Bai Lan, her face hidden beneath the Red Bridal Veil, turned her head in surprise to "look" at the spiritual talismans etched onto the ground. Having upgraded before, she stared intently at the formation for a moment, then turned back in delight. "Husband, can I advance my cultivation now?"
Zhang Yuanqing gave a nod. "Yes. I've been rushing around on your behalf, spending all this time, and I finally gathered the materials and tracked down a Level 6 wraith."
The Ghost Bride wore her exquisite bridal veil, obscuring her face, but Zhang Yuanqing knew that underneath, tears of joy must be welling up alongside budding affection.
"Husband, your deep affection and loyalty touch me so. Alas, I am merely a spirit and have no way to repay you... *sob, sob, sob*..."
The Ghost Bride took it completely at face value and was moved to tears.
Zhang Yuanqing gave a slight nod. "Since you call me husband, you are one of mine. There is no need for thanks between family. Go on."
Sobbing softly, the Ghost Bride floated into the formation, clutching Little Doubi in her arms.
*By Lingjun's standards, habitually whispering sweet nothings even to my spirit servants already puts me at the level of a top-tier scoundrel. Well, a scoundrel in talk only,* Zhang Yuanqing mused to himself. *Lingjun, on the other hand, is a scoundrel in practice.*
Seeing the Ghost Bride glide into the center of the formation, Zhang Yuanqing reined in his thoughts, crouched down, and pressed his palm against the formation diagram.
A thick, pitch-black burst of energy surged from the Lunar Array Diagram, enveloping the Ghost Bride like a dark, abyssal flame while wrapping around the black-and-red wooden box as well.
Under the searing scorch of the dense, pitch-black lunar power, the wooden box began to vibrate violently, and faint, piercing shrieks of the wraith could be heard from within.
Strands of invisible, surging spiritual power were drawn out by the formation. Purified by the abyssal flame, the chaotic will within the energy was cleansed before streaming into Bai Lan and Little Doubi thread by thread.
The mother and son's spiritual energy visibly swelled and expanded. The wraith inside the box wailed continuously, forced to watch helplessly as its power was stripped away like silk from a cocoon.
This process lasted more than ten minutes. The wraith inside the box gradually dissipated into nothingness, while Little Doubi and Bai Lan fully absorbed its power. The former advanced to Level 4, and the latter fulfilled her wish of breaking through to Level 6.
Yet the refining process was not over. Zhang Yuanqing waved his hand again, and from the darkness flew a murky mass of matter resembling congealed mercury.
A murky, mercury-like viscous substance flowed across its surface.
This material was called the Source of Plague, a Saint-quality item of the Water Ghost class. As the name implied, its function was to spread plague and disease.
Zhang Yuanqing intended to refine the Ghost Bride into a "Plague Bride," imbuing her spiritual power with disease. Spirit servants could spread disease even more easily than yin corpses—simply by possessing or phasing through enemies, they could plant ailments inside them.
The yin corpse would handle main offense, Yi Chuanmei would provide crowd control, and the Ghost Bride would be responsible for debuffs.
With this setup, he could take on ten Level 6 Saints at once.
As his level climbed, the terror of the Night Wanderer class was becoming increasingly apparent. Aside from a freak like Money Prince whose technique bordered on the Dao, not even prodigies as formidable as Jiang Ju or Huang Taiji were his match anymore.
*This gives me an even greater certainty of killing Pluto.*
Zhang Yuanqing continued to channel the formation, dissolving the Source of Plague and fusing it into the Ghost Bride's body. After refining it once more with lunar power, he was finally done.
"Husband!"
The moment the formation's power subsided, the Ghost Bride flew over impatiently with the child in her arms, looking utterly attached to him.
*Women really do need gifts, and female ghosts are no different...* Zhang Yuanqing reflected that he hadn't given Guan Ya a present in quite a while. That wouldn't do; relationships needed nurturing.
*So Xiao Yuan needs one too.*
*Mm, and Palace Mistress needs one as well.*
Letting his thoughts wander aimlessly, he said, "Try transmitting a disease to me."
The Ghost Bride was completely obedient and placed unconditional trust in her husband's capabilities. Without hesitation, she carried her silly child and phased straight through Zhang Yuanqing's body.
At first, there was no reaction. Three seconds later, he began to feel an itch in his throat and gave a slight cough. After five seconds, a burning sensation spread through his lungs, his body temperature started rising, and his forehead grew scalding hot.
After ten seconds, Zhang Yuanqing began to dry heave, his limbs lost their strength, and his head spun with blurred vision.
After fifteen seconds, all symptoms vanished, leaving him only slightly weakened.
After twenty seconds, he had recovered completely.
*Without circulating divine solar power to purify myself, this is the most the plague can do to me—basically a brief weakness debuff. Even though I didn't actively fight off the disease, a body cleansed by divine solar power is naturally resilient against all sorts of negative status effects.*
*Add in a Night Wanderer's vigorous self-healing, and it can only affect me for ten seconds. But other classes don't have divine solar power, nor do they possess such terrifying regenerative ability. The duration and severity of the disease will be vastly magnified on them.*
*In a life-or-death battle, that brief moment of weakness is more than enough.*
Zhang Yuanqing nodded in satisfaction. He then took Little Doubi from the Ghost Bride's arms and tested, "Say Daddy?"
Little Doubi tilted his head, staring at him with large, crystal-clear, innocent eyes.
*He seems a bit smarter, but not by much. Still the landlord's foolish son...* Zhang Yuanqing curled his lip.
After taking the Ghost Bride and his silly son back into his stomach, he began clearing away traces inside the warehouse, stowing his talisman-drawing tools and erasing the formation diagram on the floor. Once everything was settled, he snapped his fingers with a crisp pop and dissolved into a shower of starlight.
***
Nanming Branch, staff dormitory.
At nine-thirty in the evening, a dazzling, dreamy burst of starlight flared, and Zhang Yuanqing returned to the dorm. He glanced around.
Inside the modest quarters, Queen was lying on the floor beneath the balcony doing push-ups, wearing a white tank top and short black shorts.
The pair of assets she had nurtured for over twenty years were quite impressive, appearing all the more majestic under gravity. A single glance offered Zhang Yuanqing a clear view of fair, voluptuous cleavage.
Lord Tianzun was an upright gentleman, permitting himself only a three-second gaze before reluctantly shifting his eyes to Annie, who was in the upper bunk to his left.
The foreign girl was currently reading *The Art of War*, studying ancient Chinese tactics.
Xie Lingxi sat at the desk, testing different lipstick shades. She felt a bit troubled. In a few months, she would turn eighteen. Once she became an adult, should she adopt the sultry, charming young-mature-woman style, or should she continue staying by her big brother's side as an understanding, sweet little sister?
Brother Yuanshi would definitely prefer a mature young woman with wavy hair, garter stockings, and painted lips. But being an understanding little sister was her unique selling point and advantage. Even if going the mature route catered to Brother Yuanshi's tastes...
Could she ever out-compete Queen or Guan Ya in that department?
She was still in the phase of having no curves to speak of, where putting herself next to high-end curves would just be laughable.
"Ah, Brother Yuanshi, you're back!" Xie Lingxi's eyes darted over, and she put on an aggrieved pout. "I'm so frustrated!"
"Aunt Flo stood you up?"
Xie Lingxi froze. "O-Of course not! I'm troubled over which lipstick shade would make you happy, Brother."
"Lipstick won't make me happy."
"Then what will make you happy, Brother?" Xie Lingxi hurriedly asked.
"A pig tail~" Annie muttered softly from the upper bunk.
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly lost all interest in teasing Xie Lingxi. He flopped onto the bed. "Going to sleep. You guys do your thing."
Xie Lingxi also lost interest in studying lipstick shades, picking up her phone out of boredom to surf the web.
"Ah!"
Xie Lingxi suddenly gasped. "Brother, look at the Five Elements Alliance forum!"
Zhang Yuanqing pulled his phone out from under his pillow in confusion and logged into the official forum. He instinctively scanned the red-highlighted pinned threads, but they were all rather mundane topics. The hottest one was still: *The Demon Lord's Successor Appears!*
That was an old post from a week ago.
Just as he was wondering, his eyes drifted down, and he instantly understood what Xie Lingxi meant.
*# Humiliating Disgrace: Where Is the Alliance's Dignity Now? #*
The thread had over 999 comments and twenty thousand views—it was blowing up with controversy.
Zhang Yuanqing opened the post and read:
[Tonight, the visiting delegation from Heaven's Punishment held an exchange meeting with our official organization. During the meeting, three young core members from Heaven's Punishment issued challenges to peak Saints of the Five Elements Alliance.
[Who would have guessed that the Fire Prince suffered a crushing defeat, Yin Ji was severely injured, and Prince Lingjun shrank from battle! The Alliance's only saving grace was Prince Huang, who simply took a beating.]
Besides the text description, the post also included an attached video.
"Huh? It went that badly?" Zhang Yuanqing was stunned.
He had anticipated this exchange meeting. Fu Qingyang had long clued him in on Heaven's Punishment's typical behavior, but the official faction losing this badly came as a genuine surprise.
After Money Prince, whose technique bordered on the Dao, and the Ghost King of Fengdu had both ascended to become Dominators, the Alliance's peak combat strength at the Saint stage had indeed taken a heavy blow.
Even so, Jiang Ju was the scion of a demigod, insanely talented, and had reached the peak of Level 6 long ago. Once he activated his Fire Demon form, he was virtually unmatched under heaven.
How could he suffer a crushing defeat?
As for Lingjun shrinking from battle and Huang Taiji taking a beating, he could understand those. The former had a casual disposition and cared nothing for fame; in Lingjun's eyes, the lure of winning renown in battle wasn't even as enticing as the shapely curve of a girl's hips.
The so-called shrinking from battle probably just meant he had refused Heaven's Punishment's challenge.
Huang Taiji was even easier to understand. An Earth Monster, after all—taking beatings was how they fought. That was simply their class characteristic, not any kind of humiliation.
On the other hand, Yin Ji being severely injured irritated Zhang Yuanqing quite a bit. It definitely wasn't because he wanted to inherit the Demon Lord's widow; after all, they had been through life and death together and shared a real bond.
Filled with perplexity, Zhang Yuanqing tapped on the video to watch.
The video was captured from a distance. The first person to appear on screen was the haughty, red-haired young man, Jiang Ju. Standing opposite him was a tall, slender Caucasian youth.
With ear-length short hair and sharp, chiseled facial features, he seemed, even from afar, like an arrogant fellow.
This battle lasted only three minutes from start to finish, and the reason for Jiang Ju's defeat was plainly evident—he had fallen into the enemy's home ground.
A blue gemstone hung around the blond youth's neck, functioning somewhat similarly to the Water God Seal of Only I Am Supreme, capable of unleashing hundreds or thousands of tons of seawater.
At the same time, it empowered the Spirit Walker, transforming the blond youth into a strange being with azure hair, gem-like eyes, and intricate incantations spreading across his entire body.
This bizarre figure stood atop churning ocean waves, and from the surge beneath his feet, a colossal sea beast broke the surface, revealing the tip of an iceberg of its massive form.
Commanding the roaring waves, he submerged the demigod's son. Blazing flames vaporized the seawater, and the billowing steam obscured the camera lens.
Five minutes later, Jiang Ju lay unconscious, while the blond youth, though heavily drained, remained standing in the arena.
*That pendant is a treasure. At the very least, it's a top-tier item, maybe even a rule-based item,* Zhang Yuanqing judged.
Jiang Ju had lost to the opponent's home field, and he had lost to the rules of the exchange meeting.
Facing an opponent like that, the normal approach was to avoid their sharp edge and kite them from range with fireballs, fire spears, and other distance attacks. Neither side would be able to do much to the other.
However, the exchange meeting had boundary restrictions and demanded a clear victor, leaving Jiang Ju no room to maneuver or evade.
After defeating Jiang Ju, the arrogant blond youth had left behind a loud, high-profile remark: "It seems your Five Elements Alliance's Yuanshi Tianzun left Songhai ahead of time. Did he know I wanted to challenge him?"
The insinuation was glaringly obvious—Yuanshi Tianzun had fled!
Zhang Yuanqing could faintly hear countless curses in the video, condemning this Siren named Osmond for his shamelessness: a peak Level 6 trying to bully a junior who had just stepped into Level 6.
The second match was between the Wind Mage, Hoover, and Yin Ji.
Yin Ji's loss in this match was truly a pity. The combat between the two was rather straightforward: Yin Ji directed spirit servants to attack the airborne Wind Mage, while the Wind Mage hurled wind blades to conduct high-altitude bombardments.
The Wind Mage's Eye of the Sky possessed sharp insight capable of discerning every movement on the ground, serving as a perfect counter to the Star Escape technique.
Meanwhile, the carpet-bombing wind blades countered the core skill of a Night Wanderer—Night Roam.
Yin Ji's spirit servants failed to finish off the enemy before their master fell; struck in the chest and abdomen by two wind blades, she was defeated.
The third match was thoroughly dull. Huang Taiji's opponent was a brown-haired, blue-eyed youth with a quiet, stern demeanor, reminiscent of a rigid, old-fashioned medieval knight.
The battle consisted of this knightly foreign youth wielding a cruciform sword and relentlessly battering Huang Taiji.
Both sides engaged in high-frequency, high-intensity combat for half an hour. Neither could do anything to the other, and they mutually agreed to call it a draw.
"The official side really lost face this time. None of the older Level 6s stepped up. Well, that makes sense—winning wouldn't earn them any glory, and losing would be even more disgraceful." Zhang Yuanqing scrolled through the comments while asking, "Annie, are there many experts like this in Heaven's Punishment?"
Chapter 579