Chapter 390: Mercy Without Seeking Reward? Fate Has Long Since Marked It in Secret
Time flowed on, and in the blink of an eye a whole year had passed.
In that one year, especially with the "help" of a certain well-meaning dragon who was nearly an immortal-grade being, the players of Di Xing developed at a pace that changed three times a day.
Coupled with the various extremely convenient spells that already existed in this world, a magnificent Wanjiacheng was thus born upon the former Long Ze Zhi Di.
All the players began to treat this place as the great headquarters within the entire Duan Yu, the only reliable safe point.
Every day, large numbers of players came and went, and together with the native beings already there, various demon races and human races, under the players' influence, set aside their prejudices for the first time and coexisted in harmony, appearing for a time to flourish.
Of course, those who could not set aside their prejudices had long since died out in the wilderness, which, though filled with all manner of heaven-defying treasures that boosted one's strength, was growing ever more dangerous.
"What a magnificent giant city! Is this the legendary Ji Yu Zhi Cheng that's friendly to everyone?"
On this day, Zhang Tianze, who had endured much hardship following a Nascent Soul merchant caravan and finally arrived at this giant city whose fame had suddenly spread far and wide a year ago, stood dumbfounded at the city gate, his eyes full of disbelief as he murmured.
As a loose cultivator from a small market town, when had he ever seen such a spectacle?
Everywhere were clean, tidy, splendid buildings radiating treasure-light, imposing and awe-inspiring, and on the streets, Golden Core and Nascent Soul cultivators—who in his small market town could almost be called great powers—were everywhere to be seen.
As the saying goes, the dazzling world dazzles the eye; Zhang Tianze, who had come from a small place, was momentarily blinded before the magnificent and prosperous "Ji Yu Zhi Cheng."
"Hey, are you going or not?"
A voice came from behind, startling the stunned Zhang Tianze with a jolt; he turned around to find a Golden Core peak cultivator looking at him in some puzzlement, and he was currently blocking the other's path.
Danger!
In his panic, every hair on Zhang Tianze's body stood on end. He was but a mere minor Foundation Establishment cultivator—what virtue or ability did he have to offend a Golden Core great cultivator? Afraid of being targeted and killed on the spot, he put on a fawning smile and bowed repeatedly in apology:
"Oh oh, sir, sorry sorry... I'll move right away, right away..."
Little did he know that as soon as he spoke, the cultivator was somewhat surprised, and said with a smile: "Are you new here?"
"Sir, how did you know..."
Zhang Tianze was somewhat puzzled—was his behavior really that obvious?
The cultivator, Wei Ziqi, laughed heartily upon hearing this, patted the other's shoulder, and pulled the somewhat stiff Zhang Tianze aside to avoid blocking those coming after, saying: "Because only you newcomers are this uptight. Don't worry, in this city, as long as you don't cause trouble, you don't need to worry about anything else."
"I'm Wei Ziqi, let's get acquainted?"
"Sir, I'm Zhang Tianze..."
"Oh, Brother Zhang, I suppose you must be confused about everything? Allow me to explain it to you slowly..."
"Hahaha, success! Success!"
Just as Wei Ziqi was about to explain, a shout mixed with a great deal of astonishment suddenly rang out from not far away. The very next moment, a violent burst of lightning erupted, and a figure wrapped entirely in lightning, looking almost like an elemental being, rose up. The intense electrical energy even caused the clouds in the sky above to flicker with dim lightning, as if resonating with each other.
Naturally, this scene caused Zhang Tianze to look over with an envious expression—the aura of the Golden Core realm, and a lightning cultivator at that, whose attacks were the most violent of all.
At this, even Wei Ziqi could not help but show a hint of envy, jealousy, and hatred, gritting his teeth and cursing softly: "Damn lucky dog!"
"Sir, what is a lucky dog?"
Zhang Tianze felt that a big city truly lived up to its name; some of the everyday expressions and slang here were beyond his comprehension. The individual characters were all familiar to him, but strung together they became meanings he couldn't understand.
"Oh, I almost forgot you just arrived." Hearing this, Wei Ziqi also came back to himself, smiled, patted his own head, and began to explain...
After a while, as if having completed some important task, Wei Ziqi, with a satisfied smile on his face, finally left contentedly, leaving behind a Zhang Tianze who had a general understanding of the situation and whose eyes had begun to shine brightly.
At this moment, looking at the system prompt showing that the city construction points had increased by one, Wei Ziqi was of course satisfied within.
This was a long-term quest he had received as the initiator ever since this main city, truly belonging to the players and the local "npcs," had been established. After communicating with the top streamer of the "Beyond" game a year ago, he had decisively shared the quest issued by that black-robed big shot with Lao Zhao.
From then on, the players truly ushered in their rise. Collecting all manner of materials to build the "Person-Seeking Formation" for that mysterious big shot, every stage they completed earned them incomparably rich rewards.
And the game's main city at that time had been spontaneously built during this very process, as more and more players and local npc cultivators gathered. It was during this process that he had been valued by the black-robed big shot and given a long-term city construction quest.
It was also thanks to the generous benefits from this series of quests that he had transformed in one stroke from a newcomer to the new game into one of the famous players in the entire game, surpassing in one leap the accumulated efforts of countless veteran players across two game worlds.
Everyone knew of this player who had risen by stepping on dog shit luck.
It had to be said, that big shot was truly a selfless and devoted great good person!
Feeling the powerful force within him, Wei Ziqi, who had just returned from collecting materials, was also grinning happily as he thought this.
In the entire history of the "Beyond" game, all the players had never encountered such an understanding npc big shot! This is what it feels like to have someone backing you?
Love it, love it.
Leaving Wei Ziqi's side aside, on the other end, after Wei Ziqi's explanation, Zhang Tianze had also thoroughly understood this unprecedented and extraordinary city.
He also understood why there had been shouts from over there earlier, and why that kind-hearted Golden Core cultivator had been jealous.
Because a cultivator (player) in this city had suddenly mastered a special craft (skill), and he had discovered that a kind of thunder vine that only grew in the Long Ze wilderness had a chance of being condensed by him into a fruit-shaped treasure, converting all the active lightning within the thunder vine.
But because the thunder vine was too dangerous and harvesting it oneself was too difficult, he simply opened a market stall right in the city. Any cultivator (player) who collected thunder vines only needed to give him a portion of the payment and a handling fee, and he would help them try to condense the power of the thunder vine into a fruit.
And this kind of lightning-shaped fruit, once consumed, would immediately grant the user lightning-attribute cultivation at the Golden Core level! With absolutely no harmful side effects!
This news had only just spread, and it immediately caused a sensation!
One must know that nowadays, apart from those skills that allowed the weak to kill the strong, all the players' own strength was only around the Golden Core stage, and even that was only achievable by veteran players who had accumulated across several game worlds.
But now, just by collecting some thunder vines and having a cultivator condense them into a thunder fruit, one could ascend to the heavens in a single step, with no harmful effects.
This was simply an unexpected blessing!
Although the probability of condensing a thunder fruit was no different from the gacha pulls or weapon and faba enhancement rates in some games, at least there was now a hope of ascending in a single step. Still, large numbers of players and cultivators risked life and limb to brave the torment of lightning to harvest thunder vines, solely to "enjoy" that momentary thrill of the gacha, never tiring of it.
At the very least, Zhang Tianze, a cultivator who could at most reach Foundation Establishment his whole life with no hope of Golden Core, had already placed all his hopes of breaking through on this.
Don't joke around—this was a treasure that had no harmful effects whatsoever, and one could break through just by consuming it! And its raw material was merely a dangerous plant unique to the wilderness of this region.
As long as he was careful and spent ten or twenty years on it, would he still not believe that not once among all the thunder vines he collected could a thunder fruit be condensed?
As long as one was condensed, he could immediately go elsewhere, become a supreme elder in some small clan and enjoy life, or even become the lord of a small mortal kingdom!
And this was also one of the reasons this city could attract so many cultivators.
Because there were simply too many opportunities like this.
Apart from this special thunder fruit, there was also a kind of golden toad that could swallow treasure qi. As long as one could slay it and take out the special treasure pearl from its belly, it could be used to fully absorb the treasure qi within. Absorbing the treasure qi from one such pearl was equivalent to a normal cultivator's bitter cultivation for a year in a place rich in Spirit Qi.
There was also a kind of creature with special metal attached to its body. Slaying it and taking its metal to fuse into a faba could greatly amplify the faba's power—especially flying swords. Once fused, it could easily enhance their sharpness, achieving true cutting through iron like mud!
There was also a special kind of fish...
Also…
It can be said that today's Long Ze has truly transformed into a perilous treasure land rich in vast quantities of rare resources!
Everyone wants to come here to explore, hoping to obtain treasures that will aid them.
And naturally, none of them can avoid the only safe place in this region — Ji Yu Zhi Cheng.
Dragons — every part of them is a treasure!
Somehow, no one knows from where it started, people began saying this was the blessing left behind after the former "Dragon King" of Long Ze died. A dragon truly is a treasure from head to toe, and its place of death gave birth to countless special treasures because of it.
Regarding all this, the culprit behind the scenes, Baichuan who dwells in the shadows, smiled without a word.
Especially when he saw the mountains of special crystals piled up that players obtained after completing his quests.
One must remember there has never been a free pie under heaven; the price of everything has long been marked behind the scenes.
Do they truly think all the heavenly treasures within this Long Ze are harmless good things?
The only pity was that he guessed one thing wrong about these crystals — they were not the true source of his Origin Points.
Rather, they were the special resources needed by him, a True Immortal, and the immortal-grade beings above him.
He had reached this conclusion after attempting to absorb the crystals the moment he first obtained them.
When he broke through to True Immortal in the past, the "satiation" he needed to satiate his hunger from devouring worlds was precisely these crystals. And later, why he felt appetite upon looking at the Mysterious Finger Bone was also because it contained this kind of crystal, and through that hunger and thirst he had stumbled upon another mysterious substance that could be transformed into Origin Points.
Let's not mention this for now.
For the moment, he would tentatively call this mysterious energy closely connected to the world the world's (planet's) "Vital Essence," or Essence Stone.
After this period of observation and research, he discovered this might be exactly what the game
Using vast numbers of players as his tentacles, constantly making contact with the native beings of the target world, through some method he currently did not know, as players continuously completed quests, he drew upon all the Vital Essence of this world, transforming it into tangible energy resources, thereby invisibly taking everything from a world.
In the darkness, Baichuan stared at the pile of Essence Stones before him, which were extremely tempting to True Immortals and those of realms above, his gaze deep and unreadable, lost in unknown thoughts.
……
Elsewhere.
In a place half forest sea half plain, on a Yao Shan where demonic qi pierced the skies, within a towering stone fortress.
Before long, a hoarse, unpleasant voice like sand and stone grinding rose — a sound that would make anyone uncomfortable merely hearing it.
"That fool Zhu Po Long really died?"
"And how did Yao Huang Da Di become like this?"
"A huge crowd of humans walking in and out as they please, and no Demon King to manage it?"
Looking at the report finally delivered by his subordinate, the pig-like being lying on the stone throne, its back bristling with countless sharp steel needles, could not help but widen those sharp eyes, somewhat startled. The needle-like bristles wreathed in white flame involuntarily set off a string of sparks with a clanging sound.
"Yes, my King."
The lesser demon below did not dare raise its head, trembling as it carefully answered.
"When did this happen? Why wasn't it reported?"
"A year ago… at that time, my King, you, you were still sleeping…"
"……"
"Damn it!"
"Who killed him?!"
After a long while, Baihao Yaowang, who had just recalled what had happened, cursed under his breath.
He cursed not only that fool, but also those other two fellows for not even sending him word.
Waking up to find everything changed — this was his true situation.
That was a Demon King of the same Pseudo-Immortal realm as him, just gone like that, vanished in the time it took him to sleep. Even his territory was occupied, and on top of that all sorts of strange changes…
For a moment, Baihao Yaowang, one of the Four Kings, could not help but feel a trace of unease. Especially regarding what they had done back then — could it be that person has returned…
That shouldn't be the case, those people shouldn't have deceived him…
Well, perhaps those people really did deceive them.
Thinking of the Essence Stones they had agreed upon back then, still undelivered to this day.
Could they be bullying an honest demon?!
Baihao Yaowang felt both anger and fear at this thought.
Unlike the other two Demon Kings who had backing — one being a descendant of the ancient divine beast Qin Yuan, the other having a close relationship with that person — he and the deceased Zhu Po Long were merely demons without any background, who had risen on their own.
Now, Zhu Po Long was already dead, and the other two hadn't notified him — could they have used him as a scapegoat?
"I, I don't know…"
"The Dragon King fell too quickly, the entire Long Ze was shattered, we only saw purple flames shooting into the sky…"
"Is that so…" Listening to his subordinate's reply, Baihao Yaowang grew increasingly uneasy, feeling this possibility was very high.
No, he couldn't keep sleeping here, he needed to do something.
Driven by his unease, he, who had been somewhat lazy in the past, decided to stand up.
But just at this moment, a sudden commotion came from the direction of the demon fortress's great gate…
(End of this chapter)
End of Chapter
