Chapter 21: Differences

 Chapter 21: Differences

Zhang Yuanqing was about to speak, but the office door made two "thuds." The three of them turned their heads towards the sound and saw Wang Tai holding a computer, standing at the doorway, and asking, "Can I come in and listen?"

After saying this, he remained silent, waiting for a response.

Li Dongze pondered for a moment and nodded, saying, "Come in, and while you're here, help Yuan Shi with the strategy report."

Wang Tai breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't someone who liked to join in on things, but the S-rank Shen Ling Tunnel, being a bug in the Night Wanderer's trial spirit realm, was a fascinating topic that he couldn't resist eavesdropping on.

After Wang Tai took a seat, Zhang Yuanqing carefully recounted his experiences at the Mountain God Temple.

He omitted the functions of the Demon Suppressing Staff and only mentioned that it was an item capable of restraining yin creatures.

As for the Red Dancing Shoes, he handled it vaguely, stating that he was nurtured by his uncle from a young age, skilled in singing, dancing, and rap, with an astonishing memory, which allowed him to reluctantly decipher the rules of the Red Dancing Shoes.

Of course, he also concealed the matter of receiving special rewards from the character card, as it would reveal that he had obtained the Red Dancing Shoes.

He kept secret some crucial information that he received from Guan Ya.

Rule-type items were exceptionally precious, and the Five Elements Alliance would hardly trade them for mere five hundred yuan and a small banner. But you still had to be cautious.

As for the situation with San Dao Shan Niang Niang's revival, he planned to bring it up later and discuss it properly.

During this process, Wang Tai listened while typing quickly to record everything.

Li Dongze patiently listened and then fiddled with the handle of his staff as he said, "That item that restrains yin creatures should be a reward for clearing the level, and it must be a high-level item."

Guan Ya hurriedly smiled and said, "You brat, an S-rank trial quest wouldn't just reward you with a bit of experience points."

She was teaching Zhang Yuanqing that when lying, he should have nine truths and one lie, not go overboard.

... Zhang Yuanqing maintained his smile, "Oh, I forgot to mention the item; it is indeed a reward for clearing the level."

His face showed no signs of guilt.

Li Dongze didn't pay much attention to it and continued, "In that case, the difficulty level of the Shen Ling Tunnel should be reduced."

"Why do you say that?" Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand.

Li Dongze patiently explained, "We joke about the spirit realm being a game, but jokes aside, in the spirit realm world, items are scarce, and each one is unique and cannot be duplicated."

"Since you brought out that item, the part where you kill the tree demon might disappear in the future, and naturally, the difficulty of the Shen Ling Tunnel will be reduced," Wang Tai said while Li Dongze was drinking.

Taking the opportunity, Guan Ya added, "Let me tell you something about the knowledge of the spirit realm instances. The instances in the spirit realm are constantly adjusted. For example, if you conquer the Mountain God Temple and take away the item from inside, its difficulty will undoubtedly decrease. Or if you die in the spirit realm and your item is obtained by something mysterious inside the realm, it becomes stronger, and then the difficulty of the spirit realm will increase. The Red Dancing Shoes are the best example of this."

"Also, one more point. For the same spirit realm, different ranks will receive different tasks. I once went to a wilderness survival-type spirit realm and read the guide in advance. In the instance, that senior was a hunter, and his task was to hunt down nine felons in the jungle. But when I entered the spirit realm, I found that I was just one of the nine felons, and the task was to survive for 36 hours. This was because my rank was lower than that senior's. So, the guide can only serve as a reference, helping us understand the instance and know some basic information and dangers."

"It won't be reduced," Wang Tai said, "because the Red Dancing Shoes are still there."

Guan Ya and Li Dongze glanced at Zhang Yuanqing, remaining silent.

Unaware, Wang Tai continued, "It's strange. With such data, such gains, and such information, they don't match the difficulty of an S-rank trial. Are you hiding something?"

This was way too direct, and it could make everyone uncomfortable... Zhang Yuanqing cleared his throat, "I'm not hiding anything. I was just about to say that besides the cave with the tree demon, there was also a stone coffin."

"A stone coffin? What's inside the stone coffin?" Li Dongze leaned forward, his tone urgent.

Wang Tai also stopped typing.

Guan Ya looked curious.

Usually, an S-rank spirit realm would come with some crucial information, perhaps even an earth-shattering secret.

Official organizations, private groups, even evil organizations, their understanding of the spirit realms was based half on observation and summarizing patterns, and the other half on information obtained from within the spirit realms. Thus, step by step, they unlocked the secrets of the spirit realms.

No spirit realm traveler could resist this temptation.

"Inside the stone coffin lies San Dao Shan Niang Niang. After I opened the coffin, she, she woke up..." Zhang Yuanqing recalled it now and still felt frightened.

Li Dongze's pupils shrank, and he exclaimed, "She woke up?"

He suddenly stood up, unable to sit still, pacing around the office while frowning.

After a while, Li Dongze said gravely, "Perhaps we all guessed wrong. According to the information about that Niang Niang, she must be a high-level Night Wanderer. Now that she's awakened, there are only two possibilities."

"First, the Mountain God Temple will undergo earth-shattering changes and will no longer be a Night Wanderer's trial spirit realm but a high-level spirit realm instance."

"Second, the Mountain God Temple remains downgraded, but with her level, there will undoubtedly be new, high-level spirit realm instances appearing."

"For the high-level executives of the Tai Yi Sect, information related to the change of their own career's spirit realm is exceptionally crucial."

Guan Ya looked envious and said, "The more important the information, the more rewards the organization gives you."

More money? Zhang Yuanqing was pleasantly surprised for a moment, but then he became anxious and said, "That old fogy who has been dead for hundreds of years smiled at me, and I always feel that she will come looking for me. It doesn't make me feel at ease."

The Banyan Tree Spirit didn't speak lies; half of the Mountain God Temple's sun soul was sealed in the Demon Suppressing Staff, so she would undoubtedly come looking for him. But Zhang Yuanqing didn't mention this matter to his colleagues.

Wang Tai sincerely comforted, "Don't be so confident; with your level, you won't encounter such a big shot."

Why don't you shut up if you can't say something nice... Zhang Yuanqing nodded gratefully, feeling comforted by his words.

Guan Ya smiled playfully, "Is that Niang Niang beautiful?"

Zhang Yuanqing looked at her and said, "More beautiful than you."

Wang Tai earnestly added from the side, "The research value is also higher than yours."

Old Sijia became furious, "Get lost."

...

In the capital city, there was a quadrangle courtyard.

The sunlight was brilliant, and the large scholar tree basked in the sunlight, its leaves shimmering with colorful splendor.

A gust of wind blew, shaking the branches and leaves, and the sound of children's laughter echoed in the air.

Elder Sun sat under the scholar tree, fanning himself with a palm-leaf fan, gently swaying in the rocking chair. On the small table beside him were tea sets and an old-fashioned radio.

A middle-aged man in black hurriedly stepped over the threshold and entered the courtyard. He whispered, "Elder Sun, there's news from Songhai. Someone cleared the Shen Ling Tunnel spirit realm."

The swaying fan came to a halt, and the white-haired old man opened his eyes suddenly. His eyes emitted two dazzling golden lights, frightening the children under the scholar tree, who cried out in alarm and then fell silent.

Elder Sun sat up from the rocking chair and stared at the middle-aged man. "The Night Wanderer recruited by the Fu family?"

The middle-aged man nodded.

Elder Sun was momentarily dazed, then slapped his thigh with the fan and exclaimed regretfully, "We've made a blunder... made a blunder..."

The last time the middle-aged man saw Elder Sun so remorseful was when he was playing the stock market.

Elder Sun fell silent for a moment and said, "I remember the person in charge of Kangyang District in Songhai City is called Yuan Ting. Inform him, keep this matter from spreading. Otherwise, where will I put my old face?"

"But..."

"But what?"

The middle-aged man was about to answer when his phone in his pocket rang. He took it out and saw it was a call from Elder Heishan.

"Answer."

He answered the call, and on the other end was a roar, "Old Sun, what are you doing? You secretly released the Shen Ling Tunnel instance to others, and on top of that, you agreed to Fu Qingyang's request not to recruit that Night Wanderer. Do you know how big a mistake you've made?"

Elder Sun was stunned for a second, "How do you know about it?"

"You don't need to know how I know. Do you know how long it has been since the Tai Yi Sect recruited a Night Wanderer with outstanding talent? I'm going to report this to the Sect Master right now."

The call ended.

Elder Sun's forehead veins throbbed.

Then the phone rang again.

The middle-aged man looked at it, "Elder Hongying."

"Answer."

"Uncle Sun, I heard that the Shen Ling Tunnel has been cleared? You specifically rejected the Night Wanderer?"

"..."

"Uncle Sun, you should apologize for doing something like this."

"..."

...

"Elder Sun, I heard that you rejected a Night Wanderer genius?"

"Damn it, when did it become your duty as a disciple to question me?"

"Ah, Elder Sun, don't misunderstand. I was just curious."

...

"Elder Sun, I heard that you..."

"Get lost!"

In just a few minutes, he received five or six calls.

The middle-aged man in black looked silently at Elder Sun. The last time he saw him in such a state was when he was playing stocks with leverage.

Elder Sun took a deep breath and continued with the previous topic, asking, "What did you just say?"

The middle-aged man hesitated for a moment, "If Yuan Ting knows, it means everyone knows."

Elder Sun's blood pressure suddenly rose.

The phone rang again.

Just as Elder Sun was about to hang up, he saw that it was Fu Qingyang. He took a deep breath, calmed himself, and answered the call.

"You little brat, are you calling to mock an old man?"

"I'm not mocking you..." a cold voice came from the phone, each word enunciated clearly, "I won't do something so boring. I'm here to repay a favor. I've already written the strategy report for the Mountain God Temple, and I've sent it to your email."

Fu Qingyang continued, "I believe this information is quite crucial for the Tai Yi Sect."

Elder Sun suddenly became interested, quickly ending the call, and asked the middle-aged man, "How do I open my email?"

The middle-aged man silently took the phone, logged in to the email, opened the file, and then handed it back to Elder Sun.

Elder Sun narrowed his eyes and carefully read the content word by word.

He looked calm and without any fluctuation. For a senior realm traveler like him, the difficulty level of the trial-level spirit realm was merely child's play.

But when he read about the revival of San Dao Shan Niang Niang, his expression changed drastically.

Zzzt~ Elder Sun jumped up from the rocking chair, his face serious.

"Elder?" The middle-aged man looked astonished.

"The ancient Day Wanderer has awakened..." Elder Sun said gravely, mixed with a trace of concern. He transformed into a golden light and rushed into the sky, disappearing from view.

That direction was towards the Sect Master's residence.

...

On the second floor of a small building, Zhang Yuanqing sat at his own desk and skillfully opened his computer. Following the guidance of Guan Ya, he accessed the internal forum of the Five Elements Alliance, an official organization. He carefully browsed through several pinned posts.

These posts contained the most basic information about the spirit realms. First, he checked the "Types of Spirit Realms." As Li Dongze had mentioned, the spirit realms were divided into "Solo Type" and "Multiplayer Type." Solo types usually contained spirit realms exclusive to a particular profession. For example, the Night Wanderer's solo spirit realm was in the supernatural category.

The multiplayer type was further divided into two: team confrontation and team adventure. The former involved spirit realm travelers confronting each other in special spirit realms, while the latter dealt with the dangers within the spirit realms, some of which were death types, while others were non-death types.

In non-death types, the punishment mechanism was to deduct experience points.

Furthermore, the scenes and gameplay of multiplayer spirit realms were diverse and varied.

Next, he read the post about "Rank Classification," which was very simple and stated:

Transcendent Stage: Levels 1-3.

Sage Stage: Levels 4-6.

A note followed: For stages beyond the Sage Stage, please click the link below.

Zhang Yuanqing clicked on the link but was met with a message saying he didn't have sufficient permissions.

"Hate these permission restrictions..." he muttered under his breath, feeling somewhat resentful. Nonetheless, he continued to browse through other posts.

"Spirit Realm Traveler Professions Overview."

Lawful Professions: Night Wanderer, Scout, Wood Spirit, Water Ghost, Fire Master, Earth Monster, Musician, Scholar.

Evil Professions: Enchanting Demon, Witch Doctor, Illusionist.

If he remembered correctly, Wang Tai was a Scholar. But what about the Musician profession? And there are only three evil professions? No wonder Guan Ya said that the official organization was the real hunter. Zhang Yuanqing's gaze moved downward and he saw something shocking.

[Note: To check foreign professions, please click the link below.]

As expected, he lacked the necessary permissions.

"Do spirit realm travelers exist in other countries with different professions?" Zhang Yuanqing looked up and glanced at the back of Guan Ya's head.

"Why do you think only our country is special?" The Old Mistress turned her head, smiling.

This... Zhang Yuanqing was left speechless. He had to revise his understanding of the spirit realms once again. If the spirit realms covered the entire globe and there were spirit realm travelers and different professions in other countries, then the structure of the spirit realm world, whether it be the instances or the reality, must be far more complex than he had imagined.

"Spirit realm travelers have a strong sense of territory. Official organizations from different countries hardly interact with each other, except when dealing with evil organizations. So, for now, you don't need to worry about foreign spirit realm travelers. It's not something a Transcendent Stage like you needs to consider," Guan Ya explained.

Zhang Yuanqing nodded in understanding and opened the information about the Night Wanderer to check his own profession's description.

"Night Wanderer, the guardian of the moon's yin, the spirit of the dark night. Proficient in assassination and controlling Yin creatures. The profession mark is a black crescent moon. Among the lawful professions, it ranks among the best and possesses extremely formidable strength."

"Every Night Wanderer is born an assassin, and their ability to control Yin creatures makes them even more formidable. Night Wanderer is the name of the Transcendent Stage profession. After reaching Level 3, you can advance to a higher profession."

Note: To check the Night Wanderer's advanced profession name, please click the link below.

Zhang Yuanqing clicked repeatedly, but he received the message that his permissions were insufficient.

"Darn permission restrictions!" He almost cursed out loud. Wait, something doesn't seem right. Zhang Yuanqing suddenly paused and read the description again, realizing what was wrong.

The profession mark is a black crescent moon? But when I saw my mark on my forehead that night, it was clearly a black full moon.

It seems like my character card is different from others? Zhang Yuanqing subconsciously looked up at the back of Guan Ya's head, wanting to ask about it.