Chapter 194: S-Class Dungeon?

Chapter 194 S-Rank Instance?

Seeing the glass doors swing open of their own accord, then shut themselves, Xiao Yuan's brow arched. She raised a hand, plucking a slender bamboo tube from the void, and blew gently.

A sweet, cloying, colorless scent spread rapidly through the hotel lobby.

*Thud.*

A figure tumbled out, crashing onto the floor three meters from the front desk. The person wore a duckbill cap and a mask, limbs flailing weakly as they struggled to rise, but to no avail.

Xiao Yuan sneered: "Skulking about."

She then frowned, displeased: "I told you not to come to the hotel recently. Did my words go in one ear and out the other?"

Even without seeing his face, Xiao Yuan could identify Yuan Shi Tianzun at a glance by his height and build.

She was angry—angry at his unilateral decision-making, angry that he acted without thinking, deaf to reason.

Zhang Yuanqing struggled a few times, saw he couldn't rise, and simply played dead, answering her question instead.

In a low, grave tone, dead serious:

"I was worried about you. Though with my rank and abilities, if we truly encountered an enemy capable of threatening you, I'd only be sending myself to death. But I still wanted to see for myself. Otherwise I couldn't eat or sleep in peace."

Xiao Yuan's expression visibly blanked for a moment.

Zhang Yuanqing continued: "But you said not to come, and wouldn't tell me what happened. I know your temperament—asking is useless if you don't want to speak. So I came secretly."

He wore an aggrieved look: "And here you are, poisoning me before you've even laid eyes on me."

He worries for me, knows full well he'd be hard-pressed to help if real danger came, yet still came in secret... Xiao Yuan's gaze suddenly dropped, lashes trembling. She snorted coldly:

"What could happen to me? Master Wuchen holds the fort at the hotel—even your official elders wouldn't dare act rashly. Though he's disinclined to act, forbidden from killing, if true danger came, getting me out would still be within his power."

The tone was tsundere, but the cold, beautiful expression softened rapidly.

Her attitude shifted fast. Ling Jun's trash analysis was right—Xiao Yuan's the type with a frosty, tsundere exterior but a soft heart, and she craves care... Zhang Yuanqing saw this and knew his stratagem had worked.

Ling Jun had said this type of auntie has excellent expression control—she'd never let herself show being moved. So he needed to probe further... Zhang Yuanqing called out:

"Auntie Xiao Yuan, what poison is this? So strong—I've no strength in my whole body."

Xiao Yuan's beautiful eyes looked down, voice flat:

"Paralytic toxin. Wait it out—it'll resolve itself in ten minutes."

Zhang Yuanqing feigned shock: "Eh? Just paralytic toxin? That's not right..."

Xiao Yuan frowned slightly: "What's not right."

Zhang Yuanqing said: "I feel feverish all over, burning with desire. Auntie Xiao Yuan, did you slip me an aphrodisiac? No time to lose—let's hurry to a room and detoxify."

...Xiao Yuan let out a "heh," ignoring him.

Not angry? She doesn't mind me saying such lewd things to her face! Zhang Yuanqing rejoiced inwardly. Per Ling Jun's words, when a woman doesn't mind you telling dirty jokes, it means her tolerance for you has grown large enough for verbal teasing.

Treatment reserved for the closest of friends.

Ten minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing's limbs recovered. He rose from the icy floor tiles, dusted off his backside, circled past the front desk, and sprawled unabashedly onto the lounge chair where Xiao Yuan rested.

Throughout the entire process, Xiao Yuan said nothing, tacitly accepting his actions.

Zhang Yuanqing no longer jested; gazing at Xiao Yuan's back, he spoke with a serious expression:

"Do you know who's tailing you? Have you been in contact with anyone recently? Did you catch the stalker."

Xiao Yuan didn't turn around, staring at the hotel entrance, and said:

"I've only done two things recently: one was helping you hunt down the Bewitching Demon, the other was visiting the black market run by the War God Bishop. The tail was extremely cautious; the moment they sensed I'd spotted them, they withdrew immediately."

The one tailing her was either a Spirit Realm Walker from the Jinshan City Branch, or the War God Bishop... Zhang Yuanqing mused silently.

Xiao Yuan added: "Right, after the Demon-Eye Heavenly King was captured, a new manager arrived at the black market and launched another investigation into you. But from my observation, he isn't particularly keen on investigating you and the Slaughter-Stopping Palace Master; he likely just wants to track down the Demon-Eye Heavenly King's whereabouts."

Zhang Yuanqing nodded: "Doesn't matter. As long as it's not a Heavenly King-level powerhouse hunting me, everyone else can be ignored."

Given the current fame and status of the Primordial Heavenly Venerate, there were far too many evil professionals coveting him in the shadows; one simply had to get used to it.

He continued:

"I'll look into the Jinshan City Branch. As for the War God Bishop, don't go to the black market for a while. Though the mastermind only sent someone to tail you, with no further moves, we can't be too careful.

"Hiding like this forever isn't a solution. In a while, if you feel you're being followed again, we'll have to deal with it."

Xiao Yuan still had her back to him:

"Mm.

"Not competing today?"

Zhang Yuanqing: "Don't know, who cares. What's a tournament compared to Auntie Xiao Yuan?"

"Heh!" Xiao Yuan sneered: "With your strength, the quarter-finals are pretty much your limit. Going further will be hard; stopping here isn't bad either."

"Hmph, crude goading. Watch me bring you back a championship."

"It's not goading. You should know your own limits."

"Auntie Xiao Yuan, you're not virtuous at all. You should know how a good wife and mother ought to cheer her man on at a time like this. Sigh, can't stay in this place, I'm leaving."

"Why haven't you scrammed yet?"

"Out of boundless mercy, I'll keep you company a bit longer."

…

Bar Street.

The bar at the street corner, its doors shut tight.

The bar's interior was vast; walls had been knocked through to create a space rivaling a grand hall.

In the center of the hall stood a crystal-clear pool, beside which sat a circular water bed four meters in diameter. Scantily clad women—some curled asleep on the bed, others frolicking in the pool.

A long table by the pool was laden with sumptuous delicacies and fruit; regardless of whether they were finished, the food was replaced every two hours.

The Lust God General, dark-skinned and gaunt, lounged lazily in a cushioned chair, two beauties kneading his shoulders on either side, two more at his feet massaging his thighs.

Yet another beauty peeled grapes for him, feeding him melons and fruit.

The God of Lust, General Se, single-mindedly emulated King Zhou; wherever he went, he arranged a residence befitting the standards of a "wine pool and meat forest."

He was quite fond of Songhai; this first-tier metropolis gathered women from all corners of the nation, engaged in every walk of life, slender and plump alike, combining the charms of beauties from every region.

When they first arrived, every single one resisted to the death, but under the God of Lust's "beguilement," they soon accepted their identities as "concubines," "consorts," "slaves," and served the God of Lust wholeheartedly.

Yet the God of Lust was not infatuated with these women; his mind was filled entirely with the graceful shadow of that mature woman.

As a demon of beguilement, the God of Lust did not delight in killing; he held only a fierce obsession for hunting beautiful women.

*Thud, thud!*

The brown double wooden doors sounded; the woman in a swimsuit standing by the entrance, like a greeter, pushed the doors open.

A burly man in a black tank top stepped onto the red carpet and entered the hall.

He lowered his eyes slightly, refusing to look at the orioles and swallows with their exquisite figures within the hall, and walked straight before the God of Lust, lowering his eyes and bowing:

"General, that woman's address has been found. She is at the Wuchen Hotel in Jinshan City.

"Additionally, this subordinate discovered she once followed the Spirit Ability Association's Blood Swallow—that is, the owner of the Shijing Farmstead. Later, due to ideological differences, she left the Spirit Ability Association.

"Originally the Association intended to hunt her down, but Blood Swallow shielded her."

The God of Lust kept his eyes closed, cultivating his spirit: "Ideological differences?"

The burly man in the black tank top maintained his lowered gaze and said:

"Rumor has it that woman possesses a very strong moral compass; she believes good and evil stem from the heart, not one's profession. She refused to do evil deeds and often clashed with Association members."

The God of Lust opened his eyes, his pupils blazing with light:

"Possessing an extremely high moral sense? Interesting, interesting. This woman is too interesting! She is the most surprising and thrilling prey I have encountered in years."

An evil profession, yet possessing a decent moral sense?

That single trait alone is enough to arouse the destructive urges of most evil professionals; we are all crows, so why do you insist on being a white swan?

Moreover, she is a stunningly beautiful mature woman.

The black-tank-topped subordinate immediately asked: "She is currently a lone cultivator, General. Shall we mobilize men to capture her now?"

The God of Lust kneaded the body of the woman beside him, his tone calm:

"No rush. Dealing with a Level 5 Witchcraft Master requires patience. Contact Blood Swallow for me; tell her I wish to see her."

That woman was a regular at the War God Bishop's black market. He had found in the materials left by Tian Lingling that her level was not low; she was a Level 5 Saint.

The God of Lust was not ruled by lust; he intended to lay his plans slowly and close the net swiftly, ensuring the smooth capture of that beauty.

...

The next day, Zhang Yuanqing used the excuse of having no morning classes. After eating breakfast, he returned to his room.

He locked the door, and as per routine, summoned Corpse One from the wardrobe, nurturing it with Nether Yin power for half an hour, then summoned Little Dudu to move about freely.

The little infant spirit crawled about joyfully, butted its head against the door, and phased through it.

Zhang Yuanqing took off his shoes, changed into the new running shoes his aunt had bought him, then opened the official forum, awaiting news.

If all goes smoothly, Headquarters will issue the announcement today; then the finals will be held either today or tomorrow.

The running shoes were bought by his aunt yesterday after she got off work, dragging herself through the mall for him. This woman—god knows what wrong medicine she took lately—has been doting on her nephew to an absurd degree; even the salted duck egg at breakfast, she split the yolk half for him.

The sun might as well be rising in the west.

Time ticked by, second by second, until nine o'clock struck. Zhang Yuanqing, refreshing the forum incessantly, saw a red, pinned thread appear on the homepage.

# Tournament Change Notice #

["The official purpose of the Arena Tournament is to select talent, to let young contenders familiarize themselves with and experience Slaughter Dungeons in advance. Adhering to this principle, yesterday, after deliberation by the Headquarters Elder Council, it was decided to adjust the Transcendent Stage Arena Tournament.]

["We will follow the Slaughter Dungeon model, dropping the eight finalists into a high-difficulty dungeon to fight freely, determining the rankings in one fell swoop. This is the method with the highest gold content, and the fairest.]

["To ensure fairness and justice, the dungeon will be jointly created by the five League Masters and the Taiyi Sect Master at nine o'clock tomorrow. Current intelligence available—the dungeon difficulty is S-Rank."]

Zhang Yuanqing stared, dumbfounded. In this information, what shocked him wasn't the S-Rank difficulty—the eight finalists could be called the cream of the crop among official Transcendents.

The elite among elites.

Dropping them into an S-Rank dungeon was understandable. What he hadn't expected was that the five League Masters and the Taiyi Sect Master could *create* a dungeon?

Isn't that something only the Spirit Realm can do?

Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly exited the forum and @ed Fu Qingyang in the White Tiger Guard group.

[Primordial Celestial Venerable: @Fu Qingyang, Centurion, what does it mean that the five League Masters and the Taiyi Sect Master are creating a new dungeon? What kind of joke is this? Is that something they can even do?]

# Primordial Celestial Venerable withdrew a message #

[Primordial Celestial Venerable: @Fu Qingyang, Centurion, what does it mean that the five League Masters and the Taiyi Sect Master are creating a new dungeon? The League Masters can even do *this*?]

[Seventh Son: Too late, I already took a screenshot.]

[Fu Qingyang: Two months ago, a high-level Night Wanderer Boss leaked his aura searching for a guy, and it managed to affect a Transcendent Stage dungeon. Why would you think the five League Masters and the Taiyi Sect Master *can't* do it?]

[Fu Qingyang: Of course, this so-called "creating a dungeon," by my speculation, means using their own authority to fuse already-cleared guild dungeons into a new, uncleared one. It is not, as you understand it, conjuring a brand new Spirit Realm dungeon from nothing.]

Fusing dungeons with Guild Master authority—that was fine. Scared me for a second; I thought Walkers at the League Master level could create Spirit Realm dungeons out of thin air... Zhang Yuanqing suddenly saw the light.

[Ling Jun: For you, vying for the championship inside a dungeon is extremely advantageous. But remember—do not run into the top three too early, or you'll be eliminated directly.]

[Little Axe: Primordial, fight for a top-three spot. If you don't make top three, fourth and eighth are no different. If it were the Arena, I wouldn't be optimistic about you, but in a dungeon? You've got a chance.]

[Sweeping the World: If you make top three, I'll livestream beating my wife.]

In the White Tiger Guard group, several regulars popped up one after another to cheer on Primordial Celestial Venerable.

Quite touching, really, but if you prop me up this much and I don't make top three, won't I lose all face... Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly sent a red packet, finally shutting them up.

He switched back to the forum and saw a crowd of official Walkers discussing him.

[Call Me Queen: Haha, S-Rank, it's S-Rank. Which one of these guys has ever been in an S-Rank? Primordial Celestial Venerable has done two.]

[Queen Consort: Honestly, I'm suddenly really looking forward to Primordial Celestial Venerable's performance in the dungeon—even more than the Arena.]

[Time Will Tell: If we could enter the dungeon to watch, then yes, I'd look forward to it too. Heard before he cleared two S-Ranks, sounded like a fantasy tale, couldn't make sense of it no matter how I thought.]

[Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Scholar: We plan to reformulate the rankings. This time, weight will favor the contenders' past dungeon records. Update at eight sharp tonight. Hope for everyone's support.]

[Milky Snowchild: Watching the Primordial Heavenly Venerate clear an S-rank dungeon live? Holy shit, I'm suddenly pumped. Isn't this way more interesting than the arena matches?]

[Sentimental Jenny: Uh, doesn't seem like they said we could watch, but they didn't say we couldn't either. We'll check the announcement tomorrow. Hope it's not a closed-instance dungeon.]

[Days Gone, Sorrows Many: The dungeons were founded by the Alliance Lords. They hold supreme authority; they should have considered the audience issue.]

Why does it feel like I'm being treated like a performing monkey... Zhang Yuanqing's mouth twitched.

He scrolled down; the comments were all anticipating his S-rank clear. Naturally, they looked forward to other contestants clearing dungeons and the competition itself, but the Primordial Heavenly Venerate's star power was immense.

After all, he rose to fame by clearing S-rank dungeons.

...

Huayu Hotel.

Xie Lingxi, clad in a mini skirt and a cropped tee, sat before her computer, scrolling through the forum with relish.

S-rank dungeon, tsk tsk. Feels like Brother Yuanshi could mop the floor with them. Can't get too cocky, though; these guys are elites too... As she watched, a smile of delight and excitement crept unbidden onto her pretty face.

"Wenyuan Pavilion Grand Scholar, oh, the Five Elements Alliance's Scholar. They're redoing the rankings? Eight PM... This time Brother Yuanshi should make top three, right? At worst, fourth is a lock."

"Perfect chance to check the other contestants' dungeon clear records. The top three must have cleared high-difficulty dungeons too."

As Xie Lingxi focused on the comments, her female assistant pushed open the study door and entered, covering the speaker, whispering:

"Miss, Madam is on the phone."

"My mom?" Xie Lingxi took the phone, cleared her throat, and spoke in a sweet voice:

"Mom, what is it?"

A woman's voice came through the line: "My precious baby, Mommy misses you to death."

The voice was soft and alluring, not at all like a woman who had given birth, more like a young girl.

Xie Lingxi replied just as sweetly: "Mom, I miss you too."

Madam Xie was delighted, prattling on about how she missed her daughter, how she couldn't eat or sleep well, calling her "precious baby" one moment and "good daughter" the next.

After dragging it out for over ten minutes, Madam Xie coughed:

"Lingxi, your dad entered a dungeon. You know about this, right?"

"I know!" Xie Lingxi said.

"Well, uh, could you send someone to bring back his invitation letter? Mom wants to go watch the arena matches tomorrow." Her mother said.

Xie Lingxi froze: "What match are you watching? Just stay home and have tea parties with the other ladies."

"Sigh, all the ladies want to watch. Heard the format changed—official top eight contestants have to fight inside an S-rank dungeon. That Primordial Heavenly Venerate supposedly cleared S-rank twice. They all want a look."

"Once the official news dropped, people started selling invites for a hundred grand each. Mom couldn't even snag one. If I don't go to a top-tier event like this, the ladies in the circle will laugh at me."

"My precious baby's been stuck in Songhai so long, Mom's bored out of her mind. Now I just want to see the match. My precious baby will indulge Mom, won't she?"

Madam Xie's voice was soft, coquettish, like a simple-minded wealthy madam.

"Fine then. I'll have someone send it over."

"Fine, it's settled then." Mother brooked no argument. "I still have tea to drink, so I'm hanging up now. Be good, baby!"

Shen Lingxi listened to the dial tone buzzing in her ear, handed the phone back to her female assistant, her face a mask of calm.

"Send my mother an empty package."

The assistant hesitated. "This..."

Shen Lingxi scoffed. "That black-hearted old witch, playing the white lotus with me. That trick worked on my father, but her beauty holds no sway over me. Pah!"

As if she should check just who she learned the art of tea from.