Chapter 183: The Function of the Ritual Law

From the literal meaning, this so-called Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact should be a method for ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact. But when Su Nan held the Ritual Law in his hand, he realized that he was wrong.

This so-called Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact was not just a method for ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact; it was also a method of cultivation, similar to the Yao Scriptures.

[Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact: One of the Three Divine Dao Arts of the Great Xuan Dynasty, requires cooperation with the Divine Dao Artifact for cultivation. After cultivation, your divine soul will grow stronger.]

"Increase the strength of the divine soul! This cultivation method can actually enhance the power of the divine soul!" Su Nan was both surprised and delighted. The power of the divine soul was crucial for both cultivators and monsters.

To enhance a cultivator's divine soul, besides advancing in realms, they could only fuse with a bloodline that mastered the power of the divine soul. This method could only be used by cultivators with bloodlines that mastered the power of the divine soul.

"This is just one of the Three Divine Dao Arts, no wonder the Great Xuan Dynasty was able to rise quickly with these so-called Divine Dao Arts," Su Nan marveled.

He realized that what he held in his hand now was the Divine Dao cultivation method he had wanted to buy in his premonition but had failed to obtain.

However, this was only a part of it.

Looking at the cultivation method, he hesitated whether to cultivate it or not.

The Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact could enhance the divine soul, but it required the assistance of the Divine Dao Artifact. This meant entering the path of Divine Dao cultivation, and the information provided by the Celestial Pavilion made him reluctant to easily get involved with Divine Dao.

The drawbacks of Divine Dao were significant, and one wrong step could lead to consequences worse than bloodline conflicts getting out of control. Su Nan had an instinctive aversion to it.

"Let's see what the second stage of the task is," he decided after some hesitation.

Opening the task panel, the second stage of the Divine Dao Secret appeared before him.

[Main Task: Divine Dao Secret]

[Task Second Stage: Ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact]

[Task Difficulty: Four Stars]

[Task Reward: Spirit-level Bloodline, Spirit-level Yao Scripture, 45 Points of Monster Power, Divine Dao Wish Spirit Condensation Method]

[Task Countdown: 15 Days]

"They want me to ritualize this incense burner?"

Looking at the incense burner in his hand, Su Nan frowned. Wasn't this task asking him to voluntarily cultivate the Ritual Law?

"This task is rated four stars. Does that mean there might be danger in ritualizing the incense burner?"

Noticing the task's difficulty, he furrowed his brows again.

A ritualization task should be straightforward; after all, the item was already in his possession, and the corresponding Ritual Law was available. It seemed like there shouldn't be any difficulty.

However, the fact that this task was rated four stars meant that the process of ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact might not be as simple as he thought.

"Could it be related to the Divine Ritual Spirit inside the incense burner?" Su Nan thought.

Perhaps only the presence of that king-level entity could elevate the task to a four-star level.

After thinking it over, he decided to use the Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact.

He wanted to see how this Ritual Law was specifically cultivated.

All the information about the Ritual Law of the Divine Dao Artifact exploded in his mind, and he instantly gained all the information about the cultivation method.

After carefully studying the Ritual Law in his mind, Su Nan finally understood how it worked.

As he suspected, if he wanted to ritualize the incense burner, he would inevitably have to deal with the Divine Ritual Spirit inside.

"Ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact is essentially turning the ownerless Divine Dao Artifact into one's own, leaving a mark on it during the process."

"During this process, if the Divine Dao Artifact has not given birth to the Divine Ritual Spirit, then the ritualization process is safe. However, in such a case, the divine soul will not gain any growth."

"But if there's already a Divine Ritual Spirit inside, ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact will be obstructed by the Divine Ritual Spirit within the incense burner."

Although the incense burner had lost its power due to being taken from its place of worship and no longer had the support of incense, actively ritualizing it was different.

Ritualizing the Divine Dao Artifact required repeatedly killing the Divine Ritual Spirit that had been born inside the incense burner!

Plundering the divine soul power of the Divine Ritual Spirit to enhance one's own divine soul? This cultivation method was undeniably bizarre!

However, it had to be admitted that if it succeeded, its effects would be astounding.

"Plundering the divine soul power of a king-level monster? I can't imagine how much it will elevate the cultivator's divine soul power."

"If I only cultivate this Ritual Law and don't get involved with other Divine Dao Arts, it seems like there won't be any other problems."

After thinking it over, Su Nan decided to cultivate it.

Being able to plunder the divine soul power of a king-level monster was too tempting for him.

The divine soul power was unpredictable and undefendable, making a significant difference in strength when one had it compared to when one didn't.

He had his current strength largely thanks to his divine soul power.

"To cultivate the Ritual Law, I need to have my divine soul actively enter the incense burner and kill the Divine Ritual Spirit inside once a day."

"During this process, my avatar can't be of any help, which means I'll need to confront the Divine Ritual Spirit myself."

After studying the Ritual Law again in his mind, Su Nan's expression became serious.

If he were in the late stages of the Profound Rank or King Rank and used the Wrathful Ghostly Body to boost his divine soul power, it wouldn't be impossible to contend with the Divine Ritual Spirit head-on.

However, he was currently only at the Spirit Rank, and completing the task would be difficult.

"The task has a deadline of fifteen days. I should be able to complete it."

Back in Tianyun City.

Su Nan released his avatar again and used the Transformation Art to make it take on the appearance of Zhang Yang. He planned to leave his avatar as Zhang Yang in the Exorcism Bureau and head to the cave in Hongshan County himself.

"After all, the avatar is a physical-type while Zhang Yang is a law-type. In this way, I can avoid letting the avatar engage in combat."

According to his plan, this trip would take a maximum of three days and a minimum of one day, so it wouldn't take up too much time.

Zuifeng Tower.

Su Nan transformed into Wang Nan's appearance and found the several players from the Nine Heavens Guild.

"Let's go, we can finally set off now."

"Great, we can finally leave!"

The players had been eagerly waiting and immediately set off in the direction of Hongshan County.

Hongshan County was in the northeast of Tianyun City.

To reach the nearest town in Hongshan County from Tianyun City, they would have to pass through six larger towns along the way.

The journey was

 about four to five hundred miles long.

For ordinary players, traveling such a distance was not easy. Last time, it had taken them a full three days to travel from Hongshan County to Tianyun City, and they hadn't even participated in any side quests, traveling cautiously the whole way.

Fortunately, most of the monsters had gathered near Tianyun City due to the Demon Emperor's order to attack the Heavenly Palace, so they didn't encounter too many monsters on the road. It was a smooth journey.

This time, with Su Nan accompanying them, they had no worries.

There wasn't a player who didn't know Su Nan's strength. He was the one who had fought his way in and out of a large army of Spirit Rank monsters.

To reach Hongshan County as quickly as possible, none of them logged out during the journey. They continued to play the game, spending several hours on the road.

In the blink of an eye, four to five hours had passed.

In reality, night had fallen.

During this journey, they had encountered a Spirit Rank Early-Stage monster and a few Common Rank monsters. Su Nan easily handled them, which allowed Wang Nan to refresh his mission for the second time.

Another twenty points of Monster Power were added to his account.

Chapter 183: The Function of the Ritual Law

With the previous hunt of the Paper Puppet Yao and the completion of the first stage of the Divine Dao Secret mission, his available monster power had reached 151 points!

"Wang Nan, how did you manage to reach the complete mastery of four bloodlines so quickly?" Several players from the Nine Heavens Guild were impressed by Su Nan's ability to effortlessly kill monsters.

"It's simple, just kill more high-level monsters," Su Nan replied casually.

Upon hearing this, the players exchanged glances and fell silent.

The rest of the journey went smoothly. Although they encountered monsters along the way, they were all Common Rank monsters. Another four to five hours passed, and the group finally arrived at the border between Tianyun County and Hongshan County.

The journey had taken more than ten hours in total.

By this time, it was midnight in the game, and the daily quests had refreshed. Su Nan quickly checked his tasks and found that they were similar to the ones he had seen outside Tianyun City yesterday. All three characters had simple one-star tasks.

Out of the nine one-star tasks in total, only three of Lang Shisan's tasks to hunt players couldn't be completed at the moment. Su Nan quickly found a few monsters and completed the remaining six tasks, earning a total of thirty monster power points.

His available monster power had now reached an unprecedented 181 points. It was enough to upgrade Wang Nan to the Profound Rank, but unfortunately, Zhang Yang and Lang Shisan's bloodlines had not yet been obtained, so they couldn't be upgraded for now.

"Wang Nan, we're heading straight to Redstone Town. Our guild leader is already waiting for you there," one of the players said.

Redstone Town was located to the east of Hongshan County, about two to three hundred miles away from the central county city of Hongshan County.

Ancient strongman's secret cave was located there.

The group continued on their way without stopping. During the journey, Su Nan learned more about the power dynamics in Hongshan County from the other players.

Hongshan County had several player factions, with the largest one being the Nine Heavens Guild. Almost half of the players in Hongshan County had joined the Nine Heavens Guild, which had an astonishing number of over fifty thousand members, spread across various towns in Hongshan County. It was even stronger than Zhou Cheng's God-Sealing Guild.

In addition to the Nine Heavens Guild, there was another faction of martial practitioners called the Qiankun Sect in Hongshan County. Hearing the name Qiankun Sect, Su Nan couldn't help but think of Zhou Lingyin.

Back when the Pointed Star Sect attacked the Heavenly Wolf Valley, Zhou Lingyin was taken away by the Pointed Star Sect's emperor-level expert, but she didn't leave the Heavenly Wolf Valley at that time. However, Su Nan believed that Zhou Lingyin wouldn't have stayed in the Heavenly Wolf Valley for long.

"I wonder where the coffin of the last Yao Emperor went," Su Nan thought, recalling the disappearing coffin from the Heavenly Wolf Valley.

Zhang Yang's task panel appeared in front of him, and his gaze fell on the mainline task "Yao Emperor's Bloodline."

[Mainline Task: Yao Emperor's Bloodline]

[Task Second Stage: Open the Yao Emperor's Coffin]

[Task Difficulty: Four Stars]

[Task Reward: Common Rank Bloodline, Common Rank Yao Scripture, 30 Monster Power Points, a random spiritual item.]

This task was the only one among his three characters that offered rewards of a Common Rank bloodline and a Common Rank Yao Scripture. However, what caught Su Nan's attention was the fourth reward.

The Flame Spirit Essence was the spiritual item he had received as a reward before. If he could obtain another spiritual item similar to the Flame Spirit Essence, it would undoubtedly be a significant boost to his strength.

If there was a chance, he naturally hoped to complete this task. Unfortunately, he had no idea where the coffin had gone at the moment.

Fortunately, the second stage of this task had no time limit.

After a few more hours, the group finally arrived at Redstone Town.

Hongshan County had a unique landscape, with most of its mountains made of red stones. Redstone Town was a typical example of this.

As Su Nan approached Redstone Town, he saw a group of players waiting in the distance. The leader was a young man in his twenties, of average height with a slender physique. He wore white clothes and had an elegant and easygoing appearance.

Beside him were two other young men, one fat and one thin.

Su Nan could tell that both of these men were at the Spirit Rank Initial Stage.

With Qian Yu included, there were three Spirit Rank players in total, which placed them at the forefront of the player factions in terms of strength.

"Wang Nan, my friend, you kept me waiting," the man in white clothes said with a smile.

"Qian Yu?"

"Yes, that's me."

Qian Yu then introduced the two men beside him, saying, "These two are Peng Wei and Kong Mao, the two vice-leaders of our Nine Heavens Guild."

Su Nan nodded and remembered their names. He didn't waste any time and got straight to the point, "I already know about the secret location we're going to. Right now, I just want to know what exactly is inside that secret cave."

Qian Yu smiled and said, "I knew you would ask this question. We only have one day left before the secret location disappears, so time is running out. I'll give you a more detailed description of the secret cave as we walk."

Under Qian Yu's guidance, the group continued toward their destination.

During the journey, Qian Yu provided more information about the secret cave. Much of the information matched what Su Nan had learned from the Celestial Pavilion's premonition.

"That secret cave was discovered by me shortly after the first open beta test. It's said to be a cave, but it's actually a unique and independent space."

"The space is quite large and has given birth to many monsters that are unique to the cave. There are countless Common Rank monsters, and even Spirit Rank monsters can be encountered frequently. In some dangerous areas within the cave, there are even King Rank monsters."

"We've been exploring the cave with guild members for a while now, but the gains have not been significant. Fortunately, we recently discovered the secret location within the cave and obtained more detailed information from other parts of the cave."

Su Nan listened quietly, his eyes showing a subtle, imperceptible smile.

Qian Yu had concealed quite a bit of information! According to Qian Yu, anyone could enter the cave without any restrictions, and countless martial practitioners had entered the cave over the five hundred years it had been discovered. They had likely already emptied it.

Throughout the conversation, there was no mention of the key.

This was interesting. Whether Qian Yu was doing it intentionally or unintentionally, it was enough to prove that his motives were not pure.

Su Nan cooperated and pretended not to know anything.

"We have information that the secret location we're going to is a small space within the cave, divided into three areas."

"The first area is a desert, the second is a swamp, and the third is an ice field."

"All three areas are dangerous, but the specific dangers are unknown. After passing through these three areas, we can

 finally reach the center of the secret location."

Qian Yu explained the general situation of the secret location.

As he spoke, the group had already arrived at their destination.

Today is not feeling well, just one chapter.

(End of this chapter)