The Request

[Ding! The Morality Points of the God of Thunder and Boreas have dropped to zero. Slaying either will yield bountiful rewards.] [Ding! The Morality Points of the God of Thunder and Boreas have dropped to zero. Slaying either will yield bountiful rewards.] Inside Fu Qingyang's grand villa at Fujia Bay, Zhai Cai, Xiahou Aotian, Guan Ya, and Tianxia Guihuo sat gathered together. Listening to the Spirit Realm's chime ringing incessantly in their ears, their expressions were solemn and grave, tinged with a sharp edge of anxiety. Over the past two days, the Spirit Realm's wanted notices had never ceased, broadcasting once every few minutes. Every single notice signified that ordinary mortals had died. This placed a crushing psychological burden upon the spirit realm walkers of the orthodox faction. Xiahou Aotian ruffled his hair, frustration etching deep furrows between his brows. "I can't take this anymore! I've never known the Spirit Realm to be this noisy. Let's unite all the Dominators of the orthodox faction across the entire globe and fight it out with the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods!" Zhai Cai, his expression equally grim, sneered at his words. "Do you want to watch the Wind and Thunder Twin Gods slaughter their way from south to north, or from north to south?" He inhaled deeply, then exhaled heavily, as though trying to ease the restlessness churning inside him. For most orthodox walkers, the chimes of the Spirit Realm were relentlessly assaulting their moral bottom line. Time and again, it roared into their ears: *Someone else has been slaughtered! Are you just going to stand by and watch?!* Yet what could they do other than stand by and watch? Before absolute might, sacrifice was utterly futile; it would achieve nothing. Even so, the moral guilt and psychological pressure remained inescapable, leaving them plagued with anxiety and agitation. Tianxia Guihuo remarked coldly, "Headquarters has already issued a high-risk alert, ordering all official members to go into hiding at home. Their stance is abundantly clear." Guan Ya said softly, "All we can do is wait, wait, and wait. But who knows when the demigods will emerge from the instance? If they can achieve a swift, decisive victory, they can keep the casualties within a manageable threshold. But if it's a protracted instance..." Then countless more mortals would perish in this catastrophe, leaving the demigods to return to a world reduced to ruins. Zhai Cai sighed. "An even worse outcome is that the orthodox demigods fall in defeat within the instance, leaving us with no savior at all. The world has already entered the countdown to doomsday... By the way, where is that scoundrel Yuanshi Tianzun?" Xiahou Aotian replied, "Didn't that scoundrel enter an instance?" Guan Ya's expression grew complicated. "He cleared the instance three days ago, successfully advancing to Level 9. After that, his whereabouts became unknown." "Level 9 already?!" Zhai Cai's face filled with astonishment. "Is this kid the illegitimate son of the Spirit Realm? He only just reached Level 8 a short while ago! Going from Level 8 to Level 9 isn't like graduating from primary school to middle school!" Xiahou Aotian looked at him in surprise. "Even a fake Westerner like you knows about primary school graduation?" "Who are you calling a fake Westerner?! Though I wear Western clothes, my heart remains Chinese!" Zhai Cai shot him a sidelong glare, then sighed. "Still, in the current state of affairs, a Level 9 Dominator is no more useful than a stray dog on the street." *** In Kangyang District. Grandfather switched on the television to watch the morning news. "This station reports: In recent days, through the relentless and tireless efforts of our law enforcement officers, the public security environment in Songhai has greatly improved, returning to levels seen prior to the viral outbreak. Going forward, the government will continue deploying police resources to maintain peace and safeguard the personal and property safety of Songhai residents, keeping firmly in mind our fundamental mission of putting the people first..." "Next, we bring you a report from the Free Federation. According to dispatches from our station's correspondents stationed in the Free Federation, several supernatural incidents have occurred over recent days, impacting nine cities and causing widespread paralysis of water and electrical infrastructure. As we can see, these cities have suffered unimaginable devastation..." The television screen displayed an aerial view of a metropolis. It looked as though it had been struck by a hyper-scale hurricane—trees were torn up by their roots, high-rises had collapsed to bury the streets below, and houses were flattened into rubble. "Even more terrifyingly, the cities were struck by unknown electromagnetic pulses, severing communications and causing varying degrees of damage to all electrical appliances... Preliminary estimates indicate this ongoing disaster has caused upwards of two million casualties..." "Our Ministry of Foreign Affairs expresses deep concern regarding the plight of the Free Federation and calls upon the Free Federation to demonstrate courage in shouldering responsibility, proactively handle the incident, and refrain from disregarding the lives and property of its people." Clearing the dishes by the dining table, Grandmother leaned forward to stare at the screen, her voice filled with disbelief. "Two million people dead...? Could that be fake? Even a war wouldn't kill so many people, right?" Grandfather's silver-haired brow furrowed deeply. "Would the news lie to you? Two million is merely a conservative estimate. Knowing the Free Federation's style, you can probably double that number." Grandmother's face grew terrified. "Thank goodness it's happening in the Free Federation. If it were in our country... Wait, Chen Shu is in the Free Federation!!" Just as her voice fell, the doorbell rang in the entryway. With worry still painted across her face, Grandmother hurried over to answer it. *Click!* She turned the handle and pulled open the security door, only to find a woman standing outside. Dressed in a white women's suit and wearing metal-rimmed glasses, she exuded the austere, disciplined aura of a formidable career professional, a twenty-inch white carry-on suitcase by her side. Her long, wine-red hair was pinned up, stripped of all fussy, ornate jewelry—intellectual, minimalist, and thoroughly capable. The woman knit her brows. "Mom, why didn't you tell me you changed the door code?" It was none other than her eldest daughter, Chen Shu, who rarely returned home a few times in an entire year. Seeing her eldest daughter back, Grandmother's weathered face relaxed in immense relief, but she immediately put on a scowl. "So you still remember to come home? Still remember you left a son behind at your old mother's house? Hmph, wait a while longer, and never mind forgetting to tell you the password—I won't even remember who you are!" Chen Shu did not attempt to flatter her or act sweet. She simply said in a level tone, "Work has been busy, but didn't I come back to spend the New Year with you? Stop the sarcastic remarks—you passed menopause ages ago." Chen Shu's fierce, unyielding disposition had been inherited entirely from her mother. Leaving her suitcase in the living room, she called out to Grandfather on the sofa, "Dad!" Grandfather gave a lukewarm hum of acknowledgment, his eyes remaining glued to the news broadcast. "Your mother was just worrying about you. Things have been turbulent in the Free Federation lately. Now that you're back, stay in the country for a bit longer." Chen Shu glanced at the television screen. "Got it!" Sitting down at the dining table, she asked in a conversational tone, "My assistant is still downstairs bringing up New Year's gifts for you. Mom, how have you been getting along with your daughter-in-law this year?" Her outfit was far too aloof and imposing, the sort worn by corporate elites or high-society figures who frequented upscale venues, looking distinctly out of place in this modest home. Grandmother walked into her younger daughter's bedroom to grab a cushion for Chen Shu, grumbling crossly, "If you buy clothes that cost tens of thousands of yuan, don't get white. It gets dirty so easily." None of Chen Shu's outfits cost less than five figures. Only after laying down the cushion did Grandmother reply with an irritated huff, "The same as always. She stays in her house, and I stay in mine; we mind our own business. If she rubs me the wrong way one day, I'll march right over and teach her a lesson, and her husband and son will just have to stand by and watch obediently." Chen Shu asked, "Where's Yuanzi? When I called him, Guan Ya picked up." Grandmother replied with biting sarcasm, "Who's Yuanzi? I'm close to forgetting him too. Hmph, ever since that son of yours got a girlfriend, he forgot all about his own doghouse. He stays at the young lady's place every single day—if people didn't know better, they'd think he married into her family." Chen Shu acted as if she had not heard a word. Grandmother continued to vent, "The young one is unreliable, but the older one is even more ridiculous. Your brother said a few days ago that he was going out, and he hasn't set foot in the house for three days. He won't pick up his phone, and no one can track him down. "I called Yuanjun, but Yuanjun went off on a business trip to Hangcheng and told me to contact his colleagues. Fat lot of good that did—not a shred of news to this day." Chen Shu felt neither curiosity nor concern regarding the disappearance of the family's black sheep. Instead, she asked after her nephew's situation: "Is he really that busy after becoming a police captain? The New Year is almost here, and he still has to travel out of town on business?" Grandmother said, "It wasn't an official assignment. He went to Hangcheng to look for Ah Bing—that kid who was so close with Yuanzi, the one who used to live next door." Chen Shu fell abruptly silent. *** In Hangcheng. After waiting in a hotel for three days, Chen Yuanjun finally received a call from his subordinate. "Captain Chen, we found it! We found the missing persons file for Lei Yibing at the West Lake Police Station. The case was forwarded here by our station four years ago," Xiao Gao said, his voice brimming with excitement. After toiling away on this three-day business trip, they finally had results. Captain Chen had promised that once this matter was wrapped up, he would grant him three extra days of leave for the Spring Festival. Even if the sky fell, he wouldn't have to report for duty. Chen Yuanjun exhaled softly. "The West Lake Police Station should have the investigative details. Walk me through them." *** Pingsheng Residential Compound, Unit 402. Having just seen her husband off and finished wiping down the dining table, Aunt Zhou heard the doorbell ring. "Coming!" She wiped her damp hands on her apron and unlocked the door. Standing outside was a man wearing a baseball cap and a face mask. Aunt Zhou appraised him with sharp vigilance. "We don't buy anything from door-to-door salesmen! No need to pitch to me. My husband and son are still asleep, and they don't want to be disturbed." She said this deliberately to give him the impression that two adult men were home. No matter where or when, a person dressed like this could never be trusted; they always warranted suspicion. "I have news regarding Lei Yibing," the man in the baseball cap and mask said in a raspy voice. Aunt Zhou's hand froze on the door. Her face instantly shifted through a tangled flurry of surprise, doubt, and urgency. While she hesitated, the man stepped past the threshold into the entryway, entering the living room without taking off his shoes. "Close the door and come here!" Aunt Zhou obeyed him unconsciously, shutting the door and sitting down on the sofa across from him. The man lifted his head, revealing a pair of sinister eyes beneath the brim of his cap. Within those eyes swirled what seemed like a vortex. "You are very tired now, very tired... You need to rest..." Aunt Zhou's eyes shut, her body slumped, and she fell asleep lying sideways on the sofa. Countless bizarre and kaleidoscopic dreams immediately surfaced before Sect Master Chunyang's eyes. At this hour, people in the surrounding neighborhood were still sleeping in great numbers. He had already investigated every person at Kangyang Middle School who could possibly have any connection to Yuanshi Tianzun, yet had uncovered nothing. After circling endlessly, he had returned to the home of Lei Yibing—someone who seemed entirely unrelated to Yuanshi Tianzun on the surface, yet was conspicuously suspicious. He intended to thoroughly deconstruct this woman's dreams and excavate the memories she had long forgotten. *** Within the realm of chaos. Zhang Yuanqing did not dwell on the First Emperor's destination or choice; it hardly mattered. It was nothing more than passing gossip learned while conversing with Sovereign Haotian. After all, the era of the First Emperor had ended over two thousand years ago; whether he was dead or alive carried little significance. Just then, Sovereign Haotian cast a glance at him and spoke in a measured tone, "You have lingered in the chaos for three days. It is time to depart. You may now state your request." *Three days already?!* Zhang Yuanqing froze, shock washing over his face. In his perception, from the moment he summoned Sovereign Haotian until now, at most half an hour had passed. "There are no years in chaos. The flow of time here differs from the outside world." Sovereign Haotian gazed at him placidly, awaiting his request. *If I were to hide here for a year, wouldn't hundreds of years pass outside? Any request is fine?* Zhang Yuanqing tested the waters: "I want to become the Lord of the Sun." Sovereign Haotian merely looked at him with a smile, saying nothing. The atmosphere turned slightly awkward. *As expected, that won't work. Even deities have their limits...* Zhang Yuanqing did not hesitate any further, voicing his true request in a low voice: "I want to enter the Sun Instance." This had been his fundamental objective in summoning Sovereign Haotian from the very beginning. Regarding the existence of Sovereign Haotian, he had discussed it with Fu Qingyang and his uncle more than once, and all of them agreed that this enigmatic Haotian was a powerhouse transcending even demigods. After all, both the First Emperor and the Bu Liang Ren had sought favors from Him. Upon learning that the Demon Seed had breached the Sun Instance to send the evil demigods inside, stripping him of his qualification to compete for the Sun, the first thought that struck Zhang Yuanqing was to commune with Sovereign Haotian. The casual chatter over the past three days had merely been him seizing the opportunity to probe for intelligence and uncover ancient secrets once he realized Sovereign Haotian was in high spirits for conversation. His underlying purpose had never wavered: he wanted to enter the Sun Instance. So long as he could enter the Sun Instance, his uncle, the Goddess of Beauty, his cousin, and the ancestor of the Xie family would undoubtedly switch over to support him, and the head of the Xiahou family would most likely defect as well. Among the other guild leaders of the Five Elements Alliance, Gang Leader Jiang held a favorable view of him, and given his bonds with Jiang Jingwei and Jiang Ju, even if Jiang did not offer aid, he would never become an enemy. He could completely establish a three-way standoff against Ling Tuo and the Taiyi Sect Master. Of course, as an early-stage Level 9 Day Wanderer, he would very likely be singled out and targeted by the demigods' concentrated fire. Even so, he had to try. If push came to shove, he could always lay down his arms, surrender, and back the Lord of the Stars. Behind Sovereign Haotian's head, the clock face turned slowly as He gave a gentle nod. "Very well!" Immediately, Zhang Yuanqing heard the chime of the Spirit Realm: [Your Spirit Realm instance for this session is: "Battle of the Gods," ID: 00] [Difficulty Level: Unknown] [Type: Multiplayer (Death Match)] [Main Quest: Crown the Lord of the Sun.] [Note: Non-Spirit Realm items cannot be brought in.] [Instance 00 Introduction: Demigods of both factions have gathered. They shall do battle for the candidates they support for the Lord of the Sun. The Sun is encircled by five tactical formations, sealed deep within the abyss. By seizing control of the cores of all five formations simultaneously, one may summon the slumbering Sun from the abyss and become the Lord of the Sun.]