Huh? Isn't this an adventure kingdom building game?!

Chapter 1292: Chapter 977: You Think You Deserve to Go to Hell? (2)

On what grounds does he get to die cleanly, while I have to suffer torment for all eternity!

Besides, prying open his mouth can be exchanged for delicious food and rest time—stuff yourself, drink your fill, lie down watching others work themselves to death, how爽快 is that!

"Qi Baijun, haven’t seen you for a while, how are you feeling now?" Ugly Slave was afraid he’d die before fully turning into a freak, so he put on a concerned face, stepped forward and grabbed his arm, wishing he could get him polluted a bit faster.

Since there’s no way out for either of us, then let’s enjoy this undying immortality together!

"You... you in the end are you alive or dead?" Qi Baijun’s head buzzed, for a moment he didn’t even know if he was dreaming.

Could it be that when devouring and Refining Essence for Cultivation, I went berserk? Everything is an Illusion Realm, I haven’t met Yang Sansi yet, and it’s impossible to see a dead Ugly Slave.

"How should I explain this to you... originally I was dead, but then I came back, and I’ll never die again." Sensing the increasingly dense familiar aura on the other’s body, Ugly Slave’s smile grew more and more hideous. "You’re the same now, you’ll never again have to worry about your Lifespan running out and dying."

It was hard to describe what had changed in his own body. The instant he was transformed into a freak, Qi Baijun felt his Life Energy restore again, his entire self pulling back from the brink of death, his mind instantly clearing.

Only then did he realize there wasn’t the slightest bit of Spiritual Energy around, only filthy polluted miasma; when he noticed that Ugly Slave in front of him was radiating the same aura all over, he immediately grew alert, "You... you turned into a freak! Is this a Ghost Realm?!"

"As expected of the well-informed Qi Baijun, that’s right, now we’re both freaks." Ugly Slave patted his shoulder and laughed. "Throw all that past stuff aside, it’s got nothing to do with us anymore.

Now, you have to tell the Elder Immortal every single bit of information he wants, only then can we live a good life. Otherwise..."

He stuck his ugly face close, snarling viciously, "You’ll learn what true ’wishing you were dead’ really is. Back when we were Evil Cultivators, those methods we used were nothing; this place is more terrifying than Hell! Only by being obedient can you live a bit more comfortably.

Qi Baijun, if a man doesn’t look out for himself, heaven and earth annihilate him.

Think about that dumb Great Protector who only climbed up by riding his sister’s bed, think about that Sixth Elder who spends all day pestering Little Demons—why do they get to strut around free and easy while we suffer here? There’s no need to wrong yourself to protect them!"

All of a sudden, the world turned upside down.

Clearly just moments ago he’d still been the Third Protector of the Leisure Sect, holding absolute power; after running into that damned "Yang Sansi", he got polluted into a freak, trapped in this hellish place, turned into a prisoner.

Qi Baijun couldn’t accept it for the moment, driving Ugly Slave so anxious he was jumping up and down, terrified he’d fail to seize this rare chance and let others snatch the Merit for nothing.

Jiang Yuan, after issuing missions, returned to the secret chamber and clicked open Qi Baijun’s Merit Token.

The permissions really were plentiful, he could even hide names on the death list!

And just like Yang Sansi’s Immortal Ship, this Immortal Ship was also industry-owned by the Leisure Sect, not a private purchase of Qi Baijun’s.

This sort of Sect-owned property had a common trait—it was not allowed to be privately Refining and claimed as one’s own, to make future replacement, recycling and reassignment more convenient. Therefore it was bound to the Merit Token; Jiang Yuan only needed to click into the interface to fully take over control.

[View current preset Immortal Ship flight route?]

[Enable Immortal Ship-wide Teleportation Array ban?]

[Enable Immortal Ship-wide messaging Array ban?]

[Block Merit Token message reception for Black Rider member "Ma Yue"?]

......

After a flurry of operations fierce as a tiger, once he had replaced Qi Baijun, he even deliberately went to the other’s bedroom to find a fitting Magical Robe to change his "skin".

Once the Immortal Ship was fully set up, only then did he swagger into the main hall, sweeping a glance over the prey bearing his own name and details.

"Congratulations to Protector on gaining yet another pleasing face!" The Black Riders were long used to Thousand-Faced Young Master changing appearances; seeing this, they all bowed in unison to offer congratulations.

Jiang Yuan paced up to the throne, a smile on his face. "Yang Sansi is a straightforward man. The body he brought suits my tastes nicely, and he even gave me a genuine Divine Artifact from the Celestial Realm."

The two ranks of sixty Black Riders, upon hearing this, once again congratulated the Protector on obtaining a Treasure, then stood silent as crows.

After wallowing in the Leisure Sect for many years following their recruitment, and only then being promoted from disciple to Protector Black Rider, they all thoroughly understood one workplace truth.

When your superior is showing off a newly acquired Treasure, you must not show the slightest interest or curiosity, or you’ll seem to be coveting it.

Especially the Third Protector Qi Baijun, who had deep city walls in his heart and was moody and unpredictable. Whenever he obtained a Supreme Treasure he would keep a low profile and hide it, terrified others might learn of it; for him to act so high-profile today was extremely odd.

Everyone brooded in secret, afraid of making a misstep.

Since he’d turned into Yang Sansi’s appearance, it meant the brat was already gone; there was no way to know what Treasure had been presented. Qi Baijun bragging so proudly suggested it was very likely a Treasure without offensive or combat power, something safe to flaunt.

Each of them desperately wanted to know what this Celestial Realm Divine Artifact was; some Black Riders could barely suppress their greed, yet none dared to make a sound.

Jiang Yuan openly took out the Seven-Layered Glazed Treasure Tower, smiling with a show-off air. "Raise your heads and take a good look at this Celestial Realm Supreme Treasure!"

They obeyed and lifted their heads in perfect unison, and saw a beam of golden light descend to envelop them. The next second, all the Black Riders were selected and taken into the Pagoda.

"What happened? Where is this place?"

"Feels like we got taken into a Divine Artifact!"

"What does Protector mean by this?"

"Be careful, the Sect forbids internal killing, but that rule doesn’t apply to Protectors!"

"Lord Guardian, this is you..."

......

After a brief panic, they saw Qi Baijun enter as well, and all slightly sighed in relief.

Jiang Yuan was deeply immersed in his role-play, finding it delightful; he waved his hand. "I invited you all into this Divine Artifact to broaden your horizons. What do you think of the Treasure I obtained this time?"

The Black Riders’ taut nerves relaxed again; they glanced at each other, thinking that since it was a show-off Treasure, it was probably some kind of dojo-type Divine Artifact that wouldn’t easily invite covetous hearts.

While they swept their gazes over the golden, radiant Divine Statues inside the Pagoda, they spouted rainbow farts one after another, hyping this Treasure whose function they didn’t even know yet as something that would grant Ascension upon acquiring it.

"No wonder foolish rulers like treacherous ministers, being flattered really does feel insanely good!" Jiang Yuan smiled as he surveyed the surroundings, secretly selecting targets one by one, then clicked to use the Nightmare Technique he’d acquired earlier but hadn’t yet had a chance to test.

The deep-purple Skills icon with dark rings activated; the selected targets were immediately shrouded by a faintly discernible purple mist.

Nightmare Technique was a Spiritual Attack Skill— the weaker one’s Spiritual Power, the easier it was to be forcibly dragged into the dreamscape. It was an absolute breeze against Cultivators who didn’t specialize in Spiritual Power.

About half of the Black Riders were affected, with a dozen or so directly entering the dream, standing stock-still; the remaining dozen were woozy, stuck in a half-dream half-awake state, moving like sleepwalkers.

The remaining nearly thirty people weren’t affected, yet also didn’t sense anything amiss, as Nightmare Technique was silent; even those hit didn’t make a single sound.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Jiang Yuan brought both hands into play, targeting Black Rider members whose HP bars lacked the purple effect, and clicked to use the one-time Capture Net.

"Bang!"

One net after another that looked utterly ordinary exploded in midair, wrapping the selected targets with pinpoint accuracy.

"Protector, what are you doing?"

"What the hell is this?"

"Protector’s acting weird—what’s he doing with some broken net?"

Caught off guard and netted, the Black Rider Evil Cultivators instantly grew wary. Yet when they lowered their heads, they saw it was just a tattered net without even a hint of Spiritual Power, and once again couldn’t figure out what was going on—if Qi Baijun wanted to kill them, he definitely wouldn’t be fooling around like this.

Besides, none of them had offended him. Black Riders had worked their asses off for him, there was simply no reason for him to attack!

Baffled and uninjured, question marks popped up over their heads, but none dared to easily offend their immediate superior.

Thus, although those netted first spoke up to warn the others, no one dared to fight back.

Mere attempts to dodge were meaningless to the system that gamified everything—once selected, even if you hid in the crowd, the hit rate was still one hundred percent.

Jiang Yuan was already well-practiced at this kind of thing; a couple dozen nets fired off in a flurry of clicks, not a single one slipped through!

He first dealt with the batch not controlled by Nightmare Technique, then handled the muddle-headed bunch.

By the time the last group of controlled dreamers woke up, they found all their companions trapped in identical ordinary-looking nets. Some were questioning, some were cursing after repeatedly failing to escape, and the already sealed Seven-Layered Exquisite Pagoda rang with such noise their ears buzzed.