"The gap between one Saint and another is surprisingly huge," Zhang Yuanqing marveled inwardly yet again. Back at the Fenghua District Public Security Bureau, when Fu Qingyang had wounded Deacon Pang with a single sword thrust, he had felt something similar, but both had held back at the time rather than fighting to the death.
He had assumed that if it truly came down to a life-and-death struggle, Deacon Pang might have been able to put up a fight against Fu Qingyang, never expecting him to merely flop around a few extra times before meeting his end.
Zhang Yuanqing stepped onto the balcony, his soles treading on blood. Darkness surged in his eyes as he connected with the spirit body within the mangled corpse.
Just then, he felt someone tap his arm. Turning his head, he met Fu Qingyang's aloof face.
"Give me the Demon-Subduing Pestle."
"Ah, right..." Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself that he had nearly forgotten. He immediately took out the Demon-Subduing Pestle and handed it over, then hesitated and added, "Can you not handcuff me this time?"
Fu Qingyang gave an aloof nod. "It's just a matter of a single slap anyway."
"..."
*I can't even be bothered to talk to you!* Zhang Yuanqing went back to communing with the remnant spirit. After a dozen seconds or so, he finally gathered the fractured spirit and summoned it forth.
Deacon Pang's spirit body looked stern and slightly sluggish, but its solidity far surpassed that of any spirit Zhang Yuanqing had ever seen.
*A spirit body at the Saint stage... I wonder how much experience it'll give me.* Zhang Yuanqing felt a mix of delight and anxiety. Fu Qingyang, standing beside him, remarked:
"Pang Wudi was a Level 4 Saint. Devouring his spirit carries the risk of mental derailment, but with this filth-purifying item, that risk will be minimized while the gains won't diminish."
*Yeah, compared to the benefits of devouring a Saint's spirit, that small risk is entirely worth taking.* Zhang Yuanqing nodded.
Fu Qingyang continued, "However, this item isn't omnipotent. You must understand where the warning line lies. Level 4 orthodox spirits are your absolute limit. Don't touch Level 4 evil professions, Night Wanderers, or Level 5 orthodox spirits."
Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What happens if I do?"
Fu Qingyang glanced at him. "You die."
Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath and swallowed Deacon Pang's spirit into his mouth. The next moment, a surge of mental energy poured into his sea of consciousness like a raging flood, accompanied by scattered memory fragments and negative emotions.
He felt like a drowning man in a torrential current, desperately clinging to a branch on the riverbank.
At any moment, he could be swept away by this deluge and crushed to dust.
This was the most perilous spirit questioning he had experienced so far.
Enduring with bitter determination, after who knew how long, the surging flood finally subsided, and Zhang Yuanqing's sea of consciousness stabilized. He eagerly absorbed the memory fragments like a starving man.
Hazy visions appeared before him. He saw an elegant room where sandalwood incense burned. A cloaked figure stood by the window, his voice coarse and raspy, making his timbre hard to discern:
"If the things you normally do are uncovered by the Five Elements Alliance, even if you aren't executed, you'll be spending a long time behind bars. What about the matter I asked you to consider? What's your decision?"
Then, Zhang Yuanqing heard Deacon Pang's voice: "What can you give me?"
"Your aptitude is exceptional. Joining Dark Night Rose will certainly earn you grooming. We can also provide resources and support for you to climb higher within the Five Elements Alliance. In addition, we can help you smoothly pass the grand health check. Of course, most importantly..." The cloaked figure by the window paused, then said slowly, "Dark Night Rose will ultimately rule the Spirit Realm. Our leader will inevitably become the supreme Night Wanderer of this world, supplanting the Taiyi Sect Master."
"Fine. I agree to join Dark Night Rose!"
"Very good. From now on, I am your superior. You may address me as the Great Protector."
The scene shifted, though it was still that elegant room filled with the scent of sandalwood. The figure standing by the window said in a deep voice:
"Hei Wuchang has contacted us. He is currently hiding in Songhai. The leader has assigned me to handle contact with him."
"What do you need me to do?" Deacon Pang asked.
"Keep a close watch on every move made by the Five Elements Alliance, then await my word."
"Understood!" Deacon Pang hesitated, then asked inquisitively, "What are the leader and Hei Wuchang plotting?"
The cloaked figure with the gravelly voice chuckled.
"The Demon Lord and the Deceitful Eye Judge have fallen. That item and the Fallen Holy Grail counterbalance each other, forming an equilibrium. If Hei Wuchang wants to master the Fallen Holy Grail, he must beg our leader for help."
"That item?"
"It is one of the highest-tier items of the Night Wanderer profession that the Demon Lord once commanded, something the Taiyi Sect Master and our leader yearn for day and night."
River water flowed under the pitch-black night. It was a gloomy bridge arch, from which came an adult male's voice:
"Kill Yuanshi Tianzun and avenge Hengxing Wuji."
"The Deceitful Eye Judge indeed died at the Demon Lord's hands. Among those present at the time, besides the boss, there was another guy whose Spirit Realm ID was Young Soldier King."
"Three days from now, if I receive news that Yuanshi Tianzun has been killed, I will give you Young Soldier King's information right here at this spot."
*Young Soldier King's identity profile in the real world?*
Reaching this point in the spirit questioning, Zhang Yuanqing finally cursed inwardly.
His greatest fear and worry had come to pass: Dark Night Rose was indeed searching for the Demon Lord's successor as well.
Once Dark Night Rose obtained Brother Bing's identity, his own identity as the Demon Lord's successor would be completely exposed. If that happened, he would have no choice but to come clean to the Five Elements Alliance.
Yet he still didn't know the true purpose behind the Taiyi Sect and Dark Night Rose seeking the Demon Lord's successor.
Fortunately, Dark Night Rose and Hei Wuchang were suspicious of each other, so Deacon Pang had not revealed the information about the Demon Lord's successor to Tiandao Bugong.
*This is practically dancing on a tightrope...* Zhang Yuanqing muttered in his heart.
Still, the intelligence he had gained this time was too critical. If used properly, it might even lead to capturing Hei Wuchang.
A scorching, pure golden light shone forth, piercing through his sea of consciousness and cleansing his spirit. Zhang Yuanqing broke free from the spirit questioning and woke up.
"Hiss—"
He found himself lying on a couch, his head pounding as if steel needles had been driven into his skull.
*Is this a side effect of the spirit questioning, or did Fu Qingyang hit me again? I won't get a cerebral hemorrhage, will I...* Zhang Yuanqing held his head and sat up.
A few meters away on a single-seater couch, Fu Qingyang spoke with a trace of anticipation in his voice:
"Any clues?"
Zhang Yuanqing pinched the space between his eyebrows, waiting for the pain to ease slightly before saying, "Deacon Pang's superior is a walker who calls himself the 'Great Protector.' Every time they met, he wore a cloak. They should have a special contact method, but I didn't see it in the spirit's memories. It might have dissipated with his death, or perhaps it was 'concealed.'"
He relayed the information gathered from the spirit questioning piece by piece, from the existence of the Great Protector to the grand health check, and then to the power of the Holy Grail counterbalanced by the Demon Lord's item.
Fu Qingyang listened patiently, his eyes narrowing slightly when he heard that Dark Night Rose had a way to bypass the grand health check.
"Anything else?" Fu Qingyang asked.
This information was important, but it fell short of his expectations and wouldn't be of much help in hunting Hei Wuchang.
Zhang Yuanqing said, "I know why Deacon Pang wanted to kill me. The night before last, he met with Hei Wuchang's confidant, 'Tiandao Bugong.' Tiandao Bugong demanded that he kill me to avenge Hengxing Wuji."
Fu Qingyang's eyes immediately lit up. Sitting up straight, he nodded. "Very good! This is our breakthrough. As long as we capture Tiandao Bugong, we will be one step closer to Hei Wuchang."
Zhang Yuanqing asked, "What do you plan to do, Centurion?"
Fu Qingyang's gaze fell on him, the corners of his mouth curling up. "That will require you to trouble yourself by dying for a bit. I'm giving you two days off. Gather at Fujia Bay tomorrow evening."
Zhang Yuanqing praised, "Great idea. The Centurion is wise as always. Then as for Deacon Pang's side..."
Fu Qingyang was in high spirits. "I will handle it. You go back for now."
Zhang Yuanqing took his leave. Stepping into the elevator, he let out a long sigh of relief.
Setting up so much background and deliberately saving the most crucial information for last had been to exhaust Fu Qingyang's emotional anticipation, so that when he heard about the rendezvous in three days, he would feel the satisfaction of the other shoe dropping.
That way, he would overlook certain details.
Zhang Yuanqing knew very well that after every spirit questioning, this young master would observe him and use his Scout abilities to determine whether he was lying or hiding anything.
Naturally, there was nothing wrong with that. Putting himself in Fu Qingyang's shoes, Zhang Yuanqing would have done the same—not out of distrust, but because one had to maintain control over major events.
*Fu Qingyang shouldn't have noticed that I held something back. A Saint-stage spirit body gave a whole ten percent experience. That feels amazing...*
Zhang Yuanqing happily sensed the changes brought by the increase in experience.
The stealth duration of his Night Walk skill had finally reached thirty-seven seconds, and his other passive abilities had improved significantly.
*If I kill another seven or eight Saints, I might just reach Level 3. Compared to people from the Taiyi Sect, Fu Qingyang still trusts me more. If we can capture Tiandao Bugong, he will definitely have me do the spirit questioning again. When that time comes, I'll keep concealing Brother Bing's info.*
Hopefully, tomorrow night's operation would go smoothly.
The next morning at 8:30 a.m., Guan Ya arrived at work in her blue sports car.
With a designer bag hanging from one arm and a homemade low-fat nutritious breakfast in the other hand, she wore a white shirt, a black skirt suit, and sheer stockings accentuating her long legs. Her hairstyle was stylish and delicate, and her mixed-race face was fair and captivating.
Every morning when she stepped out of her sports car, young guys and older men alike would appear by the windows of the Public Security Bureau's administrative building under the pretext of smoking a cigarette, all to admire this goddess of the special unit.
In this day and age, pretty faces were everywhere; with minor cosmetic touch-ups and Korean semi-permanent makeup, anyone with decent basics could be considered a beauty.
Yet an alluring figure like hers was rare, and someone with an alluring figure, exceptional grace, and the wealth to drive a sports car was rarer still.
By a window on the third floor, Chen Yuanjun stood smoking.
"Old Chen, you checking out the beauty too?"
A middle-aged officer leaned over and lit a cigarette.
Chen Yuanjun blew out a plume of blue smoke. "Nope."
He was just here to smoke.
The middle-aged officer admired the graceful figure swaying in the distance and clicked his tongue. "Look at that sway. What's so embarrassing about admiring a pretty woman? You're not getting any younger, kid, and still unmarried—could it be because your heart's set on her?"
In the bureau, young men nursing secret crushes on that particular "colleague" were everywhere.
Chen Yuanjun smiled without explaining. The woman was indeed gorgeous, but his aesthetic standards had been raised sky-high by his younger aunt since childhood.
No matter how pretty a woman was, she could hardly stun him.
"By the way, recently there's always been a young guy hanging around her, coming and going together. Might be her boyfriend," the middle-aged officer said. "Next time I see him, I'll call you over."
In the office, Guan Ya ate her breakfast while waiting for Yuanshi to arrive.
To her, the colleagues in Team Two were far too dull. The longer she spent around Yuanshi, the more entertaining she found him; whenever he wasn't there, the office felt strangely empty.
Come to think of it, the kid had grown remarkably fast. Half a month ago, he was still a rookie.
Now he was already at the same level as her.
Guan Ya was actually very talented, especially in combat, and Saints of the Scout profession were renowned for their solo combat prowess.
The elders of the Fu family held high expectations for her, believing her overall strength would take a leap forward once she reached the Saint stage.
However, Guan Ya had little desire to level up. She enjoyed good food, shopping, binge-watching shows, getting manicures, driving...
She just didn't enjoy leveling up.
After she spent a few years slacking off, the Fu family elders gave up on her, and her mother wanted to marry off this beautiful daughter in a political match.
So Guan Ya fled to her cousin to seek shelter.
Yet even then, she still didn't feel like leveling up.
*Sigh. If the level gap widens, we won't be able to hang out anymore. I can't keep being a slacker. I should put in some effort and reach Level 3 next month,* Guan Ya thought as she chewed on her bland breakfast.
As she ate, she unlocked her phone and logged into the official forum.
A stickied post highlighted in red caught her eye:
#Night Wanderer Yuanshi Tianzun of Kangyang District Team Two Dies Accidentally#
Morning, bright and sunny.
In a public park, a man in a hoodie sat on a bench. Wearing his hood up along with a face mask and sunglasses, his facial features were completely concealed.
*Ding-dong!*
A text notification chimed.
He pulled out his phone and checked the message:
"Yuanshi Tianzun of Kangyang District Team Two is dead. There's a post on the Five Elements Alliance official forum. The poster claims to have heard the news from the Night Wanderer Yuan Ting. That guy is notorious for his big mouth, but what he says has a very high degree of credibility.
"I will keep monitoring to confirm further."
Attached was a screenshot of the post.
This was a message sent by an informant. As a formidable Witch Doctor, Tiandao Bugong had his own network of contacts.
After contacting the Dark Night Rose member that day, he had instructed the informants under his control to closely monitor any activity on the Five Elements Alliance forum.
Tiandao Bugong sneered, switched off his phone, shoved his hands into his pockets, and left the park with his head lowered.
Chapter 99