Chapter 555: Chapter 555: Passage

Looking at Song Jian’s faint smile, Qi Yun clenched his teeth in resentment, the corners of his mouth twitching relentlessly. If it weren’t for the fact that he couldn’t beat Song Jian right now, Qi Yun would probably have turned on him directly.

It was because Song Jian had delayed for more than two minutes, cutting off the source of the Force of Death at the last moment, that Qi Yun was in his weakest state at this moment.

Although the Force of Death in his body had lost its source, the infiltration had gone deep, and removing the Force of Death completely from the cellular level required a significant amount of time, energy, and precious treasures, all of which would increase exponentially.

Before the Force of Death was completely removed, half of the Force of Shadows in Qi Yun’s body had been used to fight it, making Qi Yun’s strength seem shackled, unable to be fully manifested.

“Is this what you wanted?” Qi Yun stared at Song Jian with crimson eyes and chilly expression on his face.

At this point, he had not yet used any illusion, and the erosion of the Force of Death made Qi Yun look like an undead creature.

“Task reward!” Song Jian’s face darkened, his eyes chilling as they stared at Qi Yun.

Qi Yun opened his mouth but could not make a sound. He hesitated for a moment, then reluctantly took out a black book from his bosom and handed it to Song Jian:

“Book: Magic Array Analysis. Item description: This book contains the basic knowledge of magic rune arrays, granting 5000 points of magic rune array proficiency and mastery of three hundred magic runes upon use. To use this book, please choose a quiet location. It takes one hour to study.”

Song Jian glanced at it and put the Skill Book into the inventory column.

With three magic runes, he directly upgraded his “Magic Rune Inscription” skill to level three. With three hundred magic runes, this skill should be able to reach the advanced level;

Life skill Level 10 is a milestone: up to Level 10 is primary level; up to Level 20 is intermediate level; up to Level 30 is advanced level. As for the 5000 points of magic rune array proficiency, Song Jian estimated that it should at least bring his magic rune array skill to the intermediate level;

However, using this book requires a quiet place and an hour’s study time, so Song Jian cannot learn it for now.

“Let’s go to the Dark Castle!” said Song Jian. “You should have a map of the Dark Castle now, so give it to me. I will hold back the Shadow Giant Dragon for half an hour. I don’t care what you do during this time, but once the half-hour is up, I’ll retreat directly. You’ll have to manage the time yourself – don’t blame me if the Shadow Giant Dragon corners you!”

“As long as you put your heart into it, this situation will never happen.” Qi Yun handed an old sheepskin scroll to Song Jian, his face ashen.

Song Jian took a look and saw that the Dark Castle was completely built inside a mountain in the Shadowfang Mountain Range, almost hollowing out the entire mountain peak, with an area similar to a small town;

“You need to enter from here …” Qi Yun pointed to a small path and said, “This is a secret passage of the Dark Castle, left by the dwarves who originally built the castle …”

After briefly mentioning the secret passage, Qi Yun began explaining Song Jian’s task in detail.

“Just like that, you only need to inform me when the battle with the Shadow Giant Dragon begins using this Remote Crystal, and you don’t need to do anything else!” Qi Yun handed a transparent crystal ball the size of a fist to Song Jian.

Song Jian glanced at the crystal ball, the corner of his mouth curled up and put it in the inventory column, saying, “You two signed a contract, though. If something goes wrong during the task, I can’t afford the penalty for failure!”

Qi Yun was momentarily taken aback, then nodded his head and said, “Let’s get started. I’m going to sneak into the Dark Castle and get more of those Shadow Crystals!”

Song Jian smiled faintly and turned away.

The crystal ball Qi Yun gave him was not actually a Remote Crystal but a Detection Crystal, which allowed Qi Yun to observe everything within a hundred-meter radius of the Detection Crystal.

He was also afraid that Song Jian would not give it his all, and if he gave wrong information, maybe his life would be lost in the Dark Castle. After all, their enemy was a Shadow Giant Dragon, and what they were doing now was like dancing on a knife’s edge, one misstep could lead to irreversible consequences;

Song Jian naturally understood why Qi Yun did this, simply because he didn’t trust him completely. So even though he saw through it, he didn’t say anything, but just took the crystal into his inventory column and walked towards the marked secret passage;

The Dark Castle was a Level 30 dungeon, and many teams exploring it often entered from the main gate of the castle. At the main gate, there were two powerful half-dragon guards, and only by defeating these two half-dragons could they enter the Dark Castle;

These two half-dragon guards were referred to as gatekeepers by many player teams, and some Level 25 players were brutally beaten by them and eventually gave up on exploring this dungeon.

But they didn’t know that there was another way into this dungeon, which could bypass the two half-dragon guards and enter the castle directly.

At this moment, Song Jian stood below a cliff. The original builders of the Dark Castle, the dwarves, had left a passage that was actually a sewage outlet, located several dozen meters above the cliff. Therefore, even if someone knew about this passage, not everyone could enter – they had to have some flying ability.

This was, in fact, a form of entry threshold, and it served the same purpose as the two half-dragon guards at the main entrance of the Dark Castle.

With his steel wings spread out, Song Jian easily flew to the entrance on the precipice. Because of the long disuse, the sewage in the cave entrance had dried up, leaving only large patches of dirt.

With his back bent, Song Jian walked along this passage. It was pitch black inside, and he could only open his vertical eye to see the surroundings.

This passage was winding and had many exits, but Song Jian didn’t look at them as he walked straight towards the depths of the castle;

Soon, Song Jian arrived at a barred gate. Using his sword to chop open the barrier, he entered and found himself before a spiral stone staircase.

The staircase spiraled downward, and from below, a series of dark, cold breaths and faint, bloody smells wafted up;

“There’s a dungeon down there, and past it is the Shadow Giant Dragon’s treasure room!” Song Jian’s mouth curved into a smile.

Not only did Qi Yun give Song Jian a map of the Dark Castle, but Anna had also told him the exact location of the castle’s interior, because the Goblet of Life she needed, also known as the Holy Grail, was hidden in the deepest treasure room of the Dark Castle.

As for the Shadow Giant Dragon, it preferred to stay in the Chamber of Shadows due to its large size. The place where Song Jian was now was still several hundred meters away from the Chamber of Shadows;

…