Chapter 1 Stepping into the Golden Summit Palace

Stepping through the doors of the Golden Summit Palace, Zhang Yuanqing held his palm upward, igniting golden flames to barely dispel the surrounding black smoke and illuminate the interior.

The layout of this palace was no different from the Yaoguang or Zhengqi Palaces—simple and unadorned, yet with a hint of solemnity.

On the base stood a statue of an elderly man holding a sword, his sleeves fluttering, radiating the air of a legendary sword immortal. It was a pity he wasn't wearing a crown.

Zhang Yuanqing touched the statue but didn't receive any item information. Even under the illumination of the Sun God's power, nothing appeared, confirming it was indeed an ordinary object.

He then circled the palace, searching but finding nothing. He immediately left for the residential area.

With the help of Fu Qingyang and the others, they quickly searched the residences but couldn't find the White Emperor Crown.

Fu Qingyang reviewed the entire Southern Courtyard storyline and said, "There are no hidden storylines."

Some items are hidden in hidden storylines and can only be obtained by triggering hidden quests. Just like Zhang Yuanqing obtained the Yin-Yang Robe in Yin-Yang Town, it was a reward for completing a hidden storyline.

Xiahou Aotian analyzed, "Two possibilities: either the White Emperor Crown isn't in Mount Shu. After all, the Unfavorable Commander was a Tang Dynasty figure. After a thousand years, the White Emperor Crown would have changed hands long ago. Or, the White Emperor Crown is on the main peak, not in the Southern Courtyard."

"The Unfavorable Commander said that the White Emperor Crown is the treasure of the Mount Shu sect. Since it's the treasure of the sect, it must be kept on the main peak."

Upon hearing this, the Demonic Eye Heavenly King clicked his tongue. "The difficulty level of the main hall should be S-rank. Yuanshi, it's not worth risking it for a broken hat."

"I once entered an S-rank Sovereign-level dungeon. After coming out, I felt that once in a lifetime was enough. No matter how high the experience points or how many treasures there are, I don't want to go in again."

Fu Qingyang and the others chose to remain silent.

Even Xiahou Aotian, who considered himself the protagonist, couldn't raise his neck and say, 'So what if it's S-rank!' at this time.

While an S-rank dungeon for a Transcendent Saint was a nightmare for ordinary Lingjing Xingzhe, an S-rank dungeon at the Sovereign stage was a nightmare for geniuses.

Since the birth of the Lingjing, in the hundred-year history of the two major districts, countless geniuses have emerged, but no more than ten Sovereign-stage S-rank dungeons have been cleared.

Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but think of the uncompleted dungeon information of the White Tiger Army Corps that Fu Qingyang had given him. There was a dungeon called "Lone Army Fighting."

The main mission was to destroy a country single-handedly. That was the strength of an S-rank dungeon. Compared to that, all previous dungeons felt like escape rooms.

Zhang Yuanqing snapped out of his thoughts and sighed, "Forget it, there's no use in forcing it. We'll talk about it later."

If the White Emperor Crown was really on Mount Shu's main peak, then the quality of the item should be ninth-grade. The power of the Heaven Worship set was probably truly invincible below the demigod level, and could even go head-to-head with a demigod.

At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing heard a Lingjing notification in his ear:

[Ding!

Congratulations on completing the multi-person Lingjing mission—Southern Courtyard of Mount Shu. Code 45, difficulty level A. Currently calculating rewards!]

[Rewards being calculated: Obtained items and props: Yin Jade Crystal, Immortal Slaying Flying Knife x3 (consumable), Seven Star Lamp Formation (consumable)]

[Reward experience points: 20%]

[Main quest completed!]

[Calculation complete. Exiting the Lingjing in ten minutes.]

"Huh? Did the Demon Lord's character card reward fail again? Is it completely depleted, or is there 0 remaining? Is the item quality at the eighth or ninth grade, and my level isn't high enough, so it can't give me a reward?"

Zhang Yuanqing wasn't too disappointed. With the rewards from two high-difficulty dungeons, plus previous accumulation, his Sovereign item reserves could be considered abundant.

"20% experience points is even more generous than the reward for the Ruined Country King. Is it because I killed the dungeon boss?" Zhang Yuanqing opened his character attributes, and his experience points rose to 50%.

Perhaps his excellent performance in the Yaoguang Palace level, coupled with the fact that he killed the dungeon boss, resulted in a higher experience point reward than that of the Ruined Country King.

This was also normal. After all, he was just an assistant in the Ruined Country King's boss battle, not the main carry.

He looked at his teammates beside him. Each person's forehead lit up with their respective profession mark, feeling the infusion of spiritual power.

"Not bad, not bad!" Xiahou Aotian said gleefully, "I gained 11% experience points, and now my total experience has reached 20%. This kind of leveling speed is at the stud level even in the entire Second District."

"I can go back to the family and show off."

"When he advances to the ninth-level Sovereign, he can let the family head abdicate, and when he advances to a demigod, he will make the ancestors bow their heads and submit."

Fu Qingyang glanced at Xiahou Aotian's face and silently withdrew his gaze. "Yuanshi, how much experience have you accumulated?"

Zhang Yuanqing sighed, "50%."

He needed at least two more A-level dungeon experiences to advance to the eighth level. "Boss, what about you?"

Once he reached the Sovereign stage, the leveling speed slowed down significantly. It was really too difficult.

No wonder Fu Qingyang only imitated the Commander once and never mentioned it again. No wonder no one has been able to break the Commander's record for so many years. Consecutive high-intensity dungeons were truly despairing.

Moreover, the Commander probably didn't do consecutive high-difficulty dungeons, but definitely interspersed them with low-level dungeons. Otherwise, there was no way he could advance to a demigod in three months, and it wouldn't take a year.

Fu Qingyang said, "Eighth level."

After he advanced to Sovereign, he imitated the Commander and successfully reached the eighth level. After that, the A-level dungeon, the Ruined Country King, rewarded 11% experience points, and the Southern Courtyard of Mount Shu rewarded 6% experience points.

Yuanshi.

He was able to level up so quickly because his presence increased the difficulty of the dungeon to the eighth level.

If it was a seventh-level A-level dungeon, Yuanshi might not have such generous rewards.

The Palace Master of the Stopping Slaughter Palace held the yellow gourd in the palm of her hand and said, "I got a consumable Immortal Slaying Flying Knife. Who has the real one in their hands?"

Zhang Yuanqing and the others all shook their heads. The Palace Master of the Stopping Slaughter Palace looked at her nephew and muttered, "I thought you would be the son of fortune, but I didn't expect the dungeon to not reward the real item at all."

"Maybe we'll get it after clearing the main peak." Fu Qingyang made his own judgment, "Provided that the person who clears the main peak also clears the Southern Courtyard of Mount Shu."

If that's the case, then the benefits of the Mount Shu dungeon would be ridiculously high. You could get the White Emperor Crown, meet the Jade Emperor, and get the Immortal Slaying Flying Knife.

While Zhang Yuanqing's eyes lit up, he took out the Yin Jade Crystal. This was a fist-sized crystal that emitted a strong Yin energy. "[Name: Yin Jade Crystal]

[Type: Crystal]

[Function: Enhancement]

[Introduction: A rare crystal produced in places with surging Yin energy, it takes thousands of years to form. It can be used to refine magical tools and improve the grade of Yin items.]

[Note: Material and consumables, no price.]"

"The Yin energy is very strong. It's a high-grade material of Sovereign quality. If used to refine props, it can be refined into a mid-to-high-grade Sovereign quality prop."

"However, the failure rate of mid-grade props is very high, let alone high-grade props. And there is only one Yin Jade Crystal. Forget it, I should just use it to upgrade Sister Lan's grade!"

Zhang Yuanqing put it away and glanced at the countdown. There were still more than thirty seconds before returning to reality.

At this moment,

He heard Xiahou Aotian not far away suddenly become excited and shout, "I thought of a way, I thought of a way!"

Everyone looked over, and the Demonic Eye Heavenly King asked, "What did you think of?"

Xiahou Aotian ignored him and looked at Zhang Yuanqing, his eyes shining. "I thought of a way to bypass the character card and increase experience points!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the scenery in front of everyone's eyes rippled.

Dusk.

A café outside the Kangyang District Police Station.

Chen Yuanjun, wearing plain clothes, sat at a round table by the glass wall, his eyes fixed on the pedestrians and traffic on the street, taking a sip of his coffee.

Soon, he saw Li Dongze, a teammate from the special department, wearing a black suit, carrying a cane, and sporting a neat mustache, walking out of the police station and heading towards the café.

Li Dongze entered the café and glanced at the customers, immediately locking onto Chen Yuanjun.

He said in an exaggerated tone, "Oh, my God, the biggest workaholic in the police station actually invited me for coffee. No one will believe it if I tell them."

The serious Chen Yuanjun summoned a waiter to bring him a cappuccino.

After the waiter made the coffee and served it, Chen Yuanjun spoke first, "Team Leader Li, do you still remember the missing person case you took over last April?"

"Missing person case..." Li Dongze thought for a while and said, "The missing person case of Lei Yibing, the one involving your cousin?"

Under the Palace Master's hypnosis, Li Dongze had forgotten the real name of Yuanshi Tianzun and forgotten Zhang Yuanqing's appearance. The two identities were completely separated in his mind.

Chen Yuanjun nodded slightly, his brow furrowed. "Not long ago, the police station's archives were burned, and the electronic database was also damaged. While I was restoring the data, I found a missing person file. The missing person on that file was Lei Yibing."

Li Dongze, who was tasting his cappuccino, silently put down his cup in astonishment and said, "Lei Yibing's missing person file? Wasn't he missing in Hangzhou, Jiangnan Province? Why would our police station have his file record?"

Chen Yuanjun said, "That's not important. At least it's not important for now. What's really important is that this file was deleted from the database. If it weren't for this technical recovery, I wouldn't have known there was such a thing."

"Unfortunately, that electronic file is incomplete and only shows part of the content."

Li Dongze was an experienced Lingjing Xingzhe. He had also experienced the official investigation of the Dark Night Rose spies and immediately understood.

Chen Yuanjun asked, "What do you mean? After thinking about it, you asked me to meet you at the café today. Just say what you have to say."

Chen Yuanjun said, "I suspect that there are comrades within the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau who are violating the law and discipline. I hope you can help find them."

Li Dongze laughed, "Why don't you take action yourself? You are the captain of the Public Security Brigade, second only to the director in terms of power."

"Team Leader Li, you don't understand what I mean." Chen Yuanjun said in a deep voice, "I hope you can use superpowers to help me find them. Conventional methods are too troublesome to investigate, and since I lost control of my superpowers, I've been very, very busy and don't have time to waste on this matter."

After Chen Yuanjun was promoted to captain of the Public Security Brigade, he was explicitly told about the existence of superpower users. Then, he experienced the disappearance of the Merit List and worked with official practitioners in Songhai to combat cults.

This made his communication and cooperation with official practitioners closer, giving him a preliminary understanding of this newly entered world.

Li Dongze did not refuse, "Okay,

I'll give you the results within three days."

Kangyang District Middle School.

Wearing a baseball cap and a mask, the Pure Yang Sect Leader walked into the middle school in full view of the doorman.

It was during class break. The playground and the corridors of the teaching building were filled with students playing and laughing.

The Pure Yang Sect Leader had already been to Kangyang District Middle School once while investigating Yuanshi Tianzun's identity. He entered the administration building with ease and pushed open the door to the principal's office.

The pot-bellied principal with a receding hairline was guiding the new English teacher in her work.

The principal grasped two key points in the female teacher's work, praised her greatly, and used his years of teaching experience to fill her loopholes. The female teacher felt that her career and soul had been sublimated and was intoxicated by the principal's guidance.

The office door, which had been locked, was suddenly pushed open. The principal was caught off guard and startled, forgetting the two key points he had praised the female teacher for.

The female teacher also quickly hid her loopholes and said sternly, "Who are you? Who let you in?"

The Pure Yang Sect Leader curled his lips. "A seductress who indulges in lewdness in broad daylight is worthy of educating children? No wonder their character is getting worse and worse."

"You..."

The principal was about to scold him when his expression suddenly froze and his eyes became vacant, losing their luster.

The same was true for the female teacher next to him.

The Pure Yang Sect Leader pulled out a chair and sat down, putting his feet on the desk and said lightly, "I want the household registration information of all male students from Songhai in 2017."

Through the experience in the home of Yao Yilin, a retired teacher in Kangyang District, the Pure Yang Sect Leader determined that Yuanshi Tianzun had attended Kangyang District Middle School.

Directly asking for Yuanshi Tianzun's name and address from the photos would easily encounter a loop event, so he came up with a compromise method to get the addresses of all the student families who could be Yuanshi Tianzun.

Then check them one by one.

Within a month, he would definitely be able to lock down Yuanshi Tianzun's home address.

Fujiawan.

Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers and disappeared into the bedroom as starlight.

Immediately, starlight rose from Xiahou Aotian's CEO office.

He looked at Xiahou Aotian, who had just come out of the dungeon, and asked impatiently, "You just said you thought of a way to bypass the character card and get experience, what is it?"