The hotel room was brightly lit. The official personnel who had accompanied them were all dismissed to the hallway, leaving only four people and a single tree in the room.
Zhang Yuanqing and Fu Qingyang stood by the window, while Lingjun and Elder Miao's avatar stood beside the bed.
Her eyes slightly red, Miao Teng'er sat on the edge of the bed clutching a tissue. Her nose was flushed. After confirming she was safe, she had cried her heart out, and her emotions had only just stabilized.
Seeing that his granddaughter had regained her composure, Elder Miao asked in a deep voice, "Do you know who kidnapped you?"
Miao Teng'er's barely settled emotions nearly collapsed once more. She bit her lower lip. "It was the Demon Lord's successor."
"What?" Lingjun gasped in shock. "Are you sure it was the Demon Lord's successor?"
Zhang Yuanqing and Fu Qingyang cooperatively put on looks of astonishment.
Elder Miao's gaze narrowed.
Miao Teng'er ground her teeth. "I'm very sure!
"He has the Demon Lord's items—more than one, in fact. Besides that, he knew some very private things that only the Demon Lord and I knew."
Lingjun's expression turned grim. "If only you and the Demon Lord knew, how could he have known?"
Miao Teng'er hesitated for a moment. "The Demon Lord had an item used for recording information that he often kept with him. Only someone who inherited his relics could possibly know those things."
She did not mention that the item could record audio. There were many ways to record information, but mentioning audio would inevitably cause those present to make awkward associations.
"No, that's still impossible!" Lingjun remained skeptical. "It's barely been a year since the Demon Lord returned to the Spirit Realm. No matter how extraordinary his successor's talent is, there's no way he could already be a Saint."
"Indeed!" Fu Qingyang nodded. "The killing trial only opens twice a year. The number of people who advanced to Saint late last year and mid this year is very small, and not one of them fits the bill."
"There is one who fits." Elder Miao turned his head and looked toward Yuanshi Tianzun. "Far as the sky, yet right before our eyes."
Zhang Yuanqing froze, then sneered. "Elder Miao is plotting his revenge already? Tsk, tsk. The higher the rank, the pettier the mind, as they say. Lingjun, you see what kind of virtue your maternal grandfather possesses. If unpleasant things happen in the future, don't blame me. I've saved Teng'er twice now; I've done more than my duty."
Hearing this, Lingjun glanced at Elder Miao with an awkward expression. "Grandfather, Yuanshi was with us from beginning to end. It's impossible for him to be the Demon Lord's successor, and the Tiger Tally already verified it."
"A Night Roamer can manipulate yin corpses," Elder Miao said impassively.
"That's not it!" Miao Teng'er shook her head. "When that successor left just now, he used the Star Escape Technique. On top of that, he could use illusions and spirit runes, but a yin corpse cannot cast active skills. I had physical contact with him; I'm sure he was a living person."
Elder Miao fell silent in deep thought.
At this moment, Fu Qingyang said calmly, "If we want to get to the bottom of this, we must first understand the logic and motive behind this Demon Lord's successor's actions. Forgive my dullness, but if Yuanshi were the Demon Lord's successor, I cannot fathom what his motive would be for kidnapping Teng'er."
Elder Miao said coldly, "Last night, Heaven's Punishment's delegation arrived in Capital City and met with me. Heaven's Punishment accused Yuanshi Tianzun of being the Demon Lord's successor, and I was about to agree to join forces with them to investigate.
"And then tonight, a Demon Lord's successor falls from the sky—a Saint capable of easily snatching Teng'er away right beneath your noses. Isn't that a little too convenient?"
Lingjun and Miao Teng'er looked at Zhang Yuanqing in surprise.
Fu Qingyang let out an "Oh?" and said, "Heaven's Punishment just made their accusation against Yuanshi Tianzun, and at the exact same moment, he received the news and directed this whole performance himself? I had no idea he was so extraordinarily capable as to have planted a spy in the upper echelons of Heaven's Punishment, obtaining intelligence of that caliber in advance. If Elder Miao insists on pinning this on Yuanshi Tianzun, then produce the evidence."
*Money Prince is getting bolder and bolder, daring to talk to an elder of the Council of Ten Elders like this,* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself.
Of course, it was also likely because this was merely an avatar.
After hearing this, Lingjun immediately shook his head. "Yuanshi couldn't have gotten word in advance. Besides, even if he did, it would mean Heaven's Punishment held ironclad proof of his identity, prompting him to stage this performance to clear his name. Grandfather, where is Heaven's Punishment's proof?
"Even taking a step back, even if Heaven's Punishment truly had evidence, Yuanshi was with us the entire time. Just now, Teng'er also mentioned that he even crossed paths with that Demon Lord's successor. Could he possess an avatar?
"The successor's level is indeed questionable, but there are far too many explanations for that. Concluding that Yuanshi is the Demon Lord's successor on that alone is far too arbitrary."
Evidently, Zhang Yuanqing's words had taken effect. Lingjun also believed his grandfather was seizing an opportunity for petty retaliation.
This made the young master feel both angry and ashamed.
In his treeman form, Elder Miao remained silent. He truly had no evidence; Heaven's Punishment's accusation felt more like trumped-up charges.
He simply felt that everything was far too coincidental.
Elder Miao looked at Miao Teng'er and asked, "What was his purpose in kidnapping you? Tell me the whole sequence of events. This is very important."
Miao Teng'er gave a rough recount of what had happened, omitting the part where the Demon Lord's successor had taken liberties with her, and emphasized his yearning for the map fragment.
Zhang Yuanqing shrugged. "I know nothing about any map fragment."
Miao Teng'er nodded. "Yuanshi truly didn't know."
She had hardly ever mentioned this matter to outsiders. She had only dropped a subtle hint to Annie from the Association of God of Beauty when she visited Songhai last time, but there was no way Yuanshi Tianzun could have known.
Fu Qingyang nodded slightly. "So, the Demon Lord's successor kidnapped Teng'er for the so-called map fragment. Now that the motive is clear, does Elder Miao have anything else to say?"
"If Yuanshi Tianzun were the Demon Lord's successor, he would naturally know about the map fragment. That does not serve as proof of his innocence," Elder Miao said flatly.
Fu Qingyang's expression darkened. "Aside from Yuanshi being the successor, I believe there is another possibility: the person who kidnapped Teng'er was not the Demon Lord's successor himself, but his accomplice. To this day, the Demon Lord's successor's identity and background remain unknown. Who can say for sure that he is a lone wolf? Perhaps he joined an organization long ago, such as Dark Night Rose, or the Taiyi Sect..."
He stared into Elder Miao's eyes and continued, "If the Demon Lord's successor is a member of an organization, recovering all of the Demon Lord's legacies would inevitably become that organization's top priority. Under that premise, kidnapping Teng'er is hardly out of place. Compared to baseless speculation that Yuanshi is the successor, uncovering the truth behind this should be the paramount concern.
"Elder Miao's relentless pursuit of Yuanshi... I fear personal grudges are at play."
Lingjun and Miao Teng'er looked tentatively toward their grandfather; they shared the same thought.
Elder Miao possessed deep shrewdness and did not lose his temper.
Fu Qingyang took two steps forward, meeting Elder Miao's gaze with cold, sharp eyes. "I have said all I need to say. If Elder Miao still insists that Yuanshi Tianzun is the Demon Lord's successor, you may request the Tiger Tally from the Grand Marshal, or convene the Council of Ten Elders. Yuanshi, let's go!"
Zhang Yuanqing let out a cooperative sneer, though he dared not brush past Elder Miao. With a snap of his fingers, he vanished from the hotel room.
After the two left, Elder Miao pondered for a moment before saying, "Lingjun, take Teng'er back to Capital City. I need to confirm something with Heaven's Punishment's executive officer."
With that, the treeman withered rapidly, its green leaves yellowing as it degenerated into a dead little sapling.
***
Fujia Bay Villa.
Inside Guan Ya's bedroom, a dazzling, dreamy starlight rose, and Zhang Yuanqing emerged from the glow.
He immediately looked at the "avatar" lying on the bed.
The avatar Zhang Yuanqing waved his hand. "Hey, original body, we meet again. How did it go? Mm, I confirmed that Lingxi is asleep; she won't eavesdrop on our conversation."
"Elder Miao suspected me, but only cautiously. After all, it should be impossible for me to have an avatar or know that Heaven's Punishment intended to investigate me, so he probably doesn't entirely believe it was my doing either," the true Zhang Yuanqing said. "On the other hand, the Demon Lord intelligence you pried out was rather interesting."
The avatar produced by Yata no Kagami was not an independent entity. The true body could perceive everything the avatar experienced and control its actions; strictly speaking, the two shared a single soul.
However, this perception was one-way. The avatar could not, in turn, perceive or share the words and actions of the true body.
The avatar grumbled, "You arrived too early. I hadn't even found out why the Demon Lord went overseas."
"The tracking function is rule-based; I couldn't control the Little Red Shoes' speed," Zhang Yuanqing said, shrugging. "The reason behind the Demon Lord going abroad isn't crucial intel we must know immediately. We can look into it if we get a chance later."
"Fair point!" The avatar nodded, pointing to the pile of items on the desk. "Everything is here. Tsk, tsk, Teng'er's little feet sure felt nice."
The true Zhang Yuanqing curved his lips upward. "I felt it."
With that, he brought out Yata no Kagami and recalled the avatar into the mirror.
Zhang Yuanqing walked over to the desk, stowed away the items, pulled out a chair, and sat down to review today's operation.
There were still small flaws, such as the "coincidence" and the successor's level being too high.
Just as Fu Qingyang had said, there was no perfect resolution to this matter.
Yet this bit of coincidence was not fatal. After all, even Heaven's Punishment only suspected Yuanshi Tianzun might be the Demon Lord's successor rather than possessing any decisive proof.
Once they heard that the Demon Lord's successor had made an appearance, they would undoubtedly re-evaluate the entire situation.
As for the successor's excessively high level, Fu Qingyang had already provided a far more plausible explanation.
It was entirely logical for the Taiyi Sect or Dark Night Rose to secretly seek the Demon Lord's legacy.
The former would not want to share the Demon Lord's relics with the Five Elements Alliance and thus resorted to underhanded measures, while the latter was an underground organization in the first place, making such actions completely natural for them.
Elder Miao was a man of high status, and those in power were inherently suspicious. While he suspected Yuanshi, he was even more suspicious of the Taiyi Sect and Dark Night Rose.
By comparison, deducing that Yuanshi Tianzun—who had an alibi throughout the entire event—had somehow caught wind of Heaven's Punishment's intelligence and staged this elaborate show was far less convincing and logical than attributing it to "coincidence" and "the Demon Lord's successor being backed by a mysterious organization."
*Next, I need to leave Songhai to lie low for a while, head to the southwest region to capture Hades, and harvest some evil class spirits along the way to enhance my lunar energy and refine that final Level 6 yin corpse.*
*I've done everything I can. If my identity as the Demon Lord's successor is still exposed, I'll just flee the country across the southwestern border.*
*If my identity isn't exposed in the short term, then the Demon Lord's successor will need to be trotted out every now and then. Showing up just once would look far too deliberate.*
*To be safe, I should divine the stars to see if any disaster looms in the near future...*
***
Maple Evening Hotel.
Demon Hunter and the three Saints, who had just gone to sleep, were summoned to the top-floor conference room, where they met Elder Miao in his inhuman form.
"Elder Miao, has your granddaughter been found?" Demon Hunter asked with concern.
Elder Miao nodded slightly. "I invited you all here precisely because of this matter."
"What does this have to do with us?" Demon Hunter looked puzzled.
"It has nothing to do with you," Elder Miao said, his gaze sweeping across the Heaven's Punishment group, his tone deep and solemn. "However, it has everything to do with the Demon Lord's successor. The person who kidnapped my granddaughter claimed to be the Demon Lord's successor."
Demon Hunter was utterly shocked.
Siren Osmond looked at his two companions in astonishment.
Elder Miao spoke gravely. "I need you to tell me truthfully: before our conversation last night, did any word leak out regarding your accusation that Yuanshi Tianzun is the Demon Lord's successor?"
Demon Hunter shook his head slightly. "That is classified."
Siren Osmond added, "We only mentioned this to the cadres of the Thousand Cranes Group, but all of them took an oath of secrecy under Chazo's witness."
The young knight named Chazo said in a deep voice, "Anyone who leaks it will die. The Thousand Cranes Group has no Dominators; they cannot breach the oath. And the power of the oath cannot be dispelled or purified by any force."
Even if a Dominator breached the oath, they would suffer backlash, though it would not be fatal.
"I understand." Elder Miao shook his head. "In that case, your accusation is doomed to fail. Yuanshi Tianzun is not the Demon Lord's successor."
Demon Hunter's brows knit tightly. "You cannot be so arbitrary, Elder Miao. Stargazers possess the ability to peer into the future."
"He is not a Stargazer specializing in stellar power; he cannot observe events involving Dominators," Elder Miao said. "Furthermore, at the time of the incident, he had an alibi witnessed by my own eyes."
He immediately recounted the events of the banquet and Miao Teng'er's kidnapping to everyone.
"This..." Demon Hunter was momentarily at a loss for words. "Then perhaps there was an error in the tip we received."
Elder Miao asked, "Didn't Heaven's Punishment possess further evidence to accuse Yuanshi Tianzun?"
Demon Hunter gave an awkward smile. "Since the Demon Lord's successor has revealed himself voluntarily, we can put the accusations against Yuanshi Tianzun on hold for now. Our primary task is to track down the successor who surfaced."
One only needed to conduct screenings when there was no clear target; now that there was one, the natural course of action was to find the Demon Lord's successor who had appeared last night.
Elder Miao nodded. "I have already sent word to the Taiyi Sect. The Taiyi Sect elders will use Teng'er as a medium to divine the successor's whereabouts. Once there are results, I will inform you."
"By the way," Elder Miao added meaningfully, "if you wish to find the Demon Lord's successor, it would do no harm to reach out to the Taiyi Sect."
The conversation came to an end.
Demon Hunter led his three subordinates back to their suite. Siren Osmond spoke first:
"From the looks of it, Yuanshi Tianzun has nothing to do with the Demon Lord's successor. We were only speculating to begin with, but now it seems we can be certain?"
"Mm." Demon Hunter nodded, then added, "We will maintain a wait-and-see approach to observe if that successor makes any subsequent moves."
"Do we still need to release the catalog of items?" the indolent Hoover York asked.
"Since the Demon Lord's successor showed up on his own initiative, we can hold that trump card in reserve for now and see how the Five Elements Alliance's manhunt progresses. In the meantime, we will make discreet inquiries. If we can bypass the Five Elements Alliance and locate the successor, that would be ideal," Demon Hunter said.
"Besides, our primary mission this time is to capture Hades. Where that is concerned, everything else can take a back seat."
As they were speaking, the doorbell rang.
The indolent Hoover and the solemn Chazo did not move.
Siren Osmond curled his lip, walked over to the foyer, and opened the door.
Outside stood a hotel service attendant pushing a cart. Wearing a respectful smile, he said in fluent English, "Distinguished guests, this is a gift for you from the concierge."
Heaven's Punishment's honored guests peered closely: lying inside the cart were four bags of laundry detergent.
"Fuck..."
Chapter 565