teammates. There had been six advancement slots in this killing trial. Ranked from lowest to highest on the leaderboard, they were Yin Ji, Jiang Ju, Xiao Yuan, Huang Taiji, Zhang Yuanqing, and Xiahou Aotian. The other five had already completed their transformations and officially stepped into the Dominator stage. They were currently delighting in their newfound power or reviewing their rewarded items. The orthodox classes that had not secured advancement slots still received completion rewards: their experience was topped up to 100%, and they were awarded two superior Saint-stage items. Zhang Yuanqing walked over to Yin Ji and smiled. "Sister Yin Ji, let's test the depth of our solar divine power." He raised his arm and held up his palm. Yin Ji looked at him intently, broke into a brilliant smile, and raised her palm to meet his. *Boom!* Golden light erupted. Yin Ji was knocked backward through the air, her arm instantly carbonized, while Zhang Yuanqing only staggered back a few steps before steadying himself. *My solar divine power is roughly double hers. Hiss, that's the advantage of focusing on the sun!* Zhang Yuanqing beamed with delight. Next, he tested the strength of his weapons condensed from energy and his switching speed against Yin Ji, outmatching her decisively in every category. Furthermore, Yin Ji's Blazing Sun God of War lasted only five minutes, falling far short of his ten. Noticing Rayleigh Eugene looking thoroughly dejected, Zhang Yuanqing felt a stir of thought and spoke up: "I believe everyone, excluding the five latecomers but including Xiahou Aotian, should compensate Rayleigh. After all, he emptied his family fortunes to save your lives." Jiang Ju and the others considered it and agreed that the proposal was reasonable. They exchanged contact information on the spot, agreeing to discuss how to compensate him once they returned to reality. Rayleigh Eugene, ever the pragmatist, immediately beamed with delight. He was definitely going to bleed these Dominators dry. Casting a grateful look at Yuanshi Tianzun, Rayleigh Eugene felt his vision abruptly blur. The countdown had reached zero. As the scene shifted from a blur to sharp focus, Zhang Yuanqing found himself back in his room. What met his eyes was sheer ruin. The place looked as though it had been ransacked, with furniture smashed to pieces. *Not good!* His heart sank like a stone. *Did the evil faction demigods besieging the Sea Emperor spill over to the Heaven's Punishment branch?* Guan Ya and the others were still at the branch! Just then, a tremendous explosion roared from downstairs.