A golden halo rippled faintly in mid-air. Touching it should allow direct entry into the so-called "dungeon."
"First—Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Technique!"
Tang Zheng's gaze was solemn as he activated the Ninja's Class Skill first.
Shadows writhed.
A figure identical to Tang Zheng emerged from his shadow, standing to the side.
For this initial experiment, Tang Zheng did not integrate a Frogman Egg into the Shadow Clone. Instead, he released the skill normally.
Swish!
The Shadow Clone paused briefly in place before darting forward the next moment. Upon touching the golden halo suspended in mid-air.
The golden light flashed.
The Shadow Clone vanished instantly!
Tang Zheng's expression changed as he realized he had completely lost connection with the Shadow Clone.
"Completely cut off?"
Tang Zheng's expression was filled with surprise. "So, is the dungeon an independent alternate dimension, or is it an effect inherent to the World-Class Item itself?"
He couldn't be sure.
However, a Shadow Clone normally only lasts for 10 minutes, with a cooldown of one hour. All he needed to do now was wait.
In the blink of an eye.
An hour passed.
The golden halo in the sky had already dimmed, appearing as though it would disappear at any moment. Tang Zheng raised his hand and cast Buddha Light Wave.
The golden halo lit up again!
Seeing this, Tang Zheng pondered for a moment before activating his skill once more.
"Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Technique!"
Tang Zheng flipped his hand, taking out the Frogman Egg soaked in Integration Potion and integrating it into the Shadow Clone.
Swish!
The Shadow Clone entered the golden halo and disappeared.
The situation remained one of complete isolation.
Tang Zheng stood still, waiting. Soon, another hour passed. He suddenly opened his eyes and activated his skill again: "Ninjutsu: Shadow Clone Technique."
His black shadow, reflected on the ground, writhed!
A figure of Tang Zheng appeared before him once more.
"Was it eliminated?"
Tang Zheng's eyes narrowed at this result.
The Shadow Clone integrated with the Frogman Egg could last longer, and the Shadow Clone Technique had succeeded again.
This could only mean that the Shadow Clone that entered the dungeon had been eliminated!
It was important to remember that the Shadow Clone inherited his Mana and Agility stats completely, yet it couldn't even last an hour!
This gave Tang Zheng a relatively clear understanding of the dungeon's danger level.
He swung his arm.
The Shadow Clone beside him dissipated.
The current experimental results were the limit; there was no need for further experiments.
"It's about time to prepare."
Tang Zheng thought to himself, then let out a low command: "Flesh Armament!"
Whoosh!
Pale red energy spewed from the pores of his entire body. This energy then instantly condensed into a fiery red armor, enveloping Tang Zheng's entire being.
[HP: 1012/1125 · MP: 725/918]
Activating Flesh Armament consumed 10% of his HP.
Tang Zheng lightly stepped on the ground, his figure leaping up abruptly. He raised his palm and swung it downwards.
Boom!
A massive, gigantic red shadow crashed onto the hills below, emitting a muffled thud. It was the long-dead corpse of the Sun Angler.
Its enormous body, over 50 meters long, emitted a faint red glow under the sunlight. The air temperature seemed to rise by several degrees at that moment.
With a "bang," Tang Zheng landed again in mid-air, stepping onto the hard surface of its red scales. At the same time, he placed his hands on the scales and whispered, "Bountiful Blessing!"
Hum—
The crimson Flesh Armament's surface began to show faint Rune Script.
In an instant!
Centering on the palms of Tang Zheng's hands, the entire Sun Angler corpse started to tremble. The fiery red covering its body, its hard scales, and even the bones within the corpse all began to gradually transform into flowing red matter, surging madly into the "Flesh Armament"!
The surface of the crimson armor became increasingly solid and dense, the patterns of its scales grew clearer and sturdier, and its entire body even gained an indescribable metallic texture.
...
Skill: Rune·Flesh Armament
Level: Legacy-Grade (51~60)
Durability: 928
Physical Defense: 425+355 (780/780)
Magic Defense: 503+277 (780/780)
Skills:
— Shadow Assault (5/day)
— Ice Resistance (20%)
— Scorching Sonic Wave: Releases a range-wide "fire + sonic wave" combined attack centered on the user, with a range of 100 meters (5/day)
— "Empty"
— "Empty"
Effect: Bountiful Blessing
Description: An unexpected product strengthened through "Rune Technology" and "Degraded Flesh Armament."
...
In a moment.
"Rune·Flesh Armament" stopped absorbing.
All the scales on the Sun Angler's surface had disappeared, with only a large portion of the bones within the corpse remaining unabsorbed.
"It's reached its limit."
"After breaking through level 61, although I had to downgrade the [Sword Saint] class again, the Flesh Armament's level reached the 'Legacy-Grade' tier."
Tang Zheng was also surprised that the Sun Angler's corpse couldn't be fully absorbed in one go. Looking at the changes in the stats, he understood:
"The limit for both Physical Defense and Magic Defense is 780, which is the normal level multiplied by 13."
"Even though I'm currently level 60, the stat bonuses from various high-tier jobs mean that even if the Flesh Armament only had half its stats, it would be close to the 780 cap."
"So the overall increase in absorbed stats isn't that high."
Tang Zheng stood up again, placing the Sun Angler, which now only had its crimson skin surface with all scales removed, back into his Item Box.
"Next, I need to prepare scrolls."
Tang Zheng wanted to be as prepared as possible for the battles in the dungeon.
Unfortunately.
The resources he had were limited, and not much could help him.
"Scrolls are mostly used for support, so I need to prepare healing scrolls first."
Once Tang Zheng decided this, he didn't hesitate, softly chanting to cast magic:
"Sixth Tier Magic·Papermaking!"
With a flash of mana, 75 sheets of sixth-tier paper appeared before him. He intended to craft Greater Heal magic scrolls, which could restore 100 HP.
Casting the sixth-tier Papermaking four times could produce 300 sheets of sixth-tier paper. Each scroll consumed 20 sheets, meaning he could craft 15 sixth-tier scrolls.
During this process, he also activated the second-tier "Mana Accumulation" and "Scroll Production" to cooperate.
The 4th to 6th tier "Scroll Production" requires an additional 10 Mana.
Crafting 15 sixth-tier scrolls would cost a total of 225!
— Lower Wind Moon.
June 22nd.
[Experience Bar: 53.00M → 48.50M / 1.88M]
[HP: 1125/1125 · MP: 918/918]
"Sixth Tier·Greater Heal" Scroll x100
"Tenth Tier·Heating" Scroll x20
"Tenth Tier·Final War (Good)" x3
Tang Zheng spent nearly two days to complete all his preparations. Besides healing magic scrolls, he used up 23 stored tenth-tier scrolls.
Among the tenth-tier magic he currently mastered, only two were offensive: "Heating" and "Final War (Good)".
However.
"Final War (Good)" could only be used three times a day, and each activation consumed 1.5 million experience points.
Tang Zheng could only store three additional uses. Of course, he hadn't used the "Mad Meditation" class skill today, meaning he could still use it three more times.
Woosh!
The crimson Flesh Armament armor made a slight friction sound.
Tang Zheng stood up, twisted his neck, took a deep breath, and gazed intently at the golden ring of light ahead.
Everything that needed to be prepared was ready.
Further arrangements would be largely meaningless. The only pity was that he hadn't mastered many enhancement-type magic.
"Hope my luck isn't too bad."
Tang Zheng suddenly chuckled and stomped his foot on the ground.
Bang!
The red figure shot out abruptly, making contact with the golden ring of light.
With a "swish."
Tang Zheng's figure instantly vanished.
...
Blinding golden light filled his vision.
Tang Zheng felt his entire body was light and without any point of support, only hearing a faint, sacred, low chant like a Buddhist hymn by his ears.
"All phenomena are illusory."
"When you see that form is not form, you see the Tathagata!"
As the word "Tathagata" reached his ears, The golden light in his vision instantly faded. He found himself in a vast hall with pure white, untainted stone floors. On the wall in front of him, made of rock, Were paintings and carvings decorated with white jade lotus pedestals and gilded pagodas.
"Is this the dungeon?"
The moment his vision cleared, Tang Zheng immediately became alert and observed his surroundings.
He was currently in the most central area. Beneath his feet was a lotus-shaped pattern, and a soft, gilded light emanated from above, preventing the environment from appearing dim.
The white floor and the golden light from above complemented each other, imbuing the entire environment with a sacred Buddhist nature and majesty.
This made Tang Zheng, standing in the center of the hall, feel an inexplicable sense of insignificance.
Empty!
This was Tang Zheng's first impression. Looking ahead, a stone wall emitting golden Buddha light stood tall.
The most conspicuous element wasn't the stone wall itself!
But rather, on either side of the stone wall, stood two colorful stone statues, about 5m tall, with robust and mighty figures.
Despite having no signs of life.
The moment Tang Zheng saw these two colorful stone statues, he felt an indescribable sense of deterrence.
When he clearly saw the faces of these two statues, Tang Zheng's pupils dilated slightly, and a strange sense of familiarity washed over him.
The colorful stone statue on the left was entirely green, with an angry, green face. It wore armor in a Chinese style and held a treasure sword.
The colorful stone statue on the right was entirely red, with a stern, red facial expression. It also wore armor in a similar style, with a snake coiled around its shoulder.
"No way?"
Tang Zheng looked at the two giant stone statues in front of him and exclaimed in astonishment, "Aren't these Growth Heavenly King and Broad-Eyed Heavenly King from the Four Heavenly Kings?"
The overly Chinese style.
Gave Tang Zheng, who had been in this Different World for a year, a sense of familiarity.
"The Broad-Eyed Heavenly King is holding a snake, not a purple-gold flower fox sable. Then it must be the Buddhist Four Heavenly Kings."
Tang Zheng's gaze fell upon the statue of the Broad-Eyed Heavenly King as he observed, confirming his guess.
The "Four Heavenly Kings" also had different styles.
The Buddhist Four Heavenly Kings were very similar to the Heavenly Court's Four Heavenly Kings, making it difficult for Tang Zheng to distinguish them precisely. However, he could differentiate them by the creatures they held.
"Besides these two conspicuous statues, are there no monsters to fight in a normal dungeon?"
After confirming that the two statues showed no movement, Tang Zheng shifted his gaze to the surroundings, finding nothing.
Wait?
Tang Zheng's gaze sharpened. He spotted a white, reflective object on the ground in the distance and moved his feet, heading in that direction.
His steps were steady and slow.
As Tang Zheng moved, he continued to observe his surroundings. He reached the location of the reflective object. The entire great hall remained empty, eerily quiet.
The white, reflective object was fully revealed before his eyes.
It was a collection of white skeletons!
There were at least 30 complete ones, though most were severely broken. The ground was covered in a layer of white bone fragments.
There was no flesh, not even remnants of clothing or weapons. The skeletons were of human form.
Looking at these skeletons and the shattered bones with gnaw marks.
Tang Zheng fell silent for a moment, re-examining the vast hall. "No exit, no food. These people must have starved to death."
...The air returned to calm.
"Two Worlds Mandala is a term from Esoteric Buddhism, a diagram showing the arrangement of deities centered around 'Vairocana Buddha,' divided into the Vajradhatu Mandala and the Garbhadhatu Mandala."
Tang Zheng looked again at two of the prominent, towering stone statues of the Four Heavenly Kings.
"There are only two Four Heavenly King statues here. If this isn't the only space, then the other two statues must be in another space."
"Then the situation isn't complicated. Players need to fight the Four Heavenly King statues, so... if you don't defeat them, you'll likely be stuck here forever."
"Heh, this is just like a World-Class Item. It's a bit like the [Mountain and River State Diagram]."
A cold, faint laugh escaped Tang Zheng. He looked at the two statues in the distance, his eyes growing more solemn.
"The trigger method is probably to attack."
Tang Zheng moved his feet, retreating towards the back edge of the hall while raising his palm forward. He faced the motionless statues and chanted:
"Seventh Tier Magic: Chain Thunder Dragon!"
Boom!
Astonishing blue dragon-shaped lightning rapidly gathered on Tang Zheng's arms and surged into the air simultaneously.
The blue lightning instantly pierced the air in front of him, striking the top of the Growth Heavenly King's head. At the same time, the area-of-effect attack landed on the Broad-Eyed Heavenly King beside it.
Bang!
The lightning exploded on the two Heavenly King statues, emitting a dull thud.
Crack, crack... crack!
Dense cracks suddenly appeared on the two colorful statues, and then they rapidly fell like debris. The once lifeless statues had, at this moment, truly come alive!
Boom! Boom!
The ground shook simultaneously.
The two colorful statues fiercely straightened their bodies, their powerful auras washing over him.
In Tang Zheng's vision, semi-illusory information and a long health bar appeared above the heads of the two Heavenly Kings.
Growth Heavenly King (Lv 85) -90% Physical Damage
Broad-Eyed Heavenly King (Lv 85) -90% Physical Damage
A pair of cold gazes swept over him in unison.
Tang Zheng looked at the information above the two Heavenly Kings' heads and gulped. "Damn it!"
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