"Has the news that I got the Yin-Yang Dial already spread? I feel like the Jianghuai branch is going to smear me."
Zhang Yuanqing picked up a piece of beef with his chopsticks, stuffed it indignantly into his mouth to chew, and casually opened the forum post.
"You mean the post about the Rogue Dial? That was up yesterday already," Guan Ya said, taking him by surprise.
Queen chimed in, "It's not that bad. Most people are just teasing. After all, all men in the world are scoundrels. It's hardly a stain on your record, and it isn't malicious. But I think Guan Ya is quite happy about it."
"Why would Sister Guan Ya be happy?" Xie Lingxi asked with an inquisitive face as she tossed a vegetable salad.
Sensing something off, Zhang Yuanqing hastily placed a green vegetable into the curvaceous Queen's bowl. "Eat more veggies. Lose some weight."
Then he placed a piece of beef brisket into the slender Xie Lingxi's bowl. "Don't just eat grass. Have some nutritious food. You're still growing."
In terms of physique, Guan Ya's athletic figure—ample bust, perky hips, and visible abs—leaned more toward a Western aesthetic.
Queen had a slightly higher body fat percentage, with soft hips, a heavy bust, and a slight touch of flesh on her abdomen, though far from being flabby.
Xie Lingxi was the flattest, tall and slender, yet she was the most obsessed with dieting, strictly monitoring her calorie intake every day.
Zhang Yuanqing was genuinely worried about this little sister. If certain things weren't nurtured during the developmental stage, one might never get the chance to have them again.
Having successfully derailed the impending green-tea showdown before it could begin, Zhang Yuanqing turned his attention to his phone screen to check the post:
"First, I'd like to announce some good news to everyone: our star figure, Yuanshi Tianzun, cleared an S-rank spirit realm just a few days ago while in prison—the Sea of Yashan.
"That's right, the very same Sea of Yashan that wiped out six Saints last year. I'm sure many of you remember that the Jianghuai branch's Yin-Yang Dial and an important item belonging to the Xie family were lost inside that dungeon.
"Because of this, both the Jianghuai branch and the Xie family issued bounties offering generous rewards to anyone who could retrieve the two items. But Yuanshi Tianzun belongs to the official faction. If an unaffiliated cultivator had gotten hold of them, how could they ever return them?
"That said, let's get back to the main topic. Many of you might not know that the Yin-Yang Dial has a nickname: the Rogue Dial. Anyone who can tame it has to be a rogue.
"When I heard Yuanshi Tianzun subdued the Rogue Dial, I was utterly shocked. I'm a die-hard fan of his! How could my idol be a rogue? Oh god, my house has collapsed! [Sobbing]"
[Milky White Breasts: Huh, Lord Tianzun cleared another S-rank? There wasn't an official announcement, but congratulations to Lord Tianzun all the same.]
[I Have an Illness: Lord Tianzun is simply too strong. An S-rank dungeon is a dragon's den or a tiger's lair to us, but to him, it's like eating and drinking. I used to be a bit jealous of him, but now I just feel helpless. All we can do is spam '666'.]
[Lairifangzhang: A rogue? What's the big deal? Look at you women making a mountain out of a molehill. Besides, who says subduing the Yin-Yang Dial makes someone a rogue?]
[Ghostly Call: I'm a deacon from the Jianghuai branch. Let me explain briefly: the Yin-Yang Dial is a very peculiar item. It's a devastating trump card at the Saint stage. To crack it, one must answer its questions, and its questions are bizarre. Well, put it this way: a normal person could never answer correctly, but a rogue can. This has been confirmed by many senior deacons and even elders in our Jianghuai branch. Now you understand how Yuanshi Tianzun was able to tame it, right?]
[Peony Fairy: Uh, I've interacted with Yuanshi Tianzun before. He doesn't seem like a rogue to me.]
[Niu Xiaomei: Oh well, so what if he's a rogue? Which man isn't?]
[Jiang Ju: Above commenter, that's quite a double standard.]
[Wangfei: Is Lord Tianzun a rogue? A rogue means a scumbag! Ah, I'll never love again.]
[Moon Rabbit: Got it. From now on, I can't give Yuanshi Tianzun any chance to approach me. I don't want to get played.]
[Ice Banshee: As long as I'm a player myself, I'm not afraid of him being a rogue. But good girls, take note: remember that Lord Tianzun is a rogue. Let's just call him Rogue Tianzun from now on.]
*What kind of nonsense is 'Rogue Tianzun'...?* Zhang Yuanqing thought grimly. *Did my reputation just vanish into thin air?*
Just as Queen had said, aside from marveling at his clearing another S-rank dungeon, most of the comments were either curious about just how roguish the questions on the Yin-Yang Dial were or playfully mocking him as 'Rogue Tianzun.'
Having a high-and-mighty genius turn out to be a rogue didn't actually disgust people; rather, it made for an amusing, relatable topic of gossip.
Figures that were too noble and pristine inevitably felt distant from the masses.
Of course, once a reputation had a blemish, it was difficult to wash away. Jealous and resentful people would maliciously distort and exaggerate it, misleading uninformed onlookers.
Eventually, repeated rumors would turn into accepted facts.
One day, it might become an excuse for envious critics to attack him.
Overall, though, it wasn't a major crisis.
"Oh, right, Brother Yuanshi, the Old Ancestor gave the Holy Infant's head to my dad for safekeeping!" Xie Lingxi announced happily.
Zhang Yuanqing locked his phone screen and nodded. "Nice!"
This was a clear signal. The third branch had fallen out of favor, and the Old Ancestor favored the current clan head, Xie Su. From now on, the various factions in the Xie family would be much better behaved.
Correspondingly, Xie Su's authority and voice in the family would see a massive boost.
For Zhang Yuanqing, the greatest benefit was that Xie Su was on good terms with him because of Xie Lingxi. When an ally gained power, it was as good as gaining power himself.
"It's all thanks to Brother Yuanshi!" Xie Lingxi's eyes curved into crescent moons.
After finishing the meal, Zhang Yuanqing went to his room to brush his teeth and wash up, then used the Star Escape Technique to leap straight into Guan Ya's room.
In the small parlor of the suite, Guan Ya was dressed in yoga clothes, propped on the floor in a plank. Her entire body was taut, the curve of her waist exquisitely defined, her peach-shaped hips firm and round.
Physical exercises couldn't increase a Saint's physical stats, but they kept all bodily functions active, allowing one to enter combat readiness at any moment.
Zhang Yuanqing bent down and delivered a slap.
*Smack!*
The flesh of her hips quivered into ripples.
Stinging with pain, Guan Ya sneered, "Just as well. Come to the combat room with me this afternoon. I'll teach you some jujitsu."
"Only tournament fighters practice jujitsu. What I practice are killing techniques—the one-hit lethal kind," Zhang Yuanqing refused ruthlessly, giving her no chance for revenge.
He had no desire to be abused by Guan Ya.
Guan Ya gave an alluring smile. "I'll let you sleep in my bed tonight."
"Accompanying one's girlfriend in combat training is a man's sacred duty!" Tears welled in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes. "Sister Guan Ya, have you finally come around?"
Guan Ya scoffed, "Too bad you lack a specialized skill."
Indignant yet unable to refute her, Zhang Yuanqing huffed, "You're the true master of the Yin-Yang Dial. I only trained with you for two and a half months and managed to tame it. If you took the field, the Yin-Yang Dial would bow at your feet.
"Once we have the money, we'll buy that dial and hand it over to you to wield."
If he could easily answer the Yin-Yang Dial's questions, a seasoned driver like her would have no trouble at all.
"Stop messing around. I have to enter a dungeon in another week. From now on, you have to practice combat with me every day," Guan Ya said.
Turning to serious matters, Zhang Yuanqing shed his playful demeanor and said, "I anticipated that, so I prepared an item for you."
With that, he retrieved a set of lightweight leather armor from his inventory and placed it on the edge of the table.
"An item provided by the Jianghuai branch, called the 'Leather Armor of the Veteran Warrior.' It weakens attacks from Level 4 Saints by 50% to 70%, and attacks from Level 5 Saints by 20% to 30%. Every fifteen minutes, it can trigger an absolute defense that blocks a full-power strike from a Level 5 Saint," Zhang Yuanqing introduced the item's properties. "It has virtually no encumbrance and grants you the balance and agility of a Wood Demon."
Guan Ya's eyes lit up.
Swordsmen boasted high damage but low defense and thin health pools, lacking self-healing or immense vitality. While Earth Monster defensive items weren't hard to come by, their drawback was usually adding heavy encumbrance, which was equivalent to crippling a Swordsman's own strengths.
A defensive item that didn't compromise speed or agility was practically a treasure a Swordsman could only dream of.
Guan Ya sprang up with a snap of her slender waist and reached for the leather armor on the bedside, but Zhang Yuanqing pinned her down.
"Being intimate with your boyfriend is also a woman's duty, isn't it?" Zhang Yuanqing murmured.
Guan Ya threw him an exquisitely charming glare.
Zhang Yuanqing wrapped his arms around her waist, tumbling backward onto the bed.
[Xie Lingxi: I overheard those two cheating lovebirds being intimate! Brother Yuanshi gave Guan Ya an item. Hmph! Trading goods for affection, how is that any different from visiting a brothel?]
[Please Call Me Queen: I'm so jealous... Wait, no! Outrageous! This is staff housing! How can they engage in such illicit affairs? We cannot tolerate this!]
[Xie Lingxi: Didn't Brother say he had something to discuss with us after lunch? Sister Queen, you know what to do.]
Zhang Yuanqing had just pulled Guan Ya's tight yoga top up to her neck and buried his face in her soft, fair cleavage, enjoying only a few seconds of bliss, when an urgent knocking on the door interrupted them.
Xie Lingxi's delicate voice came from outside:
"Brother Yuanshi, are you in there?
"Sister Queen and I went to your room and saw you weren't there. Are you with Sister Guan Ya? Can I come in?"
Guan Ya hastily shoved Zhang Yuanqing away and tugged her black lace bra and yoga top back down.
*Fuck...* Zhang Yuanqing cursed under his breath as he rolled out of bed and opened the door.
Standing in the doorway were Xie Lingxi in a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and Queen, the mature beauty with silver earrings wearing cropped fitted trousers and a black T-shirt.
Xie Lingxi glanced at Guan Ya, who was sitting by the bed with a dangerous smile, and asked timidly, "D-did we interrupt you two?"
"No. Come on in," Zhang Yuanqing said, stepping aside.
Queen and Xie Lingxi entered the room and sat on the chaise lounge near the bed.
Zhang Yuanqing retrieved two items from his inventory: a dark brown whip and a cloak as black as night.
He tossed the cloak to Xie Lingxi. "Your family gave me this. It's called the Night Walker Cloak. Donning it grants you the stealth of a Night Walker. The drawback is that you cannot attack or use skills while invisible, and your sleep schedule will become inverted. Each period of stealth lasts only three minutes.
"As a Musician, your combat strength is low and you have no survival skills. This item is for you."
Xie Lingxi was overjoyed. Spreading her arms, she lunged toward Zhang Yuanqing. "Brother Yuanshi, you're the best—aah!"
From the bedside, Guan Ya gave a light kick, sending her sprawling flat onto the floor with a soft thud.
"Keep your hands off my boyfriend," Guan Ya hummed.
Queen looked at the whip, then looked up at Zhang Yuanqing, her expression full of tense anticipation.
"The Shennong Whip. It has three functions: armor penetration, poison, and binding," he said, tossing the whip to Queen. "You're a Water Ghost. Your survivability is adequate, but you lack burst damage. This will cover your shortfalls."
Ecstatic, Queen caught the whip and read its item information, speaking with breathless excitement:
"A Saint-grade item... I, a Level 3 Transcendent, wouldn't have dared dream of this... As expected, following the right leader really leads to a different life. Captain..."
She glanced at Xie Lingxi. "I won't hug you, then. Well, my door is never locked anyway."
After her playful tease, her eyes reddened slightly, and she whispered, "Thank you, Captain."
Queen was different from Xie Lingxi. The latter was a direct descendant of the Xie family; to her, a Saint-grade item was precious, but not unattainable.
When Xie Lingxi entered the killing trial, the Xie family would certainly bestow upon her a Saint-grade item that was permitted within the dungeon's tier limit.
Queen, however, was an ordinary low-to-mid-tier employee of the Five Elements Alliance with no background and no distinguished family. She enjoyed very few quality resources.
The only thing she had going for her was her beauty, but unless a woman was willing to compromise her integrity and cash in on her looks, beauty was essentially useless.
Therefore, a Saint-grade item, even an ordinary one, was unimaginably precious to her.
She hadn't rendered any great service, nor had Yuanshi Tianzun demanded she sleep with him, yet he had gifted her a Saint-grade item. This was clearly out of genuine camaraderie.
"Alright, Guan Ya and I still have things to discuss, so you two..."
Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to usher them out, the little green tea hurriedly piped up, "Ah, Brother Yuanshi, could you step out for a bit? We girls have some secrets to talk about."
Queen nodded repeatedly. "Being cooped up in the villa is pretty boring. I'd like to share some tea with Guan Ya, too."
*Wait, is this how you two repay me?* Zhang Yuanqing looked toward Guan Ya, but seeing her utterly unmoved, he muttered a curse and walked out.
Leaving the room, Zhang Yuanqing arrived in the living room and saw Li Chunfeng typing on a keyboard by the round table. He smiled and said, "Whenever you decide to follow me with all your heart, I'll gift you a Saint-grade item, too."
Without looking away from his monitor, Li Chunfeng replied with an "Mm." "My sources haven't responded yet. If you want equipment, you'll have to wait."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded and returned to his room.
He still had one promise left to fulfill.
Taking out his phone, he opened his messaging app and entered Yin Ji's number:
"The Yin-Yang Dial and the Holy Infant have been sold. Send me your bank account number."
He copied the message and sent it to Brother Red Chicken, Xiahou Aotian, Eagle of Freedom, Natsuki's Love, and Wu Yunmeng of the Qinghe Branch.
"I expect to get eighty million!" Xiahou Aotian replied.
"Haha! Yuanshi Tianzun really is a man of his word! Next time you visit Soup Province, I'll treat you to soup!" was Brother Red Chicken's reply.
Eagle of Freedom, Yin Ji, and Yun Meng sent their account numbers directly without fuss.
"Things with the Jianghuai branch probably ended on an unpleasant note over the Yin-Yang Dial, right?" Natsuki's Love brought up while sending her account number.
"They wanted to take back the dial based on the posted bounty reward. I didn't agree," Zhang Yuanqing replied.
Natsuki's Love wrote back:
"You have no idea. Every year, when purchasing life fluid from the Musician clans, the elders of the various branches fight tooth and nail over the quota.
"Still, business is business and personal relations are personal relations. You don't need to worry about the Jianghuai branch's elders and deacons holding a grudge against you, nor do you need to resent them. That's just how the official organization works."
Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, *So whenever the elders brawl, does someone just cover Elder Gao Feng's mouth and he becomes invincible?*
After gathering the account numbers, he transferred four million to Yin Ji, two million to Xiahou Aotian, and one million each to Natsuki's Love, Brother Red Chicken, and Yun Meng.
He gave Eagle of Freedom five hundred thousand.
Brother Red Chicken and Natsuki's Love had at least fought, whereas Yun Meng's contribution on the Yin-Yang Dial had already been rewarded; she hadn't contributed much against the boss.
As for Eagle of Freedom, he hadn't lifted a finger during the boss fight, idling through the entire thing.
Giving him five hundred thousand was partly out of fairness, and partly because Zhang Yuanqing felt the man might prove useful in the future; the money served as an investment to maintain their connection.
Never look down on someone just because they seemed insignificant at the moment—that was a fundamental rule of networking.
Thanks to his official privileges, Yuanshi Tianzun's bank card had no transfer limits, but transferring funds to overseas entities still invited inquiries and scrutiny. He would need to submit a written report to Fu Qingyang shortly.
After making the transfers, without waiting to read his teammates' expressions of thanks or Xiahou Aotian probing with "Did you miss a zero?", he dialed Xie Su's number.
Once the call connected, Zhang Yuanqing gave a hearty laugh. "Congratulations, Uncle, on gaining custody of the Holy Infant!"
"Congratulations to us both!" Xie Su replied with a warm smile. "I'll deliver the first batch of life fluid to you within three days."
"Ah, Uncle, you're being too formal. Do you think I called just to press you for that? Just remember to address it to Fujia Bay Villa," Zhang Yuanqing said.
After some idle chatter, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "There's something I'd like to ask Uncle about. You know the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, right?"
Xie Su fell silent for a moment. "The Chu and Xie families have intermarried frequently. Her mother is a distant cousin of mine. Why do you ask all of a sudden?"
*No wonder that lunatic is so close to Xie Lingxi...* Zhang Yuanqing said, "I just remembered something that's puzzled me for a long time, so I wanted to ask casually. I remember the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter never participated in a killing trial, yet she advanced from a Saint to a Dominator."
Xie Su said, "She was already a Dominator many years ago. Later on, for some unknown reason, her realm regressed."
*So that's how it is...* Zhang Yuanqing had a sudden epiphany. He couldn't help recalling the Holy Infant's abilities. Back then, if that 'child' had been born successfully, he would have regressed from the Saint stage back to the Transcendent stage as well.
Realm regression seemed to be a distinctive feature of the Musician class; he had never heard of such bizarre mechanics in other professions.
*Could the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter have given birth to a child, too?*
"I understand. Thank you, Uncle." Zhang Yuanqing originally wanted to ask more, but figuring Xie Su wouldn't reveal too much of that lunatic's private affairs without permission, he dropped the subject.
***
6:30 PM, the Inner Ring Tunnel.
Jiang Yu'er gripped the steering wheel, easing her foot onto the accelerator as she drove into the congested tunnel.
With wireless earphones resting in her delicate ears, she watched the road ahead while scoffing, "Ever since your son got a girlfriend, he hasn't been home in over half a month. I have no idea how he's doing lately—his body might be thoroughly drained for all I know.
"What's the girl's background? How should I know? I heard her family are high-ranking officials.
"Are you coming home this year?... Get lost. Tell him about your own mess yourself! Why should I be the one to say it? I'm just his aunt..."
In the middle of her sentence, Jiang Yu'er suddenly saw the lights along the ceiling of the tunnel blink out.
In an instant, the taillights of the crawling cars flashed bright red all at once as drivers slammed on their brakes.
"What the hell? What's going on?"
"Did the power go out? This is the first time I've ever seen a blackout in a tunnel..."
"Fuck! I almost rear-ended that guy!"
Curses and shouting echoed through the tunnel.
Right then, Jiang Yu'er caught sight of a little girl wearing a red hat, walking upside down along the tunnel's ceiling. Her hat completely shadowed her face, and bright red blood dripped from her hands, eerie and sinister.
Chapter 363