82: Chapter 82 Mythical Quest

On the stone table in the guest courtyard, the crates of "Refreshing Happy Water" that the Wolf of Wall Street had casually dropped off were still emitting wisps of cold air, but no one paid them any mind.

Everyone's gaze, like a searchlight, was nailed firmly onto the figure that had just walked back out of the shadows.

The air seemed to have been drained away, stifling enough to make one's chest feel tight.

The Wolf of Wall Street did not speak immediately; he merely walked calmly back to the table and poured himself a cup of still-warm tea, his hand not trembling in the slightest throughout the entire process.

It was precisely this extraordinary calmness that caused the hearts of everyone present to sink.

"How did it go?" Zuan Pianist was the first to lose patience, spitting the grass root in his mouth onto the ground. "What did that kid say? Does he want us to act as cannon fodder and charge that old fogey's Heavenly Law Court?"

The Wolf of Wall Street shook his head and took a sip of tea; the temperature of the tea was just right, moistening his throat, which had become slightly parched from his rapid infiltration.

"No, it's worse than that."

He set down the teacup, the bottom of the cup colliding with the stone table with a soft "clack," yet it sounded like a heavy hammer striking everyone's heart.

"Our 'angel investment' target, His Highness the Ninth Prince, has provided a prepaid 'investment deposit.' A piece of top-secret intelligence regarding the key of the divine prison."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over everyone present—the eyes behind Outlaw Zhang San's lenses, the calloused hands of Infrastructure Maniac, and the face of Zuan Pianist that was forever wearing a mocking expression.

"The clue to the third fragment of the key of the divine prison is hidden in..."

His voice was pressed extremely low, as if every word weighed a thousand jin.

"The Heavenly Scripture Pavilion."

The Heavenly Scripture Pavilion!

As soon as these three words were spoken, the pupils of everyone present constricted violently.

That was the name they had heard most often and held in the highest awe since arriving at the Central Sacred Land.

It was the foundation of the Sacred Land's orthodoxy, the symbol of an eternal heritage, and the supreme temple in the hearts of all cultivators on this continent.

"Fuck!" Zuan Pianist cursed under his breath, his expression turning ugly for the first time. "That place... are you kidding me? We can't even get out of the Sacred Land's gates, and you want to enter their core restricted area?"

Outlaw Zhang San pushed up his glasses, the lenses reflecting the cold moonlight, as he keenly caught the keyword: "You said 'clue,' not 'the object itself'?"

"That's right." The Wolf of Wall Street nodded. "But according to the Ninth Prince, the clue and the object itself are virtually synonymous. Because it is enshrined on the very top floor of the Heavenly Scripture Pavilion."

He took a deep breath and repeated the Ninth Prince's words, which were laden with warning and testing, word for word.

"It is known as a place where 'even True Immortals struggle to enter'."

"Guarding it is an ancient killing array passed down from the previous epoch, named 'Time.' Inside the array, the flow of time is controlled by the array's core; one wrong step, and a thousand years of lifespan will turn to dust."

"And the core of the killing array is personally guarded by a... 'Tomb Guardian'."

"We might not have a concept for the term 'Tomb Guardian,' but the Ninth Prince provided a reference point." The Wolf of Wall Street's gaze became incomparably grave. "He said this Tomb Guardian has lived for who knows how many years, and their strength... has reached the pinnacle of this realm."

"Half-step to Ascension."

Silence.

Deathly silence.

If the three words "Heavenly Scripture Pavilion" only made the players feel it was troublesome, then the "Time Array" and the "Half-step to Ascension Tomb Guardian" were two insurmountable, and even unimaginable, mountains of despair pressing heavily upon everyone's hearts.

Half-step to Ascension!

What kind of concept is that?

That is an existence that even someone at the peak of Foundation Establishment, like True Person Xuantian, would need to kneel on the ground to look up to!

That is a legendary-level combat power capable of invoking the laws of heaven and earth with a wave of their hand and erasing a mountain range!

This group of "Heavenly Chosen Filial Grandson" who hadn't even achieved widespread Foundation Establishment, going to challenge an old monster at the Half-step to Ascension realm?

This could no longer be described as an egg hitting a stone; this was trying to use a speck of dust to shatter a star!

"So, this isn't intelligence at all," Infrastructure Maniac's voice was slightly hoarse, and for the first time, a look of bewilderment appeared in his eyes, which were always burning with the fire of creation. "This is the Ninth Prince telling us that he has accepted our 'investment,' but we... are not worthy of receiving a return."

This was a dead end.

A complete and utter dead end that could not be broken by any tactic or stratagem.

"No, that's not right."

Outlaw Zhang San, who had been silent all this time, suddenly spoke up. He supported himself on the stone table as he stood up and began to pace slowly in the courtyard.

Everyone's eyes were focused on him.

"Rules... any situation that seems unsolvable has its inherent rules." Zhang San muttered to himself, his brain operating at a terrifying speed. "Why would the Ninth Prince tell us? If he wanted to welch on the deal, he could have completely fabricated fake intelligence, or simply ignored us. For him to take such a huge risk and give us a 'true' but 'absolutely impossible to complete' goal, that in itself... does not fit logic."

"Unless..." Zhang San's footsteps came to a sudden halt, a terrifying glint flashing in his eyes. "He isn't making things difficult for us; he is 'screening' us!"

"He is gambling! Gambling that we, this group of anomalies, can truly create a miracle! Gambling that this blade of ours is truly sharp enough to cut open the 'tumor' he himself dare not touch!"

"Therefore, the intelligence he gave must be true. The defenses of the Heavenly Scripture Pavilion must be as terrifying as he described. This precisely proves that our direction... is correct!"

These words were like a thunderclap, waking everyone who had fallen into despair.

That's right!

What is there to be afraid of?

They are players!

They are the fourth calamity!

Since stepping into this world, haven't they created enough "miracles"?

From a dilapidated ancestral hall to dominating a region, from being bullied by bandits to hard-shaking a Demon Lord!

Which time was the enemy they faced not "absolutely impossible to defeat"?

The fanaticism that had been suppressed by the four words "Half-step to Ascension," like magma beneath the earth, began to surge and boil once again!

"Let's do it!" Zuan Pianist slammed a fist onto the stone table, causing the teacups on it to jump. "Damn it, isn't it just an old fogey who's lived for tens of thousands of years? I don't believe he can withstand tens of thousands of us 'self-destructing' all at once!"

"Time Array... flow of time..." Infrastructure Maniac's eyes lit up again, and he quickly drew sketches on the ground. "If we can analyze its rune structure, can we build a 'time-delay bomb'? Or, using ultra-high-intensity energy impacts, can we make its time rules 'lag'?"

In the players' world, there is no "despair," only "challenges."

When the difficulty of a dungeon is unreasonably high, it only means one thing—its rewards must also be generous enough to drive everyone crazy!

The passionate discussion almost threatened to blow the roof off the guest courtyard.

All sorts of wild, unreasonable, and even insane tactical concepts were thrown out one after another.

"We can first turn the Sacred Land's cooks and put laxatives in the Tomb Guardian's food!"

"Wrong, we should go kidnap Fairy Yunshang and use her to threaten the Tomb Guardian!"

"I suggest we all switch to cultivating the Heavenly Demon Strategy, die a few hundred times, turn into demon heads to pollute the Heavenly Scripture Pavilion, and see if that old man can keep guarding anything!"

Just as this fanatical atmosphere was about to reach its peak.

Hum—

A resonance that could not be described in words, originating from the deepest depths of the soul, instantly swept over everyone present.

Immediately following, this resonance, like a prairie fire, spread to every corner of the Central Sacred Land, spread to the newly expanded Demon Earth frontier, and spread to the family's "City of Liver Emperor," which had long since turned into ruins...

All players, regardless of where they were or what they were doing, stopped everything in their hands at this moment.

On their retinas, a scarlet, blood-like light tore through their vision!

That light was overbearing and savage, carrying an unquestionable will, transforming into lines of text branded onto their souls.

It was a quest issued personally by the ancestor from deep within the ancestral hall, from the one sleeping in the golden coffin.

A scarlet quest, one they had never seen before!

[Mythical-level Quest: Raid on the Heavenly Scripture Pavilion]

[Quest Level: Mythical (Red)]

[Quest Issuer: Ancestor - Lu Bei]

[Quest Background: The foundation of the Sacred Land, the source of its orthodoxy. Immortals guard from beyond the heavens, and divine arrays are hidden within time. You petty thieves wish to spy on divine artifacts, like mayflies shaking a tree or a mantis trying to stop a chariot. However, great thieves steal kingdoms, and great courage defies heaven. If you have the determination to face a hundred deaths without turning back, perhaps you may... see a glimmer of survival.]

[Quest Objective: Enter the top floor of the Heavenly Scripture Pavilion and seize the fragment of the key of the divine prison.]

[Quest Reward: ???]

[Failure Penalty: Family reputation reset to zero, all players' levels -10, 50% permanent destruction of all buildings, equipment, and contribution points.]

[Quest Description:]

The breathing of all players stopped at this moment.

They stared fixedly at the last line of the quest panel.

There was no long-winded encouragement, no cumbersome or complex explanation.

There were only two words, written in the most ancient and vigorous blood-colored characters—

Suicide mission.