Without hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing cast Star Escape, returning to the side of the Tiger Tally. He picked up the demigod-tier item and stored it in his inventory. The throbbing pain in his heart eased immediately, and the dread threatening to obliterate his sanity vanished with it.
Much like the Thunderstorm Cannon, which had now been upgraded to Dominator quality—where the backlash of a single lightning strike could kill an undefended master—the cost of using the Tiger Tally could likewise instantly slay Zhang Yuanqing, completely ignoring any defense.
Deprived of the Tiger Tally's suppression, the aura of the Sixth Elder's primordial spirit climbed steadily. He burst into wild laughter:
"Without the Tiger Tally, what do you have to fight me with?! Yuanshi Tianzun, did you really think that borrowing a bunch of Dominator-tier items would let you kill a true Dominator? Too young! You will pay the price for your youth—"
His voice cut off abruptly, just like his suddenly halting primordial spirit aura.
Zhang Yuanqing sneered. "Even without the Tiger Tally, you still can't return to your peak."
Although an Illusionist did not rely heavily on their physical body, losing it still compromised their strength. Having suffered two "War Soul" strikes, the Sixth Elder's soul was severely wounded. Even freed from the Tiger Tally's deterrence, he could at most recover to a weak Level 7.
The Sixth Elder's expression flickered slightly before hardening into a cold glare.
"You'll never know how powerful a Dominator truly is."
With that, he grabbed a stack of black paper talismans and flicked his wrist, hurling them toward Zhang Yuanqing.
The talismans flew like playing-card throwing weapons, pinning into the ground around Zhang Yuanqing with crisp whooshes, encircling him completely.
An invisible barrier formed. From the talismans inscribed with red characters on black paper, illusory chains emerged, lashing out toward Zhang Yuanqing's limbs and neck.
These were Spirit Refining Talismans!
Anyone bound by the Spirit Refining Chains would have their soul anchored in place. A Spirit Realm walker of the Saint realm would be strangled by the chains and have their soul scattered within ten seconds at most.
Moreover, the barrier formed by the Spirit Refining Talismans ignored physical damage, and a soul could never pierce through it.
Only opposing attributes or superior soul power could break the barrier.
Watching the chains lash forward menacingly, Zhang Yuanqing recalled Lady Sandao's method in the airplane cabin. He drew the Demon-Subduing Pestle and threw it at one of the black paper talismans.
*Bang!*
The Demon-Subduing Pestle shattered the floor tiles and embedded itself in the ground, leaving the black talisman completely undamaged.
Zhang Yuanqing frowned, then quickly understood. The Demon-Subduing Pestle was an exclusive item for Day Wanderers. In the hands of a Day Wanderer, it could unleash earth-shattering might, but in an outsider's hands, it possessed only the functions of "Purification" and "Bane of Evil."
Talismans were magical items, not spectral or dark entities, so they naturally were unaffected by these two abilities.
Zhang Yuanqing raised his arm and condensed a spear of golden light, its radiance somewhat subdued, and hurled it with all his might.
The spear struck a black paper talisman dead-on. The six chains stalled for a split second, but quickly resumed their course, converging on Zhang Yuanqing from all directions.
*If those chains bind me, I'm done for. No Dominator-tier item can be underestimated...* Still calm, Zhang Yuanqing brought out the Sliding Tackle Shoes.
These shoes were only a Saint-stage item, so naturally they could not slide out of a Dominator-tier barrier, but they could effectively dodge the entangled chains and buy him time.
However, just as he took out the Sliding Tackle Shoes, the Sixth Elder outside the barrier channeled his spiritual power, sketching a mysterious, arcane symbol in his mind. The symbol manifested in his eye sockets as he stared coldly at Zhang Yuanqing within the barrier.
In the next second, Zhang Yuanqing felt his surroundings begin to spin. The entire hall seemed to plunge into a terrifying whirlpool.
Furniture, corpses, lights—everything was swallowed by this deep, dread-inducing vortex, along with his spiritual power and his thoughts.
He froze abruptly, his gaze hollow, like a walking corpse.
Level 7 skill: Void!
Although his soul was severely injured and his power far from its peak, his realm had returned. Forcing himself to execute a Dominator-level skill once was not a problem.
Void was the signature skill of a Voidwalker. A Level 7 Void could plunge the target's soul into an "Oblivion" state devoid of self and others. During this time, the target would feel no emotions and harbor no thoughts, becoming like a lifeless stone.
It was an exceptionally terrifying hard-control skill.
*Clatter!*
The six chains shot forward together, wrapping securely around Zhang Yuanqing's neck, wrists, and ankles, and began refining his soul.
In just ten seconds, the Saint-stage Yuanshi Tianzun's soul would be scattered into nothingness.
Gazing at the dazed Yuanshi Tianzun inside the barrier, the Sixth Elder sneered:
"Like I said, you have no idea how powerful a Dominator truly is."
Just as his voice fell, the hall's windows suddenly shattered. The barrier erected by the matchbox was broken by Dominator-level power, and tens of thousands of crimson ribbons surged in amid exploding shards of glass.
Like wildly dancing tentacles, these threads reached toward the six black talismans. As fine as hairs, they turned illusory, wrapped around the six talismans, and yanked hard.
The black talismans affixed to the floor were instantly peeled away.
Musicians, skilled in hypnosis, also possessed powerful souls. In the domain of the soul, their class ranked right behind Night Wanderers and Illusionists.
At the same time, a soaring, melodious soprano resounded from outside the window.
Possessing what seemed like the power to pierce the soul, it caused the dazed Yuanshi Tianzun's pupils to rapidly regain their luster, restoring his sense of self.
Inspire!
One of the three major abilities of a Transcendent-stage Musician, when unleashed by the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, became like a magnificent battle anthem, instantly pulling Zhang Yuanqing out of his state of oblivion back into reality.
"An Arbiter of Fate?"
The Sixth Elder's "voice" held a hint of surprise, but not total shock; evidently, he had anticipated something like this.
Since Yuanshi Tianzun could borrow so many powerful items, enlisting a Dominator's help was hardly a stretch.
He made his decision in an instant: escape using Dream Traverse. His physical body was already destroyed; staying to fight would only mean certain death.
While this Arbiter of Fate had broken the barrier to rescue Yuanshi Tianzun, she had also cleared away the obstruction for him. There was no longer anything stopping him from traversing dreams.
As thoughts flashed through his mind, the Sixth Elder activated Dream Traverse. Yet, in his field of vision, not a single dream appeared.
In other words, no one in the vicinity was sleeping—not even a dog.
There were no dreams to traverse.
The crimson ribbons gathered together, coalescing into a red-dressed woman wearing a silver mask. She giggled coquettishly:
"While you were fighting my man, I used my singing to wake the nearby residents. Inspired by my song, their boundless energy will last until dawn."
The Sixth Elder's face finally warped in horror.
Dream Traverse was an Illusionist's ultimate escape technique. Stripped of this divine art, an Illusionist was like a rat cornered against a wall.
"Don't waste words on him. Slay him!"
Zhang Yuanqing pulled out a black crescent moon and slapped it onto his forehead. Vine-like black patterns surfaced over half his face. He then brought out a lightning symbol and pressed it to his forehead as well.
Blue-and-white electrical arcs immediately danced across the Form and Spirit Annihilation Blade in his hand.
Meanwhile, his aura became wickedly noble, like a sovereign of the dark night, a favored child of the Lunar aspect.
Pitch-black darkness surged in Zhang Yuanqing's eye sockets. He activated Spirit Devouring to suppress spiritual entities, and empowered by the combat boost from Inspire, he transformed into a streak of purple lightning and shot toward the Sixth Elder.
The Sixth Elder shrank back in terror, unleashing skills with everything he had.
Mind Manipulation—useless!
Mental Strike—barely any effect.
Enter Dream—ineffective.
Recklessly burning through his potential and channeling his spiritual power, he prepared to overdraw his foundation to cast Void once more.
Not far away, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter immediately opened her throat and hummed a lullaby. At the same time, she raised her hand, her slender, jade-like fingers pinching empty air as if grasping something.
Pinching that thread, she quickly fell back to put distance between them before tying it around her wrist.
Connecting the Red String.
She tied the Sixth Elder's red string to herself. When both parties tied by the red string were of equal rank, bonds of goodwill and affection would form; if the target was of a lower rank, a Red Phoenix Star Official could dominate and manipulate them.
The Sixth Elder was of the same rank as the Palace Master, but his soul was severely damaged and his aura drastically depleted, resulting in one-sided psychological domination.
Under the red string's influence, the Sixth Elder suddenly felt there was no need to channel his spiritual power in a mutual-destruction gambit—because right beside him was his beloved Arbiter of Fate.
He stopped immediately and flew toward the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, radiating frantic mental ripples: "Help me! Save me!—"
Ribbons burst out from beneath the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter's skirt, wrapping around the Sixth Elder and pinning him in midair. Zhang Yuanqing, having turned into purple lightning, closed in. His black blade, crackling with arcs of electricity, slashed rapidly, delivering six or seven strikes in a flash.
The Sixth Elder's soul was annihilated with a shriek, scattered into nothingness.
Enduring the adverse side effects of all the items, Zhang Yuanqing methodically put away the Seal of the Thunder God, the Purple Gold Suit, the Companion Spirit Moon, and the Sliding Tackle Shoes, before collecting the Spirit Refining Talismans and Earth Spirit Vestment that had fallen to the ground.
Next, he grabbed a woman's t-shirt from the floor, dipped it in blood, and wrote on the floor:
"Yuanshi Tianzun was here!"
Then, with a snap of his fingers, he vanished from the hall.
The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter stepped onto her red silk sash, riding it like a surfboard into the night sky, swiftly departing.
***
At 3:30 AM, Deacon "Dahe Zhishui" of the Liandu branch hurried to the scene leading two official teams.
He had been summoned by a phone call from the director of the Public Security Bureau, who stated that there was a "special case" requiring his attention.
This was official jargon.
Any case involving Spirit Realm walkers was uniformly referred to as a "special case" and handed over to the Five Elements Alliance.
Dahe Zhishui learned that a violent altercation had occurred in the Yunwu Villa Complex. While the incident had not directly harmed ordinary citizens, the fallout was enormous—residents across several nearby residential complexes had grown wildly restless. Some were shouting at the top of their lungs at home, some had organized groups to square-dance, some were vigorously burning through energy on their balconies with their partners, and some were brawling in the courtyard. Even the dogs in the neighborhoods seemed to think they were wolves.
Several security stations in Liandu City had mobilized a large police force just to barely calm the agitated residents.
Normally, for a transcendent incident where the clash had already ceased, sending a couple of teams to clean up would suffice, as no combat was required.
However, a single sentence from the security director had made Deacon Dahe Zhishui leap straight out of bed.
A line of words had been left at the scene: *Yuanshi Tianzun was here!*
Wearing a light black trench coat, Dahe Zhishui was led by police officers into the villa courtyard.
Along the way, he saw several corpses lying in the yard, with crime-scene officers taking photographs for evidence.
Dahe Zhishui merely glanced at them without pausing, heading straight into the villa.
The hall was in complete disarray. The floor tiles were cracked, tables and chairs overturned and smashed. Five female corpses and one male corpse lay on the floor, all naked. Thick pools of blood had gathered and dried into black stains.
Dahe Zhishui's gaze swept quickly across the room, and sure enough, he spotted the line of writing.
"Yuanshi Tianzun... Why did he come to Liandu?" The somewhat somber Plague God frowned and muttered under his breath.
He then turned to the Scout subordinate who was examining the scene and inspecting the corpses.
"Any findings?"
The Scout, who carried himself with the stern demeanor of a soldier, replied:
"Judging by the scene, the deceased were likely engaged in intense intercourse before dying. Among Orderly classes, only Wood Monsters are that promiscuous. However, their physical endurance was mediocre; Wood Monsters are freakishly strong climbers, so their physiques shouldn't be this frail. In addition, two of the female corpses bear appalling signs of abuse, which also does not fit the nature of a Wood Monster—after all, Wood Monsters are merely enthusiastic about reproduction, not sadistic abuse."
Dahe Zhishui nodded. "So it's likely an evil class?"
"Most likely Illusionists from the Southern Sect," the Scout offered his assessment.
"Anyone who can prompt Yuanshi Tianzun to take the offensive won't be a minor figure..." Dahe Zhishui pondered for a few seconds, then said to the accompanying Scholar, "Liu Hongzhi, dismiss the police officers and shut down the surveillance systems. Everyone else, stand by and be ready to subdue me."
An Illusionist's face changed in myriad ways; to ascertain their true identity, the only way was to question them directly.
The Liandu branch was only a minor branch and had no Night Wanderers stationed there. However, thanks to the area's solid economic development, the Hang City branch had allocated items belonging to the Night Wanderer class.
The official walkers set to work in an orderly fashion.
Devouring a spiritual entity was an extremely risky endeavor; the slightest misstep could cause mental instability. Dahe Zhishui personally fitted himself with items that restricted his freedom, then brought out a foul-smelling burial shroud stained with black blood and draped it gently over one of the female corpses.
After a while, no spirit emerged.
He draped the shroud over the other corpses one by one, only to find that their souls had all been scattered.
Under normal circumstances, Dahe Zhishui would have assumed that the Illusionists' souls had escaped. Unlike other classes, an Illusionist viewed the physical body merely as a vessel for the soul; even if the body died, the soul remained immortal.
However, the opponent was Yuanshi Tianzun, a Night Wanderer. There was no way he would let their souls get away.
"There are still bodies outside," the Scout subordinate said.
Dahe Zhishui picked up the shroud and, flanked by the others, went out into the yard. He draped the shroud over the corpse of the man in the peaked cap near the car.
A few seconds later, a twisted, ferocious spirit emerged through the burial shroud.
This Illusionist had evidently suffered an attack aimed directly at the spirit before dying; his body and soul had perished together, leaving behind only a remnant soul.
"Did Yuanshi Tianzun have a partner? Or did he deliberately leave a remnant soul for us?" the Scout subordinate mused aloud.
"We'll know once I devour the soul."
Pinching a corner of the shroud, Dahe Zhishui's eye sockets filled with thick, pitch-black energy. Briefly gaining the power of Spirit Devouring, he swallowed the remnant soul in a single gulp.
Chapter 615