Chapter 47: Ladder Ranking No. 1, Universe Second Ring (1/3)

“Roar !”

The Dan-Swallowing Beast watched in despair as all the Medicinal Toxin Puppets it had painstakingly split apart were utterly destroyed, letting out a furious roar.

Immediately, cracks erupted all over its body, and countless streams of purple-black poison gushed out, forming a rain of Medicinal Toxin Fire that instantly covered the entire area.

At the same time, a large number of Medicinal Toxin Puppets split from its body, frantically charging towards Su Fu!

“Oh, getting desperate now, resorting to poison rain, huh?”

Su Fu remained calm and composed, activating her divine skill-

“Nirvana Light!”

In an instant, the phantom of a golden phoenix emerged behind her, and her entire body was enveloped in a golden glow.

The Medicinal Toxin Fire Rain fell on the protective barrier, emitting a sizzling sound before dissipating into specks of golden light.

But it didn’t end there.

The golden light continued to surge upwards, rapidly spreading out.

The purple-black poison mist was instantly purified, and the entire space became clear once more.

The Medicinal Toxin Puppets charging towards her let out piercing shrieks as their bodies gradually dissolved in the golden light.

Are you kidding me?

Little Medicinal Toxin Puppets trying to break through the divine skill of the Phoenix?

Purification is their ultimate counter!

Su Fu swiftly dispatched the Medicinal Toxin Puppets blocking her path and charged straight towards the Dan-Swallowing Beast.

At this moment, she finally got a clear look at the Dan-Swallowing Beast’s true form, a grotesque creature pieced together from fragments of a medicinal furnace, with a faintly glowing purple medicinal furnace fragment embedded at its core.

So that’s the core.

The Dan-Swallowing Beast seemed to sense the danger and immediately spewed a thick stream of poison.

“……!”

Su Fu didn’t even bother to dodge, directly purifying the poison.

Meanwhile, the golden staff in her hand expanded a hundredfold, and she brought it down with full force onto the Dan-Swallowing Beast!

“No!”

Too late.

With a sharp shriek, the golden staff smashed down!

“Crack!”

The furnace fragment at the core shattered into dust.

“Boom!”

The Dan-Swallowing Beast exploded, disintegrating on the spot.

The shockwave sent the surrounding Medicinal Toxin Puppets flying, and after a moment of rigidity, they turned into black smoke and vanished.

Three strikes, and the D-level dungeon was cleared.

Su Fu retracted her golden staff and gently patted her sleeves.

The reason it took three strikes was purely because the Dan-Swallowing Beast’s mechanics were a bit tricky-it could split and transform, and its poison was a nuisance.

Otherwise, one strike would have been enough.

“Phew~ That should be a speedrun, right?”

Just as Su Fu was waiting for the system notification, she suddenly noticed a ripple in the air before her.

“Huh?”

The fragments of the pill furnace that had been shattered began to slowly float into the air, emitting a faint blue light.

“Hum…”

At the same time, the Green Spirit Array blessed by the Supreme Lord Laozi around Su Fu began to vibrate, and ripples of blue light spread out from beneath her feet.

It was as if… it was resonating with the medicinal furnace fragments!

Amidst the blue light, a figure slowly materialized.

With flowing white hair and an immortal aura, it was… the residual image of the Supreme Lord Laozi?!

He looked at the floating furnace fragments and sighed softly, “The medicinal tribulation here was resolved by a single strike from you, young friend…”

Su Fu, caught off guard by this sudden development, was momentarily stunned:

“Uh…”

Laozi continued, “However, these medicinal furnace fragments still require your assistance to restore.”

“Restore? You mean repair them back into the original furnace?”

Su Fu:”…..”

Wait, she only knows how to swing a staff, not repair things.

And looking at the completely shattered medicinal furnace fragments before her, how was she supposed to fix them?

The residual image didn’t seem to understand, merely repeating, “The medicinal furnace fragments still require your assistance to restore.”

It seemed communication was impossible.

Su Fu was completely stunned.

How come she had never heard of hidden quests in this dungeon before?

At that moment, a Shen Yan AI prompt appeared:

[You have activated a hidden quest: Reignite the Alchemical Flame]

[Quest Description: Assist the Supreme Lord Laozi in repairing the fragments of the alchemical furnace, restoring it to its original state. ]

[You may choose whether to accept the quest or not.]

Su Fu stared at the quest prompt, deep in thought.

So it really was a hidden quest.

Could it be because she still carried the Green Spirit Array bestowed by Laozi that it had been triggered?

Laozi’s residual image remained, and the floating fragments of the alchemical furnace emitted a faint blue light.

Su Fu rubbed her chin, “Well… why not give it a try?”

She pondered, surely completing a hidden quest would come with some rewards, right?

But the real question was, how exactly was she supposed to repair it?

She glanced around the alchemy room.

The tool racks were filled with various magical instruments for crafting, all very complete, but she didn’t know how to use any of them.

She didn’t have the skills!

She could, however, grab a hammer and just smash it.

Su Fu stared at the floating fragments, and suddenly, an idea struck her.

“Wait a minute!” She clapped her hands, “I shouldn’t be fixated on the physical form. Repairing doesn’t necessarily require tools. Isn’t it all about the application of divine power at its core?”

With this thought, she felt her mind open up.

“Since it’s about repair, isn’t healing the most basic form of repair? Let’s try it! At worst, I’ll fail and gain nothing, but what if I succeed?”

Su Fu focused her mind, and divine power surged.

Golden light of rebirth flowed from her palms, gently enveloping the furnace fragments.

The fragments trembled slightly within the golden light—

“Oh my god! It’s actually reacting!”

Soon, the fragments began to slowly coalesce, gradually restoring their original shape.

Su Fu increased the flow of divine power.

Blue and golden light intertwined, and the cracks on the surface began to heal, eventually restoring the furnace to its original form.

“This actually worked?” Su Fu herself could hardly believe it.

Laozi’s residual image finally smiled, “Young friend, you truly have a keen mind. Since that is the case, I shall bestow upon you a gift.”

A stream of blue light flowed from the residual image, directly entering Su Fu’s body.

Immediately, the Shen Yan AI prompt sounded:

[You have acquired a divine skill: Eight Trigrams Alchemical Furnace · Level 1]

“Oh my god!” Su Fu was shocked, “The reward is actually a free divine skill? This is a huge win!”

Moreover, she quickly realized that the true reward wasn’t just the divine skill she had been given, but the underlying mechanism of the quest!

She had entered the Palace of Supreme Purity carrying Laozi’s Green Spirit Array blessing, which had triggered this hidden quest.

If she had chosen a different dungeon instead of this one…

“I almost missed out on a fortune.”

This also suggested that divine blessings might trigger hidden quests in corresponding dungeons, just like this time.

So the next question was, would just a blessing buff be enough?

What about other tokens?

For example, the Heavenly Prison Authority she had obtained in the Heavenly Prison dungeon last time!

If she entered a Heavenly Prison-related dungeon again, could she trigger a hidden quest?

“Wait, wait, wait, if that’s the case…” Su Fu’s thoughts instantly expanded, “Not just the main deities, but blessings from associated deities might also trigger similar hidden quests!”

For instance, Hou Yi and Chang’e.

If Su Fu received Hou Yi’s blessing and entered a Chang’e dungeon, could she also trigger a hidden quest?

It’s highly possible!

She quickly summarized in her mind:

‘Divine blessings (or other tokens, to be verified) are somehow connected to the dungeons and can trigger hidden quests, granting additional divine skills. Moreover, associated deities might play a similar role. This was a major discovery!”

It meant she could use divine blessings to earn extra rewards in dungeons, effectively doubling her divine skills directly.

While others might gain three divine skills or level up, she could double hers through hidden quests!

And with so many connections in the Chinese pantheon, she couldn’t even imagine how terrifying the bonuses could be.

Truly, the Chinese pantheon was something else!

Sighing, Su Fu lamented that the only thing holding her back now was the lack of dungeons.

She had to strive to climb higher.

Once she could farm low-level dungeons to double her divine skills and then upgrade them in high-level dungeons, she’d be unstoppable!

At that moment, the voice of Shen Yan echoed in her ears:

[Abnormal Clearance Progress: 100%]

[Completion Time: 4 minutes 12 seconds]

[New Record Achieved]

[Total Kills: 387 (Medicinal Toxin Puppets x375, Devouring Dan Beast x1, Splintered Bodies x11)]

[This exam has ended.]

Everything before Su Fu’s eyes slowly faded, and she returned to her personal space in Shen Yan.

Before she could react, a brilliant light flashed before her, and a massive screen unfolded in the void.

A dazzling star chart flowed across the screen, outlining the shimmering illusion of a celestial court.

Su Fu: “Huh?”

A celestial court illusion?

[Congratulations! You have cleared two Celestial Court Dungeons (C+/D level)]

[You have unlocked the corresponding Celestial Court Series Ladder Rankings]

[You are currently ranked first in the D level rankings]

Golden light descended from above, coalescing above Su Fu’s head as if crowning her.

She raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

What had she unlocked?

The Celestial Court Series Dungeon Ladder Rankings?

Was this a ranking of who could clear this type of dungeon the fastest?

She glanced at the list, where her name was at the top of the D level rankings, with the second-place holder’s clearance time being [14 minutes 33 seconds].

[Congratulations on reaching the top of the D level Ladder Rankings!]

[Unlocked privileges are as follows:]

[If you remain on the rankings for thirty days, you will receive a D level Celestial Court Dungeon self-selected reward.]

[Days can be accumulated, and rewards will consume the accumulated days.]

Su Fu’s eyes lit up.

A free dungeon!

She’d definitely have to stay on the rankings for thirty days.

***

The changes in the Celestial Court Series Ladder Rankings immediately caught the attention of many.

“What? Four minutes? The Hall of Supreme Purity dungeon? Solo?”

“I could understand if it were a team effort, but solo? Impossible!”

The fastest record for the Alchemy Series dungeons was fourteen minutes.

It was said that the abnormal forms were poisonous, controlling, and had area-of-effect attacks extremely versatile.

How could one person possibly have so many skills?”

“Did she pay to win?”

“…Pay to win just for a D level dungeon? Buddy, the cost-benefit ratio doesn’t add up.”

“Then it must be a bug in the rankings. But no, the Shen Yan rankings have never been wrong.”

Meanwhile, in a small group chat, a few people were heatedly discussing:

“This record is suspicious.”

“Agreed. It’s impossible under normal circumstances. Either this person knows the dungeon inside out, or they have an absurd number of skills. The latter seems unlikely.”

“I think paying to win is more plausible? But even then, why spend so much on a D level dungeon instead of tackling C level ones?”

“Yeah, skills obtained from D-level dungeons are all at the lowest E-level, so they’re useless for skill improvement.”

“Ridiculous. Maybe it’s for the rewards from the D-level leaderboard? Wait, no, the rewards are still D-level, so still useless.”

“Hmm… Is there a possibility that she can only challenge D-level dungeons?”

“Even a mosquito has meat, right? As long as it can improve skill proficiency a bit?”

“Then I think we can try to recruit her. Should we…?”

“Let’s check her background first. Number 3, you have the highest authority among us. Look into all her previous dungeon records.”

“No problem.”

The group isn’t large, just five people, but all of them are regulars on the Celestial Ladder leaderboard of the Heavenly Court series.

The group was formed by Number 1, who has access to many high-level dungeons in the Heavenly Court series, aiming to conquer as many as possible.

“Tsk!”

But unfortunately, he has only managed to clear two high-level dungeons so far, both B-level, and is now pushing for an A-level dungeon.

Looking at the group chat with a complex expression, he finally sighed.

He then switched to another group and sent a message:

“The Celestial Rift dungeon team isn’t full yet. Anyone interested, sign up quickly! The rewards are definitely generous.”

Su Fu closed the leaderboard.

There’s still plenty of time before the thirty-day mark.

Suddenly, her Shen Yan Prompt notified her of a new email.

She glanced at it: [Competition Qualification Review Result Notification]

Finally, it’s here!

But upon opening the email, she found:

[Review Result: Unqualified]

[Reason: Incomplete materials, Divine Artifact certification not completed]

“What?”