Chapter 1 The Standoff

Seeing the two Yeyoushen (Night Watchers) die silently, Zhang Yuanqing felt his hair stand on end.

The state of the Chunyang (Pure Yang) Headmaster was like a dried-up lake. He himself had no level restrictions, because he was a weakened Overlord.

Give him enough Taiyin (Lunar) power and astral power, and he can quickly return to his peak.

The deaths of the two Yeyoushen sounded alarm bells in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.

Having devoured the Taiyin power of the two Yeyoushen, the Chunyang Headmaster's current state was definitely among the best of the Extraordinary realm.

The stronger the enemy, the more dangerous it was for them.

"Did you see him make a move?" Zhang Yuanqing stared into Yin Ji's eyes.

Yin Ji shook her head slightly, feeling guilty. "I didn't notice."

Earlier, it was chaotic and everyone was preoccupied. She had two fellow disciples with her at first, but after Yuan Shi Tianzun (Celestial Worthy of the Primordial Beginning) tackled them, she lost sight of them.

Zhang Yuanqing sighed deeply. "I didn't notice either."

A strong sense of crisis welled up in his heart. He went through all his methods and items in his mind, and thought of Little Red Riding Hood. Little Red Riding Hood was a self-contained space. If he could bring everyone into it, perhaps he could save them.

But the problem was, he would be alone facing an Overlord-level item.

If he died, the people in Little Red Riding Hood wouldn't survive either.

And if he was alone, the chance of dying from an Overlord-level item was almost one hundred percent.

More people meant more strength. Aside from trying to find the Chunyang Headmaster, they could share the danger to some extent when facing the crisis of the item, just like with the wave of arrows earlier.

As his thoughts raced, a question he couldn't understand from beginning to end resurfaced in his mind:

If the Chunyang Headmaster was in the restaurant, where was he hiding? A spiritual body couldn't hide from him and Yin Ji. Unless his initial thought was wrong, he didn't possess anyone at all...

Just as this thought arose, he heard Liu Zhiyi scream, "The second wave of arrows is coming!!"

Accompanying his screams were Xie Lingyun, Sister Manyan, and other female guests.

On the illusory round table, energy arrows appeared once again.

Even the Saints changed their expressions. They were able to survive the first wave of arrows because their items protected them, and because they were lucky enough to survive in the gaps between the arrows.

But their items were already damaged, and luck couldn't last forever.

"I'll fight!" Ling Jun looked fierce, put away the vine armor on his body, grabbed a piece of earth tablet from his inventory, and stuck it into the ground.

A faint yellow light rose up, forming a thick wall.

At the same time, his body suddenly softened, his feet came together and stuck, his arms shrank back into his body, and pieces of black scales pierced through his skin. His body swelled, turning into a black-scaled giant python as thick as a water tank.

The expanding body pushed aside furniture and other debris, crushing glass cups, wine glasses, porcelain, and other fragments a second time.

In an instant, half of the restaurant was occupied by the giant python's body.

The black-scaled giant python opened its bloody maw and spoke in a human tongue,

"Quick, gather around me and hide behind my body."

Miao Teng'er was the first to act, nimbly hiding behind her cousin's barrel-thick body.

Ling Jun quickly coiled his body, wrapping her in the center, protecting her with his thick body.

At this moment, the arrows quickly condensed, and the second wave of arrows was about to come.

"Quick, hide inside!" Ling Jun shouted.

"It's useless, you can't stop them at all, run, hide in the next room." Liu Zhiyi was mentally broken and ran towards the lounge at the back of the restaurant, regardless of everything…

His behavior triggered a group effect, and many people lost their composure and turned to run.

Ling Jun roared, "Don't panic, don't run, there's no point in escaping..."

This was an Overlord-level item. The arrows were aimed at everyone. If reinforced concrete walls could stop the arrows, they would be underestimating the Overlord too much.

But it was useless. Fear exploded in everyone's hearts, and the guests scurried towards the restrooms and lounges, not at all like battle-hardened Lingjing Xingzhe (Spirit Realm Wanderers).

Chunyang Headmaster was spreading fear again. He accurately grasped the guests' inner fears and amplified them.

"If this goes on, everyone will die..." Zhang Yuanqing instructed Yin Ji, "Hide behind Ling Jun."

Immediately, he transformed into a ray of starlight and disappeared, appearing in front of the fleeing crowd. He raised his hand and smeared it on his face.

A touch of gold paint lit up on his forehead, flowing like water over his cheeks. Black and red paint was used on his eyes and mouth, drawing a dignified and solemn face, awe-inspiring in its majesty.

"Get back here!!"

Zhang Yuanqing roared.

Those who had lost their minds were ordinary people and Transcendents. The Chunyang Headmaster could influence them, but the golden face could intimidate them.

The Military Soul Facade was a Saint-grade item, and even Saints would be affected.

The panicked crowd stopped one after another, a strong fear rising in their hearts, and they subconsciously obeyed his order.

Seeing everyone returning to hide behind Ling Jun, Yin Ji breathed a sigh of relief, took a deep look at Yuan Shi Tianzun, and said,

"You come over here..."

After saying that, she also leaped over the snake's body and entered the crowd.

Ling Jun quickly coiled his body, wrapping everyone in it, the thick snake body circling around and forming a black, towering city wall.

Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the earth tablet standing in front of the giant body, then at the arrows ready to launch, his mood particularly heavy.

The earth tablet was a Saint-grade item, and could only last for a moment. Although Ling Jun had transformed into a giant snake and possessed considerable defense, how could flesh and blood resist the terrifying arrow rain?

Even if they blocked a wave, what about the third wave of arrows?

They seemed to be trapped in a desperate situation.

At this moment, his gaze fell and he caught sight of the tattered Purple Thunder Shield in his hand. He saw that the shield surface, which had many cracks, had one-third of its surface covered in dim purple light.

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly had an idea in his heart. If he could absorb the arrow attacks over a large area and fill the shield with energy, he could activate the energy and block the third wave of arrows.

Activating the energy could resist one attack of any level.

This was the rule.

"I'll try!!"

He quickly took out the Indomitable Heartguard Mirror, leaped onto the snake's body, jumped to the snake's head, and said,

"Ling Jun, swallow it."

He brought the Heartguard Mirror over.

Without saying a word, Ling Jun opened his bloody maw and swallowed the item.

Then, Zhang Yuanqing switched the Purple Thunder Shield to the Purple Thunder Hammer, and then switched it back to the Purple Thunder Shield. The round shield was instantly intact.

The arrows on the illusory round table finished condensing.

*Shuu shuu shuu...*

The second wave of arrows came howling.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately lay down, raised his shield, and blocked the snake's head.

*Peng peng peng...*

The dense arrows struck the yellow light wall, and the energy exploded, setting off dazzling halos.

It only lasted for two seconds. After blocking one-third of the arrows, the earth tablet collapsed into pieces of soil.

The subsequent arrows covered over, instantly enveloping Ling Jun.

The Indomitable Heartguard Mirror only lasted for a second before the yellow light shield was torn apart.

*Peng peng...*

Streams of energy arrows exploded on Ling Jun's snake body. Scales flew, flesh and blood splattered, and each arrow caused Ling Jun's huge snake body to tremble and contract involuntarily…

He was enduring intense pain.

*Dang dang dang…* The shield Zhang Yuanqing held high shattered after withstanding the attack of three arrows.

He had to retract the shield, switch states, and then continue to hold it high.

At this time, his tiger's mouth had split open, and blood flowed down his arm into his armpit. The energy explosion waves caused severe pain all over his body.

"Ah…"

Screams came from inside the snake's body.

The arrows had pierced through Ling Jun's body, broken through the flesh defenses, and the guests in that position died directly in the subsequent arrows.

At the same time, Zhang Yuanqing found that Ling Jun had stopped moving. He looked down sharply and saw the snake's head, which he was protecting beneath him, with its vertical pupils dilated and filled with deathly silence.

Ling Jun was dead…

Finally, after the Purple Thunder Shield broke three times, the second wave of arrows ended.

Zhang Yuanqing, covered in wounds, leaned against the body and slowly slid down.

He switched weapon forms again, restoring the round shield to its original state. He saw that the shield surface was completely covered in purple light, indicating that the energy was fully charged.

"It's done…" Zhang Yuanqing retreated with the shield, grabbed the Mountain God Scepter, and silently healed his injuries.

On the other side, the surviving guests crawled out of the riddled snake body one after another, their faces full of relief after surviving the disaster, but when they looked at the illusory round table where arrows were still condensing,

their faces turned to fear again.

Yin Ji crawled out of the snake's body, looked around, and searched for Yuan Shi Tianzun at the first moment. Seeing him staring at the golden mask, quietly standing in the distance to heal his injuries, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"There's a third wave of arrows, think of another way, just block it once more and it'll be over." The Ling family's third generation, Liu Zhiyi, looked at everyone with an almost pleading look.

Everyone avoided his gaze.

"Ling Jun is dead, who else can help? He has the highest level here. Is there a Mountain God here? Even if there is a Mountain God, they can't protect so many of us," someone said.

"Who else has defensive items? Don't hide them at this time, quickly take them out." Liu Zhiyi became agitated.

"The defensive items were destroyed in the first wave of arrows, and what's the point of defensive items? Can you bring out an Overlord-level defensive item?" Duanqiao Canxue (Broken Bridge's Lingering Snow) retorted irritably.

A female guest said tearfully,

"Are we, are we all going to die? I knew I shouldn't have attended the banquet, I, I don't want to die…"

Xie Lingyun, who had a fragile mentality, immediately had red eyes.

The stewards were more determined, but faced with life and death, no one could remain indifferent. Everyone looked dejected and secretly harbored fear.

At this moment, the dead pupils of the black-scaled giant snake regained their light, and the huge body quickly contracted, returning to human form.

"Cough cough…"

Ling Jun was resurrected, his face was haggard, and he coughed violently, showing a weak state.

Miao Teng'er had already pulled off the black clothes and black pants of a security guard, and handed them to her cousin with a face full of concern.

Seeing Ling Jun wake up, Liu Zhiyi couldn't wait to ask,

"Ling Jun, do you have any other methods, quickly use them. You are the son of the Taiyi sect leader, you must have Overlord-level items, you continue to hold on."

[In other words, the app that I'm currently using for reading and listening to books, Yeguo Reading, is great, .yeguoyuedu install the latest version.]

Everyone also looked at Ling Jun with expectant faces.

Ling Jun gasped for breath, not even having the strength to speak.

Liu Zhiyi urged, "Quick, the third wave of arrows is coming soon."

Miao Teng'er's eyebrows stood on end, "Aren't you also the grandson of an elder? Why don't you have an Overlord-level item?"

"I…" Liu Zhiyi was speechless and angrily said, "Why are you getting angry at me? Aren't I doing this for everyone?"

He looked at Yin Ji again and shouted, "Yin Ji, aren't you the Demon Lord's old flame? Didn't the Demon Lord leave you any treasures? Did he sleep with you for nothing…"

Yin Ji was stunned for a moment, and anger flashed in her eyes.

"How can you talk like that," a steward rebuked.

"What the hell do you care how I talk, I'm about to die, can't I even say anything?" Liu Zhiyi glared at the other party, not afraid of their identity at all.

In the face of despair, he was a little self-destructive.

"And you." Liu Zhiyi then looked at Miao Teng'er, "Weren't you also slept with by the Demon Lord? Don't think I don't know about your affairs with the Demon Lord. Does the Demon Lord have no treasures? Didn't he leave you any life-saving items? If it weren't for you organizing this banquet, would we have fallen into this situation? You are also a Beast King, be conscious and transform to protect us."

Miao Teng'er was trembling with anger.

An old man with gray hair stepped forward, stood between the two, and stared at Liu Zhiyi with a displeased expression, "Miss is only level 6, even if she transforms, she can't resist the arrows. If you insult her again, don't blame me for turning against you."

"It's a joke, how are you going to turn against me, have the guts to kill me, anyway, no one wants to live." Liu Zhiyi spat fiercely, "At least you're a Saint, what's the use, you only know how to act tough in front of me."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly screamed, clutched his head, and knelt on the ground.

Everyone was startled by the sudden scream, like frightened birds, and looked at the illusory round table, only to find that the arrows were still brewing.

A Saint looked at Yuan Shi Tianzun not far away

Only then did the guests react, and looked at Yuan Shi Tianzun in astonishment. Liu Zhiyi was at least a direct descendant of the elder,

a true and pure descendant, how dare he directly attack?

Zhang Yuanqing walked over with the golden mask, first looked at Yin Ji, then at Miao Teng'er, and said,

"You two are both Saints, why don't you hit him? What is the purpose of experiencing life and death in副本 (instances/dungeons), gaining power beyond mortals?"

He took a step forward and kicked Liu Zhiyi hard in the abdomen.

*Peng!!*

Liu Zhiyi's body curled up like a shrimp, clutching his abdomen, and spitting out a lot of food and stomach acid.

"The purpose is to have the ability to slaughter the dog when it barks." Zhang Yuanqing stepped on his face into the filth, rubbing hard, and looked at Miao Teng'er, "Are you afraid of the elder behind him? Or did he mention the Demon Lord, making you feel insecure? The Demon Lord is the Demon Lord, what does it have to do with you."

Miao Teng'er stared blankly at him.

Ling Jun, who was sitting on the ground, chuckled, "Teng'er, if you had met him in the beginning, wouldn't it have been wonderful."

"Eh, Mentor, didn't you forbid me from撩 (flirting) with your sister…" Zhang Yuanqing then looked at Yin Ji, "People are easily bullied when they are kind, and it's easy to be ridden on their necks and faces if their personalities are too gentle."

Yin Ji gave a wry smile.

"Yuan Shi Tianzun, if you dare to touch me, my grandfather won't let you go…" Liu Zhiyi gritted his teeth.

But before he could finish speaking, Zhang Yuanqing kicked him in the face, kicking his mouth full of blood, and two incisors rolled out of his mouth.

The restaurant fell silent. Everyone had long known that Yuan Shi Tianzun was unruly, and even dared to kill official Wanderers, but seeing him take action with their own eyes was different from hearsay after all.

This was not someone to be trifled with.

However, this unruliness added points in the eyes of some female guests.

Gaoshan Liushui (High Mountains and Flowing Water) glanced at the round table and whispered to break the silence:

"The arrow rain is coming, everyone, be prepared…" Fear once again struck everyone's hearts.

Zhang Yuanqing didn't waste any more words, leaving a sentence, "Everyone, hide behind me," and walked straight towards the illusory round table.

"What is he going to do?"

The guests subconsciously gathered together, their eyes following Yuan Shi Tianzun's back.

Just at this moment, the third wave of arrows was completely condensed, shooting towards everyone overwhelmingly…

Xie Lingyun and other female guests screamed, instinctively turning around to escape, but saw Yuan Shi Tianzun raise the round shield in his hand.

A deep purple light rose up, condensing into a huge round shield that reached the ceiling, blocking all the arrows outside.

*Peng peng peng...*

The deafening roar of energy explosions was like firecrackers, echoing in the spacious restaurant.

An unexpected scene occurred. The arrows, which had been unstoppable before and even Saint items could not withstand, could not destroy the energy shield.

The light from the arrow explosions was extremely dazzling, distorting Yuan Shi Tianzun's figure, but in everyone's eyes, that figure was as majestic as Mount Tai, standing still.

In an instant, the dazzling halos dissipated, and the sound of explosions subsided.

The third wave of arrows ended.

Yuan Shi Tianzun, holding the shield, was unscathed. The deep purple round shield, which gave people a strong sense of security, slowly dissipated.

"We made it through, we made it through the arrow rain."

After a few seconds, the guests cheered, and several female guests were even overjoyed and wept.

Even the calm Saints such as Gaoshan Liushui could not hide the joy on their faces.

"Why didn't you take out this artifact earlier, you made me die once for nothing." Ling Jun muttered, leaning weakly on his cousin.

Miao Teng'er's beautiful face showed the joy of surviving the disaster.

Then she glanced at Yuan Shi Tianzun.

Immediately, she noticed that Yin Ji had already greeted him and said in a low voice:

"Are you okay?"

Yuan Shi Tianzun shook his head: "It's a pity it can only be used once."

She silently withdrew her gaze, no longer looking.

Duanqiao Canxue stared at the round shield, a burst of envy, suppressing the envy and jealousy in his heart, he reminded loudly:

"According to my observation, this game becomes more dangerous as it goes on. If we still can't find the Chunyang Headmaster, the next game is likely to be a total annihilation."

These words were like a bucket of cold water pouring on everyone's heads. Zhang Yuanqing retracted the shield and said, "He can't hide anymore."

"Do you have a way?" Duanqiao Canxue asked.

Zhang Yuanqing ignored him, opened his mouth and spat out a Yin energy, which landed and turned into a round and cute infant spirit with sparse lanugo.

Then, he took out the Treasure Hunting Cloak and covered it on Little Doubi.

"Treasure Hunt!!" Zhang Yuanqing touched his son's head and issued the command.

This was the method he came up with in the second wave of arrows. Since this ancient cultivator was so powerful, since he couldn't be found,

then he would change his thinking

Stop searching and instead look for treasure.

Find the本体 (main body) of the Grimm's Great Adventure.

As long as the item was not put into the inventory, there would definitely be a 本体. The illusory round table was just a projection of the item's function, not the item itself.

Find the item, put it into the inventory, and what was there to fear from the Chunyang Headmaster?

Little Doubi crawled around the restaurant, sometimes looking left and right, sometimes crawling with his limbs.

He took the lead in crawling to a broken item and looked at his master in a boastful manner.

Zhang Yuanqing shook his head: "No, continue!!"

Little Doubi then crawled to the second piece of item fragment.

"No, continue!!"

Zhang Yuanqing seemed very patient on the surface, but in reality, he was secretly anxious.

His time was limited, but Little Doubi's treasure hunting function would first lock onto the closest treasure to him. No matter how anxious he was, it was useless. He could only screen them one by one.

Two minutes, four minutes, six minutes, eight minutes… Time passed. Finally, Little Doubi found all the item fragments in the restaurant.

But they were all rejected by Zhang Yuanqing one by one.

The little infant spirit raised his head with sparse lanugo and looked around.

As he looked, the infant spirit's gaze stopped on the plant dog Jin Mao (Golden Fur), lowered his head, and quickly moved his limbs closer…

"Dog?!!" Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank slightly.

Was the item hidden on the dog?

Then Chunyang Headmaster… I extracted the dog's soul, it was impossible for him to possess Jin Mao, but if he was hiding on Jin Mao, then there was only one possibility… Zhang Yuanqing vaguely guessed Chunyang Headmaster's hiding method, and immediately issued the ending command to Little Doubi and took him back.

This was to prevent Little Doubi from getting close to Jin Mao and being killed by Chunyang Headmaster.

Just then, Yin Ji said urgently:

"Yuan Shi, the dice is rolling."

The ten-minute safe time had passed, and the dice on the illusory round table was spinning at high speed.

Without any hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing grabbed the Purple Thunder Shield from the inventory and switched to Thunderstorm Cannon mode.

The purple-gold liquid quickly turned into a long hand cannon, with a thick and slender barrel showing a sense of power.

Zhang Yuanqing aimed at Jin Mao and pulled the trigger.

The muzzle quickly lit up with purple light, and a fist-sized ball of bright purple lightning sprayed out, and purple electric arcs crackled and jumped in mid-air.

*Boom!!*

The ball lightning roared out, hitting Jin Mao, and also destroying the wall and floor there, blasting a hole leading to the first floor.

Jin Mao was blasted into charred meat, and as flesh and blood and stones flew, Zhang Yuanqing saw two items rolling out of Jin Mao's dog abdomen.

One was a palm-sized, blood-stained disc. The disc was painted with forests, rivers, swamps, witches and other patterns, and the board game pattern presented on the illusory round table was exactly the same.

The other was an egg-sized bead, sparkling with a dreamlike light, and the light seemed to hide countless pictures.

At this time, Yin Ji's voice came from behind: "Six points."

The little puppet walked with cheerful steps to the twenty-one point position, where there was a wooden house, and a pointy-nosed witch stood at the door of the house.

The information suspended in the restaurant immediately changed:

"You entered the witch's house, mistakenly drank the witch's potion, and the whole team entered a state of weakness."

The next second, the guests in the restaurant fell to the ground one after another, their faces instantly listless.

Zhang Yuanqing only felt that all his energy was instantly drained, and both his spirit body and his physical body were weakened. His legs softened, and like the guests behind him, he fell to the ground.

Not only him, but also the Ghost Bride and Little Doubi in his body entered a state of weakness.

At the same time, he saw a wisp of black smoke peeling off from Jin Mao's remains, rising fluttering, reuniting in the air, and condensing into a handsome young man with white hair.

His eyes were full of madness, staring at Zhang Yuanqing.