“What does the Old Ancestor have to say?” Zhang Yuanqing tried to get some feedback from the Xie family’s Old Ancestor.
Hearing this, Xie Su’s tone immediately turned grave. “After the Old Ancestor entered the Sun dungeon a few days ago, there’s been no word from him at all. I’ve been waiting for the Old Ancestor to return, waiting for tidings of the orthodox faction’s victory... A few hours ago, a golden sun appeared in reality, and Wuxing Alliance headquarters judged that the Lord of the Sun might already have been born. But the orthodox faction’s demigods still haven’t returned, and there’s no word from them either...”
His voice betrayed his worry.
Fortunately, several hours passed, and Wuxing Alliance headquarters had still not come under attack.
Which meant the battle inside the Sun dungeon was not yet over.
Now, the Spirit Realm clans, the Taiyi Sect, and the Wuxing Alliance were all following the latest developments concerning the Lord of the Sun.
Zhang Yuanqing said, “The battle for the Sun Origin is already over. The Lord of the Sun has indeed been born, and the Old Ancestor should have returned to the ancestral home. Go and take a look.”
With that, he hung up.
About ten minutes later, Xie Su’s call came back. Zhang Yuanqing answered, and from the speaker came Xie Su’s awed, trembling voice:
“Xie Su of the Xie family pays his respects to the Lord of the Sun!”
The corner of Zhang Yuanqing’s mouth curled. Hadn’t Xie Su wanted him to be the Xie family’s son-in-law? Since when did a father-in-law bow to his son-in-law?
“What did the Old Ancestor say?” No matter how rich his inner monologue, Zhang Yuanqing’s tone remained dignified and commanding.
Xie Su’s tone was deeply deferential. “The Old Ancestor has remembered as well. He said it was at the very moment you ascended to Lord of the Sun.”
At the moment I ascended to Lord of the Sun... Zhang Yuanqing turned the words over in his mind, and after a long while, said:
“I understand.”
He ended the call, and with his back still to his mother and uncle, said:
“Our next focus is to find the Sun Origin Fragments and to keep watch over the movements of the evil faction’s demigods. The Lord of Stars knows I am not a complete Lord of the Sun.
“With his habit of laying down pieces on the board—the more, the better—he will certainly throw himself into the fight for the Sun Origin and try to stop me from becoming the true Lord of the Sun.
“Sometimes, all we need to do is keep an eye on the enemy.”
The uncle snapped his fingers. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”
Zhang Yuanqing tilted his head slightly and glanced at his mother from the corner of his eye. “The Mother Goddess Womb is in the hands of Asura or the Lord of Stars. Father can’t be revived just yet, but it won’t be too long now.”
Chen Shu gave a soft “Mm.”
Supporting her son in becoming the Lord of the Sun was a crucial step toward reviving her dead husband. She had already walked ninety-nine of the hundred steps; only the last one remained. She could not help feeling tense and anxious, but as a strong, capable woman rich in both life experience and worldly wisdom, she had at least this much patience.
Zhang Yuanqing said no more. Transforming into a streak of golden light, he slipped out of the real world and arrived at the Mohist Mechanism City dungeon.
He draped on the Yin-Yang Dharma Robe, donned the White Emperor Crown and the Azure Emperor Jade Belt, and stepped both feet into the Houtu Boots.
In an instant, the power of the Five Elements came to a boil and evolved into chaos.
The chaos spread out like a tide.
He meant to summon Haotian Shangdi once more and ask about certain matters. The Elvis Presley speaker had not dared to speak—there was surely a reason for that. As a deity of the orthodox faction, Haotian Shangdi could only choose to support him, the Lord of the Sun. Now that matters had come this far, there were many things he could simply ask and discuss directly, with no need to investigate and unravel them.
There was no sound within the chaos, no concept of time. Zhang Yuanqing dared not wait too long, and after a hundred heartbeats, he reluctantly deactivated the effect of the Heaven-Worship Set.
Haotian Shangdi had not answered him!
The chaos receded like a tide, shrinking back into the Heaven-Worship Set. Zhang Yuanqing stood at the foot of the mountain in Mohist Mechanism City, pondered for a few seconds, then took a single stride and arrived in the Spirit Realm, vast and glittering like a river of stars.
He raised his head, and two beams of brilliant golden light shot from his eyes.
This time, he did not see those evil deities entrenched above the Spirit Realm. The Spirit Realm seemed to have activated a defensive mechanism, sealing itself off from the universe—nothing within could be glimpsed from outside, nor could the scenes of the universe be seen from within.
Combined with Haotian Shangdi’s failure to answer the summons, Zhang Yuanqing guessed that the war among the deities had already begun ahead of schedule.
Haotian Shangdi was contending with the evil deities for control of the Spirit Realm.
“Alas, from now on I can only rely on myself...”
Zhang Yuanqing lowered his gaze, and the brilliant golden beams pierced through the Spirit Realm. He found the dungeon where the Lord of Stars had hidden himself.
The Taiyin’s concealment counters the Stars’ divination, and the Sun, in turn, counters the Taiyin’s concealment.
But Zhang Yuanqing had no intention of entering the dungeon to duel the Lord of Stars alone. With his current status, he had no confidence in defeating an enemy who wielded both the Taiyin and Star Origins.
Only by gathering the complete Sun Origin and raising his status—becoming the true Sun that symbolizes the order of the cosmos—could he suppress the Lord of Stars.
Zhang Yuanqing shifted his gaze, and his sight pierced through the Spirit Realm to search the real world.
Soon, he spotted Asura, but he found no trace of the other evil faction demigods. They must have hidden themselves inside guild scenarios. To track them down amid the boundless sea of stars would take no small amount of time.
...
The Northwest. The Bing Cult.
Asura sat cross-legged atop the desolate sacred mountain. At its foot stretched rows upon rows of low, squat houses. The Bing Cult headquarters, once bustling with people, was now left with only desolation and bleakness.
After the Sun dungeon opened, to guard against retaliation from the official organizations, Ghost Blade and Heavenly King Miejue had led the cult’s members out of the Northwest Gobi and hidden them away among the common folk. They still did not know that the battle for the Sun Origin had already ended, and neither Asura nor Heavenly King Fear had any intention of summoning the cult’s members.
There was still a more soul-stirring decisive battle to come. Only by surviving that battle would it be time for the evil faction to sing and dance in triumph; if they could not survive it, they would be utterly wiped from existence, and there would be no point in coming back.
Heavenly King Fear stood beside Asura, toying with his ear stud as he gazed at the magnificent red clouds on the horizon. “The Demon Lord is free. He’s finally free...”
Then he sighed. “But I am still not free.”
Across Asura’s knees lay an old, faded leather scroll. He too gazed into the distance and said in a low voice, “You want to defect to the enemy like the Demon Eye, and help your Demon Lord?”
Heavenly King Fear shook his head. “Back then, I helped the Demon Lord because he was not free. Inside the heavy body he bore, weighed down with shackles, dwelt a soul that yearned for freedom and longed to break free of its plight. What reason did I have not to help him?
“Now, he is free, so what reason do I have to help him? A free soul—whether living or dead—is free all the same!”
Asura was silent for a few seconds. “I cannot understand that.”
Heavenly King Fear glanced at the leather scroll on Asura’s knees. “What are our chances?”
“The Lord of Stars wants to find the whereabouts of the Sun Origin Fragment. So long as it is found—or so long as Yuanshi Tianzun is kept from getting it—the overall situation can be decided. Conversely, a complete Lord of the Sun can suppress both the Stars and the Taiyin.” Asura stroked the leather scroll and went on, “I don’t know whether the Demon Lord has grasped the Sun Origin Fragment’s whereabouts, but the Stars have already foreseen it. When it comes to divination, ten Yuanshi Tianzuns are no match for the Lord of Stars.”
Heavenly King Fear nodded slightly. “So it comes down to a race of speed.”
Just as the words left his mouth, he saw Asura close his eyes, while the leather scroll across his knees gave off a soft, pure starlight.
In the gray, hazy dream, Asura saw a figure coalesced from starlight, murmuring as if talking in its sleep, over and over:
“Sect Master Chunyang, Sect Master Chunyang...”
The dream shattered in an instant.
Asura opened his eyes, rose to his feet, and looked at Heavenly King Fear beside him. “The Lord of Stars has given a revelation. Find Sect Master Chunyang—he holds the clues to the Sun Origin Fragment!”
...
Mohist Mechanism City.
Zhang Yuanqing returned to the guild scenario and sank into deep thought.
His current focus was to find the clues to the Sun Origin Fragment, and to keep the Lord of Stars from finding it.
The Sun Origin Fragment—he had confirmed that a mysterious figure had taken it. But that mysterious figure was not him, which was why he suspected a third-party force was involved. And yet, the loop event at the bottom of the Rebirth Spring in the Palace of the Arbiter of Fate had given Zhang Yuanqing a bold conjecture.
This conjecture still needed to be verified.
He opened his inventory, took out Little Red Riding Hood, and shook out Commandery Princess Yinyao, along with the Elvis Presley speaker in her waist pouch.
The moment Commandery Princess Yinyao landed, her body began to hiss, and wisps of black smoke rose from her. Rolling on the ground in agony, she let out a pitiful scream from her little horn:
“Get back, get back! Don’t roast me with that sun!”
Expressionlessly, Zhang Yuanqing took out the Companion Spirit Moon and tossed it to her. “Hold this.”
Commandery Princess Yinyao, whose pale skin was now covered in broad patches of burns, tremblingly caught the Companion Spirit Moon and pressed it to her forehead.
Deep-black vine-like patterns spread across half her face, and dense yin aura formed an outer robe that shielded her delicate, fair body.
Only then could Commandery Princess Yinyao barely rise to her feet in the presence of the Lord of the Sun. She lowered her head, not daring to look directly at his face, and from her little horn came a delighted voice:
“You succeeded? You became the Lord of the Sun?
“This commandery princess has finally turned her fortunes around! From now on, I can lord it over the entire Spirit Realm. Hmm, if my master learns that you stabbed her in the back, who knows how she’ll feel.
“But no matter. If that old hag dares to grumble, your senior sister will back you up. Your senior sister will follow your lead in all things.”
Though a yin corpse could not form expressions, the joy and excitement in Commandery Princess Yinyao’s heart were about to spill over.
Yuanshi Tianzun becoming the Lord of the Sun meant that her era was about to begin as well.
As a founding elder who had waited on the Lord of the Sun hand and foot and served him with all her might in the early days, she could soar to the heavens right along with him on the strength of her merit and toil.
To become the mightiest yin being in the Spirit Realm was now only a matter of time!
If you knew that I am the very Demon Lord you hate most, you wouldn’t be “smiling” so happily... Zhang Yuanqing muttered inwardly, though his expression stayed dignified and solemn.
It wasn’t that he deliberately meant to keep up his image; rather, since becoming the Lord of the Sun, his emotions could rarely stir so much as a ripple.
Hoping to make him bow his head in submission again was now out of the question.
Every being of high station would be shaped by its own class, its character evolving in the direction of its “Dao.”
Without much expression, Zhang Yuanqing said, “I am an incomplete Lord of the Sun. There is still one Origin Fragment I have not found...”
He gave Commandery Princess Yinyao a brief account of the current situation.
Commandery Princess Yinyao’s joy was instantly cut in half.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at her and said mildly, “I forgot to tell you—I have recovered my memories. The dead Demon Lord is me.”
Commandery Princess Yinyao was struck dumb.
After a long, long while, she reached out with trembling hands for the Elvis Presley speaker behind her.
The Elvis Presley speaker crackled, and from its horn came a man’s weathered voice:
“So in the end, I’ve taken my enemy for my master!”
Commandery Princess Yinyao promptly flopped to the ground, striking the pose of a woman overcome with heartbreak.
Zhang Yuanqing watched in silence, and could not help thinking of his own lovers scattered to the four corners of the world, along with his present girlfriend and lover. He felt an immediate headache coming on.
If Guan Ya learned that her boyfriend was the notorious Demon Lord, who knew whether she might draw her sword and take her own life.
Xiao Yuan would surely have her objections and grievances as well.
Not that having three wives and four concubines was anything unusual for the present him—which male demigod hadn’t kept a harem? Except, of course, for the family’s black sheep, that freak who believed in pure love.
The women he had slept with in the past had mostly been fleeting affairs. When his lustful thoughts ran deep, he had treated them as comrades-in-arms in the artillery battalion. Now that the corruption had been purified and his mind was clear, Zhang Yuanqing would certainly avoid them whenever he could.
But there were always a few women he could not avoid—Yin Ji, Teng’er, Chris, Winnie—and among the tangle of relationships branching out from these women, there were also a few men he could not avoid.
For example... his life mentor!
If his mentor learned that the promising student he had counted on was none other than the Demon Lord who had slept with his sister and his aunt, he would most likely seek a battle to the death.
Every one of his relationships was falling apart... Zhang Yuanqing sighed silently.
As his thoughts turned, he drew the Elvis Presley speaker to himself and said in a low voice:
“You didn’t speak earlier, so I took it that you didn’t want to divulge any intelligence in reality. Now you can tell me—did I leave some important intelligence with you?”
The Elvis Presley speaker was silent for a few seconds and gave a crackle of static, and then came a man’s hoarse voice:
“Uncle, listen to me. We can plot to hunt down and kill Ling Tuo, because there is a supreme existence that will help me... That supreme existence possesses the attribute of the unknowable; the mere act of learning about it pulls one into a time loop. Even I often forget it, and I need a certain item to recall it...”
Just as he thought!
Everything suddenly became clear to Zhang Yuanqing. He opened his inventory and took out an item that had been sealed away for a long time—an electronic watch!
Chapter 984