After searching for a long time nearby, Nie Yan thought that since the mark on the treasure map was so large, it should be easy to find. However, after more than thirty minutes, he still hadn’t found anything, which made him very frustrated.
Looking toward the left hillside, he noticed some green glowing spots flickering in the darkness.
Could it be over there?
Nie Yan recalled that he had already searched that area earlier, but had found nothing other than scattered mounds of earth.
He decided to check it again and walked toward the source of the green flames.
Several minutes later, Nie Yan arrived at those scattered mounds. Upon closer inspection, he realized this was a graveyard. The ground was damp and muddy, littered with decaying corpses emitting a foul stench. Some of the tombstones were toppled over, and green ghostly flames floated among the weeds.
Being here felt like stepping into a horror movie scene.
Could this be the tombstone location marked on the map? Would the Lich King’s crypt really be this desolate?
Although puzzled, Nie Yan still entered the graveyard and began searching through it.
As Nie Yan entered the cemetery, a powerful dark aura instantly spread. From the mud, the corpses began struggling and crawling slowly toward him.
When one of the corpses approached within two or three yards of Nie Yan, he lifted his foot and with a loud crack, kicked its head clean off.
Just a regular monster of level 160!
The corpse collapsed without support into the mud.
Nie Yan walked straight ahead and discovered a relatively intact tombstone. The gray stone had been eroded and weathered to the point of being shabby and worn. Written on it were several words in ancient Undead language that could not be deciphered. In the upper right corner was a blood-red skull and a thumb-sized groove.
Could this be the place?
This was an open wilderness, with nothing but a few grave mounds and no other structures.
While Nie Yan dealt with the crawling corpses approaching him, he searched the official website for keywords related to the treasure of the Lich King Yinsuo’er, but found nothing new, which made him increasingly annoyed.
Looking at the groove on the tombstone, Nie Yan suddenly thought of something else—he still had a finger bone of the Lich King Yinsuo’er in his backpack!
With a sudden idea, Nie Yan took out the finger bone of the Lich King Yinsuo’er and examined the groove. The size seemed to fit perfectly.
Nie Yan inserted the finger bone into the groove. As soon as it was fully inserted, a dazzling beam of light instantly shone forth.
At that moment, lines of text flashed through Nie Yan’s mind:
“You have opened the crypt of the Lich King Yinsuo’er. Before his death, the Lich King cast a nightmare curse: anyone daring to approach his tomb shall suffer the most painful curse, with all attributes reduced by 80% for one month. After casting the curse, the Lich King’s ten fingers broke off and scattered across the world. Possessing any one of these finger bones will allow one to open his crypt. Brave or foolish grave robbers, now stripped of great power, will you still dare to proceed?”
A sharp, ear-piercing laughter echoed in Nie Yan’s ears, as if mocking him.
Nie Yan could feel a dark force settle upon him, rapidly draining his strength, making his body suddenly feel much weaker.
Checking his status, he indeed saw a Nightmare Curse debuff.
An 80% reduction in all attributes was something no player could afford.
Damn it! This curse lasts for a month and cannot be removed, which frustrated Nie Yan. It meant that for the next month, he would be unable to do much of anything. If he encountered players from the Dark Faction, it would be even more problematic. With an 80% reduction in attributes, Nie Yan wouldn’t even be a match for an average player.
As Nie Yan was thinking, the ground in front of him suddenly collapsed with a loud boom, revealing a deep pit—a cave entrance with a stairway leading downward.
The violent tremors almost knocked Nie Yan off his feet. After regaining his balance and seeing the dark cave entrance, Nie Yan hesitated—should he continue onward?
With his attributes reduced by 80%, even encountering a level 100 elite monster might be beyond his capabilities.
As Nie Yan hesitated, a zombie crawled toward him from nearby, already very close.
Just like before, it was a level 160 regular monster, but now, Nie Yan had to treat it with caution.
The zombie’s body was rotting, emitting a foul stench. Its face was a mess, with only one eye remaining—it was terrifying to behold.
Nie Yan swung his Bloodthirsty Dagger and executed a lunge. With a “plop,” the dagger struck the zombie’s head, dealing over 5,000 damage. The zombie had nearly 160,000 hit points.
Normally, Nie Yan could kill it in one hit, but now he could only deal around 6,000 damage.
The zombie roared furiously and swung its arm downward.
Nie Yan leaped backward, but his speed was just a bit too slow. The zombie slapped him hard.
With a loud “thud,” over 3,000 damage floated above Nie Yan’s head.
Seeing the zombie charge again, Nie Yan quickly performed a backstab, dodging past it as his dagger plunged into the zombie’s back.
The zombie swung its right arm, and Nie Yan couldn’t dodge in time—it struck him on the back.
His speed had dropped so suddenly that Nie Yan struggled to adapt.
Damn it! Nie Yan cursed in frustration. With such a drastic reduction in speed, how could he even fight? His movements were completely uncoordinated, slower than these worthless zombies.
After a brief skirmish with the zombie, Nie Yan gradually adjusted to his new speed, which was barely faster than what he had been at levels 60 to 70.
After about a minute, Nie Yan finally killed the zombie.
More zombies approached from the sides, so Nie Yan quickly retreated, pulling out the Headless Rider Doro’s crossbow. As he ran, he fired bolts at the zombies.
With his attributes so drastically reduced, should he still enter the crypt of the Lich King Yinsuo’er?
After much deliberation, Nie Yan decided to go in. Having come this far and suffered a curse for nothing, turning back now would be too much of a loss.
Nie Yan jumped into the Lich King’s crypt and began descending the stairs step by step. Looking back, he saw the zombies gathered at the entrance but unwilling to come down.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, Nie Yan looked deeper into the crypt. In the distance, flickering lights illuminated a cold, damp atmosphere that sent chills down his spine. Ahead was a tunnel about three yards high. On both sides lay piles of white bones, with only a narrow path leading forward. The skeletons still wore various pieces of damaged equipment—they had once been adventurers.
“Welcome to the crypt of the Lich King Yinsuo’er. Welcome to the brave one’s challenge…”
A sharp, faint voice echoed in Nie Yan’s ears, accompanied by a mocking, taunting laugh.
A brave one’s challenge, huh? Nie Yan thought coldly. Did they really think these corpses could scare him off?
Prepared for any danger, Nie Yan took a step forward. Suddenly, the wall beside him vibrated. Looking up, he saw dozens of large wooden logs dropping from above.
As the logs were about to fall, Nie Yan leaped five or six yards away. Behind him, a thunderous crash sounded, and everything where he had stood moments ago was crushed to pieces.
That was close!
No sooner had he landed than hundreds of arrows rained down densely toward him.
The area ahead for more than ten yards was completely covered.
However, there seemed to be some gaps between the arrows.
Transform into a Gnome!
Nie Yan’s body quickly shrank. As soon as the transformation completed, he activated the Cheetah Form skill, further reducing his size into a small cheetah, with a 300% speed boost, allowing him to dodge nimbly.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Wherever he ran, arrows were embedded everywhere.
If he had remained in human form, his body would now be pierced with arrows, like a porcupine.
He dashed forward for fifty to sixty yards when the ground suddenly trembled. Looking ahead, a massive round boulder was rolling down the tunnel, accelerating rapidly. Its size nearly filled the entire passage.
No wonder the path had been uphill all along!
Seeing the boulder approaching like a monstrous beast, Nie Yan turned and fled, exerting all his strength. This was already his fastest speed, yet the boulder behind him kept getting closer, now only about a yard away. In the next moment, he would be crushed into pulp.
Nie Yan threw himself sideways, pressing tightly into a corner of the rock wall, curling into a ball.
The boulder was round, while the tunnel was square, so there were some narrow spaces left in the corners.
These spaces were insufficient for a normal human to pass through, but after transforming into a cheetah, Nie Yan’s body had shrunk enough to squeeze in. However, as the boulder roared past him, the deafening sound still made him sweat coldly.
The traps here were far more terrifying than any he had encountered before!
After walking through the tunnel for thirty minutes, Nie Yan had truly experienced what real traps were. He had nearly been killed several times.
After narrowly surviving numerous life-threatening situations, Nie Yan finally passed through the tunnel. He now understood what the “brave one’s challenge” really meant. He estimated that the traps in this tunnel alone could eliminate more than 99% of even the most skilled players who reached the Lich King’s crypt. Surviving it was purely a matter of luck.
And this was only the beginning!
The Gnome and Cheetah transformation skills had now ended, and Nie Yan had reverted to his original form. Even after upgrading, both skills still had a six-hour cooldown. With a long journey still ahead and uncertain dangers to face, Nie Yan carefully considered his options and decided to stay put for now, waiting for all his skills to cool down before proceeding.
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