397: Chapter 397 Temple Night Talk

“Is this your home?”

“Such a large temple, and you’re the only one here?”

Zhou Yan casually picked up a sacrificial fruit and took a bite.

After confirming their identities, Long Tianxing brought Zhou Yan to this temple in town.

The place where Zhou Yan killed the Blood Demon was not far from here; this was also the reason why Long Tianxing was able to rush over so quickly.

Long Tianxing didn't reply and found a spot for himself to sit down.

“There are many things here that don't make sense, so why bother with those details?”

“That’s true.”

Zhou Yan dragged over a meditation cushion and sat down.

“You were brought here by that string of prayer beads, right?”

Zhou Yan took another bite of the fruit; he was genuinely hungry and needed to eat something to line his stomach.

Long Tianxing lowered his head and looked at the prayer beads in his hand.

“It seems Xuanyuan Qingyao was right; these items truly each have their own uses.”

“Based on the distribution we made in the pavilion earlier, we can pretty much guess the corresponding identities.”

On the way here, the two had already exchanged information.

Long Tianxing was the abbot of this town, and his task was to cooperate with the others to eliminate the Blood Demon.

He had one advantage over Zhou Yan: he knew martial arts, and the prayer beads in his hand had a purification effect, which could cause significant damage to the Blood Demon.

However, he could only operate near the town and had to wait for a friend to arrive to support him before he could officially go and exterminate the Blood Demon.

According to him, that friend was a Daoist.

Combining their situations, they quickly deduced that the person coming to support Long Tianxing was most likely Xuanyuan Qingyao.

The two sat cross-legged opposite each other and continued to analyze the situation.

“At that time, we split the items up; you kept the cloth bag, and I kept the prayer beads.”

“You gave the Gold Talisman to Xuanyuan Qingyao, I gave the token to Bai Ling, and Shi Suiyan carried her own dagger.”

Long Tianxing spoke very seriously, and Zhou Yan added from the side.

“That’s not all.”

“Before I went in, I also threw the money pouch to that guy named Xiong Jingfeng.”

“The money here can be used and has decent purchasing power, so that money pouch should also be a special item.”

“If Xiong Jingfeng can also come over, it’s highly likely related to the money.”

“You have another one?” Long Tianxing’s expression changed slightly, but he quickly returned to normal.

“I did okay in the previous level; although I was in a female body, I still served as an Imperial Tutor once. It felt... just so-so.”

Zhou Yan watched as Long Tianxing’s face suddenly turned pale, then immediately returned to that half-smiling expression, unable to understand how the topic had veered in this direction.

Long Tianxing wasn’t finished yet; he leaned forward, his tone carrying a hint of deliberation.

“I got an ‘A’ in the previous level, and it felt just so-so. As long as I’m in the mood, this Secret Realm actually isn’t that difficult.”

“By the way, what about you?”

Zhou Yan glanced at him and answered casually.

“I also got an ‘A’.”

“However, the rewards given seem to be some useless junk. Being trapped for nearly three years for these things makes me feel like it was a loss.”

“I don’t even know what I’ll be able to get in the end.”

Upon hearing this, Long Tianxing’s eyes lit up, and his brain started spinning rapidly.

He said he stayed for three years?

Longer than me!

According to the rules, every time a node is successfully passed, time jumps forward.

According to what Zhou Yan said earlier, even if you die, as long as your performance is decent, you can still pass.

If he was trapped for a long time, it means he got stuck at each node for a long time, which is why it dragged on for three years.

And since he said the rewards weren’t great, his overall score shouldn’t be high.

Looking at his performance in the previous two levels, he was clearly stronger than me—that leaves only one explanation.

Zhou Yan lied!

He definitely didn’t get an ‘A’; he must be like me, inflating his grade!

Long Tianxing’s mental abacus was clicking away.

An ‘A-’ is still an ‘A’, so saying it that way isn’t bragging, and even if Zhou Yan’s score is high, he won’t be embarrassed.

But now it seems... Zhou Yan, oh Zhou Yan, this time I’ve won!

Seeing Long Tianxing suddenly in a great mood, Zhou Yan just assumed he had been trapped for too long and his mental state wasn’t quite right.

Long Tianxing didn’t know what Zhou Yan was thinking; he was smug for a while, then asked casually.

“How many event nodes have you passed?”

“Event nodes?” Zhou Yan was stunned for a moment.

“Oh, that’s a name I came up with myself.”

“It’s just that after solving some crises, doesn’t time jump forward? How many have you solved in total?”

Zhou Yan became more and more confused as he listened.

They were just talking about the previous level, but now, it felt like they hadn’t experienced the same level at all.

He vaguely remembered that Long Tianxing seemed to have challenged him before entering the Secret Realm, and he had thought the other party was just showing off earlier.

But now, it didn’t seem that simple.

Could there be more to the previous level?

With this question in mind, Zhou Yan asked directly.

“Isn’t it about living to the end with one life? What do you mean by jumping?”

Long Tianxing’s devilishly charming smile instantly froze.

He seemed to suddenly realize something; his face turned ashen again, and he couldn’t say a word.

Seeing the atmosphere turn cold again, Zhou Yan felt a bit at a loss and asked again.

“What do you mean by jumping?”

“The Blood Demon is immortal and indestructible. The time you killed it just now only slowed down the speed of its recovery.”

Long Tianxing’s reply was completely nonsensical. Zhou Yan scratched his head and continued to press him.

“No, I’m asking you, what do you mean by jumping?”

“The Blood Demon has corrupted five ministers; solving them is the key. As for how exactly to solve them, apart from that medicine of yours, I don’t know anything else right now.”

“We have to wait until that so-called ‘friend’ comes tomorrow to figure it out.”

After finishing, Long Tianxing stood up and was about to leave.

Zhou Yan wanted to stop him, but Long Tianxing just threw back one sentence.

“I still have some things to prepare, so I’m going to rest. Suit yourself. Get some sleep early; your body can’t handle staying up late.”

Having said that, he slammed the door and left, walking very quickly.

“Wait... what I wanted to ask was, where should I stay tonight?”

Zhou Yan looked into the pitch-black night and finally decided to make do for the night here; at least there was food here.

On the other side, Long Tianxing jogged all the way back to his room. The joy of victory from just moments ago was long gone, leaving only a head full of confusion.

“Only if I don’t solve the difficulties will I stay in one time period. But Zhou Yan said he never encountered a single change...”

“Doesn’t that mean...”

The image of a just-weaned infant struggling to survive for three years suddenly flashed into Long Tianxing’s mind.

He shook his head vigorously, trying to shake off this absurd thought.

“That’s impossible, right?”

He couldn’t figure out for the life of him how an infant could survive for three years.

According to his own experience, as long as you are adopted by a pair of parents, time jumps forward to a few years later.

Since Zhou Yan didn’t feel time jump, it could only mean he hadn’t even passed the adoption stage.

But how is that possible?

While Long Tianxing was still doubting himself, Zhou Yan had already finished the last banana, patted his stomach, blew out the candle, and went behind the Great Buddha to sleep.

Before sleeping, he still kept his guard up and took out a few items to wear.

Although these items had usage limits, fortunately, even after giving many away, he still had plenty in stock.

Early the next morning, Long Tianxing hadn’t slept all night.

He still couldn’t figure out what Zhou Yan meant by that, but Zhou Yan’s expression at the time didn’t look like he was lying.

If Zhou Yan could really live as an infant for three years, avoiding all the nodes he was supposed to experience, then him getting an ‘A’ would make sense.

Long Tianxing tossed and turned all night with these contradictory thoughts, and finally just gave up.

He washed his face, stretched, and decided to go find Zhou Yan.

Regardless, Zhou Yan was the one among them who was truly aiming to clear the level. Since he wanted to leave, helping him out was the right thing to do.

Long Tianxing circled the temple a few times but couldn’t find anyone. Just as he was wondering, he suddenly heard a scream.

He hurriedly ran toward the main hall following the sound, and finally found the still-sleeping Zhou Yan behind the Great Buddha, along with a Blood Demon plastered halfway up the wall.

Looking at the nails driven into the wall and the hole just dug out on the ground, Long Tianxing frowned.

“Can this thing come out during the day now too?”