“Why is Yuanshi Tianzun the suspect? Are they idiots? They should be targeting Zhao Chenghuang at this time. Target the strongest one. All rhetoric is just a smokescreen. These fools!"

"Tianxia Guihuo is a disgrace to the Scarlet Fire Gang, a disgrace to the Fire Master. He's nothing like a Fire Master."

From the audience, Fire Masters spoke angrily.

The unfolding of the plot in the conference room caught the audience off guard. Not just the simple-minded Fire Masters, even those of other professions found it unbelievable.

Yuanshi Tianzun is indeed a master at conquering realms, but conquering instances depends on the state, depending on the types of levels in the instance. Yuanshi Tianzun, no matter how powerful, isn't an all-rounder. Once he encounters an area he's not good at, the chances of failure are extremely high.

On the other hand, Zhao Chenghuang's martial strength is a constant. It's as strong as it should be and won't change with the difficulty of the instance.

So, eliminating Zhao Chenghuang first is the most stable choice.

"Actually, Tianxia Guihuo's choice is correct. He wants to challenge for the championship. An S-grade instance is an opportunity, but with Yuanshi Tianzun present, he doesn't have the confidence to win against Yuanshi Tianzun in conquering instances. Prioritizing the elimination of Yuanshi Tianzun is a wise move, unless Tianxia Guihuo doesn't want to win."

"Tianxia Guihuo has a good brain, indeed different from other Fire Masters. But that tone-deaf one, I think *he's* the Fire Master. If the Five Elements Alliance's five players form an alliance, that's five against three. This wave is a tie, everyone gets points deducted together, and then after entering the instance, the five of them join forces to eliminate the Taiyi Sect players. The top three will be decided within our Five Elements Alliance. The Houtu Boots won't be snatched away by the Taiyi Sect."

lingdian.

The speaker was a middle-aged man, heartbroken, scolding the tone-deaf one as an idiot.

His Lingjing ID is "Toubao Pei Jiu Yue He Yue You" (Cephalosporin with Wine, the More You Drink, the More You Have).

Meanwhile, the people from Lingjing families, a group not known for strong collective honor, were excited, chatting loudly, their faces filled with excitement, as if a great drama was entering its climax.

"Interesting. Isn't Yuanshi Tianzun a master at conquering S-grade instances? This kind of start is exactly what's needed to showcase his skills. Any other player wouldn't be interesting."

"Exciting! It's so exciting right from the start. How will Yuanshi Tianzun prove his innocence next? Can he win against seven? I feel like this round will be the most brilliant, most insurmountable segment of the recent arena matches, provided Yuanshi Tianzun isn't just all talk."

"This is much more interesting than mindless battles on the stage."

In a corner, a woman with a melon-shaped face turned her head to look at her daughter beside her, raised her delicate willow eyebrows, and said worriedly:

"Baby, the situation isn't good for your Yuanshi brother."

Xie Lingxi didn't panic at all:

"Don't worry, Yuanshi brother won't lose so easily. You don't know, his situation in the Jinshui Amusement Park was even more dangerous than now."

Xie's mother's eyes lit up, and she put her arm around her daughter's shoulder: "Quick, tell Mom. Mom will listen and brag to the ladies."

Proving Innocence Annie's azure-sea-like beautiful eyes looked at the blurred image in mid-air and said:

"The Night Wanderer isn't a scout. Solving cases must be Yuanshi Tianzun's weakness."

She frowned slightly.

Mr. Bill beside her corrected: "Not weakness, the correct Chinese word is: Shortcoming!"

The implication was that he agreed with Annie.

"Rongrong, is Yuanshi Tianzun going to be eliminated in the first round then!" A young man with greasy hair and a powdery face looked excitedly at the beautiful woman beside him.

The gloating on his face suddenly froze. He saw Zhu Rong's beautiful eyebrows tightly locked, her face gloomy, and she looked unhappy.

The young gigolo silently swallowed the subsequent ridicule. His handsome and effeminate face revealed a strong jealousy.

As someone close to her, he could clearly feel Zhu Rong's interest in Yuanshi Tianzun growing stronger and stronger, gradually ignoring the handsome gigolos around her, becoming cold and indifferent.

On the Elder's seat, Elder Hongying turned her head to look at Elder Gou, who was one seat away, and said with a smile:

"Old Gou, what type were the previous two S-grades this kid cleared? Can you assess whether he can pass this level?"

Elder Sun crossed his arms, raised his chin, and snorted:

"I don't think he can!"

Elder Gou ignored him, pondered for a moment, and said:

"He should be fine!"

Elder Hongying raised an eyebrow, and her interest was piqued: "Then I'll have to look forward to it."

At this moment, the blurred image on the field gradually became clear.

The surrounding scenery became clear. He was in a small, cramped secret room. There were no furnishings in the room. Three objects were piled on the ground: a briefcase, a small black box, and a ceramic bowl.

The bowl contained a large clump of wet mud. Besides that, there was nothing else in the room.

But he noticed that there was a fist-sized hole in the wall in front of him, and he could see the scene next door. This should be the cell where "I" am being held. What will happen next? Wait for other players to come and interrogate me? Zhang Yuanqing looked around and suddenly realized that his pajamas were gone.

He was now wearing a light blue casual suit, slacks, and leather shoes. The corners of his clothes and trouser legs were stained with some bloodstains.

"This isn't my body?" He was shocked and quickly raised his hand to touch his face and then his earlobes.

He breathed a sigh of relief. The body was still his, but the clothes had changed.

Bloodstains Zhang Yuanqing took off his clothes to check. He saw that the back of the casual suit was covered in large patches of blood, and the back of the trouser legs was also stained with a lot of blood. "This should be the victim's?"

Already in the book competition Zhang Yuanqing put on his suit again and looked at the three items on the ground. He walked over, picked up the black lacquer wooden box, and a dialog box immediately popped up in his field of vision: [Item: Ashes of a Wraith]

[Note: Touching the ashes can transform you into a spirit. Note that the ashes cannot be moved to the next room without being used.]

[Item: Sacred Porcelain]

[Note: The porcelain will continuously produce soil. The soil has the function of dispelling the spirit state.]

Two conflicting quest items? What's the use of this? He retracted his hand and picked up the briefcase. The items inside were: broken glasses, a cell phone, and a novel manuscript.

[Item: Glasses]

[Note: These are your glasses. You are nearsighted with 500 degrees. You accidentally broke them last night when you visited Professor Li.]

[Item: Cell Phone]

[Note: You secretly recorded a video of last night's conversation to use as leverage to threaten Professor Li.]

[Item: Novel Manuscript]

[Note: You are Professor Li's ghostwriter. Because the quality of your work has declined, you are facing the crisis of being fired. Therefore, you specifically brought the manuscript to the capital to try to persuade Professor Li to continue the collaboration.]

"These should be important clues for me to prove my innocence. The note on the novel manuscript gives me a motive for murder, and the video in the phone can weaken this motive." Zhang Yuanqing checked the items and was considering what to do next when he heard a Lingjing prompt:

[Ding, the detective team is on its way to execute you. Please escape from the secret room within eight minutes and arrive at the scene of the crime. The scene of the crime is Room 404, Building 3 of the teacher's dormitory.] [Hint 1: The key is in the next room.]

[Hint 2: Your abilities have been sealed. All items in the room cannot be destroyed.]

[Hint 3: In this level, you have one chance to use an item.]

Listening to the Lingjing prompt, Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank, and his eyes were dull for a few seconds.

Proving his innocence isn't enough, he has to escape the secret room first?

Five escape the secret room, escape the secret room He looked around and walked to the window. He punched the window, and an invisible force bounced him back.

"The hint isn't lying. All items in the room cannot be destroyed. So, trying to break through the door with the Bloodlust Blade or the Thug Gloves can be directly abandoned. I have to follow the rules and get the key. The key is in the next room."

Zhang Yuanqing walked to the wall on the west side and observed the situation in the next room through the hole.

The next room was also a secret room. All four sides were walls. There was no door, no window, and no furnishings.

A dim chandelier dispelled the darkness. A brass key was lying on the ground in the center of the secret room. Zhang Yuanqing's heart stirred, and he turned his attention to the black box. He knew how to use this thing.

He opened the box. Inside was a pale powder. Zhang Yuanqing's fingertip touched the ashes, and his body immediately turned into a semi-transparent spirit.

Zhang Yuanqing immediately floated towards the door, but an invisible barrier blocked him, and a dialog box popped up in his field of vision:

[This door can only be opened with a key!]

As expected, he can't exploit any bugs. He must go to the next room to get the key. Time is limited. He no longer hesitated, turned around, and flew into the wall.

But when he stretched out his hand and tried to pick up the key, his hand passed through the brass key. In a spirit state, he couldn't touch physical objects.

Can't pick it up… Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a few seconds, his eyes lit up, quickly passed through the wall, and returned to the original room. Then, he reached out and touched the wet mud in the ceramic bowl.

The next second, his body got rid of the spirit state and returned to normal.

Zhang Yuanqing scooped up the mud in the bowl and came to the wall with the hole. He dropped the mud from the hole.

This way, he can dispel the spirit state in the next room and get the key.

Smearing on the ashes of the wraith and turning into a spirit again, Zhang Yuanqing passed through the wall and bent down to pick up the mud on the ground. Just then, his body suddenly froze.

No, if I touch it, my body will return to normal, and I won't be able to go back Zhang Yuanqing withdrew his hand as if struck by lightning.

"Escaping the secret room isn't as simple as I thought."

He quickly reviewed all the details. "To enter the next room, I must use the wraith's ashes, and to get the key, I must touch the mud, but after touching the mud, I return to normal and can't pass through the wall again, and the wraith's ashes can't be brought here. Once I return to human form here, I won't be able to go back. It's a dead end… Thinking of this, Zhang Yuanqing became anxious.

"Almost two minutes have passed since the Lingjing prompt, there are still six minutes, how to break this?"

"Everything in the room cannot be destroyed, including the walls, windows, and doors, but I can use one item. Using the Yin-Yang Robe to deploy a large formation with a diameter of thirty meters, I can appear in any place in the formation, but I can only use one item in this level. If I use the Yin-Yang Robe now, I won't be able to use the Clairvoyant's Glasses to observe the scene of the crime later, which is definitely a disadvantage… The Clairvoyant's Glasses can improve observation and reasoning abilities, so when he was voted as a suspect, Zhang Yuanqing had the idea of struggling to the death and counterattacking from a desperate situation.

But now he realized that it was very difficult to turn the tables.

"As expected of an S-grade instance, being a suspect is almost equivalent to being eliminated. It's so difficult…" He thought for a few minutes but couldn't come up with a solution and became more and more anxious. If he wasn't in a spirit state, he would have been sweating profusely.

"There are about five minutes left, what to do, what to do… The dignified Yuanshi Tianzun, being eliminated at the start, that would be too embarrassing. How they used to praise me, how they will laugh at me in the future."

Taking a deep breath, Zhang Yuanqing forced himself to calm down. The more anxious he was, the less ideas he would have.

Thinking is a skill. Sometimes, when a problem cannot be solved, we can solve the person who created the problem.

When you can't figure out the problem itself, you can think about the people who created the problem. For example, their purpose in setting up this level, "From the setting of the instance, the core of this level is the suspect proving their innocence. Any difficulties and obstacles are paving the way for this point. That is to say, before the final test comes, any difficulties and obstacles must have a glimmer of hope. Otherwise, the conference room would not have voted for a suspect, but an eliminator."

"From the perspective of the competition, setting up a dead end in this round and eliminating a player like this is too childish. The player themselves won't be convinced, and the audience will be dissatisfied and think it's unfair. It's a plot kill."

"Although there is the ability to use an item once, how can the creator of the instance determine that the player selected as a suspect must have an item to leave the secret room?"

"So, there must be a way to break this level, and it's in the given information and items."

Zhang Yuanqing's brain was running at high speed, like an overloaded machine. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration appeared in his mind. He thought of a solution!

Outside the arena, in the audience, the Way of the Extraordinary who witnessed the secret room scene were scratching their heads, some were lost in thought, and some were seeking the opinions of their companions everywhere.

"Yuanshi Tianzun stopped. He didn't pick up the mud. That was close. If he picked it up, he would have lost."

"But how to get the key? Has anyone thought of a solution?"

"Applying the powder to become a spirit allows you to pass through the wall, but the spirit can't touch the key. Returning to a normal body, you get the key, but you can't go back. It's unsolvable."

"Isn't this too exaggerated? Are S-grade instances so difficult? This is only the first level. It's stunned me."

"Time is running out. Yuanshi Tianzun is doomed."

The scene was very lively, but most of the hustle and bustle came from the Fire Masters. The vast majority of people were using their brains, silently switching perspectives to think. If they were Yuanshi Tianzun, what would they do now?

They even had the idea of competing with Yuanshi Tianzun to see who could solve the difficulty first.

This was an excellent opportunity to test their abilities.

Xie's mother was saying "Oh my" next to her: "Baby, I can't understand at all. If someone like me enters an S-grade instance, wouldn't I survive for only three seconds? Do you think this Yuanshi Tianzun can pass this level?"

Guan Yahei frowned silently, trying her best to think of a solution, too lazy to pay attention to her foolish mother.

Annie and Mr. Bill were both silent, thinking individually.

The spirit, while using its brain, said: "Zhang Yuanqing, have you thought of a solution?"

"I have." Zhang Yuanqing, sitting next to him, said.

"What's the solution?" The spirit's eyes lit up, eager to know the answer.

Zhang Yuanqing said calmly: "He has already given the answer."

The spirit immediately turned its head, letting its sight return to the image in the air.

"What is he going to do? Has he thought of a solution?"

Someone said loudly.

The clamor immediately stopped, and gazes turned to the image. In the picture, Yuanshi Tianzun returned to the original secret room.

He first touched the mud to dispel the Lingjing state, then picked up the ceramic bowl, strode to the edge of the hole, and dropped the mud in the bowl, one clump at a time, vertically.

The mud became higher and higher, and after a while, the height reached level with the hole.

A mud pillar was built.

Then, they saw Yuanshi Tianzun slowly discarding the ceramic bowl, picking up the black lacquer box, opening the lid, and carefully using it to catch the mud as it went up.

Yuanshi Tianzun's finger touched the powder, turned into a Lingjing state, and passed through the wall, arriving at the secret room next door.

Bending down to touch the clump of mud that had been dropped in last, he dispelled the Lingjing state, went straight to under the chandelier, picked up the key, returned to the edge of the hole, and dropped the key through the hole.

Then, Yuanshi Tianzun's finger passed through the hole and touched the black lacquer box placed on the mud pillar, touching the ashes in the box.

The next second, his body became illusory, becoming a semi-transparent Lingjing, and passed through the wall to return to the original room.

Then, he used the mud to dispel the Lingjing state, picked up the key, went straight to the door, inserted the key, and opened the closed door.

At this moment, the audience around the arena was in an uproar.

After a few seconds, the clamor rose, the scene exploded instantly, and the noise was deafening.

"This works too? Is this exploiting a bug?"

"It's not a bug. It's cleverly using the attributes of the quest items. The biggest difficulty for Yuanshi Tianzun is that he can no longer return in Lingjing form, and the powder cannot enter the next room. So, he must solve this difficulty, but there are no tables or chairs in the room. Once he returns to human form in the next room, he can no longer touch the powder. So, he uses the characteristic that the mud will continuously produce to build a pillar to place the box on. Although the Lingjing ashes cannot enter the next room, he can reach out to touch it… Brilliant! Too brilliant! Why didn't I think of it?"

"Give me some time, and I can think of it too, but I can't do it so quickly. In this kind of safe instance, being one step ahead is everything. Yuanshi has made the most of every resource."

"The distance between life and death is one thought. He is worthy of the title Yuanshi Tianzun."

"His ability to clear two S-grades wasn't luck, but real ability. I'm convinced. If he really proves his innocence, won't the other seven players be slapped in the face?"

"Ah, now that you mention it, I'm getting excited. This match is really good."

In the noisy voices, Mr. Bill shook his head and sighed:

"Amazing, amazing. I vaguely thought of this method, but I didn't react as quickly as him."

Annie breathed a sigh of relief, her heart was burning, and she said with a smile: "I'm suddenly looking forward to his next performance."

Yuanshi brother is awesome Guan Yaxi revealed a joyful smile, and then she heard her mother next to her say in astonishment:

"So complicated? Then I can think of it too. It's not difficult at all."

"Stupid people only judge the difficulty based on the answer." Guan Yaxi pursed her lips: "Building a nuclear bomb is also complicated. What's difficult is the process of its first birth." "Not bad!" Zhang Yuanqing smiled slightly.

The spirit, who was about to smile, was stunned. She hadn't seen Zhang Yuanqing smile so nervously in many years. Usually, he was either aloof and pretentious, or sneering, or giving a forced smile.

On the other side, Zhu Rong stared intently at the young man in the image. The young gigolo next to her heard her heavy breathing.

Elder Hongying nodded in satisfaction and smiled:

"This child isn't stupid. He has quick wit, Old Sun. You're sobering up."

Elder Sun: "…"

Elder Gou said slowly:

"Yuanshi has extremely strong talent in conquering instances. Watch, the other seven players are in trouble."

Elder Hongyuan "Mmm" said: "It's been many years since I've seen such an excellent junior. The last one was the Devil…"

She seemed to have remembered something unpleasant, and the smile on her face faded.

Sun Shiyu grabbed his briefcase and rushed out of the secret room.

He had to get to the scene of the crime and find evidence to prove his innocence before the detective team came to arrest him.

According to his speculation, if he arrives at the scene of the crime, he will have time to defend himself. Anywhere outside the scene of the crime, if he is discovered by the detective team, he will inevitably be besieged.

And eliminated.

"Just wait, and see how I kill you five traitors."