Chapter 131 - 126: Downtime Maintenance

Chapter 131: Chapter 126: Downtime Maintenance

"DING~ New Task...

"Hunt the Yin Demon—Qiongqi!

"Because the cultivation inheritors were too powerful, they attracted the attention of the Strongest Yin Demon. It broke through the space-time barrier and released many Supreme Yin Demon Saints, intending to destroy you, who possess heaven-defying abilities in this era, and your companions...

"The Supreme Yin Demon Saints crushed everything in their path. At this incredibly dangerous moment, the kind and foul-mouthed Holy White Wolf—to protect you, the inheritor, so you could grow and save the world in the future...

"Therefore... it sacrificed itself to seal the many Supreme Yin Demon Saints. Its holy power has rendered them completely immobile for a short period of time...

"The Holy White Wolf sacrificed itself to create an opportunity for you to counterattack, giving you, who have yet to fully mature, the chance to slay the Supreme Yin Demon Saints.

"You are deeply grateful to the Holy White Wolf. Filled with profound grief, you have decided to lead your companions... to avenge the kind and gentle Holy White Wolf by hunting down the immobilized Yin Demon experts!"

The storyline was still as touching and blood-pumping as ever.

"The location of the Yin Demon—Qiongqi fierce beast has been lit up on the minimap. Inheritors can activate a temporary Teleportation Array to hunt the Yin Demon!

"This event is divided into the Qiongqi Damage Leaderboard and the Kill Leaderboard!

"While dealing damage to the Qiongqi, there is also a chance for extra rewards like Cultivation Techniques and Martial Techniques to drop!

"Damage Leaderboard Rewards: First place is rewarded with 10,000 yin coins and 100 clusters of pure Spiritual Power..."

"You’re the one who sacrificed yourself! You’re the one who’s foul-mouthed!" Hearing the storyline the Monk had just released, the White Wolf was highly dissatisfied and complained madly. "Are you purposely trying to curse me?"

Through this incident, the Little White Wolf really wanted to pin that Fat Monk to the ground and rub his face in the dirt again. He was too wicked.

By entering the Array’s core and becoming a medium, the wolf could extract the Spiritual Incarnations of those Yin Demons. It could also arbitrarily "mold" those incarnations into various forms and move them to any place within the Marching Battlefield region. The only downside was that it had become a part of the Array and could no longer personally exact revenge. Furthermore, the Spiritual Incarnations pulled from the Yin Demons could only last for a limited time. Once the time was up, they would automatically fly back into the Yin Demons’ bodies.

When the players heard the new task, expressions of pleasant surprise appeared on their faces. They immediately teleported to the Qiongqi fierce beast.

The towering demonic beasts made their hearts palpitate. Even inside a game, it still instilled profound fear. Fortunately, the storyline had already stated that the Holy White Wolf had sealed them, rendering them unable to fight back. They were essentially living targets!

This finally brought the players some peace of mind.

SWISH SWISH SWISH!

"Damage +999..."

"Qiongqi Life Value +999..."

Someone began to attack.

Damage Leaderboard:

[First: Wang Dazhi (4,513)]

[Second: Fu Ling’Er (4,312)]

[Third: Bo (4,246)]

...

After the previous series of slaughters, some cultivators had fought bloody battles, some had racked their brains, and others had even been screwed over by their own kind, becoming pawns used to resist the Yin Demons. Fu Jian’s battle, in particular, remained terrifyingly fresh in everyone’s memories.

It had been mentally exhausting!

Following the intense thrills, they finally had a more casual task. Killing the Qiongqi didn’t require schemes or brainpower; they just needed to relentlessly spam their damage.

It was a very satisfying task!

What they didn’t know was that this was a real battle and a storyline adapted from reality. The Little White Wolf had indeed frantically blocked the Yin Demons’ attacks for them. If the Yin Demons had been allowed to break through this time, they could have truly killed them all. If it hadn’t been for Su Tan and the Fat Monk’s good luck in finding the Burial Treasure Realm Control Order and the twenty-four Dragon Elephant Sealing Banners... everything could have become a terrifying reality!

If that happened, not only the cultivators of the Marching Battlefield, but all living beings in the World of Ten Thousand Races would be plunged into misery and suffering.

Time was up!

The Yin Demons’ Spiritual Incarnations faded away and vanished!

Not a single one had been killed, because the Yin Demons’ health pools were simply too massive and their true bodies too strong. Even standing still and letting the players freely attack, they couldn’t be killed. The Spiritual Incarnations all returned to the Yin Demon Prison, plunging back into their true bodies!

SPURT! SPURT!

The Yin Demons spurted blood! Although they hadn’t died, they had sustained varying degrees of injuries.

This allowed the Little White Wolf to viciously vent its pent-up frustrations.

"It is not the fault of the great inheritors. Do not be filled with regret. The Yin Demon Saints are simply too strong, which is why they managed to escape. Through this incident, you have realized that your own strength is still too weak, and you have sworn to cultivate diligently, to become stronger and stronger... to avenge the Holy White Wolf and annihilate the Yin Demon Race..." the old man comforted the players, simultaneously setting an ultimate goal for them.

The event ended. It was finally over.

To the players, this event had been ordinary and quite manageable. Whether it was destroying the Array or the subsequent hunting of the Qiongqi, the difficulty wasn’t high, and they had successfully completed it all.

There were also many rewards. The benefits were overflowing.

They didn’t know the story behind the scenes, nor did they know of its lethal dangers. They didn’t know what kind of pressure Su Tan, the Fat Monk, and the Little White Wolf had faced.

However... Su Tan didn’t feel the need to let them know either. Being carefree players simply enjoying a game was fine. If they were to learn the truth, they might immediately go weak in the knees from fright, flee for their lives, or perhaps even defect to the enemy.

Sometimes, only through ignorance could people remain fearless.

"Ouch... it hurts..."

Inside the Divine Mansion, the Fat Monk let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Taking a closer look, a wolf was hanging from his right arm. It was the Little White Wolf.

After completing the task, the very first thing the Little White Wolf did upon its return was chase the Monk down and bite him furiously. It clamped down hard.

"This is for playing me! This is for spouting nonsense! This is for dawdling! This is for running your damn mouth!" While biting, the Little White Wolf cursed inarticulately.

It had genuinely almost sacrificed its life just now, yet this Monk had been acting all calm and collected, showing off. When the Little White Wolf heard those composed, pretentious words earlier, it had been furious.

It thought indignantly, "I was fighting for my life out there, and you still had the nerve to speak like some bureaucratic official... Saying things like ’sorry to keep you waiting’ and ’it’s fine’... You clearly could have just made your move, but you insisted on spouting a whole opening monologue! Have you lost your mind from creating too many games and storylines?"

"No, no, no... I was wrong! I was wrong... no, no, no!" the Fat Monk hurriedly begged for mercy, wildly swinging his arm as he tried to shake the White Wolf off.

How could the White Wolf let him off so easily? It kept biting!

No matter how hard he shook, he couldn’t get it off. It clung to him like a maggot on a rotting bone. When he finally managed to shake it off, the White Wolf immediately lunged and took another bite, forcing the Monk to run wildly around the room.

One man and one wolf chased each other around the Divine Mansion just like that.

Su Tan stood off to the side and smiled. He quietly observed them chasing each other without intervening. After the intense crisis, this was a rather nice scene. It was good to let them relax and bicker a bit.

"Help! Brother Su Tan, help!" the Monk cried out.

Su Tan merely pillowed his hands behind his head and lay back on his recliner, ignoring him.

After a long time, either because its wounds were acting up or because it was simply tired, the White Wolf finally let the Monk go amidst his bitter pleading.

Su Tan beckoned with a hand. The White Wolf transformed into a small, white furball and leaped into his arms. Su Tan smoothly infused it with life force to heal its injuries!

"You said the Treasure Burial Realm is a place where Magical Treasures are buried?" Su Tan asked, focusing his attention as he gripped the Burial Treasure Realm Control Order.

"It has all kinds of Divine Artifacts!" the Monk replied. "If I had the Burial Treasure Realm Control Order earlier, I absolutely wouldn’t have let the Strongest Yin Demon break the prison barrier!"

That statement was highly debatable.

As the Monk said this, the Burial Treasure Realm Control Order twitched, seemingly in disdain. It possessed a certain level of consciousness, exactly as the Monk had mentioned before. Su Tan could feel it as well. The fact that they were able to find it so easily was very likely because it had willingly thrown itself into their arms.

"With the Magical Treasures inside the Treasure Burial Realm, I’m absolutely confident I can create a Perfect game world!" the Monk guaranteed, patting his chest.

"Oh?"

"Didn’t you mention it before? A game needs leveling up, equipment, a store to buy various items like blue potions for Mana recovery and red potions for Life Value recovery, buffs, and so on... Because we lacked many Divine Artifacts previously, we could only roughly piece together an inferior game. On the surface, it looks like a game, but it’s missing a lot of features—like in-game leveling, various store merchandise, and class divisions," the Monk explained.

It was true. The Divine War version 1.0 was indeed a crudely made rendition.

It really just had a few simple game settings, tasks, and storylines arranged together. It wasn’t particularly fun to play; compared to the entertainment value of a real game, most players were just here for the rewards. Features like the store and equipment were merely window dressing and largely useless.

"Now that we control the Treasure Burial Realm, we can use the numerous Divine Artifacts inside to create a Perfect game version!

"However... I’ll need your help with this. This Control Order thing seems more willing to accept you as its master. It probably sensed your superior aura... Bah, this damned Control Order is truly a vain bastard that looks down on people like a snobbish dog!" the Monk complained.

Hearing this, the White Wolf cast a sharp glance at the Monk.

"Hehe... I’m not talking about you! Not you! You’re a wolf... You’re a wolf..." Realizing he had misspoken and terrified of being bitten again, the Monk hurriedly explained with a forced smile.

Only when the White Wolf rested its head back in Su Tan’s arms did the Monk wipe away his fawning grin. He looked like a textbook sycophant.

"I have no problem on my end," Su Tan said. "But the Marching Battlefield will have to be shut down for a while. To prevent the players from noticing any anomalies, we need to kick everyone out of the Divine War Game!"

"I was thinking the same thing!" the Monk agreed.

They needed to overhaul the Marching Battlefield. If the players were left inside, they would definitely spot the anomalies. They had to be kicked out before the modifications could begin. This was normal, however; games frequently underwent server maintenance, version updates, and the like.

Due to the incident with the Strongest Yin Demon, Su Tan also felt an unprecedented sense of crisis in his heart.

Although they had escaped without any real harm, the most urgent priority was to perfect the game settings as soon as possible. They needed to bring in more players, especially those in the King’s Dao realm, or perhaps even... experts of the Saint Realm! This would allow them to confidently deal with any sudden crises.

"Let’s get to work immediately!"

Over in the Marching Battlefield!

The old man appeared once again!

"DING~ To provide players with a better experience, the game will undergo server maintenance and an update in 3 hours. During the update, all players will be forced to log out of the game. Therefore... to avoid any loss of personal belongings and cultivation progress, please finish your tasks as quickly as possible!" This message appeared as a world announcement across the Marching Battlefield.

"Forced logout countdown: 2:59:59..."

"Ah? What? Server maintenance right after we finished the event?"

"I haven’t played enough yet!"

An uproar broke out among the players in the Marching Battlefield.

"What the... what’s going on? I just logged in and it’s already going into server maintenance?" a newly logged-in novice muttered in utter bewilderment.