Although he often mocked the Demon Lord for having no standards, being a rampant stallion who would sleep with any pretty woman, deep down Zhang Yuanqing harbored a profound wariness and dread toward him.
His character card had come from the Demon Lord; it was part of the Demon Lord's legacy. As the beneficiary, he absolutely did not want to see the Demon Lord still alive.
Only a dead Demon Lord was a good Demon Lord.
Think about it: if the Demon Lord were still alive, would he give the Lunar Shard left in his character card, that digital watch of unknown purpose, and all his various props to an unrelated stranger for nothing?
Aside from the Demon Lord's widows, Zhang Yuanqing had inherited almost everything he owned.
If the Demon Lord wasn't dead, Zhang Yuanqing's doom was at hand.
Therefore, over the past few months, Zhang Yuanqing had been extremely sensitive to the question of whether the Demon Lord was truly dead or faking it. From time to time he would scare himself, and from time to time he would ponder it.
It had almost become a knot in his heart.
Now, bringing up how the Lunar countered the stars, Zhang Yuanqing inevitably fell back into suspicious paranoia.
"Wait, that's not right..."
After a brief panic, Zhang Yuanqing recalled a detail: the characteristic of the Demon Lord's successor publicly announced by the Taiyi Sect Master was the "black full moon."
What the black full moon represented was unknown to outsiders, but that strongest Night Walker certainly knew.
He knew the Demon Lord possessed a Lunar Shard, yet he still dared to assert that the Demon Lord was dead. That meant the Demon Lord truly was dead.
There was no need for the Taiyi Sect Master to spread fake news. What good would fooling his own people do him?
"Then again, this strongest Night Walker alive has always kept a low profile, even less active than the leader of Dark Night Rose. He doesn't seem at all like a Master of Stars skilled at scheming."
"Uh, if I could actually sense the schemes of someone at that level, that'd be absurd. Quiet and motionless—that's the most terrifying kind."
Zhang Yuanqing muttered secretly to himself.
To this day, he had never heard of anyone surviving after a character card detached.
*Well, when it comes to anomalies with character cards, the Fear Heavenly King probably has experience. I should probe him when I have time...* Zhang Yuanqing pulled his thoughts back and interrupted Fu Qingyang and Lingjun's conversation, saying, "Boss, I want to act as a go-between for Elder Hongying and the Nihility Sect to join forces against Sect Master Chunyang. What do you think?"
Fu Qingyang gave his opinion with barely any hesitation:
"You can!
"The ones handling this matter are Hongying and Challenge Peak. The Southern Faction will agree."
Zhang Yuanqing let out an inquiring "Hmm~?"
Fu Qingyang explained, "Elder Hongying is upright by nature and has a very high moral baseline. Elder Gao Feng is gentle and lacks aggression; it's unlikely they would double-cross someone.
"Among the Taiyi Sect elders, Elder Sun and Elder Hongying are the gentlest. The other elders are all ruthless schemers, deeply calculating, with flexible moral baselines.
"Using Sect Master Chunyang as bait to trap and kill Nihility Sect elders is something they'd definitely be capable of doing."
Zhang Yuanqing understood, nodding even as a new worry surfaced. "Then wouldn't Elder Hongying and Elder Gao Feng be at risk of being betrayed and butchered by the Southern Faction?"
The corners of Fu Qingyang's mouth twitched upward. "If it weren't for Elder Gao Feng, I wouldn't advise you to broker the cooperation."
Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback at first, then quickly caught on. Elder Gao Feng, poor his whole life, possessed "Absolute Defense." Trapping and killing him was exceedingly difficult, so the Nihility Sect wouldn't waste effort on something thankless.
*Fu Qingyang's talent might make dogs shake their heads, but when it comes to calculating schemes, he truly is a prodigy,* Zhang Yuanqing marveled inwardly.
***
Inside the antique Buddhist hall, sandalwood incense curled upward.
Little Fatty pressed his palms together and asked, "Master, if you break through to the demigod level, will the Sect Master move against you?"
"I cannot give you an answer." The dark green back, seated cross-legged day after day, conveyed a distant, low response that suppressed some deep pain.
*Cannot give me an answer...* Hearing this, Little Fatty frowned slightly.
Master Wuhen's words could be interpreted in two ways: first, he had no confidence in reaching the demigod level; second, the Sect Master might be displeased, but wouldn't necessarily make an enemy without reason. There was no direct conflict between them, so even Master Wuhen wasn't sure if it would draw the Sect Master's malice.
*At least it isn't the worst possible news!* Little Fatty felt slightly relieved and shifted topics: "Are you truly only one step away from demigod? I heard from Beiyue that all these years, you have never committed slaughter."
Without committing slaughter, first of all, it was impossible to meet the annual "performance evaluation" quota. Second, in certain high-difficulty confrontation instances, clearing without killing the opposing camp was impossible.
Master Wuhen's distant, low voice echoed:
"In those first few years, I constantly used teleportation items to forcibly exit the Spirit Realm, deliberately lowering my level. As my hidden rating gradually dropped, high-level Spirit Realms gradually moved away from me.
"Low-level Spirit Realms are mostly non-lethal, requiring no killing. Occasionally, I would also clear guild dungeons to accumulate exp, offsetting the year-end slaughter missions."
Level-stalling... Little Fatty couldn't help but feel a surge of reverent awe.
At the Extraordinary and Saint stages, level-stalling wasn't hard, but at the Dominator stage, this was the first time he had ever heard of anyone doing it.
To avoid slaughter, the Evil Dominator before him had stalled his level for a full twenty years. Level-stalling in Dominator-tier instances was no easy feat; during that time, he must have faced countless life-and-death crises.
For someone in an evil class, such conduct truly deserved the word "great."
"Your character is admirable, and it shames me." Little Fatty bowed and exited the hall.
***
Fujia Bay.
Zhang Yuanqing left the study and returned to the small villa next door.
In the living room, the bunny girl was cleaning. In the first-floor bedroom, Li Chunfeng was clattering away on his keyboard.
Yet while two computers sat on the dining table, Queen and Commandery Princess Yinyao were nowhere to be seen.
"Where are those two?"
Zhang Yuanqing gestured toward the computers with his chin.
"Queen and the Princess went to the sparring room next door to practice," the bunny girl said in a soft, demure voice.
"Oh? That's rare..." Zhang Yuanqing was somewhat surprised.
Queen was the kind of girl who worked hard, but not *that* hard. She did the homework she had to do and had decent professional capability, but she was definitely not the diligent, striving type.
As Fu Qingyang put it: *Another piece of trash!*
The bunny girl hesitated for a moment, then whispered, "They were originally playing video games, but the Princess said something to Queen, and Queen suddenly burst into tears, bawling that Guan Ya had dirtied her man and that she was going to fight Guan Ya to the death."
The corner of Zhang Yuanqing's mouth twitched. "And Guan Ya went to the sparring room too?"
"No, Queen went upstairs, talked to Guan Ya about who knows what, and when she came down she was furious. She dragged the Princess off to practice fighting." The bunny girl looked Zhang Yuanqing up and down and covered her mouth with a soft chuckle.
*I may not have Insight, but your face practically has 'Congratulations on losing your virginity, little virgin' written all over it...* Zhang Yuanqing nodded and headed straight upstairs.
He pushed open Guan Ya's door. The first thing he smelled was a strong scent of perfume in the air. Glancing at the messy king-size bed that had been stained and disheveled when he got up this morning, he saw the sheets and quilt cover had already been replaced with fresh, neat ones.
The first woman in his life was sitting at the desk, dressed in a black skirt and white T-shirt, reading instance guides.
Out on the balcony beyond the bedroom, the sheets and duvet cover were fluttering in the breeze.
"You're back? Have you eaten?" Guan Ya kept her eyes on the computer screen without turning around.
She seemed somewhat embarrassed and shy, not yet accustomed to this dynamic.
Zhang Yuanqing, on the other hand, was completely different. A young man who had just tasted the joys of intimacy now had nothing but intimacy on his mind—and intense intimacy at that.
"What did you say to Queen? I heard she took it hard and dragged the Princess to spar."
"I said..." Now on familiar ground, Guan Ya turned around with a beaming smile: "Young cockerel is truly delicious."
"I agree. When I was a kid, the happiest thing was my aunt taking me out to eat spring chicken." Zhang Yuanqing walked over to the desk, leaned down, gently took his girlfriend's translucent earlobe into his mouth, and murmured, "Sister Guan Ya, let's continue..."
Having a girlfriend who loved dirty jokes had one huge advantage: when flirting, you could say whatever you wanted.
"No way!" In the end, Guan Ya was just a fake driver who had scored a hundred on the written driving test but had only just touched the steering wheel. Remembering the madness of last night, the deep exhaustion within her body seemed to surge up once more. She hurriedly pushed against her boyfriend's chest and let out a short cry: "I suddenly regret getting a Scorpio boyfriend."
*A Scorpio combined with a Night Walker—feared by men and ghosts alike.*
Zhang Yuanqing bent down, slid his arms beneath her knees, scooped her up, and set her onto the desk.
Guan Ya put up a desperate resistance, bending her legs and pressing her knees against his chest in a stalling tactic. "Last night's battle was fierce. The troops are exhausted and out of ammunition; we urgently need rest. Let the two armies face off again tonight at midnight to decide victory and defeat."
Zhang Yuanqing wasn't falling for the enemy's stalling tactic. He snorted. "Mercy to the enemy is cruelty to oneself."
Helpless, Guan Ya was forced to meet the challenge.
***
The sparring room.
"Pant, pant..."
Drenched in sweat, Queen slumped to the floor, wet hair plastered to her cheeks. She gasped for breath, painfully shaking out her aching wrists.
Bruises dotted her charming, striking face, and the left side of her cheek was slightly swollen.
Even though Commandery Princess Yinyao had been very careful, the gap between them was simply too wide; accidental injuries were inevitable.
"Do you feel better?" Commandery Princess Yinyao calmly pulled a small loudspeaker from her pocket.
"A little, but this way of distracting myself doesn't last. Now I'm getting sad again," Queen said, pouting. "Even though I could still work hard, strive to be the side piece that takes over, and get rid of Guan Ya, Yuanshi was still a virgin! Do you know how tantalizing the first kill on a boy destined to stir up storms in the future is? Damn Guan Ya, what right does she have? Waaah~"
Commandery Princess Yinyao's bewitching, beautiful face looked like an exquisite doll—an expressionless expression that matched her current mood. Holding the small loudspeaker, she said:
"If I were you, I would egg on Xie Lingxi to seduce Yuanshi Tianzun. If he doesn't take the bait, it means he is devoted and there is no opening, so you had best give up on taking Guan Ya's place. Besides, Guan Ya would only resent Xie Lingxi.
"If he does take the bait, then it means you have a chance too. You can step in to seduce him then and strive to get pregnant first. In my era, whoever bore a child first enjoyed exclusive favor."
"I just wanted to poach someone's man, I never said I wanted to be Yuanshi's concubine! Princess, stop applying feudal dynasty concepts to modern times." Queen curled her lip.
Stealing a best friend's boyfriend was standard drama, but sharing a husband with her best friend? She'd never agree to that.
Queen's eyes suddenly lit up. "I've thought of a way to vent my gloom! I'm going to tell Xie Lingxi!"
The happiest thing for an unlucky person was seeing someone else suffer bad luck too.
With that, she propped herself up, walked over to the floor-to-ceiling window, picked up her phone, and sent Xie Lingxi a text:
*Lingxi, while you were away these past two days, that woman Guan Ya slept with Yuanshi! How outrageous!*
***
The Xie family.
Before the mourning hall, Xie Lingxi held three sticks of incense, standing between her parents, bowing to her distantly related cousin who had died young.
Xie Lingzhou's family members looked grief-stricken, mourning in silence.
A white-haired person seeing off a black-haired one—Xie Lingxi could understand the family's deep sorrow, but as a distant relative, she felt little beyond a sigh of pity.
However, her mother had told her that she had to appear sorrowful in the mourning hall to avoid bad manners. After all, they were one family and couldn't appear too cold.
Her mother said such things not only because beneath her soft, kind exterior she was a total green-tea bitch, but more importantly, despite being a distant cousin, Xie Lingzhou belonged to the direct line of the Xie family.
In the Xie family, anyone of the Old Ancestor's bloodline was considered part of the direct line.
Xie Lingxi's great-grandfather and Xie Lingzhou's great-grandfather were full brothers, both sons of the Old Ancestor.
Moreover, Xie Lingzhou himself had been at the Saint stage, so he held considerable standing among the family's younger generation.
When a promising member of the direct line died young, one naturally had to show proper sorrow and regret.
After planting the incense, Xie Lingxi's devastatingly gorgeous green-tea mother was already sobbing and sniffing.
"Lingzhou was such a wonderful boy. How could he just leave us? I really never expected this, ah~" Mrs. Xie lamented sorrowfully.
Enduring her own heartbreak, Xie Lingzhou's mother stepped forward helplessly to comfort her.
"Susu, it was his fate. Don't be too sad either. Come sit inside." Xie Lingzhou's mother knew the clan members were merely fulfilling etiquette.
Mrs. Xie kept throwing meaningful glances at her daughter, but Xie Lingxi was unmoved.
She truly couldn't cry.
Just then, Xie Lingxi felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She quietly took it out, took a glance, and quietly slipped it back.
After staring blankly for a few seconds, she suddenly burst into tears with a loud "Waaah!" Tears poured instantly, her little face a picture of sheer, utter heartbreak.
Both mothers jumped in fright.
"Lingxi, what's wrong?"
"Mom, it hurts! It hurts so much, ah..." Xie Lingxi collapsed to her knees, tilting her head back and stretching her neck as she wailed at the top of her lungs.
She wept with soul-crushing grief, crying as if her heart and intestines were severed, tears pouring down like rain.
Inside and outside the mourning hall, family members and Xie clansmen turned their heads in astonishment, deeply moved by her wails.
Such heartfelt crying and tears could never be faked.
For the first time, Xie Lingzhou's mother shed tears of comfort. To cry to this extent—even if it were an act, it comforted her soul.
***
*A trace of spring breeze pierces the flowering crabapple,*
*Sweet sweat drenching the silken gown.*
The sun set, and the evening glow dyed the sky golden-red, like paint splashed carelessly by God.
The springtime warmth inside the room and the autumn sun outside the window mirrored each other.
Guan Ya leaned back, resting both hands on the desk, her head tilted up. Her half-lidded eyes were charming and misty, her brow and eyes steeped in languor and intoxication, like a nine-tailed fox drunkenly collapsing into King Zhou's embrace.
The soft light fell upon her face, like a blooming crabapple.
Zhang Yuanqing found her utterly gorgeous. She had never been so beautiful in the past; this was the most captivating allure and bliss a woman showed only after baring her heart to you.
After who knew how long, Zhang Yuanqing stopped all motion, his leg muscles suddenly tensing, frozen still.
*Green trees with the wind roll emerald waves,*
*Red blooms braving the rain pierce the fragrant heart.*
With the injection complete, he leaned over to hold Guan Ya, nibbling on her earlobe as he whispered, "Sister Guan Ya, you're so good."
Her whole body limp, Guan Ya gave a soft, "Mm."
"You're so pretty."
Guan Ya let out another, "Mm."
"You feel so good."
Guan Ya gave him a slap.
After resting for a few minutes, Guan Ya wiped away the saliva from her face and neck with feigned disgust, shooting him a glare. "I'm going to take a shower."
Pushing him away, her skirt fell back into place as she walked toward the bathroom with unsteady steps.
Once again, she deeply realized that a Swordsman's physical fitness was superior to a Star Official's in every way, but in terms of endurance, ten Guan Yas would end up reduced to puddles.
"Let's shower together." Still wanting more, Zhang Yuanqing proposed a shower for two.
Guan Ya's face shifted slightly, and she huffed, "If you dare come in, I'll slice off your... At worst, I'll inject you with Life Essence Fluid later."
*Is that how Life Essence Fluid is supposed to be used?* Zhang Yuanqing thought about it. Considering that he had indeed been somewhat insatiable and had worked the beauty too hard—not conducive to sustainable development—he said, "All right."
*Actually, I could use the Mountain God Scepter to reduce your swelling and relieve the pain, and then you could relieve my worries and eliminate the negative cost. Round and round in a cycle, that's also sustainable development...* That wild, backbreaking idea flashed through Zhang Yuanqing's mind, but he didn't dare voice it for fear of getting beaten by Guan Ya.
Guan Ya entered the bathroom, and a dozen seconds later, the rushing sound of the showerhead echoed out.
In his post-coital calm, Zhang Yuanqing took out his phone, opened the chat app, and found two unread messages.
One was from Kou Beiyue:
*The Nihility Sect agreed. Face-to-face meeting tomorrow night in Jinshan City, but there are two conditions: first, you can only bring Taiyi Sect's Yin Ji; second, they need a high-grade Knight class item. The exact location will be sent tomorrow night.*
The other was from Sun Miaomiao:
*I've compiled all the Night Walkers from 1990 to 2000, including their current status. Many have already returned to the Spirit Realm. Time was limited, so I could only briefly summarize their life stories; I couldn't list detailed resumes for everyone. The workload was too huge.*
*Six Waters is truly reliable, even throwing in life summaries!* Zhang Yuanqing smiled and replied:
*Many thanks, many thanks! I'll treat you to a meal later. You will always be this Tianzun's little darling.*
Sun Miaomiao: *Disgusting, bleh!*
Then she ignored him.
Zhang Yuanqing deleted those last two messages, kept the attachment sent by Sun Miaomiao, and opened Guan Ya's laptop—which had been shoved to the corner of the desk during the earlier business.
Practiced, he typed in the laptop password, opened the desktop version of the chat app, and downloaded the attachment.
Chapter 457