November 2nd, Monday, the first day after Halloween, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, at 12:55 noon, Qin Island City, Xingfuli District, Apartment 505, bedroom.

Just as Zhang Yanhang was about to ask Zhao Yalan what was going on, time suddenly fell into a pause, and a large text option box appeared in front of him again. That's right, he once again triggered a mystical encounter.

"Before, when I wanted to trigger it, nothing happened. Now that I'm preparing to do something else, it starts... Can't it be more humane?"

Of course, Zhang Yanhang also knew that the most humane solution would be to autonomously choose to trigger the encounter. But from his past experience, autonomous choices were not only expensive but also tended not to yield much good stuff. So, he opted for the free option, which, of course, couldn't be too humane.

[Would you like to go to Wushan Village to search for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures?]

[Option One: Go to Wushan Village (Although you've just slightly increased your lifespan with the Wise Man's Stone, you still feel unsatisfied. You want to enhance your lifespan to over ten thousand years more quickly and efficiently. So, you decide to look for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that can extend lifespan.

But despite this excellent idea, you have no information on where to find such treasures. Hence, you randomly marked a spot using your spiritual sense on the map—a small village called Wushan Village, with a population of just a few hundred households, mostly elderlies.

You initially thought there'd be nothing useful in such a place, but upon arriving near Wushan Village, you discovered a peculiar small chapel. It housed an idol that hadn't been worshipped in a long time. You suspect this idol might hide something you need.]

[Option Two: Go to Erdaogou (Although you've just caught some ghosts, you're still dissatisfied. You feel the need to capture more ghosts to extract soul power for refining the Wise Man's Stone. Just then, you overheard a famous supernatural legend about Erdaogou.

So you decide to head to "Ghost Town" Erdaogou. Unfortunately, whether due to false rumors or stories made up to con people, when you arrived at Erdaogou Town in the neighboring province, you didn't witness any grand scenes like the night parade of hundred demons.

In fact, not even a decent ghost was present, only a few scattered low-tier ghosts. Disappointed, you were about to leave when you unexpectedly found a "Life and Death Record" page fragment near Erdaogou. Writing your name on it can extend your life.]

[Option Three: Go to Niger (After watching a short video featuring a hell joke about black ghosts on your phone, you couldn't help but become curious about the origin of the word "nigger." So, you plan to travel to Nigeria to understand the connection between this country and black ghosts.

However, upon reaching the country, you find it rather dull, lacking what you seek. Thus, you spontaneously fly to another West African country next door, Niger. Though impoverished, Niger—lying in the Sahara Desert—intrigues you due to the rampant rebels and permanent teleportation channels.

In a Western rebel leader's safe, you find a strange-looking Heavenly Material and Earthly Treasure. Despite its odd appearance, you know consuming it would certainly have benefits, like enhancing spiritual energy circulation or cultivation speed, so you seize it on the spot.]

"Although I indeed want more life at the moment, I intend to earn it through my own efforts, not through mystical encounters. Why do I suddenly have two options related to life right from the start?"

Zhang Yanhang felt that the multiple choices somewhat misunderstood him. Currently, he was more interested in acquiring items that could enhance Life Value Recovery Speed or Energy Value Recovery Speed through mystical encounters than lifespan extension.

"But since the options have already appeared, I suppose I can't change that, so I'll just go with it for now."

Zhang Yanhang estimated that by the next mystical encounter, the multiple-choice might correct itself. Of course, that is, if it gets triggered.

"The first two options are relatively normal. However, how come the third option is still about Niger? What is so good about Niger that the multiple-choice keeps sending me to this peculiar Niger?

Besides, although it's a Niger option, Nigeria is always mentioned?"

Zhang Yanhang didn't have a deep impression of Nigeria either. Other than knowing its ancestor was affluent, the only recent impression was of the female high school student inventing a urine-powered generator there.

But this urine-powered generator still required electrical decomposition of hydrogen using a generator to generate electricity. So, it easily trapped one in the paradox of wanting to generate electricity, but needing electricity first, unable to generate without electricity. But damn, why the need for a urine-powered generator when there's a regular generator already?

Moreover, if this urine-powered generator were developed by a Japanese high school girl and came with JK-original urine fuel, Zhang Yanhang thought it might attract some uniquely interested buyers. But from Nigerian black high school girls, forget it.

Mainly, Zhang Yanhang thought their research approach had issues. Instead of tinkering with urine-powered generators, directly going for comprehensive biogas generators using both urine and feces would have been more environmental and energy-efficient; genuinely useful solutions.

"Just that, this option about Niger again mentioned the Heavenly Material held by the rebel leader. It seems like it's indeed a real-world Heavenly Material originally present," Zhang Yanhang mused.

Previously, he dismissed it due to the lack of hell jokes, considering the item likely nonexistent. But this time, if he finds the time, he may visit it.

"And the multiple-choice mentioned there are also some permanent teleportation channels besides the rebels there. Though likely low-level channels, encountering them would let me clean them up, replenishing my meager soul point balance."

Of course, when it comes to options, Zhang Yanhang would undoubtedly choose the first two. Since Niger is indeed real, there's no way to waste the other two free mystical encounter opportunities, even if he doesn't lack lifespan-extending Heavenly Materials. Still, having more is better.

"So, I choose Option One and Option Two."

After reviewing all the options, Zhang Yanhang promptly made his choice, and the time pause disappeared accordingly.

He immediately began searching for the location of Wushan Village on his phone, ultimately finding that Wushan Village was even closer than Juyang County, lying barely seven hundred kilometers from Qin Island City. At his current speed, he could fly there in seconds.

"Already, I haven't rested for long since coming back, yet I must go out again immediately. My recent workload intensity has surged significantly; I never expected to work harder even after advancing to True Immortal."

Initially, Zhang Yanhang thought that attaining True Immortal status would finally allow him to enjoy himself. But the workload significantly increased instead, and he's projected to engage in higher-intensity labor soon due to permanent teleportation channels and ghost captures.

He's increasingly yearning for an early retirement.

......

November 2, Monday, the first day after Halloween, and also the first day Zhang Yanhang left the Ashen World, at twelve fifty-seven in the afternoon, Guhe City, Wushan Village, the back of the back mountain.

That's right, Zhang Yanhang is currently at the back of the back mountain of Wushan Village. If you're wondering why, it's because the location provided by Multiple Choice was indeed quite vague. After he arrived at Wushan, where Wushan Village is located, he discovered there wasn't any chapel nearby.

So he began searching the area around Wushan for a chapel, and finally found a dilapidated small chapel at the foot of a more remote mountain behind Wushan.

Initially, just by looking at the information, Zhang Yanhang thought this small chapel might have a significant connection with Wushan Village, possibly even serving a deity worshiped by the village. But he didn't expect it to be so far. At such a distance, it was hardly related to Wushan Village, let alone Wushan itself.

After finding this small chapel, Zhang Yanhang immediately went inside to investigate and indeed found a dust-covered statue of a deity. It seemed it hadn't been visited for a long time. However, the statue looked a bit strange, its face completely obscured.

Or to put it another way, the face of the statue was entirely covered by a bunch of tentacles, and the body seemed like an amalgamation of various beastly features, a complete mishmash. Thus, Zhang Yanhang figured this thing was probably an evil god.

Unfortunately, this evil god couldn't manifest before Zhang Yanhang; otherwise, he could benefit significantly just by killing and devouring its corpse. Additionally, in the main world, Zhang Yanhang might even attempt to seize its divine essence and plunder its divine soul to forcibly extract soul power and refine a large number of Wise Man's Stones.

"It's a pity, this evil god has probably been dead for many years."

After silently lamenting, Zhang Yanhang immediately shattered the statue and retrieved something similar to a Shariputra from inside. Except, it definitely wasn't a Buddha Relic, and this thing was blood-red, as if soaked in blood—clearly not something respectable.

"But no matter if it's respectable or not, once it's in my stomach, it's all the same!"

Zhang Yanhang promptly swallowed the blood-red Shariputra. But shortly after swallowing, he noticed something was off because the digestion felt different from the life span-related Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

"It shouldn't be, didn't the option say it was what I wanted?"

Harboring doubts, Zhang Yanhang opened up his XXX-tier talent, Infinite Life Talent Effect, to see if there was any increase in his lifespan limit.

[Infinite Life]

[Quality: XXX (0/177147)]

[Ability One: Unwearied—Constitution +19.]

[Ability Two: Energetic—Physical Strength +760%.]

[Ability Three: Longevity—Life Span +500 years +20 years×123[Constitution]=2960 years.]

[Ability Four: Longevity—When remaining life span exceeds 1000 years [currently 6107 years], increase Attack Power by 6107 years (life span)×0.2%=1221%, increase defensive power by 6107 years (life span)×0.2%=1221%.]

[Ability Five: Heavenly Mandate—Luck +1, when remaining life span exceeds 10000 years [currently 6107 years], for every additional 10000 years of life span, increase Luck by 1 point, current extra Luck bonus is [0].]

"Huh? There really isn't an increase in lifespan, so what did the blood-red Shariputra increase? No matter what, something must have definitely been enhanced just now."

Feeling puzzled and considering examining each aspect was slow, he decided to directly consult Multiple Choice.

After making a simple selection, Zhang Yanhang discovered that what the blood-red Shariputra, or 'Blood Energy Essence', improved was the Life Value Recovery Speed.

"You should have said earlier, I didn't expect it to be Life Value Recovery Speed. This is indeed what I most wanted."

Zhang Yanhang felt he might have misunderstood Multiple Choice earlier. In the end, it really understood him and knew he wanted Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures that could enhance Life Value Recovery Speed.

"Come to think of it, the previous option didn't actually state this item increased lifespan. It only mentioned my desire to increase lifespan, then started searching for Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and eventually found something I wanted in Wushan Village, without elaborating on what the desired item specifically was or its exact purpose."

Zhang Yanhang could only blame the preliminary statements for misleading him, leading him to think Multiple Choice provided him with two lifespan-enhancing Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures.

"However, even though the first option misled me, the second option absolutely contained something that increased lifespan, considering the second option directly and confidently informed me it could improve lifespan."

Of course, if it were possible, Zhang Yanhang would prefer if the second option could also enhance Life Value Recovery Speed, but unfortunately, it couldn't change.

After discovering the Blood Energy Essence's function was to improve Life Value Recovery Speed, Zhang Yanhang immediately checked his Life Value to see how much it had improved due to the Blood Energy Essence.

[Life Value: 29566/47563/65560/142689 (Constitution×108, the current body is formally dataized, Life Value Recovery Speed, 151 points/hour (+32).)]

"My original Life Value Recovery Speed was only 119 points, meaning only 119 points of Life Value could automatically recover every hour. Now, it has increased to 151 points per hour, instantly increasing my Life Value Recovery Speed by 32 points, which is equivalent to a quarter increase."

Zhang Yanhang originally thought this Blood Energy Essence would only improve his Life Value Recovery Speed by ten or so points at most, but he didn't expect it to be so substantial.

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