The ascent was not smooth; during this time, Qin Jie could sense something in the darkness attempting to infiltrate, but each time he drew the devouring abyss, that something would retreat.
It was difficult to see clearly in the darkness, so Qin Jie could only rely on his senses to draw the devouring abyss and slash around him.
Fortunately, the sedan ride wasn't too long. After about five minutes, a ray of light pierced into the sedan. With the help of the light, Qin Jie vaguely saw something black, resembling a tentacle, quickly disappear at the top of the sedan.
The sensation of weightlessness vanished, a cold wind blew, and the sedan's curtains were swept open. A majestic and magnificent palace, like a fairyland on earth, appeared before Qin Jie's eyes.
Fountainhead Palace, reached.
[Arrived at Fountainhead Palace, main quest completed.]
[Gained 6 attribute points, 2800 paradise coins.]
[Main quest completed, Hunter gains permission to return.]
[Detected that the Hunter's side quests are not yet completed, main quest return deadline extended by 7 days.]
Just arriving at Fountainhead Palace completed the main quest?
Qin Jie was a little confused, but after a moment of thought, he found the answer.
The reason was that this world had not been reset.
Originally, to reach Fountainhead Palace, one needed to obtain the Fragrant Water Lily, the Shelter Stone, the Immortal Severance, and the Everblossom. Obtaining these four items required defeating the Guardian Ape, the Phantom Corrupted Monk, the Four Monkeys, and the Great Shinobi Owl, respectively.
With these processes, reaching Fountainhead Palace was extremely difficult, and with only eight days, it was not an excessive main quest.
However, the world Qin Jie arrived in had not been reset, which allowed Qin Jie to skip these processes and reach Fountainhead Palace simply by passing through Shuisheng Village.
In that sense, he had indeed taken quite an advantage.
However, even if Qin Jie had permission to return, what then? The side quest he had accepted now carried a death penalty for failure, meaning Qin Jiecould not return until he understood the cause of the anomaly in Fountainhead Palace, otherwise he would likely be eliminated for failing the quest.
Stepping out of the sedan, he was greeted by an endless sea of clouds. Shuisheng Village was almost invisible at this point, and the entire Ashina was but a palm-sized dot to Qin Jie, with only the main tower clearly visible.
Fountainhead Palace was located above Ashina and was also the source of the Source Water. At this moment, a melodious flute sound emanated from within the palace, combined with the magnificent Fountainhead Palace, it should have been a wonderful sight, but for some reason, this scene only filled Qin Jie with a faint sense of unease.
After all, Qin Jie knew all too well the true nature of Fountainhead Palace: the man-eating nobles, the fiercely attacking Okami soldiers, the flute music that caused aging – none of these were benevolent things.
And now, some unknown anomaly had occurred within Fountainhead Palace. Qin Jie did not yet know what this anomaly was, but he could glean some information from the Magikarp Derivatives.
At the very least, Magikarp had undergone some kind of mutation.
As for the Broken Monk, Qin Jie guessed that Calamity A had killed her once, but because there was no Immortal Severance, she could not be completely killed. However, this opportunity allowed her to break through the gates of Fountainhead Palace.
The Broken Monk then revived under the influence of the bug attachment, but she also let Calamity A, who had infiltrated, escape.
Hiss.
What about Unlucky B and Unlucky C?
Where did they go?
Qin Jie exited the sedan and then began to walk towards Fountainhead Palace.
A palace gate appeared in the distance. The gate was open, revealing a vermilion long bridge. At the end of the bridge, Qin Jie saw the Broken Monk, clad in a beautiful long robe, wearing a Hannya mask, and holding a naginata with a Tomoe blade.
And half a corpse at her feet.
The corpse hadn't completely rotted. A preliminary estimate of its decomposition suggested it was the severed half of Unlucky C.
It seems he died here.
After all, Unlucky B had arrived in this world two months ago; if this corpse were his, it would have long since rotted to mere bones.
This meant that Unlucky B's strength seemed to be somewhat greater than Unlucky C's.
Dried leaves covered the vermilion bridge, rustling underfoot as the withered, blackened maple leaves turned to dust.
The Broken Monk stood before Qin Jie, holding her naginata. She was tall, at least two meters high, and her weapon was equally exaggerated; though merely a naginata, it gave off the impression of an Azure Dragon Crescent Blade.
[Insight]
Name: Yaobikuni
Health: 100%
Mana: 130 / 130
Strength: 23
Agility: 18
Stamina: 20
Intelligence: 13
Charm: 5
Luck: 3
Skill 1, Polearm Mastery: The Broken Monk's polearm damage is increased by 23%, greatly improving weapon proficiency.
Skill 2, Illusion: The Broken Monk is proficient in illusion, and can summon an illusion of herself to attack enemies by consuming 10 mana.
Skill 3, Perfect bug attachment: The bug attachment is immortal and indestructible, possessing the characteristic of immortality. As a perfect bug attachment, the Broken Monk can mostly control the bug attachment within her to fight for herself.
Skill 4, ???
--- Upon seeing Qin Jie, a sharp, long cry erupted from beneath the Broken Monk's mask. Her body then moved with an incredibly light grace. Her large robe stirred up layers of Qi waves, causing the surrounding maple leaves to dance.
The Broken Monk, attacking!
Without pleasantries, all the Broken Monk had to do was slay any encroaching enemies.
In pursuit of immortality, the Broken Monk willingly became the gatekeeper of Fountainhead Palace, and she naturally got her wish, gaining the ability of eternal life.
And immortality meant no Reincarnation. As a monk, the Broken Monkviolated Buddhist precepts, hence she was called the Broken Monk.
The long naginata, carrying the sound of cutting wind, slashed towards Qin Jie. The Broken Monk also let out a strange cry as she exerted her strength, creating a considerable sense of oppression.
Although to Qin Jie's ears, this sound was merely irritating.
"No time to tangle with you."
Qin Jie whispered. He did not raise his sword to Parry, but instead stepped back two paces, then suddenly drew his sword.
Boom!
Thunder surged. Unlike the Phantom Corrupted Monk, the main body of the Broken Monk took full damage directly and fell into a paralyzed state.
But even with her body paralyzed, the Broken Monk instinctively tried to swing her naginata to repel Qin Jie. Unexpectedly, the devouring abyss in Qin Jie's hand instantly transformed into a greatsword, then he brought it down with a powerful slash, forcefully suppressing the naginata.
Qin Jie stepped onto the shaft of the naginata, then quickly closed the distance in two steps. Taking advantage of the Broken Monk still being paralyzed, he suddenly drew the Immortal Severance.
After paying a portion of his health, black and red Sword Qi surged. The Immortal Severance slashed across the Broken Monk's neck. This cut was very deep, and Qin Jie clearly saw the bug attachment centipede at the Broken Monk's neck.
No, that's not right.
Qin Jie's pupils constricted. The bug attachment centipede looked somewhat different from what Qin Jie had seen before.
Why did this centipede have a woman's face?
That woman's face was exquisitely beautiful, with a captivating allure. Her eyes were originally closed, as if she were asleep, but after Qin Jie cut open the Broken Monk's chest, the woman opened her eyes and glared at Qin Jiewith resentment.