Chapter 464: Yan Jing's Poor Start, Yan Jing Delivers...

Xu Feng refrained from using his abilities recklessly, instead carefully controlling his Weird Energy output bit by bit.

According to the information they had received earlier, this Domain was not simple. It likely involved the distant era of the Transcendent Tier.

At that time, there was no such thing as Weird Energy, so he first needed to investigate whether this place would suppress it.

Right from the start, he noticed something was wrong.

After feeling the Weird Energy in his body drain rapidly, he decisively cut off his output and reported the situation to Wan Yicheng.

Wan Yicheng furrowed his brow slightly, then nodded. "Understood. Keep scouting. If necessary, you can use an Abnormal Energy Recovery Potion."

"Understood."

Xu Feng nodded and headed deeper into the Sand Domain.

Their plan this time was to first crush the leading teams of the other two Domains, then fight among themselves to determine the final rankings.

As for exploring the secrets of the God Storage Land—

That person had already leaked the answers to them.

This place was once a proving ground for Deities.

As long as they passed all the trials in the end, they would receive the rewards.

And during this process, they could also collect the Heart of reaching the summit.

Therefore, exploring its secrets was not something they needed to consider.

First Ring Domain.

The upper levels of the First Building.

The Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman laughed. "I wonder who will win this time."

"Heh."

The Man in the Dragon-Patterned T-shirt, standing with his back to the two women, just smiled without saying a word.

Finally, the Moon Yin domain lord, who had remained silent until now, said softly, "If you want to watch, I have a way."

"I'm just afraid you won't dare."

Hearing this, the Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman's eyes lit up. She burst into laughter. "What a coincidence. I have a lot of confidence in our people this time."

The Man in the Dragon-Patterned T-shirt also laughed. "I quite like the kids of this generation too. They shouldn't lose."

With that said, the two waited for the figure beneath the sheer veil to speak.

A few seconds later, the white veil around the figure fluttered. A fossil-like eyeball slowly floated up from her hand, flying out the window to bloom with bursts of bright white light high in the sky.

At the same time, in the Inner World, a system prompt popped up in front of everyone.

[Attention: The status of this ranking tournament will be broadcast and recorded in text format in the Surface World.]

[The Surface World will see the matchmaking rosters, the win/loss records, and everyone's life or death status.]

[There will also be occasional broadcasts regarding gathered loot.]

[Please prepare yourselves accordingly.]

"Not bad."

Amidst a complex expanse of white jade stairs, a buzz-cut man wearing earrings stared at the system prompt and laughed loudly. "It seems this three-Domain merger has reached the point where it must be done."

On a wilderness covered in magma, a pale-faced man with hesitant eyes sighed. "Ah... isn't this a bit too flashy?"

"If we really run into them... to kill, or not to kill?"

"Glacial, located in the middle of several glaciers."

"Before the God Storage Land awakens, some frozen items or corpses can be seen beneath the ice layer."

"In this area, an excessively high concentration of Weird Energy will cause avalanches."

"If you need to break through the solid ice, it is best to rely on pure physical strength. But be warned, the broken ice will gradually recover."

"If your ice-breaking speed isn't faster than its recovery speed, you will likely end up frozen yourself."

"Additionally, after the God Storage Land awakens, some previously frozen creatures seem to have appeared in this area. Please be extra careful."

Everyone stared at the map in Yan Jing's hands, exchanging wide-eyed glances.

To be honest, this description was a bit too detailed.

If Yan Jing hadn't been the one to bring it out, they would all suspect it was a trap.

"So right now, we're on one side of the Glacial zone."

Looking at the map, Qi Ming quickly analyzed the situation. "Mountain ranges have peaks and valleys. We're currently in a valley. If we want to figure out our exact location, the best way... is to climb to the top."

"Captain, I'll go take a look first."

Mo Lian said, "You guys can check the ice layer at the bottom of the valley to see if there are really any items to collect."

After getting Yan Jing's approval, Mo Lian set off. Without using Weird Energy, she relied on pure strength and technique, darting dozens of meters upward in just a few leaps.

Meanwhile, Qi Ming pressed his ear against the ice and listened.

"There's breathing."

He spoke softly, gesturing for the others to lower their voices before touching his eyebrow.

An extremely thin stream of Weird Energy flowed out. Instantly, a layer of dark light covered his body.

Fifth Rite.

Eyebrow.

This was the Fifth Rite that Qi Ming had obtained with Yan Jing's help.

With this, he had completely gathered all five facial features.

Ear, nose, mouth, eye, and eyebrow. Among them, the eyebrow served as the "Life-Preserving Officer" of the five features; its primary ability was defense.

Qi Ming's ability possessed a similar effect.

Covered in the black light, he began clearing the loose snow from the patch of ice he had just listened to.

The white snow gradually diminished, revealing the hard, translucent layer of ice beneath.

When the snow was completely cleared, everyone's gazes unconsciously hardened.

Beneath the solid ice lay a massive black beast.

It resembled a gorilla, standing about three or four meters tall—slightly taller than a single-story building. Yet, it possessed a human face. Its two thick, massive arms were raised high as if about to smash down on them, and its brown eyes were currently staring fixedly at the group.

"This thing looks like it's alive."

Qi Ming took a deep breath, pressing his ear against the ice again to listen carefully.

This time, he didn't just hear the sound of breathing; he also caught an extremely faint heartbeat.

"It's alive. Weak points... wrists... ankles... abdomen..."

Black light flowed within Qi Ming's eyes as he called out the vitals of the creature before them.

But everyone quickly realized something was wrong. None of this creature's weak points were normal.

According to common sense, a biological creature's vitals were usually the heart, neck, or head...

Clearly, this thing might be different from ordinary living creatures.

"Clear away all the nearby snow, including the upper layer,"

Yan Jing said.

Everyone immediately got to work. A few seconds later, the scene previously buried by snow was completely exposed to them.

Four walls of ice.

Sixteen similarly strange creatures, piled on top of one another.

And all of them were aiming straight at the group.

Yan Jing narrowed his eyes.

If this were any ordinary day, he might just think he had bad luck.

But today was different. He smelled something unusual.

"If we had used too much Weird Energy output at the beginning..."

Qi Ming trailed off, his expression looking rather grim.

In such a cramped space, with sixteen unknown opponents, they couldn't even use their Weird Energy freely.

He had only seen a situation like this once before.

"I've already used my Honorary Title's ability to raise the Dungeon difficulty for Yan Jing and the Tianzi side."

In the Sand Domain, the second-in-command of the team—a gentle, refined man whose eyes always carried a smile—chuckled. "However, the side effect is that there's a 50% chance we'll be cursed with bad luck ourselves."

"It's not that easy to fall into bad luck."

Zhou Kai laughed. "Don't be so modest, Brother Xiao."

Although the side effect of Huang Xiao's title seemed to have a high probability, his very ability was controlling bad luck.

So in reality, that percentage would be greatly reduced.

A short while later, Xu Feng returned.

"There's a black boulder up ahead. I haven't encountered any danger for now."

"But I found this."

He pulled a very ancient-looking copper coin from his pocket. The back of it seemed to be engraved with several strangely shaped symbols, mottled with rust.

"Let me see..."

Shui Nianshuang took the coin and examined it closely.

Soon, the corners of her mouth curled up slightly. "This is a coin from that distant era. If I'm not mistaken, the words inscribed on it should read, 'If there were a hoe here, what a pity—'"

"A hoe... you mean... dig down?"

Zhou Kai's eyes lit up, and he smiled. "See what I told you, Brother Xiao."

Huang Xiao chuckled. "Looks like our luck is pretty good this time."

"Let me look." Wan Yicheng placed the copper coin in his palm, feeling it carefully, before finally nodding. "It definitely carries strong traces of flowing time. Be careful, and try digging down."

"It's just the beginning, so there's no rush to look for them. Since we found something, we can take a rough look."

At this moment, in the Surface World.

The entire Yueyin region was thrown into a frenzy following the appearance of the ranking leaderboard.

The crowd never expected they would actually get to see a scene straight out of a storybook.

Now, entering the homepage of any media platform allowed them to directly watch a live broadcast of the leaderboard hanging high above Yueyin, just like the previous Sin Live Broadcast.

Only this time, it was a text broadcast.

—

At present, most of the teams hadn't encountered each other yet, so there were only a few sparse messages.

[The player with the Honorary Title of 'Yi' has obtained a peerless treasure map. With this map, one can practically walk unhindered through the God Storage Land.]

[The player with the Honorary Title of 'Grave Digger' has obtained an item containing the Heart of reaching the summit, becoming the first player to obtain such an item.]

Upper levels of the First Ring Domain.

The Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman sat in an armchair, watching the leaderboard broadcast, and laughed. "A peerless treasure map... This little guy's luck is pretty good..."

"Rabbit, this wouldn't happen to be your arrangement, would it?"

She looked toward the figure beneath the white veil.

The Moon Yin domain lord's voice was frigid. "The one to claim the championship in the end will be Yicheng."

"Is that so? Doesn't look like it."

The Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman smirked.

Soon, new text surfaced on the leaderboard.

Seeing the first few words, the figure beneath the white veil gradually sat up, her lips unconsciously curling into a smile:

[The team led by the player with the Honorary Title of 'Full Moon'—]

Here it comes.

Her gaze held a trace of delight and unspoken smugness.

Beside her, the Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman sensed the change in the Moon Yin domain lord and sneered. "Heh, getting excited now, are we?"

But the next instant, the Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman stared blankly at the leaderboard, then burst into uproarious laughter.

[The team led by the player with the Honorary Title of 'Full Moon' has been misled and has walked in a completely wrong direction.]

"Hahaha!"

Despite the Moon Yin domain lord's ugly expression, the Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman made zero effort to hide her mockery.

The sharp, grating laughter pierced right into the Moon Yin domain lord's heart.

How is that possible...?

The Moon Yin domain lord subconsciously clenched her hands, her veins bulging.

Before she could even figure out what had gone wrong, new text appeared on the leaderboard the very next second.

[The team led by the player with the Honorary Title of 'Yi' has fallen into peril, becoming the first team to encounter Divine Monstrous Progeny.]

She didn't know why.

But when she saw that line of text, the Moon Yin domain lord breathed an involuntary sigh of relief.

Catching herself, she frowned, realizing her state of mind had slipped.

She shouldn't care so much about Yan Jing.

To her, he was nothing more than an ant she could crush on a whim. The only reason she had spared his life was because she still wanted to use him as a pawn.

So whether things went well or poorly for him shouldn't have made any difference to her.

Yet, her mood had genuinely improved.

Her brow relaxed.

"Oh my, should I say this little guy is lucky, or unlucky?"

The Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman chuckled. "Those things possessed by divine souls are incredibly tough to deal with."

"Little Dragon, you reached the Summit the latest. Have you ever encountered them?"

"...I've run into them two or three times."

The Man in the Dragon-Patterned T-shirt set aside his phone and spoke with his back to the two women. "They're definitely hard to kill."

"The most troublesome part about those things is that they have an extremely high resistance to Weird Energy."

"That little guy is in trouble."

Yet, when he finished speaking, neither the Tiger-Skin Skirt Woman nor the Moon Yin domain lord replied.

The man blinked in confusion. Seeming to realize something, he picked his phone back up, and his pupils abruptly shrank.

[The team led by the player with the Honorary Title of 'Yi' has slain all the Divine Monstrous Progeny, becoming the first team to achieve this feat.]

How is that possible...?

Beneath the white veil, the Moon Yin domain lord's expression turned even uglier.

The border region between Rainbow City and Ling'an City.

Inside the villa.

"Nice!"

Lin Xiaozai threw his right fist into the air, pumping it hard.

Beside him, Ren Tongtong bit down on a lollipop, shattering it in excitement.

—

"Miss Shen, how can you be so calm?"

Nearby, Xu Weizhou looked with some surprise at Shen Youran, who was slowly sipping her tea.

Even he was acting more excited than she was.

"You're making a fuss over nothing."

Wearing her old cotton pajamas, Shen Youran looked perfectly composed. "I have absolute confidence in my Xiao Yanzi."

To Xu Weizhou's right, the stoic-faced Fan Jue quietly glanced at Shen Youran's constantly trembling cotton pajamas and tactfully chose not to expose her.

"So this is a divine soul."

At the peak of the snowy mountain, the group stared at the light blue, crystal-like beads they had just extracted from those creatures.

Even though the objects before them didn't feel solid, they took on a spherical shape. Their fingers couldn't pass through them; a light touch made them feel like they would bounce away.

"What is this thing used for?"

Mo Lian, who had the shallowest background among them, asked in utter confusion.

"Before we came here, the village chief told me that divine souls are apparently useless for people at our Tier. Although they can strengthen the conscious spirit body, they can't be absorbed recklessly,"

Wang Gang said.

Beside her, Zhao Dongchuan nodded. "On the Precognition Society's side, the president gave us similar instructions."

"But since the mission requires it, it must have some other use later on."

Yan Jing nodded. "There are sixteen of them here. You each take two."

"Just wrap it in Weird Energy and keep it stored."

If it had been him from before, he would have simply agreed with Wang Gang and Zhao Dongchuan.

But now, all he had to do was switch his consciousness back to Wen Xu's identity and lightly skim his memories, and he would know that the true use of the things in front of him differed slightly from what those two had said.

There were two points in total.

First, they could mend a damaged soul or consciousness.

It was similar to what Wang Gang had said about strengthening the conscious spirit body, but the Deity's consciousness had to be eradicated first.

Second, they could condense a Deity's legacy.

However, that required a massive amount.

At a conservative estimate, it would take at least a thousand divine souls to take effect.

Moreover, it was hard to say what the legacy would even be.

It wasn't like God's Candidate Ticket, which guaranteed an ability.

It might just be a passage of text, an incomprehensible ritual, or even a negative effect.

In history, there was once a Domain that had its entire nation annihilated precisely because they gathered a thousand divine souls.

Put that way, the item sounded rather useless.

But for Yan Jing, it actually had some use.

At this very moment, in some unknown place inside his body.

Fei Yu, her hair styled in double buns and wearing a qipao, sat primly in a chair with a napkin resting on her lap.

A pile of yellow sunflower seeds sat upon it.

Opposite her, the Fear Bird reached out, picked one up, and popped it into its mouth, showing a somewhat intoxicated expression.

"Nice and crunchy."