Chapter 409: The Shocking Diamond Box!!!

Opening his eyes to the familiar sight before him, Yan Jing took a deep breath.

He hadn't spent that long inside the Dungeon this time, but it felt to him as though time had doubled.

Ever since he entered the courtroom, his emotions had been in a rare, continuous state of intense fluctuation.

Now that he had finally left the Inner World, he felt as if he could let out a long breath of relief.

He walked over to the sofa and lay down, his gaze settling on the ceiling.

He lay there in a daze for half an hour. Only when he felt he had sufficiently adjusted his mental state did he finally dial Shen Youran's number.

"Hello? Teacher Shen, I'm out."

He hung up the phone. A few minutes later, Shen Youran pounded energetically on his door.

Yan Jing opened it, and a white blur instantly lunged at him.

He caught her steadily.

"?"

Shen Youran looked up at Yan Jing blankly, visible confusion in her eyes.

Then she hopped out of his arms, formed a gun with her fingers, and pointed it at him.

"There's something wrong with you! Who are you? Why are you pretending to be my Xiao Yanzi?"

Normally, Yan Jing would have just dodged out of the way, but this time was different.

Without waiting for him to answer, she stared at his face thoughtfully before finally nodding. "I get it. I understand everything now."

"What do you understand?"

Yan Jing didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Shen Youran didn't answer. Instead, she pulled him by the hand, led him inside, and pushed him down onto the sofa.

Once again, without waiting for him to speak, she marched straight into the kitchen. "Coffee or tea?"

Startled, Yan Jing started to stand up. "The tea leaves are—"

"Don't move!"

Shen Youran hurried back and shoved him back down onto the sofa.

"You just sit there. I'll handle it."

Soon, two steaming cups—one of tea and one of coffee—were placed on the coffee table.

"Drink up."

Shen Youran wiped the sweat from her forehead and waved her hand grandly.

"Both of them?"

Yan Jing blinked.

"Drink whichever one you want."

Shen Youran smiled proudly.

"Alright."

Yan Jing picked up the coffee, while Shen Youran took the tea.

"Teacher Shen, I've reached the Sixth Tier. I should be accommodating the Tailao Rite today," Yan Jing said after taking a sip of his coffee.

But Shen Youran acted as if she hadn't heard him. "How was the Dungeon this time?"

Yan Jing blinked again. "The environment was beautiful, the missions were easy, the sunshine was warm, and it was a relaxing experience for both body and mind—"

"Liar!"

Shen Youran wrinkled her nose and leaned in close to his face.

Their faces were mere inches apart. Looking into Shen Youran's serious fox-like eyes, Yan Jing suddenly understood why she was acting this way. A gentle smile formed on his lips. "Alright, I'm a little tired—"

"You need rest, Xiao Yanzi."

Shen Youran pulled back and buried her face in the steam rising from her teacup, hiding her expression.

"But I think I'm still okay."

Yan Jing chuckled.

"Not okay. Not okay at all."

Shen Youran shook her head. "You're tired. Very, very tired."

"But there's no time left." Yan Jing didn't deny her words.

"I know."

The two of them fell into a brief silence.

A few seconds later, Shen Youran's voice broke the quiet. "I'm sorry, Xiao Yanzi. I can't help you with anything anymore—"

Her face remained buried in the steam, but with Yan Jing's current senses, he clearly saw her tear-filled eyes and the way her expression had uncontrollably crumpled.

It was an ugly crying face.

Yan Jing smiled softly. He reached out and wiped her cheek. "You've already helped me a lot, Teacher Shen."

"Besides, I feel like all of you have been helping me this whole time."

He said "all of you."

This included every friend he had met along the way.

"Thank you."

He then calmly recounted the events of the Dungeon, making only a few slight alterations to the story.

"I had a role-playing mission this time. I was a cat, and my identity in the Dungeon had a father who was a rat—"

Shen Youran wiped away her tears. After listening quietly to his story, she understood everything.

In her eyes, Yan Jing had never experienced a father's love growing up in the Yan Family, so clashing with a father figure he actually acknowledged had caused this friction—

What she didn't know, however, was that Yan Jing's actual condition was a bit worse than she imagined.

Finally, she pursed her lips and said, "Actually, I think... there's no need for you to be so conflicted about it, Xiao Yanzi—"

"If you weren't fully immersed in the role, then this is just a beautiful memory for you. That's how role-playing Dungeons are—you experience someone else's life and leave behind a story."

"And if you truly did immerse yourself in it, Xiao Yanzi, then the way I see it... that Rat really did treat you well. Fathers are just like that. There are some things they can't express clearly. In a family, they're often the most awkward and sentimental characters. Especially since you're a son, not a daughter. Our Yueyin isn't all that open-minded, so you rarely see fathers and sons pouring their hearts out to each other. Anyway, it just means—"

As she spoke, Shen Youran's eyes reddened again.

She, too, had lost her father.

Yan Jing listened to the end and laughed softly. "You're right, Teacher Shen. Come on, drink your tea."

The two clinked their cups together.

Just like that, they spent the entire morning without discussing anything related to cultivation, treating it as a brief holiday for themselves until the afternoon.

Returning to the matter at hand, the two of them began to reap the spoils of his victory in the Dungeon.

In the end, Yan Jing chose not to tell Shen Youran about the Seven Stars Token.

The Sixth Tier seemed a bit too low to him. It might have far surpassed Shen Youran's current Tier, but it still wasn't enough.

That only left the Diamond Box.

Yan Jing still hadn't used the items he received from his previous Diamond Box, but they were unquestionably top-tier treasures.

One was Survivor 6000.

It was a defense system capable of self-evolution. Yan Jing had deployed one in Ling'an, while the other remained unused for now.

Over this period, the Survivor 6000 set up in Ling'an had automatically gathered quite a few resources. Originally capable of empowering the Sixth Tier, it was now steadily advancing toward being able to empower the Seventh Rank.

This was somewhat unexpected for Yan Jing. He had thought its progression would be extremely slow, but it had already completed a third of the way from the Sixth Tier to the Seventh Rank. However, as the surrounding resources gradually dwindled, its pace was now beginning to slow down.

The other item was the Mysterious Finger Bone.

It was Yan Jing's ultimate trump card.

Right now, the only thing he possessed that could rival the finger bone in value was likely the Divine Source.

Because of this, Yan Jing was very much looking forward to what would come out of this new Diamond Box.

He took the Diamond Box out of his Inventory. While Shen Youran used to be shocked by this sort of thing, she was now completely used to it.

Yan Jing lightly pressed his hand against the box. With a sharp click, the lid popped open.

A number jumped out from a hazy cloud of mist inside.

"3"

Not bad. Last time, the number was "2".

The value of an Inner World Box wasn't fixed. According to various scholars, the rewards generally fluctuated within a certain range, which meant that a "3" was bound to be more promising than a "2".

They agreed on a plan: whoever had the worse luck would pull the first item as a "sacrifice," and then the other would open the remaining two.

This led to a minor dispute.

They both believed they were the unlucky one.

In the end, Shen Youran killed the debate with a final ruling: "You earned the box, so you get the lion's share." Thus, she secured the spot as the sacrificial puller.

"Here I go!"

Shen Youran reached into the box and rummaged around. Suddenly, she felt something with distinct edges and corners. The object instantly grew incredibly heavy in her hand. Her eyes widened, and she yelled, "Xiao Yanzi, help me out!!!"

Yan Jing hurried forward to lend a hand. Working together, the two of them dragged out a small white mountain.

Staring at the waist-high mound before them, they exchanged a glance, both seeing the joy in each other's eyes.

Dazzling white light filled the entire room. The small white mountain looked like a bright star that had fallen to the mortal realm, shining resplendently.

It didn't come with an item description, but Yan Jing didn't need one.

He was already intimately familiar with the object in front of him.

A White Stone.

An enormous White Stone.

Back then, he had obtained a White Stone from the Platinum Box. It had been about the size of a fist, and its value had already been staggering.

If converted, the mass of this particular White Stone would likely exceed even San Shan's cage. He could only imagine the bloodbath it would trigger if it ever appeared on the open market.

White Stones could not only seal away weird energy but also suppress mutations in the Surface World.

For others, it might only help high-tier experts extend their lifespans slightly and stabilize their conditions, but Yan Jing's Vessel was the White Stone Cage!

With the evolution of his other Rituals and items, the boost the White Stone provided him had gone from a lifesaver to mere icing on the cake. But with this massive new White Stone, everything would change again.

As Yan Jing's fingertips lightly brushed against it, the White Stone mark on the back of his right hand instantly surfaced. The small mountain before him flickered violently, emitting a humming roar. Moments later, it dissolved into countless ribbons of light and merged into the White Stone within Yan Jing's body.

A white bracer began to grow, extending upward from Yan Jing's fingertips until it rapidly formed an entire arm guard. It didn't stop there. It continued spreading until it completely covered the right side of his chest. When Yan Jing casually clenched his fist, a terrifying sonic boom erupted.

The air itself had been crushed, instantly forming a spiraling cyclone.

The distant curtains and several lightweight objects were pulled several meters toward him before clattering to the floor.

Furthermore, Yan Jing tested it out and discovered that with the increase in the Power of the White Stone, he could now transfer its coverage to his wings, his scissors, and his Piano. This was an entirely new development.

"Next! Next!"

Shen Youran cheered, her fox-like eyes narrowing into happy little crescents.

Yan Jing reached into the box. The object he touched this time felt completely different from the last. It was weightless, almost like a piece of paper.

Yan Jing's spirits lifted. Could it be a God's Candidate Ticket?

After so many mission rewards, the one he couldn't forget was still the God's Candidate Ticket.

He couldn't help it; Xiao Xin was just too sinister.

If an imitation divine artifact like the Potion of Heracles was enough to leave someone reborn and remade, then a God's Candidate Ticket was an item that could truly rewrite one's fate.

Soon, he pulled his hand out. The light faded, leaving a palm-sized slip of paper resting quietly in his palm.

Unfortunately, it wasn't the item he had been hoping for.

It was a blood-red piece of paper. It bore no text or patterns—just a pure, unadulterated crimson that made anyone who looked at it involuntarily lean in, as if wanting to step straight into it.

[Item Name: Blood Promissory Note (from a true Deity)]

[Quality: A Deity's item needs no quality to prove its worth]

[Tier Requirement: This Deity's generosity means that people of all Tiers can afford to use it] [Effect: You can use it on your next advancement to conduct a transaction with the Deity who issued it. You will obtain a portion of this Deity's power and integrate it into your body. However, there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world. You will owe a massive debt. You can choose to repay it in one of three ways: 1. Sacrifice the lives of others to him; 2. Sacrifice your own life and the lives of your closest kin to him; 3. Have an entity stronger than you "voluntarily" shoulder this debt for you] [Description: Although it is a promissory note, this is no dime-a-dozen trash. The Deity who created it is still alive in this world. Even if it has not reached the apex, it is already beyond comparison for any mortal. Remember, when using it, there are only two things to keep in mind: 1. What is borrowed must be returned. This is an unchanging truth; those without credit will be destroyed. 2. The more you borrow, the more you must repay]

Yan Jing frowned as he looked at the promissory note.

It wasn't that the item lacked power.

On the contrary, for many radicals, this was an item capable of altering fate.

But—

He didn't consider himself a radical person.

Moreover, if he used this slip of paper and tried to default on the debt later, it would mean going head-to-head with a Deity.

That was not a situation he wanted to see.

Still, it was a good item.

First, it could be used in a life-and-death struggle.

Second, he could perhaps try using the third method to pay it off.

Beside him, Shen Youran shared his sentiment. Anything involving a Deity couldn't possibly be garbage; it all depended on how it was used.

"The last one."

Yan Jing took a deep breath.

This box had already met his expectations.

It just remained to be seen whether that first White Stone was the box's baseline guaranteed reward. If it wasn't, then this box was a massive profit.

He reached his hand into the box. Soon, he felt a lump of something.

The texture of the item was very strange. It felt like it had sharp edges and corners, yet it seemed capable of changing shape at will, suddenly becoming incredibly soft a moment later.

Yan Jing pulled the "item" out.

It was hard to clearly articulate just what this thing in front of him was.

Strictly speaking, it appeared to be a bizarre cluster of light.

But when Yan Jing and Shen Youran read its effects, both of them were somewhat shocked.

[Item Name: A Wisp of Qi from the Heaven-Patching Stone]

[Quality: ???]

[Tier Requirement: None]

[Effect: As A Wisp of Qi from the Heaven-Patching Stone, it can patch anything—except for matters involving those Deities who stand at the end of the path. If no Divine power is involved, it can be used three times. If it involves the power of a Deity outside of the apex, it can only be used once. After all, it is incomplete itself—just a wisp of Qi—and cannot truly patch the heavens]

[Description: The Heaven-Patching Stone is a distant legend. It has long since vanished under the erosion of time. Even if a few fragments of stone remain, they have been hoarded as much as possible by those greedy Deities. The fact that a wisp of its Qi has survived is an extreme rarity in itself. Patch it up, and make it through another year.]