[T/N: 🎊 HAPPY NEW YEAR chaps! 🎊 May this year be Healthy and Productive for you! Enjoy~]
"Outlaws! Godless land! Gambler time!" Jiang Kai instantly activated his talent, and dozens of Chasing Death shot out.
The five members of the Eastern family were not to be underestimated either. Seeing the throwing knives in Jiang Kai's hand shooting toward them like a rain of swords, they all defended and dodged.
"True energy shield!"
"Dragon scale escape!"
"Mirage Nine Palace Idle Court!"
Jiang Kai immediately controlled Chasing Death and fiercely attacked the five of them.
During the attack, Jiang Kai kept using Chasing Death to compress the space the five could move in, forcing them to gather into one area.
"Long defense will lose, attack quickly!" Dongfang Ming gave a low shout.
At that moment, Jiang Kai activated the Earth God Order.
"Tempering Fire Earth Impact!"
The Earth God Order shot out from in front of Jiang Kai and went straight into the ground beneath the five.
While the five were guarding against the ground under their feet, suddenly the ground rapidly collapsed, and from the depths erupted pillars of earth and fire that blasted the five into the air.
After Jiang Kai tempered the Earth God Order, the earth eruption carried terrifying fire elements. Its special effect shifted from a pure earth element attack to one with added fire attacks.
Right now, the five members of the Eastern family were like they were standing at a volcano's mouth, roasted madly by countless fire pillars.
Their true energy shields could not last long under such intense flames, quickly shattering.
Dongfang Ming had fought Jiang Kai before, and most of his attention had been on Jiang Kai's Demon Slaying Sword. But who would have thought Jiang Kai actually had such a powerful method.
Dongfang Hao struggled to resist the surrounding fire assaults, his eyes fixed on Jiang Kai. "What is this special effect, this is insane… this guy's strongest power isn't his sword?!"
Moments later, the two Eastern family members who were previously injured were directly turned into glowing light spots and faded away inside the fire pillars.
Dongfang Ming, Dongfang Hao, and Dongfang Chen relied on their armor's special effects and had not yet been burned to death by the flames.
But Jiang Kai's next wave of attacks had already arrived.
"Yama Order! Wrath of the Main God!"
Dongfang Ming watched helplessly as the black card kept drilling against his chest armor. In just an instant, the Yama Order bored a large hole in his armor, then shot straight through his chest.
Dongfang Hao and Dongfang Chen saw Dongfang Ming gravely wounded, their eyes going blood red.
Maybe it was Dongfang Ming's tragic state that triggered their survival instinct. The two actually seized a chance and broke free from the range of the Earth Impact.
"Kill him!" Dongfang Hao roared. "Sea Sky Sword Art Sky Rending Sword!"
Dongfang Chen followed right after, using the same skill. The two simultaneously launched a lethal strike toward Jiang Kai.
Facing their combined attack, Jiang Kai neither dodged nor avoided. He raised his sword and went straight up to meet them.
"Delusional fool! Nine Heavens Immortal Execution Sword Vast Heaven Demon Slaying Sword!"
Jiang Kai's Demon Slaying Sword shot straight ahead.
A fire dragon instantly swallowed Dongfang Hao and Dongfang Chen.
Moments later, the battlefield finally returned to calm.
Jiang Kai looked at his armor full of holes. That previous combined strike from Dongfang Hao and Dongfang Chen was terrifyingly strong.
Thankfully, the Rebirth Armor's Song of Life helped him block that lethal blow.
But after Song of Life was activated, the Rebirth Armor was severely damaged and temporarily lost its resistance to life corrosion.
Under the life corrosion effect, Jiang Kai would not last long either.
Sun Yuan, Liu Xuefei, Wang Zhong, and Ye Qingwu had all died in battle.
When they came here, everyone had joked around with each other, talking and laughing, and in a blink, they had all fallen in battle.
If the Eastern family had not suddenly rushed in, they could have left here alive.
While Jiang Kai was grieving over his fallen companions, he suddenly froze.
He suddenly noticed that the stone platforms were glowing faintly at some unknown moment.
In the center of those lights, he could vaguely see nine familiar figures.
Sun Yuan's group of four, Dongfang Ming's group of five… they were standing on the nine stone platforms in a form similar to spirits.
"This…"
Jiang Kai thought of something at the same time.
He had killed the five of the Eastern family in the wild, yet he did not gain sin value, nor did he receive any notice of plundered experience.
Could it be that the five of the Eastern family had not actually died?
Just then, the statue covered in plants slowly opened its eyes.
When Jiang Kai saw the statue's eyes, the ground beneath his feet suddenly collapsed rapidly.
Right after, Jiang Kai, together with the statue and the entire area where the stone platforms stood, fell straight underground.
In the blink of an eye, Jiang Kai heard a loud boom, and the ground beneath him seemed to hit bottom. The fall stopped.
At this moment, he heard the system's voice in his ear.
[You have entered the Ruins of the God of Life!]
Jiang Kai's eyes widened. He entered?
Now he could no longer feel the life corrosion effect.
[The end of life is death, and from death comes new life. Life and death, a cycle without end.]
[Congratulations to China's Jiang Kai for becoming the first in the world to discover the Ruins of the God of Life. You will receive a privilege reward.]
[The Ruins of the God of Life have been discovered. The Tower of Life will appear in the main cities of every nation!]
[Three god ruins have been discovered globally, and a key piece of information is obtained.]
[Ghost Star will enter its new stage, the Transcendent Stage, in 113 days!]
[After the new stage begins, any player who dies will enter a soul state. In this state, the player will continuously lose experience and attributes, soul transaction points, special attack strength, and other stats.]
[Only by using a Rebirth Emblem can a player log off after death. Tier 1 professions use Tier 1 Rebirth Emblems, Tier 2 professions use Tier 2, and so on. The first death requires one emblem, the second requires two, and so on.]
[Rebirth Emblem drop sources: 1. Dropped from the Tower of Life, centered on the main cities of each country. 2. In the unknown region, within 150 thousand kilometers, lord level or above beasts have a small chance to drop them. 3. When nine players' souls are completely wiped out, an emblem corresponding to their profession level will form.]
[Once a player's soul is completely wiped out, they can never enter Ghost Star again.]
This system announcement, as usual, was broadcast to all players worldwide.
When people received this message, everyone was shocked.
"Ghost Star's new stage? Does that mean from now on, to log off after death you must have a Rebirth Emblem, otherwise you'll just wander Ghost Star as a ghost, and keep losing stats?"
"Damn, Ghost Star was already full of danger. Now the difficulty increased again! If you die and don't revive in time, won't all your stats be gone?"
In the War God Hall of China, Hua Tianchen and the others received the system message as well.
Many war gods immediately came to ask about it.
"Hua God, this is trouble. Without Rebirth Emblems, no one will dare to go into the wild anymore!"
"The Tower of Life has appeared! It's right next to the Endless Abyss! But we can't enter it yet, the message said it'll only open in 113 days!"
"So right now, the only method to get Rebirth Emblems is to go into unknown regions and kill lord or above beasts, with a small chance to get one!"
Hua Tianchen checked the record on his wristwatch. The entire system message had been fully recorded.
"That kid Jiang Kai again…"
Luo Ping rushed over as well. "Hua God, that kid Jiang Kai has done another great deed!"
Hua Tianchen nodded. "He really has. If he hadn't discovered the Tower of Life ruins early, I'm afraid after 113 days, not only would we have failed to activate the Tower of Life, we would have entered Ghost Star's Transcendent Stage completely unprepared."
Luo Ping nodded. "To think discovering three god ruins gives a key piece of information… so that means we must work hard to find more god ruins."
"But where did that kid even find the Ruins of the God of Life?"
Hua Tianchen sighed. "We'll know when he comes back. But Ghost Star's difficulty increasing is definitely not good news."
"According to the rules of the Transcendent Stage, the number of Rebirth Emblems we'll need is unimaginable, but known ways to obtain them are extremely limited, and the Tower of Life isn't open…"
Luo Ping nodded. "Yes, without Rebirth Emblems, we can only wait for death… we need to research this carefully."
"Right, didn't Jiang Kai receive a special privilege? I'm curious what it is."
Hua Tianchen stood up. "We'll know when he returns… Luo God, let's first go take a look at the Tower of Life."
Since the Endless Abyss appeared, people had always been lining up to challenge it.
These people now had the chance to witness a giant tower rise from the ground.
Luo Ping looked up at the massive tower that had appeared out of thin air. The tower shot straight into the clouds, with countless floors that could not be clearly seen.
Massive vines curled all around the tower, making it extremely grand.
In front of the Tower of Life stood two huge stone tablets. Their size matched the Heavenly Ranking and Dragon Ranking tablets near the abyss, except the tops of these two tablets were carved, one with a lifelike phoenix and the other with clouds.
"The Tower of Life's Heavenly Ranking and Sparrow Ranking…" Luo Ping frowned. "If I'm guessing right, the Tower of Life also has global and national rankings."
Hua Tianchen nodded. He had the same thought.
Many people had already tried to enter the Tower of Life, but the result was always the same. The tower's doors were still shut tight. No one could enter.
They had to wait until Ghost Star entered the Transcendent Stage before the tower would open.
"This is a headache. After the Transcendent Stage opens, developing Ghost Star will become far more difficult."
While the two were talking, lights flickered on the Sparrow Ranking. After a short moment, they formed two characters.
"Jiang Kai"!
Jiang Kai's name appeared on the Sparrow Ranking, in first place.
There was no score behind his name, but it showed the reward for his ranking.
[Current ranking: each week, receive one Tier 5 Rebirth Emblem.]
Seeing this, Hua Tianchen frowned. "How did that kid get on the ranking?"
Luo Ping thought for a moment, then suddenly understood. "I get it! This is the special privilege that kid received!"
...
Jiang Kai was still inside the Ruins of the God of Life.
The system prompts were not finished yet.
[As the first player to discover the Ruins of the God of Life, you will be placed on the China Sparrow Ranking early and will regularly receive ranking rewards until another player surpasses your ranking.]
Just as Jiang Kai was wondering, he received another system message.
[You are ranked first on the Tower of Life's China Sparrow Ranking. Based on your performance, you are given the lowest reward: one Tier 5 Rebirth Emblem per week.]
Jiang Kai frowned. This reward was a bit lousy.
Actually, Jiang Kai never needed Rebirth Emblems much. Until now, he had been on Ghost Star for over a year and had never died.
As a gambler, the cost of dying once was huge. He hoped he would never need a Rebirth Emblem.
Also, receiving only one emblem per week was too little.
"This is the special reward? I'd rather be allowed to enter the tower early!" Jiang Kai muttered.
Anyway, he had finally found the Ruins of the God of Life.
Once the system messages ended, he immediately searched the area.
After searching around, he didn't see any Flower of Life… as he was wondering, his eyes fell on the statue.
Aside from the statue's eyes being open, nothing else had changed.
But at some unknown moment, three or four small pink flowers had bloomed on the plants wrapped around the statue.
Jiang Kai immediately used an Identification Card.
[Flower of Life… cannot identify the attributes of living things.]
"It's the Flower of Life!" Jiang Kai hurried to the statue.
Thinking about it, he decided not to climb onto the statue. These god statues were all strange. If he triggered something again, it would be troublesome.
With that in mind, Jiang Kai used the Light God Order. After flying out, it sliced off the stems of the four pink flowers, letting him collect the Flowers of Life.
Shortly after the Ruins of the God of Life were activated, the lights around the nine stone platforms dimmed.
Then, the vines began to move as if alive, growing rapidly, wrapping the statue of the God of Life completely. In no time, the statue mysteriously vanished.
At the same time, the ground beneath Jiang Kai rose again, sending him back to the surface.
But the faint figures on the stone platforms had already disappeared along with the fading light.
"They must have died and logged off…" Jiang Kai guessed. "Since the Transcendent Stage begins in 113 days, my senior brothers shouldn't be affected."
Even so, Jiang Kai still planned to hand the Flowers of Life to Liu God and return quickly to confirm.
Back on the surface, Jiang Kai noticed that the life corrosion did not return. It seemed to have disappeared together with the ruins.
Those giant beasts in the distance collapsed one after another, likely completely dead.
The Corrosion Island was finally normal again.
Looking at the nine dim stone platforms on the ground, Jiang Kai let out a sigh.
The stone tablet said nine return to one, life traded for life. Turns out it meant sacrificing nine people in exchange for a chance to enter the Ruins of the God of Life.
Once someone entered Corrosion Island, they were almost guaranteed to become half-dead. Even with gear that resisted life corrosion, crossing through areas filled with beasts meant almost certain death.
And even if you found the statue, you still needed nine sacrifices to activate the ruin mechanism.
Liu God had told him to bring a few helpers. It seemed the point wasn't for them to help him, but for them to serve as the key to enter the ruins.
"God ruins really are harder to find each time." Jiang Kai shook his head. "If the Eastern family hadn't chased after me, I wouldn't have been able to enter!"
He wondered what Dongfang Canghai would think if he knew about this…
The Flowers of Life only survive for two days. Jiang Kai couldn't waste time. He headed back toward the Mist Maze Region.
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