"The president of the Merchant Guild is at my house."
Staring at the message, Zhang Yuanqing felt his scalp tingle with numbness. An involuntary shiver coursed through his entire body and lingered for a long time.
He wasn't afraid of having his real-world identity exposed. To a demigod-tier high-ranking figure, killing Yuanshi Tianzun was a matter of a single thought. It made no difference whether Yuanshi Tianzun's real name was Wang Tiezhu, Wang Defa, Zhao Tieniu, or Li Erdan, nor whether he was a rich second-generation heir whose family casually raked in a small goal of a hundred million, or a pampered son of an official whose father was a district mayor.
Nor was he afraid that his maternal grandparents or his uncle's family were in mortal danger. The President belonged to the orthodox faction and was on decent terms with him. At most, the man might use his family as leverage to keep him in line; he wouldn't harm ordinary people for no reason.
What Zhang Yuanqing truly feared was the exposure of his dead father's identity.
If someone dug deeper along the trail of "Zhang Yuanqing," they would discover that his father was named Zhang Zizhen. Could Zhang Zizhen's background withstand scrutiny? Not in the slightest.
All it took was tracking down Zhang Zizhen's birthplace, locating his relatives, and asking a few discreet questions. Zhang Zizhen's erratic, unreliable childhood and youth would immediately be laid bare.
The lineage and origin of "Xiaoyao" would come to light.
The secret that Zhang Zizhen was Celestial Master Zhang could no longer be kept hidden.
It was widely known that the Xiaoyao Organization had snatched the core fragment of the Compass of Light back then, and the President had also participated in the struggle for the compass. To that end, he had spent a Myriad Worlds Commercial Firm exchange ticket, taking on three demigods single-handedly, burning through an astronomical fortune in the process.
The President's desperate desire for the compass was abundantly clear.
If he knew that Yuanshi Tianzun was Celestial Master Zhang's son and might possess the compass's core fragment...
At that thought, Zhang Yuanqing hurriedly shoved his newly bought phone into his pocket and turned toward the bed. "Sister Guan Ya, I need to make a trip home."
By now, Guan Ya had long since reined in her flirtatious demeanor. Reading expressions and emotions was second nature to a Scout. Frowning, she asked, "What happened this time?"
"The President of the Merchant Guild is at my house—well, my grandparents' place," Zhang Yuanqing said with a wry smile.
Guan Ya's expression shifted slightly. "Should we inform Fu Qingyang?"
"No need!" Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. "For now, the President is a friend, not an enemy. If he were an enemy, telling your cousin wouldn't do any good anyway. The fact that he went out of his way to text me is actually a gesture of goodwill."
If someone were planning an ambush, they wouldn't send a warning text. When Dark Night Rose and the Southern Sect ambushed him on the plane, they hadn't let slip so much as a fart beforehand.
Guan Ya was still uneasy and insisted on going home with her boyfriend, but Zhang Yuanqing firmly refused.
Ten minutes later, with the aid of the Windrider Gloves and Star Escape, Zhang Yuanqing returned to his grandmother's house.
Dreamlike starlight flared inside the bedroom. The moment Zhang Yuanqing emerged, he looked toward the desk.
The room was pitch-black. Sitting in the ergonomic chair by the desk was a man dressed as a Western cowboy, wearing his usual silver mask.
His legs were crossed, his weight leaning comfortably against the chair's back. His slouch was languid, yet exuded the effortless ease and relaxation of someone in complete control of everything.
Zhang Yuanqing reined in all his emotions, bowing respectfully. "What an honor it is to have you grace my humble home, President! You really should have come straight to the Fujia Bay Villa. How could this shabby little place properly host a distinguished deity like you?"
Still keeping his legs crossed, the President peered at him with steady eyes from beneath the mask and said in a deep voice, "I reckon the progress bar is just about full. It's time to disclose certain intelligence to you, because moving forward, I will be promoting you from the candidate list to the investment list.
"From this day forth, you are the Night Wanderer officially invested in by the Merchant Guild and the Association of God of Beauty."
Zhang Yuanqing's expression grew solemn. Straightening up, he sat at the edge of the bed and asked earnestly, "What intelligence do you mean...?"
"I know your father was Zhang Zizhen, Spirit Realm ID Celestial Master Zhang," the President said. "I had a fairly good relationship with the Xiaoyao Organization and was once a close ally of theirs. That's why I chose to meet you here tonight."
Zhang Yuanqing was completely stunned. He had no idea what kind of face he was supposed to make in response to this revelation.
So he opted for none at all.
In the quiet silence, he silently digested this earth-shattering news, then probed cautiously, "Those are just your words. I have no way to verify them."
The President answered with a question, chuckling softly. "You must have heard about my feat back then, using a Myriad Worlds Commercial Firm exchange ticket to take on three enemies single-handedly. Do you really think that when I had gone all-out and unleashed absolute rampage, four peak Dominators from the Xiaoyao Organization could have simply made off with the core fragment of the Compass of Light?
"At the time, demigods from both major districts mobilized in force. How could the previous Marshal White Tiger alone have held off so many demigods? It was because I took on three at once, joining hands with Marshal White Tiger, that the Xiaoyao Organization gained the window to break away from the battlefield and carry off the compass's core fragment."
Zhang Yuanqing's lips twitched. "That makes sense..."
He thought it over, then said, "So, President, you knew my identity all along. You knew I was Zhang Zizhen's son... Does that mean I met you when I was a kid?"
"What makes you think that?" the President countered.
"Remember Director Diana? I've always felt she was strangely familiar, as if I met her a long time ago," Zhang Yuanqing said. "Yet there's no way I could have met a high-ranking member of the Association of God of Beauty. But now that I know you and my dad were old acquaintances, and she is your lover... I must have seen her when I was little, right?"
"Don't go throwing false accusations around!" The President sat bolt upright, reacting with visible indignation. "Diana and I have a purely brother-and-sister relationship. Spotless and innocent!"
*Isn't having a lover from the Association of God of Beauty standard operating procedure for big shots in the First District? What's there to be in denial about?* Zhang Yuanqing gave a dry chuckle. "Then I must have misunderstood."
The President cleared his throat, seemingly unwilling to delve any further into his relationship with Diana, and steered the topic away: "Now for business. This concerns the ultimate secret of the Spirit Realm, and it's one of my core reasons for meeting you today. Do you know what a demigod is?"
"I do. A demigod is someone who possesses partial administrator permissions in the Spirit Realm," Zhang Yuanqing replied.
"..."
Now it was the President's turn to be stunned. The eyes behind the mask looked somewhat blank. "You actually know already? That shouldn't be possible!"
"The Xie family's Old Ancestor told me."
"Fine..." The President nodded. "That old scoundrel really is a straightforward man—meaning a blabbermouth. What else did he say?"
Zhang Yuanqing then recounted in full detail everything the Xie family's Old Ancestor had told him, as well as his own deductions.
"A virus?" The President shook his head. "One look and I can tell you're not a computer science major. That's the wrong analogy. The evil faction isn't a virus, but it indeed didn't originally belong to the Spirit Realm—it's an invader. The evil faction's last invasion took place in ancient times, an incursion that resulted in the fall of Empress Wa, the very last administrator. After that, the Spirit Realm vanished from the world. When it re-emerged a little over a century ago in the modern era, factional divisions had appeared, along with evil professions."
Understanding dawned on Zhang Yuanqing. "So the clash between the orthodox and evil factions is essentially a struggle for dominance over the Spirit Realm. Evil professions have gradually integrated into the Spirit Realm, causing it to generate character cards and dungeons for evil professions. As a 'game,' the Spirit Realm is already half black and half white?"
The President nodded slightly. "If the orthodox faction wants to win, the Sun, Moon, and Stars must be returned to their proper places. That's why the major organizations each chose a qualified Night Wanderer to invest in. The Five Elements Alliance invested in the Taiyi Sect Master; the Soldier Master sect invested in Ling Tuo; and the Association of God of Beauty and I invested in the Demon Lord. Unfortunately, he failed to make it through the final hurdle."
*So the battle where the Demon Lord fell truly involved numerous demigods. It was nowhere near as simple as perishing alongside the Deceitful Eye Judge...* Zhang Yuanqing asked, "How did the Demon Lord actually die?"
The President chuckled mirthlessly. "All I can tell you is that among those who took part in that battle were the Taiyi Sect Master, Ling Tuo, myself, the Northern Sect Cult Master, the President of the Association of God of Beauty, and certain indescribable beings."
*Holy shit, that lineup is second only to the battle for the Compass of Light.* Zhang Yuanqing suddenly realized, then asked, "You just said that if the orthodox faction wants to win, the Sun, Moon, and Stars must return to their places. But why would the Soldier Master sect invest in Ling Tuo?"
This question had puzzled him for a very long time.
"Evil power possesses a strong invasive nature; if an orthodox profession is tainted by evil power, they will fall," the President said, his tone low and serious. "The character cards distributed by the Spirit Realm are actually a form of protection for Spirit Realm walkers. When an orthodox practitioner encounters high-tier evil professions, the risk of invasion and corruption is real—take Fear Heavenly King of the Soldier Master sect, for instance. But once an orthodox demigod obtains administrator permissions, there is no force left in this world capable of corrupting them. The Night Wanderer alone is different...
"The Night Wanderer represents supreme authority, but at its core, it is neither orthodox nor evil. If invaded by evil power, a Night Wanderer becomes an evil profession; conversely, if not, it remains orthodox. That is what makes the Night Wanderer unique.
"Ling Tuo has already fallen. Though he is a Night Wanderer, he differs from an orthodox Night Wanderer—he belongs to the evil professions."
"'Fallen Night Wanderers must die...'" Zhang Yuanqing murmured to himself, recalling those words spoken by Master Wuhen.
"Alright, boy. Now it's time to give you the investment from the Merchant Guild and the Association of God of Beauty." The President raised a hand and reached into the void, pulling out two items.
One was a dim, dark-brown heart.
The other was a cast-gold badge.
On the front of the badge were carved runes representing the 'Void' profession, while the back bore a hazy bas-relief of a naked beauty.
"This badge has been notarized by both the Association of God of Beauty and the Merchant Guild, signifying your status as an 'investor.' The authority it represents is equivalent to an elder in a guild, though only the presidents and the Councils of Elders of both organizations know the meaning behind it," the President explained smoothly. "With this in hand, you may freely mobilize connections, channels, and funds belonging to the Association of God of Beauty and the Merchant Guild, up to Level 7 authority. Furthermore, you may freely enjoy the female members of the Association of God of Beauty, including Level 7 Dominators. As long as you present this badge, they cannot demand compensation from you via their skills."
Zhang Yuanqing swallowed hard, waving his hands frantically even as he pulled his pocket wide open. "No, no, this is far too valuable!"
The President flicked the golden badge into his pocket, then picked up the heart and said in a low voice, "This is the relic left behind by Past Without Traces, an Illusion God item. Before his death, he sent this item into the spatial tunnel I opened."
The excitement on Zhang Yuanqing's face instantly chilled. He stared blankly at the dark-brown heart, filled with sorrow and melancholy. "This demigod-tier item... is for me as well?"
The President emphasized, "It is what *he* gave you."
With that, he tossed it over.
Zhang Yuanqing caught it with both hands. Gaze sorrowful, he focused intently on the heart. After a few seconds, the item's information surfaced:
[Name: Heart of the Illusion God (Sealed)]
[Type: ???]
[Function: ???]
[Description: One of the supreme items of the Illusion God profession. Before returning to the Spirit Realm, a certain Illusion God infused the willpower cultivated through twenty years of spiritual training into the heart, suppressing the evil power within. It was subsequently sealed by the power of the Void profession. Seal duration: 180 days.]
[Remarks: It contains uncanny, supernatural power. Please use with caution.]
Zhang Yuanqing's hands trembled. He couldn't help feeling that this was a scorching hot potato.
He had just been schemed against by Ling Tuo over the Taiyin fragment, and now he had acquired an item of equal caliber. The two Illusion Gods of the Nihility Sect would never let him off easily.
"Can I turn it down?" Zhang Yuanqing asked, genuinely not wanting it.
He knew all too well that possessing an item that far outstripped one's own power only invited fatal disaster. Ling Tuo had already taught him that lesson the hard way.
He didn't need the two cult masters of the Nihility Sect to give him a refresher course.
The President smiled. "An Illusionist's power is enigmatic and unfathomable—ideal for frequently switching alternate identities. If you want to make your way in the First District, you will need this item dearly."
Then, his expression turned solemn: "When we say evil professions have no demigod stage, it means they lack corresponding administrator permissions in the Spirit Realm. But think about it: if the evil forces deepen their corruption of the Spirit Realm in the future, this heart in your hands will become one of those future authorities.
"For the orthodox faction, controlling the authority of the evil faction is the best way to weaken our enemy. The heart's seal lasts 180 days. Once the seal expires, indescribable beings within the Spirit Realm will reclaim this item, and no one will be able to stop them.
"Therefore, as your investors, we want you to accommodate this item. Because our ultimate objective in investing in you is to support you in becoming the Lord of the Sun among the 'Sun, Moon, and Stars.'
"The sun can suppress and purify all power, including that heart in your hands. That is also why Past Without Traces gave it to you."
*The Lord of the Sun...* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, *that feels a bit beyond my pay grade!*
"Accommodate it now?" he asked, gulping.
"Right now!" The President nodded. "I will protect you through the process. The heart has already been sealed, reducing its danger to the bare minimum. This is the most harmless it has ever been since its creation."
Chapter 647