A fierce wind howled, whipping up fallen leaves and dust across the sky. The vegetation surged like waves, and the entire Zoo seemed to come alive.
Amidst this terrifying spectacle, Zhang Yuanqing once again sensed a gaze—a chilling gaze from the unseen depths.
Unlike before, the artifact spirit's gaze was brimming with torrential fury, like a deity whose reverse scale had been touched by a mortal. The violent wind and ominous anomalies were clear proof of this deity's wrath.
An indescribable chill and dread surged in his chest. Zhang Yuanqing felt an instinctive panic, as though he were standing bare-handed before a ravenous beast.
The hairs on the back of his hands stood on end. Adrenaline flooded his system, and the muscles in his back and legs tightened silently. His body was mounting an intense stress response, automatically adjusting itself to an optimal combat stance.
*Not good, this reaction is a bit too severe...* Zhang Yuanqing clearly felt the ambient temperature dropping. Countless eyes seemed to be peeping from the dark, tinting the night with an aura of extreme danger.
The moment he shouted Zhang Zizhen's name, he had broken the rules.
Thoughts raced through Zhang Yuanqing's mind. Although the sole purpose of a yin corpse was to serve as cannon fodder, he had come to the Zoo to pry for information, not to deliver a corpse from miles away for nothing. He had to remedy this immediately.
A solution came to him in an instant. He lowered his voice and chanted, "I am Zhang Zizhen's son. I am Zhang Zizhen's son..."
Accompanied by his dreamlike murmurs, the howling gale subsided, and the watching eyes in the darkness quickly vanished.
The night hung heavy, and absolute silence fell around him. It was as though nothing had just occurred.
*It really worked.* Zhang Yuanqing felt a slight sense of relief. The artifact spirit possessed self-awareness; it was a rational entity capable of communication.
As long as he revealed his identity, it was bound to listen.
As for why he didn't pretend to be Zhang Zizhen, on one hand, his earlier experiment suggested that the artifact spirit judged identities by bloodline. Since a yin corpse was not his true body, disguising his bloodline was impossible.
On the other hand, his old man clearly shared an unusual bond with the artifact spirit. Impersonating Zhang Zizhen before it would be easily exposed, which would only enrage the spirit further and defeat the entire purpose of coming here.
"You are his offspring?"
A voice both crisp and childish drifted over, resembling that of an aloof young girl.
Zhang Yuanqing followed the sound, searching until he finally spotted a small, red-eyed rabbit in the bushes behind him. Peering through the gaps between the leaves, it scrutinized him with an icy, displeased, yet cautious and curious gaze.
*The artifact spirit possessed a rabbit? That's kind of cute. Judging by the voice, the spirit's persona is a young girl...* Zhang Yuanqing probed, "Are you... the artifact spirit of this Zoo?"
"Are you his offspring?" the little rabbit demanded stubbornly once more.
"Yes, Zhang Zizhen is my father," Zhang Yuanqing answered definitively.
The little rabbit stared at him darkly, seemingly weighing the truth of his words.
After a brief thought, Zhang Yuanqing added, "I came here last time, and you mistook me for him."
Only he and the artifact spirit knew about that encounter.
"It's you. I remember now..." The rabbit's three-part mouth twitched, its attitude softening visibly. "You're that Night Walker. His offspring really ought to be a Night Walker. Where is Zhang Zizhen? Where is he?"
Its tone had improved as well.
*If I say he returned to the Spirit Realm over a decade ago, will it go berserk on the spot?* Zhang Yuanqing decided to play it safe and shook his head. "I don't know. He left when I was very young, saying he had to do something important, and he never came back."
This was an excuse he adapted from the conversation between Zhang Zizhen and Elder Dog recorded in the monkey exhibit, aligning well with what the artifact spirit might know.
"You don't know where he is either?" The little rabbit's lips twitched slightly. Its clear voice carried deep disappointment before turning cold. "Why have you come here? Do you want to use Zhang Zizhen's name to gain my trust, and then take me away from the little dog? Even though you are his offspring, that isn't points in your favor. On the contrary, that mother of yours makes me very unhappy."
"You know my mother?" Zhang Yuanqing's interest was piqued.
"I don't. But I know humans only have children with those they hold dearest among their kind, so I am displeased," the little rabbit said self-righteously.
*So you're jealous? Why does an artifact spirit have such a strong possessiveness toward its master...* Zhang Yuanqing muttered internally while glancing around, terrified that a curly-haired toy poodle might emerge from the shadows.
"No one will come over," the little rabbit said, watching him through the shrubs with the clear, cool voice of a young girl. "State your purpose."
Zhang Yuanqing had already prepared his speech. Hearing this, he answered without hesitation:
"After becoming a spirit realm walker, I joined the official organization. By chance, I learned of Zhang Zizhen's identity as one of the Blazing Sun Twins, so I have been investigating secretly, trying to find my father who has been missing for years.
"During my investigation, I discovered you, and I uncovered his connection to Elder Dog. Just today, I also found out that Ling Tuo, one of the Shadow Twins, has become the leader of an evil organization.
"I want to ask you about something: what exactly happened in 1999? What caused Ling Tuo's death, and what did the Xiaoyao Organization do after obtaining the core fragment of the Compass of Light?"
The little rabbit crouched among the bushes, watching him with red eyes without answering.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing was not nervous in the slightest. His words had laid the groundwork of "searching for his father," which was precisely what the artifact spirit craved most.
Besides, as a son, searching for his missing father was only natural. If the artifact spirit wanted to find Zhang Zizhen, it had no choice but to rely on him.
Who in the world wanted to know "Where has Daddy gone" more than a son?
Sure enough, the little rabbit spoke in its cool, maiden-like voice: "After obtaining the core fragment of the Compass of Light, the four of them stayed in this park for a period of time, studying it day in and day out. The park was the secret base of the Xiaoyao Organization. They usually gathered here to discuss their plans. I didn't care about the Compass of Light, so I didn't participate. I only know that one day, they suddenly grew very excited and said some very strange things..."
"Strange things?" Zhang Yuanqing pressed eagerly. "What did they say?"
"Something about a key, a vessel, a branch of the sun, and so forth. In short, they had figured out how to use the Compass of Light's fragment. Afterward, Zizhen told me he had to leave for a while. During that time, the Zoo would have no caretaker, but since I was already a mature artifact spirit, he hoped I could learn to suppress the evil beings on my own."
*My dad sure knows how to sweet-talk people...* Zhang Yuanqing quipped internally before asking, "Where did they go?"
"They entered the Spirit Realm. All four of them went together, saying they were going to unravel the ultimate secret of the Spirit Realm."
*They entered the Spirit Realm?* Zhang Yuanqing frowned. "They went into the Spirit Realm together? Did they rely on a teleportation item?"
For most spirit realm walkers, entering a dungeon was passive, governed by the Spirit Realm once a month.
Only teleportation items could bypass that restriction.
"They entered the Spirit Realm through the core fragment of the Compass of Light." The little rabbit's pink nose twitched instinctively, sniffing around as its cool voice continued:
"I forgot how long they were gone, but I will never forget the day they returned, because that was the day all the misfortune began.
"When they came back, they were in terrible shape and gravely injured. After returning to the park, an argument broke out among the four of them, and they had a massive row. I don't know the exact details, as an item was used to block the sound. After that dispute, Zizhen parted ways with them on bad terms. Soon after, something went wrong with his body."
"What kind of problem?"
"He was cursed—a dreadful curse, the most terrifying curse I have ever seen to this day. His health deteriorated day by day as the power of the curse eroded his life force. But Zizhen didn't seem to care at all. He grew taciturn, often staring into space alone. One day, he suddenly told me he had to handle an errand. He wasn't gone long that time and returned quickly, but he brought back terrible news—Ling Tuo was dead. After Ling Tuo died, he moved away with me, relocating to Songhai. From then on, he rarely went out. He stayed with me every day, helping me seal the evil beings in the Zoo, only going home occasionally.
"It felt like he was hiding from something, and the other two never visited the park again... Then, one day, he suddenly told me that Chu Shang had died as well.
"Chu Shang's death seemed to hit him hard. He stopped staying in the park and began going out frequently, until one day he told me he had to leave for a while, and instructed me to stay with that little dog.
"I never saw him again after that."
Zhang Yuanqing extracted two crucial pieces of information from this:
First, Ling Tuo did not die during the operation to uncover the Spirit Realm's secrets, but after leaving the Spirit Realm.
Second, the core fragment of the Compass of Light allowed spirit realm walkers to traverse dungeons; it was likely something akin to a key.
He felt somewhat disappointed. While this information was certainly significant, it had fallen short of his expectations.
Without realizing it, the crisp, youthful voice took on an ethereal, weathered tone: "In truth, over all these years, I have often thought that he might have already returned to the Spirit Realm. But the little dog told me he only left, and that there was no evidence proving he died. What is your name?"
Zhang Yuanqing was so engrossed that he didn't react immediately. After a brief hesitation, he answered, "Zhang Yuanqing!"
"Zhang Yuanqing..." The little rabbit stared at him. "You will find him, won't you?"
"I will," Zhang Yuanqing nodded.
After thoroughly digesting the information, he suddenly recalled the conversation recorded in the monkey exhibit and immediately asked, "I learned that the things imprisoned in this park are tied to the secrets of the Spirit Realm. Can you tell me about them?"
"That was an erroneous expedition." The little rabbit sat obediently and said, "They entered an ancient ruin where evil spirits from antiquity were sealed. I heard Zizhen say that they were beast souls refusing to perish, brimming with resentment and malice. Only the physical forms of animals could contain them. So, using materials brought from the ruin, and nearly bankrupting himself to pay out of his own pocket, he commissioned someone to forge this item and merged me into it, refining me into its artifact spirit."
"Wait, what do you mean by 'merged me into it'? You didn't originate from the park itself?"
"I was originally a rule-based item, adept at seals."
Realization dawned upon Zhang Yuanqing. *No wonder you're so attached to Zhang Zizhen and showed no fondness toward the other members of the Xiaoyao Organization. You were my deadbeat dad's personal item from the very beginning.*
"What does 'beast souls refusing to perish' mean?"
"They are the departed spirits from a war in ancient times. You should know about that war."
*Why on earth would I know?* Zhang Yuanqing thought.
"Among the departed spirits, there is an unyielding, imperishable will. It wanders deep within the park, always roaring with indignation: '%#@!.' Zizhen told me that those words meant..." The little rabbit stared intently at him. "'Xuanyuan!'"
Zhang Yuanqing didn't grasp it at first. Several seconds later, he blurted out in shock, "The Yellow Emperor, Xuanyuan?!"
The little rabbit offered no response.
*Damn, so that tongue that sounded like Leather City dialect was actually an archaic dialect from antiquity? The name that Ancient God of War was roaring was Xuanyuan, the legendary Yellow Emperor?!*
*Looking at it this way, the identity of that ancient battle god's obsession trapped in the Zoo is...* A renowned figure from mythology and history surfaced in Zhang Yuanqing's mind.
Following Empress Wa, two more legendary figures had now been confirmed as spirit realm walkers—the Yellow Emperor and Chiyou.
Looking back, the skill description of the Ancient God of War did share similarities with the legendary Chiyou. In particular, the legend of the Mist Lord stated that Chiyou was dismembered and decapitated by the Yellow Emperor, which aligned perfectly with that avatar of unyielding will he had seen... *So Chiyou was an Ancient God of War? No, that can't be right—that was merely an incarnation born of his post-mortem resentment. Who knew how terrifying his true body was...*
*So that war was the Battle of Zhuolu? If I recall correctly, historians have never been able to locate where the Battle of Zhuolu took place. Could it have been incorporated into a Sumeru pocket realm? Or did it take place inside a Sumeru realm from the very beginning?*
Suddenly confronted with such ancient secrets, Zhang Yuanqing's mind felt as if it were exploding with thoughts.
At that moment, the little rabbit spoke in its crisp, childish tone, "Go back. I won't mention tonight's meeting to anyone, including the little dog. If you find Zhang Zizhen, tell him to get his ass back here to see me."
With that, the rabbit turned and prepared to hop away.
"Wait!" Zhang Yuanqing reached out with a dramatic halting gesture.
The little rabbit stopped and looked back. "What else?"
"I want to know who the other member of the Shadow Twins was," Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Among the four, the known members were Celestial Master Zhang, Chu Shang, and Ling Tuo. The identity of the fourth had always remained deeply mysterious; supposedly, no outsider had ever seen their true face.
Outsiders might not know, but the Zoo's artifact spirit definitely did.
Celestial Master Zhang and Chu Shang had already returned to the Spirit Realm, while Ling Tuo had become one of the Fallen. What had become of that final member?
Had they returned to the Spirit Realm like the first two, or turned Fallen like Ling Tuo?
"I promised him I wouldn't reveal his identity, but since you are Zizhen's offspring, there's no harm in telling you," the little rabbit said.
"His name was Past Without Trace!"
Like a bolt from the blue!
Zhang Yuanqing froze on the spot.
Chapter 520