WTYTIAAN Chapter 231

Chapter 231

With his stomach churning violently, Yan Yunqing resisted the urge to vomit again. He walked to the edge of the blood pool, and the blood mist rising from it drifted towards him, enveloping him in a sticky, damp sensation. It felt as if sludge from the abyss was pouring down, tainting the world with a fishy stench.

Yan Yunqing frowned and tentatively reached out to touch the blood mist. His sense of touch told him that it was indeed just mist and not a tangible substance, yet his other senses screamed in disgust.

【■■■■】

Yan Yunqing suddenly looked up, his gaze like a sharp blade piercing through the void. However, he only saw the swaying iron chains above and nothing else.

Yan Yunqing narrowed his eyes, temporarily pushing aside the discomfort. For a fleeting moment, he had felt an unpleasant gaze upon him, accompanied by an undeniable and pure malice.

Yan Yunqing had never experienced such a feeling before… Wait, had he really never experienced it before?

Yan Yunqing hesitated. Suddenly, the malice felt somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t quite recall when he had experienced it.

Strange.

Yan Yunqing’s gaze swept back and forth across the space above, but he found nothing else amiss. He couldn’t help but frown. The feeling had been fleeting, and Yan Yunqing began to wonder if he had hallucinated.

“What’s wrong?” Merlin noticed Yan Yunqing’s strange behavior.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual around him, Yan Yunqing shook his head. “No, it’s nothing. I just suddenly felt like something was watching me.”

Merlin’s expression turned grave. “Are you sure? I didn’t sense anyone nearby. Could it be someone from the Eternal God Sect?”

Yan Yunqing opened his mini-map and once again confirmed that there were no other lifeforms nearby. However, he didn’t fully trust the mini-map, as he had been deceived by its appearances before.

“Let’s search again,” Yan Yunqing said to Merlin. “Let’s split up. You go that way, and I’ll take this side.”

Reaching a quick agreement, the two swiftly separated, searching the underground altar for any possible ‘rats.’

However, they searched the entire underground altar thoroughly, even digging three feet into the ground, but they couldn’t find a third person. It was as if Yan Yunqing’s earlier feeling was just an illusion.

Yet, the more he thought about it, the more Yan Yunqing felt that his earlier feeling was not a hallucination, or a hallucination caused by the blood pool.

There was indeed something there, gazing at him with a wet, sticky gaze. Since they couldn’t find a third person at the scene, could that gaze not belong to a human?

What could it be? A wraith?

Yan Yunqing wondered what could harbor such strong malice towards him…

During the search, he once again found many familiar magical runes written in Ancient Ermann Language. Many of the rune usages were ancient, and Yan Yunqing, who had studied at Hogwarts Academy for over half a year and had some knowledge of magical runes, immediately recognized that most of these rune usages had been lost in the millennia of inheritance.

Of course, there were also many new elements, combinations that had only been gradually researched in the last hundred years. The combination of the two gave Yan Yunqing a strange sense of familiarity…

“It’s like an alchemist who lived through a thousand years learned new knowledge and integrated it into their craft,” Merlin said, echoing Yan Yunqing’s feeling of familiarity.

Yan Yunqing’s expression was grave. He knew that Merlin had left something unsaid: this alchemist who had lived for a thousand years was very similar to the long-dead genius necromancer, Keen.

Whether it was the arrangement habits of these magic arrays, or the necromantic arrays within them, they were all like they came from Keen’s hand.

Yes, even the word “imitation” wasn’t fitting. The entire arrangement of the underground altar was exactly the same as Keen’s.

The only difference was that Keen had used more magic arrays than alchemical arrays back then.

After all, Keen was more skilled in magic.

Yan Yunqing murmured, “Keen… couldn’t he really have resurrected?”

But his soul had been devoured and burned. How could Keen have possibly resurrected?

Could any living being truly resurrect after their soul had been burned to ashes?

Was that something a human could do?

Returning to the edge of the blood pool, Yan Yunqing stared at the blood pool, lost in thought. The chat system finally sent him a long-awaited message notification.

Yan Yunqing was startled. He opened the chat panel and saw a red dot next to [Ying Yi] in his friend list.

[Ying Yi (Private)]: I promised to give you some mission information. See if you’re interested in this.

【Your friend has shared a mission with you. Do you want to view it?】

Yan Yunqing wasn’t in the mood to do any missions right now. He was about to close the chat panel and wait until he was free to reply to the captain from the official team, but [Ying Yi]’s next words stopped him in his tracks.

[Ying Yi (Private)]: This mission is also related to the mission you shared with us before. I think you should be interested.

The mission he shared with them before?

Yan Yunqing remembered. Before asking the officials to help keep an eye on Little Yuri, he did share a mission with the officials, a mission triggered by the treasure map he got from the thief Dorin.

【Treasure Buried Beneath the Yellow Sands】

A treasure map that supposedly buried the treasure of the Demon King during the God War. As the Demon King himself, Yan Yunqing naturally knew that there wouldn’t be anything too good at the final location of that treasure map. After all, he had collected all the good stuff into his backpack and the Demon King’s Palace’s warehouse.

Therefore, he had unhesitatingly shared the mission with the officials, without any regret.

And [Ying Yi] said that the newly shared mission was somewhat related to the treasure map mission, so it could only be related to the Eternal Empire.

Yan Yunqing clicked on the “View Mission” button, and a mission panel appeared before him.

【Whispers Lost in the Past】

Description: Freedom City, a city belonging to mercenaries and bounty hunters located in the southwest of the Ermann Continent. It is famous for ‘freedom,’ and many people have gone to this city that does not belong to any force for ‘freedom,’ ‘wealth,’ and so on.

You met a scholar named Arthur Grevin on the streets of Freedom City. He is preparing to go deep into the yellow sand ruins north of Freedom City for investigation. He hopes someone can assist him in completing this exploration, and he is willing to pay a high reward for it.

Mission Goal: Assist the scholar Arthur Grevin in exploring the past that was once lost in the yellow sands.

Mission Reward: …

Arthur Grevin?

Yan Yunqing’s lips twitched. If it were any other NPC, he might not recognize them, but he actually had an impression of this Arthur Grevin.

This scholar also came from Hogwarts Academy. Yan Yunqing didn’t have much interaction with him in the academy, but—Yan Yunqing knew this guy because he and his teacher were well-known Eternal History fanatics at Hogwarts Academy.

Yes, Arthur Grevin was Theresa’s student.

The dignified, book-reading, gray-haired grandma that Yan Yunqing met at the office when he returned to Hogwarts Academy after completing the assessment mission was Theresa.

This Teacher Theresa was strict, but she was particularly obsessed with the history of the Eternal Empire, or rather, the God War period. She would often take leave from the academy and run to Freedom City to live for a few months, studying the ruins left behind after the fall of the Eternal Empire.

Arthur Grevin was her student, and also the only one among her many students who was as obsessed with the history of the Eternal Empire as she was.

Yan Yunqing had also heard that this master and apprentice often ran to Freedom City to hire mercenaries to explore the ruins together, but he didn’t expect them to turn to the officials…

Yan Yunqing thought for a while and sent a message to [Ying Yi].

[Ri An (Private)]: This is just a simple escort mission. Why do you think I would be interested?

The other party replied quickly.

[Ying Yi (Private)]: I thought you would be interested in missions related to the background story. Did we misunderstand?

Yan Yunqing narrowed his eyes. [Ying Yi] used “we” to refer to himself. Based on his previous superficial understanding of [Ying Yi], the other party was clearly not a careless person. So this “we” should refer to the power behind him.

Before, under Yan Yunqing’s guidance, [Ying Yi] claimed to belong to a player guild, but both Yan Yunqing and [Ying Yi] himself knew that this so-called player guild was the official’s people.

Yan Yunqing knew that some of his anomalies must have been seen by the officials. Perhaps the other party also guessed that he knew their identity, so [Ying Yi]’s “we” was likely a friendly signal…

No, it couldn’t be considered friendly.

The meaning hidden beneath this sentence was very clear: ‘We have analyzed your behavior patterns, and this mission was shared with you based on our analysis.’

They had openly stated their purpose: to befriend him.

As for whether Yan Yunqing could understand it, or whether Yan Yunqing would accept the offer, it was up to Yan Yunqing’s reply to make a decision.

Yan Yunqing stared at the mission for a long time. Just before [Ying Yi] was about to send another message asking for an update, Yan Yunqing replied.

[Ri An (Private)]: I understand. Share the mission with me.

Yan Yunqing turned to Merlin and said, “I’m going to the Eternal Ruins.”

Merlin was stunned. “Then I…”

Yan Yunqing shook his head. “I’m going alone this time. None of you follow me.”

After hesitating for so long, he had finally made up his mind to meet Theodore.

He wanted to know if the Eternal God Sect was related to Theodore.

And what exactly did Sylvia say to Theodore back then? Why would Theodore allow the spread of the prophecy?

There were too many questions Yan Yunqing wanted to ask. However, due to his low strength, he had never made up his mind to go to the Floating Island to find out.

His current level was 86, which was considered a strong person among ordinary people. He could even go back to Hogwarts Academy to become a teacher without worrying about misleading his students.

However, this level, which was unattainable by ordinary people, was still something that could be crushed with a finger among his former followers.

Not to mention Merlin, but Divick, who was over level 160, was a whole level higher than him, and Divick’s level was far from being the strongest combat power in the Demon King’s team, Theodore.

Because of that game message about killing the king, Yan Yunqing had been hesitant to go to Theodore to find out, even though he knew that the prophecy was related to Theodore.

After all, he only had one life, and he wasn’t a real player who could resurrect after death. Even his only lock-blood cheat was given by Theodore.

Without matching strength, Yan Yunqing didn’t want to take the risk. He didn’t like gambling with other people’s soft hearts.

But now Yan Yunqing felt that he had to go to the Floating Island to ask Theodore these questions face to face.

If the Eternal God Sect was really related to Theodore, then he could at least survive. After all, Theodore couldn’t have gone to the trouble of ‘reviving’ the Demon King just to kill the Demon King again, right?

If the Eternal God Sect had nothing to do with Theodore, then Yan Yunqing would have to ask what the prophecy was all about.

——Soon, the additional 40,000 players would be logging in.