Chapter 9: Yin Huang Castle
Translator: Christina Editor: Rundi
“Hehe, the World-shocking Book of the Zhao Clan from the Divine Capital [1] is here too.” Qi Xia seemed to have a deep disgust towards the Zhao Family, as she was obviously gloating.
The Zhao Family from Luoyang was one of the 14 aristocrat families, and the current royal family of the Great Jin Dynasty!
Meng Qi had heard about this from Xuan Xin. After the medieval times, the aristocrat families had united together to confront the repression of the Kungfu sects. They set up a dynasty and elected the strongest aristocrat family to be the royal family. As a result, at the time, the aristocrats were able to fight head-to-head with Kungfu sects. However, it seemed like the aristocrat family who became emperors received extremely attractive benefits after they ascended the throne and the Kungfu sects were provoking the other aristocrat families to revolt. So, the country went through many generations before settling down to the current rule by the two largest empires- Great Jin Dynasty and Great (North) Zhou Dynasty.
In Great Jin, there were nine extremely prestigious aristocratic families, which were similarly powerful to the Kungfu sects. On the other hand, North Zhou only had five large aristocratic families, so it faced much interference from Kungfu sects.
“They also have the Chapter of Heart’s Quietude in Thingless of the Gao family from Changle [2], and the Heavens’ Fist, which are at similar prices to that of the World-shocking Book, at 150 thousand Karma points. They were cheaper than Emperial Scripts of Heaven from my sect which is as much as 250 thousand points. Hey, and don’t forget, it’s an incomplete Jade Book of the Heaven Sovereign,” Qing Jing said happily.
The young teenagers here had temporarily forgotten that they were in a strange place, and were immersed in comparing the price of the Kungfu of their sects. The result of this “competition” made Qing Jing very delighted and proud.
The Gao family from Changle was the emperor family of North Zhou.
“There are many ultimate Kungfus on this list that I have never heard of before…” Seeing that the Swordplay Sutra of Supremacy of her sect was only worth 250 thousand Karma points, Jiang Zhiwei was a little upset and promptly shifted the topic.
Meng Qi nodded quietly. As “knowledgeable [3]” as he was, he still didn’t know more than half of the Kungfu on the list.
The “Owner of the Samsara” didn’t give them any extra time to look at the list. The light screen flipped a page, and on the second page there was a title “Dhamakaya-level Kungfu”.
The light screen was more than 10 meters high, but it still took three whole pages to display all the Kungfu on the list. Even though the names of the Kungfu only appeared for less than a second and disappeared quickly, Meng Qi still saw familiar names such as True Scripture from Grand Phantasia, The Unbreakable Jin Gang, and individual moves in The Buddha’s Palm and the Seven Strokes of Heaven Interception. The prices for these ranged from 10 thousand to 130 thousand.
After this, the light screen also showed “Supreme Kungfu for Exterior-level”, “Kungfu for The Period of Qi-Cultivation”, and “Kungfu for The Period of Foundation-Construction”. Meng Qi vaguely saw “Ananda Oath-breaking Bladesmanship”, “Nine Yang Divine Skill”, and “Nine Yin Divine Scripture”.
“Arhat Fists, exchange price: two Karma points…” Meng Qi saw this on the last few lines, on the last page of the list. He suddenly realized how “poor” he was.
“These are the prices for the exchange of Kungfu manuals. If you want to skip the initial learning processes, then the prices would range from two times to five times the original prices,” The “Owner of The Samsara” said. His icy voice was followed by the appearance of a silver lit screen that substituted the golden light screen.
“List of Peerless Godly Weapons,” Meng Qi read the top line.
“Sword of the Human Sovereign, created by the Human Sovereign and ranked first regarding kingly ways. Missing, exchange price: 900 thousand Karma points,” Jiang Zhiwei followed him and read the next line. She then laughed. “A lot are missing on this page.”
Altogether, there were only 10 Godly Weapons on the page, and six of them were missing.
Qing Jing laughed loudly. “Of course! Who doesn’t know that ‘Blade of Timeshadow’ is at Xuan Tian Sect? Time is just like a blade, it pushes you towards death with one hit at a time!”
He was talking about the Godly Weapon on the third line. “Blade of Timeshadow, suspected to be made by the Heaven Sovereign, and ranked first regarding unpredictability. Missing, exchange price: 900 thousand Karma points.”
The only ones that were not missing on this page were “Sword of The Nether Sea” which was ranked first in terms of killing, “Seal of the Samsara” which was ranked first in terms of mysteriousness, “Claw of the Demon Emperor” which was ranked first in terms of foul infection, and “The Magical Tree of Bodhi” which could make any weapon lose its power.
“I can’t believe they have all of these…” Meng Qi felt like he was dreaming again. The weapons in myths and legends were all here!
Under this mental state, Meng Qi didn’t pay any attention to the later pages such as “List of Magical Weapons and Tricks”, “List of Precious Weapons”, “List of Strong Weapons”, “List of Weapons Tempered 100 Times” and “List of Ordinary Weapons”. He only heard Qi Xia from Da Jiang Faction say confusedly yet seriously, “I have never heard about the ‘Judgement Chord’ of The Ruan family from Langya [5] being lost. Why doesn’t the ‘List of Magical Weapons and Tricks’ say it’s missing”
It seemed like she started to believe in this weird exchange list.
Jiang Zhi Wei nodded. “It says that the “Self-cutting Sword”, which is currently at Xi Jian Sect, is missing. So maybe…”
She didn’t finish the sentence, but everyone had the same idea. Maybe this was because the Ruan Family had already lost their ancestral weapon, and decided to keep it as a secret.
The Ruan family from Langya was one of the nine largest aristocratic families of Great Jin.
The light screen continued to scroll down and turned into a blueish green color. Now it showed the exchange prices for elixirs, miraculous drugs, treasures from the sky and under the ground, and all sorts of other things.
Here, Meng Qi saw “Da Luo Golden Elixir” (price: 300 thousand Karma points), which could revive the dead. There was also an ordinary medicine “Qi-replenishing Pill”, and taels (a Karma point could be traded for 50 taels, but taels could not be traded for Karma points).
The light screen disappeared soon after, which meant that these were all the things that could be traded. Meng Qi felt a little disappointed. [I thought he said we could exchange for anything we wanted What about Transformers Vampire heritage Thor’s Mjolnir (hammer)
So it seems like even though this is a samsara world, it is a samsara world that fits into a Xian Xia and Wu Xia setting…
“What do we need to do if we want to get out of this samsara universe” Zhang Yuan Shan suddenly asked.
This question grabbed everyone’s attention at once. Although the things given on the list were extremely attractive, but the associated danger must be great as well. Nobody wanted to risk their lives. Unlike Meng Qi, Zhang Yuan Shan, Jiang Zhi Wei, Qing Jing, and Qi Xia were the hope and the most talented ones in their sects. In the future, they might have the chance to learn the supreme Kungfu of their sects.
On the other hand, Meng Qi had just finished “Hundred-day Foundation”, and only knew a little bit of Luo Han Fists. He didn’t want to take on an adventure so early when he was still quite weak.
“You can exchange 300 thousand Karma points for an ‘Otherworld Ticket’, which will help you leave samsara.” The voice of the “Owner of Samsara” was cold as usual. “Sources of the Karma points are quest rewards and item exchanges. If it is something that is on the list, the price you will get will be only 30-50% of the original price. If it is something that is not on the list, you will get a bonus based on the situation.”
“Humph, so if I steal the middle volume of the Jade Book of the Heaven Sovereign, I can get an ‘Otherworld Ticket'” Qing Jing exclaimed angrily, “so that is what you Shaolin people want!”
“Yes, you can.” There wasn’t any fluctuation in the voice of the “Owner of Samsara”. “As for anyone who tries to tell an outsider about the Samsara Universe, you will be obliterated. For anyone who kills a teammate or someone from the same alignment, there will be a deduction applied to your Karma points equal to two times the number of rewards you will get from the current quest. If there are not enough points in your Karma points bank, you will be obliterated. And for anyone who exchanges for a manual yet secretly switches with someone else, you will both be obliterated. Manuals that you obtain from the worlds of the quests will be exceptions…”
He announced the rules with a magnificent and serious voice.
The second he finished, the surroundings started to change, and Meng Qi and the others found themselves in complete darkness. When a light appeared before them, they realized that they had been teleported into a tunnel, and were surrounded by stone walls.
A gruesome green fire began to burn on the stone ground, and words appeared.
“The owner of ‘Yin Huang Castle’ invented the ‘Mind-control Pill’ to seize the throne. He used it to secretly control the heads of the sects, but his conspiracy was accidentally discovered by hero Ma Liang Han. Ma Liang Han invited three other Kungfu masters to intrude ‘Yin Huang Castle’ with him. However, due to their carelessness, they are now trapped in the castle.”
“Your main quest is to kill the owner of ‘Yin Huang Castle’ in six hours. Participants will be awarded 50 Karma points. If you fail the quest, you will all be obliterated!”
“Your side quest is to save the four masters who are trapped in the castle. You will be rewarded with 10 Karma points for every person you save. There is no punishment if you fail this quest.” After a few seconds, the fire died out and everything returned to normal.
“Humph, Shaolin must have set all of this up!” Qing Jing was so outraged that his face became distorted. “I will not go on this weird quest! What do you guys want to do”
He glared at Meng Qi and couldn’t understand how there could be a quest.
Meng Qi shrugged and didn’t speak. He thought, [well, you don’t expect me to tell you a story from the infinity genre like the one I’ve told little brother, do you]
Suddenly, Jiang Zhi Wei pulled out her sword. Its sound was like the cry of a dragon, and its shine was like the clear autumn water.
She looked at everyone with a solemn expression. “I think we better complete the quest. Someone who could shift us so easily from one place to another is definitely able to kills us easily as well. They are likely an immortal who is above the Dharmakaya level. Therefore, I suggest that we follow his orders and see what will really happen.”
She slightly raised her head again when she spoke the last sentence.
“I agree with Sister Jiang.” Zhang Yuan nodded.
Qi Xia thought about it, and pulled out her Watershed Rapier, which had a beautiful blue luster. “We can’t change what has already happened, but we shouldn’t sit still and just wait. According to the ‘Owner of Samsara’, we will be able to return to our world for a period of time every time we complete a quest. We can think about other solutions after we go back. For now, let’s complete the quest!”
She was tall and slim, and wore a tight dress. Although her skin was tan, judging by sight, it still seemed soft. These combined with her delicate appearance made her look like a perfect Southern girl.
“I, I will listen to whatever the Third Mistress says!” Yan Wu Jiang said trembling.
Meng Qi glanced at him. He couldn’t understand how this big and strong man was at the same time as timid as a rabbit. Comparing him to the “Flying Yaksha”, Yan Wu Wo who was the head of “Zombie Fist” and could make 100 square miles of ground soaked with blood (according to Xuan Xin), they differed so much. It was especially shocking when they were both in the Wu generation of the Yan Family.
Qi Zheng Yan, who was from Huan Hua Sect nodded slightly. “Even though I am inexperienced and unknowledgeable, I agree with Ms. Jiang too.”
Qing Jing pressed his lips together tightly and looked towards the torch on the stone wall. After some time, he finally said unhappily, “I don’t have any fears towards the quest myself. However, if any one of you dies here, don’t blame me for it.”
“Life or death, it is already decided upon by heaven.” Seeing that the team had reached a consensus, Zhang Yuan Shan smiled.
Jiang Zhi Wei subconsciously uttered, “I will use the sword in my hand to fight destiny…”
She then stopped and grinned. There was no need to continue, as Xi Jian Sect and Zhen Wu Sect had interpreted different truths from the same “Seven Strokes of Heaven Interception”. It was a fundamental difference in philosophy, and it wasn’t necessary to get into any internal conflicts under the current circumstances.
She then turned around and looked at Meng Qi, and asked with a smile, “Little monk, are you coming with us”
Meng Qi was moved. Everybody else had unconsciously ignored his opinion because he was only a char monk. It felt good for someone to still remember him. “Of course, I will need to thank Ms. Jiang beforehand for your help.”
Under this kind of situations, the only choice for a weak person that knew little Kungfu like him was to follow the strongest people in the team, and Meng Qi knew this perfectly well.
Jiang Zhi Wei uncontrollably chuckled. “You should call me Benefactor Jiang.”
Meng Qi breathed in gently and promptly opened his mouth before anyone else, “I think we should prioritize the side quest and save the four masters, and then beleaguer the owner of ‘Yin Huang Castle’.”
“Won’t that be a waste of time” Qing Jing still believed that every person from Shaolin was a villain.
Meng Qi looked at Jiang Zhi Wei, Zhang Yuan Shan, and Qi Xia. “First, we don’t know how strong the owner of ‘Yin Huang Castle’ is. If we go rashly without careful consideration, there will be a huge risk. Second, I don’t think there is a need to announce a side quest at the beginning. Usually side quests were announced only after you found the triggers. I suspect that the true meaning to this side quest is that, the ‘Owner of Samsara’ doesn’t believe that we can complete the main quest by ourselves, and thus wants us to first look for help.”
Jiang Zhi Wei, Zhang Yuan Shan, and the others nodded slightly. It would definitely be better if they had four helpers who knew about the situation, yet there still existed the probability that it would turn out to be a waste of time and cause them to fail the quest.
“Humph, you sound like you know a lot about this ‘Owner of Samsara’. Are you experienced” Qing Jing squinted at Meng Qi.
“Of course, I am experienced in gaming and reading novels… “Meng Qi responded quietly in his head. He was not a sage or anything like that. All he had was some knowledge about the “Samsara Universe”, and he could be right or wrong.
The second Qing Jing finished his sentence, Meng Qi’s eyes opened wide. In front of him, a black shadow rapidly flew towards them. “He” didn’t touch the ground at all, and was exactly like a floating evil spirit!