The Demon Lord sneered. "The Fallen Holy Grail's corruption is growing stronger by the day, and negative emotions surge with it. I merely chose lust—the outlet that carries the lightest price. It's better than slaughtering mortals. Not that I care whether they live or die, but accumulating merit points isn't easy. Heh, in my current state, even if you did get pregnant, it'd just be a wretched abomination. Might as well strangle it the moment it's born."
Teng'er's mother panted as she cursed, "You heartless beast."
The bed and their bodies seemed to become musical instruments, mingling through dripping sweat into a blood-pumping symphony.
Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. At this point in time, the Demon Lord probably hadn't ascended to Dominator yet, had he? His disposition had already degraded to that of an evil class.
Choosing lust, the option with the lightest toll, among all those negative emotions? Seen from this angle, the Demon Lord's later habit of poking even a passing bitch a couple of times was a deliberate choice of his own.
He still had a sliver of conscience left after all.
Lust really did come with the lowest cost and least harm; it was certainly better than wanton destruction and slaughter.
"Fast-forward!" Zhang Yuanqing urged.
The Elvis Presley speaker obediently fast-forwarded through the audio. An hour of bedplay zipped by in just over ten minutes.
Nothing useful from this clip.
The speaker automatically skipped to the next recording. Zhang Yuanqing listened for a moment, and seeing that it still lacked the information he wanted, he immediately instructed, "I want information regarding Lingjun's mother."
Although the Elvis Presley speaker was only at the Transcendent rank, it possessed self-awareness, and its spirituality was so high it even surpassed that of the rule-based item, the Red Dancing Shoes.
The wanton moans of Teng'er's mother cut off, replaced by the crackle of static. A moment later, a new audio clip began.
The Demon Lord's voice came through: "Older women really do leave an unforgettable impression. Auntie, dating you is what I look forward to most each month."
The woman sneered coldly. "You're not the type for sweet talk. Whenever you say nice things, you're up to no good."
Her tone was sharp, but her voice was soft and limp, evidently having just been thoroughly plowed.
The Demon Lord chuckled. "Even if I didn't sweet-talk you, wouldn't you still lie obediently in bed and let me have my way with you? By the way, remember that ill-fated sister of yours you mentioned before? She said she discovered a massive secret. Heh, if she didn't want you to know, she wouldn't have brought it up at all."
The woman fell silent for a few seconds. Her voice lost its seductive languor as she said, "I truly don't know anything, and she didn't leave any hints."
"Maybe the hint was given to you long ago, and you just never noticed," the Demon Lord said. "Think back on everything about her, especially after she made that call."
The woman fell silent once more. For two whole minutes, she did not speak; the speaker remained quiet save for faint breathing.
"I... I think I might have an idea..." the woman said in an uncertain tone. "After that phone call, my sister told me later that what happened that day was just a joke. She chatted with me about so many things—our father, who seemed gentle on the outside but was intensely pragmatic at heart; our eldest brother, who was detached and worldly-indifferent; the primeval forest where we lived as children... She also brought up the gardening competitions from our youth. Every year, our family held a competition for 'cultivating' and 'rearing'—the same plants and the same animals, raised with different methods, yielded completely different results.
"Every year, I lost to my sister. The spiritual plants and beasts she raised were always stronger than mine. I used to suspect our father was playing favorites and giving her private tutoring behind my back. I desperately wanted to know her cultivation methods, but she would never tell me.
"Yet that day, she took the initiative to tell me her cultivation method."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanqing's spirits lifted. Now he had the seed, and the whereabouts of the cultivation method were known. Unraveling the secret of that year was right before his eyes!
The Demon Lord seemed to frown. "Cultivation method? What does that have to do with the secret she discovered?"
"I don't know either," the woman said.
"What is this cultivation method?" the Demon Lord asked.
"Telling you would be pointless anyway. Only a Wood Monster can understand and master it." The woman clearly had no desire to share.
The Demon Lord let out a cold snort. Shortly after, the rhythmic creaking of a straining bedframe echoed out, followed by the woman's melodic groans.
Zhang Yuanqing had no desire to listen to more bedroom antics and instructed, "I want to hear about the cultivation method."
The Elvis Presley speaker halted playback and fell into a prolonged silence.
Meaning Teng'er's mother never told the Demon Lord, so the Elvis Presley speaker had no recording of it? Zhang Yuanqing felt a pang of disappointment. From the look of it, he had to meet this legendary "Auntie" in person.
*I should unravel this secret before entering the instance.*
Maintaining his Concealment state, Zhang Yuanqing picked up his phone. Just as he was about to contact Teng'er, he discovered that his phone had also been concealed and had no signal.
Yet he didn't dare drop Night Roaming. If he lost the protection of Concealment, he might be detected by the Lord of Taiyin.
After pondering for a few seconds, he devised a compromise. Flipping open a notebook, he picked up a pen and scribbled rapidly: "Contact Miao Teng'er. I want to meet her mother tomorrow morning. Miao Teng'er's contact info: 189..."
Tomorrow morning, the cooldown on the Yata no Kagami would expire.
Tearing off the sheet of paper, he summoned Little Doubi and stroked his sparse baby fuzz.
"Go find Mommy."
With the lightweight slip of paper balanced atop his little head, Little Doubi paddled his limbs rapidly and crashed through the wall to leave.
*Hopefully, this compromised approach can bypass Stargazing. Sigh, even though I've become a Dominator, I haven't focused on cultivating Taiyin. Things that require accumulated time simply have no shortcuts. What a headache...* Zhang Yuanqing muttered to himself.
The Pure Yang Sect's *Taiyin Spirit Refining Manual* counted as half a primary Taiyin cultivation method. Why only half? Because it couldn't be rushed; all techniques of ancient cultivators emphasized gradual, step-by-step progress.
That was determined by their environment.
Only the Taiyi Sect's primary Taiyin cultivation method allowed for "quick results," though that "quick" was relative. An ordinary Night Wanderer who began cultivating Taiyin from the Transcendent rank would take about five years to achieve intermediate mastery.
Given Zhang Yuanqing's current status, approaching it from a commanding height and working downward, it would take him a few months to achieve intermediate mastery. If boosted by the Companion Spirit Moon, a single month would suffice.
As his thoughts wandered, Little Doubi crawled back in, balancing the note on his head.
Zhang Yuanqing picked up the paper and looked:
"No problem."
Done! Zhang Yuanqing let out a sigh of relief, purged all thoughts of the "seed" from his mind, and then exited Night Roaming.
*Snap!*
He snapped his fingers and dissolved into starlight, vanishing from the bedroom.
Three minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing landed in the front yard of Fu Qingyang's sprawling villa atop the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon under the cloak of illusion.
—With the Artisan's Ring modified by Lian Sanyue, the dragon's tendency to "doze off" had dropped noticeably. Short-distance flights no longer resulted in humiliating drops in style.
Zhang Yuanqing put away the Five-Clawed Golden Dragon, headed straight into the study, and met Fu Qingyang.
Sitting behind the broad desk, Money Prince pulled open a drawer and retrieved a stack of printed materials.
"All uncleared instances of Rank-A or higher, as well as instances permitting team collaboration, are right here. Take a look first."
Zhang Yuanqing stepped forward and took them. He hitched his rear end onto Money Prince's desk without the slightest reservation and began reading through the dossiers.
[Shushan South Courtyard]
[Number: 45]
[Difficulty: Rank-A]
[Type: Multi-player (Death-type)]
[Main Quest: Handle the sinister anomalies shrouding the South Courtyard.]
[Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 45: Black smoke drifting from the main hall has shrouded the South Courtyard. The footsteps, laughter, and cries within the black smoke... are sharper than a swordsman's blade.]
[Black River Naval Battle]
[Number: 22]
[Difficulty: Rank-A]
[Type: Multi-player (Death-type)]
[Main Quest: Annihilate the enemy forces.]
[Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 22: The states of Qin and Yan gathered a million troops for a decisive battle at the Black River. Qin dispatched an unmatched general known as the Human Butcher, vowing to destroy the enemy nation in a single stroke.]
[Ruler of a Fallen Nation]
[Number: 36]
[Difficulty: Rank-A]
[Type: Multi-player (Death-type)]
[Main Quest: Character Quest.]
[Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 36: The Southern and Northern Dynasties have stood opposed for a century. In the Southern Dynasty, treacherous ministers hold sway, governance is corrupt, and national power is steadily declining. The Northern Dynasty, having built up its strength for thirty years, gathered the nation's entire military after the autumn harvest to march south. Sweeping through cities and forts along the way, its armies now bear down on the Southern Dynasty's capital.]
[Fighting a Lone Battle]
[Number: 17]
[Difficulty: Rank-S]
[Type: Solo (Death-type)]
[Main Quest: Recover the imperial tribute.]
[Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 17: The army of a barbarian state from the Western Regions disguised themselves as bandits and plundered the Tang diplomatic mission. Relying on superb martial prowess, the chief envoy fought his way out of the encirclement. However, the entourage's treasures have been stolen, and the Tang Empire's honor is in tatters; returning home means certain death. With his men decimated and himself left alone, reclaiming the tribute is as difficult as scaling the heavens. Caught in a dilemma: hard, hard, hard...]
Zhang Yuanqing read through the instance dossiers carefully and discovered that there were only seven uncleared Rank-A and Rank-S instances in total, and only two that could accommodate both Transcendents and Saints.
One was Rank-A, and the other was Rank-S.
"That's a bit few," he clicked his tongue.
Fu Qingyang said calmly, "Spirit Realm walkers of different stages entering the same instance is an exception in itself."
An exception meant rarity. Snagging a one-time windfall was fine, but relying on this "bug" to reap continuous windfalls was out of the question. Besides, whether it was truly a windfall remained debatable.
First, such instances were extremely difficult, starting at Rank-A. Second, while the tasks for Transcendents and Saints would be much easier, the rewards they obtained wouldn't equal the Rank-A rewards of Dominator-tier instances, yet the risks they bore were enormous—after all, the instance's upper difficulty limit reached the Dominator level.
The Saints of Return of the Dead wanted to follow Yuanshi into an instance because they trusted this group of Dominators' ability to clear instances, which was tantamount to securing a free pass through a Rank-A or Rank-S instance.
"Boss, I want to pick 'Ruler of a Fallen Nation.' I'm not confident about the S-rank one, but Rank-A has moderate difficulty and decent rewards." Zhang Yuanqing chose the safer Rank-A instance.
*Rank-A is "moderate difficulty"...* Fu Qingyang nodded. "My thoughts exactly. By the way, for this team run with acquaintances, Lingjun wants a slot as well."
Saying that, Money Prince showed a flicker of confusion. "Judging by his tone, he's full of fighting spirit. Not sure what he's run into recently."
*Probably the wild fire of avenging his mother blazing in his heart...* Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself. It was within expectations; no matter how indolent a person was, knowing that their mother might have been murdered would make them crave power.
He just didn't know whether this was a fleeting burst of enthusiasm or a genuine turning of a new leaf.
Zhang Yuanqing pulled out his phone, snapped a photo of the "Ruler of a Fallen Nation" instance, and sent it to the faction group chat.
[Yuanshi Tianzun: @Everyone, get ready. We enter the instance in two days.]
[Xie Lingxi: Ahhh! I can enter an instance with Brother Yuanshi again! I miss Jinshui Amusement Park (blushing).]
Xie Lingxi and Queen were also on the list of entrants; both had successfully ascended to Saint during the year-end killing trial.
[Brother Red Chicken: Ruler of a Fallen Nation? Doesn't sound very auspicious. I'll go pray to the Buddha these next two days and draw fortune slips for everyone.]
[Xiahou Aotian: If you want fortune slips, just come straight to me.]
[Sun Miaomiao: @Xiahou Aotian, you wouldn't understand. That's an obsession of people from the Soup-Brewing Province. Also, I don't really get the character quest for this instance.]
[Tianxia Guihuo: Different tasks will likely be assigned depending on each character's role. In this type of instance, quests for Saints and Dominators are naturally different.]
[Brother Red Chicken: Trust the Disgrace to Fire Specialists to know his stuff! (thumbs up) (thumbs up)]
Tianxia Guihuo couldn't be bothered to reply to him.
Right then, Zhang Yuanqing's phone rang. The caller ID read: Punchable Knight!
*What's this guy calling me for...* Zhang Yuanqing answered the call. Coming from the receiver was not Zhai Cai's voice, but that of a young woman:
"Yuanshi Tianzun, is that you? This is An Dieqi."
*An Dieqi? That pretty secretary with the high hairline?* Zhang Yuanqing remembered who she was and said, "It's me. What's wrong?"
An Dieqi said anxiously, "Something's happened to the boss."
Chapter 834