Inside the projector, a low hum buzzed. Seconds later, beams of fluorescent blue light flickered across the massive screen. A large, elegant, and exquisite conference table appeared on it. Seated on the left were First-Class Gold and Silver Prosecutors and Executives, while key members of the board sat on the right.
The seats of the two Chief Executives were completely empty.
The President plucked a stemmed goblet out of the void. Swirling the wine in his glass, he asked, "Where is Gustav?"
He was referring to the Chairman of the Board, the leader of the Gustav Financial Group, Chris's grandfather, and the third demigod of Heaven's Punishment.
"Reinforcing the Sea Emperor," First-Class Gold Prosecutor Milton Mack replied coldly. "Morality Points vanished five hours ago, and terrorist attacks have been erupting all across the Free Confederation ever since. Ten minutes ago, we were still locked in battle against the evil faction. Our Chairman has already reached New York County and is currently fighting more than four demigods. He could return to the Spirit Realm at any moment. And at such a critical juncture, the Second District's only action has been using a satellite phone to summon us for a meeting."
He was venting his frustration, accusing the Second District's demigods of standing by as mere spectators and failing their duties as allies.
The evil faction had already launched a full-scale offensive; the faction war had reached a life-or-death climax. The battlefield in New York County would directly determine the outcome of the entire conflict.
Yet against this backdrop, the demigods of the Second District were nowhere to be seen.
"Gustav going to rescue the Sea Emperor? That truly comes as a shock to us old friends. In the last century, those two hated each other enough to wipe out each other's entire families," the President remarked with a sigh.
Chris's grandfather, Old Gustav, was a demigod of the Siren class and one of the founders of the Sea God Church. Later, after falling out with the Sea Emperor over the papal throne, they had turned against each other in bitter enmity. Gustav had led his faction away from the Sea God Church to join Heaven's Punishment, roping in major financial groups to form the Board of Directors.
Because of this, relations between Heaven's Punishment and the Sea God Church had always been strained.
Hearing the President's teasing tone, the Heaven's Punishment members on the screen darkened their expressions.
First Elder Di Hong sighed and said, "Asura has entered Capital City. The five Alliance leaders cannot leave for New York County, and the demigods of the Musician and Scholar clans have no intention of getting involved."
The President shrugged. "Those folks are fine when sailing with the wind, but don't count on them when the wind turns against us."
Asura had awakened! The expressions of Heaven's Punishment's upper echelon twisted in shock. Exclamations like "fuck" and "my god" crackled through the speakers. They felt a despair far sharper than even the madness of their two Chief Executives.
"I know you're anxious, but don't panic just yet!" The President clapped his hands loudly to quell the clamor. "We already have a way to resolve this catastrophe. All we need is for you to contribute your fragments of the Compass of Light."
The uproar died instantly.
Hoover's teacher, First-Class Gold Executive Doyle Jerome, said in a deep voice, "You want the fragments of the Compass of Light? Mr. President, you must know their significance. Heaven's Punishment cannot agree without a valid reason."
The Nine Elders of the Five Elements Alliance frowned as well.
"Of course. I know the importance of the Compass of Light better than any of you. It shares the same origin as the Sun, and is currently the only known item in the Spirit Realm that can communicate with the Sun—a stepping stone to becoming the Lord of the Sun. You want to save them for the Lord of the Sun you've been grooming, don't you?" The President set down his goblet with a sigh. "Unfortunately, the Day Wanderer you're nurturing hasn't reached the level of peak Dominator yet. He isn't qualified to commune with the Sun. In the entire world, only the Taiyi Sect Master possesses that qualification."
Without giving the Heaven's Punishment brass a chance to retort, he cut straight to the point: "The reason Morality Points vanished is that the Merit Roster was eclipsed by Taiyin. The Sun governs merit. As long as we gather six fragments, the Taiyi Sect Master can use his status as Lord of the Stars to commune with the Sun and return the Merit Roster to its proper place.
"I wasn't eager to make this happen either; after all, the Lord of the Sun I've been grooming isn't that old stallion. But ladies and gentlemen, the evil faction won't give us time.
"You have no choice—unless you believe the fragments of the Compass of Light are more important than the Sea Emperor, Gustav, and the entire orthodox faction."
At this point, he raised his wrist to check his watch. "I'll give you three minutes to consider. Within those three minutes, the Sea Emperor and Gustav could return to the Spirit Realm at any second."
*Hurry it up, you bunch of idiots! For all we know, the Sea Emperor and Gustav might already have returned to the Spirit Realm!!* Leaning against the edge of the table, he leisurely sipped his red wine.
This unhurried composure swayed the Dominators on both sides. Di Hong exchanged glances with his colleagues around the table and was the first to speak: "The Five Elements Alliance agrees to provide the two fragments of the Compass of Light from our warehouse. As long as the orthodox faction can survive this crisis, any price is worth paying."
The compass fragments were stored in the alliance warehouse and counted as assets of the Five Elements Alliance. According to protocol, the alliance leaders could only requisition them if the Nine Elders jointly signed off.
To the Five Elements Alliance, the Taiyi Sect Master had always been an investment target anyway; this was simply advancing the capital ahead of schedule.
After a brief murmur of discussion among Heaven's Punishment's leadership, Milton Mack looked toward the camera and said somberly, "We agree."
The President snapped his fingers. "Have the compass fragments ready. I'll head over right now."
He then turned to First Elder Di Hong. "Contact the five Alliance leaders directly."
With that, he teleported out of the conference room.
The pale golden figure transformed into a beam of light and plunged into Zhang Yuanqing's body.
A searing heat flared across his forehead as the Nebula Mark of a Stargazer surfaced. In an instant, the nebula shifted into a golden, blazing sun with swirling tongues of flame.
An overbearing, scorching divine solar power surged through his entire body via the Blazing Sun Mark, searing his bones, cells, and viscera. Such tyrannical power would normally reduce any Stargazer to ashes in an instant.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing possessed a budget version of the Solar Physique and barely managed to withstand it.
"Not bad. You can barely handle my power," the Demon Lord's lingering obsession chuckled as he took control of Zhang Yuanqing's body.
Then he raised a hand and gave a gentle wave.
Brilliant, crystal-clear sunlight splashed out like spilled ink, banishing the darkness. The power of slumber shrouding the temple rapidly dispersed.
Zhang Yuanqing saw his slumbering companions and Sleeping Dragon Lord. The man was still standing where he had been, still wearing that same drowsy yet cruel expression.
Zhang Yuanqing had conversed with the Demon Lord's obsession for no less than five minutes, yet those five minutes seemed to have been erased.
As the golden light drove away the dark, the flow of time within the temple returned to normal. Yin Ji, Xiahou Aotian, Huang Taiji, and the others began waking from their slumber.
Sleeping Dragon Lord stared blankly at "Daode Tianzun," who had suddenly bounced back to his feet, unable to comprehend how the tables had turned so dramatically.
It was like cornering a wild boar in a cave while holding an AK-47, where the beast had nothing left to do but wait for death and had zero chance of turning the tables—only for the boar to suddenly turn into Marshal Tianpeng and fly into the air to strike you with a nine-toothed rake.
Incomprehensible!
Yin Ji and the others, freshly awakened, also stared in astonishment at Zhang Yuanqing, who was bathed in brilliant golden radiance, utterly baffled by what was happening.
After that brief jolt of shock, Sleeping Dragon Lord forcibly suppressed all his emotions to calm himself down. This time, he collapsed straight into sleep, channeling spiritual power through the Night God Sutra to commune with the deity behind him and unleash a Dominator-stage Slumber Domain.
*Thud!*
Sleeping Dragon Lord collapsed, plunging willingly into dreamland.
A deep darkness expanded outward with him at the center. But the moment the dark halo surfaced, before it could even spread, it was dispelled by the bright, pure sunlight.
Bathed in the sunlight, Sleeping Dragon Lord felt wide awake and full of energy—he couldn't fall asleep at all!
Despair completely overwhelmed him. His face twisted into a vicious snarl as he roared, "You can't possibly control power this great! Aside from what the killing instance permits, no one can wield power at the Dominator stage! This is impossible!"
"This is impossible!" Bloody Liquid, having awakened and grasped the situation, muttered dazedly to himself as well.
With a single stride, Zhang Yuanqing appeared directly before Sleeping Dragon Lord. Clamping his fingers around the peak Saint's throat, he said coldly, "Didn't you want to know who I am? Let me tell you: I am Yuanshi Tianzun!"
Yuanshi Tianzun?
Yuanshi Tianzun!!
Those four words exploded like thunder in the ears of Sleeping Dragon Lord and Bloody Liquid, causing their pupils to constrict violently and their expressions to freeze.
Yin Ji's eyes widened abruptly, her gaze overflowing with sheer disbelief.
She couldn't tell what she felt at that moment—joy, sorrow, confusion, shock... a whirlwind of complex emotions churned ceaselessly within her chest.
She didn't know how Yuanshi Tianzun had returned from the dead, but if it was him, everything made sense. There was no Daode Tianzun; it was merely an identity Yuanshi had temporarily assumed.
As for the others, aside from Jiang Ju, who was critically wounded and unconscious, they had all already known of Yuanshi Tianzun's resurrection, so their reactions remained calm.
*Hey, you're taking all the glory. What's left for me to show off?* Zhang Yuanqing grumbled inwardly as an onlooker.
He was like an audience member watching the Demon Lord's obsession control his body and don the mantle of Yuanshi Tianzun to put on a grand show.
"It was you! It was you all along!" Sleeping Dragon Lord roared, thrashing violently. "So the one I was sent to kill was you! Why aren't you dead? *Why aren't you dead?!*"
The first "why" was bewilderment; the second was a desperate, screeching interrogation.
He had been just one step away from becoming a Dominator. As long as he killed the orthodox class members in the instance, he could step across that threshold and ascend to a brand-new plane. But now, the gates of the Dominator had slammed shut.
"My circumstances are none of your concern." Golden flames erupted from Zhang Yuanqing's palm, swallowing Sleeping Dragon Lord whole.
A bloodcurdling shriek rose from the golden flames, only to fall silent two seconds later.
With a casual flick of his wrist, Zhang Yuanqing tossed the charred enemy backward. "Yin Ji, he's yours."
He then splayed his palm toward Bloody Liquid. Searing golden flames roared violently, engulfing Bloody Liquid as well.
"No, no, no—"
In the blink of an eye, Bloody Liquid was reduced to a barely breathing log of charred wood.
"Huang Taiji, he's yours!" Zhang Yuanqing tossed Bloody Liquid to Huang Taiji's feet.
Looking down at the dying Bloody Liquid, Huang Taiji's stern expression suddenly flushed with excitement.
*Is that it for peak power? The Demon Lord's obsession only has Dominator-level strength. If the outside world really is in total chaos, he won't be able to handle anything at all...* Watching from an observer's perspective, Zhang Yuanqing felt puzzled.
Just as the thought crossed his mind, dazzling starlight rose from beneath his feet. In the next instant, the temple vanished, replaced by a radiant galaxy of stars.
At the center of this cosmic sea of stars hung a colossal, pitch-black celestial body. Countless sparkling stars orbited it, throwing themselves into it one after another.
He had left the killing instance and arrived in an unknown space.
Chapter 801