Those who reincarnate must die.

"You mean the Goddess of Radiance?!"

The old scholar's eyes widened, his expression shifting between light and shadow...

"Yes!" Zhang Lang nodded, pointing to the square outside the window: "It's exactly the same as that sculpture..."

The old scholar slammed the ancient book shut and stood up. "I need to report this to His Majesty in person. Earl Hunter, please go back and rest. Thank you for the information you provided..."

Zhang Lang nodded, left the exchange counter, and returned to the Earl's mansion. Le Xinyi, Ye Peng, and Su Mingda gathered around him: "Looks like the battle went smoothly? How's the ninth level? Is it easy to clear?"

They have received notification from the badge that the ninth floor is open.

Zhang Lang nodded: "The ninth level isn't complicated; there's only one final lord!"

"Only one final boss?" Ye Peng's eyes lit up upon hearing this. "Then this boss must be incredibly powerful, capable of dominating everything in the world! Is it a gigantic, terrifying demon king, as big as a mountain?"

Zhang Lang shook his head: "You've all met them!"

"You've seen him?" The three were stunned. "How could that be?"

"That's the statue in the square!"

"The Goddess of Radiance?" This surprised the three of them greatly. After listening to Zhang Lang's description of the ninth floor, Le Xinyi frowned: "Could it be that the history of the City of Radiance has been altered?"

"Actually, it wasn't about a goddess sacrificing herself to save the empire at all. From the very beginning, it was a conspiracy by the first emperor! After the country stabilized, he feared his sister's power and plotted to lure her into the deepest part of the underground city and imprison her. In fact, the entire nine-layered underground palace is a prison where the Goddess of Radiance is held! And these layers of monsters and gatekeepers are just jailers to prevent anyone from breaking in?"

"Wow!" Ye Peng swallowed hard. "A special rule, and it actually has such a deep hidden story?"

"The mission world is real!" Zhang Lang sighed. "Perhaps the nine-layered underground palace was created using the power of the altar... but the City of Radiance, the Pan-Human Empire, and this history of over a thousand years should all be real!"

"The altar is merely a game created using events from the past of this world, designed to trap those who are reincarnated!"

"The background is none of our business!" Su Mingda shrugged. "I just hope that Radiant Goddess doesn't show up. I've never received so many rewards before, and I don't want them all to be ruined because of her causing chaos in Radiant City..."

"It's a relief that the reward is gone..." Yue Xinyi sighed. "According to the hunter's description, if even heroes can't withstand a single blow from her, then if this monster really comes at us, our survival is in question!"

"Don't worry, I'll take care of her!" Zhang Lang said, "Whether it's for the reward or for the sake of this world..."

Regardless of the past grievances between the siblings, the existence of this radiant goddess now indeed threatens his mission.

"Are you confident?" Ye Peng asked somewhat nervously, "Even heroes were instantly killed..."

"I..." Zhang Lang paused, gathering his thoughts, "I've seen her weakness!"

"Really?" The three of them's eyes lit up. "What weakness?"

Zhang Lang shook his head: "It's no use saying anything!"

…………

The bounty notice has been delayed, suggesting that the news of the Radiant Goddess's appearance is big news for the Emperor. If Yue Xinyi's guess is correct, the relationship between the Radiant Goddess and the Underground Palace should have been lost during the succession to the throne. Otherwise, the current Emperor would never spend so much reward to encourage reincarnators to explore the Underground Palace and get close to its lower levels.

Unexpectedly, after digging for so many days, they unearthed a great-aunt from dozens of generations ago. The current emperor's worldview must have been turned upside down...

As for Zhang Lang, he didn't plan to immediately go to the ninth floor and fight the Goddess of Radiance three hundred rounds. He found Thunder again and discussed the next cooperation with him.

Originally, Thunder, having lost an arm and with his mecha severely damaged, was unwilling to go back into the underground palace. However, the generous conditions and plans offered by Zhang Lang tempted him.

Zhang Lang's plan was simple: with five days left before the Goddess of Radiance left the ninth level, he intended to use those days to enter the eighth level and eliminate as many monsters as possible...

After all, given Thunder's current condition, it would be difficult for him to act together. The bounty materials on the other floors, which weighed tens or hundreds of kilograms, were inconvenient for Zhang Lang to carry. Only on the eighth floor, the largest lord crystal was no bigger than a football, and the crystals of ordinary monsters were even smaller, making them very convenient for Zhang Lang to carry!

To this end, Zhang Lang specially prepared several sturdy backpacks to carry him down to the eighth level to hunt monsters. Once the backpacks were full, he would stuff them into Lei Ting's spatial storage. As for Lei Ting, he didn't need to go down to the eighth level with him; he could stay at the survivor's stronghold on the seventh level. It was relatively safe there, and not far from the teleportation portal between the seventh and eighth levels.

Simply put, Zhang Lang goes down eight levels and circles around, then comes out to find Lei Ting to store his things, saving him the long journey from level one to level seven and improving hunting efficiency!

As for Thunder, even if Zhang Lang worked himself to death, he couldn't fill the ten-cubic-meter space with just crystals... Even if there were any circumstances requiring him to return to the City of Light, Thunder still had quite a few travel scrolls, so he could leave whenever he wanted!

And for such an easy job, Zhang Lang promised two hundred gold coins a day!

Why not do it if you're going to get nothing better to do it!

In addition to Thunder's help, Zhang Lang also sought out Olisis in order to achieve greater hunting efficiency...

He had roughly calculated that if this enormous eighth level were entirely composed of tunnels ten meters wide and six or seven meters high, their combined length would likely be tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of kilometers. Even if Zhang Lang could outrun a high-speed train, it would probably take decades to explore the entire area… In just a few days, he wouldn't be able to explore much at all…

Therefore, he needs to explore with a purpose and direction, and that's where Olissis's lucky pencil becomes crucial!

After Zhang Lang saw Olissis again, the young man with the broken leg remained silent, leaning against the bed with a vacant look in his eyes, seemingly still reeling from the shock... Although his arrogant attitude was quite annoying before, looking at him now, he was actually rather pitiful.

Upon hearing Zhang Lang's request to buy the Lucky Pencil, Olissis agreed without hesitation.

"I've figured it out now... I was too naive and immature before..." This somewhat haggard young man seemed like a different person now: "It's all partly due to my own personality, and also because of this damn pencil! It made so many choices for me, making me lose my ability to judge right from wrong... Take it if you want, consider it repayment for saving my life... Thank you..."

Zhang Lang didn't think too much when he saved him, but unexpectedly, it made the kid realize something and even gave him a unique item for free!

The old folks in town used to say that accumulating good deeds would surely bring blessings, and it seems there's some truth to that...

Zhang Lang accepted the Lucky Pencil. Although it was a unique item, judging from its remaining length, it would only be enough to write two or three more questions at most. But at least, it should be enough for this maze!

With everything prepared, Zhang Lang led Lei Ting deep into the underground palace, arriving at the survivor's stronghold on the seventh floor to settle him in. Then, he ventured alone into the eighth floor, took out his lucky pencil and paper, and wrote down the questions for this session!

"At this intersection, which direction should I go to encounter the monster the fastest?"

The options are still up, down, forward, backward, left, and right!

Maze exploration begins!

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