Chapter 639: The Final Stage of the Dungeon, the Sound of Wind Chimes

After passing the Second Stage, the dungeon became smooth sailing all the way.

Up until now, Jiang Chen hadn't obtained any rewards.

Aside from some experience and materials of little use, he hadn't even gotten a single decent piece of equipment.

This dungeon, so far, could only be summed up in one word: poor.

Not only was it poor in equipment, the experience was pitifully poor too.

Apart from the wave of experience gained right when entering the dungeon,

the little snowmen and the formation light orb from earlier gave zero experience.

If the Initial Stage and Middle Stage dungeons were leveling paradises, then the High Stage dungeon truly had nothing.

As they climbed higher along the mountain path, the wind and snow grew fiercer.

Here, even players over level 70 might not be able to stand firm.

The temperature had dropped to a terrifying degree; water freezing into ice was the most ordinary phenomenon.

Even Jiang Chen felt waves of chill at this moment.

The current low temperature was already enough to harm him, and the damage transfer skill kept working, transferring all damage to the Undead Legion.

The Soul Fire within the skeletons' skulls was also compressed somewhat by the cold.

Jiang Chen could sense that beneath the accumulated snow lay ice that had existed for who knows how many years.

Advancing against the bitter cold, there were no monsters along the way.

They continued until deep within the dungeon, where four square platforms appeared in view.

Behind the platforms was thick mist, with no path forward.

On the platforms were indentations that looked like keyholes.

Jiang Chen understood at a glance and immediately took out the elemental keys obtained from the Elemental Fortress.

Different platforms corresponded to different elemental keys.

For most parties, only one key was needed to unlock the next stage.

But Jiang Chen now had all four keys gathered.

He inserted the four keys one by one, and all four platforms rumbled simultaneously.

The rumbling grew louder, then the platforms exploded, transforming into their corresponding elements.

The four elements—wind, fire, water, and lightning—converged again, becoming four pillars of colored light shooting into the sky.

The clouds parted to reveal the sun, and a brand-new passage appeared before him.

This passage seemed to lead straight to the divine palace at the peak, stretching endlessly out of sight.

As the passage opened, waves of terrifying energy fluctuations emanated.

A large number of sleeping monsters awakened.

Every single one was over level 78, and they weren't ordinary monsters—at least Boss-level.

Under Soul Vision, the number and strength of the Bosses were fully visible.

The number of Bosses awakening was exactly four hundred, neither more nor less.

Jiang Chen mused, "If only one passage had been opened, the number of Bosses to face wouldn't be so many."

Jiang Chen's guess was correct; if only one passage were opened, he would only need to face a hundred Boss monsters.

Moreover, the awakening speed of the Boss monsters varied, and a strong party could use this time difference to clear them out one by one.

At most, the number of Bosses they'd have to deal with simultaneously wouldn't exceed four.

But now Jiang Chen had activated all four passages at once, and four hundred Boss-level monsters awakened together.

At his peak, he might have to face sixteen Bosses.

For any party, that would be a disaster.

After all, a party only had twenty-four members; facing sixteen Boss-level monsters at once was basically impossible to overcome.

The corner of Jiang Chen's mouth twitched slightly. "Is that all?"

Four hundred Bosses—too weak!

Before the Bosses could fully awaken and charge over, the Undead Legion had already rushed forward.

This was the final stage of the dungeon, and it still left Jiang Chen disappointed.

Although the Bosses' experience was high, much higher than ordinary monsters,

the quantity was truly too small.

A count of four hundred, even if the experience was ten times that of ordinary monsters, was only equivalent to four thousand ordinary monsters.

What's more, the experience wasn't even ten times higher.

If this was all there was, the High Stage Tianshan God Palace Dungeon was no longer suitable for him to level up.

Running this dungeon was less efficient than going to the Wind-Thunder Great Tree and clearing out all the Thunder Trees and Wind Flowers except for the Thunder Mountain range.

"Killed level 78 Flame Giant."

"Obtained: Flame Sword."

"Flame Sword: Quasi-Mythic Weapon, All Attributes +60000, all Fire Element skill power increased by 120%, attached skill: Scorch!"

"Scorch: Continuously deals damage to the target, duration 1 minute."

As a Fire Element Boss was killed, Jiang Chen harvested a Quasi-Mythic Weapon.

Though not particularly great, it wasn't bad either.

At the very least, its stats were far stronger than those of a Platinum Grade Weapon.

Even the worst Quasi-Mythic Weapon had attribute bonuses in the tens of thousands.

It casually gave bonuses of several tens of thousands.

For every Professional, a Quasi-Mythic Weapon would be a leap forward.

If paired with a good Skill, this Weapon would be extremely powerful.

The chieftains were killed one by one, and pieces of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment entered the storage space one after another.

Jiang Chen finally understood that high-difficulty instances were indeed not suitable for leveling up.

This place was meant for you to farm equipment.

Based on a drop rate of one in ten, even if only one passage was opened, that still represented ten pieces of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment.

Ask yourself, which Instance could produce ten pieces of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment in a single run?

Moreover, Jiang Chen had opened all the passages, so at least thirty to forty pieces of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment would come out at once—an astonishing haul.

Low and Middle Stage instances were for leveling up; high-difficulty ones were for farming equipment.

That way, you got both levels and gear.

"The Heavenly Mountain Divine Palace truly lives up to its reputation."

"Although the Difficulty is indeed a bit high, it has also brought a massive amount of resources to the Human Race."

Jiang Chen felt a sense of realization—it really was good.

Among the Human Race, there were not many high-level craftsmen.

Even if they gave it their all, they couldn't produce many pieces of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment.

As for genuine Mythic-level Equipment, don't even think about it.

Among the Human Race, the vast majority of Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment came from high-difficulty instances.

The importance of a high-difficulty Instance like the Heavenly Mountain Divine Palace, which could mass-produce Quasi-Mythic-grade Equipment, was self-evident.

With equipment, the combat power of Human Professionals could be greatly enhanced.

It wasn't just talk—a single top-tier piece of equipment could even change a Profession.

Unfortunately, all this equipment was utterly useless to Jiang Chen.

Jiang Chen had tried all kinds of equipment, and only the Monarch Scepter was useful to him.

The Undead Legion charged into the passages, slaughtering wildly all the way.

Whether it was a chieftain monster that had already awakened or one that hadn't, they just went up and hacked it down.

The Undead Legion's sheer unreasonableness was displayed to the fullest in this moment.

Jiang Chen didn't need to do anything; he just had to keep climbing along the path toward the peak.

Along the way, the sounds of battle never ceased.

Information kept popping up.

Jiang Chen drew closer and closer to the peak, until a formation appeared, blocking his path.

At this moment, he was only about a thousand meters from the Divine Palace at the summit.

He could already see the Divine Palace clearly.

The Divine Palace was exquisitely crafted, standing atop the mountain's peak.

The connection between the Divine Palace and the Mountain was just a single small point.

Yet even so, the Divine Palace remained extremely stable, showing not the slightest unsteadiness even in the fierce wind.

Wind chimes hung from the four corners of the Divine Palace, constantly clanging as the wind blew them, their sound faintly drifting over like a musical movement.

In the Instance's data, there was no record of the Divine Palace.

Some teams had once opened the passages and fought their way to the end.

At the end of the passages, they had seen the Instance's final boss.

After defeating the boss, they left the Instance, with no further developments.

However, they had all only used one key, while Jiang Chen had used four keys.

The Difficulty was more than four times greater, and the results he saw were somewhat different.

At the very least, the formation before him was not recorded in the data.

Nor was the sound of wind chimes coming from the Divine Palace.

If it had been, there would surely be a record.

The sound of the wind chimes was beautiful, carrying a faint trace of melancholy.

The sound of the wind chimes was a melody, and also a story.

Jiang Chen could sense the charm within it and became somewhat entranced.

It was as if he could see images from the sound, witnessing the story that had unfolded back then.

His soul force surged violently, affected by the wind chime's sound.

Morale was stirred, his soul roused, and his battle intent boiled.

Jiang Chen felt an urge to join the battlefield and fight the enemy bravely alongside the Undead Legion.

He realized this urge was abnormal, but he simply couldn't Control it.

"This isn't right, stop!"

Jiang Chen growled inwardly, struggling to Control his soul.

His will was fighting against his subconscious.

Suddenly, the Nine-Colored Dragon Soul Crystal let out a dragon's roar. Jiang Chen's whole body trembled, and he instantly calmed down.

Jiang Chen let out a long breath, recalling what had just happened—that feeling of being unable to Control himself.

"The power of the Law!"

He was still shaken, never expecting that the wind chime's sound carried a trace of the power of the Law, and he had fallen for it without even realizing it.

The four wind chimes at the four corners of the Divine Palace were extremely unusual.

Jiang Chen summoned all his Spirit; this place is no sanctuary.

He didn't regard the Instance, yet the Divine Palace atop the Tianshan Mountain peak is fraught with danger at every step.

Jiang Chen tightly guarded his soul, temporarily ceasing to focus on the Divine Palace.

The four hundred leaders in the passage have been almost completely cleared.

With the last leader's death, clouds swirled in all directions, and a massive amount of elements converged in the field.

The Mountain continuously trembled, and a colossal beast, wind‑laden with snow, descended from the heavens.