Chapter 233: Rewards

Zhang Yuanqing carried the bamboo basket back down into the robber's shaft. Along the narrow passage into the chamber, he took the three items out of the basket, set them squarely in a niche, and turned to leave.

A few steps on, he paused and looked down at the basket in his hand as a question surfaced in his head. Why am I still carrying this thing away? Maybe I’m being a little too honest...

Zhang Yuanqing carried the basket out of the main chamber, through the six-meter passage, and into the outer room. He set the basket aside first then sprang up two meters and peeled the yellow talisman off the three arch, three roll brick wall.

A gout of pale gold flame shot out of the talisman.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't dare let that fire so much as touch him. He let go immediately and left the talisman to drift to the floor and burn down to ash.

"Done. Four more hours and I'll be out. Time to go back to the village."

He put on the Red Dancing Shoes, remembering to pick the basket back up, walked up the steep brick wall as though it were flat ground, and slipped out of the tomb through the shaft's mouth.

A few minutes later, he was back at the mouth of the village, waiting in silence for ten o'clock, for the twenty four hours to end.

Mute Village was incredibly hard so the rewards should be decent, he thought to himself. I wonder if it'll hand me all three items. And what sort of reward would the hidden mission give?

Then again, with a guide, this A-rank dungeon isn't hard at all. Once you're in the Spirit Realm, just rush straight for the tomb. After riding out the night, come out to gather the items, bring them back to the tomb, and you’re done.

I just don't know if the hidden mission is the sort that refreshes each time or if it's a one-off mission. I suppose it depends on the rewards.

Take Yin Yang Town's hidden mission, for example. Its reward item was the Yin Yang Spell Robe, and that item was one-of-a-kind, so the Yin Yang Town's hidden mission could only be completed once. But Zhang Yuanqing knew not every hidden mission worked that way. Some existed only to raise a Walker's experience levels.

A Walker with the skill to suss out a hidden mission was rewarded with more experience, which would help them to pull ahead of other, more average Walkers.

With nothing better to do, Zhang Yuanqing mentally ran through the dungeon's details again.

Right, this dungeon mentioned the Three Paths Mountain Goddess. The old hag and the commandery princess come from the same line, and the old hag's sleep does look similar to the commandery princess' sleep.

The commandery princess lived out two sixty-year cycles and knew she couldn’t increase her lifespan in the Age of Dharma Decline... so she copied her master and used some secret method to fall asleep and maintain a tenuous existence?

No. She isn't in the same state as the Three Paths Mountain Goddess. That old hag gave me the feel of someone alive, but the commandery princess has refined herself into an undying yin corpse...

That coffin must have been a key link in her plan, so she could only 'borrow' the old hag's jade coffin.

He clicked his tongue. That ability to refine yourself into a yin corpse... If I could get my hands on it, the yin corpses I make down the line would stomp any other Nocturnal Specter's...

As far as anyone knows, the last group of cultivators were in the Ming dynasty, and by the Qing dynasty, no one could cultivate at all. But Mute Village isn't set in the Ming dynasty... This wandering daoist is most likely someone from the Ming dynasty as well, so he'd have lived a good while himself.

At last, after hours of dragging wait, dense yin energy welled up from deep in the village, blotting out the sky, turning the daylight back into dark.

The commandery princess is here. Did she sense the destruction of the talisman and come back to the tomb?

Zhang Yuanqing turned his head, looked around, and suddenly realized that the yin energy was coming straight for him.

What the...!!!

The vast, terrible cloud of yin energy surged in like a tide, crashing down from every side, curtaining off the pale daylight. At the far end of the little path he was on, the yin energy split open to reveal the commandery princess in her gorgeous red skirt.

Her face was ghastly pale, with her scarlet, gem-like pupils set within eye sockets that were inky black.

They faced off in silence, a dozen-odd meters apart.

For a moment, Zhang Yuanqing felt as though he was in the same situation as the night before, and fear began to rise within him. Just as he was weighing whether to pull out his pistol and gauntlets to steel himself, the commandery princess across from him dipped her head, and a touch of warmth flashed through those savage pupils.

The yin energy drew back like an ebbing tide, taking the commandery princess with it.

She's gone?

Zhang Yuanqing felt his whole body go light, and his legs no longer wanted to buckle in fear. He watched the yin energy retreat from the village like a heavy, low bank of cloud, drifting off toward the back mountain.

A dozen odd minutes later, he heard the Spirit Realm's chime in his ears.

【Ding! Congratulations on completing the solo Spirit Realm mission, Mute Village, No. 1018, A-rank difficulty. Settling your rewards...

【Items obtained: Yin Jade Doll (replica), Ghost Mirror (replica), Blood Rouge (replica).

【Experience reward: 25%.

【Main quest settlement complete. 】

【Ding! Congratulations on completing the hidden mission, the Gratitude of commandery princess Yin Yao. Settling your rewards...

【Items improved: Yin Jade Doll (replica) x3, Ghost Mirror (replica) x3, Blood Rouge (replica) x3. Each item can now be used three times.

【Experience reward: 15%.

【Hidden mission reward settlement complete.】

【Ding! Character Card reward activated.

【Reward item: Jade Casket of Teleportation.

【Settlement complete. Exiting the Spirit Realm in five minutes...】

A second later, a black full moon rose between his brows, and out of the scalding mark came a vast surge of the Power of the Dark Moon that scoured his body with intense force, sinking into cell after cell and bone after bone.

His temperature skyrocketed as his skin turned the color of a boiled red shrimp. His muscles twitched on their own as he felt himself ascend through the plane of existence as his gene sequences reshuffled themselves.

When the heat faded and things went back to normal, Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly opened his status panel.

【Name: Yuanshi Tianzun】

【Race: Human】

【Class: Nocturnal Specter】

【Level: 3】

【Skills: Night Wandering, Soul Devouring, Spirit of the Dark Moon, Moon Howl, Charm, Spirit Talisman】

【Experience: 58%】

【Morality: 2100】

【Reputation: 40】

My experience at 58 percent! Zhang Yuanqing could plainly feel the increase in his stamina, strength, and spirit body's toughness.

His experience bar had climbed by forty percent in one dungeon. He was confident he could easily beat the version of himself from a minute ago bare-handed. Back when he'd fought Zhao Chenghuang in his Origin Overdrive state, relying on the Red Dancing Shoes and the special war blade for support, he'd still come out on the back foot.

If he'd had this level of experience back then, there was no way he'd have been left in such a sorry state.

Only now do I count as someone at the peak of Level 3. Purely on my own strength, that is...

Zhang Yuanqing opened his Inventory next and looked over the items he'd received as mission rewards.

The item text of the three dungeon pieces was mostly unchanged, but they were now listed as consumables, and there was one added note.

【Note: Though a replica, its power matches the genuine article, and lasts for thirty minutes.】

The main rewards are the replicas of the three items, each usable once, and by completing the hidden mission, I earned the commandery princess's gratitude, which tripled the number of uses.

Since the three items are the core of the crisis within the Mute Village dungeon, there's no way they'd be given over to a Walker. From the way things are, it seems the hidden mission refreshes as well.

This Spirit Realm dungeon is the kind that won't change. Or, rather, the kind whose difficulty won't drop, but only rise.

The items in the dungeon would not decrease, and so the difficulty tier would never fall. However if Zhang Yuanqing had died in this place, the Red Dancing Shoes would have been left behind, becoming another danger within Mute Village. At that point, the dungeon's difficulty might climb to S-rank.

Not getting the genuine articles left Zhang Yuanqing a little let down, but the three replicas gave him nine uses total, and paired with his other items, they'd last a long while.

These three items are bound to shine in a slaughter dungeon, and by the time I reach the Saint tier, there'll be Saint-tier items to get. Mm, replicas it is, then. Good enough.

Zhang Yuanqing then took out his Character Card-specific reward, a jade casket ten centimeters long and five centimeters wide.

There was a faint pattern carved into its body, resembling space collapsing into a mysterious passage with countless churning currents of air coiling around it. As he held it, the Spirit Realm text appeared.

【Name: Jade Casket of Teleportation】

【Type: Jade Ware】

【Function: Teleportation】

【Description: This item comes from a thief best left undescribed. That thief pulled off countless jobs in his life and made enemies all across the world, but his knack for slipping away like a ghost left them helpless. As a result, they turned their eyes towards his kin and friends. To allow his family and friends to flee when they were targeted, the thief forged this item. Every thirty days, the casket generates one teleportation jade talisman, and the talismans can be accumulated.】

【Note: You can crush a talisman to teleport to any place you've been before, but every third time it teleports you somewhere at random.】

As he read through the item's description and notes, Zhang Yuanqing's first thought was: Holy shit, this thing is a lifesaving treasure.

His second thought was: Holy shit, I know what Demon Lord did to the commandery princess.

Earlier on, he'd found it strange. To the commandery princess, a Transcendent-tier Demon Lord was only a notch above an ant. How could he have done anything to make her so angry?

When he saw this item, it clicked. That Demon Lord bastard had definitely returned to this dungeon using a teleportation jade talisman, and by then, he'd surely have become a Saint.

As he worked through the implications, he patted the Cat King Speaker in his pants pocket and muttered, "Tonight I'll be listening to Demon Lord and the commandery princess..."

Right after he patted the speaker, his palm froze. I know how Bro Bing got the Cat King Speaker into Jinshui Amusement Park.

Bro Bing had known he'd be drawn into Jinshui Amusement Park, because the dungeons he entered were all ones Demon Lord had been through.

That part, Zhang Yuanqing had worked out a long time ago. What he hadn't known was how Bro Bing had stashed the Cat King Speaker in Jinshui Amusement Park. Now he knew: he'd used a teleportation jade talisman.

Bro Bing and the Demon Lord knew each other. The two of them had very likely met after partying up in Jinshui Amusement Park, found out they were both servants of Ghost Eye Judge, and kept in quiet contact after.

That was the only explanation as to how Bro Bing could know that he'd enter Jinshui Amusement Park, and how he stashed the Cat King Speaker inside. As Demon Lord's partner, having a talisman or two was perfectly reasonable.

Down the line I can go back to Mute Village too and ask the commandery princess for a few things... perhaps borrow an item or whatever while I'm at it? And Jinshui Amusement Park too... I can go see the ghost bride...

What did being able to return to a dungeon mean, though? He hadn't heard of a single Walker who could go back into a dungeon. But down the road, even if he missed a hidden mission, he could go back and finish it.

Hmm, then why didn't the Demon Lord go back for the Yin Yang Spell Robe? Uh, he was probably at the Saint tier by then, perhaps even a peak Saint, and most likely had no use for the Yin Yang Spell Robe...

Just then, the countdown timer ran out, and the sagging, ruined village warped from the edges inward and dissolved.

***

At the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau, Li Dongze entered the office area on his cane and asked, "Guan Ya, is Yuanshi back?"

Guan Ya, gripping her phone, raised it. "His phone is still powered off."

Li Dongze's brows knit together. "It's been twenty-four hours. It’s about time he was back."

Guan Ya's face was full of worry.

Because of what Yin Ji had said, the two of them, who'd started out fully confident, had been on edge since the morning before. The closer they got to the twenty-four hour mark, the tenser they got.

Neither could work properly anymore (*cough* Watching TV shows cough).

On top of that, the talk on the official forum about Yuanshi Tianzun being on the cusp of death was snowballing, mainly because everyone loved spreading the rumor. Demon Lord and the Taiyi Sect Master had both said Mute Village was a guaranteed-death dungeon. The higher-ups had debunked it on the forum the night before, but nobody believed it. Instead, they mocked the higher-ups for spreading rumors.

After his win in the Official Tournament, Yuanshi's fame had hit its peak. This new development was like hot oil being poured onto fire, so once it got out, it drew enormous attention.

Just that morning, Guan Ya had seen someone on the forum saying they'd gotten wind that the evil organizations were just waiting for news of his death to throw a celebratory party.