Global Game: I Can Choose Instance Rewards-Chapter 623 - 410: Celestial Essence City (2)

This is a rather majestic palace, its doors are more than ten feet wide and thirty feet high, seemingly not designed for human passage. Entering the entrance, one can see the inside is even more spacious, with a towering statue of an elder in a Taoist robe, sitting cross-legged, standing ten feet away. In front of the statue, a middle-aged man in a green robe is standing with his back to Wang Zhifan, offering incense at the incense altar.

"Distinguished guest from the Daoist realm! Qingyangzi extends his apologies for not welcoming you from afar!"

In less than two seconds, as Wang Zhifan easily walked into the hall, Qingyangzi Daoist finished offering incense, turned around, and greeted Wang Zhifan with folded hands and a smile.

"Greetings to the Daoist priest!"

Having walked close, Wang Zhifan mimicked the gesture of folding his hands in return, with a polite and proper smile on his face.

"Since the distinguished guest comes from the Daoist realm, you must be one of our cultivators. May I know your title?"

Qingyangzi then solemnly asked, as if reminding Wang Zhifan that it’s somewhat impolite not to state one’s title when meeting a fellow cultivator.

"Oh... I apologize for the oversight. My humble title is Fanyun, the Wanderer. I am used to a leisurely life, and I hope Daoist Qingyangzi won’t mind."

Upon hearing this, Wang Zhifan responded smoothly, giving the Daoist title he had thought of along the way without any hesitation.

He was confident in the power of the extraordinary game. Since the extraordinary game granted him the identity of someone from the Daoist realm, in this scenario, he was assuredly a person from the Daoist realm and need not worry about being exposed.

"So it’s Fellow Daoist Fanyun! I’ve long heard of you!"

On receiving this reply, Qingyangzi in front clasped his hands again, showing considerable respect and enthusiasm. Yet anyone with keen eyes could notice a flicker of confusion in his eyes, indicating he had never heard of Fanyun the Wanderer.

Nevertheless, Wang Zhifan remained unperturbed. He didn’t believe this Daoist priest could possibly know everyone in the Daoist realm. Even if he had channels to investigate from the Daoist realm, Wang Zhifan trusted the extraordinary game’s ability to fabricate an identity for him in the Daoist realm seamlessly, without any hitch.

So, after a few polite exchanges with Qingyangzi, the master of Qingyang Palace, Wang Zhifan moved on to the main topic.

The discussion mainly involved Qingyangzi inquiring about the reasons for Wang Zhifan’s descent from the Daoist realm into the Calamity Realm. As the key figure in Celestial Essence City, Qingyangzi offered assistance. Wang Zhifan seized the opportunity to exchange with the elite local, inquiring about the Demon Realm and the Calamity Realm’s demons. He expressed that he descended from the Daoist realm to assist the Calamity Realm in resisting the Demon Realm’s infiltration, dedicated to protecting the human world.

Their conversation didn’t last long, as the young Daoist who escorted Wang Zhifan came in to report other distinguished guests’ arrival, prompting Qingyangzi to first arrange Wang Zhifan’s accommodation in a side hall, planning to discuss with him further after attending to the other guests.

Wang Zhifan had no objections to this and immediately followed the young Daoist to the side hall. However, before fully leaving the main hall, he caught sight with his peripheral vision of more than twenty differently dressed locals filing in through the main hall entrance. Each of their aurae was above the Innate Realm level, with unclear intentions for gathering here.

"This Qingyangzi’s aura was quite peculiar earlier. My first impression was that he seemed as ordinary as a commoner, as if he had no cultivation. But upon closer sensing, there seemed to be something mysterious. He might be employing some profound Concealing Breath Dao Skill, making his actual cultivation likely at the top level of the Innate Realm, or perhaps an even higher transcending level."

Wang Zhifan speculated privately about the palace master Qingyangzi. He couldn’t directly perceive his strength but was sure he was no simple character, considering his disciples watching the doors were all of Innate Realm level, so his own cultivation couldn’t possibly be ordinary.

With these thoughts, Wang Zhifan was subsequently settled into a guest room in the side hall of Qingyang Palace.

The guest room wasn’t too large, but its decoration was simple yet grand, equipped with all necessary facilities, displaying a distinctive Daoist style.

As Wang Zhifan sat inside, finding it not yet time for rest, he decided to go out for a stroll, informed the young Daoist outside the main hall, and rode the Red Deer Horse to leave Qingyang Palace.

As he mounted his horse, he happened to see that more than twenty Innate Realm guests inside Qingyang Palace were still discussing something with Qingyangzi. Among them were both men and women, Daoists, and Confucian cultivators, even a bald-headed Buddhist, indicating the relationship among the Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian sects wasn’t too strained.

What most intrigued Wang Zhifan was a sharp-eyed young woman among them.

She didn’t seem like an ordinary human from the Calamity Realm; she had two short silver-white dragon horns on her forehead. Her face below the nose was covered with a black fabric mask, exposing only slender eyebrows and a pair of cold bright eyes. Combined with a black high ponytail full of vigor, wrapped in a black tight-fitting outfit highlighting her tall, strong figure, with a pair of blood-red long and short blades hanging at her waist, she was very much a dragon woman assassin.

"This woman’s alertness is high; just a glance from me made her turn her gaze towards me... Could she really be a dragon woman? This world is indeed interesting."

With this novel discovery, Wang Zhifan rode the Red Deer Horse back to the bustling streets of Celestial Essence City, starting to explore this lively and vibrant world. Of course, he also didn’t forget to gather intelligence, looking to find a bookstore or similar place to research some information.

For a while, the bustling sounds on the main street outside Qingyang Palace surrounded him, with vendors’ cries, various passersby chatting, the lingering sound of sword control experts flying by, and a few Daoists meditating and chanting by the street, forming a very complex mix.

"Brother! Over here! Over here!"

Soon, Wang Zhifan, not yet finding a bookstore, heard someone calling him. It was a young man on the second floor of a restaurant by the street, stretching out his hand and head from a window, waving a pair of black-framed sunglasses, trying hard to catch Wang Zhifan’s attention.

"A player? How did he instantly recognize I wasn’t a native... Must be because I didn’t change my hairstyle."

Wang Zhifan instantly realized how casually he had been treating his disguise in recent scenarios, claiming to have disguised but in truth just sloppily handling it. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Nonetheless, in this scenario, it shouldn’t pose much of a problem. This scenario featured a high-stakes penalty mechanism, making player-on-player attacks costly; only potential avenger players needed caution.

"Red Deer, you can go back to rest for now. I’ll call you over when I find a place with ample water and grass."

Then Wang Zhifan dismounted, dismissing the Red Deer to return to its secret realm home temporarily, before he used Lightweight Skill to leap directly into the window where he was being called.

Sure enough, inside the restaurant’s second-floor room were not only the player who called out but five others, all focusing their gaze on the newly arrived Wang Zhifan.

"Brother! You’re a player too, right? I knew this scenario couldn’t just have the six of us!"

The young man who earlier shouted out the window to Wang Zhifan spoke with a smile, casually putting on the black-framed sunglasses he held.

"Yes, I’m a player. Are you guys... discussing the scenario strategies?"

Wang Zhifan glanced over these people, noticing that each had donned the attire of this world. However, these people weren’t all yellow-skinned; there were two Caucasians and one African, making their Oriental traditional-style clothing look mismatched.

"Yes, sir, we eagerly hope you’ll join us and share your intel. This scenario has left us very puzzled. We’ve explored most of the city outside, but haven’t found any signs of war, hindering scenario progress..."

One of the male players, a tall stout Caucasian leaning against the room wall, nodded at Wang Zhifan, then said, with concern written between his brows.