Looking at Li Changshi in front of him, Zhang Yuanqing first showed a look of astonishment, and then said with joy:
"Tianxia Guihuo?"
He didn't expect Li Changshi to be a teammate. After all, this was the imperial palace. Zhang Yuanqing instinctively thought that male teammates were on the front line battlefield or somewhere in the capital.
As for why it was Tianxia Guihuo, the reason was simple: the great eunuch was a Firesmith and directly guessed his identity. This wisdom could only belong to Tianxia Guihuo.
Li Changshi's face darkened: "Pu Gai, I'm Hongjige."
"???" Zhang Yuanqing didn't believe it: "How did you guess that I am Yuanshi Tianzun?"
Could it be that I underestimated Hongjige's IQ?
Li Changshi, no, Hongjige, raised his chin with a smug look, "As soon as you entered the dungeon, you found three women to serve you. Fu Qingyang, Moye, and Zhao Chenghuang don't get close to women, and Tianxia Guihuo doesn't covet beauty. Who else could it be but you, Yuanshi Tianzun?"
I really didn't underestimate Hongjige's IQ. The corner of Zhang Yuanqing's mouth twitched: "Those three female assassins are our teammates."
Hongjige was shocked: "Those three little bitches, no, the three assassins are teammates? But why did they assassinate you? Although I learned about the absurd things Zhao Shun did when I first entered the dungeon, and I really wanted to slap him to death, my mission is to protect Zhao Shun, and Zhao Shun is you. We are on the same side."
No wonder you had such a bad attitude towards me yesterday. With a Firesmith's personality, it's really hard for you to endure for so long. Zhang Yuanqing said:
"I guess there are two reasons: first, the identity of the fatuous emperor is special, and the difficulty is the greatest. Second, the dungeon simply increases the difficulty for me."
The two points are actually the same meaning. Precisely because he is a fatuous emperor, the difficulty level is high, so there will be assassins.
Hongjige said "Oh" with a sudden realization, and didn't delve into it further. Then he said:
"My main quest is to protect the fatuous emperor for five days, and the side quest is to assist the fatuous emperor in finding the spy. When I woke up this morning, I suddenly found that the side quest has been completed. Have you found the spy?"
"Let's talk about the dungeon plot later." Zhang Yuanqing took a sip of tea. "The mechanism of this dungeon is progressive. Each time a side quest is completed, part of the seal is unlocked. What level are you now? Has the side quest changed?"
"My strength has recovered to level 4, but it's one level away from my peak. There are two side quests: one is to protect the fatuous emperor for 72 hours, and the other is to protect the fatuous emperor for ten days. But I'll leave as soon as I complete the main quest. I feel that at the ten-day level, the difficulty has reached the Dominator level. Staying here is equivalent to courting death," Hongjige said.
Zhang Yuanqing "hissed". Hongjige is now a level 4 Saint, which means that within 72 hours, there will be a Saint-level enemy assassinating him.
And he has only recovered to the Extraordinary Realm.
A Saint killing an Extraordinary is like crushing an ant. My situation hasn't improved, but is getting more and more dangerous. According to this rhythm, when I recover my Dominator level, the enemies I encounter will probably be level eight, or even higher. Zhang Yuanqing bared his teeth.
A Dominator-level A-grade dungeon is even more difficult than the S-grade dungeons he has encountered.
At this moment, an eunuch's loud voice came from outside the palace:
"Madam Ya has arrived!"
Zhang Yuanqing and Hongjige looked at the palace gate together. The former showed a "as expected" expression. Most of the five concubines he deduced from the daily life records were correct.
The only uncertainty was Concubine De, because Concubine De didn't resist physical contact, but her indifferent attitude was consistent with her character background.
The palace gate was pushed open, and a woman wearing a plain white palace dress stepped over the threshold and walked in with a graceful gait.
She was about thirty years old, with delicate features and a cold and quiet temperament. Her black hair was arranged into an exquisite bun, adorned with gold hairpins and jade hair ornaments. Her eyes were as clear and cold as autumn water.
Madam Ya stopped in the outer hall and said softly:
"This concubine heard that Your Majesty was assassinated and is very worried, so I came to visit."
Zhang Yuanqing frowned. He sensed confusion, bewilderment, and solemnity in Madam Ya's emotions, which didn't seem like the state of mind when recognizing a teammate.
Is Madam Ya not a teammate? Is she really here to visit the emperor and found him to be alive and kicking, so her emotions are bad?
He restrained his joy and gazed at the extremely mature Madam Ya, smiling slightly:
"Beauty is kind. Ah, beauty, you don't have to go back today. Stay in my bedroom. It's been a few days since I've been intimate with you."
He didn't forget to maintain his image as a fatuous emperor.
Madam Ya stood expressionlessly in the hall, her voice faint:
"This concubine heard from the palace maids that Your Majesty received a dream from the Wenquxing Jun last night and wrote a poem. Is this true?"
"Yes," Zhang Yuanqing replied calmly.
"This concubine also has a poem here, but only half of it. I wonder if Your Majesty can complete it," Madam Ya said tentatively.
"Tell me about it!"
Madam Ya pondered for a few seconds, "Hoeing the millet under the noonday sun, sweat dripping onto the soil under the millet."
Madam Ya is really a teammate. Then what was going on with her emotions just now? Zhang Yuanqing replied in a way that better highlighted his identity, "There are too many people hoeing the millet under the sun."
Madam Ya's expression thawed in a second, and joy appeared between her eyebrows. She walked quickly into the bedroom, looked at Zhang Yuanqing sitting on the soft couch, and smiled, "It's me, Xiaoyuan."
Zhang Yuanqing also smiled: "Come quickly and let's make love!"
Hearing this, Hongjige on the side said angrily: "Guan Ya is not here, and you're already being so promiscuous?"
Among Yuanshi Tianzun's group of "ambiguous" women, Hongjige still leaned towards Guan Ya. After all, they had been teammates fighting side by side for several months.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at him: "Do you want to be thrown out?"
Hongjige shrugged: "You're the fatuous emperor. You're the boss."
With Hongjige being such a hindrance, Zhang Yuanqing and Xiaoyuan could only stop at politeness. He invited her to sit on the soft couch and seriously exchanged their respective missions.
"My side quest is to assassinate the fatuous emperor, and my main quest is to destroy the Nan Dynasty. The side quest is not completed, and my level remains at 3." Speaking of this, Xiaoyuan's expression was slightly strange, and she said:
"I always thought that our team was in the Bei Dynasty camp and that the core plot of the dungeon was to help the Bei Dynasty overthrow the decadent Nan Dynasty regime. I didn't expect you to be the fatuous emperor."
Zhang Yuanqing was startled and immediately understood why Xiaoyuan was feeling solemn. Her main quest was to destroy the Nan Dynasty, which meant that she was the Dominator of the enemy country. In this kind of death dungeon, failing the main quest meant death.
In other words, no matter who clears the dungeon in the end, the other party has to die.
Hongjige scratched his head: "That's not right. We're teammates in the same camp, so how could we be on opposite sides?"
This doesn't conform to the Spirit Realm mechanism.
Xiaoyuan frowned and said: "I suspect it's related to the profession. After all, I'm an evil profession."
Zhang Yuanqing's thoughts moved: "Moye is also an evil profession. I wonder what the situation is with Fu Qingyang. We can write a letter to inquire. This is the White Tiger Soldiers' gang dungeon. Qian Gongzi knows more than we do."
Although it doesn't conform to the Spirit Realm mechanism, the facts are already in front of them. What they can do now is to find a way to solve the problem. To take a step back, if they can't solve it, they can temporarily sacrifice Xiaoyuan and Moye, leaving behind clones and spiritual flesh for future resurrection.
Or, ask his uncle for help to help her escape the dungeon.
Of course, these are last resorts.
Thinking of this, he shook his head again: "That's not right. If it's a profession problem, then why did the three beauties want to assassinate me too?"
Jiang Jingwei and the others are not evil professions, are they?
Xiaoyuan pondered slightly and said:
"Since you are the fatuous emperor, the three beauties must still be alive. Later, you can bring them to the bedroom and ask about the situation."
She continued to talk about the information of her character. Xiaoyuan found a set of night clothes, a human skin mask, and a waist tag in Madam Ya's bedside box.
"The three items are all ordinary items, but I think the waist tag is more important than the night clothes and the human skin mask, so I carry it with me." Xiaoyuan took out a palm-sized bronze tag from her bosom. The tag was engraved with a Taiji fish.
Zhang Yuanqing took the bronze tag and looked at it. "It should be a quest item. Sigh, Xiaoyuan's main quest is to destroy the Nan Dynasty. She is very likely from the Bei Dynasty. I understand. She was sent by the Bei Dynasty to infiltrate the imperial palace as a hidden pawn who hasn't been exposed."
Hongjige was overjoyed: "In that case, we can use her to ambush the Bei Dynasty in reverse and give false information. Haha, we've made a fortune."
Alas, having one of our own people become an enemy spy is theoretically a big win, but Xiaoyuan's side quest is to assassinate the emperor. If the quest cannot be completed, her strength will be sealed all the time. We are equal to losing a Dominator-level Witch Gu Master. Zhang Yuanqing wasn't as optimistic as Hongjige.
It's hard to say whether it's a gain or a loss.
"You were the one who saved them last night, right?" Zhang Yuanqing looked at Madam Ya's beautiful face.
Xiaoyuan nodded and told the story of yesterday in detail. She refused to meet the emperor under the pretext of physical discomfort because she was worried that she wouldn't be able to play Madam Ya well and would be discovered.
Furthermore, the fatuous emperor was lustful, and she was a concubine, so it was difficult to resist his possible indecent behavior. There was also no opportunity to assassinate him during the day.
So she chose not to meet him.
After nightfall, she originally wanted to sneak into the bedroom to see if there was a chance to assassinate the emperor, but she found that the three beauties also wanted to assassinate him.
Based on the fact that everyone had the same mission, she suspected that the three beauties might be teammates, so she rescued them.
So far, Madam Ya's plot line has been roughly sorted out.
Zhang Yuanqing said: "I'll go get the three beauties out first. There should be people from the Zheng family in the Imperial City Division. We need to be careful in our actions and not be seen. Let me think Xiaoyuan, you stay in the bedroom. Hongjige, go get three sets of palace maid costumes and bring them to the artificial rock forest by the lake."
He whispered a few words to his two teammates and then said loudly:
"I want to make love with Madam Ya. All of you, retreat!"
The palace maids and eunuchs in the outer hall responded, lowered their heads, and left one after another.
Hongjige, with gray hair at his temples, walked to the outer hall, lowered the gauze curtain to separate the bedroom from the outer hall, and then pushed open the door of the bedroom and left with the palace maids and eunuchs.
Zhang Yuanqing, who entered the Night Wanderer state, quietly followed behind Hongjige and left the bedroom. Without saying a word, he rushed to the artificial lake outside the palace.
Wan Meiren had told him the "suppression" location of Jiang Jingwei and the other two. After the assassination incident last night, the Imperial City Division began a vigorous blockade and search this morning.
Therefore, she chose to suppress the three beauties at the bottom of the lake to hide them from the Imperial City Division's search.
He easily concealed himself from the Imperial City Division's guards stationed at the various intersections and in front of the halls, concealed himself from the palace maids and eunuchs who came and went, successfully arrived at the lakeside, and carefully stepped into the lake.
If someone were to look at the artificial lake at this time, they would find suspicious ripples on the shore.
After diving into the lake, Zhang Yuanqing immediately opened the item bar, took out the Yin-Yang Dharma Robe and put it on, gaining the ability to control water. He quickly dived towards the bottom of the lake.
After about half a minute, he arrived at the "suppression" location and saw three beauties of different ages floating in the water, their hands and feet entangled with chains, chains made of condensed water.
They were suspended at the bottom of the lake like balloons, with a blood-colored talisman painted on each person's forehead.
Wang Geji and Wan Meiren were unconscious, while Chu Meiren was listless and lethargic, occasionally pulling on the "chains" on her wrists with irritability.
This should be the "Water Aversion Talisman" that the death warrior Wan Meiren mentioned, and the reason why the three beauties were listless was that they had been implanted with germs in their bodies and were suffering from a serious illness, which made them so weak.
This was to prevent them from making too much noise underwater and being discovered by the Imperial City Division's guards.
"Gurgle gurgle"
When Chu Meiren saw the fatuous emperor diving over, she was shocked and opened her mouth to scold him, her voice turning into gurgling bubbles.
Zhang Yuanqing pointed to the robe on his body.
Chu Meiren remained unmoved and continued to gurgle.
"Brainless Jingwei," Zhang Yuanqing cursed in his heart, raised his hand and wiped his face, casting an illusion to transform into the appearance of Yuanshi Tianzun.
The dungeon no longer restricted them from sharing their identities with each other.
Chu Meiren was stunned and then overjoyed, gurgling even more fiercely.
Zhang Yuanqing raised his index finger to his lips, signaling her to be quiet, and then used his water control ability to break the chains that weren't very strong. He hugged Wang Geji himself and threw Wan Meiren to Jiang Jingwei. The four of them quickly floated upward.
On a certain surface of the river covered with withered yellow lotus leaves, Jiang Jingwei and Zhang Yuanqing poked their heads out, looking around at the shore and the distance suspiciously.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to this side, the two of them buried their heads again. A few seconds later, they emerged from the shore, each carrying a person on their back, and entered the rock forest on the shore.
"Assassinate me, assassinate me, assassinate me"
In the rock forest, Zhang Yuanqing raised his palm and slapped Jiang Jingwei's head again and again.
Chu Meiren, who was fourteen or fifteen years old, flailed her hands and fought back unwillingly, but she was afflicted with illness and her resistance was weak and feeble.
After Zhang Yuanqing finished teaching her a lesson, he poked Jiang Jingwei to the ground with one finger and said angrily:
"Tell me your character information."
(End of this chapter)