I Can Reap Qi Fortune from Players

In the blink of an eye, it was early morning of the second day.

The one-month deadline had arrived, and the new Imperial Mausoleum dungeon officially opened.

The Imperial Mausoleum Adventure Town opened to outsiders once more and became lively again.

"Time for me to get busy again."

Although Ning Zheng was still mulling over his courier station, the Golden Mud was something that couldn't be rushed at all, and now he had to start hustling to work again. He made a trip to Xirong Academy to give a speech.

"Today is the day the Ancient Imperial Mausoleum opens!" He hyped up the Tributors in the Two-Phase Realm and the genius Cultivators of the academy, telling them to show their talent in the tombs and loot the mausoleum with style.

Then he hurried over to the Bone Demon Royal City, became the Bone King, and repeated the same speech routine.

But fortunately...

This time.

Ning Zheng didn't need to go to a third set to play the Ancient Bronze Emperor, wrapped in the Chronicles of Time, receiving the young prodigies in an undersea valley.

Otherwise those prodigies would see me in every single set...

That'd be way too ridiculous.

He was even bored enough that, after running through two sets, he went to the Imperial Mausoleum Adventure Town himself to see how the piracy situation was these days.

Splash.

East Sea, amid endless seawater.

Ning Zheng walked into a valley and saw a gigantic Ancient Bronze Emperor, imposing and ancient, sitting on a vine chair with a crown of trees on his head.

"Tsk tsk, those blacksmiths' aesthetics are actually still online."

Seeing an identical "self," Ning Zheng felt a strange sense of dissonance in his heart.

That Ancient Bronze Emperor opened his eyes, glanced at Ning Zheng, and suddenly smiled. "For the Xirong Manor Master to come to my humble place, I failed to welcome you from afar."

"I've seen a senior from prehistory."

Ning Zheng clasped his fists and said, "That Xin Xichen campaign of yours was truly eye-opening. All those layers of scheming, so brilliantly executed—I've replayed it several times and am still amazed. As expected of your lot."

"You flatter me. Interested in joining our Ancestor Demon God lineage?" The Ancient Bronze Emperor smiled slightly.

"I belong to the side of the present world, sorry about that."

Ning Zheng casually chatted with him for a bit and found there really was a strange sense of familiarity.

He really is my Embers!

Even his way of speaking was somewhat similar... but it was incomplete, mechanical, stiff.

If he were to awaken, he might become another lively, vivid Ning Zheng.

Of course, not exactly identical.

Even a person's mindset changes from period to period; how much more another similar self's Embers?

You could only say it was like having a twin brother.

But just that alone was enough to make one's scalp crawl.

Ning Zheng couldn't help sighing at how terrifying this power was and grew even more annoyed in his heart. "Now I finally get what those blacksmiths meant. Damn Tauren, stealing my person... they really deserve to die!!"

Unfortunately, at Ning Zheng's level, he'd long since reined in his soul aura, or else others would notice that the two had identical soul signatures.

That would expose Ning Zheng's flaw.

Now, unless his main body personally made a move, a mere Dharma Aspect wouldn't reveal how similar he was to that Ancient Bronze Emperor.

"I'll take my leave and go check out the town." Ning Zheng said apologetically.

"Go ahead." The Ancient Bronze Emperor had no intention of entangling further and directly let him leave.

After saying goodbye, Ning Zheng strode into the town.

Ning Zheng kept replaying that Ancient Bronze Emperor in his mind, furious at that Tauren, then on second thought, getting greedy over that Tauren:

"That painter Spiritual Root of his—when I get the chance, I'm definitely stealing a round."

Ning Zheng carefully tallied it up. The painter's style still had a lot of personal flair, and he'd only released three Spiritual Roots throughout history.

The Human God Spiritual Root, puppeting him.

The Masked Spirit Root, copying him.

The painter himself, cloning him.

The most absurd part was, Ning Zheng had already stolen his Human God Spiritual Root and Masked Spirit Root... Those two would be among the Keystones of his own Seven Colors Spiritual Roots.

Three masterpieces—he was only missing the painter's Spiritual Root.

Ning Zheng had a collector's obsession and absolutely refused to leave the final piece unfinished.

His drawing technique really made Ning Zheng jealous!

"The painter really has insane drop rates! The quality of every Spiritual Root he pulls out is amazing. If I don't capture him and stuff him into my Seven Colors Spiritual Roots, that'd be such a loss!"

Ning Zheng sighed long and hard in his heart, full of emotion.

By now, the positions of Ning Zheng's Seven Colors Spiritual Roots were basically set.

Yin and Yang: Shadow Crocodile, Human God.

Five Elements: Flash, Mask, Painter (missing), Firewood (half-finished), Shadow Devourer (Shadow Devouring Dragon Emperor, missing).

The last Spiritual Root of the Shadow Devouring Dragon Emperor was an idea Ning Zheng had after seeing the combat of the Divine Statue Era.

It was to counter shady, copy-type strange Spiritual Roots like the Masked Spirit Root.

After all, even if you copy my Spiritual Roots and become me... as long as I accumulate an army, you can never completely copy and crush me.

Moreover.

The Shadow Devourer Spiritual Root and his Shadow Crocodile Spiritual Root were a perfect match and could synergize.

"My build is basically set. I'm just short on Qi Fortune Value! If I had the money, I'd evolve all five of these Spiritual Roots once! For example, [Mask] evolving into [All Saints Form]."

Thinking as he walked, Ning Zheng entered the Adventure Town,

"In the end, a Powerhouse is still built by dumping massive resources on them. These Seven Colors Spiritual Roots will probably cost at least several tens of billions of Qi Fortune Value."

The area around the Adventure Town was bustling with people, a sea of heads.

Some shops had reopened for business.

And those fake "Swollen Eyes" and "Puffy Eyes" were still posting quests like usual, squeezing every Cultivator they could.

The split was still seventy-thirty, outrageously arrogant.

Ning Zheng had no intention of going into the tomb, just wanted to check the bulletin board.

A densely packed block of text was written on it.

In summary: over the past half month, they'd attacked the Divine Statue Ancient Tomb, captured thirty-seven Great Emperors from the Divine Statue Era, and the Divine Statue Ancient Tomb had been breached. One jump down took you into the next tomb—the Chaotic Body Tomb.

That's right.

The one open now was the Chaotic Body Imperial Mausoleum.

Ning Zheng was a little curious about this ancient tomb as well and wanted to see what it was like inside.

He read and was speechless:

"They really did a decent job imitating... With how cautious that black hand is, he probably even cloned the Emperors of Longevity that Xin Xichen imprisoned and hid away in the Longevity Imperial Mausoleum, then made a seal identical to Xin Xichen's."

Ning Zheng didn't believe the painter's skill couldn't locate Xin Xichen's hiding place.

Most likely he found it, then made a fake one inside to trick Xin Xichen.

Just then, a few people nearby spoke up indignantly:

"This must be the legendary Xirong Manor Master! Those names Swollen Eyes and Puffy Eyes... they're obviously copying the Xirong Manor's managers to insult you!"

"Yeah, these Ancient Demon Gods deserve death!"

Ning Zheng turned his head and saw a few Scholars fawning all over him. He casually responded with a few lukewarm lines.

After a short exchange, they noticed Ning Zheng's indifferent tone and tactfully left on their own.

Ning Zheng didn't go into the tomb. He just gave the Chaotic Body Tomb a deep look, had no interest in exploring, did another loop around the Adventure Town, and then left.

Right before leaving, he spotted the Meiling Fish Food God, the only player the blacksmiths had ever brought in, looking around as if searching for Bai Xingling to go into the tomb together.

In the crowd he also saw Xu Huan, Jian Xin, and Jiao Wuyu and the rest of the brothers getting ready to enter the tomb.