The Lord of Taiyin's Flaw

Bulk Province. Inside a rental apartment in one of the Thirteen Taipaos. Dressed in a gown as red as fire and wearing a silver mask, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter looked at a woman with flawless features and asked flatly, "Has the Third Elder made any moves lately?" The gorgeous woman had a dull expression and hollow eyes. Without hesitation, she replied, "None! The Third Elder said Yuanshi Tianzun has returned and told us to keep a low profile. Nothing else." Hearing this, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter turned her head to look at her three companions in the room. Zhang Yuanqing's avatar, wearing Little Red Riding Hood on his head, remarked calmly: "Given the bad blood between me and the Southern Sect, seeking revenge once I returned was a foreseeable move. It's only natural for their leadership to be on guard. The Southern Sect has quite a few Dominators. As long as Ling Tuo can't deduce specifically whom we're targeting, he won't be able to make targeted preparations, nor can he station Dominator-level reinforcements beside each Southern Sect elder indefinitely. But they likely have means of rapid communication, so I suggest we make this quick." Demon Eye Heavenly King grunted in agreement. "If we can't kill him within three minutes, abort the mission so ordinary people don't get caught in the crossfire." With that, following their plan, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter hypnotized the gorgeous woman, took out the miniature compass used to enter the dream world, and extracted the incantation from her. Zhang Yuanqing's avatar took the compass without hesitation. Looking at his three companions, he said, "If there's no movement from me after ten seconds, abort the mission." With that, deep vortexes surfaced in his pupils, and he leaped into the unknown dreamscape. Zhang Yuanqing appeared in the front courtyard of a grand manor. The sky was azure, the vegetation lush and green, surrounded by neat, manicured lawns. In the center of the courtyard stood a fountain pool, its centerpiece a sculpture of a naked woman with her legs spread. Clear water jetted from between the naked woman's legs. Beside the landscaped hedge, two gardeners in overalls were trimming bushes. This was the dreamscape woven by the Southern Sect's Ninth Elder. Spotting a stranger in the manor, both gardeners snapped their heads around in unison, staring at him with hollow eyes. Zhang Yuanqing felt a potent surge of mental power sweep across him, trying to stir the fear in his heart. Failing to trigger fear, the two gardeners' bodies suddenly mutated into two twisted, mutilated, blood-drenched evil spirits with chilling white pupils. Seemingly unsteady, they lunged at Zhang Yuanqing with terrifying speed. Ghosts were a terror ingrained into human DNA. When an Illusionist failed to awaken what a target personally feared, conjuring ghosts could still plunge them into terror—it was merely slightly less effective. "All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles, and shadows." Zhang Yuanqing gently swept his hand, and the two evil spirits vanished into nothingness. At that sight, the entire manor trembled violently, then receded away from Zhang Yuanqing like scenery rushing backward. Realizing the intruder possessed powers of the same tier, the Ninth Elder had decisively taken flight, hauling her dreamscape with her. Zhang Yuanqing gave a light snort, puffed his cheeks, and blew hard. *Whoosh—* Fierce winds howled, shattering the manor into pieces as it drifted into the distance. In the next second, Zhang Yuanqing tumbled out of the dream and returned to reality. Returning alongside him was a pale, elegant woman. She was wrapped in a robe formed of black smoke, and her body seemed to have turned into black smoke as well, floating in midair. Beneath her robe were no legs, only swaying, rippling fumes. Yet as a Night Walker, Zhang Yuanqing knew she was not in a spirit form. He glanced around and found himself in an industrial park filled with green-roofed factory workshops, along with several administrative buildings and dormitories. *Mm, in a three-shift factory, someone is always asleep. Is that how she sustains a long-term dreamscape?* Understanding dawned on Zhang Yuanqing. Just then, he saw greed flash in the smokelike woman's eyes as she shrieked: "Yuanshi Tianzun, you really did come for revenge! Past Without Trace's Illusion God item really is on you!" Zhang Yuanqing wasted no words. Opening his inventory, he drew out a stone dais two meters in diameter and half a person tall with one hand, slamming it heavily onto the ground. This was the targeted teleportation formation given by the President. It didn't require visualizing a previously visited place in one's mind; as long as his companions crushed their jade talismans, they could arrive here. The jade talismans and the teleportation formation could sense each other. After setting down the teleportation formation, Zhang Yuanqing was about to attack the woman when he saw her suddenly whip a scroll out of her inventory and shake it open. Intricate, profound patterns were inscribed on the scroll—exclusive runes of the Illusionist class. As the runes lit up one by one, a high-tier pressure descended, and bizarre, grotesque illusions filled the night sky. These illusions slowly coalesced into a robed phantom. *Fuck! A peak Dominator?!* Zhang Yuanqing's heart skipped a beat. Even with the Illusion God's Heart, the instant he saw that figure in the sky, wild illusions involuntarily flashed before his eyes. All kinds of negative emotions surged relentlessly through his mind. Xiao Yuan, Demon Eye Heavenly King, and the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter had waited a full twenty seconds and were just about to abort the operation when warmth finally radiated from the teleportation jade talismans in their hands, glowing with faint light. Yuanshi's avatar was summoning them. "It worked!" Demon Eye Heavenly King curled his lips into a smile and crushed his teleportation jade talisman without hesitation. Xiao Yuan, the Palace Master of Halting Slaughter, and Lady JoJo—who was keeping watch outside the residential compound—promptly crushed theirs, or swatted them with paws. *Sploosh, splash—* What met the eyes of the three humans and one cat was torrential rain and an empty city. The sky hung gloomy and overcast, the veil of rain blurring the world. High-rises stood silently in the downpour, the streets deserted, the entire world hushed in eerie quiet. In the vacant street, they saw Yuanshi Tianzun wearing Little Red Riding Hood, confronting his enemies. There were four enemies in total. Two wore black robes. Of the other two, one was an emaciated woman with prominent cheekbones and a spiteful countenance, and the other was an ordinary-looking middle-aged man whose only distinctive trait was an utterly manic expression—his eyeballs rolled independently to the left and right, clearly indicating a fried brain. With a grim face, Demon Eye Heavenly King recited their names: "Third Elder, Fourth Protector of Dark Night Rose, Heavenly King Miejue..." He didn't recognize the unremarkable middle-aged man. "That guy is Sect Master Chunyang," Zhang Yuanqing's avatar said. "Tsk, haven't seen him in a few months, and he's already recovered to the Dominator stage." "Where are we?" Xiao Yuan frowned. "A mirror space created by a Rain Master," Zhang Yuanqing said. "I figured our combat power is no weaker than theirs and we can take them, so I summoned you guys over." The moment he had entered the dream world, he was ambushed by the four. He had immediately torn the dreamscape apart and returned to reality, only to plunge straight into the mirror space the enemy had long prepared. "Ling Tuo indeed deduced we would target the Third Elder. But he didn't send a peak Dominator here, probably because he didn't want to throw away a life for nothing, given we have a demigod backing us," Zhang Yuanqing said, not in the least surprised. It was all within expectations. Thinking it over, he added: "The peak Dominator is most likely being kept to deal with my true body. Tsk, poor kid. Still, since I continue to exist, it means my true body isn't dead yet. "From that perspective, Ling Tuo failed to foresee which Southern Sect elder my true body would target." If Ling Tuo had observed that they would target the Ninth Elder, a true peak Dominator in the flesh would have been waiting for the true body. If the true body were instantly killed by a peak Dominator, the avatar would vanish. Executing the plan under the concealed state truly could circumvent Ling Tuo's observation. They had finally found the Lord of Taiyin's flaw. Back in the factory, illusions regenerated. Without the slightest hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing activated "Blazing Sun God of War" and "Sunrise." A radiant golden sun rose behind his head, a golden sun sigil surfacing on his forehead. Every strand of his short hair stood on end, wrapped in golden flame. His skin gleamed with a metallic golden luster, and his pupils turned molten gold. As the golden light shone everywhere, the characters on the scroll lost their brilliance and grew dull. Before the illusory figure in the sky could fully coalesce, it vanished. And the teleportation formation he had summoned lost its mystical properties as well.