Taiyi Sect main chat group. At eight in the morning, someone posted a message:
“Earth-shattering scoop! I heard from a friend in the Five Elements Alliance that the Demon Lord's successor has surfaced?”
In a group crowded with elders and deacons, silence usually reigned. Only during large-scale operations would an elder issue an order, to which deacons and captains would reply with a terse “Understood!”
Extremely solemn, extremely formal.
Bottom-tier Night Wanderers dared not even make a peep. Banter, ribald jokes, and lewd memes were spectacles reserved exclusively for private sub-groups.
Today, however, the matter was simply too monumental. Someone had risked their neck to post it in the main group, hoping to gauge the reactions of the deacons and elders and verify whether the rumor held true.
Sure enough, once the message appeared, captain-level Night Wanderers were the first to bubble up in discussion, followed shortly by Star Official deacons.
The solemn sect chat instantly devolved into a wild revelry of dancing demons.
“Has the Demon Lord's successor finally shown up? Where is he? Quick, go catch him! Don't miss this chance for a promotion and a raise.”
“How come I didn't hear a peep from my colleagues in the Five Elements Alliance? A rumor, surely?”
Messages scrolled past at breakneck speed. Nobody quite believed it—until an elder-level figure appeared.
[Fengdu Ghost King: @Dark Moon Noble, where did you hear this?]
The group went dead silent in an instant. Not another message scrolled across the screen.
[Dark Moon Noble: Elder, I heard it from a friend in the Five Elements Alliance. His superior attended the banquet hosted by Elder Fu Qingyang in Songhai last night. Supposedly, the Demon Lord's successor showed up at the banquet. The details aren't entirely clear.]
[Yin Ji: Is the information reliable?]
The moment she spoke, the atmosphere in the group grew delicate. Between Fengdu Ghost King and Yin Ji, one was the Demon Lord's love rival, and the other his former lover.
Now that the Demon Lord's successor had appeared, both of them surely harbored complicated feelings.
Trembling, Dark Moon Noble typed back:
[I-I don't know...]
At that moment, someone chimed in:
[For something like this, just ask Yuan Ting and we'll know. @Yuan Ting]
Everyone came to their senses. That was right! The Taiyi Sect had their walking intelligence hub, Yuan Ting. So long as it wasn't top-secret intel restricted strictly to peak Dominators, Yuan Ting could ferret it out.
He even knew that Young Master Qian had secretly cursed the Grand Marshal behind her back, calling her trash!
Such information-gathering capability bordered on the miraculous.
[Yuan Ting: Oh? You guys get news pretty fast! I'm in a private chat with Yuanshi Tianzun right now. I've already pieced together the whole story.]
The Night Wanderers of the Taiyi Sect perked up.
[Yin Ji: @Yuan Ting, did the Demon Lord's successor really appear?]
[Yuan Ting: Yesterday Elder Fu Qingyang hosted a banquet to borrow money. During the banquet, Elder Miao's granddaughter, Miao Teng'er, went missing under bizarre circumstances. Fortunately, they had a rule-based item for locating people and recovered Miao Teng'er that very night.]
[Yuan Ting: According to Miao Teng'er, the person who kidnapped her claimed to be the Demon Lord's successor. His identity is basically confirmed without a doubt. Remember back in June when I told you guys? Teng'er was the Demon Lord's lover.]
[Dark Moon Noble: I remember. You even said her mother was the Demon Lord's lover too.]
#Dark Moon Noble recalled a message#
[Dark Moon Noble: Please continue.]
[Yuan Ting: According to the Demon Lord's successor himself, he came to collect the Demon Lord's legacy. Miao Teng'er had one of the Demon Lord's relics in her possession. Yuanshi Tianzun said the relic has already been taken by the successor.]
[Yuan Ting: @Yin Ji, Deacon Yin Ji, you'd better watch out. The Demon Lord's successor might very well have his eyes on you.]
[Fengdu Ghost King: Hmph. Courting death! Just let him try!]
Through Yuan Ting's lengthy account, the Taiyi Sect's Night Wanderers sorted out the sequence of events.
It turned out the Demon Lord's successor had been quietly biding his time and developing under the radar. He might have joined a mysterious organization packed with high-tier Night Wanderers, plotting in secret for the Demon Lord's legacy and extending their reach toward the granddaughter of the Baihui Elder.
[Yuan Ting: I'm discussing it with Yuanshi Tianzun right now. We both agree that the Demon Lord's successor has defected to Dark Night Rose.]
[Yin Ji: Any evidence?]
[Yuan Ting: None. But if he didn't join Dark Night Rose, he could only have joined our Taiyi Sect.]
This guy still spoke without any filter whatsoever. Wasn't he afraid of being strung up and thrashed by an elder? The chat fell dead silent for a time; nobody dared take up the thread.
***
A courtyard residence styled after the previous century.
Inside the main hall, Demon Hunter, a First-Class Executive of Heaven's Punishment, sat upright on a grand armchair. Tilting his head, his pale-blue eyes were fixed on Crimson Sun Magistrate, who sat in an adjacent armchair.
Having listened silently to Crimson Sun Magistrate's explanation, he frowned. “Even a peak Dominator like yourself cannot divine the whereabouts of the Demon Lord's successor?”
Crimson Sun Magistrate possessed a burly frame capable of tearing apart tigers and leopards. Two meters tall, his body was packed with robust muscle. Despite his advanced age of over a hundred, his face was free of wrinkles.
The sole emblem of his years was a full head of silver hair.
This formidable Day Wanderer spoke with regret:
“The Taiyi Sect is equally eager to apprehend the Demon Lord's successor. However, Stargazing can only deduce the future; it cannot retrace the past. In the future, Miss Miao Teng'er will not be subjected to another attack by the Demon Lord's successor.”
“Yet with the miraculous nature of Stargazing, using Miss Miao Teng'er as a medium ought to yield some revelation,” Demon Hunter said, clearly knowledgeable about the discipline.
Crimson Sun Magistrate shook his head. “The Demon Lord's successor is shielded by secrecy. The stars offer no revelation whatsoever.”
Demon Hunter pressed further, “Could we trouble the Sect Master—”
Before he could finish, Crimson Sun Magistrate politely declined. “The Sect Master overlooks the world and deduces the future. His dwelling is a forbidden ground that even I cannot approach; I can only await his summons.”
Demon Hunter rose with regret. “Pardon the intrusion.”
He stepped over the threshold of the main hall, exited the courtyard residence, and climbed into their vehicle alongside the three subordinates waiting by the gate.
Only when the car drove clear of this old district did Demon Hunter speak:
“The Taiyi Sect failed to divine any information regarding the Demon Lord's successor. Not even a single revelation.”
“From the looks of it, the Demon Lord's successor truly has aligned himself with a clandestine organization.” Osmond the Siren sneered coldly. “Executive, do you recall Elder Miao's words?”
Demon Hunter nodded. “He was hinting to us that the Demon Lord's successor might have joined the Taiyi Sect.”
Osmond clicked his tongue. “The old geezer wants to use us to probe the Taiyi Sect. Executive, are we taking the bait?”
Though the Five Elements Alliance and the Taiyi Sect were closely allied, factions existed even within a single guild, let alone between two separate organizations. To Osmond's mind, the Taiyi Sect abducting Miao Teng'er to seize the Demon Lord's legacy was entirely plausible and logically sound.
After all, if they went through official channels, the Five Elements Alliance would surely drive up the price and demand a cut of the inheritance.
Demon Hunter pondered for a moment.
“Of course we will investigate, and we will do so openly, inviting the Five Elements Alliance to assist. However, all of that can be deferred. Finding Pluto comes first.”
Osmond suddenly said, “Activating the fragment of the Compass of Light will take several days, won't it?”
“It's activating the Mirror of Prophecy.” Demon Hunter looked at his subordinate. “What are you getting at?”
The arrogant Osmond grinned broadly.
“The Five Elements Alliance mocked us by sending laundry detergent, and the Taiyi Sect brushed us off like fools. I'm not happy. I want to raise some hell. For instance... beat Jiang Ju to death, or beat Fengdu Ghost King to death.”
The sluggish Hoover scoffed, “Idiot. Fengdu Ghost King has already advanced to Dominator. Why don't you pay more attention to Five Elements Alliance intelligence?”
Osmond shrugged.
“Then I'll beat Yin Ji. Oh, right, and Yuanshi Tianzun! The First-Class Executives mention Yuanshi Tianzun every single day until calluses have grown on my ears. It's rare for me to visit China; leaving without giving that guy a thrashing would be far too much of a regret.”
Shazo debunked him expressionlessly: “You simply want to step on him to make a name for yourself.”
Before Osmond could reply, the sluggish Hoover chuckled.
“Why not? Isn't that how we've always operated? Well, the veteran Level 6s of the Five Elements Alliance aren't our targets. Among our peers, the only presentable ones are the Official Four Young Masters. Fu Qingyang is already a Dominator, and Jiang Ju is yours, so I'll go play with Lingjun. Forget Huang Taiji; fighting him is too exhausting.”
Saying so, he turned toward the taciturn young man in the back seat. “Shazo, you can take him on. You Knights have boundless endurance, no worse than an Earth Monster.”
“An Earth Monster's endurance ranks first among all professions. A Knight cannot match an Earth Monster,” Shazo replied, shaking his head matter-of-factly. “Furthermore, Knights do not engage in meaningless combat.”
Stern and rigid, he then fixed his gaze upon Osmond and said in a heavy voice:
“That waiter who delivered the laundry detergent—did you secretly try to drown him this morning?”
“I belong to an Orderly profession, not some ruthless Evil profession,” Osmond replied with a careless smile. “I spared his life. He should be in the hospital by now.”
Shazo nodded. He retrieved a scroll of parchment from his inventory and used his finger like a pen, writing briskly:
“Osmond Harley, you have violated the Global Orderly Organizations Convention. One demerit recorded. Accumulate three, and I shall strike you down with my sword.”
“Oh, good grief! You Knights are as stiff and dry as medieval beef jerky! You'll never hold high office in the organization, because your superiors, your subordinates, and even your kin will live in dread of being run through by your sword—all because they might have accidentally stepped on an ant when walking out the door in the morning!” Osmond mocked loudly.
“That was a human being, not an ant.”
“In my eyes, he was an ant.”
“Osmond, if you maintain such a mindset, one day you too will become an ant crushed beneath someone's heel.”
“Damn it, stow your high-minded preachings, you insufferable, rigid Knight.”
Demon Hunter waved a hand, cutting short their squabble.
“Hoover, get in touch with Secretary Yang from the Foreign Affairs Department. Tell him we wish to arrange an exchange match, and inquire whether Yuanshi Tianzun, Jiang Ju, Lingjun, or Yin Ji will be entering dungeons anytime soon.”
Hoover grumbled, “If I'd known, we should have brought along our assistant team.”
He pulled out his phone, dialed Secretary Yang, concisely conveyed Heaven's Punishment's request, and hung up.
After the commercial vehicle had traveled for a dozen minutes, Secretary Yang returned the call.
Hoover listened quietly, murmured his thanks, ended the call, and said:
“An exchange match is no problem; the Five Elements Alliance and Taiyi Sect were already braced for it. But Yuanshi Tianzun cannot participate. The Songhai branch stated that he has gone out traveling.”
“Gone out traveling?” Osmond froze for a moment. “Do official Orderly professionals enjoy that much freedom?”
“I told you to pay closer attention to Five Elements Alliance intelligence,” Hoover explained. “Yuanshi Tianzun's relationship with headquarters is dreadful. Right now he's a bottom-tier clerk earning the most meager salary. Why would he care about his job?”
***
The sky was washed clean of clouds, and the sunlight was bright and warm.
A straight expressway stretched toward the horizon, flanked on both sides by vast farmland where yellowing rice stalks swayed gently in the wind.
Sitting in the front passenger seat, Zhang Yuanqing chewed on a pork zongzi bought at an expressway service area while watching the swelling ranks of green mountains outside the window.
“The pork zongzi in Hecheng really is delicious. Queen, when we get off the highway later, let's buy a few boxes to bring along. We can snack on them as we go.”
They had already driven clear of Songhai and entered the territory of Hecheng, a prefecture-level city in Jiangnan Province. Jiangnan's topography consisted of rolling hills; such vast expanses of mountains were nowhere to be found in Songhai.
Zhang Yuanqing had two objectives for this journey. First, to capture Pluto, complete the Association of the God of Beauty's mission, and incidentally lie low to avoid the limelight. Second, to hunt Evil professionals, devour spirit bodies, and bolster his lunar power.
After reaching the Saint stage, the power channeled by character cards shifted to astral power. Since his primary focus was not the lunar path, the only way to advance his lunar power was to continually devour high-quality spirit bodies.
For ordinary Night Wanderers and Star Officials, this was a suicidal endeavor.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing possessed divine solar power; the mental corruption brought about by devouring spirit bodies could no longer affect him in the slightest.
Behind the wheel, Queen gave an “Oh,” then cast a wary glance toward the rearview mirror. Reflected in the glass was a stunning, blonde-haired, blue-eyed beauty.
She curled her lip and murmured in the Crab City dialect:
“Lingxi, why do you think he brought this vixen along?”
“To fool around behind Sister Guan Ya's back, of course. Just wait until Sister Guan Ya gets back—I'm going to tell on him,” Xie Lingxi hummed from the back seat.
On this excursion, Zhang Yuanqing had brought Annie along, which placed immense pressure on both Xie Lingxi and Queen.
Though both prided themselves on their beauty, even Guan Ya couldn't maintain her composure in the presence of someone from the Desire profession, let alone them.
Perhaps only a female Musician could truly hold her own against a Desire professional.
Queen puffed up with indignation. “Turns out he has a thing for foreign blondes. Hmph, no wonder he fell for Guan Ya, and now he's flirting with this Annie. Her bust really is huge...”
“You two, watch your words. I'm from Songhai, and I understand the Crab City dialect just fine,” Zhang Yuanqing broke in, interrupting their outlandish gossip.
“Eep~” Xie Lingxi gave a startled yelp, then cooed sweetly, “Brother, I was only joking!”
Zhang Yuanqing scoffed, “You're only taking advantage of Annie not understanding the dialect.”
Having finished his pork zongzi, he stuffed the wrapper into the door compartment, pulled out his phone, and messaged Demonic Eye Heavenly King:
[Yuanshi Tianzun: Heavenly King, I am currently out traveling, heading from Songhai toward the Yungui region in the southwest. Along the way, I intend to uphold justice on Heaven's behalf. Do you have any intelligence on Evil professionals?]
[Demonic Eye Heavenly King: Hold on!]
A few minutes later, Demonic Eye Heavenly King sent over a lengthy roster.
Zhang Yuanqing opened it eagerly, only to realize something was amiss: the names on the document were ordinary civilian names, not Spirit Realm IDs.
[Demonic Eye Heavenly King: This is a list of corrupt officials in Jiangnan Province, Fu Province, and the two provinces of Yungui. It's not particularly large, but make do with it. My Morality Points are limited, and I've been agonizing over how to deal with them. I'm leaving them in your hands.]
Leaving them in my hands? Your humble servant cannot accomplish this! Dark lines creased Zhang Yuanqing's forehead. He typed: “Corrupt officials will naturally be dealt with by the law...”
After a second thought, he deleted the draft and revised it: “However, I would much rather hunt Evil professionals.”
Before long, Demonic Eye Heavenly King transmitted another document.
[Demonic Eye Heavenly King: The Soldier Master sect operates mainly in the north; our intelligence network in the southwest is thin. This is all we have.]
[Yuanshi Tianzun: Many thanks, Heavenly King. When you have free time, let's kill corrupt officials together.]
He opened the document, read through it thoroughly, and then deleted it along with their chat history.
Leaning back against his seat with eyes closed, Zhang Yuanqing synthesized the available information and sketched out an operational route in his mind.
He originally had three intelligence dossiers: one from the official organization, one from Yi Chuanmei, and one from Good Minister Slays His Lord. Now, Demonic Eye Heavenly King's intel was added to the mix.
Combining all four dossiers would allow him to wipe out a solid batch of Evil professionals.
“Mr. Yuanshi, I heard that the executive from Heaven's Punishment has arrived in China with his team.” Annie lifted her gaze from her phone, seemingly having just received the news. Her tone turned solemn:
“The leader is Demon Hunter, a First-Class Bronze Executive. He is a Level 7 Wind Mage, class title: Overlooker.”
“Overlooker?” Zhang Yuanqing asked. “Tell me about the Overlooker's traits.”
His familiarity with Wind Mages was confined to the Saint stage; he lacked authorization to access Dominator-level files.
“An Overlooker possesses two core abilities. First, Sky Sovereign. They exercise absolute suppression over airborne enemies; no one can defeat an Overlooker in the sky. If you stand on the ground to fight, however, you become a sitting target subjected to a torrential storm of wind blades,” Annie explained with profound apprehension.
“Second, Overlook. Nothing moving on the ground can escape an Overlooker's vision. They command an aerial bird's-eye perspective. A Level 7 Overlooker can survey all movements within a ten-li radius.”
A blunt “Fuck” slipped from Zhang Yuanqing's lips. “Let's be clear beforehand: if I accidentally cross paths with an Overlooker, my only choice is to run.”
“Understood.” Annie nodded gently and continued, “Association headquarters issued an alert. Our diplomats caught wind of a piece of intelligence: Demon Hunter likely brought along the Mirror of Prophecy.”
“What kind of item is the Mirror of Prophecy?” The moment he heard that name, Zhang Yuanqing felt a premonition of dread.
Chapter 566