Chapter 1588: Hidden Easter Egg of the Spring Festival Event (2)

[Quest 4: Construct the Yellow Springs Teleportation Array. Reward: Purification Robe Set +1]

“Feels like having the Fuyun Courtyard restricted to this mountain in the early stages actually has its perks. At the very least, all the quests are going way more smoothly.” Jiang Yuan could clearly sense that the main quest for building the third courtyard was a lot easier than the first two.

Probably because the overall risk on this side was higher—first that sudden storm of blood and gore; then the polluted Evil Ghosts; plus those malevolent tornadoes that blew through from time to time.

If your luck was bad, the little courtyard would get overturned every few days, and just repairing it would burn through a ton of basic materials.

With the environment this harsh, the main quest naturally couldn’t be too hard. Otherwise, the “Player” who picked this as their starter zone really would cry themselves to death.

After farming building materials for another half day, the Clone Arm Ring’s cooldown finally ended!

Unable to wait, Jiang Yuan summoned all eight clones. Looking at eight identical copies of “himself,” he let out a long breath. “You can finally come out again. Hold on a sec, I’ll top up your lifespans, then you listen to my arrangements. Clones No. 1, 2, 3, you head straight to Old Dragon Cave and farm the mine cave. Start from the Fifth Layer, occasionally cover the Sixth and Seventh Layers. Do not give those malevolent beings any chance to gain traction. As long as they don’t gather up to block the entrance, you can slowly dig them out and deal with them; it’s not that hard. We’ve got both a shield and healing now, we can restore each other’s HP, so we don’t have to worry about getting drained to death anymore. Clone No. 4 stays and farms building materials with me. We’re short just two Black Fire Crystals before we can build the Teleportation Array, so we need to hurry. Clone No. 5, go dismantle the Demon Beast Teleportation Arrays around the city in the Wilderness up above. Remember, don’t touch the ones that Lord Mist Dragon is presiding over and newly building. Clones No. 6, 7, 8, pick whichever dungeon you want to farm. Once you decide, just tell me!”

Finally having a big squad to share the workload, Jiang Yuan grinned from ear to ear.

“Having a shield really hits different—hey, it’s actually pretty cool! This is great, no matter what happens, as long as I’ve got the shield up, I feel super safe.”

“Spring of Life, Withered Wood Revives in Spring—these two healing Skills have such common names. No idea how good the effects actually are, though.”

“The three of us are all mining, but we’ve only got one pickaxe. What a waste of time. Can’t we get a couple more?”

“Those pickaxe Magical Treasures forged by Leng Yutang still can’t dig World Tree ore…”

……

The clones were all talking over each other. Clearing his throat, Jiang Yuan laughed and said, “Little Elf You Meng has already lifted all her restrictions. You can go over now and use Spirit Stones to buy time-limited pickaxes. One purchase lasts 24 hours, and they have unlimited durability during that period. So this time, the three of you should all use the time-limited pickaxes sold by the Little Elf. The ones she sells can only be used inside the World Tree Mine Cave. I still need this pickaxe for farming base-construction materials.”

Ever since the World Tree crisis, the Little Elf had completely come clean.

She’d even given him blueprints for the resurrection Magical Treasure and the Invincible Talisman, but he didn’t have the materials on hand yet, so Jiang Yuan couldn’t craft a single one.

After sending each clone off to work, he shoved the shovel into Clone No. 4’s hands, then pulled out a rocking chair and lay down right by the edge of the lava mud. “Finally get to take a break. You have no idea how many times I’ve shoveled this crap. It’s so boring!”

“So you finally figured out how to use clones as draft animals.” Clone No. 4 kept digging with a grunt, muttering under his breath, “All told, we only rested for three days. You timed it perfectly to summon us out and continue working us like beasts of burden, didn’t you?”

Holding his teacup, Jiang Yuan grinned. “People always say, ‘One day apart feels like three years.’ I haven’t seen you for three whole days—that’s nine years. I missed you terribly! Contributing a bit of strength to save the world, and you call it being beasts of burden? At least you got three days off. I didn’t even get a break for the Spring Festival.”

“Isn’t that just because you’re into it? If you wanted to rest, who could stop you?”

“Main thing is there’s just too much to do—main quests, side quests, always getting pushed along by the plot. Even if I wanted to rest, I can’t.” he replied casually.

Meanwhile he was thinking, heh, over here I’m basically doing 24/7 with only a noon break all year; but once I’m back in the real world, the way I rest is beyond comfy!

Rich and idle, and more importantly, robust and with a Lifespan over ten thousand years. Wherever he went, he stayed in luxury hotels and enjoyed a VIP life. With benefits this big, working hard over here didn’t feel like much.

Since he had nothing better to do, whenever he saw a Fried Ghost poking its head out, Jiang Yuan would casually blast off some HP, then directly capture it with a Ghost-Catching Treasure.

That way, Clone No. 4 could keep his mind completely focused on digging and digging and digging, until he finally dug up the two badly needed Black Fire Crystals.

“I’m going to take care of some other stuff. You stay here and keep digging for Black Fire Crystals. We go through tons of that stuff, but it’s the hardest to farm. If you run into Fried Ghosts, beat them half to death and throw the Ghost-Catching Net over them.” Having finally gathered enough materials to build the Teleportation Array, Jiang Yuan couldn’t wait.

Leaving the clone to keep working, he headed straight for the Fuyun Courtyard, picked a spot, and hit build.

As the gray mist dispersed, a simple stone Teleportation Array stood in the courtyard.

[Main Quest: Construct Second Level Fuyun Space. Reward: Regional Map +1]

[Quest 4: Construct the Yellow Springs Teleportation Array, completed. Reward: Purification Robe Set +1 has been delivered]

[Purification Robe Set: In light of the severe pollution in the Yellow Springs, for safety reasons, please be sure to fully equip the set before teleporting to the Yellow Springs.]

[Quest 5: Retrieve one bottle of Yellow Springs Water. Reward: Unlock all seeds plantable at the corresponding Level]

At the same time as the system popped up the new quest, a glazed, multicolored bottle automatically appeared in his Storage Bag, labeled with the words “Quest Item.”

Jiang Yuan clicked to equip the rewarded set, replacing his current Magical Robe.

It was a set of clothing very much in line with traditional Chinese aesthetics, like those flowing-robed Immortals in ancient paintings. Light blue as the main color, with gold, red, and deep purple as accents. The cuffs and collar were embroidered with intricate patterns, and even the shoes on his feet were the upturned Cloud-Gathering Shoes.

[Please confirm whether to equip the Purification Robe, and whether to consume 10 Cold Crystal Jade to teleport to the Yellow Springs?]

Looked like that place really was dangerous. The system kept warning him over and over, as if afraid the slightest carelessness would get its host killed.

He clicked confirm to teleport, and in the next second, all he heard was the roaring of water, while the light before his eyes grew much brighter.

[Heavily Polluted Yellow Springs: One of the Nine Prisons and Nine Springs in the Underworld, the Yellow Springs. The most vast among the Nine Springs, it is the main entrance to the Netherworld Capital in the Underworld]

[Heavily Polluted Nai River: Also known as the Wangchuan River and San Tu River, it lies between the Yellow Springs and the Netherworld Capital. There used to be a bridge over the river, called the Naihe Bridge. The Ghost God Meng Po once brewed Meng Po Soup at the bridgehead]

Before him was a thundering waterfall plunging from the heavens. The Teleportation Array was on the stone bank right beside the water, close enough to touch with a stretch of his hand.

He’d once heard Qu Luming mention that the Yellow Springs poured down from the Celestial Realm, falling one hundred and eight thousand li below the Netherworld Capital to gather into the Nai River. Rubbing his ears to adjust to the roaring water, Jiang Yuan looked at the vast river and thought, turns out he was right.

The water hanging up there was the Yellow Springs, and once it flowed down below, it became the Nai River.

If the name changes, will filling the bottle with river water still count for the quest?

[This is Nai River Water, not Yellow Springs Water. Please repair the Meng Mansion and ascend the Water-Drawing Platform to obtain Yellow Springs Water]

Jiang Yuan: Meow meow meow?

So the quest had nested objectives?

On the surface, it looked like just fetching some water, but in reality it branched into a restoration quest. The key issue was: where was this Meng Mansion? The system didn’t even give him a map; he’d have to find it himself.

Judging by the flow of the water, he figured the Yellow Springs Ferry couldn’t exactly sail upstream. Logically, it should drift along with the current. It would float to the Naihe Bridge, meet Meng Po, then either drink soup and wait for reincarnation—or get eaten.

Following the current downstream, he saw the broad Nai River to his left, growing ever more blood-red in color, while to his right was a boundless, desolate plain. Aside from the occasional bald little hills rising and falling in the distance, there was nothing.

“Weird. Why was the Teleportation Array built in the middle of nowhere, with nothing in front or behind?” Jiang Yuan muttered as he walked, puzzled as to why it had to be so far out.

The Meng Mansion should be where Meng Po resides, and once it’s restored, he could also draw Yellow Springs Water from there?

Thinking this, he couldn’t help but look up at the Yellow Springs, and was shocked to find that even after walking this far, it still seemed to be hanging overhead.

“That’s a hell of a flow rate,” he said in genuine admiration, then walked another ten-plus minutes and finally saw a clump of ruins.

[Ruins of the Meng Mansion: The former cave residence of the Ghost God Meng Po. Inside is a Water-Drawing Platform, from which Yellow Springs Water can be obtained. Consume a large quantity of building materials to restore it?]

The ruins at the riverbank weren’t large. He could vaguely see remnants of what had once been a bridge structure by the shore.

Looked like once he restored Meng Po’s cave dwelling, there would probably be another quest to restore the Naihe Bridge.

Sure enough, when he clicked to inspect it, he found that the Naihe Bridge was also in a damaged state pending restoration.