Yuanshi Tianzun
This sentence seemed to snap the voice of "Please Call Me Queen," filling her bright face with astonishment as she sized up Zhang Yuanqing with disbelief.
As an old salt who frequented the forum, she had heard of this genius from the Songhai branch, and she had actively participated in discussions about him.
Even though he was only a level 2 Night Watcher, he was a celebrity.
But she never expected to be matched with this genius in The Way of the Extraordinary.
“Yuanshi Tianzun, is it really you, is it really you?" The Queen looked excited, her eyes darting back and forth between Zhang Yuanqing and Guan Ya.
Guan Ya nodded slightly, "It's him."
"I actually got matched with you." Having received confirmation from her colleague in the Songhai branch, the Queen was even more excited. "When I get back to reality, I'm definitely going to brag on the forum and tell everyone I matched with Yuanshi Tianzun."
"Yuanshi Tianzun!" Huo De Xing Jun's eyes lit up, and he asked with a slightly excited expression:
"Is that Yuanshi Tianzun from the Songhai branch?"
Unknowingly, I've become an outstanding figure in the Transcendent realm, a big star...
Zhang Yuanqing smiled slightly, "I don't think there's a second Yuanshi Tianzun in the entire The Way of the Extraordinary, is there?"
The slightly chubby, round-faced youth "Chi Ou" asked in confusion:
"Yuanshi Tianzun, old brother, are you very famous?"
He was a wild walker and couldn't see the official forum of the Five Elements Alliance. Because his level was too low, and he didn't have a well-developed intelligence network, he hadn't heard the great name of Yuanshi Tianzun.
The Queen immediately said, "He's a genius from our official faction. He cleared two S-rank instances in a row. At level 1, he independently killed a level 3 Bewitchment Demon. At level 2, he single-handedly took down a level 6 Witch Gu Master. And, recently, he fought Li Xianzong alone, and almost got killed, but he stubbornly survived..."
No, he didn't need to say that last thing. Zhang Yuanqing, who was secretly pleased, froze slightly at the end.
The Earth Monster Chi Ou heard it and felt completely different. His mouth grew wider and wider, his expression more and more exaggerated. He looked at Zhang Yuanqing as if he were looking at an unattainable big shot.
A person like that is someone I can get matched with?
“Li Li Yuan Shang Cao”, who had a melancholic and calm temperament, also couldn’t help but repeatedly size up Zhang Yuanqing.
He usually didn't care about unfamiliar things, but after hearing such terrifying achievements and rich experience, he couldn't ignore this contemporary who wasn't much older than himself.
Clearing two S-rank Night Watcher instances, killing an evil profession above his level… Li Chunfeng immediately put away his negative and pessimistic attitude and said with surprise:
“I didn’t realize there was such a big shot hiding in the team. In that case, our odds of winning will be greatly improved. This game is playable.”
In fact, there was another big shot in the team. Guan Ya had been passively controlling her score, losing every non-death type instance she could. Her hidden score wouldn't be high, but her physical skills were ridiculously strong. Zhang Yuanqing naturally said:
“Then I’ll be the captain. Don’t worry, everyone, I’ll definitely lead you through Yin-Yang Town.”
"No problem!"
No one objected. Except for Huo De Xing Jun and the Queen, the others thought that the existence of a captain was to improve efficiency and reduce unnecessary disputes. As for who was the captain, it didn't make much of a difference.
Since there was a "big shot" in the team, it was best to let him be the captain. He could convince everyone.
Please Call Me Queen pouted, humming, "Then it depends on your performance. If you make a mistake in commanding, I'll seize power."
She didn't insist anymore.
I wonder how well I have to command to get the Gang Leader reward...
Zhang Yuanqing looked at the town behind him:
“Time is running out, let’s go in.”
The group passed through the Paifang and entered the ancient town.
At another entrance of the town, Li Xianzong looked down at the two companions lying on the ground, then at the four silent companions, and grinned:
“I’ll be the captain, no objections, right!”
A bald man hummed, "If you had said you were Li Xianzong earlier, who would have any objections."
A gaunt middle-aged man chuckled:
“But then again, we have two level 3s here, one of them being Li Xianzong. According to the matching mechanism, the Lawful faction over there will probably have some strong players.”
Li Xianzong said proudly, "Isn't that more interesting? It's best to match with one of the top ten Transcendent realm guys from the official faction. I'll kill one in The Way of the Extraordinary, and then kill Yuanshi Tianzun after we return. This trial mission will end early, and I can prepare for the mid-year dungeon."
Huo De Xing Jun asked, not understanding, "How do we find Granny Wang? I saw a shepherd grazing cattle outside just now. How come there's no one after we entered the town? Isn't this a deserted town?"
The hint they received was to find Granny Wang's house within ten minutes.
At this moment, they were walking on the quiet streets of the ancient town. There were no birds chirping or dogs barking. The doors of the houses on both sides were tightly closed. It was as if this ancient town only had them.
Li Chunfeng pointed out the Fire Master's mistake in a serious manner, "If this were a deserted town, why would they have us look for Granny Wang?"
Huo De Xing Jun was too lazy to think, and asked along, "Where is that Granny Wang? The ancient town is so big, who knows where she's hiding? We only have ten minutes. What was it, Queen, you've read the guide, right?"
“Please Call Me Queen” said while looking around:
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Yin-Yang Town is a constantly changing instance. The main theme is the confrontation between the Lawful and Evil factions. That doesn't change, but the process will change. In the few guides I've read, some were about finding Wang the Blacksmith, some were about solving a murder case in the town, some were about passing a maze, and the most terrifying was the Midnight instance."
“Midnight instance?” The round-faced youth Chi Ou asked curiously, “Why is it the most terrifying?”
"If we happen to match during midnight when we come in, the instance will have us stay at the inn, and someone will die every night. We must find the murderer before we can leave the inn, and we can't use skills." The Queen spoke eloquently.
"How long would that take? And they still lost?" Li Chunfeng
analyzed it and was very surprised.
“The Evil faction probably encountered something even more troublesome that time,” the Queen said:
"But the core of this level remains the same, which is to solve the problem and get the corresponding item, then we can leave this area, otherwise we will be trapped here forever. We don't know what problem we need to solve this time, we probably only know when we see Granny Wang."
She turned her head to look at Zhang Yuanqing, smiling charmingly:
“Tianzun, what do you think, old man? We need to find Granny Wang within ten minutes, and we've already used up four minutes.”
Seeing his teammates looking over, Zhang Yuanqing seemed to have noticed it long ago, saying:
"This isn't difficult. I've had a solution for a long time, I was just waiting for you guys to finish talking nonsense."
Saying that, he took a deep breath and shouted, "Granny Wang, where are you?"
He shouted five or six times in a row, his voice carrying further and further.
His companions beside him looked stunned, looking at each other, thinking he was crazy, was that how you found someone?
At this time, from the alley in the left front, an old woman with silver hair, wearing cloth clothes, leaning on a cane, and walking shakily came out.
Her face was covered with wrinkles, she was slightly hunched over, and her voice was old, "Who are you? What do you want with this old woman?" This works?! The teammates were stunned.
Huo De Xing Jun said, "How did you know she would come out if you shouted?"
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled:
"I didn't know, I was just trying. The ancient town is so big, it's impossible to find an old woman aimlessly within ten minutes. The Way of the Extraordinary won't give us an impossible problem from the start."
Huo De Xing Jun suddenly understood, "No wonder you're a powerhouse who cleared two S-rank instances."
Zhang Yuanqing led the crowd to meet her. He waited a few seconds first, and seeing that The Way of the Extraordinary didn't give any hints, he could only say, "Granny, we're strangers from out of town. We don't know if we can get a drink of water. We're also hungry, and we'll pay."
In this kind of situation without hints, the "players" usually need to trigger the plot themselves.
“Strangers from out of town…”
Granny Wang's slightly turbid eyes swept over everyone, and she said slowly, "Visitors are guests, come with me. No need for money."
Saying that, she turned around shakily, leaning on her cane and walking into the alley.
Zhang Yuanqing and the others immediately followed. The ground of the alley was paved with cobblestones, only allowing two people to pass side by side. It didn't get sunlight all year round, and it was humid, and the roadside was covered with moss.
There were many similar alleys in the ancient town, as dense as spider webs.
Guan Ya walked two steps quickly and whispered in Zhang Yuanqing's ear:
"Have you noticed that she's not wearing modern clothes? I don't know much about ancient history, and I can't tell which dynasty it is."
Guan Ya grew up abroad when she was a child.
"It looks a bit like the Song Dynasty, and a bit like the Tang Dynasty," Zhang Yuanqing said uncertainly.
Li Chunfeng behind him said:
"It's from the early Ming Dynasty. The clothing of the Ming Dynasty was completely different in the early, middle, and late periods. The commoners' clothing in the early Ming Dynasty imitated the Tang system, but it had some deviations from the Tang Dynasty, so it's easy to identify."
"In addition, the architectural style of this ancient town is also a relatively typical Ming Dynasty style. At least, the Tang and Song Dynasties were not like this."
As expected of a scholar, he is very knowledgeable. Zhang Yuanqing quickly looked at Guan Ya and said, "I was just about to say it was the early Ming Dynasty."
Guan Ya rolled her eyes at him and said in a low voice, "The background of Yin-Yang Sanren's activity is the early Ming Dynasty? This is consistent with the background of the Three Daoshan Niangniang."
Before Zhang Yuanqing could speak, Li Chunfeng said again:
"The instance background encountered in the Transcendent stage is either modern or Ming Dynasty, only these two. But as far as I know, the Song Dynasty will appear in the Saint realm instances. As for the
reason, I'm not very clear."
The instance background in the Transcendent stage is only modern and Ming Dynasty, while the Song Dynasty will appear in the Saint stage... That's right, last time in the Three Daoshan Niangniang Temple, the temple guardian once said that he wanted to tell the owner of the notebook a secret about the rise and fall of thousands of years...
I don't know if he was just fooling the disciples, or if it was true. Yin-Yang Sanren and the old hag are from the same era, I wonder if he has left any information here. I also have to pay attention to the hidden mission that the Demon Lord mentioned, but I haven't found any clues yet...
While thinking, Granny Wang led the group to an old house.
The door of the house was dilapidated, the door knocker was covered in rust, and it was locked with a copper lock.
Granny Wang fumbled for a long time, took out the key, and opened the door of the house.
The architectural style of this house is a standard courtyard house, with houses on three sides, leaving an open space in the middle, and the eaves of the houses on three sides piecing together a square courtyard. The biggest feeling this kind of house gives people is dimness and gloom.
In addition, due to the long history, the pure wood structure was covered with traces of decay, making it even more gloomy.
Granny Wang leaned on her cane, crossed the threshold, and looked back in the shadows:
“Come in…”
Zhang Yuanqing hesitated slightly, and Huo De Xing Jun strode across the threshold first.
The group entered the house and came under the courtyard. On the left side of the courtyard was a spacious living room, with a round table and a few round stools, covered with dust, as if it had been abandoned for many years.
"No guests have come to my house for many years, and this old woman's legs and feet are inconvenient, so I haven't taken care of it."
Granny Wang wiped the dust with her sleeve and said, "Please make do with it, I will pour you some tea."
Saying that, she leaned on her cane, her back hunched over, and entered the room on the right side of the courtyard.
At this time, Guan Ya lowered her voice and said:
“Look at the top…”
The top? Huo De Xing Jun subconsciously looked up, and suddenly gasped.
On the roof beams above everyone's heads, cats that had been skinned were hanging, like a meat forest suspended high up, their cat eyes wide open, eerie and terrifying.
Why did Granny Wang hang so many cats here? To make bacon? Zhang Yuanqing became vigilant.
Guan Ya continued:
"Did you guys see just now, the door of the house was locked."
"What's the problem?" The round-faced youth Chi Ou asked.
Guan Ya shook her head and said, "There's no problem with locking the door, but when I came just now, I visually measured the distance. It's only fifty or sixty meters from the main street to here, is it necessary to lock the door?"
In this kind of place, there is definitely no awareness of theft prevention. Granny Wang's legs and feet are inconvenient, so why bother locking the door for such a short distance?
Please Call Me Queen understood and pondered:
“She’s afraid that someone will sneak in while she’s not around, or that something in the house will sneak out?”
ps: Regarding the instance, I have always only had a general concept. I don’t have any detailed content at all, so every time I write an instance, I have to write and think about how the plot should go, and what the specific crises are.
I’m saying this not as nonsense, but to explain the reason for the slow updates (laughs)