Zhang Yuanqing was currently a Level 4 Saint, meaning most of his top-tier items were unusable, including the crucial Little Red Riding Hood. Inside Little Red Riding Hood were his yin corpses as well as Commandery Princess Yinyao.
For a Night Walker, losing yin corpses and spirit servants was equivalent to severing both arms. Thus, he had to restore his level to Level 5 first; that way, his combat strength would multiply exponentially.
Therefore, he had to complete the side quest and rescue Wang Xiu.
"Where is the Ministry of Justice?" Brother Red Chicken shouted as he bounded across the rooftops.
Zhang Yuanqing was just about to tell him, "Cut the crap and follow me," when he suddenly saw Brother Red Chicken, who was sprinting ahead, stumble as if he had collided with something.
At the same time, the sharp point of a short knife jutted out from the center of his back, the bare blade dripping with fresh blood.
What Brother Red Chicken had collided with was a woman dressed in a black-and-white Taiji fish Daoist robe. She had appeared silently in front of Brother Red Chicken and driven the blade straight through his heart.
A Night Walker?! Zhang Yuanqing's pupils shrank, and fury instantly flared within him. Drawing a short knife, a bright yellow hue flared between his brows and rapidly spread across his features, outlining an enraged mask with wide, glaring eyes.
Yellow face: a 20% boost to all attributes.
Zhang Yuanqing's muscles swelled abruptly, his speed surging as he closed the distance in an instant, slashing down fiercely with his short knife.
The woman—sweet and lovely in appearance, yet wearing a dull, emotionless expression—yanked out the blade and dissolved into starlight.
Cleaving only empty air, Zhang Yuanqing suppressed the urge to pursue her. Grabbing Brother Red Chicken by the arms, he hoisted him onto his back and kept running.
That split-second delay allowed the Shenrui Army swordsman to close in, unleashing sword qi from a dozen meters away.
Behind him, arrows rained down like a storm.
With his stats surging, Zhang Yuanqing maneuvered nimbly to dodge the slashes of sword qi, shouting, "Are you still alive?! If you're not dead, hold on to me tightly!"
He could feel blood spurting from Brother Red Chicken's chest, warm liquid soaking through his own back.
"Al... almost dead..." Brother Red Chicken cursed weakly. "You Night Walkers are such sneaky dogs."
Come to think of it, this was the first time he had been ambushed by a Night Walker.
In the real world, Night Walkers were rare and mostly gathered in the Taiyi Sect. As an official faction, the Taiyi Sect rarely came into conflict with him.
"A Night Walker with yin corpses and spirit servants is even worse," Zhang Yuanqing replied. Once Brother Red Chicken hooked his arms tightly around his neck, Zhang Yuanqing retrieved the Gale Gloves. Amidst the howling whistling of wind, he shot into the air.
Flying on the wind was the best way to evade an ambush by that female Stargazer.
Dressed in a Taiji fish Daoist robe, she was likely a disciple of the Imperial Preceptor. If so, the Imperial Preceptor's primary path was likely that of a Night Walker, supplemented by Scholar.
Zhang Yuanqing soared higher and higher. Amid the howling gale, he banked around and sped toward the Ministry of Justice yamen.
As he flew, he took out a vial of Life Source Fluid and injected it into a vein in Brother Red Chicken's arm. Then, drawing out the Mountain God Scepter, he activated the gem at its head to release a pure green light.
Under this two-pronged treatment, the bleeding in Brother Red Chicken's heart swiftly stopped, the wound knitting together, nearly healed.
Down on the streets, the city defense troops quickly pivoted and continued their pursuit. Several army officers abandoned their carriages, shed their heavy armor, and bounded across rooftops just like the three Saints of the Shenrui Army, giving chase.
Meanwhile, the young woman in the Daoist robe tilted her head back, staring blankly into the sky without pursuing.
Gliding on the wind, Zhang Yuanqing looked down. The bustling imperial capital unfolded beneath him: crisscrossing streets, orderly arrangements of pavilions and houses, bustling crowds, and carriages moving at a leisurely pace.
At the same time, he spotted several city defense units on nearby streets hurrying toward Hongxiu Pavilion. Upon noticing him soaring through the sky, they hastily wheeled around to pursue him on the ground.
As expected, the city defense army had already deployed their troops. The longer I lingered at Hongxiu Pavilion, the more dangerous it would have become... Zhang Yuanqing drew another vial of Life Source Fluid and injected it into Brother Red Chicken's arm.
He had initially planned to infiltrate the Ministry of Justice covertly, but given the circumstances, he had no choice but to force his way in. Fortunately, Dominators were exceedingly rare in this era; otherwise, with stunts like this, he would have been shot down with an arrow long ago.
At that thought, Zhang Yuanqing glanced instinctively toward the towering Tianji Tower.
He was terrified the Imperial Preceptor would suddenly fly out and swat him into the ground so hard he couldn't be scraped off.
Beyond the Imperial Preceptor, he also feared the imperial court's Level 6 Saints, especially those from the Imperial City Division. Compared to the city defense army, the Imperial City Division served as the emperor's personal guard and truly brimmed with experts.
The Imperial City Division serves the emperor and stays stationed in the imperial palace. This is the inner city, so it will take them some time to get here. I must rescue Wang Xiu as quickly as possible and go back into hiding. Once the experts from the Imperial City Division arrive, I'll be in serious trouble... Zhang Yuanqing calculated swiftly in his head.
Soon, a cluster of uniform buildings appeared ahead, featuring broad straight ridge roofs, upturned eaves, and red-lacquered window frames and pillars.
It was none other than the Ministry of Justice.
Glancing back at the enemies trailing in the distance, Zhang Yuanqing rode the gale downward, barging into the Ministry of Justice and landing in its rear courtyard.
The prison certainly wouldn't be in the front or central courtyards.
Before the Ministry of Justice's experts could react, Zhang Yuanqing grabbed a middle-aged man in green official robes by the throat and demanded:
"Where are the three hundred boys and girls being held?"
Hearing this, the middle-aged official shouted at the top of his lungs, "Guards! Guards! A bandit is breaking in—"
Just go die. Remember to be smarter after you respawn... Zhang Yuanqing snapped his throat with a crisp crack. Thick, pitch-black energy welled in his eye sockets as he devoured the middle-aged man's spirit body in a single breath.
A mortal's spirit body required no immersive experience; he instantly digested and absorbed the memory fragments. Then he said to Brother Red Chicken, "Buy me some time. I'm going to rescue her."
Brother Red Chicken hadn't expected Yuanshi Tianzun's purpose at the Ministry of Justice was to rescue someone. In his eyes, fleeing for their lives was paramount right now. Yet since it was Yuanshi Tianzun's call, he trusted and complied unconditionally.
Because the guy actually had a brain.
So he nodded. "Be quick! I don't know how long I can hold out."
With that, he hurled fireballs in all directions, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Fire! Fire! Ah, no—water! Water! Fire outbreak!"
Alerted by the commotion, officials and clerks working in the offices rushed out the doors, only to see blazing flames. Just as they were about to organize firefighting efforts, they spotted Brother Red Chicken merrily setting fires everywhere. Enraged, they shouted:
"A bandit is setting fires! A bandit is setting fires!!"
Brother Red Chicken slapped his own backside and bolted, shouting taunts: "Come catch me! Come and get me!"
Amidst the chaos, Zhang Yuanqing concealed his figure and dashed westward. The Ministry of Justice had two prisons: one on the west side for ordinary criminals, and another beneath the northern rear courtyard for cultivators.
The boys and girls were temporarily detained in the western cells.
Crossing past several pavilions and leaping over several high walls, Zhang Yuanqing spotted a cluster of flat-roofed blockhouse-like buildings constructed from gray bricks, fitted with small square transoms.
Following the middle-aged official's memories, he rushed straight for the third gray brick blockhouse on the left. As soon as he drew near, the din of weeping and cursing reached his ears.
Zhang Yuanqing kicked open the iron door, snapping the chains instantly.
Bursting into the prison, his gaze swept across the cells on both sides enclosed by wooden bars. They were packed with young children. Some were wailing loudly, some huddled in corners, and others appeared ill, coughing violently.
A jailer lashed the bars with a whip to frighten the children, cursing, "Crying all day, every damn day! My head's about to burst from your bawling! Keep crying and I'll whip you to death!"
Another jailer sat drinking wine in the rest area facing the entrance, while two children around ten years old cleaned nearby, occasionally glancing timidly at the drinking jailer.
Only when Zhang Yuanqing stormed in did the drinking jailer react. Drawing his blade with a string of curses, he barked:
"Who dares trespass into the Ministry of Justice prison?!"
Before his words had fully settled, a gust of wind swept through. The jailer's head went rolling, a fountain of blood spurting three to four meters into the air from his carotid artery, splashing across the ceiling.
Seeing this, the jailer deeper in the dungeon turned pale with terror. Clamping a hand onto the saber at his waist, he backed away rapidly and stammered, "Y-You... please, go right ahead..."
His head promptly rolled to the ground as well.
Having used the War God Mask, Zhang Yuanqing's temperament had turned perverse, extreme, and ruthless.
Surrounded by the wailing of children, Zhang Yuanqing fought down the urge to obliterate all the noise. Among the crowd of children, he found Wang Xiu huddled in a corner, clutching her knees with tears streaking down her cheeks.
Such a tiny little thing, crouching there.
Zhang Yuanqing immediately snapped the lock, stepped over the other children, and scooped Wang Xiu up into his arms.
Wang Xiu instinctively shrieked, "Xiu'er will be good! Don't hit me, don't hit me..."
Wang Xiu was a timid girl; she must have been terrified out of her wits over the past two days.
Once she realized the person holding her was Zhang Yuanqing, she burst into loud sobs. "Cousin! Cousin..."
Zhang Yuanqing frowned and snapped, "Stop crying!"
Terrified, Wang Xiu immediately fell silent as a cicada in winter.
Holding the Mountain God Scepter in one hand, Zhang Yuanqing tapped it firmly against the ground with a thud. A soft, pure green glow expanded outward, enveloping all the children in the dungeon.
Instantly, the children's cries grew full of vigor, and the sick ones regained color in their cheeks.
Too damn noisy... Carrying Wang Xiu, Zhang Yuanqing strode away quickly.
Exiting the prison, he slipped on the Gale Gloves and rode the wind out of the Ministry of Justice.
The moment he cleared the outer walls, the Spirit Realm notification chimed in his ear:
[Ding! Congratulations on completing the side quest: Rescue Wang Xiu.]
The "nebula" materialized on his forehead, and abundant power of Taiyin and stars flooded into his body. Zhang Yuanqing returned to Level 5 of the Saint stage.
Another portion of items in his inventory unlocked, including Little Red Riding Hood.
Furthermore, the two Level 5 spirit servants housed inside his body regained their connection to their master—Little Doubi not included.
Zhang Yuanqing didn't keep Level 4 spirit servants. Compared to yin corpses that could serve as cannon fodder and meat shields, spirit servants were much less useful and easily countered by Night Walkers of the same class.
Yin corpses were different. They weren't suppressed by the Spirit Devouring skill; at most, corpse-suppressing talismans could weaken or temporarily suppress them without destroying them.
Therefore, in Zhang Yuanqing's view, spirit servants were only valuable if they possessed formidable combat power; weak spirit servants were practically meaningless.
On the sparsely populated street outside the Ministry of Justice, Zhang Yuanqing opened his inventory, pulled out Little Red Riding Hood, and shook out a Level 4 yin corpse. Directing it to scoop up Wang Xiu, he had it flee swiftly.
He himself rode the wind back into the Ministry of Justice.
Black smoke billowed from various corners of the compound. The fires had already been extinguished by Water Ghosts, and three Saints were currently besieging Brother Red Chicken.
The latter was barely holding his ground using his "Rager" skill and various items.
Beast King, Plague God, Dream Master... Having identified the classes of the three Saints, Zhang Yuanqing threw back his head and unleashed a piercing shriek.
Mental Strike!
Except for the Dream Master, the ears of the Beast King, the Plague God, and Brother Red Chicken buzzed violently. Splitting headaches racked their skulls, and warm blood spurted from their nostrils.
Zhang Yuanqing dissolved into starlight and reappeared right beside the Dream Master. Clenching his hands—clad in the Gale Gloves—into fists, he unleashed a flurry of rapid strikes.
Although the Dream Master possessed decent physical skills, how could his melee capability match that of a Stargazer? After struggling to parry a few blows, an opening was forced, and a brutal barrage from Zhang Yuanqing battered him to death on the spot.
During the clash, the Dream Master had attempted to escape via dream jumping, but Level 5 Zhang Yuanqing extinguished the dream before it could take shape. The Dream Master's Mental Strike had also failed to produce any effect on Zhang Yuanqing, who was an Illusionist himself.
Instead, it had subjected Brother Red Chicken and the other two Saints to yet another bout of agony, like steel needles piercing through their skulls.
At that moment, noisy footsteps echoed in the distance. A large force had arrived—the city defense army was here.
From another direction, the three bold and skilled Saints of the Shenrui Army had also stormed into the Ministry of Justice, hunting down their enemies.
Between the two groups, the number of Saints was close to ten.
"Fuck, more and more enemies are coming! You go first, don't worry about me!" Brother Red Chicken yelled. "If I beg for mercy, maybe I'll still live!"
Zhang Yuanqing said, "You're the one who needs to leave. I'm giving you five minutes. Run as far as you can."
Brother Red Chicken froze. "Then how are you going to find me?"
Hearing that, Zhang Yuanqing thought, Good point.
Then, he summoned the Red Dancing Shoes and commanded them to hunt down Brother Red Chicken.
"You sneaky fucking bastard!!"
Brother Red Chicken spun around and bolted, with the Red Dancing Shoes clicking along in hot pursuit: clack-clack-clack.
The attacks of the Red Dancing Shoes were lethal to Transcendent-tier cultivators, but to a Saint, they weren't quite so terrifying—though being kicked all night long was another story.
Through the psychic connection between the item and its master, Zhang Yuanqing could easily track down Brother Red Chicken via the Red Dancing Shoes.
"Fatuous monarch, prepare to die!"
The hot-tempered Fire Demon of the Shenrui Army hurled a fireball toward him, then used Fire Traveling to close the distance. Flames erupted from his palms, condensing into a crimson saber.
Suddenly, his expression warped as if he had witnessed something horrifying. He began slashing wildly into empty air like a madman.
Zhang Yuanqing donned the Houtu Boots and activated their effect, delivering a thunderous flying kick directly into the Fire Demon's chest.
The illusion shattered!
The Fire Demon vomited pints of blood and went hurtling backward like a cannonball, severely wounded and unable to rise.
The other two Shenrui Army Saints, the city defense officers, the Ministry of Justice Saints, and the armored soldiers all froze in their tracks simultaneously.
Zhang Yuanqing pulled out Little Red Riding Hood and gave it a gentle shake. Four yin corpses hit the ground. Opening his mouth, he exhaled, summoning two spirit servants.
In an instant, yin qi surged violently across the field.
Chapter 864