After seeing the dungeon notification, Chang Sheng felt as if all his energy and spirit had been completely drained from him.
Utterly dejected, he collapsed directly onto the ground.
The next moment, he realized that the main quest notifications that originally belonged to him as a player, along with his never-before-used special talent, were gradually fading away until they ceased to exist.
And that wasn't all.
He looked at his hands. Though they appeared exactly the same as before, he felt as if his body had undergone an earth-shattering transformation.
It was as if...
He felt a faint, subtle connection form between himself and this dungeon, as if he had been assimilated.
“I failed.”
He muttered.
“I failed to clear the dungeon. I'm going to be stuck here forever.”
So, was he going to die?
Or would he simply become a part of the dungeon like this?
Just then, he heard faint footsteps coming from the direction of the path.
Who was coming?
Was it the specter?
Was it coming to kill him already?
He looked up with a blank expression, only to see a familiar figure.
Was that... Yao Wenli?
“You?”
Chang Sheng was somewhat surprised. Why was this NPC here?
And at such a perfect time, too. Had he been following him all along?
Zuo Lin'an looked at him quietly, uttering just two simple words.
“Welcome.”
Chang Sheng froze slightly.
“What do you mean?”
A smile played on the corner of Zuo Lin'an's mouth.
Even though it was currently pitch black, Chang Sheng suddenly realized he could see the other man. While his surroundings remained obscured, he could clearly make out the smile on Yao Wenli's face.
Zuo Lin'an spoke again.
“From now on, you are one of us.”
Chang Sheng opened his mouth, his mind flooded with questions. However, in the next instant, Zuo Lin'an's figure suddenly vanished right before his eyes.
Huh?!
What was going on?
How could...
By the time he realized something was wrong, he found himself being hoisted up by someone, and his surroundings began to blur past at a dizzying speed.
For a moment, he couldn't even process what was happening.
By the time he finally found his voice, he had already been set back down.
Chang Sheng instinctively turned his head, only to find himself standing right in front of the old residence at the mountaintop once again.
“This...”
“This speed...”
Vanishing in an instant, and then reappearing just as suddenly!
And returning from the edge of the white mist to the mountaintop old residence in such a short span of time.
Wasn't this...
The first thing Chang Sheng thought of was the dungeon's specter.
Only now did he suddenly recall that the specter he had seen looked exactly like the NPC standing before him.
No way...
Could this living NPC really be the specter?!
Feng Xingyun stood by the entrance. Seeing Zuo Lin'an return, he called out.
“Young Master.”
Zuo Lin'an gave a casual nod.
“The dungeon didn't suffer much damage this time around, but Chang Sheng used a lot of wood to make puppets. There's a lot of sawdust and failed puppet parts scattered all over the place.”
“Clean it up with him, and tell him about the situation here while you're at it.”
“Once you're mostly done, bring him home.”
Feng Xingyun nodded.
“Understood.”
Zuo Lin'an then turned and walked away. Before Chang Sheng could even call out to stop him, his figure had already vanished.
By the time Chang Sheng snapped out of it, the man was already gone.
At this moment, he was still completely dazed.
Seeing this, Feng Xingyun sighed softly. “Come inside with me first. I'll explain the situation to you, and you can ask me any questions you have afterward.”
Chang Sheng watched him walk into the old residence. Suddenly coming to his senses, he quickly caught up.
“O-Okay, thank you for your trouble.”
Zuo Lin'an did not leave the inner ring of white mist immediately. Instead, he made his way to the crevice in the cliff.
He hadn't forgotten that he still had Liu Da kept here.
Liu Da was still conscious at the moment.
Before the dungeon ended, because of his Delayed Injury talent, even hunger and thirst couldn't do much to him. At most, they only shaved off ten minutes or half an hour from his survival time.
Moreover, the deductions only started on the third day once his body had reached its absolute limit. Each time, it was only a tiny amount of time, and it only occurred every few hours.
In the end, he had managed to survive for three days.
But even that was useless. In the end, he still couldn't escape the fate of failing to clear the dungeon.
“Sigh...”
Liu Da let out a deep sigh. He still didn't know when he would be able to leave this place.
Upon receiving the notification that the dungeon had ended earlier, he had thought about leaving. However, after trying, he found that he was still unable to depart.
But just as he was lamenting his fate, an overwhelming wave of drowsiness suddenly washed over him.
Before he could even think, his vision went black, and he collapsed directly onto the ground.
A moment later, Zuo Lin'an's figure walked in from outside the crevice. He cast a cold glance at Liu Da lying on the ground, casually picked him up, and left.
Liu Da had already become a dungeon puppet, which meant he was now a puppet of Zuo Lin'an, the dungeon boss.
Since he was a puppet, whether he lived or died, and whether he was awake or asleep, was entirely up to Zuo Lin'an.
He had kept Liu Da with the intention of selling him, so he naturally wouldn't bother explaining anything about specter dungeons, the supernatural world, or dungeon puppets to him.
He would certainly not go through the trouble of preparing a room for him and letting him live in his house either.
As an item defined as merchandise by the dungeon boss...
...he didn't even have the right to remain conscious.
As for where to put Liu Da?
Zuo Lin'an had already made up his mind beforehand. He would leave him in the outer ring of white mist in a comatose state. Once sold, his new owner could wake him up.
His dungeon's boundary consisted of two rings of white mist.
The inner ring of white mist defined the dungeon's area, while the outer ring of white mist separated the inside of the dungeon from the outside, acting as a security measure that only the dungeon boss could open or close.
Placed in the outer ring of white mist, no one but himself could take him away.
Zuo Lin'an made his way back home, casually tossing Liu Da at his feet.
The next moment, Lin Xiaolei hopped down from a swing in the distance and came jogging over.
Zuo Lin'an's gaze swept over the large swing, which could easily seat three to five people at once, feeling slightly puzzled.
He seemed to recall that this thing hadn't been here before he opened the dungeon.
Whatever.
It was just a swing, nothing to get worked up about.
If the kid wanted to play, let him play.
Lin Xiaolei stopped next to Liu Da, his eyes full of curiosity.
“Brother An, is the dungeon over?”
“Who is this?”
“A new companion?”
He squatted down and poked the unconscious Liu Da, but Liu Da didn't react at all.
Zuo Lin'an casually pulled over a chair and sat down.
“His name is Liu Da. He seems to have trained in Fuling Temple's Golden Light Body.”
Lin Xiaolei thought about it, then shook his head.
“I know of Fuling Temple. They're just a bunch of monks.”
“And I know about the Golden Light Body too. It's said to be the most basic yet effective cultivation method that every monk at Fuling Temple must practice to counter demons, ghosts, and evil yin energy.”
“But Liu Da... I've never heard of that name.”
On the other side, the old Daoist lay on his rocking chair, speaking in a leisurely tone.
“This guy still has his hair. He's clearly a lay disciple—meaning, an outer disciple.”
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