Delight immediately broke across Zhang Yuanqing's face. The Thunder God Set possessed an exceptionally high tier, likely serving him well up to level eight or even level nine. He had been a Spirit Realm walker for far too short a time and could not build up depth of power through cultivation like veteran Dominators; shallow "seniority" was his greatest weakness. Plundering top-quality items was therefore the finest way to make up for this shortcoming.
Once the quality and number of his yin corpses increased, he could let them wield his Purple Gold Set and Heaven-Worship Set while he used the Thunder God Set himself.
One person with three Dominators—and if he added his clone... Aside from shouting "I want to fight ten!", Zhang Yuanqing genuinely could not think of any other fitting line.
"Setting the set aside for a moment, Uncle, something's come up." Suppressing the joy in his heart, Zhang Yuanqing truthfully recounted the whole ordeal concerning the seed to his uncle.
His flamboyant uncle glanced sneakily toward the living room, quietly shut the door, and sighed.
"Playing chess requires both talent and experience. Your ability to break an opponent's scheme is formidable, but your ability to set up schemes is a bit lacking. Still, having you play against Ling Tuo really is asking too much of you.
"That said, being good at breaking schemes while bad at planning them is actually a good thing for you, because it aligns far better with the Lord of the Sun. The Lord of the Sun just charges in brainlessly, exactly like a Fire Master."
*Like a Fire Master? In the end, have I become what I despised most?* Zhang Yuanqing's head was bursting with complaints.
His uncle strode over to his nephew, clapping his shoulder with heavy slaps. "Yo, yo, have no fear! Useless Yuanzi, have no fear! Your uncle is your external brain—if you're short on IQ, your uncle will make up the score!"
"Uncle, can't you even land a single rhyme properly anymore?"
"Don't get hung up on the details! Rap is a mindset and a spirit, not superficial stuff like single rhymes or double rhymes. Yo, yo!"
"Show me the Thunder God Set." Zhang Yuanqing couldn't be bothered with his nonsense, eager to inspect the new equipment.
"It's a bit hot to handle, so catch it well!" His uncle's right hand reached into the void, plucking out a blinding spear of lightning.
The spear was condensed entirely of lightning, crackling arcs of electricity dancing over its entire length. Even though Zhang Yuanqing was not a Lightning Mage, he could distinctly feel the room's lightning-attributed spiritual energy surge violently.
Taking the spear into his grip, Zhang Yuanqing's hair instantly stood on end. At the same time, an excruciating, searing pain tore through his palm; flesh rapidly reddened, split open, and began to slowly char into carbon.
A Night Wanderer's powerful regenerative ability was triggered, regenerating cells and repairing the wounds while the dead, carbonized flesh flaked into a layer of charcoal ash clinging to his palm.
Zhang Yuanqing drew a sharp breath through his teeth. Compared to the Cuirass of Thunder and Bracer of Thunder, the scorch from this spear was far more domineering. Even with a Night Wanderer's resilience, his arms would probably be burned to cinders if he held it for more than a minute.
A few seconds later, the item attributes surfaced:
[Name: Thunder Spear]
[Type: Weapon]
[Function: Penetration]
[Description: Forged by an indescribable entity from harvested cores of lightning, it possesses immense offensive power. Penetration: When hurled at an enemy, it has a 50% chance of bypassing physical defense. Enemies pierced by it suffer continuous lightning burns.]
[Note 1: It is a component of the Thunder God Battlegear. The remaining four pieces are: Bracer, Boots, Helmet, and Cuirass. Gathering all five pieces grants the power of the Thunder God.]
[Note 2: It is very hot to handle.]
[Note 3: Unless the owner dies, it cannot be picked up by enemies.]
Just as expected, it was a Dominator-level item.
Zhang Yuanqing stored the Thunder Spear in his inventory and retrieved it again, instantly understanding its price. This item was meant to be thrown, and every throw would char one arm to carbon.
Under normal circumstances, at the cost of both arms, one could achieve a 100% penetration against an enemy, dealing a lethal blow.
*Very suitable for a Night Wanderer. I can just have a yin corpse throw it. Since enemies can't pick it up anyway, I can fling it around as I please.* Zhang Yuanqing was thoroughly satisfied with the spear's destructive power. Next, he brought out the Cuirass of Thunder and Bracer of Thunder, activating the set effect.
Instantly, brilliant blue light radiated across his entire body. Lightning surged in his eyes and arcs of electricity danced in his hair, making him look like a Thunder God wielding a spear.
The three-piece set ability had upgraded to "Thunderstorm," summoning lightning over an entire area to unleash a blanket, indiscriminate bombardment.
Its power remained unknown, since it had yet to be tested.
At that moment, Zhang Yuanqing felt the cells inside him rapidly dying and his internal organs showing signs of failure. He promptly stored away the Thunder God Set.
"The item is amazing, but it really costs an arm..." Zhang Yuanqing looked toward his uncle. "I'll enter the faction instance tonight. Now I'm just waiting for Her Ladyship's materials."
After slaying the Seventh Elder of the Southern Sect, he had used Fu Qingyang to exchange for the core materials needed to refine a spirit servant from the Five Elements Alliance's storehouse.
However, he still lacked one primary material and three supplementary materials.
Having no connections with the Taiyi Sect, he had entered the faction instance to summon Her Ladyship, hoping that while she collected Yinyao's advancement materials, she might also lend her youngest disciple a small helping hand.
Empress Sandao had initially refused, believing she should not interfere too much in a disciple's growth. She had never been the pampering, doting sort of master.
Yet Zhang Yuanqing had prostrated himself on the spot, crying with tears and snot as he lamented: *The demonic path is rampant while the righteous path wanes! Master is trapped in the Spirit Realm, and your disciple yearns to uphold justice in Master's name, yet my status is humble and my strength feeble. If Master helps me, it will be an act of virtue and great merit for the righteous path under heaven. Besides, I am the child born to you in your old age, my cultivation still shallow—if you do not help me, how can I contend against the experts of the demonic path?*
This was a skill Yinyao did not possess.
Empress Sandao felt this late-acquired disciple's words held some truth, so she had agreed.
His uncle let out an "mm": "Once you enter the instance, it's best to press through in a single breath. Once you leave, that momentum breaks. Look at Fu Qingyang—if not for you, he probably wouldn't have set foot in the faction instance again."
Zhang Yuanqing nodded. After this setback, he felt an urgent need to improve himself, unwilling to ever be toyed with in the palm of Ling Tuo's hand again.
***
Nine o'clock at night.
Zhang Yuanqing entered the Mohist Mechanism City instance right on time. Sitting cross-legged on a boulder at the foot of the mountain, he pulled out Little Red Riding Hood, summoned Commandery Princess Yinyao, and began cultivating the Pure Yang Body Cleansing Record.
Not until eleven o'clock at night was the sky above Mohist Mechanism City brushed with a golden sheen, which rippled outward in concentric rings. Immediately afterward, a streak of golden rainbow shattered the barrier, descending like a comet.
The golden rainbow landed near the two of them, coalescing into a feathered celestial goddess—aloof and ethereal, possessing extraordinary grace, with full, crimson, striking lips.
Zhang Yuanqing dropped to his knees in a bow. "Greetings, Master."
Commandery Princess Yinyao, a beat slower, copied him. "Greetings, Master."
Empress Sandao nodded. "The materials for Yinyao's advancement and the materials for refining your spirit servant have all been gathered. Yuanshi, do you plan to refine it tonight, or wait some time?"
Zhang Yuanqing was overjoyed and said in a resonant voice, "Your disciple wishes to refine the spirit servant under Master's watchful eye and guidance. Without Master watching over me, I lack confidence; Master's instruction is of paramount importance."
*What a shameless flatterer...* Commandery Princess Yinyao chimed in, "Only with Master keeping watch do I feel secure in my heart. Without Master, your disciple will never advance."
*This wicked disciple Yinyao is starting to steal my business?* Zhang Yuanqing inwardly cursed the shamelessness of women from the Zhu family.
Empress Sandao looked at her wicked disciple with gratification. "Cultivating beside Yuanshi Tianzun has brought you some progress after all."
With that, her wide sleeves billowed outward, spitting out one item after another—some shrouded in yin qi, others blazing with starlight—totaling more than forty materials.
Zhang Yuanqing and Commandery Princess Yinyao stared with wide eyes, swallowing hard.
Empress Sandao said, "Yinyao, this master hopes you will take Taiyin as your foundation while cultivating the stars as well. That way, aside from being countered by Day Wanderers, you will be equivalent to a genuine Dominator."
Commandery Princess Yinyao nodded repeatedly. "Mm-mm!"
This was the reason she was unwilling to "resurrect." Yuanshi Tianzun had privately asked whether she wished to shed her yin corpse shell and return to being a living person, but she had declined.
In the past she might have wanted to, but not anymore.
Returning to a living mortal body, it would take her several years or even decades to cultivate to the Dominator stage. After all, she was not a Spirit Realm walker; to continue advancing, she would have to return to the Spirit Realm and rely on slow ancient cultivation methods to accumulate power.
Maintaining the body of a yin corpse, however, meant she only needed to lie back and reap the benefits.
Empress Sandao then turned to Zhang Yuanqing.
"These materials are extraordinarily rare; gathering a second set in the short term would be impossible, so you have only one chance. Refining a Dominator-level yin corpse is exceedingly difficult and requires intricate steps. If my expectations hold true, modern-day Day Wanderers only pieced together the correct refining methods through repeated failures.
"I do not know their methods, but I will impart the Pure Yang Sect's refining diagrams to you. Listen carefully..."
Next, Empress Sandao explained the procedure for refining Yinyao in minute detail. First, they needed to strip this wicked disciple of her clothes and draw a Yin Gathering Array and an Astral Array on her body to assist her in absorbing nine supplementary materials of Taiyin and starlight.
The hardest part of this step was that the Astral Array and Yin Gathering Array had to mesh together perfectly, combining into a single array. If the powers of Taiyin and starlight failed to harmonize during the absorption process, a "circuit blowout" would occur, ruining everything.
This step was called laying the foundation.
Once the foundation was firmly laid, the next phase was reshaping Yinyao's Taiyin body. The primary materials were an eyeball-shaped jade stone and a bottle of black liquid, named "Soul-Reaping Jade" and "Yellow Springs."
The Soul-Reaping Jade was to be ingested, while the Yellow Springs liquid was blended with supplementary materials into ink to carve a talismanic array across Yinyao's body to aid in digesting the Soul-Reaping Jade.
Finally, a grand talismanic array would be carved to refine the remaining Taiyin and astral materials into Yinyao's body.
Having understood the steps, Zhang Yuanqing said with complete confidence, "Master, you may provide the blueprints."
Empress Sandao flicked three scrolls from her sleeve. Zhang Yuanqing unrolled them to look, and dizziness promptly overwhelmed him.
It was not physical dizziness, but mental. He felt like an academic failure staring at blueprints for a fighter jet.
Commandery Princess Yinyao leaned over, took one look, backed away repeatedly, and dropped to her knees. "Please set the array for me, Master! I cannot trust Yuanshi Tianzun."
*Just strip your clothes for me already...* Zhang Yuanqing rolled his eyes.
Empress Sandao said, "I will teach you how to carve the array. Before you are confident, you may practice with lower-grade materials first."
Only then did Zhang Yuanqing breathe a sigh of relief.
Three hours later, under his master's guidance, Zhang Yuanqing had quickly mastered the three array diagrams. He began grinding the materials and mixing the ink, while Commandery Princess Yinyao took off her jeans, white knit sweater, and lace underwear, lying naked on the ground.
Her pale, snow-white body stretched out across the wilderness, presenting a striking visual impact.
Yet in Zhang Yuanqing's eyes, she was merely a material. His gaze was solemn and calm, carrying the intense focus of a grandmaster engrossed in chess. Using his finger as a brush dipped in the ink, he began carving both the Yin Gathering and Astral Arrays.
The most difficult part of this step was that the two arrays were interwoven; it was not a matter of drawing the Yin Gathering Array first and then the Astral Array, but required completing them in one continuous, seamless stroke.
This meant that as Zhang Yuanqing inscribed the talismanic array, he had to constantly alternate between Taiyin and starlight. If the flow of energy faltered for even an instant, the entire array would collapse.
By the time the diagram was half-finished, Zhang Yuanqing was drenched in sweat, bean-sized droplets rolling down his forehead and cheeks. When he finally finished drawing the array without a hitch, he slumped directly to the ground, panting heavily, feeling that the Taiyin and astral power within him was more than half depleted.
Empress Sandao nodded approvingly. "Not bad. To achieve complete mastery in just three hours—you truly are a natural Night Wanderer. The Spirit Realm allocates character cards based on innate talent; such discernment is truly enviable."
For sects in her era, finding a disciple of peerless natural talent had been brutally difficult. A genius like Yuanshi Tianzun might never have encountered the opportunity to step through the door of cultivation in his entire lifetime.
After resting for a short while, Zhang Yuanqing began the second phase.
***
An hour later, at the foot of the mountain in Mohist Mechanism City, a torrential surge of yin qi blasted into the clouds, spreading across dozens of li and transforming this pocket of the world into a land of pure yin.
Vegetation throughout the mountain withered or mutated, and living mortals in the villages below transformed one after another into yin corpses and vicious ghosts.
The naked Commandery Princess Yinyao hovered in midair, red light flickering in her eyes and her long hair billowing without wind. Talismans on her skin glittered with alternating starlight and black light, giving her the appearance of a descending divine demon.
Moments later, Commandery Princess Yinyao drifted slowly to the ground, letting out a voice full of delight: "Master, I can speak... I can speak!"
As her "life" stepped into an entirely new realm, she had broken free of some of the shackles binding a yin corpse, capable of opening her mouth and speaking like a living person—the hallmark of a high-tier yin entity.
Empress Sandao said with gratification, "Sweetness after the bitter hardship! Yinyao, as you follow Yuanshi, you must take the world as your responsibility, helping this master uphold justice and strike down the demonic path."
Yinyao prostrated herself. "Your disciple obeys Master's command."
Taking the opportunity, Zhang Yuanqing said, "Master, not long ago I encountered Sect Master Chunyang. He mentioned a killing move brewed over a thousand years..."
He gave his master a detailed report of the events from a few days prior.
"Pay him no mind." Empress Sandao shook her head lightly. "With a Human Immortal shielding him, killing him is as hard as scaling the heavens. But that scoundrel will not bide his time forever; the day will come when he bares his fangs. When that time comes, it will not be too late to strike him down."
*Tsk, the old crone is truly confident. Her cultivation has already reached the peak Dominator level, with few equals beneath the Human Immortal realm, which is why she's so self-assured.* Zhang Yuanqing said, "Understood."
After seeing Zhao Youqing off, he began the second round of refining. Bringing out the prepared materials, he used his finger as a brush, carving a talismanic array onto the ground.
Half an hour later, the array was complete. He exhaled a breath of Taiyin power, which coalesced into a smoky, delicate woman whose expression was twisted with disgust and whose eyes burned with venomous malice.
Upon seeing the light of day again, Ninth Elder's resentment surged violently, but the talismanic array erupted with chilling yin qi, binding her firmly within.
"Ninth Elder, hand over all the items and materials in your inventory," Zhang Yuanqing said.
She still possessed her character card right now, but once refined into a spirit servant, the Spirit Realm would register her as deceased. The character card would be reclaimed, and the treasures in her inventory would naturally return to the Spirit Realm.
Ninth Elder struggled briefly, but finding that she could neither self-detonate nor break free, she calmed down and sneered, "Even if I don't hand them over, what can you do to me? If you have the guts, kill me—can you bear to do that?!"
Zhang Yuanqing's expression remained tranquil, his tone indifferent. "If you want to be abused and tortured by me every single day after becoming a spirit servant, go ahead and keep being stubborn. It makes no difference to me. In any case, your two Dominator items are already in my hands; the Extraordinary and Saint items and materials are merely bonuses."
Ninth Elder's expression shifted slightly. After her face cycled through a variety of expressions, she opened her inventory with bitter reluctance, dumping out her items and materials in a single heap.
Without looking closely, Zhang Yuanqing swept them directly into the faction storehouse and began refining the spirit servant.
Half an hour later, Ninth Elder underwent a complete transformation. Stepping out of the array, she knelt gracefully. "Greetings, Master!"
"I am a master too, I am a master too!" Commandery Princess Yinyao cut in.
Ninth Elder turned toward her, assuming a humble posture. "Greetings, Master."
"So obedient." Commandery Princess Yinyao remarked with satisfaction. "I want to refine yin corpses and spirit servants too."
*Yes, yes! You're a mature yin corpse now—you need to learn how to refine spirit servants and yin corpses on your own, and fight on your own!* Zhang Yuanqing had harbored similar thoughts all along. Unlike ordinary yin corpses, Commandery Princess Yinyao was capable of independently refining yin corpses and spirit servants.
In the past, materials had been scarce, their pockets empty, and the princess possessed a cynical, playful attitude, so it had been continually delayed.
Of course, he would not voice his true thoughts aloud, instead saying with earnest gravity, "Very good. It seems you have kept Master's teachings firmly in mind. Since you're so motivated, I can't be stingy either. From now on, you can take out loans from me for the materials to refine your yin corpses and spirit servants."
Commandery Princess Yinyao shot him a glance. "How do you differ from a dog?"
***
Nine-thirty in the morning.
Having slept his fill in the instance, Zhang Yuanqing returned to reality. Taking out his phone, he sent a message to the "Return of the Dead" faction group:
"Entering the instance in half an hour."
He then sent a private message to Fu Qingyang, stating that he was fully prepared.
After that, he plugged in his charger, set down his phone, and waited patiently.
Half an hour passed quickly, and the Spirit Realm's notification chimed in his ears:
[Ding! Spirit Realm map opening. Entering the Spirit Realm in 60 seconds. The Spirit Realm you are entering this time is 'Ruler of a Fallen Nation', Number: 36.]
[Difficulty Level: A]
[Type: Multiplayer (Deadly)]
[Main Quest: Character Quest.]
[Note: Non-Spirit Realm items may not be brought in.]
[Introduction to Spirit Realm No. 36: The Southern and Northern Dynasties have stood in opposition for a century. In the Southern Dynasty, treacherous officials hold sway, officialdom is corrupt, and national power declines by the day. The Northern Dynasty gathered its strength for thirty years, mobilizing the military might of the entire empire to march south after the autumn harvest, capturing cities and seizing strongholds along the way, until they arrived before the capital of the Southern Dynasty.]
Chapter 837