Chapter 138
The magic array in the city lord’s mansion was finally complete.
All the officials, even the elusive city lord himself, stood together, chanting incantations—calling upon the god that ruled above this city.
If they sacrificed all the residents, their souls would be refilled and they’d live forever. Later, they could just gather another batch of “crops” from outside the walls.
The city’s residents froze as if someone had pressed a pause button.
The sky churned ominously.
Moments later, every resident turned into lifeless husks, their remaining soul-value sucked into the glowing arrays.
“Master, we offer up all the residents to trade for our immortality!” the city lord cried.
[Transaction… denied.]
The city lord froze. Why?
Then he realized something was wrong.
The officials beside him stiffened like the residents—then collapsed into lifeless husks as well.
Chen Ji held up the loan contracts he’d bought from Lu Chuan.
“Sorry, city lord. All those officials borrowed from me. By this city’s own laws, that makes them my property. Just now, I traded all of them to the god—in exchange for your life.” Chen Ji smiled. “From this moment on, City of Immortality belongs to our Extreme Evil Loan Company.”
As for you parasites stealing the gods’ branding to compete with us? Time to be erased.
The city lord’s eyes bulged in fury, as if to rip Chen Ji apart.
“You’ve gone too far—”
He began to transform, mutating into a fearsome god-touched creature.
Chen Ji didn’t even bat an eye. With one hand, he crushed the city lord flat.
These pampered cultists of City of Immortality had long forgotten how to fight. But his loan-sharks? They’d waded through fire and blood for their business. What dungeon hadn’t they seen? What top player hadn’t they fought?
The difference in strength was obvious.
Where the city lord might have cost players dearly, he was nothing before Chen Ji—snuffed out in moments, his essence swallowed into the array.
The [God of Exchange] rumbled in satisfaction.
So many sacrifices at once—of course He was pleased.
Chen Ji was pleased too. Once he delivered City of Immortality to headquarters, promotion and a raise were guaranteed.
[Main Quest Three complete.]
The system chime sounded.
Lu Chuan just smiled. He’d known Chen Ji wasn’t weak. If he’d been weaker, the top players would have robbed him long ago.
It seemed he could continue doing business with Chen Ji after all. After all, he still didn’t have the skills to “eat black” and rob others.
“Stone Lions, our contract can begin.”
Hearing the chime announcing Main Quest Three completed, Lu Chuan knew the time had come.
Whether he could clear the stage with a high score depended on this.
At the same time—
“Great, we cleared Main Quest Three!”
“We can return to the city now, right?”
“Hahaha, who knew it would be this easy!”
The players were excited. They’d expected Quest Three to be difficult, but it had turned out to be the easiest.
“Boss, what should we do next?” one of the players waiting outside the city with Starry Ming asked — but suddenly his eyes widened and he collapsed unconscious.
Once the first fell, the rest also dropped one by one — without warning, without pause.
Starry Ming’s pupils contracted. He hurriedly pulled out several healing items, but nothing could stop the players from fainting one after another.
What was happening?
Had someone tampered with them?
A moment later, dizziness swept over Starry Ming as well. No matter what he tried, he slowly lost consciousness.
Just before blacking out, he suddenly thought of the stone lions that had escorted them out of the city.
Those statues were the only thing all the players had touched together.
And only they could’ve planted something silently.
So this was Lu Chuan’s hidden move.
Starry Ming sighed inwardly. He knew he’d been outplayed, hadn’t considered thoroughly enough.
Though he disapproved of Lu Chuan, he also recognized that Lu Chuan’s meticulous planning and foresight gave him real potential to be a Guildmaster.
Every player collapsed.
Lu Chuan himself soon followed.
Before losing consciousness, Lu Chuan called out to Chen Ji, “Loan-shark bro, remember what I said — help me wake up the God of Exchange, and I’ll give you a five-star review.”
Since Chen Ji’s role in this dungeon was priest, it meant he had the qualification to awaken the god.
Even the officials of the City Lord’s mansion needed Chen Ji present when carving the magic circle, didn’t they?
In other words, Chen Ji was the key to summoning the deity.
The God of Exchange had no intention of revealing its vessel in this instance.
If Lu Chuan hadn’t known Chen Ji, even knowing that together they and the players formed the god’s human vessel, he couldn’t have triggered its awakening.
But fate had brought Lu Chuan to this dungeon.
After speaking, Lu Chuan instructed #888 once more, “System, if Chen Ji tries anything against me, stay sharp.”
[Don’t worry, Host, I’m watching.] #888 assured him.
Only then did Lu Chuan relax and pass out.
Chen Ji clicked his tongue, stepping up to Lu Chuan.
“You trust me this much?” he muttered, helpless at the sight of Lu Chuan lying unconscious.
“It’s not easy to dig up a client like you. You don’t know how pleased the god is with you.”
He crouched and reached to touch Lu Chuan’s soul, wanting to see what made him so remarkable.
But as soon as his hand touched Lu Chuan’s forehead, a vivid light flashed from nowhere, burning Chen Ji so badly he jerked back.
“The Executor actually left such a deep mark on him?” Chen Ji looked at his now skeletal hand, then unhesitatingly chopped it off and regrew a new one.
“Not just our god — even an Executor values him this much? A mark that strong could only come from one of the top ten Executors.”
Seeing Chen Ji make no further move, #888 finally relaxed.
If this guy really harmed the host, #888 would’ve risked being scolded for days to use [Spending Spree] and kill Chen Ji on the spot.
“Looks like I can’t skip completing this deal,” Chen Ji said wryly. He hoisted Lu Chuan onto his shoulder and carried him to the center of the magic circle.
Then he went outside the city, hauled each of the unconscious players back, and piled them beside Lu Chuan.
Now everyone was present.
Chen Ji quietly chanted an incantation, “…Please awaken, great deity.”
The next instant, all the players’ eyes snapped open.
But their souls as players were immediately transported away as the god awoke.
The newly awakened God of Exchange looked at Chen Ji in unison, displeased.
“Don’t be angry, great one,” Chen Ji said sheepishly, rubbing his nose, utterly unafraid. “I had no choice — I made a deal.”
[This is the last time, High Priest.]
System Message: Congratulations, player [Arrival of the God of Wealth], for clearing the dungeon [Exchange] and completing the God Challenge!
System Message: Congratulations, player [Arrival of the God of Wealth], for officially entering the Master Ranking, current position: 99th.
System Message: Master-Rank reward package and quest have been issued. Please check your inventory.
…
A barrage of system prompts nearly made Lu Chuan dizzy.
He now stood in the game’s hub space, listening as #888 described what had happened.
[…Host, you don’t know — that Chen Ji tried to probe your soul’s depth. I stayed put, ready to strike if needed. Luckily, Host, you were so wise to have the Executor leave a mark on you; it scared Chen Ji off.]
#888 praised him lavishly. [Just as you said, indeed, your body combined with the others forms the god’s vessel. Host, you’re brilliant.]
“Just a bit of luck,” Lu Chuan said, stretching lazily.
“Chen Ji isn’t simple either, but whatever — everyone has secrets. No need to dig too deep; that’s a bad habit.”
Chen Ji’s role in the dungeon was clearly more than it seemed. He claimed to be a mere salesman, yet when trading with Lu Chuan, he never thought of reporting to any superior — strange behavior.
The believers in the City of Immortality were supposed to be his peers, but Chen Ji hadn’t hesitated to use them for trade.
If he didn’t need approval to make decisions, there was only one explanation: he was the superior.
That was why he had the authority.
Still, as a trading partner, the stronger Chen Ji was, the better for Lu Chuan.
[Host, you earned tons of game points again, plus the system rewarded you with an S-grade item and three Sanity Cards! Check your Master-Rank package!] #888 urged.
Shen Li and Cynthia had mentioned before: once you became an official Master Ranked player, the Main God System would give a big gift, tailored to what you lacked.
When Lu Chuan had left the Rookie list, the system had also given him what he needed most: the [Divine Contract].
Clearly, as long as you met its requirements, the system wasn’t stingy.
Lu Chuan opened the package to find an item lying quietly inside:
S-grade item: [Seed of Exchange]
The system presented a long description:
Tip 1: This item cannot be traded or discarded, only bound to the owner. Only players who achieve the special feat of clearing Exchange may obtain it. It carries a high bounty from the Extremely Evil Loan Company — check the reward yourself.
Tip 2: Formed from the condensed power of the God of Exchange’s human vessel, it contains part of that god’s power. Using the Seed of Exchange, you may forcibly swap any item in your hand with another of equal rank, up to 3 times per dungeon.
Tip 3: The Seed of Exchange can temporarily swap your abilities with those of a target for three minutes. Activating this costs one A-rank item and Sanity points: 5 per minute, 10 for two, 15 for three.
Tip 4: Because it’s formed from the god’s essence, using it will mark you with the deity’s seal and draw its attention.
Tip 5: The god’s seeds are coveted by countless deities. Carrying one into any dungeon will draw the attention of that dungeon’s boss.
Tip 6: As a divine parasite, if your Sanity drops too low while equipped, there’s a chance you’ll become a host for the god.
After reading the lengthy entry, Lu Chuan picked up the Seed of Exchange for a closer look.
It resembled a small, delicate infinity-shaped ring — surprisingly cute.
Without hesitation, Lu Chuan slipped it onto his finger to bind it.
No joke — if used well, this item was more valuable than anything. With it, he’d have another layer of protection in future dungeons.
Divine seeds really are handy, Lu Chuan thought.
He couldn’t help recalling Xi Jiangyuan’s Seed of Desire, which had allowed him to create such a massive dungeon even after death.
These seeds varied in power, but without doubt, they were formidable.
As for possibly becoming a parasite? Lu Chuan shrugged.
Such a powerful item is bound to have side effects.
Besides, it’s not like I’ve never been possessed by a god before.
[Host, although this seed’s power isn’t that great, it’s just right. If it were any stronger, it might have started to affect your mind.] #888 was also very pleased. [Once you grow stronger, Host, you’ll be able to absorb the seed’s power completely.]
The domains of gods often overlap with one another.
For example, the God of Wealth and the God of Desire share certain concepts, just as the God of Death and the God of Life overlap. Sometimes the boundaries aren’t all that clear.
But no matter how you cut it, the God of Wealth ranks above the God of Exchange. If Lu Chuan could fully absorb the God of Exchange, he might be able to officially ascend as the God of Wealth as early as tomorrow.
“Indeed.” Lu Chuan affirmed #888’s words. “Oh, let me check my Master Ranking mission. Which god do I need to hunt down?”
The Main God System never gave out good things without a price. Every Master Ranking player was bound by one task: they had to hunt down a god designated for them. Only by doing so could they achieve evolution and a dramatic boost in rank.
The god Lu Chuan needed to hunt appeared very quickly.
Surprisingly, there were two options.
Unsurprisingly, they were exactly the two he had guessed.
[God of Desire] or [God of Exchange].
