A Bolt from the Blue

At the Xie family estate. Having heard the terrible news from her mother, Xie Lingxi had hastily thrown a pink hoodie over her nightgown. Wearing sandals, she dashed all the way to the secluded courtyard where the Old Ancestor lived, sobbing and pleading for him to step in and save her Brother Yuanshi. Yet the Old Ancestor paid her no mind. After Xie Lingxi had wept for nearly an hour, his impatient voice finally drifted out from the courtyard. "What I hate most is women bawling and weeping—even little girls. Get lost right now." Wiping her tears, Xie Lingxi said, "Old Ancestor, please save him! He's a genius capable of becoming a demigod. He's worth saving! I... I've had my eye on this man for so long. He can't just be gone like this." The Old Ancestor was a rough, unyielding brute who possessed not a shred of tenderness toward the fair sex, even when it came to a girl of his own direct lineage. "Save him? Save my ass!" he snapped irritably. "I gave that brat a choice, but he rushed straight into disaster knowing full well it was a lethal calamity. Anyone watching would think he was a Fire Master! Let me tell you, the only people who can murder an official Dominator, get caught red-handed, and still walk away scot-free are demigods. There is no second possibility. "Do you expect me to clash head-on with the Five Elements Alliance's laws just for him? I wouldn't fear the fight, but I couldn't pull it off even if I tried. The Five Elements Alliance has five demigods. Our Xie family only has me!" Xie Lingxi burst into a fresh wave of wails, crying like a pear blossom bathed in rain. *** A shrill ringtone jolted Zhao Chenghuang from his slumber. He picked up the phone from the nightstand, its fluorescent blue glow illuminating his stern face. Caller: Sun Miaomiao. It was six o'clock in the morning. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, and he had only just drifted off to sleep. Zhao Chenghuang frowned in bewilderment. Although he and Sun Miaomiao had grown up in the same neighborhood and could be loosely called childhood friends, they rarely contacted each other unless something came up. Calling him at this hour meant trouble. When Zhao Chenghuang picked up, his tone was exceedingly grave. "What happened?" Sun Miaomiao's voice trembled. "Y-Yuanshi is in trouble. He killed an elder of the Five Elements Alliance." A jolt ran through Zhao Chenghuang. He practically bolted upright from the bed, his brow twitching violently. "Killed an elder?! What nonsense are you talking about?!" "Look at the alliance forum." Without even putting on shoes, Zhao Chenghuang bolted out of the bedroom, dashed into his study, booted up his laptop, logged in, and opened the Five Elements Alliance forum. Sure enough, pinned at the top was a post in glaring red letters: #Yuanshi Tianzun Colluded with Evil Classes, Obstructed Law Enforcement, and Murdered an Elder# "In the early hours of yesterday, Elder Relentless Raging Waves led a team to purge a group of evil classes. During the operation, he was ambushed by Yuanshi Tianzun and unfortunately returned to the Spirit Realm. Headquarters expresses its deepest condolences, and hereby pledges to severely punish the murderer and uphold the law..." The hundreds of words in the notice detailed the sequence of events, heavily highlighting the righteousness and tragic end of Relentless Raging Waves—a diligent elder dedicated to eradicating evil classes, dying so unjustly. By contrast, it painted Yuanshi Tianzun as arrogant, unruly, spoiled by his status as a prodigy, and utterly unrestrained—not only colluding with evil classes, but going so far as to murder an official elder. Alongside the text were several drone photographs, one of which was a high-definition shot of Yuanshi Tianzun gripping a desiccated corpse by the throat. There were also snapshots of the dozen-plus elders arriving at the scene, witnessing it with their own eyes. Zhao Chenghuang sank limply against the back of his chair, not daring to look at the comments. After a dazed silence, he drew a deep breath and gritted his teeth. "To push Yuanshi Tianzun into such a fury means headquarters must have taken action against Xiao Yuan and the others. Elder Cai's maneuver is vicious—unworthy of an elder!" He understood Yuanshi Tianzun's temperament well. Yuanshi would never have killed an elder unless his bottom line had been breached. Sun Miaomiao's voice broke into sobs. "I told him long ago not to associate with evil classes! I told him to stay away from her, but he just wouldn't listen!" Zhao Chenghuang stared blankly for a second. He was finally certain of something: Sun Miaomiao had feelings for Yuanshi Tianzun. Before, he had only suspected it. Now, it was confirmed. "Murdering an elder is a capital offense. Yuanshi Tianzun is doomed," Zhao Chenghuang said, rubbing his cheeks to force himself to stay calm. "Exoneration is impossible. The only way out is to break him free and have him defect from the alliance." Sun Miaomiao whimpered twice. "I already begged my grandfather, but he refused to help. Could you... could you beg Elder Zhao?" Zhao Chenghuang offered a bitter laugh. "Do you think he would agree?" Sun Miaomiao fell silent. Just then, the phone chimed with an incoming notification. Zhao Chenghuang looked down, his tone softening in rare comfort. "Someone posted in the group chat. We can discuss it with them. Don't panic yet. Sigh, panicking won't help anyway." Sun Miaomiao hung up. Brother Red Chicken: [Holy shit, what happened?! How did Yuanshi Tianzun end up fighting an official elder? If I remember right, killing an elder means the death penalty in the Five Elements Alliance.] Tianxia Guihuo: [It's the death penalty in any organization. Yuanshi Tianzun has kicked up a massive disaster.] Zhao Chenghuang: [Everyone, do you have any ideas?] Brother Red Chicken: [Grandpa told me Yuanshi Tianzun has been taken to headquarters. Let's go raid the execution ground!] Xiahou Aotian: [What kind of idiotic idea is that? Who do you think you are to raid an execution ground? Anyone listening would think you were a demigod.] Brother Red Chicken: [I've already booked my flight. Where are we meeting in the capital?] Xiahou Aotian: [Don't do anything rash yet. I'm planning to negotiate with the Old Ancestor using shares from the apparatus company.] Asano Ryo: [Ahhh, what do we do, what do we do...] Unwilling to waste time on their babble, Sun Miaomiao directly tagged Tianxia Guihuo: [@Tianxia Guihuo Do you have any ideas?] Tianxia Guihuo sent a bitter smile emoji: [Murdering an official elder is a capital crime no one can save him from. Yuanshi is in custody, and headquarters will hold a trial soon. It's a dead end. You've all seen the forum, right? Right now, our official colleagues are still in shock. Give it a day or two, and once the people pulling the strings whip up public outrage, even Yuanshi Tianzun's staunchest supporters won't be able to back him in good conscience.] Tianxia Guihuo: [By then, the tide will be unstoppable. The whole world will want him dead. If the Alliance Leaders try to shield him, they will be trampling the Five Elements Alliance's laws underfoot in front of every official walker and every Spirit Realm walker across the world. The Alliance Leaders won't do that, because they are the true guardians of order.] Tianxia Guihuo: [Back when the five Alliance Leaders unified the alliance, they signed a pact not to interfere in official administrative affairs. They relinquished power precisely because they value order above all else.] Demigods were like emperors, wielding absolute power. In any stable organization, the greatest taboo was concentrating all authority in the hands of a mere few. Though power within the Five Elements Alliance was heavily entrenched today, a sword still hung above the Ten Elders, ensuring power remained far more distributed than if held by the Alliance Leaders alone. Xiahou Aotian: [So raiding the execution ground actually is the right approach.] Tianxia Guihuo: [No, it's utter stupidity. With a case this huge, how much attention is on it? Forget us—even Dominators going in would just be throwing their lives away.] The group fell silent. Between every line of Tianxia Guihuo's messages lay an inescapable reality: nothing could reverse this! This was not something Spirit Realm walkers of their level could meddle in. They were powerless to change a thing. *** Fujia Bay. In the living room, Queen sat on the sofa with red-rimmed eyes, having just finished crying. Guan Ya, on the other hand, was expressionless, scrolling continuously through her phone—forums, group chats, contacts... She looked entirely detached, as though none of this concerned her. Incensed, Fu Xue slapped the phone from her daughter's hand, her brows raised in fury. "What time do you think it is?! Your man is in such deep trouble, and you're still in the mood to play with your phone?!" The phone went flying, clattering onto the floor and skidding to the corner of a table. The fractured screen froze on Tianxia Guihuo's final message. The mother-in-law was consumed by anxiety. She had gambled everything on her precious son-in-law; Yuanshi was her hope for the rest of her life. How could such a blue-chip stock suddenly hit the downward circuit breaker? It was more surreal than the A-shares market. Ever since learning the news at three in the morning, Fu Xue had been pacing restlessly, consumed by panic. She had tried contacting Fu Qingxuan, but the calls wouldn't go through. Upon calling her secretary, she learned that Fu Qingxuan had entered a dungeon several days ago. Why did the siblings both have to enter dungeons at a time like this? Refusing to give up, the distraught mother-in-law had called the Fu family council of elders, only to hit a wall. It wasn't that the Fu family didn't want to help—Yuanshi Tianzun was their son-in-law, after all—but they were genuinely powerless. Just how grave was killing an elder? If Fu Qingyang had done such a thing, even with legitimate grounds, he would have had a layer of skin stripped off. And Yuanshi Tianzun? He stood accused of colluding with evil classes, obstructing law enforcement, and murdering an elder. The nature of the offense was far too atrocious. There was no protecting him. Guan Ya stood up, quietly picked up her phone, and looked at her mother. "Don't worry. The apparatus company belongs to Fu Qingyang. Whether Yuanshi is around or not won't affect your income." Fu Xue snapped, "You wretched girl, what do you mean by that?!" Without answering, Guan Ya headed upstairs in silence. Entering her bedroom, she sat blankly by the desk, not moving for a long time. Then, her phone rang. The incoming caller was an unfamiliar number. With hollow eyes, Guan Ya answered the call, staying silent. The other end was silent as well. A tacit understanding seemed to hang between them. After two or three minutes, a voice laden with suppressed agony finally drifted from the speaker: "I'm sorry..." It was that woman. Guan Ya sat numbly, offering no response. "I understand how you feel. Could you give me a few minutes? I want to explain what happened..." *** The Northwestern Gobi. Dressed in a tailored black suit and wearing a silver earring, Fear Heavenly King stared coldly at the approaching motorcade. The lead off-road vehicle slammed on the brakes. The trailing vehicles screeched to a halt one after another, nearly causing a massive pileup. A radiant young man with a sports headband stepped out of the lead vehicle. Sizing up the elegantly dressed, elite figure of Fear Heavenly King, he sneered, "A good dog doesn't block the road!" Fear Heavenly King said faintly, "Silver Moon called me. He said you're taking a mob of cultists to attack the capital?" Demon Eye Heavenly King countered, "That's my freedom. What business is it of yours?" "Going to the capital is your freedom. Blocking your path is mine," Fear Heavenly King replied impassively. Demon Eye Heavenly King went silent for a second before saying, "I've already asked Asura. As long as I bring Yuanshi Tianzun to the Northwest, he'll let him become a Heavenly King in the Soldier Master sect." Fear scoffed. "If you go back right now and ask Asura to give you his seat as sect leader, he'll agree to that too. Asura agrees to everyone's requests—he can't even be bothered to say 'no' to an ant." Demon Eye Heavenly King suddenly exploded with rage. "Are you out of your fucking mind?! Get lost!" He ripped the sports headband from his forehead, revealing a vertical eye with a blood-red socket and a pale gold pupil. The golden eyeball swiveled within, radiating pure evil and chaos. "Ahhh!" Cries of agony erupted from the motorcade as the Bewitching Demons and Mist Lords clutched their heads, howling in madness, exhibiting signs of demonic frenzy. Even Fear Heavenly King, whose combat power rivaled a demigod's, felt the spiritual energy within his body briefly spin out of control the moment the golden-red beam struck him. Evil thoughts inside his heart flared up like matches drenched in gasoline, soaring wildly and nearly overwhelming his sanity. This was Demon Eye Heavenly King's Eye of Bewitchment. In the entire Soldier Master sect, only he and Asura had cultivated the Bewitchment skill to such a pinnacle that it could weaken a demigod. "If you want to fight me, come back when you're level nine." Fear drew a deep breath to settle his agitated spiritual energy, then crossed several dozen meters in a single stride. Smack! A whip kick sent Demon Eye Heavenly King flying, setting off a deafening sonic boom. Demon Eye Heavenly King shot backward like a cannonball. Fear Heavenly King vanished instantly, followed by thunderous booms echoing in the distance. The battle—or rather, the thrashing—sounded like an endless artillery bombardment. *** A small town in the Jinshan City area, inside a cheap motel. In a twin room, Xiao Yuan stood by the window and gently set down her phone. On the bed behind her lay Kou Beiyue. After taking the medicinal pills, the pathogens inside Kou Beiyue's body had gradually become inert. Apart from lingering weakness, he was out of danger. Yet at this moment, the usually energetic youth lay there in a daze, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had awakened in the latter half of the night, only to hear from Xiao Yuan the devastating news that their team had been wiped out. Blow after blow had utterly shattered him. He had remained in this state until dawn, like a lifeless wooden puppet. Looking out the window, Xiao Yuan whispered, "Yuanshi has been arrested by the Five Elements Alliance. For killing a Dominator without authorization, he will be sentenced to death." The room remained dead silent. Then, Xiao Yuan heard weeping behind her—the boy's heart-wrenching wails. *** Secretary Zhou walked down a flight of weathered stone steps into an underground corridor constructed of masonry blocks. The corridor was lit by nineteen-nineties tungsten bulbs embedded in the ceiling, casting an amber glow across the subterranean dungeon. The ceiling, the walls on either side, and the floor were all built of uniform square stone blocks. Dense tree roots emerged from the mortar seams, with certain sections of the walls completely overgrown by thick patches of roots. The underground prison had many cells, but all were empty. Secretary Zhou's leather shoes clicked crisply against the stone paving. Before long, he arrived at the cell at the end of the corridor and saw the young man sitting cross-legged on the bed. The young man's body was bound by roots, but had no other restraints. Secretary Zhou knew full well, however, that even a demigod would find it difficult to break free from these roots. For they originated from a demigod—the President of Baihui. This was the subterranean space beneath Linggan Temple on the outskirts of the capital. Within Linggan Temple stood a century-old tree that was one of the President's avatars. The President of Baihui was the most enigmatic of the Alliance Leaders. He maintained an extremely low profile, living in long-term seclusion, ignoring official affairs, and refusing audience to official walkers. Even the Ten Elders had seen him only a handful of times. He was the kind of demigod who wouldn't bother showing up unless the world was ending. Yet the President was everywhere. When necessary, any plant or animal in the capital could become his avatar. "Yuanshi Tianzun, headquarters has decided to convene your trial tomorrow. Any thoughts?" Secretary Zhou was a somber middle-aged man with sharp features and slicked-back hair, his trim build carrying a sharper silhouette than most young men. "Do you want to hear me beg for mercy, or curse your mother?" Zhang Yuanqing looked over, a faint sneer in his eyes. "If it's mercy you want, would it be best if I proactively offer up the Heaven-Worship Set and all my items?" Without question, his lethal calamity had arrived. For the entire day, Zhang Yuanqing had been reflecting on two things. First, why had he attended the crab feast with a false sense of security? If he hadn't attended the crab feast on October first and had hidden in a dungeon instead, he wouldn't have received Zhao Xintong's call for help, and naturally wouldn't have been dragged into this—though he had never once regretted his choice. Second, he had constantly worried about the lethal calamity and made active preparations, yet he had overlooked Xiao Yuan and Kou Beiyue. Why couldn't the lethal calamity have been a repeat of the airplane ambush? While he had bought a house and changed the address for Xiao Yuan's group of four, that hadn't provided absolute security. —Of course, unless he sent Xiao Yuan and the others abroad, absolute safety was impossible. Zhang Yuanqing still hadn't figured out these two questions. He suspected he had become a pawn, but had no proof. If someone truly was pulling the strings behind the scenes, then such orchestration was virtually impossible to detect in advance or evade. Elder Cai was a Rain Master and lacked such divination abilities. Was it Ling Tuo? Had Ling Tuo made a move against him ahead of schedule? But why had Ling Tuo tolerated the Demon Lord becoming a peak Dominator nearing demigodhood, yet couldn't bear to let Yuanshi Tianzun live a few years longer? Now trapped behind bars without access to information, discovering the true narrative of events was impossible. Secretary Zhou shook his head with a sigh. "It seems you hold deep prejudices against Elder Cai and me. Elder Cai is an upright, rigorous leader. Even after you caused the death of his grandson, he remained tolerant and yielding toward you. He was by no means using public authority to settle personal grudges. You were simply too arrogant. You took headquarters' forbearance as capital for indulgence, crossing bottom lines time and time again. Now you've even dared to murder an elder. Sigh, as the saying goes, 'Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.' Truly apt. "As an elder and a leader, I find this deeply regrettable," Secretary Zhou said mournfully. "If you're done talking, get lost!" Zhang Yuanqing was pondering his chances of survival and had no patience for his posturing. "Don't be in such a hurry. I came to tell you one more thing." The corners of Secretary Zhou's mouth curled up bit by bit. "You might not know this yet, but last night, headquarters dispatched secret operation squads and successfully eradicated Past Without Trace's syndicates scattered across the country. Aside from the two you let slip away, every single one was killed. Furthermore, Past Without Trace failed in his attempt to break through to demigod and succumbed to madness. The alliance deployed two Alliance Leaders to handle him. Oh, and demigods from the Dark Night Rose and Southern Sect joined in as well." Everyone was dead. In that split second, Zhang Yuanqing heard the sound of blood freezing in his veins. He heard thunder clapping beside his ears. In his heart, he heard roaring and wailing, though he knew not whose voice it was. A bolt from the blue.