After the phone rang for two seconds, Secretary Zhou heard Elder Cai answer.
This was half a second faster than his usual pickup. Secretary Zhou knew his superior was eagerly awaiting good news—the good news of Yuanshi Tianzun returning to the Spirit Realm.
And the more expectant his leader was, the more tense Secretary Zhou felt. Taking a deep breath, he forced a smile onto his face and made his voice sound cheerful:
"Elder, wonderful news! Yuanshi Tianzun has returned. He managed to escape an assassination attempt by two Dominators from Dark Night Rose and the Southern Sect entirely on his own, without relying on any outside help. He is currently back in Songhai."
He deliberately emphasized "without relying on any outside help" to let Elder Cai know that Yuanshi Tianzun returning alive was not because their side had failed to do their job properly.
Silence fell over the other end of the line. Secretary Zhou could faintly hear the violent rushing of water, like a spring torrent, like raging billows. Then came Elder Cai's tone, devoid of joy or sorrow: "Understood."
As he spoke, the surging torrent subsided.
"Has the reason for Yuanshi Tianzun's visit to the Baila Branch been determined?" Elder Cai asked again.
Having served Elder Cai for many years, Secretary Zhou understood tacitly: Elder Cai wanted to know how the Southern Sect and Dark Night Rose had set the trap.
This concerned Yuanshi Tianzun's weakness.
Secretary Zhou lowered his voice:
"According to feedback from the Baila Branch, they were unaware that Yuanshi Tianzun visited Baila City this morning. However, Victoria and Lingjun suddenly arrived on an inspection tour today, paying particular attention to an evil-class member who had just been arrested.
"After Yuanshi Tianzun was reported missing to headquarters, Victoria abruptly ordered that evil-class individual's execution. Lingjun was tasked with carrying it out, yet the Baila Branch never received the body."
After hearing this, Elder Cai said blandly, "What is your take on this?"
Secretary Zhou lowered his voice even further. "Yuanshi Tianzun has long maintained close ties with members of the evil classes. His trip to the Baila Branch this morning was to bail someone out, but he walked right into an ambush laid by Dark Night Rose."
Yuanshi Tianzun's association with evil classes was no secret at headquarters. Back during the tribunal, Elder Cai had tried to pin this very charge on him.
However, that group of evil classes were subordinates of Past Without Trace, and Yuanshi Tianzun's contact with Past Without Trace had been authorized by the Songhai Branch.
Consequently, headquarters had no choice but to swallow it for the time being.
Secretary Zhou finished and added in a deep voice, "Elder, this is his weakness. Dark Night Rose has laid it bare before us."
Previously, headquarters had not known the exact nature of Yuanshi Tianzun's relationship with those evil-class members, but now it was clear as day. Given the plotting capabilities of high-level Night Walkers, this was likely a signal Dark Night Rose had sent them.
Elder Cai gave a faint chuckle, offered no comment, and hung up the phone without another word.
The commotion over Yuanshi Tianzun being ambushed by two Dominators of the evil faction had stirred up like a dust storm, only to settle just as quickly.
Around noon, the forums had been in a fervent uproar. An insider had posted under the title "Yuanshi Tianzun Cannot Escape His Doom—A Heartbreaking Loss," attracting the attention of official walkers from every branch.
Across their screens, everyone worried for Yuanshi Tianzun and prayed he could pull through, while extremists fiercely denounced headquarters.
Headquarters could never catch the evil faction's geniuses, yet their own side's talents were treated like leeks in a vegetable patch, waiting for anyone to harvest at will.
In short, it had been absolute chaos, and the moderators couldn't delete posts fast enough.
It was not until one in the afternoon, when the Songhai Branch issued an announcement confirming Yuanshi Tianzun was out of danger and had returned to Songhai, that the topic on the forums shifted. Official walkers rejoiced, praising him: "As expected of Lord Tianzun."
At the same time, they felt helpless regarding how the evil faction's Dominators moved without a trace.
Even though Yuanshi Tianzun had made it back alive, he could only swallow this bitter pill in silence, take care to avoid danger in the future, and refrain from drawing the gaze of Dominators. As for revenge, that was obviously out of the question.
Throughout the afternoon, Zhang Yuanqing spent his time replying to messages from friends, reassuring those who needed reassurance and bragging where appropriate.
Everyone's advice boiled down to one thing: keep a low profile and lie low.
No matter how formidable or famous Yuanshi Tianzun was, his moniker was still ultimately "the strongest below Dominator."
Facing a Dominator, one still had to drop to one's knees.
At five in the afternoon, while browsing the forums and idly chatting with Yin Ji, Zhang Yuanqing received follow-up news about the incident. Elder Dog informed him that the Gulfstream had been confirmed crashed; not a single crew member had survived, leaving no remains behind.
The impact of the crash was enough to tear steel to shreds; fragile mortal flesh and blood would have been pulverized to dust.
"The flight crew was innocent," Zhang Yuanqing sighed into the phone.
He felt a pang of guilt. Although the criminals' actions were beyond his control and he was a victim himself, the disaster had ultimately been triggered because of him.
Yet after hanging up, the more Zhang Yuanqing thought about it, the more something felt off.
He remembered that when he teleported away, the aircraft hadn't been severely damaged—only two large holes had been punched through, with no vital systems compromised. It shouldn't have caused the plane to lose control.
Besides, the Gulfstream had parachutes.
The crew couldn't have died in a normal accident. The only possibility was that the Third Protector and Sixth Elder had eliminated them to silence them.
Yet here lay the question: was silencing them even necessary?
Those two Dominators weren't common criminals; they were terrorists who didn't care about official investigations in the slightest. If they didn't fear investigation, their killing couldn't have been to silence witnesses. Was it out of pure bloodlust? Or venting their rage?
"No, something's wrong here..."
If not to vent their rage, what was their purpose in killing the crew? What were they trying to conceal?
Zhang Yuanqing thought of a chilling possibility.
—To conceal the fact that Sect Master Chunyang was still alive!
Last time in the ancient tomb, Sect Master Chunyang had been slain by the divine power of the sun channeled through the Demon-Subduing Pestle, only to possess and reincarnate in the body of a police officer cordoning off the site outside the tomb.
That was an advanced spell of the Illusionist class. As long as there were living humans nearby, he could revive once, though stripped of all power—analogous to deleting an account and starting from scratch.
At the time, the only ones inside the cabin who could provide a vessel for Sect Master Chunyang's rebirth were the flight crew.
Assuming Sect Master Chunyang possessed a body to be reborn, he certainly wouldn't have flown back to Songhai with the plane; that would be seeking death.
Yet if he left alone, a missing crew member would inevitably draw the Songhai Branch's attention, and the possession could not remain hidden.
Thus, causing the plane to crash was the cleanest solution.
"I hope I'm just overthinking it... Once night falls, I'll use Star Gazing to deduce it." Zhang Yuanqing could hardly sit still. He quickly called Elder Dog to request materials for the summoning ritual.
He intended to return the Demon-Subduing Pestle to the Empress and inform her of his realization to see how she reacted.
After receiving Elder Dog's reply, Zhang Yuanqing hung up and saw a message from Yin Ji:
[Elder Dog's advice is sound. Being targeted by Dominators is extraordinarily dangerous; no one at the Saint stage can contend with a Dominator. Keep a low profile until the end of the year. Once you become a newly minted Dominator, it won't be so easy for the evil faction to kill you.]
Yuanshi Tianzun's disappearance had already spread among the upper echelons of the Five Elements Alliance and Taiyi Sect, and Yin Ji was genuinely worried about him.
[Yuanshi Tianzun: Big Sis is right. I'll lie low and stay safe. Looking forward to entering the killing trial together at the end of the year. We'll definitely advance to Dominator together.]
[Yin Ji: Looking forward to it! (Smile)]
Zhang Yuanqing and Yin Ji had maintained private contact, exchanging messages from time to time. Zhang Yuanqing would occasionally drop mildly flirtatious remarks, which Yin Ji never directly addressed, though she never took offense either.
After every conversation, Zhang Yuanqing wiped their chat history clean.
Because Guan Ya checked his phone from time to time.
It had to be admitted: Zhang Yuanqing held a deep fondness for gentle, kindhearted older sisters who lacked a temper and would tenderly indulge you even when teased.
All he could say was: the Demon Lord truly understood me!
Fondness aside, Zhang Yuanqing harbored no intention of pursuing anything further with Yin Ji. The woman was deeply devoted to the Demon Lord and would not easily shift her affections.
He glanced at the time; it was four-thirty in the afternoon.
There was a barbecue party back at the villa tonight, so he needed to drop by the Wuhen Hotel first to handle the matter with Little Fatty.
Besides, before going into "seclusion," Zhang Yuanqing had decided to pull off a big score.
***
Wuhen Hotel.
Inside the hotel lobby, the metal rolling shutter was shut tight, and the mirrored floor tiles gleamed under the lights. Zhang Yuanqing and Xiao Yuan sat on lounge chairs beside potted plants like triad bosses watching their underlings handle a traitor.
Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay was bound hand and foot with hemp rope, his mouth stuffed with Kou Beiyue's smelly sock, lying limply on the floor.
Zhao Xintong gripped a knife, and Kou Beiyue gripped another. The two circled the chubby youth, the former full of fury, the latter stricken with grief.
Kou Beiyue gritted his teeth and snarled, "Good Minister, haven't I treated you well? Speak! Why did you sell us out?"
"Mmph! Mmph, mmph!"
"Refusing to talk, huh? Don't blame me if you won't talk!"
"Mmph, mmph!"
"Still refusing? Fine, then we can be brothers again in the next life!" Kou Beiyue pressed the blade against the chubby boy's pudgy chest.
The muffled cries grew even more frantic.
Unable to watch any longer from the wooden bench nearby, Zhang Yuanqing said, "I told you to interrogate him, not execute him to silence him. Take the sock out."
Kou Beiyue yanked out the smelly sock stuffing the mouth and barked, "Talk!"
Tears streaming down his face, Little Fatty cried, "What am I supposed to say?! I didn't betray anyone! I might belong to an evil class, but I'm an evil class with morals! I wouldn't sell out my brothers even if you beat me to death!"
"Bah! What morals does an evil class have?!"
"Boss, before you say that, shouldn't you consider your own class?"
"Stubborn to the end, I see! Today I'm cleaning house to give Tongtong an explanation!"
"Boss, it really wasn't me! It really wasn't me..."
He had no idea how this had gotten pinned on him. That afternoon, upon receiving Xiao Yuan's message, he had returned to the hotel with his boss.
Yet the moment they stepped inside, Xiao Yuan smashed a cup as a signal, Zhao Xintong bolted the door, Kou Beiyue struck him in the back of the head, and finally Xiao Yuan administered an injection of venom.
Thus, a dignified Dream Master was subdued. Then, before the bewildered Little Fatty could make sense of anything, he heard his boss ask Xiao Yuan:
"What are you two doing? What did he do wrong?"
Little Fatty felt struck by lightning. His boss had had no clue what was happening either, yet with just a glance from Xiao Yuan, he hadn't hesitated to stab his brother in the back.
Little Fatty's heart and soul had suffered immense trauma.
At that moment, Xiao Yuan spoke up coldly, cutting off their double act. "Did you leak information about Zhao Xintong to the Southern Sect?"
Beside her, Zhang Yuanqing cooperated by taking out the Tiger Tally and holding it up high.
He had borrowed it from his cousin; she had been very generous, waving her hand in agreement as though she were lending a hundred yuan rather than a demigod-level rule-based item.
White light flashed from the Tiger Tally, and a deep, resonant tiger's roar faintly echoed through the hotel lobby.
Lying on the floor, Little Fatty shuddered, twitching like a slaughtered pig. Beside him, Zhao Xintong and Kou Beiyue felt their legs turn to jelly, barely staying upright by leaning on their blades.
The Tiger Tally could intimidate all Spirit Walkers.
Zhang Yuanqing dared to come not only because he held the Tiger Tally, but also because Elder Dog had accompanied him, remaining just outside the vicinity of the Wuhen Hotel.
Having just suffered a major brush with death, he wouldn't dare leave Songhai without a Dominator secretly guarding him.
"N-No..." Little Fatty trembled uncontrollably, his face deathly pale. "I didn't betray Zhao Xintong! I didn't betray any of our friends at the hotel! Don't... don't let the tiger eat me..."
In his mind loomed a terrifying white tiger.
Overwhelmed by immense terror, Little Fatty felt on the verge of soiling himself.
Zhang Yuanqing exchanged a glance with Xiao Yuan before asking, "Have you met with any elders of the Southern Sect recently?"
Little Fatty thought for a moment and said, "The First Elder summoned me once, but he didn't ask for any information about you or the people at the hotel. He only asked about my level and my thoughts on that battle video of yours."
"When were you summoned?"
"Four or five days ago."
Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a while, then put away the Tiger Tally. "All right, you aren't lying."
If he had lied, Good Minister Chooses His Master to Slay would have had his soul devoured by the white tiger, dying on the spot.
Little Fatty felt as though he had received a royal pardon, and Kou Beiyue breathed a sigh of relief. But Zhang Yuanqing turned the topic:
"However, that doesn't mean you didn't leak our information. Think carefully: do high-level Illusionists have ways of extracting intelligence from you without your knowledge?"
Little Fatty shook his head vigorously.
"No! While Illusionists excel at mental-domain spells, they have no means of erasing memories. Whether through dreams or illusions, I would notice afterward, even if the First Elder is a Dominator."
Zhang Yuanqing asked again, "What about hypnosis?!"
Little Fatty froze, murmuring, "Hypnosis... Dominator-level Musicians could achieve that. The Southern Sect... the Southern Sect definitely has Dominator-level hypnosis items..."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "Then the matter is obvious. Zhao Xintong's information was leaked through you, and the others' information has most likely been leaked as well."
Xiao Yuan and the others turned pale.
Kou Beiyue ground his teeth. "I knew it! The Southern Sect didn't have good intentions when they agreed to let you join our group!"
Little Fatty hung his head, looking despondent. "I... I'll leave. I'm sorry, Boss..."
Kou Beiyue opened his mouth, wanting to say something to make him stay, but found himself unable to utter the words.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the two of them and said coldly, "Good Minister, I can offer you a chance to redeem yourself."
"Wh-What do you want me to do?"
"Go back to the Southern Sect, track down the Sixth Elder's whereabouts, and I'll butcher him."
Xiao Yuan considered her words carefully. "Is this an operation of the Songhai Branch?"
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head.
"No. It's a personal operation."
With that, he saw Xiao Yuan, Kou Beiyue, Little Fatty, and Zhao Xintong all staring at him as though looking at a lunatic.
Chapter 607