Seriously, he didn't have an ounce of the prestige a Heavenly King of the Soldier Master sect ought to have... Zhang Yuanqing had finally sent Heavenly King Demonic Eye packing after lending him five hundred yuan in cash. Fortunately, he made a habit of carrying cash on him; otherwise, he and Demonic Eye would have just stood there staring blankly at each other.
Or he would have had to say, "Wait here while I go buy you some oranges—no, wait, while I run home to get your money."
*So rigid. If you're in a pinch, stealing a little cash with your powers is perfectly understandable. We need to maintain a flexible moral bottom line! Just make sure you remember to pay me back...* Zhang Yuanqing slipped on the Gale Gloves and flew toward Kangyang District amidst the sudden gust of wind.
In the battlefield detached from reality, mangled, charred yin corpses lay strewn across every street and alley. It looked as though the city had witnessed an epochal clash; corpses littered the landscape, and the number of vengeful spirits darting through the air had plummeted.
Clad in snow-white robes, Fu Qingyang held the Jade Dragon Sword. A hundred terracotta warriors clustered around him like soldiers looking death calmly in the face.
A Puppeteer was like a general on a battlefield, commanding an army of thousands—fighting across three thousand leagues in a single body, holding off a million soldiers alone.
Elder Hongying and Elder Gaofeng fought back-to-back. They looked utterly composed, neither disheveled nor frail. Fu Qingyang held off two opposing Dominators by himself, so the pressure on them wasn't heavy.
Atop the nearby high-rises stood three Dominator-level figures stationed in different directions, looking down at their foes on the street.
They were the Grand Protector, Third Protector, and Fifth Protector (the Spring God) of Dark Night Rose.
Unlike the official Dominators who maintained their elegance, these three from Dark Night Rose had disheveled hair and tattered clothes, their bodies covered in sword slashes and burns.
Elder Hongying and Elder Gaofeng were both veteran Dominators, and Gaofeng was the top leader of the Hang City branch; their combat prowess and defensive resilience spoke for themselves.
Moreover, Fu Qingyang's strength had exceeded both sides' expectations. Forget level-seven Dominators; an ordinary level-eight might not even be a match for Money Prince.
This had left Dark Night Rose's three elders in a losing position. If not for the fact that Day Wanderers and Spring Gods possessed endurance and recovery capabilities that ranked among the best of all classes, they would have fallen long ago.
"This is bad. Why is there no movement from our Southern Sect's two elders?"
Little Fatty, sitting cross-legged around the Earth God, looked full of worry.
He had no idea whether the two Southern Sect elders had been killed, trapped, or had fled, but there was no sign of them whatsoever.
"Does your Southern Sect have no experts left? Sending two embroidered pillows to a championship match," Yu, the cute, round-faced deacon, remarked, delivering the most cutting words in the sweetest voice.
Yet Little Fatty knew that this sweet-looking female deacon was actually relatively kind and gentle among the Saints present.
The female swordswoman "Natsuki's Love" and the Songhai Branch's "Gaoshan Liushui" looked at him with cold, wary eyes, as though they would take his head off the second he made an odd move.
*Could they really have capsized in the gutter...?* Little Fatty frowned.
Illusionists were a heavily skewed class. Their strengths were formidable, but their weaknesses were equally glaring. Once ambushed or closed in on by a prepared melee class, there was a high chance of getting wiped out in a single burst.
Just then, the Grand Protector of Dark Night Rose's cold sneer reached everyone's ears.
"Elder Hongying, you didn't think this was all the preparation I had, did you? Since I knew you were fishing, it would be terribly disrespectful of me if I couldn't produce something at the demigod level. I know the female Grand Marshal is in Songhai, but she won't be able to make it." The Grand Protector stabbed his polished, oily sword into the ground and opened his arms toward the dark, gloomy sky.
"Great Ghost City, awaken."
The already dark sky suddenly churned with overcast clouds. A torrential chill descended, plunging the area from early autumn straight into midwinter in an instant.
The high-rises vanished; even the deep fissures torn into the earth by Elder Gaofeng disappeared.
The surrounding world transformed into a desolate, lifeless ancient city.
Fu Qingyang and the others stood on a flagstone-paved main thoroughfare lined with ancient buildings. At the end of the road stood a tall archway bearing a horizontal plaque inscribed with two words: Ghost City.
Yet this was no simple ancient city. The old buildings along the street bore blood-soaked signs reading: "Escape Room," "Bizarre Foot Massage," "Night Talks with Ghosts," "Zombie Haunt," "Ghost Marriage," and "Horror Battle Royale."
It looked more like an amusement park themed around the supernatural.
Even so, Fu Qingyang and the two elders felt their scalps tingle. This was a demigod-level item.
"I know the Grand Marshal is in Songhai, but she won't be coming over," the Grand Protector said coldly from the ridge of an ancient building's roof. "The three of you, prepare to face the horrors of the Ghost City."
A streak of sword light descended from the heavens, returning to the Zoo.
Carrying a blood-stained sword, a tall woman with a head of silver hair walked slowly toward the small brick house. Her black jodhpurs accentuated the plump, rounded curves of her legs.
She walked with an easy grace, her legs moving in an elegant stride.
The white-haired Grand Marshal came to a halt. Her calm gaze fell upon the curly-haired toy poodle crouching by her door, and her voice sounded cold and majestic:
"It seems something major has occurred."
Before her, no one could keep a secret.
"Grand Marshal, you are finally back." Elder Dog bowed in greeting, his tone graver than ever before. "Two matters: Demonic Eye has been rescued; and contact has been lost with Fu Qingyang, Hongying, and Tiaozhan Gaofeng. Fear Heavenly King's actions tonight were no accident. We have fallen into an enormous plot."
The female Grand Marshal's gallant brows knit together. "You were not at the Zoo?"
She easily read the reason behind Elder Dog's dejection.
Elder Dog shook his head. "I was lured away. It was my dereliction of duty. Allow me to explain—"
The female Grand Marshal waved a hand to cut him off.
"Not interested! If things are truly as severe as you say, now is not the time for idle talk. Tell me, who rescued Demonic Eye?"
Her style was clean and incisive, never dragging its feet.
Elder Dog said in a heavy voice, "It has not been uncovered yet. But one thing is certain: Fear Heavenly King, Dark Night Rose, and the person who breached the Zoo to rescue Demonic Eye... this is an interlocking conspiracy. Their goal is likely far more than just freeing Demonic Eye. If... if the leader of Dark Night Rose has made a move as well, then Fu Qingyang and the others are in grave peril—"
"He wouldn't dare move. He and the Taiyi Sect Master have played this game for years; whoever enters the board first dies," Fu Qingxuan said indifferently. "Give me Fu Qingyang's location."
"Jinshan City!" Elder Dog replied.
Fu Qingxuan turned on her heel and strode off, but after just two steps, she paused and looked back over her shoulder. "Send Jinshan City's location to my phone. Without GPS, I won't be able to find it."
At his maternal grandparents' home, bright, dreamy starlight rose within the quiet bedroom.
Standing in the darkness, Zhang Yuanqing looked around the small bedroom he hadn't returned to in nearly a month. The light quilt was spread neatly across the bed, and the trash bin was empty, lined with a clean black bag.
Neither the desk nor the floor held a speck of dust; everything was neat and tidy.
His grandmother must have cleaned the room regularly, waiting for her grandson to return.
Zhang Yuanqing had told Guan Ya and the others that he was heading home for the night to establish a reasonable alibi. Now that matters were settled, he naturally couldn't return straight to Fujia Bay.
Kicking off his shoes, he flopped onto the bed spread-eagled and sighed comfortably.
"Nothing beats your own doghouse."
After all, he had lived in this room for over a decade. No house could replace its place in his heart, not even one harboring a luscious girlfriend.
Staring at the ceiling, Zhang Yuanqing replayed the events at the Zoo over and over in his mind.
They had been very careful all along. Yi Chuanmei's illusions were enough to deceive most things—the plants and the employees.
He had also brought back the notebook from the abandoned dormitory building.
Blood Rose sinking to the bottom of the lake counted as evidence left at the crime scene. However, Ruoshui sank all things; while not a rule-based item itself, it possessed rule-like properties. Not even Elder Dog would likely be able to salvage Blood Rose from it.
The same went for the item spirit and demigods.
As things stood, the only vulnerabilities were the camphor tree and the white lion.
The former had endured Commandery Princess Yinyao's attack, so it should know its bark was clawed through by a yin corpse to disembowel it and retrieve Demonic Eye.
Yet it didn't know Commandery Princess Yinyao. Suspecting Yuanshi Tianzun based purely on a yin corpse was far too absurd. Furthermore, once Heavenly King Demonic Eye reached the shore, he had patched the hole by deliberately dropping Ghost Blade Heavenly King's name.
*Dark Night Rose and the Soldier Master sect share an extraordinary relationship. Ghost Blade Heavenly King could easily possess an item that manipulates yin corpses. As for why he would use a yin corpse, the Zoo's complex and varied rules are the best excuse.*
*The white lion is a bit tricky, though... Specializations differ. Among the Orderly classes, the only skill capable of piercing illusions is the Scout's Insight. Theoretically, although the white lion has a high rank, it isn't omnipotent. It's merely an avatar of the item spirit's power, not a real spirit realm walker, and its attributes are rather one-dimensional.*
*Still, I can't be too sure. I'll test Elder Dog tomorrow...*
*I wonder if the Boss's operation went smoothly, if they killed Sect Master Chunyang...*
*I'll need to refine more yin corpses and spirit servants later. Their level doesn't need to be high, but I need quantity to serve strictly as cannon fodder and consumables. Otherwise, if I run into another situation like the Zoo, I'll end up having to sacrifice the Greedy Divine General...*
Lost in thought, he gradually drifted off to sleep. When he awoke, daylight had already arrived, accompanied by the knocking on the door and the grandmother's calls from the living room urging his aunt to get out of bed.
At the dining table, the five-member family shared a simple and warm breakfast, though the atmosphere wasn't quite so warm.
With a fried dough stick dangling from her lips, his aunt slanted her pretty eyes, the beauty mark at the corner of her eye looking both alluring and cute, and grumbled, "Well, well, isn't this the little bride our family married off? Returning to your maiden home for a visit, are we?"
A wave of resentment washed over him.
"Stop talking nonsense!" his white-haired grandmother snapped irritably.
Just as Zhang Yuanqing was about to think, *Grandmother still loves me best, mwah, Grandmother,* he heard her shift gears:
"He's clearly the matrilocal son-in-law we married off."
The mother and daughter echoed each other in mocking him. In the end, his cousin Chen Yuanjun stepped up to speak a fair word:
"At Yuanzi's age, having a girlfriend means they'll want to cling to each other all day. Half of summer vacation is already over. Once school starts, he'll have to put his mind back on his studies and won't have so much time for dating."
His grandfather remained as stern and silent as ever, neither meddling in his descendants' lives nor offering an opinion.
Grandmother instantly swung her artillery toward her grandson:
"How do you have the cheek to act like an experienced elder here? Yuanzi already has a girlfriend, while you're still a single dog."
*Grandmother, have you been surfing the web lately? You even know internet slang now?* Zhang Yuanqing slurped his porridge, happily watching the show from the sidelines.
Caught completely off guard and not daring to talk back, Chen Yuanjun turned to his aunt. "Isn't there another single dog right over there? Grandma, raising one dog is raising, raising two is still raising."
Jiang Yu'er angrily banged her chopsticks against her nephew's head.
While the two were squabbling, Grandmother turned to Zhang Yuanqing and said, "Your mother still cares about you a lot. She even called me to ask about Guan Ya. Answer her calls when you can—stop keeping her on your blacklist."
*Huh? Since when did Chen Shu care so much about my love life? That doesn't sound like her.*
Zhang Yuanqing was a little surprised.
No one knew a mother better than her son. Chen Shu was an overbearing, domineering mother, by no means the type to pamper her child as her sweet little baby.
Her consistent attitude toward raising a son was that surviving was good enough, and if possible, not being a total waste.
She didn't even bother managing her son's education and grades, let alone his romantic affairs.
"What did she say?" Zhang Yuanqing felt somewhat gratified deep down.
"She said Guan Ya is too old, and the two of you aren't suitable."
"Tell her to shove it."
"Mind your tongue, that's your mother," Grandmother reprimanded, tapping her grandson on the head with her chopsticks.
"She never cared about me. She never attended a single parent-teacher conference, never celebrated a birthday with me, never checked my homework, and every time she came home she just threw money at me. It's all because you didn't raise her well, Grandma," Zhang Yuanqing retorted, casually turning the moral tables on them.
Grandmother and Grandfather looked momentarily embarrassed.
With their daughter acting so unfilial and neglectful, the old couple bore some responsibility; they truly felt indebted to their grandson.
After breakfast, Zhang Yuanqing returned to Fujia Bay and headed straight for Fu Qingyang's mansion, only to be told by a bunny girl maid that the young master hadn't returned home.
Zhang Yuanqing instantly realized something was amiss. What kind of battle would last an entire night?
He immediately dialed Elder Dog's number, but an automated voice informed him that the phone was switched off.
He tried calling Fu Qingyang, but the automated prompt said: *The number you dialed is outside the service area.*
Elder Gaofeng, Yin Ji, Natsuki's Love... He dialed every official walker he knew who had taken part in the operation, and the prompt was identical each time: outside the service area.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly grew anxious. He realized he might have pushed his luck too far—something bad had definitely happened.
Leaving the grand villa in a hurry, he dashed back to his townhouse villa. Rushing into the living room, he happened to see Guan Ya leading the team members toward the courtyard.
They wore white martial arts uniforms. With her perky bust, slender waist, long legs, delicate features, and wavy hair, the Eurasian beauty looked sexy, mature, and gorgeous.
Since becoming a woman, her brows held an extra touch of grace and gentleness.
Queen and Xie Lingxi each had their own charm. The former wore smoky makeup and had a voluptuous figure that oozed pounds of sultry allure, while the latter was a vibrant, youthful high school girl radiating energy.
Compared to them, Li Chunfeng looked utterly reluctant and thoroughly deflated.
Evidently, they were heading to the training room for group practice to hone their combat techniques.
"Brother Yuanshi~"
Xie Lingxi called out with a mix of melancholy and delight.
Ever since finding out that Brother Yuanshi had lost his virginity to Guan Ya, Xie Lingxi had turned into a lilac-like girl, harboring sorrow day after day.
Younger girls were more self-centered and possessive. Queen was far calmer; what outstanding man nowadays hadn't dated a few times? Perhaps Lord Tianzun, trained and seasoned by Guan Ya, would end up falling into her lap in the end.
As the saying went, a man was like a spear: the more you polished the tip, the shinier it got.
Zhang Yuanqing waved his hand, bypassed the other three, and grabbed Guan Ya, pulling her into the house.
Returning to the bedroom, he shut the door and whispered:
"Call that demigod cousin of yours. Right now, immediately!"
Chapter 513