Whose Handiwork?

The golden pillar of light receded. The divine lady stood proud in midair, the halo behind her head radiating a constant, pure golden light that dispelled the darkness and brought forth illumination. She was like a sun hanging in the sky, turning the nocturnal Spirit Realm 068 into broad daylight. The golden light pierced through the crystal ball's restriction, purifying the toxic smoke, evaporating the pus, and breaking the Smoker's offensive rhythm. Bathed in the golden sunlight, the Smoker hissed and sizzled, plume after plume of black smoke billowing up as his highly active flesh slowly melted away. The feelings of savagery, bloodthirst, and chaos gradually calmed under the golden light. Inside the Smoker, the consciousness belonging to Lieutenant Stephen revived, feeling an instinctive fury and dread branded deep into his genetic code. What he feared was not the woman herself, but the halo behind her head. And this anger and dread came not from him, but from the Smoker who had bestowed him power—the true Smoker. The sudden appearance of Empress Sandao also drew the eyes of the evil Dominators. The concentrated divine power of the sun sent uncontrollable tremors through their hearts. Instinctively, they held their breath and tensed their muscles, displaying an acute stress response like rats driven into a corner. This was the oppressive aura of a being of high status. The eighth-level Dominators present, and even Cowboy Locke, were well-traveled, knowledgeable Spirit Walkers, yet none recognized this woman. When had such a formidable figure emerged among the Night Wanderers of the Second District? No, she isn't a Spirit Walker! Cowboy Locke was the first to realize. Spirit Walkers couldn't enter a Spirit Realm of their own accord; not even demigods could achieve that. Furthermore, this was the Bacchus Club's guild dungeon. Looking across all classes, only peak Dominators and demigods of the Void class could enter. Day Wanderers possessed no ability to traverse Spirit Realms. Therefore, she definitely wasn't a Spirit Walker, but a powerhouse native to the Spirit Realm itself. Empress Sandao looked down upon the battlefield. Her gaze swept over the Dominators of both the orthodox and evil factions one by one, pausing for a few seconds on Zhang Yuanqing. Seeing that he was safe and sound, her cool expression softened slightly. Her hands formed incantation signs in a blur. A bronze pestle engraved with arcane patterns shot out from her sleeve, hovering before her and spinning rapidly in sync with her hand seals. Empress Sandao's hair spread loose, strand by strand, entwined with golden light. Golden rays seeped from the halo behind her head, pouring into the high-speed spinning Demon-Subduing Pestle. The rotation of the Demon-Subduing Pestle whipped up a terrifying, scalding airflow that churned into a vortex. The divine power of the sun compressed and condensed... Bang! Gunfire rang out. Cowboy Locke aimed the dark muzzle of his gun right at Empress Sandao. Before the previously infallible bullet could strike her, it was melted into bright, molten iron by the divine power of the sun. Empress Sandao paid no heed to Cowboy Locke's attack. Focusing on completing her seals, she abruptly thrust her palm forward. The Demon-Subduing Pestle turned into a spiraling beam of streaming light, crashing down against the barrier below. Crack! The crisp sound of shattering echoed across the entire grounds, ringing in everyone's ears. The restriction erected by the crystal ball shattered instantly. The constraints of a rule-based item were once again broken by sheer brute force. This was the second time today Zhang Yuanqing had witnessed a rule-based item fail. The Smoker's Trial was forcibly interrupted. The ten-meter-tall monster rapidly shrank, reverting to Lieutenant Stephen's form. Empress Sandao said coldly, "Why haven't you left yet?" Panxi Edison sensed the surroundings for a moment and rejoiced. "We can leave now!" The seal placed by the Eternal Night Dominator had already broken when Empress Sandao descended. Cowboy Locke snorted coldly. "Now that you've set foot in the Bacchus Club's dungeon, leaving won't be so easy." He opened his inventory, pulled out a massive bed cast of pure gold, and leaped onto it, dancing wildly with his hands and feet while chanting an incantation. As the incantation was chanted, high above in the unseen void, a pair of vague, dim eyes opened, gazing down devoid of any emotion. Zhang Yuanqing's head spun with dizziness. He vaguely felt certain parts of his cognition being forcibly rewritten. For instance: humans ought to walk backward, eating should be done with one's rear, and excreting with one's mouth. Or another: friends ought to slaughter one another, while foes should be treated with deference and courtesy. And on the physical level, numerous rules were altered: fire drowned people, water burned everything to ash, blades and swords couldn't cut people to death, and so forth. At the same time, he saw Fu Qingyang's mouth appear on his forehead, one eye on his left cheek, the other on his right cheek, with his handsome nose growing upside down. Panxi Edison and all his teammates ended up inverted, standing on their heads. Such changes appeared across all the evil Dominators as well, save for the Dominator of Chaos. The rules of this realm were twisted. 'No wonder the golden bed can twist cognition and completely alter a person. Its current strength definitely isn't its limit. Does Cowboy Locke want to corrupt us directly? No, twisting cognition should require lying on the golden bed. If he could corrupt us directly, there would have been no need to fight us...' Zhang Yuanqing thought groggily. If this went on, they might die from the chaos of rules, just like the effect of the Twisted Oil Painting. The only one unaffected, Empress Sandao bit her fingertip and drew a circle on her forehead with blood. The circle of blood ignited, turning into a golden-red sun sigil. The halo behind her head contracted and merged into her body, imbuing the golden-red sun on her forehead with divine presence. In an instant, blinding golden light surged from within her. The scorching sunlight plunged the dungeon into midsummer; the air became boiling hot, scorching all creation. Zhang Yuanqing saw golden flames burst out from his companions around him as they rolled on the ground in agony. He also saw Lieutenant Stephen, Cowboy Locke, and the evil Dominators ablaze with roaring flames. He saw Saints like Cocktail screaming as they burned down to skeletons. He saw the vague pair of eyes coalescing in the sky annihilate in the sunlight, and the golden bed melt like chocolate. Only he, acknowledged by the blazing sun, was spared from catching fire. The blazing sun shines over all; everything burns! This was the first time Zhang Yuanqing viscerally experienced the sheer overbearing might of the sun. Even when the Third Guardian had summoned an apparition of the sun aboard the airplane, or when Empress Sandao had displayed techniques of the sun's divine power in front of him multiple times, none of it compared to this moment. The apparition of a deity was obliterated just like that, and peak Dominators screamed in agony, completely unable to douse the flames on their bodies. Fortunately, the immolation of the blazing sun did not last long. Empress Sandao soon reined in the golden light, transformed into a stream of radiance that penetrated the dungeon barrier, and departed. Enduring the excruciating pain of the flames consuming his flesh, Panxi Edison didn't even have time to extinguish the fire on his body before grabbing at empty space, tearing open a spatial passage. "Get out of here!" He was the first to plunge into it. Fu Qingyang, Demon Eye Heavenly King, Zhang Yuanqing, and the others recalled their items and leaped into the spatial passage in a mad scramble, oblivious to the golden flames still burning on their bodies. *** At the Association of God of Beauty's branch. Inside the master bedroom of the seaside glass building, a circular spatial portal abruptly swung open, and Panxi Edison and the others tumbled out. Returning to the real world gave everyone a sensation of being born anew. Even though they were veterans who had faced death countless times, the air felt sweet to them right now, accompanied by that profound survivor's impulse to immediately reproduce and carry on the bloodline. The Palace Master of Halting Slaughter kicked over the small brazier puffing cloying fragrance and rubbed the side of the Demon Refining Pot. A slender golden stream poured from the spout, putting out the flames on her teammates and healing their burns. Demon Eye Heavenly King and the others looked visibly relieved and comforted. While tending to her teammates' injuries, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter frowned and said, "Why would Empress Sandao appear in a First District dungeon? Why would she rush here to save us?" Behind her silver mask, her gaze subtly flickered toward Zhang Yuanqing. "Empress Sandao?" Panxi Edison asked curiously. "Who is she?" Winnie, who had studied Yuanshi Tianzun's file, answered, "A superhuman who survived from ancient times to the present with the aid of the Spirit Realm. If I recall correctly, it was Yuanshi Tianzun who awakened her." "Then why did she come to save us? How could an NPC from the Second District appear in a dungeon in the First District?" Little Fish Ruth asked inquisitively. Fu Qingyang pondered for a moment. "It's likely the President's contingency plan against unexpected developments. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been able to cross servers and show up in the First District." The Scout's analysis made complete sense, and everyone agreed wholeheartedly. Panxi Edison sighed. "Even though the President made proper arrangements, this operation must be considered a failure. Who would have thought Donna was Catherine? It's not safe to linger here. I'll send you all back first." Reviewing the battle and debriefing could wait for later. He reopened spatial passages, sending Jumang, Chris, and Winnie back to the Heaven's Punishment branch, sending Demon Eye Heavenly King and Fu Qingyang back to China, and sending the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter back to the Manhattan Financial District. Back at the Heaven's Punishment branch, an exhausted Zhang Yuanqing rushed into the bathroom, washed away the blood and grime, returned to his bedroom, and fell asleep immediately. When he woke again, it was already the next morning. He unlocked his phone and sent a text to Mr. President: "Are you free to meet? I'm waiting for you at the Heaven's Punishment branch." Text sent. A few minutes later, he saw Mr. President, dressed in a black suit and wearing a silver mask, appear in the bedroom. "Mr. President, are you all right?" Zhang Yuanqing scrutinized the solid black suit—it wasn't the President's usual style. Looking thoroughly grieved, the President said, "Half of my treasures blew up. I'm mourning my deceased darlings. And that bastard Panxi Edison had to kick me while I'm down, pestering me for reimbursement..." Isn't reimbursement completely normal? Any boss who doesn't reimburse their employees deserves to be drowned in a pig basket... Zhang Yuanqing took out the Golden Crow Seal, handed it back to Mr. President, and said, "You already know what happened during the operation, right?" "It was my miscalculation!" Mr. President took the Golden Crow Seal and sighed. "I didn't expect Catherine to be Donna. Diana and I discussed it many times, listing every Dominator of Desire who had advanced through past Slaughter Dungeons. We always assumed Catherine's true identity was one of the two divine maidens secretly groomed by Heaven's Punishment, or one of those mysterious rogues of unknown origins. The only possibility we never foresaw was that Catherine evolved from Donna's second personality and attained an independent soul. That also explains why Donna's lovers weren't controlled by the Covenant of Freedom." Strictly speaking, Donna and Catherine were not the same person. Both possessed independent souls, merely stitched together temporarily, like two people sharing a single house. Thus, Donna's lovers did not belong to Catherine, and the latter could not demand a price from Donna's lovers. And no matter how they investigated or interrogated Donna, they could never discover that Donna was Catherine, let alone find that second soul sheltered by Taiyin. Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yuanqing asked, "Catherine said that a great existence granted her a soul. Who do you think it is?" The President shrugged. "Looking across the entire Spirit Realm, the only one capable of creating a 'soul' and possessing such far-reaching foresight is Ling Tuo, the Lord of Taiyin." It really was him! Zhang Yuanqing had already suspected as much; the President's answer matched his thoughts. Troubled, he said, "Ling Tuo gave Donna's second personality an independent soul and kept it hidden all this time. Was it all for today? Was his target me, or Fu Qingyang? If it was me, then Ling Tuo knows I didn't return to the Spirit Realm." Ever since the Wuhen Hotel incident, he harbored deep-seated dread and fear toward masterminds who operated from the shadows. Ling Tuo had killed Master Wuhen to exact vengeance, inflicted the loss of a peak Dominator on the Five Elements Alliance along with heavy reputational damage, and at the same time hounded him, the Demon Lord's successor, to death to acquire the Taiyin shard and complete himself. Three birds with one stone. If Catherine was Donna, then corrupting Donna would have been simple for the Covenant of Freedom: Catherine needed only to lie on the golden bed voluntarily and switch personalities. Yet the Covenant of Freedom hadn't done that. They had kept Donna intact as an orthodox Dominator, and even as faction clashes in New York County grew fiercer by the day, they kept this piece hidden. They didn't reveal it until yesterday's trap. This meant Ling Tuo's objective was their team; it was just unclear whether his target was Fu Qingyang or him. In addition, Zhang Yuanqing remembered another thing: Ling Tuo had also participated in the battle where the Demon Lord perished, and both Donna and Catherine were the Demon Lord's lovers. It was chilling to think about. The President remained silent for a few seconds before saying, "It could be you, it could be Fu Qingyang, and it might even include the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, since she possesses an Administrator item. To Stargazers like you who can perceive the river of fate, the development and evolution of all things can be orchestrated entirely by your hand. You don't necessarily have to take part directly in what happens now or in the future; planting a seed and waiting for it to mature is enough to drive the course of events. I don't know whether Ling Tuo knows you've already revived either. When it comes to strategizing, I rely on intellect, while Ling Tuo relies on cheating. There's no way I can beat him." Under normal circumstances, Zhang Yuanqing would have mentally scoffed at the claim "I rely on intellect," but this time he was thoroughly persuaded. He said, "Mr. President, you didn't lose. Empress Sandao showed up just in time to save us, and after all, we killed an eighth-level Dominator. We came out a little ahead." Mr. President fell silent for a moment, then said in a bizarre tone, "You're mistaken. Empress Sandao's appearance was outside my calculations; it wasn't my doing. I almost thought you were all done for. Sigh, do you know why I'm so desperate for you to grow up? Because when it comes to chess, I'm no match for Ling Tuo. For twenty years I've been walking on eggshells, treading carefully and staying hidden in the shadows just to avoid a knife in the back. Once I nurture you into the Lord of the Sun, the rest will be you Night Wanderers tearing each other apart like dogs, while I just sit on the sidelines cheering you on." Empress Sandao's arrival wasn't the President's handiwork? Zhang Yuanqing froze in shock. She had clearly come specifically to rescue them, without a single wasted movement. The moment she broke the restriction and quelled the crisis, she left immediately, not even bothering to finish off the evil Dominators. If it wasn't the President's arrangement, then whose was it? Mr. President prompted, "Isn't your relationship with her rather ambiguous? Head into the Spirit Realm and ask her." Ambiguous? I'm her lapdog, okay?! Zhang Yuanqing's eyes lit up. "I'll enter the guild dungeon right now."