Adventure World Online (AWO)

When summoned, Little Jade stepped forward and revealed herself to everyone. Her movements were graceful—ladylike, even. She lowered herself in a respectful curtsy to Aswa, flashing a sweet smile at the rest of the crowd. She walked toward the young man, whose stunned expression matched that of the other guild members. Lifting her gaze, her eyes met his, shimmering with unshed tears. Her porcelain cheeks flushed pink, and her small lips began to move.

"Brother Aswa. I missed you so much."

The moment she finished speaking, Little Jade threw her arms around him in an embrace. Aswa stood frozen, completely unresponsive. The female guild members squealed with delight, while the men groaned in envy.

"L...Little Jade! It's only been a week since we last saw each other!"

Aswa stammered, his face bright red. He was caught completely off guard—Little Jade had gone from a clingy, tomboyish display of affection to that of a full-fledged young lady. And not just any young lady—she was now a beautiful maiden in the bloom of youth.

"Sob~ it didn't feel like just a week to me. I was so scared in there, and you didn't come visit me even once. You're so mean, Brother Aswa. Do you know that?"

Little Jade whined still clinging to him, she looked up from where she had buried her face in his chest, eyes wide and watery with complaint. Her flushed cheeks were streaked with tears, and her plump, rose-petal lips quivered in a heart-tugging pout. Aswa nearly forgot to breathe. It was like he had been enchanted. For a brief moment, he saw Little Jade not as a little brat—but as a captivating young woman. Then reality came crashing back.

'Crap. Did my heart just skip a beat for Little Jade? What the hell is wrong with me!'

he cursed internally, flustered. Hastily regaining composure, he pried her arms off him and ruffled her hair until it was a mess. Then spoke, louder than necessary,

"You did great, Lin Lan—better than I ever expected. I'll make sure you get a proper reward later. As for you, Little Jade, you've just finished some intense training. You're officially allowed to rest. Everyone else—go do whatever you need to do!"

Without waiting for a single reply, Aswa spun on his heel and power-walked away so fast he practically vanished from his guild members' sight in mere seconds.

"Brother Aswa, wait. Wait for me!"

Little Jade stumbled after him, trying to maintain the graceful manners Lin Lan had drilled into her. When Aswa heard her voice, his eyes widened in panic—and he leapt into the air, vanishing from the guild headquarters in a flash.

Beneath the rare shade of a tree in the vast Gobi Desert, nearly eight kilometers from the still-under-construction Celestial Steed City.

"Sigh... I mean, sure, a well-behaved Little Jade is a relief and all, but this is honestly creepier. Just thinking about those doe eyes calling me Brother Aswa~ Brother Aswa..."

He stopped mid-sentence as Little Jade's face popped into his head again.

"Gahhhh. No, no, no. I already have Chang Long. If she finds out, I'll lose major brownie points. No way, not happening. Stay focused, stay resolute! Chang Long is the one I love—the future lady of the Dark Horse Guild. Yes! That's it!"

Aswa jumped to his feet and began shouting wildly like a madman, causing a group of AI travelers in the desert to glance over with curiosity.

"What's up with that guy? He suddenly leapt up and started yelling."

A middle-aged AI man in blue merchant robes turned to his companion.

"Probably overheated and went nuts. We should find shelter from the sun too, before we end up like him,"

his companion replied. The group set up camp not far from Aswa, since that patch of shade was the only one nearby. Still, they kept a wary eye on him the entire time—afraid he might suddenly go berserk and attack.

Sensing a gaze on him, Aswa turned to look. He spotted a group of AIs resting in the shade not far off. They were likely staring because they recognized him as the dashing and charismatic leader of the Dark Horse Guild. Straightening his posture, he offered them a charming smile and a wave. The AIs seemed briefly stunned, but eventually smiled and waved back in return.

"He's definitely lost it. What's with the dramatic wave?"

The AI merchant muttered under his breath to his companion.

"Just play along. That guy looks like a top-tier expert. If we offend him and he goes berserk, we're all doomed."

The other AI whispered in reply. The group responded with stiff smiles and hesitant waves, not daring to stop. Before long, Aswa began to suspect that they were the ones who might be a little off in the head.

.....

After taking a well-earned rest, Chang Long's party resumed their exploration of the third floor of the Hell Dungeon. The area was littered with lifeless trees, and a constant rumble echoed from the sky above, choked with ominous black storm clouds. The ground was covered in tiny black pebbles, with thin trails of smoke curling up here and there. The atmosphere resembled a desolate graveyard—eerily silent with tension. No matter where they looked, there was nothing but bleak emptiness, sending shivers down everyone's spine.

They advanced cautiously along a narrow path, flanked by dozens of large wooden crosses, most of them rotted and broken with age. The wind and rain lashed the area with increasing intensity. The icy chill clashing with the heat from the ground created a strange, bone-chilling pressure. Brownie could barely contain his fear. He buried himself in Anya's hair, peeking out anxiously in all directions.

The scene reminded Chang Long of her friends, Oliang and Wet Trash Can duo—one deathly afraid of ghosts and the other getting jumpy just from being near him. If those two were here, the Lidded Wet Trash Can would be clinging to Oliang for dear life, screaming bloody murder at every little scare.

Chang Long came to a halt when she spotted something moving behind a tree. She signaled to the others and began creeping toward it. The closer she got, the stronger her unease became. Whatever was behind that tree—it felt more like something to run away from than approach. But whatever it was, she had to face and kill it. It was part of the dungeon-unlocking quest, and the Hell Dungeon was a crucial income source for the land of the dead.

Behind the massive tree sat a long-haired woman, kneeling comfortably on the ground. Her body was grayish-black and cracked like stone, and her face looked unmistakably like a statue. But she was moving. Upon noticing the intruders, she stood up and tilted her head curiously. As everyone stared in shock, the woman's mouth began to open—wider and wider—until it split all the way to her ears. At the same time, a system announcement rang out:

"Cursed Angel Statue Beast, Level 59. Prepare to engage."

The gaping mouth was filled with jagged black fangs. Her slender hands extended into twisted, clawed talons like those of a wild beast. She lunged at Murder, aiming to bite his head clean off. He raised his twin daggers just in time to block the attack, but his strained expression showed the force behind it. With a powerful flick of his blades, he managed to throw the cursed statue backward. On her back, where angelic wings should have been, was instead a cluster of spiny skeletal protrusions—resembling the framework of bat wings. These bone spikes writhed as if alive. The cursed angel statue flung her skeletal wings forward, launching the spikes in a violent barrage toward Murder.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

The assassin narrowly dodged the attack with an agile leap, the bone spikes stabbing deep into the ground instead. Enraged at missing her target, the statue let out an ear-piercing shriek. The sound pierced everyone's eardrums, forcing them to clutch their heads in pain.

But it was not just the group's hearing under assault. The black gravel beneath their feet began to tremble. The wooden crosses rattled before collapsing. Then, from beneath the ground, hands of skin and bones began to stir—hauling the slumbering corpses below to the surface.

"Wraith Remnant Beast, Level 61. Prepare to engage."

The Wraith Remnants were skeletal warriors clad in tattered, ancient armor. Their faces were twisted in anguish and fury. One after another, they clawed their way out from beneath the gravel-strewn earth and launched themselves at Chang Long's group from every direction.

"Feels like we're in a warzone,"

Killer commented, tilting his head as he prepared to defend against the big incoming swarm. Anya and Brownie winced in response, while Devi-chan—having just crushed the Cursed Angel Statue beast beneath his feet—scanned the surroundings. He turned to Chang Long and said,

"My liege, the visibility down here is terrible. Maybe you could take to the air and find us a good position to regroup."

Chang Long nodded. She unfurled her wings and flew upward to get a bird's-eye view of the third floor of the Hell Dungeon. From above, she saw the Wraith Remnants swarming like ants on honey, along with scattered Cursed Angel Statue beasts near dead trees or broken tomb memorials.

She also spotted something unusual: white eel-like beasts surfacing from marshy patches. But what caught her eye most was a small stone archway—just big enough for a person to duck inside. Within it, a swirling blue light hovered like a trapped soul.

Chang Long sensed the blue glow held some significance. She wanted to investigate, but first had to get her team to safety. It did not take long to find a large, open stone courtyard—wide enough for everyone to spot approaching enemies and safe from ambushes.

"This way, Devi-chan. Everyone—follow me."

Chang Long called out, leading the way to the stone field paved with a single massive slab. Kitsune breathed fire to clear a path for the others. The beasts, afraid of his flames, gave way—but continued chasing them relentlessly.

"Ugh. Why is every floor of this place so brutal? Are we even gonna make it to Lucifer at this rate?"

Killer grumbled. Murder laughed and said.

"What, losing your nerve already?"

"No, it's just, I wish these close combats weren't so gross. Ever since the first floor, it's been nothing but disgusting beasts. Makes me lose my appetite and gives me nightmares."

Killer rolled his eyes at his twin brother, who scoffed as if to say, who cares how they look?

"I'm with you on that. If this weren't for master's mission, I swear I would never set foot in this place again!"

Anya added. Brownie, perched on her shoulder, nodded in firm agreement.

"You guys hold the line here—I'm going to check something out,"

Chang Long said as she split from the group. Hisa-chan ran after her in concern, making Brownie's eyes bulge. Now the group's strongest member was gone too, dealing with the beast horde would be even harder. And with the white eels—classified as corpse-eating beasts by the system—joining the fray, the battle was bound to get even messier.

"Where's she going at a time like this?"

Anya asked while deftly dodging and countering a Wraith Remnant. She moved more confidently now that she no longer had to worry about rotting flesh clinging to her shoes.

"She'll be fine. Hisa-chan's with her. Let's just focus on killing just enough of these things out and finding this floor's Gatekeeper."

Devi-chan replied, though his worried expression lingered—afraid that Chang Long might be in danger. Kitsune, too, longed to follow Chang Long but knew that leaving the others now would make things even harder for them.

"Don't worry, Kitsune. She'll be fine,"

Brownie reassured him, as if reading the fox spirit's heart. Kitsune nodded solemnly, then unleashed a burst of divine flame at the horde. The beasts shrieked in agony and scattered in disarray.

"Nice one, Kitsune!"

Killer cheered, charging into the fray to finish off the ones weakened by the flames.

At the stone arch before Chang Long, the blue soul-light hovered and swirled, as if waiting for her signal. Hisa-chan stood guard while she investigated. Inside the dim archway, the faint glow revealed a pile of bones—clearly human remains long dead. For some reason, the soul of the deceased remained bound to this place. Chang Long knelt to meet the spirit's eye level and spoke:

"Shopkeeper… Are you the Spirit Shop owner?"

The soul flickered excitedly at the sound of her voice. Slowly, it transformed into the figure of a middle-aged man—short, plump, with squinting eyes and dressed in a white Taoist robe. He beamed at the sight of her.

"Ah… yes. That's me!"

The spirit replied.

"Is that so? What happened to you? How did you die here?"

Chang Long asked as she rummaged in her bag for a quest item.

"I came looking for rare materials, but unfortunately, I died before I could get them. As you know, this is Hell. Once I died, my soul was trapped here, unable to go anywhere."

His face turned somber as he recounted his fate.

"Uh-huh, sounds rough,"

Chang Long replied, not even looking up as she continued her preparations. The spirit watched her in confusion, wondering why she was placing a miniature doghouse-sized shrine in front of the arch.

"What are you doing? Aren't you here to help me?"

He asked.

"I am helping. Look, I'm in a hurry, okay? My friends are in the middle of a serious fight, and I need to get back."

She planted a white jade spirit tablet, already inscribed with specific characters, and lit a single incense stick, placing it in the ground. The Spirit Shop owner's soul broke into a wide grin, then transformed into a beam of light that shot into the tablet.

Chang Long stared, puzzled. The system had not marked the quest as complete yet. Just as she reached out to touch the spirit tablet, the small shrine she had set for the spirit shop owner began to expand—growing until it became a full-sized vendor's stall. Inside stood the beaming shopkeeper, who hung a sign out front:

"Talisman Shop."

"Player Chang Long has successfully completed the quest: Bring Peace to the Soul of the Shopkeeper in Hell. Reward: Ownership rights to establish a Spirit Shop in any chosen city. As a result of completing the quest, the Spirit Shop owner can now open a Talisman Shop within the Hell Dungeon.".