Chapter 321: Not a Multiple-Choice Question, but a Must-Choose One!
As it approached six in the evening, when the dark figure slowly drew near, heaven and earth themselves began to change.
There had been some moonlight before, but wherever he walked, darkness swallowed everything.
It was as if he carried some kind of special aura—even the sky was covered by dark clouds.
Drawing a bit closer, Rahman realized this fellow was actually dressed in purple.
At that moment, Rahman’s mind raced back to the rules.
The rules had mentioned guests dressed in black, gray, white, yellow, cyan, and red—but they had never told the Chosen Ones how to deal with a guest in purple.
And this guest gave off an aura that made people feel dread.
It felt even more bone-chilling than those red-clothed guests, instantly snapping many Chosen Ones who had been slightly drowsy back to full alertness.
Quite a few of the stronger Chosen Ones stood at the door holding peach-wood swords, not daring to go outside.
Miller, the newly promoted Transcendent from the Eagle Sauce Nation, was one such person. He had narrowly escaped death in the previous stages, surviving purely by flexibly using the rules and intelligence.
Miller was smart. After suffering setbacks a few times, he realized he could discard his identity as a Transcendent and just treat himself as an ordinary Chosen One—doing whatever an ordinary Chosen One would do.
Now Miller tried his best to stay within the candlelight.
That way, he would be protected by the general store’s rules.
But he absolutely could not let the purple-clothed guest inside. If he let him in and the guy overstayed, affecting the closing time, that would be a huge problem.
Still, he could first figure out what this guy wanted.
Blocking him outside was the best option—that was the conclusion Miller could reach.
Seeing Miller’s nervous expression, the purple-clothed guest revealed a smile that made one’s very soul tremble.
“Don’t be nervous, boss. I’m here to discuss a business deal with you.”
From the voice alone, one couldn’t tell whether this purple-clothed guest was male or female.
“What kind of business?”
The moment business was mentioned, Miller perked up with interest.
He was also constantly mindful of his identity.
“Do you have any wine jars with sealing talismans in your shop? I can pay a high price—five hundred per jar.”
The purple-clothed guest’s words made Miller’s heart race.
Miller remembered counting the warehouse inventory—there seemed to be five wine jars with sealing talismans.
There were empty wine jars too, but those weren’t what the purple-clothed guest wanted.
But after being happy for a moment, Miller felt something was off.
Judging by his presence, this guy should be this round’s “hidden anomaly” of the ghost story.
Miller was also part of the expert group, and he had collected a lot of information on hidden anomalies.
Hidden anomalies were mostly divided into two types.
The first type was hidden anomalies mentioned in the rules. These hidden anomalies strictly followed the rules. Even if you were powerful, as long as you violated the rules, they would fight you to the death.
Of course, whether they could win was another matter—but they would definitely fight you, since hidden anomalies were undying and indestructible.
The second type was hidden anomalies not mentioned in the rules. These were truly terrifying.
Because they were unpredictable—there was simply no way to judge when they would make a move.
Expert groups from various countries all advised against coming into contact with this type of anomaly.
There were no rules to judge whether they could be trusted.
But Miller assessed that the purple-clothed guest didn’t seem like he wanted to eat people—he just wanted some items.
This seemed to have no downside for him, and it even increased revenue.
This last pot of gold before closing—should he earn it or not?
The purple-clothed guest didn’t rush him. He seemed very calm, not like some evil NPC, and he was willing to pay.
Miller had no idea that what was sealed inside those wine jars was something even more terrifying—otherwise, he wouldn’t have deliberated for so long.
But an experienced Chosen One still had some ability.
He spotted the blind spot in this situation, so he told the purple-clothed guest to wait at the door and that he’d be right back.
To prevent the purple-clothed guest from coming in, he even placed his peach-wood sword at the entrance.
Then Miller went to check the item list, because the purple-clothed guest said five hundred per jar, but the item list’s price table didn’t show a price for this thing—it wasn’t even mentioned.
“Could it be that it’s not for sale?”
Miller began to hesitate. If these were the general store owner’s personal items, then selling them on his own—wouldn’t the owner skin him alive?
You had to know, his heart was still in the owner’s hands. This was no joke.
With that thought, he decisively returned to the entrance and chose to politely decline.
The purple-clothed guest didn’t seem angry. He simply said he would wait for Miller somewhere, and if Miller urgently needed money, he could bring the wine jars to find him.
With that, the purple-clothed guest left the place.
Miller truly had no idea that he had nearly made a huge mistake.
At this stage, Rahman’s approach was the best choice. He knew this was a guest of the general store.
But the fact that this guest wasn’t written in the rules meant he couldn’t judge his rules.
So Rahman didn’t even wait for the purple-clothed guest to get close—he directly pulled down the door curtain and locked the door.
“At worst, I just won’t do this deal. After all, the rules say I can’t open the door for guests outside business hours, but they didn’t say I can’t close early.”
That was Rahman’s inner thought. When facing hidden anomalies, the less trouble the better.
Besides, he’d already earned quite a bit from tonight’s business. No need to invite trouble.
It must be said that his approach aligned with the views of most Chosen Ones—it was best not to come into contact with this type of anomalous creature not listed in the rules. This was no longer the type they could normally interact with.
If the rules didn’t mention it, that meant it wasn’t a type that had to be interacted with.
Those with the ability to interact with it were naturally the Celestial Masters of Dragon Nation.
At this point, the audience naturally switched the big screen to Dragon Nation’s feed.
Zhang Yangqing had directly let the purple-clothed guest walk into the shop—that was what it meant to be bold when you had skill.
After hearing the purple-clothed guest’s request, Zhang Yangqing actually nodded.
This left the audience somewhat confused. Was Celestial Master Zhang trying to increase revenue?
But the item list didn’t have a price for the wine jars. What if he sold it too expensive or too cheap?
Wouldn’t that also violate the rules?
You had to know, this round the Chosen Ones’ hearts had been mortgaged away—their lives were not in their own hands.
Just as the audience was arguing, Zhang Yangqing had already returned to the counter.
In his hand was a palm-sized wine jar—but it wasn’t the wine jar the purple-clothed guest had mentioned. It was an empty wine jar.
This seemed to anger the purple-clothed guest. He shouted furiously, “You’re messing with me by bringing an empty wine jar?”
Zhang Yangqing’s lips curved slightly upward as he said, “Just go inside and it’ll be full.”
Hearing this, the purple-clothed guest’s expression changed drastically.
By the time he sensed that this shop clerk was not quite right, it was already too late.
Zhang Yangqing didn’t give him much screen time. He directly used Daoist arts to activate the wine jar, and a wild wind swept through the entire general store.
Strangely enough, this wild wind seemed capable of distorting space itself, yet the items on the shelves remained perfectly stable.
Even the two candles by the counter were completely unaffected—as if the wind was targeting only the purple-clothed guest.
Before the purple-clothed guest could even finish saying “No,” he was sucked inside.
Then Zhang Yangqing deftly attached a talisman to the wine jar. Just like that, the warehouse had one more sealed jar.
So what if it was a hidden anomaly? Zhang Yangqing knew plenty of things at this stage.
He had proven to the audience what true home-field advantage really meant.
Other Chosen Ones’ home-field advantage at most increased their chances of survival.
Zhang Yangqing’s home-field advantage was that it maximized the difficulty for the anomalies in this ghost story.
It could be said that any anomaly matched with Zhang Yangqing was bound to have a hard time surviving this round.
Because he could follow the procedure—but he could also choose not to.
As long as he decided not to follow it, then many anomalies would lose their reason to exist.
As for why Zhang Yangqing dealt with the purple-clothed guest—testing an item was only one reason. The real reason was simply that he couldn’t stand this level of ghost.
No extra reason needed. As long as I feel you’re scheming against me, I’ll take you down.
Others might not see it, but that doesn’t mean I can’t.
If he had given those wine jars in the warehouse to him, then although he’d have made money in the short term, releasing those things would throw this area into chaos.
And the one who’d get hurt in the end would be the Chosen One himself.
Time had already reached six in the morning. Most of the Chosen Ones had been on edge all night. They closed the general store.
As for where the Chosen Ones would rest, the audience didn’t quite understand at first.
After all, the rules didn’t say where was safer.
And wouldn’t a normal person go down the mountain to find a place to rest?
But how would the Chosen Ones dare go down the mountain? Even if the surroundings were full of anomalies and graveyards, they could only sleep inside the general store.
The so-called safe zone was the warehouse with yellow talismans forming a barrier.
Zhang Yangqing wasn’t picky at all. He just found some weeds and a blanket, spread them in the warehouse, and started resting.
He could fall asleep, but some Chosen Ones kept sensing movement around the general store.
It was pitch black to begin with. The thought that this was a graveyard mountain and they had to rest here made them feel uneasy all over.
In such a strange and terrifying environment, it was only natural to feel anxious.
Many Chosen Ones could only barely fall asleep by clutching their peach-wood swords in their arms.
While Rahman was sound asleep, he seemed to vaguely hear the wine jars shaking, and then someone whispered in his ear, telling him to let them out.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A series of knocks woke the Chosen Ones.
It was already noon, with the blazing sun high overhead.
The Chosen Ones who had been woken up were already annoyed, but they didn’t say anything.
Because they had memorized the rules last night. Rule 13 reminded the Chosen Ones: during non-business hours, do not open the door for any guests.
“Damn guy, couldn’t let me sleep a bit longer?”
Miller seemed to have some morning grumpiness. Being woken up was really irritating.
But even so, he got up and started busying himself, organizing his things and preparing to go out.
The useful items—like the peach-wood sword and the coin sword—were Miller’s source of security.
There were also candles, matches, coins, and so on that needed to be organized.
The rules specifically noted that the coins obtained here could not be seen by others, so they needed to be hidden.
While packing, Miller seemed to smell something. This smell had been there yesterday.
But today it seemed stronger. He wasn’t quite sure what it was exactly.
Only a very few orthodox Transcendents knew—it was the smell of mutation occurring on one’s body.
If one were to follow the mutation path, currently the most likely to mutate was the Red Cardinal of Ramen Nation, Robert.
He wasn’t just starting to mutate—his body already had streaks of black marks, and a black aura emanated from him.
Some people with cultivation in Dragon Nation could tell that this guy had probably realized he could mutate.
As long as he became a zombie, his abilities would increase dramatically.
Robert was truly someone who couldn’t be bothered to treat his wounds. He actually didn’t know he would become a zombie, but by accident, he had started walking the right path.
Don’t be fooled by Robert being a Red Cardinal with extremely high prestige in the Church—only the Pope knew that he was actually a demon fetus, a child cursed by a demon.
He could adapt to all kinds of negative states and convert them into the energy he needed.
To put it more simply, some people’s constitutions are different from normal people. The more he gets beaten, the more excited he gets, and the stronger his abilities become.
So from the start, Robert judged the path he needed to take—getting injured as much as possible without dying.
After a night’s rest, most Chosen Ones had become weakened, but he had actually gotten stronger.
After watching Robert’s performance, the Pope pondered for a long time without commenting.
He was clear on one thing: Robert seemed to want to prove that even without following Gregori’s experience, he could still clear the game—and would get a higher score.
He just wanted to tell the Pope that he, Robert, was the best candidate for the Pope’s successor.
Of course, Robert wasn’t someone who was full of himself. He just wanted to prove he was stronger than Gregori and take back his rightful position.
He wouldn’t dare say he was stronger than Zhang Yangqing. Whether in combat ability or experience, he was no match for Zhang Yangqing. How could he have the nerve to compare himself to Zhang Yangqing?
As a Red Cardinal of the Church, he still had that much self-awareness.
Seeing Robert’s performance, the Pope really couldn’t comment.
Because he was also afraid of being proven wrong—anything could happen in a ghost story.
As long as you, Robert, can come out alive and get a high score, then I’ll praise you.
Otherwise, if I praise you now and you end up getting yourself killed in there, wouldn’t my words be like farting?
So at this stage, the Pope didn’t make any statement.
The Church was already massive. Internal competition wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Only through competition could the most outstanding talents be selected.
Because in competition, the strengths and weaknesses of candidates would all come to light.
And why did the Old Celestial Master decisively choose Zhang Yangqing as the Celestial Master, without even hesitating?
Naturally, it was because Zhang Yangqing had no weaknesses.
In the Old Celestial Master’s view—to put it bluntly—even Zhang Yangqing’s weakest point was far stronger than the other disciples. They weren’t even on the same level.
It wasn’t that the Old Celestial Master wouldn’t let them compete, nor that he didn’t want to screen them.
A perfect answer sheet was right in front of him. How could he hesitate?
What lay before the Old Celestial Master was not a multiple-choice question—it was a must-choose one.
Moreover, not letting the disciples compete was already a form of protection for the other disciples.
The Old Celestial Master knew that while he was still alive, Zhang Yangqing would naturally listen to advice. But after he was gone, if Zhang Yangqing truly got angry, he didn’t even dare imagine what would happen.
Inside the ghost story world, Zhang Yangqing was already fully prepared.
He wore a bamboo hat on his head and a mask on his face.
The exposed parts of his body—like his hands and neck—were wrapped in bandages.
Having long guessed the answer, he naturally knew what identity he had.
Exposing himself to sunlight would be far too dangerous.
And today’s first goal was to go to the graveyard area where Young Master Kongxu was located and obtain all the remaining intelligence.
Whether it was the map of this area, the distribution of rivers, the location of the ghost market, or the territory of demon cultivators—he needed to ask about all of it clearly.
The knocking had stopped before long. Presumably, the customer outside who wanted to buy something had already left.
Or perhaps, this was just an alarm clock in the ghost story world, reminding the Chosen Ones it was time to get up.
Otherwise, if they slept until they naturally woke up, some Chosen Ones would open their eyes to find that it was already dark.
Zhang Yangqing had just opened the roller shutter door when a wave of heat rushed in.
The scorching sunlight briefly blinded all the Chosen Ones.
Daytime, it seemed, was even more dangerous than night.
Because Chosen Ones were not human.
