Chapter 207: Side Quest

Zhong Teng and Yi Beimeng wore different expressions, their thoughts worlds apart.

Zhong Teng’s thick brows were tightly knit, and his gaze at Lin Qiu remained wary, his mind turning over what exactly Lin Qiu was planning. He’d been to the Crescent Spring deep within Senmu Marsh before. As an SS-rank lightning ability user, he was extremely powerful, and for the sake of Longteng’s people, he’d risked his life several times to hunt mutant beasts there. Although the Crescent Spring was indeed unusual and the mutant beasts were unusually clever, he’d never once seen the so-called mysterious seven-colored glazed stone Lin Qiu mentioned.

So why did Lin Qiu want to lure them there?

Yi Beimeng, on the other hand, didn’t doubt the truth of Lin Qiu’s words. His thin lips curled with a devilish charm, and a playful smile flickered in his phoenix eyes.

He’d already used a few tricks to thoroughly uncover Lin Qiu’s plan to target them. Only now had Lin Qiu finally thrown out the bait of luring them inside. A mysterious stone, huh? Interesting.

His eyes lowered slightly, narrowing as he glanced at the man beside him—a square-faced fellow with a black scarf on his head, looking honest and simple.

He wondered how this idiot planned to trick him over there. Did he really think that after leading him into Lin Qiu’s trap, he’d be able to walk away unscathed?

Idiot!

That sly fox Lin Qiu clearly had no intention of letting him live.

Thinking this, Yi Beimeng felt even more amused.

A low, wicked chuckle slipped from his throat, drawing bewildered looks from those around him—who then quickly averted their eyes as if they’d seen a ghost.

Damn, looks like Chief Yi’s “illness” is acting up again.

Lou Yan kept his square face stiff, glancing at Yi Beimeng with a complicated mix of disdain and suspicion, feeling more convinced than ever that accepting Lin Qiu’s proposal was the right move. How could a moody, short-lived, pitiful ordinary person like Yi Beimeng ever deserve to stand above him?

It was just a pity that the last idiot he’d sent to take Yi Beimeng out had failed. Otherwise, he could have killed Yi Beimeng and taken his place by now.

“So, have you two made up your minds?” Lin Qiu, seeing that Yi Beimeng and Zhong Teng hadn’t replied, asked again with a beaming smile.

His eyes narrowed, scanning the lively crowd with apparent goodwill, but a glint of darkness flashed in his gaze. If these two refused, he had other ways to make them agree.

He hadn’t expected Yi Beimeng to curl his lips into a meaningful smile and say, “Since you’re so eager to give me extra points, of course I’ll accept.”

Lin Qiu’s smile froze. As expected, Yi Beimeng was shameless. Who was giving him extra points? He was trying to get him killed!

But Lin Qiu didn’t let any of this show, only chuckling, “The 500,000 points are up for grabs. Anyone could be the first to reach Crescent Spring. Chief Yi, you shouldn’t count your chickens just yet.”

Yi Beimeng smiled faintly. “Oh? But I think those 500,000 points are meant for me. If you don’t believe it, Lin Qiu, let’s see who gets there first.”

“Hmph, you’re a bit too confident,” Lin Qiu’s eyes darkened. “You’ll need to survive to claim those points.”

After their veiled exchange, the matter was half settled.

Lin Qiu didn’t bother asking Zhong Teng for his opinion again—he knew this cautious man wouldn’t agree easily—so he turned to the other factions to ask for their support.

Of course, they all agreed.

Many of them were just looking to muddle along, tagging onto a safe route to hunt mutant beasts in the depths of Senmu Marsh. Now that Lin Qiu had brought it up, they all agreed without hesitation.

With the majority in favor, even if Zhong Teng opposed, he was outnumbered and could only pinch his nose and accept the rule and reward.

While Zhong Teng and the others were still discussing, the Earth Village group suddenly heard a frantic series of system notifications in their minds.

[Ding-dong—New artifact discovered. Announcing now. Side quest unlocked: Find the Nuwa Stone, find the Demon-Refining Pot.]

Yun Qimu raised an eyebrow, surprise flashing across her face. First it was the Kunlun Mirror, now it was the Demon-Refining Pot and the Nuwa Stone. She was starting to suspect that the main system’s real reason for making her “learn to be a city lord” was just to get her to do these quests.

Compared to Yun Qimu, who was already used to being singled out by the main system, the other new Earth Village members were all stunned.

Mr. Kuihai: A new artifact discovered?

Does that mean Earth Village’s quests now extend outside the village?

Nuwa Stone… could that be the mysterious seven-colored glazed stone Lin Qiu mentioned?

He vaguely remembered hearing a similar myth from an old exile on a wasteland planet, and the story did mention a Nuwa Stone.

Mo Xie, Wu Xingyu, and the others were equally full of questions.

Wasn’t Earth Village supposed to be its own world?

Even if monsters sometimes came out, they always originated from Earth Village. But this quest and these two artifacts were different—they’d appeared directly here.

At that moment, the system continued with detailed descriptions of the two quest items.

[Demon-Refining Pot: Ancient name Jiuli Pot, a creation of the Celestial Cauldron, said to have originally belonged to Chiyou, the chief of the Jiuli tribe, and is one of the great treasures of antiquity. It possesses incredible powers, said to be able to create all things, and also has terrifying destructive force. Inside is a strange space, vast enough to contain heaven and earth.

Later, when Nuwa created all living things, she found most were fierce and violent by nature. To preserve the balance of yin and yang, she reforged the Demon-Refining Pot into a bronze vessel capable of purifying savage energies, hoping to use its power to refine and elevate overly violent demons, beasts, and monsters, thus maintaining harmony on earth.]

[Nuwa Stone: Nuwa, mother of humanity, molded humans from clay and mended the sky with stone, subduing many demons and monsters for the human race, and has been revered by the people of China since ancient times. Legend says that to save her beloved daughter, who had died of illness, Nuwa poured her ten thousand years of cultivation into a five-colored jade leftover from patching the sky, imbuing the stone with extraordinary power.]

After reading the descriptions, everyone was left dumbfounded.

Ancient treasures—they sounded incredibly powerful.

And the Demon-Refining Pot, with its mention of a vast internal space, was basically a giant spatial artifact, and according to the description, it could even store living beings.

Yun Qimu was instantly tempted after reading the details.

And as for the Nuwa Stone—didn’t she have a “Nuwa Molding Humans from Clay” card in her hand? She wondered if it was related to the stone.

Either way, she had to get her hands on it.

She’d figure out the rest after she got it.

But she quickly realized that this time, the quest hadn’t been issued to her alone—it was a group quest.

Main System: [Hmph, serves you right for being so slow. I gave you the Kunlun Mirror quest just for you and you still haven’t finished it. Now, these two artifacts—you’ll just have to compete for them. Humans only get moving when there’s something to fight over!]"