The Demon Lord's Message

This guy was probing him. Zhang Yuanqing was no longer a rookie. The defining traits of the Demon Lord's successor were something outsiders could hardly know. The only thing that might invite suspicion was his frequent entry into high-difficulty Spirit Realms, but even that was mere suspicion. It was not as if rookie Night Wanderers had never entered Sheling Tunnel before; an S-rank trial mission alone was hardly proof of being the Demon Lord's successor. As for the Jinshui Amusement Park, the Spirit Realm had a matchmaking mechanism. The stronger an individual was, the harder the dungeon they were matched into—which made perfect sense. Therefore, Ling Jun was one hundred percent probing him. The Taiyi Sect would not easily give up searching for the Demon Lord's successor. Probes like this were bound to happen again in the future. Zhang Yuanqing sneered, projecting an air of arrogance to fit the persona of a genius, and scoffed, "Who are you looking down on? What the hell does the Demon Lord's successor even amount to?" Ling Jun beamed. "Then it seems I guessed wrong. If you really were the Demon Lord's successor, Elder Sun would look even more foolish." *This guy has thick skin...* Zhang Yuanqing dropped the subject and asked curiously, "Is it really okay for you people in the Taiyi Sect to slander an Elder like this?" "Of course it's not okay, but when everyone says it, it becomes fine. No matter how angry Elder Sun gets, he can only go after the culprit who started it—Captain Yuan Ting, who's in charge of Kangyang District." Ling Jun gloated, "Though Elder Sun entered a dungeon and hasn't come out yet." *Poor Captain Yuan, I'll light some incense for you...* Zhang Yuanqing held a moment of silent prayer for Yuan Ting. Just then, Fu Qingyang returned with a cold expression, followed by Guan Ya, who was puffing with indignation. After leaving a few elite personnel to clean up the scene, the group departed. Li Dongze and the others went back to recuperate, while the arriving backup team headed out to search for Unbridled's true hiding spot. Zhang Yuanqing had seen the location of that apartment in the memory flashes. In the returning business van, Guan Ya reclined languidly against the leather seat, frowning. "I don't know what got into Fu Qingyang today. He gave me a thorough scolding." Zhang Yuanqing chuckled. "Maybe because he has more money than sense?" Guan Ya froze and looked at him suspiciously. "Did you say something to him?" Zhang Yuanqing grinned. "Maybe because I have the dirty mind but not the guts?" "Oh, great! You brat, you dared to sell me out? Are you ready to have your eggs scrambled?" "Arrogant veteran vixen, how do you know it won't be you crawling between my legs in defeat?" "Bring it on!" "Bring it on!" Li Dongze silently glanced at his two subordinates, who were radiating murderous intent while their asses stayed glued to their seats. *Crouching Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix.* *** Fu Qingyang returned to his luxurious villa and ascended to the second floor without a word, entering his study. After closing the doors and windows, he dialed the mobile number of Elder Teddy, who was in charge of the Hei Wuchang incident. Elder Teddy was not actually a teddy dog. His Spirit Realm ID was "The Old Man and the Dog." He was a highly respected elder who had reportedly lost his parents at an early age and grew up depending on a dog for survival. Because of this, he often possessed various canines and rarely showed his true self. Of course, it was also a means of concealing his identity. The call was quickly connected. Fu Qingyang heard a dog's bark from the speaker, followed by a cough to clear the throat, and only then Elder Teddy's voice: "What is it?" His tone was gentle yet exuded authority. "Tonight, my squad of Spirit Realm walkers was ambushed while attempting to capture Unbridled..." Fu Qingyang calmly recounted what had transpired. "Someone leaked intel," Elder Teddy said slowly. "What are the casualties?" His tone carried gravity. "Three critically injured, while the others sustained only minor wounds," Fu Qingyang said deliberately. "Originally, they should have been wiped out entirely." "Hm?" "The newly recruited Night Wanderer killed Unbridled, saving the entire squad." Fu Qingyang emphasized this precisely to claim credit for Yuanshi Tianzun, elevating his standing in the Elder's eyes. That way, the Elders would step in to shield him from many troubles stemming from the Taiyi Sect. Elder Teddy was silent for a few seconds before chuckling. "Well done. It's been a long time since we had such an interesting rookie. We truly can't let the Taiyi Sect have him." He sighed with feeling, seemingly in much better spirits, and asked, "Anything else?" Fu Qingyang then recounted the intelligence obtained through spirit questioning. Elder Teddy fell silent. Stillness took over the other end of the line, and even the faint barks faded away. "Elder?" Fu Qingyang's gaze flickered slightly. "Do you know the background of the Dark Night Rose?" A sigh came across the line. "The last time I heard of that organization was over twenty years ago, in connection with turmoil involving Spirit Realm clans." "Turmoil involving Spirit Realm clans?" Fu Qingyang mused for a moment, as though recalling something. "Among the Three Musician Clans, one was destroyed twenty-one years ago." "This is not something you should know—at least, not something I can disclose. If you want to know, ask your clan yourself," Elder Teddy said impassively. "The Grand Marshal has already approved my application. In a while, the Tiger Tally will be sent to Songhai. The annual grand health check is also drawing near. I intend to merge the two matters together. Heh, let's see how many bad apples are lurking inside the Five Elements Alliance." *** At two in the morning, Zhang Yuanqing took the elevator up to his front door. Slipping into the blind spot of the hallway's surveillance camera, he activated Night Walk. He opened the hallway window, agilely vaulted out, used the external air conditioner unit as a stepping stone, and leaped forcefully to grab the sill of his bedroom window, tumbling inside. Before heading out on the mission, he had intentionally left his bedroom window unlatched. Next, Zhang Yuanqing changed out of his torn clothes, twisted the doorknob, pretended he was getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, and took a shower. Washing away the grime and blood seemed to wash away his exhaustion and minor injuries as well. Zhang Yuanqing felt refreshed. With a Night Wanderer's formidable vitality, as long as an injury was not fatal or involving severed limbs, medical treatment was not necessary. Returning to his room, he sat by the desk, closed his eyes, and reviewed today's battle. *With my current means, taking on three level 3 walkers on my own wouldn't be a problem at all... Hmm, the red dancing shoes can take on one, the Ghost Bride can handle three, the Cat King Speaker controls the field, and Little Doubi plays support...* *Pity the Bloodthirsty Blade and Demon-Subduing Pestle don't have consciousness of their own and can't go fight enemies by themselves.* He opened his eyes, turned on his laptop, and logged into the official database. Zhang Yuanqing typed into the search bar: "Origin of the Spirit Realm." Dozens of search results popped up, but they were all speculations by official walkers about the Spirit Realm. The more plausible ones guessed that the Spirit Realm was a product of alien civilization or high technology left behind by a prehistoric civilization. The less plausible ones claimed that the Spirit Realm was a genuinely existing parallel world, complete with a self-righteous recounting of personal experience: During one dungeon run, he had developed feelings for a passionate, cheerful lady and could not resist emptying his sack for her, while the lady clamped down in eager welcome; the physical sensation was indistinguishable from reality. Therefore, the Spirit Realm was a real parallel world. "Damn it, the content went bad as I kept reading—no, it turned rated-R. Why hasn't a post like this been moderated...?" Zhang Yuanqing exited the database in exasperation. The posts returned by the search were all wild conjectures by official walkers, with no institutional endorsement, nor could any official stance on the matter be found. In such a situation, either the authorities had conducted no relevant research, or his clearance was too low. *I can only figure this out once I get promoted later. For now, the matters I need to handle are the Taiyi Sect's questioning, hunting down Hei Wuchang, and getting payback on that little bastard Xiahou Tianyuan...* Zhang Yuanqing stepped away from the desk and was just about to go to sleep. At this moment, the Cat King Speaker in the drawer emitted a buzzing static noise. *Is it about to sing, or play dirty audio?* Startled, Zhang Yuanqing stopped in his tracks and opened the drawer. Almost simultaneously, a raspy, low voice drifted from the speaker's grille: "I just finished a solo Spirit Realm today set in the Ming dynasty. From it, I learned of a bizarre phenomenon: they actually acquire supernatural power through cultivation. Is this purely background lore design, or is there another reason?" "Forget it, no point dwelling on it. I'm already level 3. Once I go through my first killing dungeon, I can advance to Saint. I still haven't found a way to break the restriction. Hopefully, the Saint stage will yield something..." This was... Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank slightly. The Demon Lord's voice. Holding his breath, he listened intently. "Not joining the authorities was my biggest mistake. A Night Wanderer's solo Spirit Realms are way too brutal. Without dungeon guides, an A-rank realm is enough to make your scalp tingle, and S-rank has a mortality rate as high as ninety percent. I wonder if there are even harder difficulty tiers. Whatever, I can't join the authorities anyway—I'd never pass the grand health check..." "I heard that the female Grand Marshal of the White Tiger Battalion cleared S-rank dungeons repeatedly back when she was in the Transcendent and Saint stages. What an absolute badass of a woman. I'd love to sleep with her..." *No, you couldn't sleep with her. You got trounced by her later.* Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing could not help snarking internally. So when the Demon Lord was in the Transcendent stage, the White Tiger Battalion's female Grand Marshal was already the Grand Marshal. Just how old was she now? "The Grand Marshal is a Spirit Realm walker at the absolute peak—far too distant. She can be an ambitious goal, but right now, what matters most is keeping both feet on the ground. I need to go hunt evil professions. Without Reputation, I can't act against Spirit Realm walkers of the orthodox faction. I have to kill ten orthodox professions every month—that's my mission..." "I'm still one short of this month's quota. Today I captured a Wood Demon from Baihui. Tsk-tsk, tender skin and delicate flesh. She said she'd trade her body in exchange for her life. I think meeting my quota is more important." "The Wood Demon from Baihui was truly moist, a real stunner. In exchange, I didn't kill her. Heh, a man's got to have integrity." *Integrity, my ass!* Zhang Yuanqing's brow twitched furiously as he heard this. Only now did he truly realize why Yuan Ting of the Taiyi Sect called the Demon Lord a fallen Night Wanderer. This man was crooked to the core—definitely not someone on the righteous path. How could Brother Bing be associated with someone like this? Static hummed from the Cat King Speaker as the Demon Lord's voice gradually faded. Zhang Yuanqing waited for a moment, and a second audio clip played. This time, it was not the Demon Lord muttering to himself, but a conversation with someone else: Demon Lord: "I killed a Deacon from the Five Elements Alliance today and saw some interesting things from his spirit body." Then came a rather shrill voice: "Out with it." "On the surface, that fellow was Five Elements Alliance, but in secret, he served the Dark Night Rose." "Dark Night Rose?" "Oh, so even you haven't heard of them? Seems this organization is buried quite deep. Based on the intelligence gathered so far, the leader of the Dark Night Rose is likely a Night Wanderer. Heh, a Spirit Realm walker of that level probably isn't called a Night Wanderer anymore. I can give you their contact info. Haven't you always dreamed of overthrowing the Five Elements Alliance?" the Demon Lord chuckled. "Fine! You'd better not be lying to me, or I'll make you pay," the shrill voice said. "Now then, hand over the guide for Spirit Realm No. 0029," the Demon Lord said. After a dozen seconds of silence, the Demon Lord said with satisfaction: "Deal made. Hei Wuchang, are you entering a solo Spirit Realm soon?" "None of your business." "Don't go dying on me. I'm very interested in your head. One day, I will personally claim your head—and, of course, your boss's..."