Late at night.
Zhang Yuanqing was jolted awake by a piercing ringtone. Reaching under his pillow for his phone, he saw that the caller was Fu Qingyang.
His spirits lifted, and he answered immediately. "Boss, any results?"
"No!" Fu Qingyang's reply brought a wave of disappointment, but then his boss shifted gears. "However, there are leads. I need your cooperation. Send that bronze piece to the White Tiger Guards guild vault. I have an idea to test."
"Hold on!" Keeping the call connected, Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory, took out Little Red Riding Hood, and then opened the guild vault to apply for storage.
A second later, the application was approved, and Little Red Riding Hood entered the White Tiger Guards guild vault.
Another second later, Little Red Riding Hood vanished from the vault.
"Await my news." Having retrieved Little Red Riding Hood, Fu Qingyang hung up.
***
Capital City Museum.
In a lounge, Fu Qingyang held Little Red Riding Hood and gave it a shake. A figure tumbled out of the hat's spatial pocket.
She wore light-colored jeans and a white T-shirt, her face delicate and pretty, her red pupils alluring and uncanny.
It was none other than Commandery Princess Yinyao.
Having been cooped up inside Little Red Riding Hood for over a week, Commandery Princess Yinyao raised her little megaphone in pleasant surprise. "Did Yuanshi Tianzun tell you to take me under your wing?"
*Not you...* Fu Qingyang silently pulled her back in, then gave another flick of his wrist.
Commandery Princess Yinyao popped out again, happily lifting her little megaphone. "Did Yuanshi Tianzun tell you to take me under your wing?"
Fu Qingyang said in a deep voice, "Hand the item over."
Commandery Princess Yinyao pretended to admire the surrounding scenery.
Fu Qingyang's cheek twitched. He said in a deep voice, "I will tell Yuanshi to let you out for regular walks in the future."
"It's a deal!" Commandery Princess Yinyao quickly fished a fan-shaped bronze piece from her pocket and slapped it onto the table with a clatter.
Fu Qingyang flicked the hat, pulling her back inside. This yin corpse of Yuanshi's had truly been tainted by bad company, gradually picking up her master's slipperiness and roguishness.
For a dignified commandery princess, all her propriety and refinement had gone to the dogs.
Returning the hat to his inventory, his gaze settled on the bronze piece. He examined the tadpole-like runes etched across its surface with focused attention.
"A sealing incantation from the Eternal Night class. That is why neither divination, fortunetelling, nor deduction could ever locate it." Fu Qingyang stared directly at the dizzying runes, his expression calm as if he had anticipated this all along.
Among the various classes, the Eternal Night class was the most adept at seals. Sealing and slumber were the core abilities of Eternal Night.
Since it was a seal, matters were simple.
Fu Qingyang grasped the bronze piece and tossed it gently into the air. As it tumbled, he drew his Jade Dragon Sword at blinding speed. With a flash of sword light, a piercing ring sharp enough to split metal and shatter stone rang through the air.
The struck bronze piece erupted in dazzling brilliance. One by one, the runes upon it blazed bright, only to be obliterated.
The bronze piece fell to the floor, the incantation gone, replaced by gorgeous, embossed patterns.
Fu Qingyang picked up the bronze piece and held it in his palm. After waiting a few seconds, the item details emerged:
[Name: Holy Plate]
[Type: Key]
[Function: Unsealing]
[Description: One of the three sacred relics of the Holy See. It serves as the key to unlock the Holy See's treasury and was kept by successive popes. All the wealth and secrets of the Holy See are to be unlocked by it. Following the demise of the last pope, the Holy Plate was sealed.]
[Remark: Once unsealed, the fragments of the Holy Plate will resonate with one another.]
Resonate with one another? Fu Qingyang brought the fan-shaped bronze piece near the Zhou Ji Phoenix Zun. The fifty-centimeter-tall phoenix bronze vessel suddenly began to hum and vibrate.
The fan-shaped bronze piece in Fu Qingyang's hand trembled incessantly as well.
"It really is inside the bronze vessel. Not cast into the bronze's interior, but sealed within it." Fu Qingyang furrowed his brows.
Evidently, the second bronze piece was sealed inside the bronze vessel. There were only two ways to retrieve it: one was to cast the corresponding skill or incantation to break the seal;
the other was brute-force destruction.
However, doing so would inevitably destroy this cultural relic. Although Fu Qingyang did not personally care about so-called relics, he understood what such an artifact represented to a country and its people.
Pondering for a few seconds, Fu Qingyang stood up with his sword, casually executing several swings to get a feel for it.
Anyone else or any other class would have to destroy the bronze vessel or seek out an Eternal Night practitioner for help. But Fu Qingyang felt he could attempt to slice through the seal without harming the artifact.
This required exceptionally precise swordsmanship, paired with a degree of control powerful enough to be called monstrous.
Most Swordsmen, and even Puppeteers, lacked such control. But Fu Qingyang could, for he had practiced repetitive, monotonous sword strikes his entire life.
Fu Qingyang drew a gentle breath, sank into a lunge, dropped his hips, and lowered his stance. With a resonant ring, sword light flashed and vanished.
That fleeting beam of sword light skimmed flush against the bronze vessel—it seemed to have struck, yet also seemed to have touched nothing.
Yet once the sword light passed, the bronze vessel ceased its trembling. Specks of radiance drifted out and coalesced into a fan-shaped bronze piece.
"Two pieces left!"
Fu Qingyang stowed away both fan-shaped bronze pieces.
***
New York.
In the latter half of the night, Zhang Yuanqing's phone chimed. He sat up, and as he checked the message, delight washed over his face.
"Boss found the second piece? As expected of a Dominator-stage Scout—such incredible efficiency. Holy Plate? One of the three sacred relics... Uh, is one of the others the Holy Grail?
"So the Holy Plate is the key to unlocking the Holy See's treasure vault. The bronze pieces weren't handed down from ancient practitioners, but were sealed?"
Zhang Yuanqing took out Little Red Riding Hood, shook out the two bronze pieces, and examined their item properties while reading Fu Qingyang's messages.
*Tsk, I hate this sort of key-collecting quest the most. Wouldn't it be better to just give the treasure directly?* Staring at the two bronze pieces, Zhang Yuanqing fell into thought.
*If so, the Hunter Guild's mission is already complete.*
Suddenly, his expression changed. *No, wait. If I tell the Hunter Guild I have two keys, Catherine will definitely take one; otherwise, they'd be fools. The keys attract one another. As long as they get one, the other three will be in jeopardy.*
*Yet if I don't hand over a key to the Hunter Guild, I won't be able to infiltrate their ranks, obtain enemy intelligence, or purge the big shots embedded within the Orderly organizations.*
Zhang Yuanqing frowned, caught in a dilemma.
*Should I ask for Boss's advice? Uh, I can't rely on him too much. Besides, it isn't hard—I've got an idea...*
Zhang Yuanqing's plan was to gather three, or even all four keys, within the fifteen-day deadline, then open the Holy See's treasure vault and loot it clean first.
Of course, that was too idealistic.
The best approach was to gather three keys, hand over one, and search for the final piece together with the Hunter Guild.
That way, the Hunter Guild would never assemble the full set of keys. Meanwhile, Zhang Yuanqing could accomplish plenty, perhaps even flushing out many of the Corrupted lurking within the Orderly organizations.
*Only one day has passed, so there's plenty of time. Sleep first. Tomorrow I'll hold an online gathering of Return of the Dead to comb through Huo Zhengkui's life...* Pulling up the quilt, Zhang Yuanqing fell into a deep sleep.
***
The next morning.
Zhang Yuanqing got up, washed up, had breakfast with Annie, and wheeled her suitcase down the stairs to see her off.
A black commercial van was already waiting outside the building.
Watching Annie leave in the vehicle, Zhang Yuanqing returned to the fourth floor, and soon heard the doorbell ring.
Outside stood Cao Qianxiu, the pretty, slender, and serious girl-next-door.
"Our group has an operation today. Do you want to join?" Cao Qianxiu asked with subtle anticipation. "It's about that Starry Covenant outfit. Lately, they've been pushing dope again in the Chinatown area under Group Six's jurisdiction, as well as at our school. We've joined forces with an operational squad from Heaven's Punishment. We're getting serious this time."
Having said that, she realized Zhang Qingyang might not know what "Starry Covenant" was, and hurried to explain: "They're the riders who kicked Cao Chao that day. They're peripheral members of Starry Covenant, a gang of campus hoodlums."
"Is it a syndicate formed by Spirit Realm walkers?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"Yes! Not only does this syndicate deal dope, but they also run prostitution rings. On top of that, they're racists."
*Everyone's a racist here; the pot shouldn't call the kettle black!* Zhang Yuanqing said, "How so?"
Cao Qianxiu said resentfully, "The boss of Starry Covenant despises us. They sell smack, loan-shark, and run gambling dens in Chinatown. When women can't repay, they're forced into sex work; if men can't pay, their female relatives are forced into sex work to clear the debt.
"Still, Starry Covenant doesn't have any Saints. The reason they've survived until now is that their boss has connections within Heaven's Punishment. But this time, Heaven's Punishment intends to purge the pests within its ranks and take real action."
Zhang Yuanqing asked a few more questions, only to decline her invitation right before Cao Qianxiu's expectant gaze.
The girl-next-door's face fell instantly, and she walked away in a huff. *If you didn't want to go, why ask so many questions?*
***
At ten-thirty in the morning, Zhang Yuanqing took a taxi to a townhouse community in Chinatown and rang the doorbell at Deng Jingguo's home.
Next, he would use the pretext of having tracked down Tongtian Jiaozhu and discovered what he was searching for to coax more intimate, private intel about Huo Zhengkui out of Deng Jingguo.
The doorbell rang for a while before a maid belatedly answered.
"The boss is seeing a guest!" the maid explained, leading him inside.
Entering the living room, Zhang Yuanqing saw at a glance that Deng Jingguo was entertaining a guest in the reception area. The guest looked to be around thirty years old, dressed in a black mink coat, with rather handsome features.
His physique was robust yet not bulky; the sleek lines of muscle made him look like a lithe leopard.
His temperament was hard to pin down. At first glance, he appeared just and stern, but looking closer, the corners of his mouth tilted up and his eyes crinkled slightly, exuding an air of cynicism and flippancy.
Seeing Zhang Yuanqing enter, the guest eyed him from the corner of his eye, an instinctive smirk curling at his lips.
Deng Jingguo took the initiative to greet him: "You've arrived just in time. This guest claims to be an inheritor of the Holy See's Knights, the sole heir across six generations, and has come here to ask about the Pope's relic."
*An inheritor of the Holy See's Knights? And the sole heir across six generations? How did a bunch of blond-haired, blue-eyed white folk pass their legacy down until it ended up in a black-haired, yellow-skinned guy?* Zhang Yuanqing scoffed internally, disbelieving a single word and instantly marking the guy as a wolf.
*Most likely sent by the Hunter Guild.*
"Greetings. I am Carefree Sword Immortal," Zhang Yuanqing said, putting on the cold aloofness characteristic of a Scout.
"Carefree Sword Immortal?" The fellow claiming to be the sole heir of six generations of Knights had his eyes light up, clicking his tongue in appreciation. "Great name, great name! Greetings, my Spirit Realm ID is Zhai Cai."
Chapter 672