Wang Qian’s gaze lowered toward the counter. He could not see spirits, but a Musician’s spiritual perception allowed him to sense that something was there. He looked up at Yuanshi Tianzun with longing and pleading in his eyes.
Zhang Yuanqing exhaled another breath of Taiyin Qi. It drifted gracefully onto Wang Qian’s face. Wang Qian felt a chill wash over his cheeks, and frost seemed to gather around his eye sockets.
He felt as though his vision had been endowed with a special ability. Immediately turning back to the counter, he indeed saw an adorable baby with sparse lanugo lying there.
Unlike before, the baby’s large, dark eyes were bright and lively, occasionally gleaming with intelligence rather than an empty, bewildered stare.
Wang Qian’s gaze softened instantly. Cradling the infant spirit, he whispered, “If my sister could see you, she’d be so happy... Her baby is still here. Always has been...”
*Or she might get scared right into the afterlife to reunite with her son on the spot,* Zhang Yuanqing quipped internally before saying aloud, “If an ordinary person sees a spirit, she’ll be terrified sick. I suggest you drop that bold idea. You have fifteen minutes to touch and see him. Make the most of your time catching up.”
With that, he headed deeper into the hotel.
Taking the elevator upstairs to the leftmost room on the third floor, Zhang Yuanqing knocked on the door.
*Click!*
The doorknob turned on its own, and the door slowly swung inward.
Zhang Yuanqing stepped inside, crossed the entryway into the living room, and swept his gaze across the space. He saw the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter sitting lazily behind a desk, backed by a window.
Daylight poured in from outside. Though she was bathed in the brightness, each strand of her hair glistening, her face remained cloaked in shadow.
When she saw Zhang Yuanqing enter, the beautiful eyes behind her silver mask lit up with delight. But after taking a closer look at him, her gaze suddenly darkened, turning icy and indifferent.
The lighting hampered Zhang Yuanqing’s ability to read her expression, and sensing nothing amiss, he spoke up, “Palace Master, I—”
Before he could finish, killing intent descended from above. In the next instant, his hands and feet were bound tight. Before he even knew what was happening, he floated upward, suspended midair.
A string of question marks flashed through Zhang Yuanqing’s mind.
“I am very angry.” The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter pushed herself up from the desk and walked gracefully toward him, her exquisite, jade-like bare feet peeking out from beneath the hem of her dress.
Stopping before him, she tilted her head up and said coldly, “I hate being cuckolded. Not even you are an exception. For an impure man, my standard procedure is castration, drowning in a pig cage, hanging for forty-nine days, and turning him into cured bacon...”
Suddenly, she twitched her nose and gritted her teeth. “An impure man indeed! You have the scent of another woman on you!!”
With that, her eyes turned frigid as she summoned a snow-white blade and pressed it against his crotch.
“Looks like castration is the only option.”
“P-P-Palace Master... let’s talk this out...”
Feeling a chill between his legs, a stunned Zhang Yuanqing finally realized what was happening: the Palace Master had seen right through the intimate milestone he had reached with Guan Ya.
She was jealous.
A Red Phoenix Star Official governed marriage and romance; her sensitivity in such matters was likely even keener than astrology.
“What is there to talk about?” she said coldly. “Once I slice off that filthy thing down there, I’ll use Life Source Fluid to heal you, and you’ll be clean again. Remember this for the future: every time you use it, I will cut it off.”
*Did she really cure her mental illness? Why do I feel like she’s gotten even worse? She’s a demon...* Zhang Yuanqing tried to open his inventory to summon an item against this psychopath.
Yet he discovered he had lost his connection to his inventory.
Since becoming a Spirit Realm walker, this was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation.
Zhang Yuanqing’s heart sank. He suspected her psychosis had only worsened, and a maniac like her was capable of anything.
Even if Life Source Fluid could heal the injury, he had no desire to experience the agony of losing his cock.
“Palace Master, let’s talk things through... Honestly, you’re the most important person in my heart...” Zhang Yuanqing chose his words carefully, recalling his mentor’s advice as he tried to placate the lunatic.
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter waved the blade around his crotch before letting out a sudden sigh.
“In the end, I can’t bear to blame you. Forget it. I’ll just find an opportunity to kill Guan Ya to vent my anger.”
*Then put me down! Hiss... it’s getting even tighter...* Zhang Yuanqing sucked in a breath of cold air as thread-thin red strings cut deeper into his flesh, beading with drops of blood.
He probed cautiously, “Palace Master, could you let me down first?”
The moment he spoke, the red strings tightened further, beads of blood trickling down the threads.
Zhang Yuanqing obediently shut his mouth.
At that moment, the Palace Master put away all her emotions. Walking over to the desk, she brought out a ceramic jar the size of a soccer ball and ten gold bars carved with dizzying runes.
“I extracted the essence of the remaining Life Source Fluid and stored it in the jar. The divine power of the sun is sealed inside the gold. I asked an Artifact Refiner to craft the gold into temporary containers; they can only hold it for three days. After three days, the gold will melt, so absorb it as soon as possible,” she said indifferently.
She had arranged everything for him.
*Three days is plenty. Once I enter the dungeon, I’ll cultivate the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record. If I can advance to Level 5 inside, I should have enough strength to protect myself and survive the terrible omen from the tortoise shell divination...* Zhang Yuanqing calculated inwardly.
“Why must you advance inside the dungeon?” she asked.
Zhang Yuanqing shared the tortoise shell’s divination with her, adding, “I suspect that from now on, I might constantly be matched with higher-level Spirit Realm walkers instead of people at my own level.”
Leaning against the edge of the desk, the Palace Master tapped her chin with a finger. “Your guess is correct.”
*Correct? So I really will be matched with higher-level walkers from now on...* Zhang Yuanqing raised an eyebrow. “How do you know?”
“I’m not telling you, ungrateful heartbreaker.” Trailing her long dress, the Palace Master strode toward the door and scoffed, “You just hang there. You can come down after dark.”
***
In Capital City, inside a secret chamber.
“I’ve already told you, I don’t like naive, hot-blooded men, and your seventeenth brother has been dead for so many years.” Victoria lit a slim lady's cigarette, exhaling smoke amidst the eerie green candlelight as she spoke languidly, “Bright and cheerful, warm toward others, full of himself, naive in his thinking—that’s about it. He had extraordinary talent and was an awe-inspiring powerhouse.
“Yet some of his ideas were utterly naive. I remember back when he was pursuing me, he suddenly blurted out one day: did I want to join swords with him, saving the world as a revered couple?”
*Seventeenth Brother actually had such an eighth-grade syndrome phase? But precisely because of that chuunibyou streak, he joined the Carefree Organization...* Lingjun recalled the gentle brother of his memory, feeling a bit dissonant.
After concluding his conversation with Yuanshi Tianzun, he had looked into the Carefree Organization's background and learned about their melodramatic, grandiose slogans.
Now, hearing Victoria speak of the past, he became increasingly certain that his seventeenth brother was indeed the Night Walker among the Shadow Twins.
Victoria puffed white smoke from her red lips. “I just never cared for that type. I prefer the brazen scoundrel who, at just fifteen years old, had the nerve to cop a feel and claim that a young lad and a mature lady make a match not even nine oxen could pull apart.”
Lingjun’s expression turned awkward. If this were any other woman, he would have started spouting flirtatious banter by now. But he felt guilty toward Victoria, and he reined in his emotions, not wanting to rekindle this scandalous liaison.
“Anything else?” he asked, quietly changing the subject.
Victoria flicked her ash. “Though now that you mention it, I do recall something. The year before he returned to the Spirit Realm, he seemed to have had a fierce fight with Great Elder Red Sun Executioner. The clash was exceptionally violent.”
“For what reason?” Lingjun asked hurriedly.
“That’s the most interesting part. After that day, Red Sun Executioner expelled Ling Tuo from the Taiyi Sect. The exact reason was never disclosed, so I don’t know.”
Lingjun realized in enlightenment, “So Seventeenth Brother was expelled by the Great Elder, and Father acquiesced... Sigh, information like this would never be written in the archives; only the elders from back then would know. Truly, an elder in the house is a treasure in the house.”
Victoria’s pretty face dropped. “An elder in the house?”
“In my eyes, even when you’re a hundred years old, you will still be this stunning and enchanting.” Lingjun slipped into sweet talk on instinct before catching himself and hurriedly continuing, “What else? Anything else you found suspicious?”
“There is,” Victoria said, her eyes bright. Having talked this far, she was fully in investigative mode, and more anomalous details from back then surfaced in her mind. “Not long after your seventeenth brother returned to the Spirit Realm, another elder also returned to the Spirit Realm. His handle was ‘Everlasting Mountains and Rivers.’ That elder was a veteran, an active walker since the late Republican era.
“Losing two elders within a single year was rather abnormal, especially since there had been no fierce clashes with evil organizations at the time. However, I wasn't close with him. He belonged to the senior-most generation, whereas I was among the younger guard. In my recollection, he lived in seclusion and never handled sect affairs, so we had no official dealings.”
As they spoke, a vengeful spirit arrived in the secret chamber carrying a laptop.
In Lingjun’s eyes, the laptop simply flew in on its own, drifting across the air.
Victoria took the laptop, accessed the Taiyi Sect’s database, and searched for the name “Everlasting Mountains and Rivers.” The result displayed: *Entry does not exist!*
“His profile was erased as well.” Victoria closed the laptop. “At least one thing is certain: this man’s death is closely tied to your seventeenth brother’s death.”
“That’s a lead. How should we investigate information about Everlasting Mountains and Rivers?” Lingjun asked.
“Searching the archives is useless. Information that can be recorded is easily erased. Inquiring with someone in the know is the most effective way.” Victoria had a clear train of thought as she said, “He was very close with Elder Sun. We could consider using Elder Sun as a breakthrough point.”
“Muddleheaded Old Sun...” Lingjun nodded in thought.
Just then, the flame on the near-spent white candle flickered, shifting from eerie green to a bright orange flare.
The blessing of concealment was complete.
***
Above the Eastern Sea, the vast ocean rose and fell in rolling swells.
A golden streak of light swept across the sky, flying above the boundless ocean.
Within the golden light, the figure was graceful as a startled swan, peerlessly divine—like a goddess descended from the highest heavens, untainted by the mortal world.
After an unknown duration of flight, a vast landmass and forest appeared ahead. Farther in the distance lay an endless wilderness, at the edge of which stood a towering peak whose summit vanished into the clouds.
“I have found the Land of the Sunrise...”
Lady Sandao felt a surge of joy and accelerated at once, the golden light streaking like a meteor toward the high mountain at the wilderness’s end.
Before long, she reached the cloud-piercing summit. It was utterly empty; there was nothing here.
“The Fusang Divine Tree is not inside the Spirit Realm?”
Lady Sandao knit her delicate brows. This contradicted the intelligence she had gathered from several Spirit Realm bosses.
The Fusang Divine Tree was where the sun rose, home to the legendary Golden Crow, which was very likely the origin of the Day Wanderer and the fountainhead of the sun’s divine power.
She had gone through untold hardships to finally find the Land of the Sunrise, yet there was nothing here.
As she stood perplexed, a voice suddenly came from behind her:
“The Fusang Divine Tree is not inside a dungeon. It remains in the Island Nation’s Takamagahara. Because the Demon Refining Pot is within the divine tree, the Spirit Realm was initially unable to accommodate this origin divine artifact of the Musician profession when it first came into being. Later on, a certain entity intentionally left it behind in Takamagahara.”
Lady Sandao spun around and saw a figure standing behind her.
His body hovered between illusion and reality. His face was shrouded in a thin golden mist, obscuring his features, but his eyes were gentle, looking vaguely familiar.
“Who are you...?” Lady Sandao reflexively formed a sword gesture with two fingers, the divine power of the sun inside her showing signs of boiling.
She felt these eyes were familiar, yet she could not place them.
After a few seconds of thought, the expression on her exquisite face shifted slightly. “You are the person from my dreams.”
The man smiled. “My Lady, I was the one who awakened you. Have you ever wondered why almost all ancient cultivators taken into the Spirit Realm became dungeon bosses, yet you were the sole exception?
“I have manifested before you today to ask a favor of you.”
Lady Sandao narrowed her eyes. “So it was you who helped me break free of the Spirit Realm’s control? Why hide your face and lurk in the shadows? Show yourself in the flesh.”
“There’s a small problem with my true body; I cannot appear in person.” As he spoke, the golden mist on his face dispersed, revealing his true appearance.
Lady Sandao’s color drained from her face. Barely able to control her voice, she gasped in a tremble, “It’s you?!”
***
At eight o’clock that evening, Zhang Yuanqing returned to Fujia Bay in tattered clothes.
After stripping off his clothes—shredded by the red strings—and washing away the bloodstains, he comforted Guan Ya and lay down on his bed, closing his eyes to regulate his breath and await the dungeon’s arrival.
The entire night passed without incident.
Until seven o’clock the next morning, when the Spirit Realm’s notification chime finally rang in his ear.
Chapter 467