The copy has 0 error tolerance, and the last words on the ground are all wrong for me.

Chapter 490 Dragon in the Gate, Immortal in the Mist

Wu Chang pretended not to recognize the command flag in An Rong's hand. He looked at the flag and exclaimed in surprise:

"This is?"

Seeing that everyone's energy had been fully restored, An Rong turned to Wu Chang and explained:
"This is a treasure left behind by the Seven Immortals of ancient times. Holding this command flag can have the effect of worshipping heaven and earth on a small scale, even without relying on sacrificial rituals."

"The command flag in my hand is called 'Descent of Auspiciousness,' and it governs the final stage of the ritual. Even without the cooperation of the other three altars, I can complete the final 'Descent of Auspiciousness' stage on my own using this flag."

Wu Chang understood now. No wonder An Rong deliberately delayed his exit from the sacrificial ceremony, daring to lure Gu Yuchen and the others out by making everyone extremely weak.

It turns out this kid had a trick up his sleeve: the Auspicious Banner can transform the initially purified demonic and calamity energy into auspicious spiritual and celestial energy.

Under the auspicious aura, the spiritual energy within the cultivators is almost inexhaustible. At the same time, the auspicious aura has a strong restraining effect on demons, just as calamity has on cultivators.

Even if he doesn't make a move, relying on the effect of the Auspicious Decree Flag, An Rong can hold out until the cultivators from the other altars come to his aid, even if he can't defeat the two demon kings.

Wu Chang seemed to have discovered something and asked:

"Does the existence of auspicious banners indicate that there were also banners representing the stages of gathering good fortune, warding off disasters, and issuing imperial edicts?"

An Rong replied:
"The records of the Tai Sui Immortal Mansion only mention three command flags: warding off disasters, imperial edicts, and auspicious omens. The gathering of good fortune does not appear."

"However, the three command flags were scattered in ancient times and their whereabouts are unknown. In the Tai Sui Immortal Mansion, I only obtained the flag of the Auspiciousness Command Flag. The flagpole was found by chance and we were able to make a pair."

After hearing this, Wu Chang looked thoughtful. The Seven Star Immortals' actions must have a purpose.

Three command flags were made, but the flags and flagpoles were deliberately separated. The flag of the disaster relief flag was even disguised as the soul cleansing flag. It was necessary to exorcise enough souls before the flag could reveal its true appearance.

This preparation was likely to evade the scrutiny of the higher realms, who might discover that they had created the "method of seizing the heavens."

In other words, the Heaven-Seizing Technique that was sown by the upper realm and hatched should not have been obtained by anyone yet.

As he thought of this, his gaze became fervent.

Alright, alright, since nobody wants this thing in the instance, he'll just take it home.

Noticing Wu Chang's gaze, An Rong understood and said:

"Once you join me in shattering the Heavenly Gate and severing the connection between Heaven and Earth, the Great Xuan will no longer possess either spiritual or demonic energy, rendering it useless to me. However, if it proves useful on an overseas immortal mountain, I may present this flag to you."

Wu Chang sighed, "No wonder Emperor Zhaoning and Anrong are chosen ones. Look at their vision; they're never stingy when it comes to rewarding their subordinates."

If you had started talking like this earlier, there would have been no need for all that preamble. You could have just pulled out the Auspicious Banner, pointed it at the Heavenly Gate, and said, "Get it!" Wouldn't that have been enough?

Unlike that old bastard Lü Changgeng, who couldn't give out any rewards to begin with, and even had to give out one reward in three separate installments, he deserved to never get a chance to be served.

He said with a solemn expression:

"Rest assured, Grand Duke Jupiter, for the sake of all living beings, I will destroy this Heavenly Gate. Even if an immortal descends, he cannot save it. I said it!"

If anyone else had said that, An Rong would have taken it as mere politeness. But the celestial being in front of him had just transformed into a monster, tearing apart the Earth Demon King and swallowing the Water Demon King whole, truly a demon god descending to earth. Now that he was saying those words, An Rong could sense that Wu Chang was serious.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, sir."

Wu Changjian saw An Rong wanting to remove the barrier surrounding the altar and quickly said:

"Wait a minute, I have something else to say."

An Rong paused in his work and asked:

"What's the matter?"

Wu Chang said:

“Breaking down the Heavenly Gate is no small matter. The obstacles are not only the demon race and the upper realm, but also the cultivators of the Human Alliance who are determined to ascend through the Heavenly Gate.”

"To put it bluntly, what we are doing is going against all cultivators in the world. We are the only ones who are too short-handed and may very well fail at the last minute."

An Rong understood Wu Chang's meaning and said:

"Among the celestial beings, if there is someone you trust, you may reveal the plan at your discretion, but please remember not to spread the information too widely, for I am worried..."

Wu Chang said:

"I understand that if anyone leaks information, or intends to do so, I will personally deal with the traitor. There is no need for me to worry."

After the two agreed, An Rong removed the barrier surrounding them and stepped out.

They picked up the corpse of the Rock Armor Rhinoceros King from the ground, preparing to announce to the outside world that the two great demon kings of earth and water had attacked the sacrificial altar, and that everyone had joined forces to kill the two demons.

As for the Renxin Pavilion members, An Rong planned to give them a final dignified end, praising their timely support and their sacrifice in stopping the Water Demon King, which gave everyone a chance to win.

Whether it was the members of Renxin Pavilion or the two great demon kings of Earth and Water, they were all defeated by He Ping alone. The other players were just there to create atmosphere and suffered no losses. He Ping had no objection to this statement, so how could they dare to object?

Compared to Renxin Pavilion's betrayal, players are more concerned about what Peace and Anrong discussed while hiding behind the barrier.

The two talked for so long, it couldn't have been just casual conversation; it must have involved some secrets.

Especially when they were having a good time, An Rong actually summoned auspicious clouds, which instantly restored everyone's energy to full. If the foreplay alone was so exciting, they couldn't imagine how thrilling the real business the two were discussing must be.

It's at least a side quest.

Everyone couldn't help but glance at Heping, wondering to themselves if this kid would try to eat all the food himself.
After leaving the sacrificial altar, the group returned to Xinwu City with the corpse of the Rock Armor Rhinoceros King. As soon as they landed, they saw Gu Zhihan leading a team of players towards them.

Seeing that An Rong was unharmed, Gu Zhihan visibly relaxed, but there was no joy on her face, because An Rong being alright meant that something had happened to the others.

An Rong noticed Gu Zhihan's unusual behavior and led her away from the group to a side room at Huomu Temple.

Wu Changzhen left a starlight phantom image in place, then his real body entered a concealed state and followed behind the two, eavesdropping.

Unfortunately, the two did not engage in any intense emotional exchange, both restraining themselves, making the conversation quite bland, even more so than when An Rong and Wu Chang spoke.

Wu Chang had already guessed the gist of what was being said before he even heard it.

It's simply that Gu Zhihan also has demon blood in her veins, and she's afraid that if she reveals everything, An Rong, who aims to eradicate all demons, will distance himself from her.

Due to family ties and blood relations, she vaguely sensed the conspiracy of Gu Yuchen and others, but was powerless to do anything about it and could only warn An Rong from the sidelines.

An Rong then explained everything to Gu Zhihan, including his plan to shatter the Heavenly Gate.

Gu Zhihan agreed to An Rong's decision without hesitation, which Wu Chang found hard to understand.

Even he, in order to make his performance more convincing, had to pretend to be somewhat hesitant. Gu Zhihan agreed so readily that anyone who didn't know better would think she was the player.

After a brief exchange, An Rong and Gu Zhihan came out of the room. As their two teams left Xinwu City, they happened to run into Wu Changben and Lü Changgeng, who had come to provide support.

An Rong briefly explained his prepared statement to everyone. Wu Changben and Gu Zhihan had no questions. Lü Changgeng seemed to sense something was amiss, but he was concerned about Tianmen and did not dwell on the matter.

Upon seeing that An Rong was safe and sound, they allowed everyone to rest for a while before returning to the main altar for the joint sacrifice of Heaven and Earth and officially launching an attack on the Heavenly Gate.

During the break, An Rong confronted Wu Chang's main body and invited him to join the plan.

Wu Changzhen was surrounded by Leng Shan, Jian Xing, and others who had been waiting for their chance.

No one said anything, just put on an expression that said, "Just give me whatever you need."

Wu Chang shook his head helplessly, too lazy to explain, and simply handed the hidden side quest to everyone.

Upon seeing the prefix of the hidden side quest, everyone was initially shocked. When they realized it was a hidden faction and there was a limited number of slots available, they were shocked again.

Once they understood the mission—to shatter the Heavenly Gate and complete the severing of the Heavenly Connection—they all seemed to be on vibrate mode, constantly trembling.

This level of mission was unlike anything they had ever seen before.

In the game Abyss, being hidden usually signifies rarity and preciousness.

By joining a hidden faction through a hidden side quest, you can discover that this faction, which has a world instance that can accommodate 10,000 players, requires that no more than 60 people join. These 60 spots also include the instance's natives.

Just thinking about it makes them realize how precious this mission is.

The fact that they were able to uncover such a task caused a shift in how people looked at Wu Chang.

Especially Leng Shan and Ma Jia, as the top problem solvers in the Wasteland, naturally know how difficult it is to uncover such a mission. The right time, place, and people are all indispensable, and it also requires a long and unpredictable preparatory process.

They couldn't understand why, after entering the world instance, they hadn't strayed too far from Peace's activity area. When exactly had Peace completed the preparatory work?

Could it be that the administrator of the Abyss World secretly passed him a note?
Wu Chang's shared mission is good, but the mission content is a bit dangerous. It means that as long as they complete this mission, the main mission 4 of all other faction players will automatically fail.

They were so hated. Thinking this, the group exchanged glances and silently chose to accept it.

Ha, what does it matter to them whether other players hate it or not?

After the members of the Mystic Knights left, Hou Jingchuan and the others who were waiting nearby immediately surrounded them. They had already seen the group transformed into fascia guns, and they knew the mission was extraordinary without even looking at it.

There are sixty spots available for each faction. After deducting the spots reserved for Meng Yawen and Fang Hui from the members of the Arcane Knights, and the spots for the original dungeon residents, there are still quite a few spots to be allocated.

Since the number of people in his camp doesn't affect his gains anyway, he might as well do a favor.

He allocated quotas to those within the management bureau with whom he had connections, depending on the circumstances.

He originally wanted to give Director Gao, Lei Huo, and Zhao Yan a boost, but unfortunately, they were too low-profile and didn't even have the qualifications to interact with He Ping. Giving them a spot would seem too deliberate. He could only wait until they entered Tianmen to see how to set up a plan and leave them a chance.

After a brief rest, the four demon-slaying armies returned to the central altar and joined forces with the demon-slaying army that had been prepared beforehand.

The defeat of the Earth and Water Demon Kings greatly boosted morale. Under Emperor Zhaoning's command, the Demon-Slaying Army assembled and marched towards Liuyun City.

It took the group a whole day to arrive at Liuyun City. The former core of the demon realm could no longer be sensed by any demonic energy. The demons either died from the aftershocks of the golden dragon of fortune during the sacrifice to heaven and earth, or sensed something was wrong and fled far away.

At this moment, the gates of Liuyun City were wide open, and the interior was deathly silent, waiting for the Demon-Slaying Army to enter.

Liuyun City, one of the three major cities in Tianlan Province, is also the most prosperous place in Tianlan Province. It is a gathering place for business people from all over the world who come to Tianlan Province. The city is bustling with traffic and every inch of land is worth its weight in gold.

Once inside the city, the once most prosperous metropolis had become dilapidated.

The once elegant Liuyun Tower, adorned with poems by various literati and hailed as the most refined place in Tianlan, is now nothing but ruins.

Guangyuan Market, a place in the west of the city that gathered rare treasures from all over the world, with its carved beams, painted rafters, and green tiles and red eaves, was also burned to the ground.

Even though a long time has passed since the Demon Realm appeared, entering Liuyun City again still allows one to feel the chaos and despair of the day the city fell.

Tick, tick.

Rain began to fall softly from the sky. Wu Chang stretched out his hand, and a drop of rain fell into his palm, the water turning blood red.

He crushed the raindrops, and a faint red, demonic aura emanated from them.

Everyone looked up at the sky and saw that the previously blocked Heavenly Gate was now flowing with demonic energy again.

The demonic energy turned into rain, which fell on everyone.

A sense of foreboding arose in everyone's hearts, and they quickened their pace as they walked into the city.

The group arrived at the center of Liuyun City. Directly below the crack in the sky, they saw a huge stone gate, ten meters high, standing in the city.

It's called a stone gate, but it's actually just a door frame; the front and back are all air, appearing out of thin air on the ground.

It goes without saying that once you cross the gate, you'll be in the Demon Realm.

Before entering Liuyun City, the Demon-Slaying Army had already made a preliminary division. Those below the level of first-rate experts stayed outside the Heavenly Gate with Emperor Zhaoning and others. With the protection of Heaven and Earth, they would not encounter too much danger.

Top-tier experts and above, led by four Earth Immortals from the Human Alliance, entered the Heavenly Gate to test its strength.

After dividing into two groups, the demon-slaying army, led by Lü Changgeng, entered the stone gate.

Wu Chang felt a moment of dizziness, and when he came to his senses, he found himself in a mountain.

What lies beyond the Heavenly Gate is not an altar, but a high mountain.

Looking around, he realized he had separated from the others, leaving only him and Eileen.

He looked up and saw that the mountaintop was covered by clouds and mist, with lightning flashing and thunder rumbling within the clouds, as if a storm was brewing.

A huge black shadow was vaguely moving in the clouds; judging from its shape, it seemed to be a dragon.

A living, five-clawed dragon.

Even from a great distance, he could feel immense pressure emanating from that dragon. That dragon definitely possessed the strength of a lower-level god, at least at the level of a powerful angel.

No wonder the painter said that the being in the Heavenly Gate was very troublesome; the painter alone could not handle this giant dragon.

As expected of the final scene of the world instance, they prepared a great treasure for them.

However, for other players, this treasure is too big for them to handle.

Wu Chang extended his hand to Eileen and said:
"Madam, the mountain is high and the road is slippery, making it difficult to pass."

Eileen took Wu Chang's hand and said with a smile:

"It's okay, I'm here."

Wu Chang sighed at Eileen's reassuring answer and led her up the mountain.

He climbed up about a hundred meters when he suddenly sensed a demonic aura lurking beside him. He thought some foolish demon dared to ambush him, so he and Eileen weakened their presence and approached the demonic aura. They discovered that the source of the aura was not an ambush, but a player.

Inside a cave, a player dressed in a black trench coat sat cross-legged. The man in the trench coat was quite powerful, possessing the strength of a Grandmaster.

He was surrounded by demonic energy, which was transforming his body and causing subtle changes. Judging from the surrounding traces, he had been in the cave for at least half a month.

The man in the trench coat, like the painter, must have been recruited by cultivators from the Benevolent Heart Pavilion and joined the demon race.

However, the man in the trench coat is too poor in aptitude. He is not yet able to condense the bloodline of the demon race, and if nothing unexpected happens, he will not be able to do so in the future.

He shook his head, ignored the man in the trench coat, and continued walking uphill.

Almost every hundred meters he went up, he could see a player around him trying to fuse with demonic energy. The higher the player's position, the better their talent, but that doesn't mean the higher you go, the better.

The higher you go in the cave, the more demonic energy there is, and the faster the concentration of demonic energy increases, the faster the player's aptitude improves.

Many players in the cave should have had better aptitude than the man in the trench coat, but they couldn't withstand the stronger demonic energy and were assimilated by it. Not only did they fail to awaken their demonic bloodline, but they were also assimilated by the demonic energy, leaving only a pool of blood in the cave.

Just a hundred meters from the clouds, Wu Chang saw a familiar face inside the cave where the demonic energy had been assimilated.

The source of affection in the other party is very obvious; it is Yu Siyi, the painter's accomplice in Wanghai City, who helped him a lot in the Misfortune-Covered instance.

With the help of the power of the source and the gift of Amber from the Misfortune-Covered Dungeon, Yu Siyi successfully completed the qualification dungeon and entered the world dungeon. Because of her good enough aptitude, she was placed in the place closest to the top of the mountain.

However, no matter what, she had only been in the world instance for a short time, and her other attributes were too poor. She could only barely resist the demonic energy with the power of her origin and could not easily merge with it.

When Wu Chang and Eileen saw her, the power of her origin was already extremely weak. Before long, she would be eroded by the demonic energy and turn into blood.

Seeing Wu Chang stop and fall into thought, Eileen asked:

"she is?"

Wu Chang said, "Our daughter's friend helped her a lot before."

Wu Chang turned to Yu Siyi and said:
"You're lucky to have met us. After this, we'll be even."

He took out a Dragon-Slaying Pill from his personal space, pried open Yu Siyi's mouth, and stuffed it into her mouth.

After taking the pill, and with the help of the Dragon-Slaying Pill to enhance her comprehension, the pain on Yu Siyi's face instantly subsided, and she began to find a way to merge with the demonic energy.

Seeing this, Eileen also lightly touched Yu Siyi's brow, leaving behind a ball of white, inextinguishable holy fire to ensure Yu Siyi's existence and prevent her from being assimilated by the demonic energy.

Before leaving, Wu Chang gave Yu Siyi another application to join Tai Sui. Whether she would join or not, and whether she would seize the opportunity, was up to her.

After doing all this, the two set off again along the mountain path, heading towards the summit.

After walking the last hundred meters, the two entered the clouds and mist, reaching the mountaintop area.

The fog was entirely condensed from calamity energy, which contained four types of calamity energy: earth, water, fire, and wind. Anyone below the Grandmaster level who stepped into it would be instantly corroded by the calamity energy until nothing was left.

The two walked several dozen meters in the fog, and when they reached the center of the fog, a figure swayed and blocked their way.

Wu Chang waved his hand to clear away the fog in front of him, and saw a figure standing in front of them wearing a seven-jeweled star crown, a long robe of black feathers, tiger-striped boots, and holding a heavy black iron sword.

An extremely powerful divine aura emanated from the other party. Judging from the divine quality, he was definitely a true low-level god, and his strength was no less than that of the painter.

More importantly, Wu Chang vaguely recognized the figure of the person in front of him in the scene recorded in the Immortal's Fate, and the other party was Tianxuan, one of the Seven Star Immortals.

He helped Lü Changgeng find the immortal remains that Lü Changgeng couldn't find at the sacrificial altar.

(End of this chapter)