Chapter 561: End of the Dungeon (Two-in-One)

{Dungeon settlement in progress...}

{Task "Great Whirlpool" evaluated. You successfully helped your chosen character survive this massive whirlpool and influenced the fate of everyone in the Great Prison. You saved the vast majority of its residents, killed two Ninth Tier entities, and killed the warden, Mu Tian, earning his acknowledgment. You also helped Mu Tian's son complete his wedding. Task evaluation: S+++ (Maximum is S+++)}

{Stage B overall evaluation: S+++}

{Reward settlement in progress...}

{Base rewards: 3% experience, 40,000 Eerie Coins}

{S+++ evaluation extra rewards: 90% experience, Ultimate Physical Enhancement Potion 1 (bound item), Ultimate Healing Potion 3 (bound item), Inner World Divine Envoy Box (bound item), Triple Experience Voucher * 1 (bound item), Divine Source (bound item), God's Candidate Ticket (bound item), Miracle: Reappearance (bound item)}

{Ding! You used a Double Experience Voucher in advance. Experience gained this time is doubled.}

[You have advanced to the Ninth Tier. Excess experience has been converted into experience for the next tier at a 50% ratio.] {Player Name: Yan Jing}

{Summit Climber: Yi}

{Player Level: Ninth Tier, Experience: 83.27%/100%}

{Rituals:

Day Selection Ritual: Fear Sapling (Black-Orange)

Calming Rite: Lord of Execution's Silk Thread (Orange)

Incense Burning Rite: Wings of Praying for Death - Chongming (Orange-Red)

Fula Rite: Stone Immortal (Semi-Corpus) (Red)

Shaolao Rite: Moonlight (Mutated) (Silver)

Tailao Rite: Peerless Laurel Crown (Sublimated) (Silver-Gold Markings)

Four Seasons Rite: Heart of God - Earth and Frost (Reshaped) (Silver-Gold)

Imperial Sacrificial Rite: Demon Blood (Gold)

Sheji Rite: Pending selection. [Your ranking on the Player Leaderboard has risen.] {Ding! You are ranked 37th on the Central Sector Leaderboard!}

{Ding! The Honorary Title of "Yi" will automatically spread throughout the Surface World!}

Yan Jing opened his eyes. He was still in his seclusion chamber, and everything looked exactly the same.

This closely matched Xiao Xin's report.

During his absence, the other domain lords had shifted their focus to the upcoming regional assessment, and most had already evacuated from Yueyin.

Judging by the time, it should be starting soon.

Wang Yu and Long Quezhou hadn't left.

They had relayed Yan Jing's warning to the other domain lords, but to little effect.

No one was willing to abandon the massive temptation of entering the central region just because of a few words from someone they weren't even close to.

After careful deliberation, Wang Yu and Long Quezhou ultimately chose to trust Yan Jing and withdrew from the Zodiac organization.

Their three vacant seats had already been filled by others.

Yan Jing hadn't expected the two to place so much faith in him. Because of this, upon emerging from seclusion, he notified Wang Yu and Long Quezhou in addition to Shen Youran and the Rabbit.

"Xiao Yanzi!"

Shen Youran lived closest to Yan Jing's seclusion chamber. Ever since he went into closed-door cultivation, she had stayed holed up at home, barely stepping outside.

She waved at him from a distance, practically skipping as she approached.

"Teacher Shen."

Yan Jing smiled. "Have you been well lately?"

"Good, good, I've been fantastic." Wearing a pure white gauze dress, Shen Youran circled Yan Jing, her beautiful eyes sparkling. "Xiao Yanzi, did you get even more handsome—"

"Thank you," Yan Jing replied with a smile.

The two exchanged updates, and Yan Jing told her he would need to enter seclusion again soon.

And time was extremely tight.

Shen Youran was a little confused, but she could read the gravity of the situation in his eyes.

Whatever was happening this time probably wasn't simple.

She didn't pry, merely reaching out in silence to grasp his hand.

It wasn't long before the Rabbit, Long Quezhou, and Wang Yu hurried over.

The three had been in a meeting together; the moment they received his message, they rushed right over.

"Senior."

Yan Jing looked toward the Rabbit and gave a slight bow.

But the Rabbit only frowned.

Leaning on his carrot cane, he circled Yan Jing clockwise once, then counterclockwise.

"How strange, how bizarre..."

the Rabbit muttered in disbelief.

Beside him, Wang Yu and Long Quezhou froze. They couldn't spot anything unusual about Yan Jing.

But the two had personally experienced the Rabbit's capabilities recently. Whether it was governance or problem-solving, his skills were absolutely top-tier.

To elicit that kind of expression from him—they certainly hadn't seen anything like it during this entire period.

"My experience has reached the Ninth Tier."

Yan Jing smiled.

Wang Yu and Long Quezhou gasped, their eyes going wide.

Ninth Tier—

It was a term that felt both intimately close and impossibly distant to them.

After all, it had only been a little over a month since Yan Jing reached the Summit—while they had been stuck at the Eighth Tier for decades.

The Twelve Ring Domains had produced a Ninth Tier! A thirty-year-old Ninth Tier!

Even in the central regions, he would absolutely be considered a genius among geniuses.

"Do you still have enough divinity?"

The Rabbit was relatively unfazed. He recalled that Yan Jing had given him some divinity last time, so he asked.

If Yan Jing said it wasn't enough, he would immediately return a portion to him.

"It's enough."

Yan Jing nodded.

His collection of Divine Items had long since reached an absurd level. Otherwise, his experience wouldn't have directly broken through to the Ninth Tier.

"What about for advancing to the Tenth Tier?"

At the Rabbit's words, Wang Yu and Long Quezhou's pupils shrank once again.

While they were still reeling from Yan Jing's advancement to the Ninth Tier, the Rabbit was already considering his breakthrough to the Tenth Tier.

Tenth Tier—

Was that really something to consider right now?

Shouldn't he first spend a few decades accumulating experience in the Ninth Tier, then spend another few decades painstakingly plundering opportunities to gather enough divinity, and finally complete one's own path—

Wasn't that how advancement was supposed to work?

The two felt their worldview taking a severe beating.

Yet Yan Jing's expression remained as calm as ever. "It should be enough."

If it wasn't enough, he still had ways to scrape more together.

Thinking of the soon-to-arrive Hermit, Yan Jing maintained his calm composure. "I need to go into seclusion for another period of time."

"You really should start thinking about your own path," the Rabbit said. "The minimum requirement for advancing to the Tenth Tier is to forge one's own path. Furthermore, it is the difference between clouds and mud when it comes to a Tenth Tier with a complete path versus an incomplete one."

"During this time, you'd best ground yourself in your heart of reaching the summit and carefully think about how you'll proceed from here."

Yan Jing was taken aback for a moment.

He actually hadn't considered the point about finding his own path. The Rabbit's words perfectly saved him the trouble of finding an excuse.

"Is one's own path closely related to the heart of reaching the summit?"

He had previously heard Wang Yu and Long Quezhou mention that the heart of reaching the summit was the prototype of one's own path, but he didn't know the specific details.

"You could say they share the exact same origin."

The Rabbit looked at Wang Yu and Long Quezhou. "You two probably haven't found your own paths yet, right?"

Hearing this, the two smiled awkwardly.

Looking at the chain of contempt:

A Tenth Tier with a complete path > a Tenth Tier with an incomplete path > a Ninth Tier > an Eighth Tier with one's own path > an Eighth Tier without one's own path. The two of them were essentially at the absolute bottom among the Summit Climbers.

"Don't look in the wrong direction."

The Rabbit sighed. "The heart of reaching the summit is indeed the prototype of one's own path, but if the heart of reaching the summit is the result, then one's own path doesn't refer to the method of achieving it, but rather the extension that follows after."

"What is your heart of reaching the summit?"

He looked at Wang Yu.

"To become a king."

Saying the word "king" in front of the Rabbit and Yan Jing made Wang Yu blush slightly.

"Then you shouldn't think about how to become a king anymore, but rather, after becoming one, what kind of king you want to be. How should a qualified king act?"

When the Rabbit finished speaking, Wang Yu's gaze grew unfocused.

Then, looking deep in thought, she turned around, walked over to a distant tree, and sat down beneath it.

She frowned slightly, murmuring to herself, as if the Rabbit's words had truly awakened her, sparking an earth-shattering transformation in her mind.

After that, the Rabbit spoke with the eagerly waiting Long Quezhou beside him, and soon enough, Long Quezhou fell into the exact same state.

Finally, the Rabbit looked at Yan Jing.

"Don't even bother overthinking it. Your heart of reaching the summit is definitely far from ordinary."

Yan Jing blinked.

"The aura of time on you has grown even heavier."

The Rabbit sighed. "Did you see the River again?"

"No."

Yan Jing smiled, just thinking about how to explain it, but Tu Qi waved his hand. "Forget it, don't tell me. I have zero interest in that River."

"Alright, hurry up and go into seclusion."

Tu Qi leaned on his cane and turned around. "Remember what I told you last time."

With that, Tu Qi vanished from the spot.

What he said last time—

Yan Jing thought of the figure Within the Great Curtain, knowing Tu Qi was warning him.

After comforting Shen Youran with a few words, he immediately returned to his seclusion chamber and closed his eyes.

By the time he slowly opened them again, he had already appeared before the great curtain.

It was still the familiar prayer mat, the incense burner, the starlit swirling great curtain, the slowly rotating giant stars, and the shattered Domains.

This time, the black shadows Within the Great Curtain had completely vanished.

Towering figures stood behind the great curtain, all gazing simultaneously at Yan Jing.

Their expressions were vastly different from when they had seen Yan Jing previously.

In the past, whenever Yan Jing entered, their faces had mostly brimmed with smiles, excitement, and thrill.

But this time, some had greed in their eyes, some held anticipation, while most of their gazes emanated a bizarre, chilling malice.

Those figures seemed much taller and sturdier than before, having grown from normal human proportions into statue-like existences, their bodies completely motionless.

Yan Jing's expression was calm as he looked at those faces he had seen before. They still retained a final trace of lifelike vitality.

But they could no longer move.

Yan Jing could feel that the emotions in those gazes were already "dead."

The only reason they still gave off the feeling of having expressions was because they had been frozen in their final moment.

Those figures were looking toward him.

But in truth, they weren't looking at him.

They must have been looking at someone else.

And in that very instant, they died, forever trapped in that single second.

Yan Jing looked at those previously familiar faces:

Han Qi, surrounded by fluttering ribbons.

The masked fox.

The little girl carrying a giant hammer.

He cast a quick glance over them and noticed that the two who had stepped forward to trade for the eighth Rite with him last time—the blindfolded woman holding a flute and the youth wearing red headphones—were both missing.

Just as he took a deep breath, preparing to continue accommodating his Ritual, an Old Man stepped out from behind the crowd of "petrified" figures.

It was different from last time. Back then, although Yan Jing could tell the figure was elderly, he couldn't see specific details. Even the figure's voice had carried an aura interwoven with the passage of time, and his face was distorted, as if censored by a mosaic.

But this time, Yan Jing saw the figure's true appearance.

A face full of wrinkles, grayish-white hair, looking as if he were in the twilight of his life.

The amount of wrinkles on the figure's face far exceeded that of a normal old man, covering almost every inch aside from his eyes. His mouth, in particular, looked as though every lip line connected to more wrinkles, resembling a crumpled ball of paper.

"You've come."

The crumpled, paper-like mouth squirmed twice, and Yan Jing once again heard that voice, sounding as though it had traveled from ancient antiquity.

"I have."

Yan Jing nodded.

"You came very quickly."

The figure spoke softly. "But you are still one step too late—"

"Did something happen?"

Yan Jing's expression was calm.

"Things Within the Great Curtain are rapidly deteriorating. It is no longer suitable for our survival. Not just them—even thousands of miles away, even across Wanli, aside from those with world-shocking talent, the vast majority of people have already suffered excessively severe contamination."

"In order to prevent further mutations, I had no choice but to take action and seal them away."

Yan Jing had originally thought the Old Man would weave a story, but he hadn't expected him to directly admit he was the one who did this to these figures.

He reached out a hand, conjuring scene after scene across the great curtain: withering mountains and rivers, bursting riverbanks, oceans turning pitch-black—

Yan Jing had seen this exact scene before in the Great Prison.

"We need your help."

The Old Man spoke softly.

"Give me a reason."

Yan Jing remained expressionless. "I'm not particularly familiar with the great curtain."

"I'll give you this, to serve as your ninth Ritual—Ritual—"

An orb of light materialized in the Old Man's palm.

He slowly repeated the word 'Ritual' twice, and then a hint of a smile appeared on his crumpled, paper-like mouth. "That is a good word. Your system is quite excellent; it's not something we outdated relics can compare to."

Yan Jing stared at the dreamlike orb of light.

He couldn't make out what was inside it at all.

He could sense only one thing from it, and that was unparalleled power.

It was vastly more powerful than any item Yan Jing had ever seen.

It even surpassed the eye he had seen previously in Minhu.

This was an overwhelming suppression on a completely different level.

Yan Jing simply couldn't compare it to anything he had encountered before.

The moment he tried to compare something to it, his mind would subconsciously deem that other object to be utter trash.

"Spirit of the Curtain."

The Old Man murmured, "There are only three of these pieces Within the Great Curtain. I have decided to give one to you, as long as you agree."

"No need."

Yan Jing refused cleanly and decisively. The Old Man, however, remained exceedingly placid. With a smile on his face, it seemed he had long known Yan Jing would decline.

"I know you have ambition."

"You can refuse it, but the other two pieces of the Spirit of the Curtain have already been given out. One day, you will meet their masters. When that time comes, you'll understand what a correct decision it would have been to accept this."

The Old Man said softly, "This realm you reside in is called the Land Before the Curtain. By offering items from the outside world to the great curtain in the Land Before the Curtain, the great curtain absorbs the power within them, and you obtain the purer portion."

"But the great curtain has limits. The Tenth Tier—it can only take you to the Tenth Tier at most."

"Therefore, once you advance to the Tenth Tier, you will no longer have any way to use this method to make exchanges."

"Simply put, your path will be severed. You'll have to keep searching for a new road to walk forward."

"Once you reach that step, whether you want to proceed and how you'll proceed will both be unsolved mysteries."

"And the Spirit of the Curtain is equivalent to what you call a Divine Throne. It will point you in the direction you should go."

"I know you don't believe me, but that's fine."

"We will meet again one day."

The Old Man smiled. "After advancing to the Ninth Tier, you only need to think of the great curtain to see the great curtain."

"I will be waiting for you."

After speaking, the Old Man turned around and slowly walked off into the distance amidst the crowd of figures, gradually fading from sight.

And with his departure, the entire great curtain turned pitch-black.

Yan Jing's expression remained calm. He knew that the Old Man hadn't gone far, nor had he given up.

He had planted a hook in his heart.

Yan Jing hadn't chosen to make the trade because the risks were too great and the necessity too small. But there would come a day when that necessity would skyrocket, and the Old Man was betting on that day's arrival.

As he thought of this, the great curtain before him seemed to light up once more.

That orb of light appeared in the center of the great curtain, hovering quietly, waiting for Yan Jing to reach out and touch it.

All he had to do was touch it.

And he would instantly gain power that could crush the Tenth Tier, and perhaps even—

Abilities approaching those of a god.

Could anyone resist such a temptation?