Chapter 501: Tiger Tally?

Obtain this instance dungeon’s highest authority. Highest authority includes, but is not limited to: Complete both factions’ quests, or disrupt both factions’ quests, or kill off every participant from one of the factions, or kill off every participant from both factions. Complete one of the above conditions and you will have completed the quest.

Chen Xiaolian looked over the prompt he received from Zero City’s main system when he first arrived into this instance dungeon. He entered a state of contemplation.

Kill off every participant from one of the factions. This condition was the first to be rejected by Chen Xiaolian.

The two factions in this instance dungeon were none other than the Player faction and the Awakened faction.

Chen Xiaolian would never choose to kill off either faction.

The Awakened faction consisted of his own companions. Lun Tai and Bei Tai were his future companions. How could Chen Xiaolian bring himself to kill them?

As for the Player faction… … Chen Xiaolian did not mind fighting against those fellows from Windslasher Guild.

However, there was an issue. Miao Yan was also a member of the Player faction.

Kill Miao Yan? What a joke!

Let’s not even go into whether or not he could willingly fight her. He might not even be able to defeat her.

If so, there was only one other way.

Complete both factions’ quests, or disrupt both factions’ quests.

After carefully considering these two options, he managed to form some ideas about how to go about it.

Firstly, completing both factions’ quests was quite difficult.

The Awakened faction’s quest was something known to Chen Xiaolian: Kill the guardians and stop Qin Shihuang’s resurrection – Chen Xiaolian had experienced it before.

That led to another question. Who is the guardian?

Bai Qi!

Would killing Bai Qi be easy?

Ahh, today’s weather sure feels… ha… ha… ha…

Let’s put it this way. Ever since Chen Xiaolian was sucked into this game world, he had gone through the following instance dungeons: A secluded island’s underground palace instance dungeon, Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon, Tokyo instance dungeon, London instance dungeon, punishment instance dungeon, Jerusalem instance dungeon.

Considering the number of instance dungeons he had been through, he could be considered a bona fide veteran by now.

Yet, in all the instance dungeons that Chen Xiaolian participated in, among all the in-game bosses he encountered, the most powerful, most brutal, most difficult setting was unquestionably the one he encountered in Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

It was still the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

In the Tokyo instance dungeon, his team encountered Tian Lie and had to face a brutal battle.

In the London instance dungeon, he encountered the mysterious Jack the Ripper. Later on, he participated in the war, which led to the establishment of the Norman Dynasty. It was a war filled with deaths and tragedy.

In the punishment instance dungeon, he encountered the colossal dragon. Back then, even when his team was together with Phoenix and the others, they were still at a disadvantage.

In the Jerusalem instance dungeon, he encountered Shen, whose powers and limits were an enigma. He also encountered a guild of holy psycho knights based in Jerusalem and Qiao Qiao was unfortunately killed…

However, among all the instance dungeons that Chen Xiaolian had participated in, the most powerful in-game BOSS with the highest difficulty setting was still Bai Qi.

The God of Slaughter, Bai Qi.

He recalled his experience in the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon.

The Guild Leader of Windslasher Guild, Da Vinci was able to summon the Grim Reaper and merge with it to become the Grim Reaper itself. Add that to their guild’s unique spell array, his power was temporarily boosted.

According to Miao Yan, Da Vinci, who had become the Grim Reaper incarnate, possessed a power beyond [A] class. It was likely to be somewhere at [A+] class.

However, Bai Qi, the guardian came out and swept the floor with that powerful Da Vinci.

They had no opportunity to fight back at all. Facing Bai Qi, everyone from Windslasher Guild was exterminated. All of them died tragic deaths.

Next, Miao Yan stepped forward to battle Bai Qi.

There was no need to describe Miao Yan’s strength. As a high-ranking Player with her own Exclusive Account, her strength was most certainly that of the pinnacle.

In that battle, Miao Yan used every single skill and trick she possessed. Even her ultimate flying sword skill was unleashed in that battle.

The result?

She had to fight with everything she had just to barely hold on for a moment. Her whole body was bruised and stained with her own blood. She was miserably beaten up by Bai Qi.

According to Miao Yan, Bai Qi, who was acting as the guardian, displayed a power that was at least [S] class.

What did it mean to be at [S] class?

Let’s make a comparison. Skyblade, who was a member of Blade Mountain Flame Sea Guild, was an [S] class expert and one of the leading figures of Zero City.

Back in the competition arena during Blood Verdict, Chen Xiaolian was granted Skyblade’s power. There, he experienced for himself the combat power possessed by an [S] class. An [A] class opponent was directly crushed under that power.

One could only imagine how terrifying the power of [S] class could be.

What was Chen Xiaolian’s current level?

By his own estimate, after he had comprehended part of the power imparted to him by Skyblade, he could now unleash Skyblade’s power, the golden sword beams, a few times. He believed that those attacks were of the [S] class.

However, that power could not last long. They could only last for an instant.

Thus, at the end of the day, Chen Xiaolian concluded that his present comprehensive power rested at around [A] class.

Yet… an [A] class going against an [S] class…

Chen Xiaolian recalled the miserable endings of his opponents in Blood Verdict…

If so, trying to kill the Bai Qi standing guard in Epang Palace…

Chen Xiaolian had no delusions of him being that extraordinary.

Mm, the present him also possessed a War Soul Bai Qi within his pet system.

However, this Bai Qi in his possession was hardly the same as the guardian Bai Qi from this Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang.

Back when Chen Xiaolian obtained this War Soul Bai Qi, the system had clearly notified him that this Bai Qi was only at [A] class.

Clearly, the Bai Qi that Chen Xiaolian obtained had been weakened.

If he were to assume that the guardian Bai Qi was Bai Qi at his prime, then Chen Xiaolian’s War Soul Bai Qi was a weakened Bai Qi.

Relying on his weakened Bai Qi to go against the guardian Bai Qi…

After going through several instance dungeons, his War Soul Bai Qi had absorbed a great deal of life force and undead force, allowing him to increase his strength considerably.

Even so, he had yet to attain the same level of strength as the guardian.

Given his current position, if Chen Xiaolian were to encounter an [A] class opponent, he was confident that his many moves, inclusive of War Soul Bai Qi and the Goddess of Dawn skill, could defeat that opponent.

If he was to encounter an [A+] class opponent, he believed that he still held a 30 to 50 per cent chance of winning. Even if he failed to defeat them, he would still be able to fight them for a moment.

If he were to encounter an [S] class opponent however…

Chen Xiaolian believed that the first thing he should do was to turn tail and run for it. That would be the wisest decision. Of course, whether he would be able to escape or not would depend on luck.

Back then, Miao Yan was miserably beaten up by the guardian Bai Qi. As for Chen Xiaolian, he did not believe that he was at the same level as Miao Yan.

However… … defeating the guardian Bai Qi… … was not exactly an impossibility.

It was simply a matter of using the same method he used back then.

Back then, Miao Yan fought with everything she had to divert Bai Qi’s attention. Taking advantage of that precious opening, Chen Xiaolian had broken Epang Palace’s Five Elements Array. In doing so, the guardian Bai Qi was defeated.

In order to break the Five Elements Array, he would need to cut down the large tree inside Epang Palace.

This was a very difficult thing to accomplish…

Chen Xiaolian knitted his brows.

This tactic required a highly powerful expert to distract Bai Qi, giving another person the opportunity to cut down the tree and break the array.

However, he was now alone… … could it be he had to wait here? Wait until Miao Yan arrived?

Chen Xiaolian considered the plan for a moment and his eyes suddenly lit up.

I nearly forgot about him!

…

Back then, how did the guardian Bai Qi came about?

Qiu Yun!

Qiu Yun was a fellow who harboured secret motives. He pretended to follow everyone to complete the quest. However, he had his own secret agenda.

He possessed a Tiger Tally in his hand, a critical prop for this Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang’s instance dungeon.

After the instance dungeon had ended, Chen Xiaolian had asked Xia Xiaolei what he knew about Qiu Yun. In the end, Chen Xiaolian was able to come to a rough conclusion of what Qiu Yun was attempting to do. Qiu Yun had managed to obtain the Tiger Tally from some unknown place and also some secrets regarding the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon. Thus, taking advantage of the fact that there was a Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang instance dungeon open, he wanted to use the Tiger Tally to control Bai Qi and make Bai Qi his.

That was Qiu Yun’s objective.

Obtaining an incomparably powerful Bai Qi as a War Pet was more lucrative a harvest compared to what he would obtain by completing this quest. Even if he ended up failing this quest and had to participate in a punishment instance dungeon, it would certainly be worth it.

It was also Qiu Yun, who utilized the Tiger Tally to summon Bai Qi out. However, in the process of controlling Bai Qi, he was interrupted by Xia Xiaolei. Qiu Yun’s painstaking plan failed in the final step and Bai Qi ended up obtaining Qiu Yun’s life force, thereby obtaining a tangible body.

If so…

“If Qiu Yun did not use the Tiger Tally to summon Bai Qi, what would happen? Would the guardian Bai Qi end up not appearing?”

This thought suddenly struck Chen Xiaolian.

Or perhaps, what would happen if Qiu Yun’s plan to control Bai Qi was successfully executed? If Xia Xiaolei’s interruption did not occur, could the guardian Bai Qi be forced to submit?

When he reached that line of thought, Chen Xiaolian suddenly laughed out.

Tiger Tally?

…