Chapter 168: The Location on the Treasure Map

Once again standing in front of the City God Temple, you could faintly see the flickering firelight and bustling figures within the temple. You knew that the hidden monsters inside the City God Temple had reappeared.

Carefully approaching the temple gate, you peeked through the crack and saw five figures in the temple courtyard, worshipping in front of an incense burner. Those figures were the paper puppet monsters you were looking for.

You didn't dare to enter the City God Temple and instead chose to attack the monsters from the outside. These monsters were afraid of fire, so you decided to use the power of fire against them.

Several massive fireballs gathered and fell into the courtyard like shooting stars, engulfing the five paper puppet monsters in roaring flames. The paper puppet monsters let out cries of agony.

However, you noticed that under the burning flames, the white paper exteriors of the monsters quickly turned yellow and black. Unfortunately, even so, their bodies did not burn.

The monsters spotted you and launched a simultaneous psychic attack against you.

You died.

"Couldn't even kill these monsters like this?" Su Nan frowned.

He had thought that with his current fire power, it would be easy to kill these monsters.

Now, it seemed he had overestimated himself.

"The power of fire is still lacking a bit. It looks like I'll have to try using the Flame Spirit Core."

The Flame Spirit Core appeared in his hand, dancing like a mischievous child. Its scorching aura quickly filled the air, as if it could ignite the atmosphere.

After the cooldown time for Foresight ended, he began using it again.

...

You didn't dare to enter the City God Temple and instead used the Flame Spirit Core to deal with the five monsters from the outside.

The Flame Spirit Core was attuned to your thoughts and quickly shot through the crack in the temple gate, heading straight for the five monsters. 

The monsters sensed danger and immediately launched psychic attacks against the Flame Spirit, but their attacks had no effect on it.

The Flame Spirit Core landed on one of the monsters, and in an instant, the monster let out a scream as its body was quickly engulfed in flames, turning to ashes in the blink of an eye.

Your actions angered other monsters inside the City God Temple. Suddenly, the main door of the City God Temple burst open, revealing a monstrous creature with a green face and sharp teeth in your line of sight.

You were attacked and immediately lost consciousness.

Two minutes later, you were awakened by intense pain. Opening your eyes, you saw yourself lying on a red altar.

The green-faced monster was voraciously feasting on your internal organs, and your fresh blood flowed down from the altar.

You died.

"Success!"

A look of joy appeared in Su Nan's eyes. Although he died in the end, it didn't matter.

Killing the paper puppet monsters would inevitably attract the three suspected demon kings, and he had anticipated this. It was a problem that could be easily solved by killing the monsters first and then immediately quitting the game.

Once daytime arrived, the City God Temple would return to normal, and his presence would not attract the monsters' attacks. 

With a plan in mind, Su Nan strode toward the City God Temple courtyard.

The courtyard gate of the City God Temple was not locked due to its age. There was a gap of about the width of a little finger between the two doors. Su Nan didn't need to look closely to see what was happening inside through the gap.

He saw five middle-aged figures made entirely of white paper, giving them a eerie appearance.

The Flame Spirit Core danced in his hand, and with a thought, it shot out and quickly reached the courtyard, heading straight for one of the monsters.

The monster couldn't dodge in time and was hit by the Flame Spirit Core.

Boom!

Flames erupted, as if gasoline had been poured on the monster's body. The entire paper figure was engulfed in flames in an instant.

The monster's agonized cries echoed in the courtyard, sounding as if it were not a paper puppet being burned, but a living person.

As the Flame Spirit Core burst forth with scorching heat, it consumed nearly half of Su Nan's internal fire power in an instant, leaving him unable to continue attacking the other paper puppet monsters.

"Gah! Using the Flame Spirit Core's power directly is effective, but the consumption is too great."

This was the first time he had used the Flame Spirit Core to attack monsters. 

Before, when he used it in Foresight, he didn't feel any consumption, but now that he had used it in the actual game, he realized that the consumption of the Flame Spirit Core was much greater than he had imagined.

Without time to think further, he quickly withdrew the Flame Spirit Core.

Just as the Flame Spirit Core was being retracted, the paper puppet monster it had hit turned into ashes in an instant.

A notification popped up, indicating that the mission was completed.

Without wasting time, he immediately used one of his unlimited exit opportunities and logged out of the game.

As expected, just like in his foresight, as soon as he logged out of the game, the main door of the City God Temple creaked open, and an angry green-faced monster appeared.

Clearly, because it couldn't find Su Nan, the monster was furious and let out a howl.

Hearing this sound, the two demon kings and the county governor in Tianyun City all looked towards the City God Temple.

"Who dares to provoke those three evil things?"

...

6:00 PM.

In the real world, as the last rays of the setting sun disappeared, darkness enveloped the land.

In the game, however, it was quite the opposite. The scorching sun rose, marking the beginning of a new day.

Su Nan logged into the game.

As soon as he appeared in front of the City God Temple, he prepared himself to exit the game.

Fortunately, as he had expected, the City God Temple was safe during the day, and his presence did not attract the monsters' attacks.

"Congratulations, you have completed the daily quest 'Hunting a Paper Puppet Monster,' and 30 demon power points have been awarded."

"Current available demon power points: 86."

"Not bad, I can upgrade another bloodline to Grand Perfection," Su Nan said with a satisfied smile.

Leaving the City God Temple, he found a secluded spot and quickly took out a bloodline he had purchased earlier.

This bloodline was called "Giant God Ant" and was associated with strength.

A few minutes later, the bloodline fusion was completed.

Another 80 demon power points, and Wang Nan's third bloodline achieved Grand Perfection!

The number of times he could use Foresight had once again increased, reaching 48 times, more than enough for his needs.

"If I can continue to improve at this rate, that would be great." The surging power spread throughout his body, and a smile appeared on Su Nan's lips.

In just one day, he had perfected two bloodlines.

Such speed was something other players wouldn't even dare to dream of.

At this point, on the ranking list, there were only around twenty players who had reached the Spirit level.

The gap between them and others continued to widen.

However, it could be seen that now, on the ranking list from around twenty to over two hundred, all of them had achieved Grand Perfection in four

 common bloodlines.

These players were currently stuck at the breakthrough stage, and as long as they accumulated forty demon power points, they would soon be able to break through, leading to a surge in Spirit-level players.

Chapter 169: Searching for the Ancient Monster Blood

Both characters, Lang Shisan and Wang Nan, have already perfected three bloodlines each. If they want to continue improving these two characters, they need to find the Ancient Monster Blood as soon as possible.

A single drop of Ancient Monster Blood in the Contribution Store costs six thousand contribution points, which is beyond their current means. Apart from the Contribution Store, the only way to obtain Ancient Monster Blood is through mainline quests.

Switching to the character Zhang Yang, his gaze fell on the quest "Dragon Turtle's Bequest."

The first stage of the Dragon Turtle's Bequest quest rewards a drop of Ancient Monster Blood. With only a little over two days left until the quest deadline, he needed to prioritize it.

"According to the previous plan, to enter the palace at the center of Baishui Lake, I need to divert the Baishui Monster King's attention."

"The method to divert the Baishui Monster King is to hunt down a High-Level Monster under its command."

Su Nan contemplated, his gaze fixed on Zhang Yang's daily quest, "Seeking Revenge for the Former Chief of the Extermination Bureau."

Coincidentally, the target of this quest, a monster named Zijia, was one of the Baishui Monster King's subordinates.

"It's you!"

Without hesitation, he quickly headed towards the Wanchen Tower in the southern part of the city.

A little over ten minutes later, he stood a few hundred meters away from Wanchen Tower and began to use Foresight.

"You arrived at Wanchen Tower. Due to the losses suffered by the demon race during the attack on the Heavenly Vault God Array nodes, the number of monsters in Tianyun City has greatly decreased, and your presence has not been detected by any monsters."

"You entered Wanchen Tower and began searching for it, layer by layer."

"Wanchen Tower has a total of twelve floors. One minute later, you reached the third floor without encountering any monsters."

"Two minutes later, you reached the sixth floor, still without finding any monsters. You continued upwards."

"Three minutes later, you arrived at the ninth floor, but still found no monsters."

"The first foresight ends. Do you want to continue?"

"Not a single monster? Could it be that I've killed all the monsters here by chance?" Su Nan frowned.

Without further ado, he chose to continue using Foresight.

This time, he decided to be more aggressive, using fire to try and force the monster out. However, the result left him disappointed. According to the foresight, the entire Wanchen Tower was engulfed in flames, but no monsters appeared.

"It seems that the monster is really not here." Su Nan shook his head.

There was no other choice but to leave. Instead of returning to the Extermination Bureau, he headed towards Wutong Road in the northern part of the city.

Wutong Road and the surrounding streets were relatively bustling in Tianyun City, and now this place had become his territory.

He arrived at the same small courtyard.

The five monsters led by Old Yang looked at Su Nan, who had transformed into a wolf monster, with respectful expressions.

Su Nan's recent performance had completely won them over. In their eyes, Su Nan was no longer a Spirit-level monster but a Profound-level one!

"Master, have you advanced your cultivation again? Did you hide your true strength before?" Eagle Gao asked, and the other monsters also noticed the issue, looking at him with curiosity.

Lang Shisan had perfected his third bloodline, and Su Nan was now in the late Spirit level. In such a short time, he had gone from the early Spirit level to the late Spirit level.

In the eyes of these monsters, this was not something that could be achieved through normal cultivation. Only hiding his true strength could explain it.

However, if that were the case, it raised another question.

If their master had hidden his strength, then how had he displayed such strong power when attacking the Golden Light Pagoda? The monsters were puzzled.

Su Nan didn't change his expression but was slightly taken aback in his heart. Eagle Gao's words reminded him that his rapid advancement might draw unwanted attention.

With his current progress, it was easy to arouse suspicion.

In the eyes of these monsters, they might think he was hiding his true strength, but when facing the two Monster Kings or even Hu Xuetian, they wouldn't be so easily convinced.

"It seems I need to find a way to conceal my cultivation level."

The Hidden Spirit Ring that Zhou Lingyin had given him before could conceal his cultivation level, but it only worked for ordinary martial artists and lost its effect once he reached the Spirit level.

Su Nan naturally wouldn't answer this question. Instead, he asked, "Do you know where Zijia went?"

"Zijia? Are you talking about Zijia King? He was dispatched by Lord Baishui Monster King to capture the Chief of the Extermination Bureau," Old Yang replied.

"Dispatched to capture me?"

Su Nan's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected that the monster he was looking for would come looking for him!

"The Chief of the Extermination Bureau is too strong. With his mid-level Spirit-level strength, he managed to kill hundreds of our monsters. His strength is almost catching up to yours, Master."

"Moreover, we heard that the Chief of the Extermination Bureau also possesses an extremely powerful flame. It was because of that flame that nearly all the monsters attacking the Warrior God Temple's formation array were wiped out."

"Both Monster Kings suspect that the person who killed Bear Rock and the other two kings earlier is likely the Chief of the Extermination Bureau. So, they each sent a High-Level Monster King to capture him."

"Baishui Monster King dispatched Zijia King, and our Green Wolf Monster King sent out the Hook Sickle King. The Chief of the Extermination Bureau killed several of Hook Sickle King's subordinates before, so this time, Hook Sickle King volunteered for the mission."

"Do they still suspect me?" Su Nan sighed inwardly.

He had anticipated this. After all, with the strength he had displayed, it was natural for him to be suspected.

The important thing was that some people were starting to doubt him.

After hearing this information, Su Nan let the monsters leave.

"Six hours left until the game refreshes at midnight. To condense my Life Essence Blood, I need to continuously concentrate for six hours each day. Let's start condensing the Life Essence Blood now."

Su Nan abandoned the plan to hunt Zijia and decided to prioritize condensing his Life Essence Blood.

The process of condensing Life Essence Blood was lengthy and tedious, but Su Nan didn't need to remain completely still during it. He could multitask.

While concentrating on condensing his Life Essence Blood, he took out two pieces of animal skin. These were two tattered treasure maps.

(End of this chapter)