Lady JoJo did not conceal anything and answered, "Yuanshi Tianzun wants to seek revenge on the Southern Sect. He put me in charge of gathering intelligence on members of the Southern Sect—the more, the better."
Elder Dog was not surprised by this. Back then, on the verge of death and consumed by monumental hatred, Yuanshi had perished alongside one of the culprits, Cai Qinhe. Now that the dead had returned, there was no way he would spare the other two culprits: the Southern Sect and Dark Night Rose.
Elder Dog asked, "Then do you have any ideas?"
Lady JoJo cocked her head and said, "The only way I can think of is to have a Scholar intercept telegrams sent between Southern Sect members, and have a Scout tail Southern Sect intelligence agents to obtain their secret recognition codes..."
Elder Dog sighed. "Senior, spy wars belong to the previous century."
Lady JoJo retorted self-righteously, "I told you, that's the only way I could think of!"
Elder Dog said helplessly, "The catastrophe caused by the Morality Points has only just ended. You can go through the investigative reports from each Public Security Bureau, identify which incidents were caused by Illusionists, and then radiate outward from the crime scenes to cover nearby areas. Control the local flora and fauna to monitor all humans within range twenty-four hours a day... Forget it, I'll do it for you. You just follow along and learn."
Lady JoJo let out a cheerful "Meow!" and immediately said, "You volunteered."
Elder Dog was about to nod when something suddenly occurred to him. His canine face darkened. "Yuanshi Tianzun sent you to me just to make me do his work for free... Hah, that kid is getting more and more scheming."
Using a Dominator-tier battle pet with rich combat and dungeon experience as an exchange—this was an open gambit from Yuanshi Tianzun, one he couldn't refuse.
***
Jinshan City.
Kou Beiyue drove a black sedan through the morning rush-hour traffic toward Mantou Logistics.
His current role was Vice President and Marketing Manager of Mantou Logistics, tasked specifically with expanding market presence—by seizing territory.
With Fu Qingyang turning a blind eye and tolerating it, Human Blood Mantou's logistics company had steadily grown and expanded, becoming a logistics hegemon in Jinshan City within a mere two months.
Whether it was Shunfeng or Jingdong, Yuantong or Yunda, any courier wanting to enter Jinshan City had to pass through Mantou Logistics, leaving Mantou Logistics couriers to deliver them to every household in the city.
Furthermore, courier operations within Jinshan City's urban districts were completely monopolized by Mantou Logistics.
In Human Blood Mantou's grand blueprint, they would capture business in the surrounding cities within three years, secure financing and go public within five years, and build warehouses across the country within ten years, turning Mantou Logistics into a juggernaut of the courier industry.
Kou Beiyue drove absentmindedly, pondering the task Xiao Yuan had assigned him: how to discreetly sniff out the whereabouts of Southern Sect Illusionists!
Although the Spirit Society Eastern District Branch had declined in recent years, leaving only a Gu King to maintain appearances, it was still a branch of the Spirit Society, one of the three great evil organizations. Having once produced a demigod, the organization inevitably held plenty of intelligence on peers in their illicit trades.
Human Blood Mantou had been doing well lately and earned the Gu King's regard, being promoted to senior deacon. Kou Beiyue intended to pry Southern Sect intel out of him.
The trouble was that he lacked a suitable excuse.
He still hadn't come up with an idea by the time he reached the logistics company. Just as he was about to turn in, Kou Beiyue noticed two police cruisers parked in front of Mantou Logistics.
*What happened?* Kou Beiyue's heart sank. He quickly pulled over to the curb, pulled out his phone, and dialed Human Blood Mantou.
"Mantou, what happened at the company? I see police cars."
Evil classes were highly sensitive to police cars.
On the other end of the line, Human Blood Mantou replied in fury, "The accountant ran off with company funds yesterday! On top of that, he colluded with outsiders and drove a truck to steal valuable cargo from our warehouse!"
Kou Beiyue frowned immediately. "Isn't the accountant a relative of your relative?"
"Fuck, that dog bastard developed a gambling addiction! I only just found out he owed millions in high-interest loans. If we can't recover the money, my company is done for! If I'd known, we should've made a killing when Morality Points were gone!" Human Blood Mantou cursed.
Although Human Blood Mantou was a Shaman capable of cursing an ordinary person to death with ease, cursing the target accomplished nothing; recovering the money and cargo was the crux of the problem.
Shamans lacked tracking abilities, however.
"What do we do now?" Kou Beiyue asked.
"What can we do? Find a way to borrow money to compensate the clients' losses, and figure out the rest later," Human Blood Mantou grumbled. "I definitely can't take this to the president, or my competence will be questioned. If I can't borrow the money, I might have to consider selling an Extraordinary-quality prop."
*Sell a prop? Are you out of your mind?! I could borrow it from Yuanshi Tianzun...* Kou Beiyue was about to say he could handle the money issue when he suddenly realized this was an opportunity.
He said at once, "Selling props to cover debts is the stupidest thing you could do. We're an evil class—who ever heard of an evil class borrowing money when they're short on cash?"
Human Blood Mantou fell silent for a few seconds, seemingly moving to a different spot, before lowering his voice. "What are you getting at? Morality Points have been restored. You'd better not mess around."
Kou Beiyue urged enticingly, "We can 'borrow' from our peers. Those bastards hoarded quite a fortune while Morality Points were gone."
Silence hung on the line for five or six seconds before Human Blood Mantou whispered, "I get what you mean. Once the officers leave, come to my office. We'll talk."
Hanging up, Kou Beiyue joyfully dialed Xiao Yuan to report his progress, while also raising a suspicion:
"Xiao Yuan, it feels too coincidental. Something seems off."
Right when he needed an excuse, one had dropped straight into his lap.
Xiao Yuan said flatly, "Did you forget Yuanshi Tianzun's class?"
*Night Wanderer, so what...* Kou Beiyue mumbled, then froze. He understood what Xiao Yuan meant.
That kid, Yuanshi Tianzun, had finally become a player placing chess pieces from behind the curtains!
Xiao Yuan hung up the phone, folded one arm over her chest, and turned her head toward the man behind her, frowning. "You didn't need to help him like that. Beiyue isn't the child he used to be. He's fully capable of completing the task on his own."
Her coat and clothes lay scattered across the floor, leaving her wearing only a black bra on top. A strap had slipped off her round, fair shoulder, forcing her to shield her chest with one hand.
Zhang Yuanqing wrapped his arms around her slender waist from behind, planting tender kisses on her neck and licking her earlobe as he murmured, "To a Stargazer, everyone is just a chess piece. Moving a piece myself is far more reassuring than letting it move on its own. The more critical the step, the less room a piece can have for its own thoughts. I genuinely don't trust Beiyue's handling of things."
In his impression, Kou Beiyue was still that little boy who relied on his mother and sister and cared desperately about saving face, driven entirely by pugnacity and bravado.
"As... mm... as long as you have your own ideas, that's... that's fine..."
Xiao Yuan whimpered softly for a moment before suddenly realizing her tone and state were improper. Annoyed, she pushed him away. "Don't get handsy when we're talking business."
Zhang Yuanqing wrapped himself around her again. "We were separated for two months. Didn't Aunt Xiao Yuan miss me?"
"No," Xiao Yuan said, her face cold as frost.
*Your soft body says otherwise.* Zhang Yuanqing smiled. "Aunt Xiao Yuan, once this operation is over, I'll apply to the Grand Marshal to invite you into the White Tiger Guards. We can enter faction dungeons together."
Xiao Yuan gave an "mm." Even though she had advanced to Dominator, the turbulent times kept a persistent sense of urgency in her heart. Besides, to seek revenge against the Southern Sect, a Level 7 Dominator was still far from enough.
Zhang Yuanqing changed his tone playfully. "Aunt Xiao Yuan, once you join the White Tiger Guards, one day a white tiger, a white tiger for life!"
Xiao Yuan was taken aback, not catching his meaning, until she saw Zhang Yuanqing open his inventory and pull out a short blade.
*Smack!*
Zhang Yuanqing was slapped right off the bed. He flared up in mock indignation: "You woman! A moment ago you were wrapping around like an old tree, rolling out the red carpet and repaying me with gushing springs! Now that you've had your fill, you wipe your mouth and slap me off the bed—isn't that downright beastly?!"
With that, he climbed back onto the bed holding the blade to wage battle.
The double bed rocked violently, creaking and thumping with clamor. Before long, the noise subsided, the blade dropped, the mattress gently swayed, and the room was filled with radiant spring.
After their passion settled, Zhang Yuanqing held Aunt Xiao Yuan—now a newly minted member of the White Tiger Guards—in his arms with deep satisfaction, basking in the afterglow of pleasure.
During the two days Guan Ya was away, he had stayed at Xiao Yuan's place. Every day was spent either stargazing or pulling Xiao Yuan into vigorous workouts, with the occasional dip into a faction dungeon to practice controlling his solar divine power.
Aside from that, he was waiting for news from Lady Sandao and his uncle.
The former was gathering heavenly treasures in the Spirit Realm to provide resources for Yinyao to advance into a Dominator-tier yin corpse. Such materials were exceedingly difficult to find because Yinyao differed from ordinary yin corpses.
She had retained her Starlight and Taiyin skills, rather than being an yin corpse with nothing more than a Level 6 physical body, so she required unique materials.
The latter was searching for components of the Thunder God Set on his behalf. His current Thunder God Set could no longer keep up with his combat power and level, and since leveling up as a Dominator was difficult, completing the set was the fastest way to enhance his fighting strength.
Five days remained of the seven-day period he had arranged. During these five days, Zhang Yuanqing pondered what else he could do. Right, he could dig into intelligence on the Same Boat Society.
With that in mind, he picked up his phone from the nightstand and sent Jiang Ju a message:
*I want to meet Gang Leader Jiang.*
Jiang Ju replied: *What's there to see about that old fogey? I'll ask for you.*
A few minutes later, Jiang Ju wrote back:
*The old man agreed. Eight o'clock tonight. I'll have someone wait for you at the airport—oh, forgot you advanced to Dominator too. Come over yourself.*
He immediately followed up with a location pin.
*Damn, Fire Practitioners really are efficient!* Zhang Yuanqing typed a reply: *No problem. Send my regards to Jingwei.*
***
At eight o'clock in the evening, in a mountain manor on the southern outskirts outside the capital.
Zhang Yuanqing rode the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, descending into the manor's courtyard as the lazy dragon swayed unsteadily.
Covering the twelve hundred-plus kilometers from Songhai to the capital, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon had fallen asleep a full six times—and that was after Zhang Yuanqing used the Artisan's Ring to negate two bouts of drowsiness and reduce the negative toll.
The moment it touched down, the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon shrank in size, coiled around Zhang Yuanqing's right arm, and promptly drifted off to sleep, snoring like thunder.
"Whoa, what kind of prop is that? It looks so imposing! Let me see!" A sprightly figure dashed over, her fiery red hair fluttering.
Jiang Jingwei, who had been waiting by the fountain for ages, rushed forward eagerly with shining eyes.
Chapter 819