Chapter 297: Sword Aimed at the Sleepless One, Fifth Contract Spirit Beast! (Combined)

Eternal Sun Nation.

Watching the sun gradually sink to the west outside the window, Ze Feina casually drew the curtains, plunging the room into darkness.

"Your race truly possesses astonishing initiative."

Si Fen Jia De's voice echoed once more in her mind, causing Ze Feina's motion to pause slightly.

"Facing so many dungeon descents, we could actually nearly quell them all in a single day." Si Fen Jia De's voice carried a hint of astonishment: "It seems our plan needs to be sped up."

"I already have a sense of unease."

"You have a saying here: 'Delay brings change,' and I agree with it."

"How do you intend to speed up?" Ze Feina's eyes flickered, and she spoke calmly.

"We need to have an S-rank dungeon descend as soon as possible." Si Fen Jia De spoke slowly, "An SS-rank channel can boost your power quickly; just one use will grant you strength enough to rival Luo."

"After that, we can try to have an even higher SS-rank dungeon descend."

"By then, your strength will approach the divine without limit."

"It sounds… tempting." Ze Feina fell silent for a moment, "But my current strength should still be insufficient to linger long in an S-rank dungeon."

"No problem, kid, I've already considered that." Si Fen Jia De spoke gently with a smile, "I have two ways to solve this."

"First, we can reduce the time spent in the S-rank dungeon by entering it when the clearance deadline is under 24 hours."

"Only Luo and Yue Li are capable of clearing S-rank dungeons; keep them busy, and they'll naturally have no spare attention for the S-rank dungeon."

"Like today's method?" Ze Feina spoke expressionlessly.

"Exactly." Si Fen Jia De chuckled, "As long as those two have no free time, naturally no one else will be able to enter and clear the S-rank dungeon."

"Then we can smoothly enter it."

"Besides, if I'm not mistaken, Luo perhaps already intends to have an S-rank dungeon descend." Si Fen Jia De chuckled, "To break from Epic to Legendary, one needs a resource called the Legendary Stone, a treasure that can only be born from an SS-rank channel."

"So, this is merely a precaution on my part."

"Of course, if we act first, he will naturally lose the chance to obtain it."

"The Legendary Stone will also belong to you."

Ze Feina fell silent for a moment, "You just mentioned two methods."

"The second method is also simple." Si Fen Jia De smiled, "I still have some connections on the Heavenly Stairway."

"For some S-rank dungeons, I can guess the boss at a glance."

"We can find an old friend I know."

"By then, I will enter the dungeon together with you, letting that old friend rest a bit."

"Right now there's a decent S-rank dungeon that refreshes tonight at 7:30; you can take a look."

Ze Feina opened the dungeon list and soon saw a newly appeared dungeon at the top.

【Dungeon: Former Magic Mound (S)】【Clearable】

【Suggested Player Level: Epic】

【Participant Limit: 2】

【Horizontal Difficulty Rating: ★★】

【Dungeon Remaining Clearance Time: 67:53:34】——

"Another bowl!"

Ao Li Er Jia lifted her empty bowl, eyes shining as she looked at Tangshi, "I never imagined our talent-rich Eternal Sun Nation actually has someone like you."

"Please enjoy it slowly." Tangshi laughed as he served Ao Li Er Jia a fresh bowl; the little mustache on his lip twitched unconsciously from her praise.

"You really eat a lot." Yi Fu Lin slowly finished the soup in her bowl, watching Ao Li Er Jia treat this place like her own home, she couldn't help muttering softly.

"Yi Fu Lin, my ears are quite sharp~" Ao Li Er Jia twitched her ears, opened her arms to give Yi Fu Lin a suffocating love, "Let me secretly tell you a secret: eating more helps you grow big~"

"I don't believe your words." Yi Fu Lin gave Ao Li Er Jia a white-eye, picked up her empty bowl, "I also want another… no, half a bowl is enough."

"Of course no problem, our little angel Yi Fu Lin." Tangshi laughed hahaha and quickly served her half a bowl.

Yi Fu Lin took the soup and drank a sip happily, then suddenly remembered something, eyeing Ao Li Er Jia warily, "I just happened to not be full yet!"

The dinner table instantly filled with cheerful laughter.

In the guild president's office on the second floor of Luo Yue Guild, Ze Feina stood by the window, looking down at the lively scene below, and spoke softly, "The general situation is just like this."

"Former Magic Mound…" Qin Chuan tapped his fingertips on the table, revealing a thoughtful expression.

The refresh of this S-rank dungeon, he naturally noticed as well.

On one hand, tonight is so busy that he indeed has no time to clear it.

On the other hand, Si Fen Jia De's guess was indeed correct; as he and Lin Yue both broke through to Epic, obtaining the Legendary Stone should now be put on the schedule.

This S-rank dungeon, he originally intended it as a trial.

But… Qin Chuan's eyes turned slightly cold.

He would never allow Si Fen Jia De's actions just because he wanted to try.

Even if he were to try, it would be by entering the dungeon before its descent, killing all dungeon creatures, leaving only the boss with one life, slaying it at the moment of descent, taking the Legendary Stone and leaving, thus minimizing risk.

So… is there any way to both obtain the Legendary Stone and prevent the Sleepless One from succeeding? Qin Chuan revealed a thoughtful expression.

To be frank, Si Fen Jia De, in order to keep him busy and prevent him from entering the S-rank dungeon, plans to continue stirring up trouble over the next two days, causing many dungeons to descend—this has already made Qin Chuan feel murderous toward him.

If it weren't for the fact that he still cannot pinpoint the other's true location, he would have already acted.

"Ze Feina, you just said the Sleepless One can beforehand know the exact real-world location of a dungeon's descent?" Lin Yue beside her suddenly spoke, "In other words, the descent point of Former Magic Mound should also be clear to him, right?"

"Is it possible to extract this key information from the Sleepless One and then make preparations in advance?"

Ze Feina, hearing this, thought for a moment, "I should be able to do that."

"But I cannot guarantee the authenticity of the information."

"That's right." Lin Yue gave a slight nod.

Relying on the enemy's words to prepare a battle plan is too risky.

"But this idea is fine." Qin Chuan suddenly said, "We can obtain information not from the Sleepless Ones, but by working on the Heavenly Stairway map."

According to Ze Feina, Si Feng Jiade determined the specific location of the instance's descent, relying on the complete map of the Heavenly Stairway.

"How do you plan to obtain it?" Ze Feina frowned slightly, looking at Qin Chuan doubtfully.

Qin Chuan smiled and initiated a friend chat, "Find someone."——

"Roar——" Accompanied by a loud, stirring roar, a twin-winged tiger descended from the sky, two figures leapt from its back and walked toward the welcoming Qin Chuan and his two companions.

"I thought we would never meet again in the Dream World." Feng Yin pushed up his glasses, calmly looking at Qin Chuan.

"The first talent effect of Insight is too troublesome." Qin Chuan shook his head helplessly.

Upon meeting, the opponent would know all talent effects; this risk Qin Chuan previously dared not take, so his cooperation with the Special Affairs Group was basically carried out in reality.

However, now the Sundial is no longer something that must be kept absolutely secret for him.

Even if he doesn't say it, others have already guessed roughly.

"Please rest assured, I am someone who can keep his mouth shut." Feng Yin glanced at Qin Chuan and Ze Feina for a moment, then smiled and spoke.

The talent effect of Prayer was almost exactly as he guessed, but the third talent effects of Sundial and Avoid Illness… surprised him somewhat.

"This is my first time coming to the Luo Moon Guild; I should take a good look around." Long Ji laughed beside them, "If you have anything to discuss, go ahead—I'm just here to give you a ride."

As Long Ji voluntarily left, Qin Chuan, his two companions, and Feng Yin entered the guild's interior.

"We need to use the second talent effect of Insight." Upon entering the guild president's office, Qin Chuan spoke up, "I need to know how to obtain the complete map of the Heavenly Stairway."

"Once we obtain the complete map of the Heavenly Stairway, not only against the Sleepless Ones, but also in dealing with any subsequent instance descents, we can greatly reduce manpower and material consumption." Feng Yin nodded slightly, "I will naturally do my best."

"So, we'll just rely on Prayer."

He clearly knows that, due to Insight's randomness, the desired information cannot simply be obtained.

Unless, with Prayer's cooperation, to increase his own luck.

"Good." Lin Yue put her palms together, using up today's second talent uses.

Feeling the luck bestowed upon him from within, Feng Yin stopped wasting time; his eyes burst with golden light, countless mysterious patterns flowing within.

Countless golden light orbs of various sizes appeared in Feng Yin's eyes; unlike before, this time he immediately noticed one extremely inconspicuous light orb.

The moment he directed his gaze, that light orb seemed to be summoned, swiftly flying toward him.

This is the power of Prayer?

Feng Yin secretly marveled, then calmed himself and examined the newly obtained light orb.

Lines of text appeared before his eyes.

【In an SS-rank Secret Realm, completing the hidden subjugation requirement yields a random item.】

【However, this randomness is actually pseudo-random; the items obtainable randomly in each SS-rank Secret Realm are not entirely the same, and some items may only appear in one or two special SS-rank Secret Realms.】

【For example, the map of the First Level of the Heavenly Stairway has an extremely low probability of being obtained early among the random items dropped in the Shattered Realm Remains of an SS-rank Secret Realm.】

【For example…】

After reading this passage, Feng Yin took a deep breath.

"Shattered Realm Remains of an SS-rank Secret Realm."

"The random items obtained from it have an extremely low probability of yielding the Heavenly Stairway map."

"Shattered Realm Remains?" Qin Chuan and Lin Yue exchanged a glance, surprise on their faces, "Isn't this one of the SS-rank Secret Realms that refreshed today?"

"Yikes! There are still three hours before the Dream World Entrance closes!" Lin Yue's expression changed, "We need to hurry."

"I'll go first, you two proceed." Qin Chuan's expression shifted slightly as he pulled Lin Yue, consuming battle points to directly open the portal to the corresponding secret realm, and they vanished instantly.

"The new feature gained after the guild reaches level 3 is really convenient." Feng Yin gave a wry smile, turned his head to Ze Feina beside him, "Miss Ze Feina, I see it's lively outside; we two shouldn't stand here."

"Okay." Ze Feina nodded slightly, glancing at Feng Yin as she left, "I hope you don't spread my talent around."

"Of course not." Feng Yin gave a helpless smile, "To be frank, seeing your third talent, I am indeed somewhat surprised."

"But please rest assured, I won't do such a meaningless thing."

While speaking, the two walked out of the guild together.

Long Ji, who had said earlier he wanted to tour the Luo Moon Guild, was now getting along swimmingly with the guild members and Oli Er Jia, holding a large cup of beer and an iron hammer, shoulders linked, singing "Katyusha" in half‑learned Russian and off‑key vocals.

Seeing the lively scene before him, Ze Feina's tense nerves seemed to relax a bit, and he couldn't help but say, "Oli Er Jia is a person with strong vigilance, yet the Luo Moon Guild easily lets her accept others—this truly surprises me."

"Yeah…" Feng Yin stared fixedly at the laughing crowd below, his expression suddenly turning somewhat strange.

"I'm also surprised."——

"Boom!!!!"

Accompanied by successive booming sounds, the three legendary‑stage subjugation targets collapsed simultaneously.

At the same time, a line of text appeared before Qin Chuan's eyes.

【Achieving the hidden subjugation requirement of the Shattered Realm Remains: kill all subjugation targets without causing damage to the surrounding environment to obtain a hidden reward.】

That really is a stringent hidden requirement.

Qin Chuan couldn't help but grin.

If he didn't have Time Stop, a legendary‑stage battle would inevitably cause damage to the surroundings.

Speaking of which, this secret realm's environment is also quite interesting.

Unlike ordinary secret realms, it is more like countless secret realms pieced together.

Before, Qin Chuan had never thought about the origin of secret realms, but after seeing the Shattered Realm Remains he began to wonder a little.

Where exactly do all these worlds within the secret realms come from?

But this is destined not to be something he can investigate.

He picked up the floating seven‑colored light orb in midair and handed it over to Lin Yue.

"Wait until tomorrow when Prayer's second talent refreshes, then you will be the one to open it."

Triple luck, ensuring absolute certainty.

"Mm!" Lin Yue nodded heavily, then immediately looked toward a pond not far away.

On the surface of that pond, there was a seed emitting a cherry-pink misty glow.

That was a special reward dropped after defeating three subjugation bosses, the Vital Spirit Seed.

In the shattered realm husk of the SS-rank secret realm, all three subjugation targets are wood-element.

And the Vital Spirit Seed can be cultivated to obtain the original form of a randomly selected one among them.

Wood element, likewise an attribute that Qin Chuan and Yue Li do not possess.

"The Holy Spirit Embryo is mine; this Vital Spirit Seed I'll give you." Qin Chuan smiled. "This way, our fifth contracted spirit beast will have a place."

(End of chapter)