Two days passed in the blink of an eye, and the duration of the evil faction's final array expired. The Taiyi Sect Master walked slowly toward the formation. Along the way, the surrounding evil demigods fixed sharp, wary gazes upon the Void demigod in the sky, acting like personal bodyguards to the Lord of the Stars, constantly vigilant against any reckless fool charging forward to disrupt his red-carpet stroll.
The tables had completely turned!
After two days of processing and adjustment, the evil demigods had fully accepted that the Lord of the Stars had become a powerhouse on their side. Their initial anger and humiliation had transformed into delight and exhilaration.
How could personal pride compare to victory between factions?
The Lord of the Stars was truly a great comrade.
Treading over the barren earth, the Lord of the Stars stepped into the array's pillar of light. Raising his brilliant, starlit eyes to meet the gaze of the motionless Void demigod, he said calmly, "In truth, the evil faction is far more tolerant and gentle than the orthodox faction. The invaders merely wish to preserve the order of the cosmos, nipping threats in the bud.
"This planet has reached the end of its lifespan. Once I become the Lord of the Spirit Realm, it will cease to exist, putting an absolute end to spirit realm walkers.
"However, as demigods, you are transcendent beings. You can travel to other habitable worlds and experience different forms of life and civilization.
"The invaders will not hunt you down. In all things under heaven, where there is yin, there must be yang; only when yin and yang are balanced can existence endure. As long as you do not interfere with their destruction of living beings and worlds, you may live on undisturbed until the end of your natural spans."
The Lord of the Stars sighed. "In contrast, the orthodox faction is far more extreme. Yearning for life and rejecting destruction, once the orthodox faction gains power, it will stop at nothing until every member of the evil faction is wiped out.
"What I endorse is the philosophy of the evil faction: all things must come to an end, including the cosmos."
The Void demigod frowned. "I have no idea what you're rambling about."
Showing the disappointed look of one trying to speak of ice to a summer insect, the Lord of the Stars said, "All you need to know is that once I claim the Sun origin and integrate the sun, moon, and stars, I will not slaughter you all."
The Void demigod sneered. "You traitorous dog, trying to play that 'leave an escape route' tactic on me again! You might not wipe us out, but the evil faction will.
"Cruelty and bloodlust are instincts etched into the evil faction's very bones. It is their nature. That holds true for demigods, let alone those invaders. Crushing us is as easy as stepping on ants. When it is that effortless, what does following their nature to stomp out a few ants matter to them?"
A mocking smirk crossed the Lord of the Stars' calm face. "If that is so, why have you hesitated to strike? The moment this array activated, you had already lost. Compromise and clinging to survival—that is the choice you made over these past two days of contemplation. What is the point of being stubborn with your words? Can you truly deceive your own heart?"
The Void demigod remained silent.
A moment later, the pillar of light in the center of the grand array blazed brilliantly, its radiance multiplying tens, then hundreds of times over. Simultaneously, four other pillars of light hundreds of kilometers away erupted with blinding light as all five grand arrays activated in unison.
At the very center of the five pillars, a barren expanse stretching a hundred kilometers began to collapse, revealing a colossal abyss.
A beam of dazzling golden light radiated from within the depths.
At the same time, the five pillars resonated and linked with one another, forming an enormous pentagonal wall of light that barred every demigod except the Lord of the Stars.
This was the reward for the orthodox faction assembling all five grand arrays.
No one who did not belong to an orthodox class or possess the status of a Day Wanderer could enter past the barrier.
The Lord of the Stars removed the robe condensed from starlight and snapped his wrist. With a rustle, the starlight robe unfurled, spinning rapidly in midair and ballooning exponentially—ten zhang, fifty zhang, a hundred zhang, two hundred zhang...
In the blink of an eye, it transformed into a vast stellar canopy that blotted out the sky.
Pressing down with one hand, the Lord of the Stars guided the garment gently downward to shroud the abyss, concealing the pure golden light.
Moments later, the surface of the starlight robe glowed brighter and brighter with golden light, like a flashlight wrapped tightly in cloth.
The starlight robe bulged, protruding into a sphere.
The domineering, unyielding golden light incinerated and purified the starlight.
Time and again, the starlight robe dimmed and vaporized, yet it continually surged with even more brilliant starlight, remaining wrapped around the Sun origin as it fought with all its might to neutralize the sun's tyranny.
Pushing against the canopy-like starlight robe, the Sun origin slowly ascended into the sky, radiating a faint divine power of the sun across the instance.
Patches of carbonization appeared across the Lord of the Stars' face, and his hands gradually blackened. Golden flames repeatedly ignited upon his body, only to be extinguished by starlight.
The two origin forces deadlocked for a brief period before the ownerless Sun origin was finally neutralized by the starlight, stabilizing and ceasing its fierce incineration of the robe.
The Sun origin had been subdued.
The Lord of the Stars exhaled a silent breath of foul air, and the charring and blackened burns on his body healed.
Then, spreading his arms wide, he spoke in a grand, layered voice:
"Converge!"
Enveloping the Sun origin, the starlight robe plunged forcefully into his chest, merging into his body.
He intended to conquer the sun in one fell swoop.
Suspended in midair, the dazzling starlight and pure golden light within the Lord of the Stars chased and wound around each other like two roaming dragons.
The starlight repeatedly pursued the sun, attempting to merge into it, while the golden light repeatedly repelled the starlight, yet inevitably coalesced with it.
Watching this scene unfold, the Xie family ancestor let out a heavy sigh. "There is no turning this around!"
The Lord of the Stars fusing with the sun was now a foregone conclusion.
The Goddess of Beauty and the Void demigod remained silent, their eyes glued to the golden light inside the Lord of the Stars.
The evil demigods let out long, synchronized exhalations, some showing joy, some curling their lips into grins, and others finally relaxing the tension in their faces.
The Lord of the Stars now commanded both Taiyin and the sun. Once he refined the sun, he could further assimilate the Taiyin Origin and become the true dominator of the Spirit Realm.
The tug-of-war between the orthodox and freedom factions had lasted a century. Now, the dust had finally settled.
All that remained was to return to the real world, purge the orthodox faction, and remake heaven and earth.
Suddenly, without any warning, a figure appeared inside the instance, standing not far from the evil demigods.
...
Pingsheng Residential Area.
Sect Master Chunyang entered the middle-aged woman's dream. Within the dreamscape, a burly young man sat beside the dining table with one foot resting on his chair, holding a rice bowl and shoveling food down his throat, heaping his plate with large chopsticks of dishes.
He mumbled, "Mom, your cooking is still the best. It's been so long since I had it. I'm so happy."
The middle-aged woman sat beside him, her gaze gentle, a smile playing at the corners of her lips.
*Even in her dreams, she longs for her missing son...* Sect Master Chunyang scoffed, waving his hand. The dream shattered into fragments, dissolving into an expanse of white.
Aunt Zhou stood blankly within the void, her eyes vacant, looking as though she were sleepwalking.
"Four years ago, disappeared in Hangcheng, reported to the Kangyang District Police Station..."
A grayish-white halo surfaced around Sect Master Chunyang's eye sockets, spreading outward along with his words.
Consequently, the Kangyang District Police Station materialized within the white dreamscape, alongside the woman's panicked silhouette.
She rushed frantically into the police station, reporting her son's disappearance to the policewoman at the reception desk.
This scene had appeared the last time he guided her dream, but the subsequent events had been blocked by the power of hypnosis. Forcing a breakthrough back then might have inflicted irreversible trauma on her soul.
Sect Master Chunyang had only come on a whim to investigate without a clear objective at that time, and unwilling to kill the goose that laid the golden eggs, he had broken off the dream invasion.
Now, he could proceed.
Sect Master Chunyang guided the development of the dream...
After filling out the form, Aunt Zhou was led into an office. The policewoman said, "A colleague will be here shortly to question you and take your statement..."
At this point, the dream began to glitch, flickering erratically like an unstable signal.
Aunt Zhou said, "Officer, I..."
The rest of her sentence was swallowed by static; Sect Master Chunyang heard nothing. At the same time, Aunt Zhou's dreamscape began to quake and shudder, teetering on the verge of collapse.
She began to scream in agony, yet remained unable to wake from the dream.
The gray ripples in Sect Master Chunyang's eye sockets intensified sharply, spreading out in rings that permeated the entire dream space.
The two forces clashed and vied with each other, using Aunt Zhou's dream as their battlefield.
Although Sect Master Chunyang was helping stabilize the dream and soothe her soul, a mortal soul simply could not endure a clash between spirit realm walkers. It was on the brink of falling apart at any second.
Right then, just as Aunt Zhou's soul was about to crumble, the force resisting Sect Master Chunyang suddenly vanished.
It was like a fuse blowing.
Aunt Zhou's soul stabilized instantly.
*The caster actually cared about a mortal's life?* Sect Master Chunyang raised an eyebrow. He deduced that the Musician who hypnotized the woman likely knew her.
They had wanted her to forget a certain memory, but had no intention of taking her life.
With the dream stabilized, Sect Master Chunyang stood inside the police interrogation room, watching the woman wait in sheer anxiety.
Shortly thereafter, the door to the interrogation room swung open.
...
Hangcheng.
Inside a hotel room, Chen Yuanjun stood by the window, listening to his subordinate Xiao Gao's report:
"According to the records, four years ago, Lei Yibing disappeared at Hidden Buddha Temple by West Lake. Officers from the station pulled the temple's surveillance footage and found that after purchasing a ticket and entering the scenic area, he never appeared again. None of the cameras monitoring the exits of Hidden Buddha Temple captured them leaving.
"Colleagues from the West Lake Police Station pulled the surrounding street footage as well, but found no trace of him either, ruling out the possibility that he climbed over the wall to exit.
"Curiously, however, the file here was never closed, nor was the missing persons case rescinded. But you mentioned that Lei Yibing was found later on. Reasonably speaking, once someone is found, the case should be closed on this end."
*Yes, why wasn't the case closed? Lei Yibing is still listed as a missing person at the West Lake Police Station...* Chen Yuanjun furrowed his brows in thought. Then, Xiao Gao's voice rang in his ear again:
"By the way, Team Leader Chen, I found something else. Aside from Lei Yibing, there was another person listed as missing in the file."
"Another person?" Chen Yuanjun asked in confusion.
Xiao Gao replied, "Yes. The one who went missing at the same time as Lei Yibing is named Zhang Yuanqing!
"I was just about to report this to you. It's a lead worth looking into..."
As if struck by lightning, Chen Yuanjun froze, and his phone hit the floor with a clatter.
Clutching his head, he crouched down in agonizing pain. A thunderous roar erupted within his mind, as though something had awakened.
...
The door to the interrogation room opened, and in walked a weary-faced man with a deep frown carved into his brow.
Seeing the man push the door open, Aunt Zhou sprang up from her chair and cried out in terror, "Yuanjun, something's happened! Ah Bing and Yuanzi are missing! They've been out of reach for three days..."
...
Chapter 978