Chapter 27: Living in the Shadows of Jiuzhou: The Zongwang Player

"Legendary Chest (Apprentice) has been placed into your item bag."

Looking at the prompt on his retina, Mu Yi took the Legendary Chest (Apprentice) out of his item bag and opened it.

Then, a dazzling golden light flashed…

"Please select your weapon style!"

"Sword, Horse-Cutting Sword, long-handled, dual-wield…" Mu Yi quickly described.

The golden light before him also began to reshape with his description; Mu Yi kept adjusting the approximate shape until he was satisfied, then stopped.

With Mu Yi's confirmation, the golden radiance kept condensing, eventually forming a Horse-Cutting Sword of alternating gold and black.

【Stone Fire Dream Body】

Item Level: 5

Quality: Gold Legend

Type: Blade Weapon

Attached Attributes:

1. Unbreakable: This equipment possesses an indestructible trait; ordinary force collisions cannot destroy it.

2. Overwhelming Momentum: When performing a slash, the attack gains an extra strength bonus, strength check +1.

3. Thunderblade: After channeling energy, the Thunderblade can convert it into thunder, dealing lightning spell damage on attack.

PS: Radiant might, obey my command, strike without mercy—Divine Strategy General.

Mu Yi took the Stone Fire Dream Body out of his item bag; its black-and-gold coloration gave it a highly mysterious hue.

Based on principles Mu Yi completely does not understand, this seemingly massive anti-formation sword felt surprisingly weightless in his hand.

Mu Yi tried swinging the sword at the air, and instantly a sharp slicing sound rang out, exactly the noise of a heavy weapon cutting through air.

No wonder it's a Gold Legend-level weapon; it actually shares the same effects as those legendary artifacts. The weight he feels in his hand versus the weight the equipment can actually exert are completely different.

However, any weapon's true value can only be known after combat, but since this is a Legend item, Mu Yi is confident in this weapon.

In the coming period, this weapon will likely become his trusty tool for raiding dungeons.

After fiddling with the new gear for a while, Mu Yi put it away; the aftereffects of the Infinite Trial Challenge are too severe, and for a short time he cannot enter dungeons or launch campaigns.

High-intensity battles have left his spirit overloaded; he needs to relax.

Casually activating the final reward from the Fate Wheel simulation, a massive wheel suddenly appeared before Mu Yi, its densely packed options scattered across it, impossible to discern.

The wheel began to spin on its own, then gradually slowed; even Mu Yi, who was indifferent, couldn't help but be drawn in.

The wheel's speed kept decreasing until it finally stopped completely, but just as Mu Yi expected a result, the pointer on the wheel jolted abruptly and moved into the next sector.

"Damn!" Bad memories surged; Mu Yi recalled the pocket money he was swindled out of at a market as a child—when you think you're ten-to-nine sure, fate always throws a curveball.

"Based on the Fate Wheel's revelation, you have gained the talent 【Inspire Morale LV1】."

【Inspire Morale LV1】: Allies within the speech range gain morale boost based on Charisma, reducing fear, terror, and other mental debuffs.

"Huh?"

Mu Yi froze for a moment; he had no recollection of this talent, probably drawn in a dazed later stage.

It seems a useful ability for leading troops, but for the current Light Rod Commander, it appears of little use.

He smacked his mouth, thinking at least it's a talent, better than nothing.

Unfortunately it's not a weapon talent, so it can't grant the Soul Trial reward.

Finding a comfortable position on the sofa, Mu Yi opened the Zongwang Forum.

Running dungeons is impossible now, so only browsing the forum can keep up the semblance of life.

The Zongwang Forum, as a platform for player communication, mixes all sorts of oddities, not to mention its side function as a flea market.

Countless juicy rumors explode on the forum daily; as a front-line gossip seeker, Mu Yi gathered plenty of information.

The main topic is the origin of Jiuzhou's terrible reputation.

The reason is that Jiuzhou's dungeons have many rules, and reputations rarely transfer between them; many Zongwang players from Western Transcendent civilizations simply cannot grasp this cultural gap.

Determinism, destiny, karma—many Jiuzhou Zongwang players cannot fully understand them, let alone those Western players.

On the Zongwang, there was an unlucky Giant Dragon Race member, born Transcendent, at demigod rank, a step from godhood, who went into a Jiuzhou dungeon for a quest; unlucky, he collided headfirst with a Golden-winged Roc, which instantly killed him.

The mission failed, all his earlier cautious steps vanished, even his reputation in the Dragon Palace was wiped clean, and his dream of becoming a god evaporated.

Enraged, after his Soul Weakness Time passed, the dragon gathered many relatives and friends, collected a heap of god-slaying items, intending to kill the Golden-winged Roc for revenge.

But upon entering, before finding the Roc, he ran into members of the Buddhist Sect; after that nothing more happened. Reportedly, after leaving the dungeon, the dragon converted to the Buddhist Sect, becoming a member of the Second Dragon Crowd within the Eight Heavenly Dragons.

The dragon's relatives and friends went to the Buddhist Sect, demanding a sermon to retrieve the dragon, but none escaped; all converted to the Buddhist Sect.

That was still lucky; at least they got into the Buddhist Sect's ranks and kept a life.

There are also some unlucky ones who, unaware, participated in real dungeons like the Battle of the Deer Hunt, the Battle of Mount Buzhou, Da Yu's Flood Control, and their fates were disastrous.

Those who made it to the Yellow Emperor's side sometimes survived, but those who ran into Chi You almost never left the dungeon alive.

Worst of all, reputation doesn't transfer across Jiuzhou, but wanted notices surprisingly do.

Once marked by one Jiuzhou dungeon, all other Jiuzhou dungeons inherit the red name.

The most famous is a Lich Demigod, when everyone feared Jiuzhou and looked upon it with dread.

The Lich Demigod entered a Jiuzhou dungeon, wreaked havoc in the Underworld, shattered the Six Paths reincarnation, released the evil spirits of the eighteen hell layers; the Ten Courts Yama and Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva of that dungeon failed to capture him, ultimately causing massive chaos in the mortal world with countless casualties.

Just as the Lich Demigod, using his Underworld knowledge and having seized the Book of Life and Death and the Judge's Brush, forged a divine stature, ignited divine fire, and successfully ascended to godhood.

He began spreading his experiences to propagate his faith and to gather various emotions to strengthen himself.

In reality, Lord of Mount Tai himself intervened, crossing most of the Multiverse, and with a single palm strike killed the ascended Lich.

All the Lich's contingencies and preparations were useless; Lord of Mount Tai personally demonstrated to all Zongwang users what death truly is.

Everything about the Lich was eroded by Lord of Mount Tai's death; legend says the Lich's death lasted a full hundred years.

During that time countless Legends and deities came to watch the death; it is said even the most brutal deities found the Lich's death cruel.

After that, people completely avoided Jiuzhou, unless they had no other choice or were recklessly bold; no one would willingly touch any Dungeon related to Jiuzhou.

This is also one of the reasons why challenge scrolls for other Dungeons have been hyped to astronomical prices, while Jiuzhou Dungeon remains dirt-cheap.