“A map? A map left by the Demon Lord to Betty...” Annie pondered for a long while before shaking her head regretfully. “I'm terribly sorry, but I've never heard of it. That little bitch and I don't get along. Even if the Demon Lord really did leave a map fragment for her, there's no way she would tell me.”
Still, this piece of intel was useful. She could report it to the minister, or even bypass the minister entirely to email the president. If the president found out Betty was secretly hoarding a relic of the Demon Lord, she certainly wouldn't spare her.
If the president already knew, then so be it; either way, she had nothing to lose.
“I didn't make myself clear.” Miao Teng'er raised her hand, her slender fingers reaching beneath her collar to pull out a pendant against her snowy neck.
The pendant was a triangular jade fragment, white as mutton fat, its surface carved with tiny dimples like a field of stars.
Miao Teng'er placed the jade fragment on the table and said, “This is the map fragment left behind by the Demon Lord. Have you ever seen something like it on Betty?”
Annie stared at the jade fragment, lost in thought. Images flickered rapidly through her mind before finally settling on Betty's snowy-white neck, where she faintly recalled seeing a red cord.
Tracing the red cord downward in her memory, past the plunging V-neck and nestled within the cleavage pressed between fair, plump curves, there was indeed the faint glimpse of a mutton-fat jade pendant.
There really was such a piece of jade, one she always kept on her person. So it was a relic of the Demon Lord...
Annie maintained a placid expression that betrayed no emotion, asking, “Miss Teng'er, may I ask for more details about the jade—er, the map?”
Miao Teng'er frowned slightly, glanced at her, and after a moment's hesitation, nodded.
“There's no harm in telling you. This was left to me by the Demon Lord. As a member of the Association of God of Beauty, you should know something about him. The Demon Lord was arrogant, vicious, and lecherous. He had far too many women. Perhaps if you flipped through the beauty rosters of major organizations and pointed at random, you'd pick one of his lovers.”
At this point, a chilling sneer crept across the exquisite young woman's face.
Annie nodded gently without offering commentary.
Clearly, the young woman before her was also one of the Demon Lord's lovers.
“To the Demon Lord, most women were merely playthings to be tossed aside once he grew tired of them, without a shred of lingering affection. But there were always a few he favored. He left an inheritance for those women. Should he die in the Spirit Realm one day, or be brought to justice by the authorities, that legacy would be his final gift to his favored playthings.” Miao Teng'er lowered her eyes to the tabletop and gave a self-mocking smile. “Gathering all the fragments of this jade will reveal the place where the Demon Lord hid his treasure.”
Annie came to a sudden realization. “So you want to collect the map fragments and find the Demon Lord's treasure.”
Miao Teng'er nodded, then shook her head.
“I want to gather his lovers and unlock the treasure together. The lovers the Demon Lord valued all possess a certain degree of status and strength, both domestically and abroad. Trying to assemble the map alone is virtually impossible.
“However, I believe many of them must feel just like me—longing to bring closure to their ties with the Demon Lord.”
Annie understood, though she still found it somewhat hard to believe.
“I've heard the Demon Lord was untamed, cold, and heartless, treating women like clothes that could be changed and discarded on a whim. I didn't expect the rumors to be so inaccurate.”
How could a truly heartless man leave a treasure for his lovers?
Annie had seen far too many genuinely heartless men.
A strange glint flashed in Miao Teng'er's watery eyes, blending sorrow and joy, resentment and hate. Gritting her teeth, she spat, “He was far colder and more vile than the rumors say. Day and night, I dreamed of killing him, of slaying with my own hands the villain who defiled me.”
She took a sharp, deep breath, reining in the emotions swirling in her eyes. “Can you answer me now?”
Annie did not answer right away. Instead, she gazed intently at the girl and said with all seriousness, “You do hate him, but you also love him deeply. Beneath that surface of hatred, I can feel a bone-deep affection. This is a talent of my profession; you cannot deceive me.”
Miao Teng'er's brows knit tight.
“That has nothing to do with you, Miss Annie. I've told you what needed to be said. Please answer my question.”
“Yes. Betty has the exact same pendant. She is one of the Demon Lord's cherished playthings, as you put it.” Annie gave a definitive reply.
Miao Teng'er gave a slight nod.
“I hope you will report this matter to the upper echelon of the Association of God of Beauty. If they are willing to cooperate, they may contact me at any time.”
Annie smiled. “For me, this is free credit for the taking.”
“You may leave,” Miao Teng'er said flatly.
Taking her cue, Annie stood up and walked toward the door. Just as her hand closed around the doorknob, Miao Teng'er's voice sounded from behind:
“Miss Annie, are you one of the Demon Lord's lovers?”
“No, I am not.” Annie shook her head slightly, glancing back with an alluring smile. “I used to envy Betty, but now, I have found someone better.”
“Yuanshi Tianzun?” Miao Teng'er raised an eyebrow, clearly a sharp-witted young woman.
Annie did not answer. She merely smiled, turned the knob, and stepped out.
Thud!
The door closed once more. Miao Teng'er sat by the window, staring blankly at the scenery outside, her gaze dazed and distant.
***
“Mr. Lingjun, there's no need to see me off.” Annie climbed onto the shuttle cart, politely declining Lingjun's escort.
“Miss Annie.” A solemn look crossed Lingjun's face as he bowed slightly. “Please keep today's conversation strictly confidential. I beg of you.”
“I will!” Annie instantly understood what Lingjun was protecting. Being known as the Demon Lord's lover was an indelible blemish for any woman of noble birth.
Relieved, Lingjun said gratefully, “Thank you!”
He waved, watching the shuttle cart carry Annie away.
Annie rode the shuttle cart to the entrance of the villa community. With her skirt fluttering and her waist swaying gracefully, she walked toward the black sedan parked by the curb.
As she neared the car, Annie came to a sudden halt, a grim look spreading over her pretty face.
Through the tinted glass, she could faintly make out a figure seated inside, while the driver was casually smoking, completely oblivious to the passenger in the back.
Due to the attack by the Bacchus Club, her nerves were on high alert. Just as she was about to turn back toward the Fujia Bay villa, the window smoothly rolled down on its own, revealing a flawless, exquisite face that had clearly undergone cosmetic surgery.
“Miss Annie, I've been waiting for you for quite some time,” Blood Rose said with a smile. “Please take a look at your phone.”
Backing away slowly, Annie retrieved her phone and checked the screen. Sure enough, there was an unread message.
[Yuanshi Tianzun: That's my yin corpse in the car.]
Only then did Annie drop her guard. She opened the door and slipped into the back seat.
Zhang Yuanqing snapped his fingers with a crisp snap. The driver jolted as if waking from a dream.
“Drive!”
Annie gave the order, then turned toward the yin corpse with undisguised delight. “Mr. Yuanshi, I heard you've been demoted, confined for a month, and banned from promotions for a year. Why not leave the mainland with me and join the Association of God of Beauty?”
If I went to the Association of God of Beauty, I'd have to rely on Endurance Spray just to survive each day... Zhang Yuanqing got straight to the point and asked, “Let me ask you something. What did that girl who talked to you just now say?”
Hearing this, Annie frowned slightly, looking conflicted. “I promised Lingjun I wouldn't share the contents of our conversation.”
Zhang Yuanqing waved a dismissive hand. “That girl is the Demon Lord's lover—I've known for a while. Lingjun asked you not to spread it because he doesn't want her relationship with the Demon Lord leaked. Telling me doesn't count as spreading it.”
“You already knew?” Annie thought it over, found his reasoning sound, and recounted the entire conversation word for word to Yuanshi Tianzun.
So Miao Teng'er really is the Demon Lord's lover. Does that mean her mother is too? If the daughter looks this stunning, the mother must be even more charming. Tsk, tsk, the Demon Lord is truly public enemy number one for all men. May you rest in peace.
A map fragment for each of his cherished lovers? He really knew how to play the game. Did he anticipate his own death and leave behind an inheritance for the consorts of his harem?
Zhang Yuanqing's first reaction was that the treasure was the Demon Lord's compensation for the women he had bedded.
On second thought, he sensed something amiss.
First of all, he could have easily given the “treasure” directly to those lovers; there was no need to go through the trouble of leaving behind a map, especially since many of his mistresses didn't know one another.
Miao Teng'er's visit today proved as much.
What if his mistresses never managed to assemble the treasure map? Wouldn't his painstaking arrangements have been in vain?
Secondly, Spirit Realm walkers had an extremely high mortality rate. If any of those mistresses returned to the Spirit Realm one day, the treasure map would likewise remain an eternal secret.
Lastly, his mistresses wouldn't necessarily cooperate. It was far more likely they would slaughter each other.
Just look at who the Demon Lord's mistresses were: domestic order professions, domestic evil professions, overseas order professions... Whether there were overseas evil professions among them was still unknown.
In short, how could people like these ever coexist? Setting aside factional antagonism, the mere status of being the Demon Lord's lovers was enough to make them tear each other apart.
With the Demon Lord's cunning, he couldn't have overlooked this.
So what was his reason for doing this? After pondering for a long time, Zhang Yuanqing suddenly understood.
Perhaps this was intentional on the Demon Lord's part. The composition of his lovers was far too intricate—spanning both domestic and overseas borders, both order and evil camps—and they didn't know one another. An ordinary person would find it nearly impossible to bring them all together, and even those heavyweight figures couldn't pull it off.
Following this line of thought, the Demon Lord actually didn't want the treasure to be found easily; he had hidden something of immense importance within it.
Zhang Yuanqing was immediately reminded of the character card exclusive reward he received after clearing the killing trial—the shabby digital watch dial.
That item was clearly broken and incomplete, its attributes full of question marks. Could the Demon Lord have hidden the other components inside the treasure?
Like a watch strap!
That matched the cunning rabbit with three burrows, a risk-management strategy of never putting all one's eggs in one basket.
First the dark moon, then the little sun, then the wristwatch, not to mention whatever unspecified treasure of the Association of God of Beauty's president... Sigh, just how many good things did that Demon Lord hoard?
The more he hoarded treasures like a squirrel stashing nuts, the more panicked I feel... Zhang Yuanqing sighed inwardly.
***
Fujia Bay, basement.
Zhang Yuanqing took out the Elvis speaker. To guard against Fu Qingyang “eavesdropping,” he entered night wandering and whispered, “I want to know the past between the Demon Lord and Miao Teng'er. The more detailed, the better.”
The Elvis speaker lay there quietly, completely ignoring him.
The Elvis soul inside this item was inexplicably haughty, rarely cooperating obediently.
Moreover, it held grudges like no other. Threaten it once, and it would always look for a chance to covertly retaliate, out of nowhere blasting an audio clip of passionate clapping in a public setting to inflict social death upon you.
Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and tested the waters: “From now on, as long as you cooperate obediently, I'll play music for you every day.”
He recalled that the Elvis speaker only possessed a recording function; all the music and audio it had played in the past were recordings it had collected over time.
And the “Elvis” inside the speaker was a musical maestro who loved music.
Appealing to its tastes might just do the trick.
Bzzzt... Static hissed, and a woman's mournful voice came from the speaker: “Hmph! A man's words are a ghost's lies!”
You're quite cautious... Zhang Yuanqing pulled out his phone and casually played a song: “Love you walking alone down dark alleys, love the way you never kneel, love how you're so like me...”
The passionate, stirring music echoed through the room. Once the song ended, Zhang Yuanqing paused the playback and picked up the Elvis speaker again.
Bzzzt...
This time, the Elvis speaker had the good sense to play an audio recording, while Zhang Yuanqing maintained night wandering to muffle its sound.
“Let me go, you Fallen! Kill me if you have the guts!” A clear, melodious, indignant shout rang in his ears, sounding somewhat familiar.
Then came the Demon Lord's distinctive, slightly raspy voice: “Tsk, tsk. What a pitiable little beauty. Someone on the black market put a twenty-million-yuan bounty on your head, and I just happen to be short on cash lately. Since you were arrogant and conceited enough not to hide your tracks, I'll just have to trade you for cash.”
“You'd better release me! My maternal grandfather is the Grand Elder of Baihui! If you dare touch a single hair on my head, the authorities will hunt you down no matter how far to the ends of the earth you flee!”
“Heh, I get it now. The person putting up the bounty is really trying to target your grandfather. As for being wanted by the authorities, I wasn't born yesterday. Do you know who I am?”
“W-what title...?” The ethereal, melodious voice lost quite a bit of its bluster.
“Demon Lord!”
“D-Demon Lord?! You're that brutal, sex-crazed Demon Lord?” The girl's voice took on a weeping tone.
“...I don't like that title. Mention it one more time, and I'll show you what a true pervert is.” The Demon Lord sneered. “This barren wasteland offers no escape, so sit tight and behave. In one week, I'm delivering the goods.
“By the way, there's no takeout here. If you don't want to starve, cook for me.”
The next few audio clips consisted of the clinking of chains as Miao Teng'er repeatedly attempted to escape, the Demon Lord's mocking jeers as he intercepted her midway, and the girl's indignant curses—after which she obediently went to cook.
“Hey, you don't seem as terrifying as the rumors say. How about this: release me, and I'll give you fifty million.”
After spending a few days together, having failed every escape attempt yet never actually being harmed, Miao Teng'er had gradually lost her fear of the Demon Lord.
To this, the Demon Lord merely scoffed with a dismissive “Heh,” before saying, “Stay in your room tonight and don't come out. No matter what sounds you hear, don't step outside. Otherwise, you'll bear the consequences yourself.”
Hearing those words, Zhang Yuanqing's heart sank.
Soon, a new audio clip began playing. A low, agonized roar emerged from the speaker, sounding quite distant, as if far away from the Elvis speaker.
Then came rustling noises. Miao Teng'er inside the room seemed to have been woken up. She dragged her chains as she got out of bed, slowly approached the door, and with a creak, stepped out.
Zhang Yuanqing surmised that the girl probably intended to seize the opportunity to flee.
Suddenly, a piercing scream rang out from the distance, followed by absolute silence. The Elvis speaker fell still.
After a dozen or so seconds, static hissed again, and a new recording played.
What first echoed in his ears was the sound of an intense “struggle,” accompanied by the girl's sobbing and curses.
...
“You're actually inexperienced? A Wood Demon from Baihui, yet you're actually inexperienced? Fascinating...”
The Demon Lord let out heavy pants. Compared to his previous rasp, his voice was now laced with deep malice, as though he were a completely different person.
Clatter... Thud!
The clank of swinging shackles and a dull thud sounded simultaneously. Miao Teng'er seemed to have struck the Demon Lord's head with her chains. Weeping and screaming, she bolted off the bed, sprinting through the clatter of shaking chains, but in the next second, she slammed heavily onto the ground with a thud and a muffled groan.
Then came her sobbing: “Don't... please, don't...”
Her only answer was the Demon Lord's cold sneer and another round of struggle.
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing sighed. He had a rough idea of what had happened and guessed what state the Demon Lord was in back then.
This took place when the Demon Lord was still at the Transcendent stage. At that time, he was not yet deeply tainted by the Fallen Holy Grail. Although his personality had drastically changed, he could still maintain a normal state for the most part.
That was why he had merely imprisoned Miao Teng'er, rather than jumping straight into baby-making sessions right off the bat as in the later audio clips.
“Skip, skip, skip...”
Zhang Yuanqing lightly tapped the casing of the Elvis speaker. He could listen to the Demon Lord and Betty's clips with cynical amusement, since those two were passionately indulging in consensual lust, but he had no stomach for something coercive like this.
The subsequent clips were largely similar. Judging from the sounds and movements, the two shifted across various battlegrounds with high frequency.
From initial weeping and cursing, to later half-hearted resistance, and eventually to compliance, Miao Teng'er seemed to have resigned herself to her fate.
The Demon Lord never handed her over, nor did he ever mention the twenty-million bounty again.
Without timestamps, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't accurately estimate how long they spent together, but based on the shift in Miao Teng'er's mindset, it must not have been short. After all, prolonged intimacy often bred affection.
Until, in a certain audio clip, Miao Teng'er gasped in alarm:
“W-what happened to you...?”
Then came heavy gasps and the Demon Lord's halting voice: “Heh, I slaughtered the bunch who put up the bounty on you and squeezed clues out of them. The mastermind is an elder in Baihui trying to target your grandfather through you. All the information is on this sheet of paper.”
“Why... why did you do this?” Miao Teng'er whispered.
“Since I took your body, I ought to give you some compensation. Take this intel back home, and your family won't blame you.” Panting, the Demon Lord chuckled. “I'm sick of playing with you. You can get lost now.”
He was letting her go.
Bzzzt... The next recording played, with the Demon Lord's low voice laughing: “Tell me, aren't you a glutton for punishment? I let you go back then, yet you came crawling back on your own. I'm a Dominator now, with more women than I know what to do with; I don't need you. Compared to a little girl like you, I prefer your mother. Of course, I'm sick of playing with her now too. Take this jade pendant. I've hidden half of my opportunities inside it. How much you can get depends on your own luck. I'm off to do something big next, and I might just die. Don't come looking for me ever again. Get lost.”
The recording ended there.
“Half of his opportunities... So the treasure truly isn't just some valuable inheritance, but holds something extraordinarily precious.”
Zhang Yuanqing had obtained the information he wanted and unraveled the ill-fated entanglement between the Demon Lord and Miao Teng'er. Yes, an ill-fated entanglement.
Although many details were lost, he could piece them together from the previous recordings.
Miao Teng'er's hatred for the Demon Lord had turned into love, and she stayed with him. That provoked her mother into hunting the Demon Lord down, but somehow, the mother had also fallen for him.
Furthermore, he somewhat understood why those women were attracted to the Demon Lord.
He wasn't simply an abuser; he was a deeply contradictory man. The Demon Lord had not an ounce of pity or respect for women, yet at times, he would risk his life just to compensate them.
This aligned with the symptoms of being corrupted by the Fallen Holy Grail: lucid at times, manic at others; guilty when clearheaded, abusive when fallen.
That was why those women both loved and hated him.
What do other people's entanglements of love and hate have to do with me anyway? The Demon Lord is already dead... Zhang Yuanqing rested for a moment, picked up the Elvis speaker again, and said, “I'm about to enter the Spirit Realm soon. Every trial I've ever entered was one the Demon Lord had been to before. What's the next trial? Give me a hint, will you?”
Chapter 344