239 The Star

As Meng Qi was experiencing mixed feelings, Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms said without stopping,

"The main task: survival."

"If you can make it to the eighth day, you can return. Each survivor will be awarded 1,000 Karma points."

"There will be no evaluations for this task. Each survivor will be awarded a Reincarnation Charm."

"A Reincarnation Charm?" It was exactly what Meng Qi kept thinking about. With it, he could start the first task of Zhenwu Great Emperor's serial task!

"The awards of the Death Task are really abundant..." He could not help praising it. However, the bigger the awards were, the more dangerous the task!

"Journey to the West?" Jiang Zhiwei slightly frowned.

Meng Qi was surprised. "Zhiwei, did you hear about the Journey to the West?"

"No." Jiang Zhiwei shook her head, not showing any signs of abnormality. "I'm just puzzled as to why Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms introduced the Journey to the West. It happened 800 years ago, which has nothing at all to do with our task."

Zhang Yuanshan nodded. "I agree. Usually, the information is all about the main task. Like the task 'survival' this time, he could have just described the demons that imperiled the world. There is no need to tell us about the Journey to the West, which happened 800 years ago."

"Maybe something about the Journey to the West is involved in many side tasks..." the most experienced Luo Shengyi said while thinking.

Seeing that they did not know about the Journey to the West and their present main task seemed to have nothing to do with the Journey to the West, Meng Qi repressed his confusion and said in a low voice, "We only have 25 minutes, so we have to prepare well as soon as possible."

Needless to say, since the demons were undermining the world, they had to kill all of them to save their own lives!

They nodded and walked toward the Central Light Pillar to exchange their harvest from the past year for Karma points.

Besides the Purple Decease Sword, which had "transformed" into a waist belt, Meng Qi had the Ghost Shadow Sword, the Evil God Eye, and several scripts of bladesmanship in Yedu, which he bought with the excuse of practicing bladesmanship. For all these, he had sold two land contracts. One was in the River East and the other one was in Luo Yang.

His other companions had enjoyed bountiful harvests as well. For instance, Jiang Zhiwei held in her hand two Refined Weapons and an object in the shape of a heart that was neither like gold nor wood.

"What is it, Zhiwei?" Meng Qi asked curiously.

Jiang Zhiwei answered with a smile, "The 'heart' of Heartless Fighter."

Noticing Meng Qi's surprise, she explained, "Incense-smelling Denomination is special for it combines Kung Fu, the Immortal Path, the Demon Path, the Buddhism Outside Path, and ancient witchcraft. It's cryptic. Although Heartless Fighter is known as 'heartless', he forged his 'heart' into a godly object and it moved around inside of his body. If one did not take out the heart, Heartless Fighter was, at most, badly hurt, but would never be killed."

While speaking, Jiang Zhiwei exchanged the "heart" of Heartless Fighter for Karma points. It was worth 600 Karma points, which made Meng Qi envious. After exchanging her two Refined Weapons, she had 920 Karma points in total.

When Meng Qi was about to speak, he saw Ruan Yushu drawing scripts and objects that looked like Refined Weapons one after another, like a magic show.

"So many..." Meng Qi was shocked.

With her long hair draped over her shoulders, Ruan Yushu raised her head slightly and said, "Presents that I have accumulated."

It was 10 objects and they were worth 1,300 Karma points in total.

"A annoying rich man..." Meng Qi cursed in his heart.

Since Zhang Yuanshan had gone down the mountain to travel, and with his careful and attentive collection, he had 830 Karma points. Fu Zhenzhen also did well. Although she had found few scripts about enlightening the Apertures, she knew alchemy and how to make poison. Their enemies were a demonic cult in this task, so having many poisons was useless. Thus, she threw all of them to Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms and received 890 Karma points, which was more than Zhang Yuanshan.

Luo Shengyi had spent most of his time in the past year opening Nine Apertures. What was worse, he had had a tough time as a Rogue Cultivator. Thus, he only got 610 Karma points. Ge Huai'en only had 430 Karma points.

Thanks to the convenience of Yedu and the help of Meng Qi, plus the remaining Karma points, Qi Zhengyan had 650 now.

Meng Qi kept the Evil God Eye and threw the Ghost Shadow Sword and several bladesmanship scripts into the light pillar. He received 670 Karma points.

Then he put the "Evil God Eye" into the pillar for identification. He had planned to find a place like the Treasure Pavilion in Yedu to judge the usefulness of the "Evil God Eye". He wanted to know if he could forge useful weapons without the help of Dominator of Samsara in Six Realms. But he had spent half a year practicing while waiting for Qi Zhengyan to exchange all the jewelry for notes. Then, he became well-known in Yedu. If he had taken out the Evil God Eye, he would have been easily connected to Gentleman Sword. Thus, he had to wait for the correct timing. And that timing was today.

"The Evil Spirit Eye is formed by the Evil Avatar, which has not transformed into an entity. It is precious. It can be forged in the mid-brows to become the Vertical Eyes. It can destroy everything and exert the 'Soul-dazzling Light', but the Evil Qi would intrude the brain and injure the Vital Spirit. As a result, the user would suffer a heartache from time to time. When it is used to the extreme, it is very cruel and violent. Together with other materials, it could be formed into a 'God-defeating Eye'. It can only be used twice to attack the Vital Spirit. At 560 Karma points, it is at the level of the Half-step Exterior Scenery."

Taking a deep breath, Meng Qi hesitated. He did not want to become a cruelperson. What he was thinking was whether to forge it into a "God-defeating Eye" or exchange it for Karma points.

"Vital Spirit Attacking would definitely be useful in attacking the demonic cult. Moreover, it is at the level of the Half-step Exterior Scenery..." Meng Qi paid 10 Karma points to search for related information.

"It needs Soul-losing Wood and Sun-facing Herbs... They cost 90 Karma points." The related materials were cheap, which was out of Meng Qi's expectation. But he quickly relaxed once he found that the main material was "Evil Spirit Eye".

"If you want to forge a 'God-defeating Eye', you need to pay an extra 230 Karma points."

Seeing the Karma points that it cost, Meng Qi was more hesitant. For one thing, he had practiced under the stupa for a long time and had gained the ability to resist the Evil Qi. Thus, he did not need to prepare anything else. For another thing, Fu Zhenzhen was responsible for the healing elixirs. So there was no need for him to exchange any elixir. However, he wanted one Recover Pill because that meant an extra life in the Death Task!

So his Karma points would not be sufficient...

"I still need 160 Karma points..." Meng Qi decided to give up the "God-defeating Eye". Fortunately, he had the Purple Decease Sword and the thunderbolt mark on his body.

"Lacking Karma points?" Seeing Meng Qi was so hesitant, Jiang Zhiwei asked with a smile.

Meng Qi gently nodded, but he did not speak. Unlike the previous situation when he had borrowed a few dozen Karma points, he lacked too many this time.

"How many?" Jiang Zhiwei asked casually.

Feeling her firm gaze, Meng Qi took a deep breath, "160 Karma points."

"I only need a Recover Pill. For the other things, I could turn to Zhenzhen for help. So I can lend you my remaining Karma points..." Jiang Zhiwei paused, seeming to make her decision. She said loudly, "About the Death Task, I have a suggestion."

"What?" The others were thinking about the things that they wanted. When they heard those words, they all turned to Jiang Zhiwei.

Jiang Zhiwei said firmly, "The demons are destroying the human world. Among them, there must be many in the Half-step Exterior Scenery and the Exterior level. We each have limited Karma points. And if we exchange for things individually, we are not likely to get excellent and effective objects. So, I recommend that everyone should exchange for a Recover Pill to protect yourselves. And then, we aggregate all our Karma points to exchange for two or three precious objects for repressing demons. I will help those who cannot afford a Recover Pill for free."

Facing the Death Task, she was very generous.

"I have a Precious Weapon that I borrowed before." Meng Qi confessed to avoid a needless exchange. He totally agreed with Jiang Zhiwei's opinion. In the death task, it was better to kill one than injure all!

"A Precious Weapon from someone..."Luo Sheng looked at Meng Qi. "He actually managed to borrow a Precious Weapon?"

After thinking, he said, "I agree."

He had planned to exchange a Recover Pill for self-protection. So he only would only have about 100 Karma points remaining. With them, he could, at most, get an object for repressing Demon Odor. With his strength of Nine Apertures, that was actually useless.

Ge Huai'en, who could not afford a Recover Pill, certainly agreed.

Zhang Yuanshan was calm and had an overall plan as usual. He gently nodded and said, "It is the best way. But the things that we exchange for should be kept by Lady Ruan and Zhenzhen. First, they have experienced fewer close grapples. Second, they have the most Karma points."

He had some personal interests, but his words were reasonable. Like Meng Qi, Jiang Zhiwei, and himself, who were righteous, even though they had objects to repress demons, they might not use these weapons if the demons pestered them. Furthermore, Ruan Yushu had over 1,000 Karma points. If some things were not kept by her, what would she think?

And Fu Zhenzhen was responsible for their treatments and elixirs, so she used up more Karma points. Naturally, she should be given a privilege.

"That's also what I think." Meng Qi agreed.

Jiang Zhiwei gently nodded. "It makes sense."

The others did not oppose, so Ruan Yushu coldly said, "Okay."

Meng Qi did not hurry to exchange the Evil God Eye. After he got a Recover Pill, he returned all the Karma points to Ruan Yushu. In the end, all together they had 2,341 Karma points. They quickly scanned the Exchange List for two or three objects that would effectively repress the demons.

Time waits for no one. They quickly made a decision.

"The Demon-revealing Mirror (Fake). It is a Precious Weapon that is forged by imitating the Demon-revealing Mirror, an ancient Magical Arm. Under its effect, all demons below the level of the Exterior would show their original appearance and lose their strength, while demons in the Exterior would lose their strength for one to three breaths according to their strength. At 1,200 Karma points, it can be used three times.

"The Demon-defeating Arrow, a Precious Weapon. It can break the Demon Odor and bodies of demons of the Exterior and greatly hurt them. Demons under the Half-step Exterior Scenery would be badly injured. Other demons would be killed. At 900 Karma points, it can only be used once."

There were 241 Karma points left. Meng Qi still lacked 79 Karma points for the "God-defeating Eye". Meng Qi exchanged all his belongings, like drugs and darts. Jiang Zhiwei, Zhang Yuanshan, Fu Zhenzhen, Qi Zhengyan, and Ruan Yushu contributed a little. Finally, Meng Qi got enough Karma points. Otherwise, he could only exchange for the "undefeatable web" and the Begonias Candle.

The light pillar was surrounded by gas. An evil eye appeared in Meng Qi's hand. It was dark black and inserted into a piece of green wood like a pendant.

Since he had his Purple Decease Sword, he gave this "God-defeating Eye" to Ge Huai'en to look after. Fu Zhenzhen got the Demon-revealing Mirror and Ruan Yushu held on to the Demon-defeating Arrow.

After exchanging, they did not have much time. All of them waited quietly for the task to begin.

The light pillar dimmed down. Their vision blurred for a moment, and then they were in a new place.

They were in a shabby meditation room with a broken floor. Patches of grass were all over the room. A golden lacquered Buddharupa had been broken into pieces.

Its head had rolled to the ground. It looked at Meng Qi and others with a merciful smile.

...

Above the 33rd Heaven, there was an immortal world where divine birds flew, a godly fountain gushed, and divine grass and flowers flourished.

All that was surrounding a normal palace. The plaque on it had the vague words:

"Tusita Palace."

Inside the palace, an Eight Diagrams Stove was set securely above a fire. An old man in a frock sat in front of the stove, flanked by a Golden-robed Boy and a Silver-robed Boy who managed the fire.

Suddenly, the old man opened his eyes and looked down.

"Big Master, did something happen in Aparagodaniya?" the Golden-robed Boy asked in shock.

The old man with grey hair but a young face shook his head. "It doesn't matter. Leave them alone."

He closed his eyes again. He pointed his fingers in the direction of the stove. The stove opened with a flashing light going up to the sky, which covered the stars.

Like fireballs, the stars gradually fell. They were hot and terrifying and seemed to swallow all the four states. Their surrounding space was twisting and collapsing. There seemed to be Golden Crows flying inside the space.

The two boys were scared by the horrifying pressure. But "the sun" could not get away from the light. It became smaller and smaller, getting closer and closer, and finally, it dropped into the stove.

The old man pointed to the stove again and the stove closed. There was no noise at all inside of it.

With his eyes closed, he showed no sorrow or happiness. It seemed that nothing would bother him, no matter how long it lasted.

"The elixirs inside must have been refined for 627 years..." The Silver-robed Boy sucked in a short breath.