A Third Party?

Chen Shu sighed and said softly, "This isn't your fault. You struggled, you suffered, you resisted, and in the end, among all those negative influences, you chose lust. Human nature holds many evils, and lust is the least harmful of them. "I suffered over this for a long time too. Your uncle says the Fallen Grail is a special rule-based item, and the only power in the world that can purify it is the Sun Origin. "The Crimson Sun Executioner of the Taiyi Sect can suppress the Fallen Grail's corruption, but there was no way for us to make him help you." She took a few steps forward, as though she wanted to embrace her son, but she didn't dare approach, so she sat down on the edge of the bed and said: "We know your temperament—you're extreme, you loathe evil like a sworn enemy. If you'd learned that you were the Demon Lord yourself, you couldn't have borne it. That's why we kept it from you all this while." Zhang Yuanqing let out a "Mm." "Your aunt said something similar." The uncle pulled out an ergonomic chair and sat down, crossing one leg over the other: "The main reason is that you were destined to become a dazzling new star in the Spirit Realm, to come to the attention of Ling Tuo and the Lord of the Stars. If you had known the truth, it would have amounted to them knowing it." Zhang Yuanqing gazed out at the scenery beyond the window and said: "Uncle, I want to hear about how you all responded after Brother Bing and I went missing back then—I want to understand the details from your point of view. Because after becoming the Lord of the Sun and recovering my memories, there are still a few things I haven't worked out." As he said this, he did not turn around, nor did he leave the window. It wasn't that he was putting on airs. Having just ascended to demigod, he couldn't rein in his own status and power, and it affected those around him. His uncle was fine, but his mother, Chen Shu, was an ordinary person; coming face to face with the Lord of the Sun's visage, she would grow stiff and fearful. The high temperature in the house was caused by his spiritual power leaking out. He was the sun, symbolizing light, heat, majesty, order, and justice—and these "symbolic" aspects could not be reined in or hidden. In other words, in the future, any place where he dwelt for long would inevitably become a region where solar divine power boiled. The uncle was silent for a while, choosing his words, then said: "When you and Lei Yibing came back from Hangcheng, you pretended nothing had happened and told us you'd just been playing around, that it was a sudden whim, that you'd gone missing for three days for fun. "Yu'er and I pretended to believe it. That very night, she hypnotized you and got the whole story straight. With Yu'er's temper, she wanted to go fight the Deceitful Eye Judge to the death on the spot, and I was the one who stopped her. "I had her hypnotize you again, to make you believe deep in your heart that you were no longer suited to stay at home—that your fallen orderly-class identity would draw official investigation and drag your family into it. "Half a month later, before summer break ended, you hastily left behind a letter and ran away from home." Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "I always found that strange later. Given my personality, even if I ran away from home, I'd have secretly come back to see you. But all the way up until you confessed your identity, I never once went home." "Because that would have let you see that puppet!" The uncle sighed: "After you left, Yu'er used your DNA to create a physical body, then drew on the power of the Fragment of Taiyin Origin to harvest the soul of a dead infant and cultivate a strand of pure soul from it. "That clone finished high school in your place and got you into Songhai—of course, getting into Songhai was 'rigged' by Yu'er and me. In truth, that clone was dull and wooden, only barely able to communicate with others. "I told your high school teachers and classmates that you'd had a high fever over the summer that damaged your brain, and everyone sympathized with you. As for your maternal grandparents, your cousin, and your aunt, Yu'er planted suggestions in them all through hypnosis. "Never mind your brain being damaged—even if you'd become a vegetable, they wouldn't have found it strange." Zhang Yuanqing listened quietly, and for no particular reason he recalled his all-too-brief few days of college life. His classmate Li Lesheng had once remarked in surprise that he was different from usual. And several classmates had warmly invited him to a gathering, but because of the Ou Xiangrong incident the school went on lockdown, and the gathering came to nothing. Thinking about it now, his classmates' attitude back then had been quite off. Too enthusiastic—as if he were a newly enrolled freshman, a newly made friend, rather than a classmate they'd spent a whole semester with. Of course, in their eyes, that was exactly what he was. The old Zhang Yuanqing had been dull and wooden, a complete nobody. Suddenly he spoke well, and he seemed more spirited. The uncle went on: "After you ran away from home, I kept a close watch on you from the shadows. Once you reached the Saint realm, came into contact with more secrets, and had a complete grasp of Spirit Realm information, I approached you under the guise of a mysterious investor and began to teach you by word and example. "After that—giving you the Fragment of Taiyin Origin, confessing my identity—there's no need for me to belabor it. "I explained to you back then that this was to guard against Ling Tuo. If Zhang Yuanqing had gone missing, his family, teachers, classmates, and the Public Security Bureau would all have kept records. "Once Ling Tuo touched upon the relevant people and matters, the truth that you are the Demon Lord could no longer be hidden—even with the Taiyin Fragment's protection. After all, some things can be reasoned out with the mind; they don't require deduction. "But if the Zhang Yuanqing in reality continued to exist, going to school and living just as always, and the Public Security Bureau held no related records, then everything would be fine—both logically and within the river of fate." Zhang Yuanqing listened patiently, then asked: "In the Fate Palace dungeon, at the bottom of the Rebirth Spring—those bodies of mine, you made them?" The uncle said: "Those were the bodies Yu'er remade for you after you died as the Demon Lord. Strictly speaking, that puppet is just a tool—an instrument in human form. It needs Yu'er to constantly feed it spiritual power just to keep it alive. It has flesh and blood, but it isn't a real person. Creating life isn't as easy as you'd imagine; at the very least, it's not something a level-7 Arbiter of Fate can do. "To gain a true body, to be acknowledged by the Spirit Realm, to hold a character card, one must be a true living being. The Rebirth Spring of the Fate Palace can create true life. "Alas, if the plan hadn't had to be carried out in secret, unknown to outsiders, then asking the Xie family's Old Ancestor for help would have been the simplest and most convenient route." Having lamented this, the uncle went on: "So I took that puppet, along with your DNA, and had the puppet dive to the bottom of the spring to gather silt and mold your present body. Those bodies at the bottom of the spring are the puppet's, not yours. "After the body was remade, Yu'er used her own soul as thread to stitch together the souls inside you and the puppet, which is why, after you were resurrected, you possessed the memories of high school and college." Zhang Yuanqing nodded. "But in essence, that portion of soul and I are two different people, which is why, back during the grand health check, the instrument scanned me and malfunctioned." He remembered it clearly. The instrument's feedback at the time had been: [Beep beep, beginning diagnosis. Condition is—] It had malfunctioned several times in a row. The instrument used during the checkup was of the Musician class. After the repeated malfunctions, the diagnosis the instrument finally gave was: [Beep beep, please do not simultaneously] Please do not have two people scanned at the same time! After that, as he gradually leveled up and his soul grew ever stronger, that pure portion of soul from the puppet had been completely fused by him as a Night Wanderer—just like using Spirit Devouring to absorb a wraith. It became nourishment for his soul. Besides the checkup instrument, the two times the Mother Goddess's Womb had jammed while resurrecting him had, in fact, also been foreshadowing his problem. The first jam had been "cannot resurrect"; the second jam had been "cannot awaken the soul." The Mother Goddess's Womb, this rule-based item, resurrects a complete soul—but the soul that retained the Demon Lord's memories lay dormant within the Sun Origin. So it could neither resurrect nor awaken. Zhang Yuanqing gathered his thoughts and said: "Uncle, something came up at the Rebirth Spring. Last October, Xie Su entered the 'Fate Palace' dungeon and saw my 'corpse' at the bottom of the spring, but because of it he fell into a loop, going through the cycle of discovering my corpse and then forgetting it, over and over. "Later, he recorded the information on a strip of cloth and carried it out of the dungeon to the Xie family's Old Ancestor. I was present at the time, and the Xie family's Old Ancestor, Xie Su, and I... all fell into the loop at the same time." Chen Shu listened, dumbstruck. Even the uncle, a demigod, felt his scalp prickle, and he unconsciously straightened his back. Zhang Yuanqing did not turn around. "Your emotions tell me you didn't know about this. So the corpses at the bottom of the Rebirth Spring were made by you—but that looping power has nothing to do with you!" The family black sheep sighed. "It gives me the eerie feeling of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. That power was helping us cover our tracks—the traces of your identity. In terms of the outcome, it's an ally, but I can't make out the other party's true purpose." The uncle pondered for a few seconds, then looked at his nephew's back: "Even a demigod was dragged into the loop—you can imagine what tier that power is on. Really, you shouldn't be asking me; you should be asking yourself. During your Demon Lord phase, you must have had some fortuitous encounter. In last year's battle, you summoned a Fragment of the Sun Origin against all reason. "The Lord of the Stars questioned me about it, but I no longer recall the relevant intelligence." Zhang Yuanqing was silent for a moment, then shook his head. "In the memories I recovered, there's no such information." "Then you can try asking the Elvis Presley speaker," the uncle said. "You're in the habit of keeping your diary with it." At that, Zhang Yuanqing opened his palm, and a small, exquisite black speaker materialized out of thin air in it. Zhang Yuanqing shot it a sidelong glance. "You know what I want to hear!" The Elvis Presley speaker was silent for a few seconds, then a crackle of static came from its horn, followed by the crisp sound of flesh meeting flesh, and a woman's moans and whimpering cries, as if weeping and pleading: "Ah, my lord Demon Lord, you can't treat Betty so roughly, you can't..." Then came the Demon Lord's hoarse, mocking laugh: "A few months apart, and you can't even take a whipping anymore?" The room fell dead silent, the air seeming to freeze. Zhang Yuanqing silently put the Elvis Presley speaker away. In the stillness, the family black sheep gave a dry laugh. "This lousy speaker only dares act tough among its own—back in the dungeon, it didn't dare let out a single fart." Zhang Yuanqing gave a deadpan "Mm." Shit, shit, shit! I'm fucking going to smash this piece of junk into powder. Zhang Yuanqing wished he could claw through the floor with the soles of his feet—this was an embarrassment that even the Sun Origin could never purify. In truth, ever since recovering his memories, he'd already felt somewhat averse to the Elvis Presley speaker. The audio he used to listen to with such relish had all been him, all along. I never thought I'd see myself turn up in the domestic section one day! That was more or less Zhang Yuanqing's state of mind. After a brief, awkward silence, the Lord of the Sun deftly changed the subject: "The second matter: the Sun Origin is incomplete, so I am not the complete Lord of the Sun. To defeat the Lord of the Stars, I must find that fragment. "I once saw that fragment of the sun. It was during the Black Wuchang wanted case—it was seized by a mysterious figure. "I once thought it had been formed from a residual thought of the Demon Lord, but clearly, it isn't me. I have good reason to suspect that a third party is secretly involved in the contest for the title of Lord of the Sun." The uncle's expression turned extremely grave. "Have you deduced the sun fragment's location?" Zhang Yuanqing gave a slight nod: "It is not in the past, not in the future; it is both in the past and in the future." Not in the past, not in the future... The uncle chewed over these words again and again, his brows knitted with worry. Just then, the phone Zhang Yuanqing had left on the desk rang. The caller was Xie Su. He beckoned with his hand, summoning the phone, and answered the call. "Yuanshi, I remember now. I remember what was at the bottom of the Rebirth Spring in the Fate Palace..." Pausing for a moment, Xie Su went on in a horrified tone: "They're all your clones down there!!" Xie Dad still didn't know that Yuanshi Tianzun had become the Lord of the Sun. Zhang Yuanqing was stunned for a moment. "You remembered too?" His expression suddenly turned grave. He had assumed that the reason he'd escaped the loop and recovered his memories was that he had ascended to the Lord of the Sun, and that no power could ever affect him again. Now, it seemed, he had guessed wrong.