Fujia Bay Villa.
Inside the study, Fu Qingyang held a remote control, clicking through slides projected onto the screen.
"Under normal circumstances, clearing high-difficulty dungeons in rapid succession places far too heavy a burden on our minds and bodies. If one fails to balance tension and relaxation, they are liable to overturn their cart at any moment." Fu Qingyang spoke with solemn, cold composure: "This was the Marshal's leveling route back in the day. Take a look."
From the sofa, Zhang Yuanqing shifted his gaze toward the screen.
The Marshal's advancement roadmap was primarily composed of B-rank dungeons, supplemented by A-ranks, interspersed with C- and D-rank dungeons meant for rest and relaxation.
Only at the very end of the progression route did two S-rank dungeons appear.
In the end, she leaped directly into becoming a demigod.
The total number of dungeons along that route was twenty-one.
Zhang Yuanqing shrugged. "Tension and relaxation truly need to be balanced. Demon's Eye, Xiahou Aotian, and the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter have all refused to participate in any more A-rank dungeons. Boss, how about you? Can you still handle it?"
Fu Qingyang replied expressionlessly, "If you can handle it, I won't have any problem!"
*Cut the act. Your emotions tell me you're utterly dreading entering another dungeon!* Zhang Yuanqing muttered inwardly.
Fu Qingyang remarked coldly, "Your expression tells me you're mocking me."
*Heh heh, I have means to counter Insight now, too!* Zhang Yuanqing said, "The White Tiger Brigade doesn't have many uncleared multiplayer dungeons left anyway. The few that remain are all solo Spirit Realms. Boss, you'd better take a breather.
"Right now, official organizations and Spirit Realm aristocratic clans are all preparing for war. Xie Lingxi told me the Xie family Dominators have been refining Life Fluid day and night. Xiahou Aotian also mentioned that the officials allocated an enormous sum of funds to the scholar clans, demanding that they mass-produce Saint- and Extraordinary-grade props within three months."
This was pouring all their reserves into manufacturing armaments.
Fu Qingyang remarked flatly, "These moves by the authorities aren't meant to tilt the balance between the factions, but rather to prepare for the next time Morality Points disappear. The better equipped the low- and mid-tier official members are, the higher the survival rate of ordinary citizens will be.
"In a true factional showdown, low- and mid-tier Spirit Realm walkers matter very little. Even Dominators are nothing more than pawns on the frontline."
When it came to low- and mid-tier strength, the official organizations thoroughly dominated the evil faction; otherwise, how could they maintain social stability?
At the Dominator level, the authorities were stronger than the evil faction, though the gap was not immense.
It was only at the demigod level that things grew precarious. With the slumber of the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods, the orthodox faction had abruptly lost two Level 11 demigods.
Meanwhile, the evil faction had Asura, as well as the gods—the demon seeds—concealed within pocket dimensions.
If war truly broke out, victory and defeat would hang completely in the balance.
This was also why the authorities were so desperate to help the Lord of Stars ascend the throne of the Sun.
Steering the topic back, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "So, Boss, you want me to emulate the Marshal?"
Fu Qingyang shook his head. "No, what's there to emulate about that woman? What you need to do is break her record!"
He clicked the remote control to switch slides, revealing a new advancement roadmap.
Zhang Yuanqing looked closely. Good grief—it was entirely packed with A-ranks and S-ranks, with B-rank dungeons acting merely as occasional embellishments, serving as resting grounds.
Fu Qingyang said, "In truth, part of the extreme difficulty in Fallen Monarch and Shushan South Courtyard was due to Spirit Realm bugs, and part was due to me. If you enter solo dungeons, A-rank difficulty won't be that high.
"Yuanshi, your strength has long surpassed the majority of Level 7 Dominators. Furthermore, you have the path of the Three Powers Pill. Your experience bar is currently at 50%. If you can push your experience beyond 90%, the Spirit Realm's matchmaking mechanism will bug out, assigning you an A-rank dungeon calibrated for mid-stage Level 7.
"Yet your true strength is late-stage Level 7. You will be able to steadily harvest A-rank dungeons."
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment. "So the urgent priority is hunting down a Day Wanderer so we can carry out your leveling plan, Boss. But who should we hunt?"
A Day Wanderer from the Taiyi Sect was definitely out of the question.
Wild Day Wanderers were rarer than wild giant pandas; finding one was essentially impossible.
Moral considerations aside, the only Day Wanderers they could comfortably slaughter were the Protectors of Dark Night Rose.
Yet under the protection of Taiyin, unless those Protectors came out on their own, the authorities had no way to locate them.
Fu Qingyang said thoughtfully, "Even if we could find them, hunting them down in secret would be fraught with danger. It's too easy to fall into a counter-trap set by Ling Tuo."
"Ling Tuo should be inside the Spirit Realm, unable to pay mind to the outside world."
"Given the deductive capabilities of the Lord of Taiyin, he might well have foreseen this. We can't rule out the possibility of advance preparation. Still, Ling Tuo being inside the Spirit Realm does mean he can't spare hands to deal with us directly."
"With our current strength, if we were ambushed by high-ranking Dominators from the evil faction, we'd suffer heavy losses too. And inviting the President to intervene could easily trigger a demigod war, shattering the current balance."
"It wouldn't necessarily trigger a demigod war. Do you think the five Alliance Chiefs would back the President? Frictions have already surfaced between both sides—unless he hands over the Bright Compass shard."
The two discussed back and forth, gradually falling quiet.
Hunting a Day Wanderer from Dark Night Rose was too difficult; there was no viable angle of attack.
After a dozen seconds of silence, Fu Qingyang mused, "Perhaps we could commission Elder Zhao and Elder Sun to enter a Taiyi Sect dungeon and abduct a Day Wanderer from inside."
Zhang Yuanqing showed no joy on his face and shook his head. "To bring a dungeon character into reality, there is only one method: turn them into a crafting material. A corpse counts as material. A living, breathing being cannot be brought out of a dungeon. Otherwise, the major organizations' rosters of Dominator-level experts would have overflowed long ago."
Fu Qingyang said calmly, "Have you forgotten how Commandery Princess Yinyao came into this world?"
Zhang Yuanqing's eyes instantly lit up.
Commandery Princess Yinyao had been an important NPC within a dungeon, yet Empress Sandao had shattered the Spirit Realm barrier and sent her into reality.
The old maiden was special; as a high-tier dungeon boss, she was inherently part of the Spirit Realm itself.
However, he quickly dismissed Fu Qingyang's suggestion: "Given Her Ladyship's tier back then, she could influence an Extraordinary-stage Night Wanderer dungeon, crank up its difficulty, and send Yinyao into reality without much trouble.
"A Day Wanderer, however, is not something a Night Wanderer can compare to. Setting aside whether she could even manage to extract a Dominator from the Spirit Realm, even if she could, she would suffer a horrifying backlash—just as Mr. President didn't dare directly pull Zhai Cai out of his dungeon."
Moreover, the Empress was already deeply averse to his use of heterodox arts. Furthermore, with her ambitions set on competing for the throne of the Lord of the Sun, she would never take the risk of facing Spirit Realm backlash just to abduct a Day Wanderer for him at a time like this.
Fu Qingyang had no retort.
The two fell silent once more, pondering viable targets.
Just then, the phone in Zhang Yuanqing's pocket rang. He pulled it out to check the caller ID: *Sole-Inheritor Knight!*
*Did Zhai Cai clear the S-rank dungeon?!*
Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed and answered immediately.
Spotting the caller ID, Fu Qingyang also raised an eyebrow.
"You've got a tough life, huh? I thought you were a goner," Zhang Yuanqing teased with a laugh.
Hearing that, Zhai Cai let out a scoff, his tone as flippant as ever: "Not only am I not dead, but I've mastered supreme power! I could thrash three Level 7 Day Wanderers with one hand tied behind my back. I've smoothly reached Level 8 and obtained the complete Knight legacy.
"We can attempt to unlock the Holy See's treasury and take command of that paramount artifact of the Knight profession."
*We can finally unlock the Holy See's treasure!* Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help feeling a surge of excitement, the blood inside him quietly beginning to boil.
There were two treasures he had always yearned for: one was the treasure the Demon Lord had stashed inside the Ascension Immortal Sect's vault, and the other was the heritage left behind after the fall of the Holy See.
Especially the latter. According to the history he knew, even though the Holy See fell, one Wind Mage demigod item and one Knight demigod item had never fallen into the hands of the Covenant of Freedom.
When the Pope realized the tide had turned irrevocably against them, he had concealed the vast majority of the Holy See's foundation—including those two demigod items—inside the treasury.
He left behind only a map and key fragments.
At the time, the First District lacked high-ranking Dominators or demigods of the Void profession, so the Holy See's treasury remained preserved.
By modern times, Mr. President had been unable to locate the vault's position.
Zhai Cai said calmly, "I'll wait for you at Hudson River Park in New York County. Special reminder: I will only accept you and the President. No one else is qualified to enter the Holy See's treasury."
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at Fu Qingyang and said, "No problem! Wash up and wait for me."
Hanging up the phone, his face shone with excitement. "Boss, the Holy See's treasury is very likely to hold pieces of the Thunder God set. If I can complete that set, I'd dare to plunge into even an S-rank dungeon."
The operation to hunt down the Dark Night Rose Protectors would also become far safer.
Besides, there were bound to be other props within the Holy See's holdings.
"If you can complete the set, refining the Three Powers Pill can be postponed," Fu Qingyang nodded in agreement.
Refining the Three Powers Pill required a Day Wanderer. Hunting a Day Wanderer from Dark Night Rose called for patience and the right opportunity; haste was out of the question.
Rushing for quick results would only lead them straight into the evil faction's trap.
Bidding farewell to Fu Qingyang, Zhang Yuanqing shifted into night travel and rode the wind back to his grandma's house, pounding loudly on his uncle's front door.
Dressed in loungewear, his aunt opened the door and ushered her nephew inside.
In the living room, his uncle was clutching a bottle of beer while energetic foreign rock music blasted from the speakers. On the smart TV, a video played the shoulder-shimmy dance that had gone viral a few years back.
His uncle was shimmying, shoulders twitching and jiggling, looking for all the world like a flamboyant, shameless old slacker.
"Yuanzi, tea or a soft drink?" his aunt asked.
"Neither!" Zhang Yuanqing declined. Stepping into rhythm, he started shimmying his own shoulders and joined right alongside his uncle.
Seeing this, his aunt let out a deep sigh.
Adopting an 'out of sight, out of mind' attitude, she retreated into the bedroom.
"Yo, useless Yuanzi, looking so full of cheer! Tell me what fun brought you here!" Uncle rattled off a verse on the spot.
"Yo, yo! Took Xiahou Aotian out to grind, hit a wild realm of an eerie kind! Graves and tombs as far as sight, but my fists taught them what is right! Met a sweet Miss Yaoguang there, stripped her robes and let down hair, offered up her arts so free, didn't cost a single fee! Just got home to catch my breath, Knight called up to cheat his death, jabbered on with lots to say, named us both to lead the way!" Zhang Yuanqing caught his breath: "Report complete!"
Uncle's shoulders kept shimmying and twitching. He desperately wanted to fire back with an equally long verse, but choked on his words for half a day without producing anything. In the end, he had to speak normally: "Such a coincidence? Right when you needed a way to level up fast, one fell right into your lap?"
"I asked my gentle, virtuous, ravishingly beautiful, and ethereal Master to modify the pill recipe," Zhang Yuanqing said. "The original version indeed had flaws, but they've been taken care of now."
Hearing that, his uncle relaxed and called toward the bedroom, "Wife, Yuanzi invited me out to hang out. I'm stepping out for a bit."
From the bedroom came his aunt's reply: "Remember to come back for dinner tonight!"
"Will do!" Uncle clapped a hand onto his nephew's shoulder, and both vanished from the room.
Zhang Yuanqing felt as though he had stepped into a pitch-black, bottomless spatial corridor, unable to see any light or scenery.
A second later, the gently flowing Hudson River appeared before his eyes. A brisk breeze blew across the water. Behind him lay a desolate park; ahead stretched the broad river, with a large cargo barge gliding languidly past.
Turning his head, he saw his uncle had already swapped his clothes for a wine-red suit and trousers, wearing a silver mask over his face.
Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback. "Holy crap, you change clothes that fast?"
"You wouldn't understand the methods of a demigod." His uncle—or rather, Mr. President—snapped his fingers. "Over here!"
Clad in a black mink fur coat, Zhai Cai materialized right before the two.
Having not seen him for over a month, Zhang Yuanqing scrutinized Zhai Cai. The Sole-Inheritor Knight's features had not changed, but his aura was noticeably more restrained and weathered. His gaze seemed to condense an indomitable fighting spirit forged through a thousand trials, yet it flowed broad and deep like a mighty river, grounded and heavy like Mount Tai—steadfast rather than ostentatiously sharp.
"Yo, haven't seen you in a while, looks like you've grown up," Zhai Cai said with a chuckle, delivering his first words.
*Grown up? I take back what I just thought. Not a single thing changed—still as punchable as ever!* Zhang Yuanqing's lips twitched.
Uncle raised his hand and snapped his fingers between them: "Enough nonsense. This Treasure Seeking Merchant is already burning with impatience, and I still have to head home to eat dinner with my wife tonight. Chop-chop."
Standing by the riverbank, leaning against the railing, Zhai Cai said, "The location indicated by the treasure map is actually the Holy See itself. The treasure is inside the Holy See."
"Impossible!" Mr. President said in a heavy voice. "I have investigated the ruins of the Holy See multiple times. There is no hidden space there."
Merchants excelled at treasure seeking. As the sole demigod of the Void profession, his statement carried ringing certainty and absolute conviction.
Zhai Cai said with a sigh of wonder, "If I hadn't entered the dungeon 'Twilight of the Knights,' I would agree with your assessment. Mr. President, you've entered the Twilight of the Knights dungeon before. What do you think its historical background is?"
"The war that destroyed the Holy See," Mr. President replied.
The Sole-Inheritor Knight nodded. "As is widely known, the higher a dungeon's rank, the further back its historical setting. Yet Twilight of the Knights is a Dominator-stage S-rank dungeon. Peer-level dungeons are typically set in the Middle Ages, whereas this one is set in the modern era.
"This proves it is a special dungeon. So, where does its uniqueness lie?"
Having also experienced the modern-era dungeon "Horror Cruise," Zhang Yuanqing had a sudden epiphany: "The Holy See's treasure is inside that dungeon?"
Zhai Cai nodded.
"After the Holy See fell, the Spirit Realm reclaimed the treasury and used the war of its destruction as the background to generate an S-rank dungeon—Twilight of the Knights!
"The treasury itself became a hidden quest within that dungeon. I only figured that out once I was inside."
At this point, he looked toward Mr. President. "I know that forcibly taking high-tier props and materials out of an unopened dungeon is viewed by the Spirit Realm as theft and incurs punishment. It depends on whether you're willing to take that risk."
Yet Mr. President did not agree with his premise, chuckling softly:
"The Holy See's treasury contains demigod-grade artifacts from at least two professions. Do you really believe a Level 7 S-rank dungeon would grant such heaven-defying rewards?"
Zhai Cai froze.
Chapter 910