Mainline Quest!
Another mainline quest has appeared.
Su Nan was both surprised and delighted.
Mainline quests are not easy to trigger, and they can even be quite challenging.
Apart from the mainline quests triggered by completing newbie quests, Su Nan had only received three mainline quests so far, one obtained through Destiny and one using the Mainline Quest Replication Card.
The only one he accidentally triggered was the "Emperor's Bloodline" quest, and now this was the second one.
[Mainline Quest: The Secret of the Divine Dao]
[By examining the notes left by the former Chief of the Demonic Executioner Division, you have learned that the former Chief was exploring the hidden secrets of the Divine Dao. You happen to have some knowledge of the Divine Dao and know that the City God Temple in Tianyun City is a relic of the Divine Dao.]
[The Divine Dao is mysterious and enigmatic, filled with many unknowns, but the immense power it brings has driven countless people insane. You also want to uncover the secrets of the Divine Dao, but you don't know where to start. Perhaps you can begin by obtaining a Divine Dao ritual tool from the City God Temple.]
[Task Stage One: Obtain a Divine Dao ritual tool from the City God Temple.]
[Task Difficulty: Four Stars]
[Task Reward: Spirit-level Demonic Scripture, Spirit-level Bloodline, 45 points of Demonic Power, Ritual Refinement Method for Divine Dao Ritual Tools.]
"Another four-star task!"
Su Nan took a deep breath, slightly surprised but not overly so.
There was no choice. He had encountered things that were far ahead of others every step of the way.
Monsters, auspicious beasts, Demon Kings, Demon Emperors – each one of them alone could be terrifying, and now he was dealing with something that other players had never even heard of before, the Divine Dao.
Looking at the task requirements, he had a thought.
"A Divine Dao ritual tool?"
"Could it be the incense burner used for sacrifices?"
He instinctively thought of the incense burner in the City God Temple's courtyard used for the Paper Puppet Demon's worship.
If that thing was the so-called Divine Dao ritual tool, stealing it should be no problem at all.
It was safe during the day, so he could easily take it away when the sun was up.
But he didn't know what kind of trouble he might stir up by doing so.
"It's nighttime now; I'll try it in the morning," Su Nan decided.
The first stage of the task was four stars, but there was no time limit. He could complete it whenever he wanted.
What bothered him more was the task reward.
"Ritual Refinement Method for Divine Dao Ritual Tools?"
"Why would I need that? I don't plan to pursue the path of the Divine Dao."
While the Divine Dao path sounded powerful, it also had too many drawbacks.
Although fusing with the blood of demonic beasts had its own issues, at least there were ancient demonic bloodlines to minimize conflicts.
Leaving the Demonic Executioner Division, Su Nan looked at the tasks for his three characters once again.
Lang Shisan had one task yet to be completed, Wang Nan had only one task left to kill the Paper Puppet Demon, and the former Chief of the Demonic Executioner Division's last wish task could not be completed.
Only two tasks remained for killing two demonic creatures.
He decided to complete these two tasks first.
After more than ten minutes, he arrived at the horse farm in the southern part of the city.
The creature that Zhu Chen and the others had mentioned, which could use soul power, was hiding here.
What surprised him was that there was a team of over fifty players here, hunting a common-level demon.
Su Nan listened to their conversation and realized that these players were all members of Li Ye's Town Protector Guild.
"That's convenient, saves me the trouble of looking."
Su Nan chuckled. Players who came to him were like lambs to the slaughter; he couldn't let them go without killing them.
"Wolves, wolf demons!"
"Run, everyone! The wolf demon is here!"
As soon as Su Nan's wolf demon appeared, the players who had been working together in an orderly and organized manner panicked. They ran for their lives, and those who could quit the game logged out.
Su Nan acted quickly, and within a dozen breaths, the completion notifications for his tasks appeared one after another.
"Congratulations, you have completed the daily quest 'Hunt five extraplanar visitors.' 5 Demonic Power points have been rewarded."
"Congratulations, you have completed the daily quest 'Hunt 30 extraplanar visitors.' 15 Demonic Power points have been rewarded."
After dealing with the players, Su Nan switched to Lang Shisan's character and took care of the common-level demon that had been causing trouble in the horse farm.
"Congratulations, you have completed the daily quest 'Eliminate any common-level demon within Tianyun City.' 5 Demonic Power points have been rewarded."
"Congratulations, you have completed the daily quest 'Eliminate any spiritual-level demon within Tianyun City.' 15 Demonic Power points have been rewarded."
In just over ten minutes, he had earned a total of 40 Demonic Power points.
With 66 Demonic Power points in total, he thought, "Once I complete the Paper Puppet Demon hunting task, I'll receive another 30 Demonic Power points. Then I can complete Wang Nan's last Bloodline."
"This leveling speed is too fast!"
By the end of the day, Wang Nan would have perfected all four Bloodlines.
Among the top ten players on the leaderboard, only Qian Yu and Zhou Cheng had fused with a second Spirit-level Bloodline.
Qian Yu, in particular, had progressed rapidly, already mastering the second Bloodline, while Zhou Cheng was just getting started.
The rest of the top ten players were mostly stuck in the stage of perfecting their first Spirit-level Bloodline.
"With the current progress, even if I don't log in for a week, there may not be anyone who can catch up to any of my characters."
Su Nan was in high spirits.
This was the advantage of having three characters progress simultaneously.
Although he had six tasks to complete, his consumption was also three times that of other players. Theoretically, his progress should be on par with other players, and the gap shouldn't be too significant.
However, that wasn't how it worked in practice.
Advancing with all three characters simultaneously meant that his strength far exceeded that of players at the same level.
As a result, his efficiency in completing tasks had increased significantly.
While others were still struggling to hunt a single Spiritual-level demon, he could easily hunt a Profound-level demon.
A Profound-level demon was worth a whopping 30 Demonic Power points.
Now, he was like a snowball rolling downhill. The momentum he had built up early on was taking him further and further ahead of other players.
It was only a matter of time before he reached the point where his individual strength surpassed the combined strength of countless players!
And that day was not far off.
"In the real world, it's only eleven o'clock right now. It's still a long way from dawn in the game. I can't complete the task of hunting the Paper Puppet Demon just yet. I should gather my Blood Essence first."
Finding a safe spot, Su Nan began to gather his
Blood Essence.
It took three hours to gather his Blood Essence each day.
During this time, Su Nan took the Dragon Turtle out of the Qiankun Ring.
As soon as the little guy left the ring, it quickly crawled towards Su Nan. Its speed was faster than many common-level creatures.
The little guy arrived at Su Nan's feet and looked up at him with its small eyes, opening its mouth as if it was waiting to be fed.
Chapter 177: The Secret of the Divine Dao
Mainline Quest!
Su Nan naturally understood that the little guy was hungry.
The dragon turtle fed on items containing the power of water, but Su Nan didn't have any such items on him.
After thinking for a moment, he took out some blood essence from common-level demonic creatures on him and tried to feed it to the little guy.
To his surprise, the little guy actually ate it.
Su Nan carefully observed and found that the blood essence the little guy swallowed was all from demonic creatures that possessed the power of water, which matched the dietary preferences of the dragon turtle.
It wasn't until the little guy had consumed over fifty drops of common-level demonic blood essence that it showed a satisfied expression.
Su Nan sensed the changes in the little guy and realized that even after swallowing more than fifty drops of blood essence, its aura had only slightly increased, and it was still far from reaching the spiritual level.
"Wow, I've raised a glutton!" Su Nan exclaimed.
Fifty drops of common-level blood essence were equivalent to the essence of fifty early-stage common-level demonic creatures, something that ordinary players probably couldn't provide.
However, feeding these blood essences to the dragon turtle had only produced minimal results.
At this rate, it was a question of whether he could raise it to the Profound level in a month.
"This little guy eats so much, I wonder how strong it really is," Su Nan pondered.
With such a voracious appetite, the dragon turtle's strength should definitely not be underestimated.
However, Su Nan was just curious and didn't expect the dragon turtle to be of much help to him.
No matter how strong the dragon turtle became, could it match his own power?
He was raising the dragon turtle not just for the quest but also for his own fortune.
"I wonder how I can obtain cultivation methods from this little guy in the future," Su Nan mused, picking up the creature.
"From now on, I'll call you Xiao Long." After all, pets needed names.
After putting the dragon turtle away, Su Nan continued to focus on gathering his own blood essence.
Six hours later.
By the time the gathering of his blood essence was complete, it was already past five in the morning in the game.
Looking towards the east, he could faintly see a hint of red rising.
"Almost there, now I can go hunt the Paper Puppet Demon," Su Nan said as he headed towards the City God Temple.
[Returning to the City God Temple, you can faintly see the flickering flames and bustling figures inside, with four Paper Puppet Demons surrounding the incense burner for their ritual.]
[You summon the Essence of Departed Fire and intend to use it against the four demons. The Essence of Departed Fire is in sync with your intentions and shoots towards the Paper Puppet Demons suddenly.]
[The four demons sense danger and immediately launch a spiritual attack against the Essence of Departed Fire, but their spiritual powers have no effect on it.]
[The Essence of Departed Fire lands on one of the demons, and in an instant, the demon emits a scream and is quickly engulfed in flames, turning to ashes in a matter of breaths.]
[However, before you can retract the Essence of Departed Fire, all three halls of the City God Temple suddenly burst open, and three terrifying figures appear in your sight.]
[You are attacked and lose consciousness in an instant.]
[Two minutes later, you are awakened by intense pain. When you open your eyes, you see yourself lying on a red altar.]
[Three different-looking demons are devouring your organs, limbs, and brain marrow, and your fresh blood flows down from the altar.]
[You have died.]
"What is this... I'm being targeted?" Su Nan's face darkened.
In the premonition yesterday, he was only devoured by a single demon, but today he was simultaneously devoured by three demons.
Moreover, he had just made a move, and three demons appeared immediately, a significant difference from yesterday.
"It seems that killing one Paper Puppet Demon yesterday has already angered these three demons, and I was immediately targeted as soon as I took action today."
He had already guessed that if he continued to hunt Paper Puppet Demons in succession, it would definitely attract the attention of three demon lords.
But he didn't expect that he would be targeted so quickly, and it seemed that these demons identified him as the culprit through the Essence of Departed Fire. If he didn't use the Essence of Departed Fire, he might not have been targeted.
However, without the Essence of Departed Fire, he had no other means to kill the Paper Puppet Demons.
"Now it's troublesome. The demons acted too quickly, and I didn't even have time to retract the Essence of Departed Fire. Even if I kill the Paper Puppet Demons, it's like gaining a little and losing a lot."
The Essence of Departed Fire was one of his most powerful abilities and couldn't be lost carelessly.
"Now, if I want to hunt the Paper Puppet Demons and retrieve the Essence of Departed Fire, I'll have to try to lure the demons out of the City God Temple before attacking."
Once the premonition cooled down, he tried again.
[You stand a hundred meters away from the City God Temple and use a fireball to attack the temple, attempting to lure the demons inside out.]
[Your actions catch the attention of the four Paper Puppet Demons, and one of them, with a fierce appearance, appears in your line of sight.]
[You have died!]
"Again!"
(End of this chapter)