The Mysterious Dungeon: A Survival Guide to the Twelve Talismans

Therefore, the only possibility is that they were after the profound-level cultivation technique that they were escorting this time.

"A wise move," Zhou An said with a faint smile.

"Please wait a moment, senior. I'll be right back." Li Wan'er stood up and bowed.

"Go ahead." Zhou An nodded slightly.

Li Wan'er disappeared very quickly.

Zhou An could vaguely hear some arguing coming from outside.

However, things quickly calmed down.

In less than a quarter of an hour, Li Wan'er returned.

He was also holding a sandalwood box in his hand.

Zhou An opened the box, revealing a book inside.

[Blood Coagulation Technique]: A low-grade Xuan-level Qi and Blood cultivation technique. After cultivation, it condenses Qi and Blood to protect the whole body.

Upon seeing this, Zhou An nodded slightly and accepted it.

Zhou An then turned and went back into the watchtower.

After Zhou An left, Uncle An hurriedly went into the tent.

“Miss, this profound-level cultivation technique was purchased by the master at a huge cost.”

“We split into three groups to ensure his safe return. Now that you’ve entrusted him to this person, what should we do?” Uncle An asked anxiously.

Li Wan'er shook her head and said, "You are all our trusted confidants, we cannot die here."

"It's just a low-grade Xuan-level Qi and Blood cultivation technique. You can buy another one if you run out, but once someone buys it, it's truly gone."

Uncle An was still extremely anxious: "But, Miss, if this skill is lost, our third branch will never have a chance to rise again."

Li Wan'er, however, remained calm and said, "Uncle An, there's no need to say anything more. I have my own plans."

"Sigh!" Uncle An sighed upon hearing this and finally left the tent.

"Ah Yue, you should go and rest too," Li Wan'er said to Ah Yue, who was standing to the side.

"Yes, Miss," Ah Yue replied and hurriedly left.

Only Li Wan'er remained inside the tent.

Li Wan'er turned her head to look in the direction of the watchtower, a slight smile playing on her lips.

……

After returning to the watchtower, Zhou An began to ponder how to cultivate this technique.

He followed the instructions and sensed his own Qi and blood.

However, Zhou An tried to sense it for a long time but couldn't detect it at all.

"Is my physical constitution really that bad?" Zhou An frowned.

"Forget it, forget it. I've only been in the dungeon for a few days. I won't be able to cultivate anything much anyway." Zhou An shook his head and gave up on cultivation.

He then continued to lie in bed to rest.

Before resting, they also summoned their malevolent and benevolent entities to keep watch.

……

Nothing was said that night, and the next morning arrived.

Eight o'clock in the morning.

The sky, which had been pitch black, suddenly became bright.

The darkness began to retreat rapidly toward the edge.

Standing atop the watchtower, Zhou An watched the darkness recede, his heart filled with awe.

As darkness dissipated, sunlight streamed down from the sky, illuminating the earth.

The world has once again come back to life.

Zhou An looked down.

The Li family caravan had already packed their belongings, and as darkness receded, they set off immediately.

Zhou An didn't pay attention because a notification sound rang in his ear.

[Successfully survived to the second day, first stage of the mission completed, inventory unlocked]

[Second phase of the mission begins: Guard the border. Please light up the second watchtower within three days.]

Zhou An's expression instantly turned to surprise.

After completing the first phase of the quest, my inventory was surprisingly unlocked.

The next moment, Zhou Anxin had a thought, and the food tablecloth appeared in his hand.

"Great, we don't have to worry about food anymore."

As for the second phase of the mission, it's practically a freebie.

Because Zhou An's horse talisman can directly restore the watchtower and the fire seed to their peak condition.

The inventory was unlocked after completing the first phase of the quest, which means that completing the second phase of the quest will also unlock certain items.

"Will it unlock my strength?" Zhou An guessed that was the most likely outcome.

"Never mind, let's fill our stomachs first." Zhou An really didn't eat well yesterday.

Even the food prepared by the Li family caravan was simply inedible to Zhou An, who was used to fine dining in the modern world.

Zhou An immediately spread out the tablecloth, and a variety of delicious foods were presented in front of him.

Zhou An took a bite of the roast goose and immediately beamed with enjoyment: "This is life!"

After finishing the meal, Zhou An switched between his evil and benevolent forms.

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be a watchtower nearby as well."

"You should also be familiar with the second phase of the main quest."

"Everyone go out and look for the watchtowers. Li Wan'er said there are four more watchtowers nearby," Zhou An instructed.

"Okay." The two nodded, and then jumped down from the watchtower.

Then, its body twisted in mid-air and finally transformed into a hawk, soaring into the sky.

Zhou An also transformed into a hawk and soared into the sky.

However, he did not seek out the watchtower, but instead flew towards the Eternal Night Wasteland.

He wanted to see the land eroded by darkness and search for more useful information.

Half an hour later, Zhou An landed on a hill.

"This wretched place has absolutely nothing." Zhou An transformed into human form, panting heavily.

This half-hour flight also took a lot of Zhou An's energy.

"Huh? What's this?" Suddenly, Zhou An noticed something that looked like grass growing under a huge rock in the distance.

Zhou An quickly approached, squatted down, and examined it carefully, discovering it was a kind of dark, small grass.

【Yin Soul Grass】: It grows in places with abundant Yin energy. After consumption, it can slightly enhance ghost power and can also be used to refine Yin Soul Pills.

“This is…” Zhou An raised an eyebrow.

This thing is exactly what you call spiritual material.

Putting everything else aside, Zhou An can take it all because he cultivates ghost power.

However, even after flying such a long distance, he only saw this small patch of land covered in grass.

Suddenly, Zhou An thought of something, so he plucked a Yin Soul Grass and exposed it to the sunlight.

Almost instantly upon exposure to sunlight, the Yin Soul Grass withers and turns into black, withered grass.

A gentle breeze blew, dispersing the ashes in Bianjiang Zhou An's palm.

Zhou An understood: it wasn't that the Yin Soul Grass couldn't grow, but rather that it would all wither and die once it was exposed to the sun at dawn.

These trees still exist because of their location; they are shaded by objects, so the sunlight doesn't kill them off immediately.

Of course, by the afternoon, the ghost grass under the boulder will also be scorched to death by the sun.

After resting for a while and recovering his strength, Zhou An continued flying forward.

Another half hour passed.

It was still an endless wasteland.

There was no strange corpse or any other remains to be seen.

Most of the traces left behind are strange.

However, Zhou An did discover the ruins of some cities or villages.

"Forget it, we won't find anything anyway." Zhou An shook his head and turned to head towards the watchtower.

An hour later, Zhou An returned to the watchtower.

The evil and benevolent entities have already returned to the watchtower.

"Old Ben, the other four watchtowers have been found."

“Two to the east and two to the west, each thirty kilometers apart, perfectly connecting this area,” the evil entity said.

"Collaboration?" Zhou An was somewhat confused.

"There are two towering mountains on either side, seemingly able to block out the darkness," the benevolent entity said in a deep voice.

"So, it seems these five watchtowers used to be a barrier around here."

“However, a watchtower can only illuminate one kilometer at most. Five towers are thirty kilometers apart. How can they possibly communicate with each other?” Zhou An said, somewhat puzzled.

"Who cares? Let's just finish the mission and return. This stupid dungeon is no fun at all," the evil entity grumbled.

This dungeon is obviously quite boring.

"Boring? Not fun? Hehe, we've got some fun tonight," Zhou An said with a faint smile.

"Oh?" The evil entity suddenly became interested.

“Tonight we’ll transform into monsters and find out where they came from.” Zhou An was also very curious about this.

“Sure, sure.” The evil entity also became interested.

"Old Ben, let's finish the second phase of the task first," the benevolent entity reminded him.

“Okay, lead the way.” Zhou An nodded.

Forty minutes later, they reached the first watchtower on the east side.

It was once a tower, but now only ruins remain.

The once sparkling flame had shattered and was now covered with a lot of mud and sand.

Zhou An landed on the ruins and placed his hand on the embers.

The next instant, a flash of white light appeared, followed by a brand new spark of fire in front of them.

Zhou An placed it in the groove of the nearly broken support and then activated the power of the talisman again.

Immediately afterwards, the surrounding ruins began to shake.

Before long, a brand new watchtower appeared.

Zhou An and his two companions thus found themselves on the very top floor.

"The power of the Horse Talisman is really useful; it restored me so easily," the benevolent entity remarked with admiration.

“Yes, without the Horse Talisman, we’d probably have to find out how to repair the watchtower.” The evil entity nodded seriously.

If the mission can be released, then there will definitely be a chance to relight the watchtower.

It would have taken some effort to find it, but Zhou An doesn't need to waste that time now.

"Why wasn't the mission completed?" Zhou An frowned.