Commandery Princess Yinyao strode forward and pressed her palm against the crystal ball. The eye within snapped open; it possessed no pupil, only a profound, bottomless gloom.
At that moment, with the exception of the half-conscious Zhai Cai, Zhang Yuanqing, Xiao Yuan, and Lady JoJo felt an uncanny gaze fixed upon them from the unseen void—a prickling sensation on their backs that filled them with restless unease.
It felt as if every secret had been laid bare, every part of their bodies scrutinized.
Keeping her left hand on the crystal ball, Commandery Princess Yinyao stared blankly into empty air with unfocused scarlet eyes, while her right hand traced through the void, strokes coalescing into four characters: Shanhe Yongcun!
Once she finished tracing the Spirit Realm ID, the eye in the crystal ball deepened even further, a faint vortex forming inside. In Yinyao's glazed red eyes, two storm-like whirlpools similarly manifested.
A moment later, Commandery Princess Yinyao lowered her head, her eyes snapping shut as bright red tears of blood streamed down.
Her body swayed, and she barely managed to steady herself against an iron pillar, having lost all external perception, including her sight.
Her consciousness seemed plunged into absolute darkness, stripped of every connection to the outside world.
With trembling hands, Commandery Princess Yinyao fished the small loudspeaker from her pocket. "Target not found. He isn't in this city."
Not in YL City... A twinge of disappointment surfaced in Zhang Yuanqing, but he said, "Thank you for your hard work!"
He took out Little Red Riding Hood and stored her inside, then put away the Eye of the Sky. Next, he hoisted Zhai Cai onto his shoulder; the man's aura was gradually stabilizing, but he remained unable to move.
Retrieving a teleportation jade talisman, Zhang Yuanqing said:
"Next, we go to Cha'erha Wulan City."
Recalling the landmark building of Cha'erha Wulan from the photograph, he applied force with his fingertips and crushed the jade talisman with a crisp snap.
Xiao Yuan and Lady JoJo crushed and smacked their talismans in turn, vanishing from the rooftop of the office building.
The next second, in the distant Cha'erha Wulan City, in front of the Revolutionary Martyrs Monument at the city's central square, Zhang Yuanqing, Xiao Yuan, and Lady JoJo materialized one after another.
The central square was vast and desolate, the martyrs' statues coated in white frost and icicles. The Northwest was bitterly cold and economically underdeveloped; though it was only a quarter past eight in the evening, virtually no pedestrians were in sight across the plaza.
On the streets beyond, however, traffic flowed incessantly.
Zhang Yuanqing gripped the heavy Eye of the Sky with one hand. "Xiao Yuan, you go first!"
The cold, glamorous Aunt Xiao Yuan nodded and walked over to the Eye of the Sky. Pressing her left hand onto the crystal ball, her right hand moved through the air, inscribing the four characters "Shanhe Yongcun."
The eye inside the crystal ball widened abruptly, rolling wildly about to gaze in every direction.
Suddenly, Xiao Yuan let out a pained groan. As if blasted by blinding light, her eyes instinctively snapped shut as crimson tears of blood streamed down without stop.
"I... I saw him..."
...
Cha'erha Wulan City.
A villa in the suburbs. The grounds front and back featured gardens where the frozen soil was black and barren—not a blade of grass, not even a withered twig or dead leaf remained.
The four-story villa stood unlit, looming silently in the dark.
The Northwest was already freezing, yet the temperature near the villa dropped well below zero, chilling, eerie, and deathly still.
Two figures arrived outside the villa without making a sound.
One of them, clad in golden armor, kicked open the wrought-iron gate. Standing proudly, he proclaimed in a deep voice:
"Rules of this battle: No teleporting away from this location; no calling for outside help; no entering the Spirit Realm; no fleeing from this location."
A brass-colored glow rippled outward, forming a spherical barrier that enveloped the villa.
As if sensing intruders, massive plumes of yin energy surged from beneath the villa, freezing the moisture in the air and encasing the windows, walls, and eaves in a thick crust of white frost.
Like dark storm clouds, the yin energy billowed toward the sky, only to be blocked by the brass-colored spherical barrier, unable to escape.
From within the smoke-like yin energy, beams of golden light burst forth. Pure and limpid, the golden radiance dispelled the yin energy to reveal a dazzling miniature sun, searing against the barrier overhead.
Yet the solar divine power, which could purify and obliterate all things, failed to shake the barrier in the slightest.
"Shanhe Yongcun, don't waste your energy. You can't get out," Zhang Yuanqing said, staring at the miniature sun. He reached out and gently closed his fist.
The sky full of golden light dissolved into nothingness.
Before tonight's hunt, Zhang Yuanqing had cut open his chest and unsealed another portion of the Illusion God item, restoring it to Level 8. It could now nullify spiritual power as well as rules up to Level 8.
The latter was a capability unique to the Illusion God item; an ordinary Level 8 Nihilist could not nullify rules from rule-based items of the same level.
As his divine status rose, the abilities of the Illusion God item were gradually unlocked.
With the miniature sun reduced to nothingness, a figure wrapped in a black robe was revealed. Beneath the hood, a pair of sharp, weathered eyes glared intently at Zhang Yuanqing, their owner's voice raspy and grim with accusation:
"Yuanshi Tianzun? How did you find this place?!"
This was his secret stronghold in Cha'erha Wulan City. No one knew about it except himself, and he rarely ever used it. Only now, with the demigods gathered in the Spirit Realm and the mortal world stripped of their protective umbrellas, had he activated this safehouse.
Under the premise that their leader, Taiyin, offered concealment, how could Yuanshi Tianzun have possibly tracked him down?
"You didn't know?" Zhang Yuanqing looked up with a chuckle. "Ling Tuo entered the Sun Dungeon, and the Taiyin Origin is suppressed by the Sun. The spells he left behind in the real world have all failed. You members of Dark Night Rose lost the protection of the Taiyin Origin long ago, which is why I could locate you using the New York County branch's Eye of the Sky."
As he spoke, he secretly ignited the Grand Protector's feelings of fear.
Amid the sudden shrinking of the Grand Protector's pupils, Zhang Yuanqing dissolved into starlight and flashed behind him. With a crack, his right fist lunged like a spear toward the back of the man's head.
The Grand Protector dissipated into starlight. Hoping to flee beyond the barrier, he instead rematerialized, to his dismay, right at the edge of the front yard.
The instant he took form, a shrill, piercing shriek rang in his ears.
Buzz!
Vision blackened before the Grand Protector's eyes as blood seeped from his nostrils and eye sockets. His head felt as if it had been struck by a heavy club, throwing him into severe dizziness.
Transforming into a streak of light, Zhang Yuanqing closed the distance and drove a heavy fist into his forehead.
Bang!
The Grand Protector flew backward, crashing into the indestructible barrier with blood streaming down his brow.
The blow knocked him back to his senses. He immediately pulled a longsword polished from black carbon, gleaming with an oily luster, from his inventory.
This item was called the Yin Son of Heaven Sword. Sealed within it was boundless yin energy and countless powerful wraiths. Even a Level 7 Day Wanderer facing an endless army of yin creatures would have to go all out just to hold them off.
Furthermore, the stores of yin energy and wraiths inside the sword were sufficient to completely drain the spiritual power of a Day Wanderer who had just entered the Dominator stage.
Behind Zhang Yuanqing's head, a miniature sun surfaced, radiating blazing, pure golden light.
Sizzle!
The dense yin energy was vaporized the moment it surged out of the Yin Son of Heaven Sword. Before the wraiths could even screech or wail, their souls were obliterated.
Bathed in the limpid, clear golden light, the Yin Son of Heaven Sword lost all its mystical power and was reduced to an ordinary weapon.
"This..." The Grand Protector's pupils shrank violently. Beneath his hood, his weathered, aged face was plastered with terror.
To suppress a high-tier item like the Yin Son of Heaven Sword, Yuanshi Tianzun's status had already reached Level 8?!
How long had it been since he advanced to Day Wanderer?
How could he possibly level up this fast?!
Waves of shock churned relentlessly, impossible to suppress—and with them came the dread of imminent doom.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Zhang Yuanqing activated the combination skill of Solar War God and Sunrise. Forgoing all items, he closed in on the Grand Protector with punches and kicks, relying on the most fundamental close-quarters combat.
Facing a Day Wanderer of the same class, overwhelming him through divine status alone was enough; there was no need for flashy items.
The Grand Protector immediately assumed the Solar War God form, his muscles bulging as he strove with all his might against Yuanshi Tianzun's brutal assault. Alas, his opponent's status was far too high, outstripping him by a wide margin in strength, speed, and solar divine power.
The Grand Protector felt like a child fighting an adult, with nothing to do but take beating after beating.
After enduring an uncounted flurry of punches, his bones shattered and internal organs ruptured, he was knocked to the ground by one of Yuanshi Tianzun's uppercuts and did not get back up.
He was not dead, merely fallen into a deep slumber.
Severely wounded and diminished, he had virtually no strength left to resist as Zhang Yuanqing pulled him into a dream.
Watching the Grand Protector slip into the dreamscape he had woven, Zhang Yuanqing turned to Zhai Cai and said:
"I'm going into the dream to interrogate him for intelligence. Keep watch out here."
Picking up the Yin Son of Heaven Sword from the ground, he added, "Here's the first part of your payment."
Zhai Cai took the oily, pitch-black sword, gave it a few experimental swings, and clicked his tongue in approval. "Nice item. I can give this to my vampire servant."
Zhang Yuanqing opened a chaotic, hazy dreamscape and leapt inside.
...
In a dim basement, the Grand Protector "awoke" beside a desk, feeling as if he had just had a dream in which he was hunted down by Yuanshi Tianzun.
That kid had supposedly advanced to Level 8 Dominator, boasting an absurdly high divine status, and he had been brutally killed without virtually any ability to fight back.
Yuanshi Tianzun had only advanced to Day Wanderer at the end of last year. In a mere two months, how could he possibly have reached Level 8? Even the Demon Lord and Marshal White Tiger hadn't managed such speed.
What a ridiculous dream!
Yet the Grand Protector drew a warning from it. Now that their leader had entered the Sun Dungeon and would not reappear anytime soon, Yuanshi Tianzun, who bore an entrenched hatred for Dark Night Rose, was bound to seek vengeance.
He had to be on guard!
With this in mind, the Grand Protector picked up his phone, opened his contacts, and dialed someone named "Surgeon."
Beep... beep...
The call connected, and the Grand Protector said in a grave voice:
"Until the Leader returns, stay hidden. Do not go out, and do not let any message lure you into the open. I am worried Yuanshi Tianzun will retaliate. He has already advanced to Day Wanderer, sharing our class and tier. Under no circumstances should you let your guard down."
On the other end of the line, the Third Protector answered with a serious grunt. "I won't go out."
Next, he dialed another contact named "Shaman Sorcerer," repeating the same words and issuing the same warning.
Shaman Sorcerer didn't take it seriously. "Grand Protector, you're on the verge of advancing to Level 8. Why are you afraid of a newcomer? Yuanshi Tianzun has barely stepped into the Dominator stage, whereas you have a full ninety percent experience. Even two Yuanshi Tianzuns wouldn't be a match for you."
The Grand Protector said coldly, "Yuanshi Tianzun's items are more than enough to make up the gap in experience. What's more, he has Fu Qingyang backing him. That Fu treats him with total devotion and will definitely step in to help. Shaman, arrogance is your fatal flaw. If you don't break that habit, you'll suffer dearly sooner or later. In the midst of this great upheaval, a Level 7 Day Wanderer is nothing."
Hearing this, Shaman Sorcerer finally reined in his dismissiveness and replied that he would definitely stay hidden.
After hanging up, the Grand Protector continued calling the other Protectors of Dark Night Rose.
He failed to notice that standing right beside him was Yuanshi Tianzun, the very figure he feared so deeply.
The Grand Protector put down the phone and pulled a stack of dossiers from the drawer. Every sheet contained information on a member of Dark Night Rose—the members who took orders from him.
The top few pages detailed the nine Protectors of Dark Night Rose.
Dark Night Rose had been founded a mere twenty years ago. With shallow foundations and unable to recruit openly, the organization had cultivated only nine Dominators, all of them at Level 7.
Among the nine Protectors, only three were Day Wanderers. The dossiers recorded the respective jurisdictions under each Protector's charge.
Gazing at the files and recalling every step of the past twenty years, the Grand Protector suddenly felt the poignant passage of time, as if he had been transported back to the war-torn era of the last century.
The dream shifted abruptly. The dim desk lamp was replaced by a faint crescent moon; the study transformed into a pitted mountain trail with undulating mountain ranges in the distance.
Clad in coarse cloth and carrying a Type 38 rifle on his back, a blood-soaked Shanhe Yongcun trudged along the rugged mountain path.
At this time, he was still very young, with thick eyebrows, bright eyes, and a resolute face.
Tonight, the North China branch of the Same Boat Society was convening an emergency meeting that all members were required to attend. During the day, he had been hunting an island nation spy lurking in Huchenghe Province. After a fierce battle, he had finally slain his quarry, but by the time he received the organization's summons, dusk was already falling.
Without even time to wash away the blood on his body, Shanhe Yongcun had set out on the road, carrying the Type 38 rifle for self-defense.
—A rifle of this sort could inflict considerable damage on Spirit Realm walkers of the Transcendent stage.
After walking the mountain path for over an hour, he arrived at the North China branch's stronghold: a remote mountain village.
The reason a remote mountain village had been chosen as the stronghold was that it was sufficiently concealed and backed against the mountains; even if invaders from the island nation tracked them down, they could retreat into the ranges.
Of course, the island nation had already announced its surrender and the war had ended, but the stronghold had not yet been relocated.
This emergency meeting was likely convened to discuss post-war development. *Sigh, the war has just settled, and our country's Spirit Realm walkers are like loose sand, undisciplined and unruly. For the time being, playing along with the foreign devils and borrowing their might to deter domestic danger elements is the most prudent choice...* Shanhe Yongcun thought to himself.
He belonged to the faction in favor within the organization, believing they should not rupture ties with the Same Boat Society headquarters at this critical juncture.
Alas, there were too many radicals in the organization, and irrational patriotic fervor was getting in the way of serious business!
Crossing a mountain col, his destination came into view. Suddenly, Shanhe Yongcun saw a sea of flames, raging fire dyeing the night red.
The small mountain village was engulfed in roaring flames.
His expression twisted in shock, and he instinctively assumed the Japanese invaders had arrived!
Only then did he recall that the Japanese had already been driven out of China; the war was long over.
Had evil classes discovered this stronghold?
Shanhe Yongcun immediately unslung his Type 38 rifle. Striding in worn cloth shoes, he hunched his back and broke into a sprint along the mountain path, racing toward the sea of flames.
Chapter 955