The Alliance Leaders of the Five Elements Alliance controlled the Spirit Realm's ultimate secrets. Did the leaders of evil organizations possess the same knowledge?
Zhang Yuanqing didn't immediately open his eyes, remaining frozen in place as he processed the information gleaned from Xiahou Tianyuan's memories.
He suddenly recalled the conversation between the demon lord and the members of the Goddess of Beauty Association. The woman had tempted the demon lord to meet with the Association's President, offering the Spirit Realm's ultimate secrets as bait.
If the Alliance Leaders truly controlled this so-called ultimate secret, then The Officials' research into the Spirit Realm was far more comprehensive than he had imagined.
It was just that lower and middle-level personnel lacked the clearance to access this knowledge. He wondered if Elder-level Spirit Realm Walkers were aware of it. Xiahou Xin had some understanding, so the Elders must know as well, though they likely didn't control it.
The Night Rose's ambitions were indeed vast. Even if their leader hadn't reached the level of an Alliance Leader, they were certainly close. Zhang Yuanqing opened his eyes and met a pair of deep, shimmering eyes.
"What did you find?" Fu Qingyang asked.
"Some useful information," Zhang Yuanqing replied, relaying the results of the Inquire the Soul ritual.
Fu Qingyang frowned in silence, his handsome, chiseled face becoming even more like a statue.
After a moment, Fu Qingyang nodded slowly. "Xiahou Chi wasn't the most outstanding among Old Ancestor Xiahou's descendants, but his ambition was considerable."
Zhang Yuanqing didn't immediately grasp the implication. After a few seconds, he realized Fu Qingyang was analyzing Xiahou Chi's reasons for joining the Night Rose.
He seems to be gradually treating me as an intellectual equal, assuming I'll understand his subtle hints? Zhang Yuanqing thought. That's good, but it's exhausting. He said, "Xiahou Tianyuan had very limited knowledge of the Night Rose. He was likely just an auxiliary member."
Seizing the opportunity for retribution, Zhang Yuanqing added, with a hidden meaning: It's time to take down Xiahou Xin.
Fu Qingyang nodded. "I've already gathered the team. We'll depart immediately to arrest Xiahou Xin."
The two descended the stairs back to the first floor.
At the foot of the stairs, Ling Jun, dressed in capri pants, flip-flops, and a loose short-sleeved shirt, leaned against the railing with a seductive posture, his eyes crinkling in a smile. "What intelligence did you extract from Xiahou Tianyuan?"
Fu Qingyang replied coolly, "He had no access to classified information. To uncover the Night Rose members lurking within the Branch, we need to target Xiahou Xin."
Zhang Yuanqing was startled. How could such confidential information be shared with this squint-eyed member of the Taiyi Sect? he wondered.
Fu Qingyang, the Scout, noticed his subordinate's surprise and explained, "It's fine. He's a member of the White Tiger Guards I established—a trustworthy comrade."
White Tiger Guards? Zhang Yuanqing's expression conveyed his confusion.
Ling Jun, leaning back languidly, chuckled. "Do you know why Wild Spirit Realm Walkers form their own organizations outside the Official Organizations?"
Mutual aid? That didn't quite fit. The proper survival strategy for Spirit Realm Walkers was to lie low. After all, without Reputation, killing fellow Walkers from the same faction wouldn't deduct Morality Value. Zhang Yuanqing pondered aloud, "Sharing strategies?"
If there had to be a reason, that was probably it.
Ling Jun nodded. "Partly correct. But what dispels suspicion and wariness among Walkers isn't strategies, but something called a Faction Token."
"Faction Token?" As a gaming enthusiast, Zhang Yuanqing recognized the familiar term.
"A Faction Token is an Item that allows Spirit Realm Walkers to establish their own factions. You're young, so you understand the concept clearly, right?" Ling Jun explained.
"Faction Tokens offer numerous benefits. For example, they grant attribute bonuses to Walkers within the Spirit Realm, provide extra experience points upon mission completion, grant access to faction-exclusive Instances, unlock faction-specific quests, and allow members to team up for Instances with others of the same realm—the advantages are plentiful.
"As you know, the Five Elements Alliance is a coalition of five major organizations. These organizations all started as small factions and gradually evolved into the five most powerful forces in the Spirit Realm."
At this point, Ling Jun glanced at Fu Qingyang and scoffed, "As the Faction Master, he receives the greatest attribute bonuses."
No wonder the Five Elements Alliance is rife with internal factions. No wonder Guan Ya once told me that as a member of the White Tiger Corps, I'd likely join a faction once I leveled up, and that the Faction Master would be the Female Marshal.
So there's such a thing as a Faction Token. If I could obtain one, I could establish my own faction, specifically to recruit informants like the Palace Master of Ceasing Slaughter and Master Wuhen. Zhang Yuanqing asked with keen interest, "How do you get a Faction Token?"
Fu Qingyang replied, "Complete a multi-player competitive Instance and lead your team to victory as the primary strategist. There's a chance you'll be rewarded with a Faction Token."
Ling Jun scoffed. "Fu Qingyang got lucky during his Transcendent Phase and obtained a Level 2 Faction Token."
"Can you join multiple factions?" Zhang Yuanqing suddenly wondered. If the Five Elements Alliance had evolved from the Five Great Organizations, Fu Qingyang, given his status, must have already joined the White Tiger Corps long ago.
"Of course, there's no conflict," Ling Jun said with a sly smile, his eyes narrowing. "For example, I'm a member of the Taiyi Sect, the Hundred Flowers Association, and Fu Qingyang's White Tiger Guards. This means that whenever I enter an Instance, I receive bonuses if matched with any of these three factions. However, if matched with Walkers from all three factions simultaneously, I can only choose one."
What a triple-loyal lackey! Zhang Yuanqing shot him a sideways glance.
Being a member of the White Tiger Guards meant Fu Qingyang trusted him deeply.
At that moment, Fu Qingyang glanced at the hall and said calmly, "Save the chatter for later. It's time to depart."
A group entered the hall: White Dragon, Green Vine, Guan Ya, Jiang Jingwei, and acting Chief Teng Yuan.
Though small in number, the group was composed entirely of elites.
Jiang Jingwei, hands on her hips, strutted forward with an air of unyielding confidence. From a distance, she cackled, "Stone-faced guy, squinty-eyes, long time no see!"
Her fiery red hair swished as the young girl approached, slapping Zhang Yuanqing on the shoulder. "You're here too?"
She barely reached Zhang Yuanqing's chest, having to stand on tiptoe to reach his shoulder.
Ouch, this girl packs a punch, Zhang Yuanqing thought, gritting his teeth inwardly.
"Long time no see, Jingwei!" Ling Jun stepped forward, ruffling the girl's hair roughly. "How's your brother doing?"
"Don't touch my hair!" Jiang Jingwei snapped, lunging forward with a headbutt.
Ling Jun nimbly dodged the attack.
Zhang Yuanqing quickly grabbed the girl's soft hand, preventing her from faceplanting.
"Let's move out!" Fu Qingyang ordered.
Chief Teng Yuan nodded, then turned to Zhang Yuanqing. "One mission earns you a thousand yuan bonus."
"Thank you, Chief!" Zhang Yuanqing shouted.
Four business vans pulled into the Junli Hotel. The group took the elevator straight to the 39th floor, where Xiahou Xin and his bodyguards were staying.
The entire floor had been reserved by the Xiahou Family, leaving the corridor eerily silent.
Fu Qingyang led his team to the presidential suite at the end of the hall. Instead of ringing the doorbell, he tilted his head to listen for a moment, then frowned.
"No one's inside. Guan Ya, check if any other members of the Xiahou Family are here."
Guan Ya immediately knocked on the door of the room next to the presidential suite. A tall, lean middle-aged man in a black suit answered, his face stern.
"Who are you looking for?" the black-suited man asked, his sharp gaze scrutinizing the group.
Guan Ya stared at him for a few moments, confirming he was a Spirit Realm Walker. Her voice turned cold.
"We're Official Walkers from Kangyang District. We need to question Xiahou Xin. Where is he?"
The black-suited man's brow furrowed. "Mr. Xiahou Xin is resting in his room."
Guan Ya shook her head. "He's not in the room."
The man paused, then replied calmly, "I'll call him."
He pulled out his phone and dialed Xiahou Xin's number.
After a moment, the lean bodyguard hung up, his expression helpless.
"Mr. Xiahou Xin hasn't gone out today, at least I haven't received any orders for him to leave. You can wait here or return later. I'll inform him when he gets back," the middle-aged bodyguard said.
Guan Ya turned to look at Fu Qingyang.
Fu Qingyang said expressionlessly, "Call the hotel manager to open the door."
"You can't enter Mr. Xiahou Xin's room without authorization," the bodyguard said sternly.
"What, you wanna throw down?" Jiang Jingwei snapped, her hands on her hips, her temper flaring.
Chief Teng Yuan pushed his glasses up his nose, his gaze blank. "I'll file a worker's compensation claim for you."
"I'm tough! I won't get hurt," Jiang Jingwei retorted.
"I'm simply informing you of your employee benefits," Chief Teng Yuan replied calmly.
"Great leader!" Zhang Yuanqing gave a thumbs-up. "Boss, I'm feeling a bit hot. Can I apply for a heatwave allowance?"
Chief Teng Yuan nodded. "Submit a written request later."
Fu Qingyang silently observed the scene, considering whether to disband and reorganize Second Team or recall Li Dongze early.
After a few minutes, Guan Ya returned with a hotel staff member, acting in her capacity as a Security Officer.
The group cleared a path for the hotel staff member, who swiped her employee card to unlock the presidential suite door.
Click!
As the staff member turned the doorknob, everyone present simultaneously sensed an invisible "barrier" shatter, transforming into a faint breeze that swept through the corridor.
Fu Qingyang narrowed his eyes and stepped into the suite first.
Zhang Yuanqing and the others followed behind him. The living room was empty. Fu Qingyang, as their commanding officer, stood in the center of the room, while Teng Yuan, his attitude passive and lacking any enthusiasm for life, remained motionless. The others dispersed to check the bathrooms, study, and bedrooms.
Jiang Jingwei twisted open the bedroom door, glanced inside, and immediately turned back, shouting:
"He's here!"
The group converged at once. The bedroom curtains were drawn tight, casting the room in dim light. A figure lay motionless on the bed.
Ling Jun snapped on the lights.
The person on the bed was unmistakably Xiahou Xin, his body stiff and unmoving.
Captain Green Vine, her high heels clicking against the floor, approached the bed and examined the body. She declared in a grave tone:
"He's dead. Based on the rigor mortis, he's been dead for at least five hours."
Xiahou Xin was dead? Dead at this critical moment?! Zhang Yuanqing didn't know whether to feel relieved or heavy-hearted.
Xiahou Xin's death was too convenient.
The bodyguard who had accompanied them into the room stared at Xiahou Xin's corpse in disbelief. Upon hearing Captain Green Vine's words, he exclaimed in terror:
"That's impossible! Mr. Xiahou Xin ordered breakfast at 9:30 this morning!"
The current time was 11:00 AM.
Fu Qingyang's expression remained unchanged. "White Dragon, Green Vine, Jiang Jingwei, Teng Yuan, you four go outside first."
Once they had left, Fu Qingyang closed the bedroom door and turned to Zhang Yuanqing. "The rigidity of a corpse isn't always an accurate indicator of the time of death. Remember how Unbridled died?"
Zhang Yuanqing suddenly understood. "Xiahou Xin was killed by a Nightwalker?"
Fu Qingyang nodded slightly. "The Night Rose's leadership consists of Nightwalkers."
Guan Ya frowned deeply. "So Xiahou Xin was silenced by the Night Rose?"
Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help but glance at Veteran Driver. Ordinary Official Walkers wouldn't have access to this kind of information. It seemed Guan Ya had been privately receiving significant intelligence from Fu Qingyang.
"Well, they were cousins after all," Zhang Yuanqing thought.
"We just killed Xiahou Tianyuan, and Xiahou Xin was silenced immediately? That's impossible! Even if the information leaked, it couldn't have spread this quickly," Zhang Yuanqing, who considered himself a decent deductive thinker, found the situation highly illogical.
Ling Jun, leaning against the wall, narrowed his eyes and said, "If a high-level Nightwalker was responsible, they wouldn't necessarily need intelligence."
"What do you mean?" Zhang Yuanqing didn't understand. Fu Qingyang nodded in agreement. "Primordial, check if Xiahou Xin's Spectral Entity is still present."
Why wouldn't a Nightwalker need intelligence? I hate how you guys talk in riddles. Zhang Yuanqing walked to the bedside, his eyes swirling with dark energy as he attempted to communicate with the lingering Spirit within the corpse.
After a few seconds, the darkness receded from his eyes. He shook his head at Fu Qingyang and the others. "The Spectral Entity is gone."
Fu Qingyang had anticipated this. He looked at Zhang Yuanqing and explained, "High-level Nightwalkers possess the ability to glimpse fate. If Xiahou Xin happened to meet the killer, the Nightwalker would have seen the unfolding of destiny."
Nightwalkers have such power? Glimpsing fate... Hmm, we came here to arrest Xiahou Xin and kill Inquire the Soul, Zhang Yuanqing thought, a chill running down his spine.
"Controlling the power of Taiyin and the sun, and able to glimpse fate... how terrifying is a high-level Nightwalker?"
His expression immediately shifted. "Does that mean Xiahou Chi is in danger too?"
If he were a high-ranking member of the Night Rose, having glimpsed Xiahou Xin's fate and realized the Xiahou Chi lineage had been exposed, he would undoubtedly continue killing to silence them.
"Don't worry!" Ling Jun chuckled. "Xiahou Chi is imprisoned in Elder Miao's zoo. Killing him to cover their tracks won't be so easy."
"How dare you insult an Elder?" Zhang Yuanqing exclaimed, shocked.
Ling Jun blinked in confusion. "I didn't insult an Elder."
"You dog, Ling Jun!"
"Why are you cursing me?"
"Exactly! So why did you insult the Elder?"
Fu Qingyang cut off their bickering with a cold glare. He'd noticed Primordial's bad habit of being overly talkative, chatting with anyone and everyone, laughing, scolding, and joking around.
In the business car on the way back, Fu Qingyang dialed Elder Teddy's number.
"Elder, Xiahou Xin has been silenced."
"Understood."
Fu Qingyang said grimly, "The Night Rose is racing against time. The Grand Inspection has been postponed, and the Xiahou Family's trail has gone cold again. Our hunt for the Black guard of Impermanence has returned to square one."
"Moreover, we've already stirred up the hornet's nest. Night Rose will undoubtedly expedite their rendezvous with the Black Guard of Impermanence. Elder, we're running out of time. Our only breakthrough now lies with Xiahou Chi."
A moment of silence hung in the air before the voice on the other end replied:
"Xiahou Chi is at the peak of the Saint Stage. One more step and he'll become a Sovereign. To eliminate him, we must convene the other four Elders for consultation and coordinate with the Xiahou Family. This will take time. Let's shelve the Night Rose lead for now."
"Understood!" Fu Qingyang's tone remained calm, his face expressionless.
After ending the call, he leaned back in his seat, closing his eyes in silent contemplation.
In the other car, Zhang Yuanqing frowned.
"We can't move against Xiahou Chi for the time being, which means our plan to track down the Black Guard of Impermanence by following the Night Rose trail has fallen apart. Great, we're back to square one, searching for the Witchcraft Master like looking for a needle in a haystack.
"Sigh, if we keep dragging this out, the Eerie Eye Judge's slaves will start erupting one after another, and if the Night Rose Leader manages to meet with the Black Guard of Impermanence, The Officials will lose face big time. And if the Black Guard of Impermanence resolves this smoothly, he'll become an even greater menace."
Even with his sharp mind, Zhang Yuanqing couldn't think of a better solution.
He considered discussing the situation with his teammates, but glanced at Jiang Jingwei to his left and then at Chief Teng Yuan, who seemed utterly demoralized. The Veteran Driver had taken her cousin's car.
I guess I'll have to figure this out myself, he sighed.
"How did that guy die? So boring! I thought we were going to fight," Jiang Jingwei said in her clear, melodious voice, her face full of regret as she still hadn't grasped what had happened today.
"Guan Ya told me you're not going to school anymore?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
"I'm still studying, just not at school," Jiang Jingwei replied, squatting on the spacious seat. "My dad said the teachers at school don't know how to teach, so he hired a private tutor. I beat up every single one he hired."
The girl's lovely face lit up with pride as she said this.
"And now you don't have a tutor at all?"
Jiang Jingwei's face fell. "Later, he hired a Saint Stage Fire Master as my tutor. That tutor beat me up every time we met."
So this is the legendary "fight fire with fire, defeat a Fire Master with a Fire Master"? Zhang Yuanqing's mind was flooded with sarcastic thoughts.
Late at night.
Kangyang District, under a riverside bridge.
The moon was hidden in Songhai's night sky, and the streetlights couldn't penetrate this dark corner.
A figure cloaked in a trench coat, wearing a baseball cap and a mask, emerged from the shadows and stopped before the bridge arch.
Staring into the pitch-black space, he murmured, "You've finally agreed to respond to my contact. Heaven's justice is a joke."
A cold snort echoed from within the arch:
"Unbridled is dead. The Boss is furious with you all, and the last shred of trust is fading away."
The figure in the baseball cap spoke in a low voice:
"Unbridled's death was an accident. Who could have imagined the Primordial Heavenly Venerable had such a trump card? Because of this incident, our Night Rose has been exposed to the Officials' scrutiny.
"Worse still, the Xiahou Family has also been compromised. Fortunately, the Grand Protector was vigilant enough to kill Xiahou Xin, or even I would have been at risk of exposure."
The person in the bridge arch replied:
"That's why I'm responding to you. The Officials are closing in on us. Delaying any further will benefit no one. The Boss needs to see your sincerity."
The figure in the baseball cap asked, "What does Black guard of Impermanence want us to do?"
The person in the bridge arch said coldly, "Kill the Primordial Heavenly Venerable and avenge Unbridled."
The figure in the baseball cap paused before replying:
"Agreed!
"Now, about the matter I asked you to investigate—do you have an answer?"
The person in the bridge arch said:
"The Eerie Eye Judge was indeed killed by the demon lord. Besides the Boss, there was another person present at the time. His Spirit Realm ID is Young Soldier King."
"Young Soldier King..." the man in the baseball cap murmured to himself. After a few seconds, he asked, "Who is he? Do you have any real-world information on him?"
"Yes! The Boss knows his details."
The man in the baseball cap's tone grew urgent. "I need his complete file immediately."
"Agreed. Three days from now, if I receive news of the Primordial Heavenly Venerable's death, I'll meet you here again and give you the Young Soldier King's information," the person under the bridge said, then asked, "Why are you looking for him?"
The man in the baseball cap replied coldly, "You don't need to know."
Buzz...
Zhang Yuanqing, who had been dozing lightly, was startled awake by the crackling static from his Cat King Speaker.
This damn thing always starts playing audio without warning. He threw back the covers, went to his desk, pulled open the drawer, and took out the Cat King Speaker.
It's worth mentioning that the drawer also contained his aunt's white lace bra. Zhang Yuanqing had originally planned to sneak the bra under her bed, but since he'd returned late tonight, he decided to wait until she left for work tomorrow.
To prevent the sounds of the demon lord and the woman playing poker from waking his family, Zhang Yuanqing held the Cat King Speaker, ready to activate Night Roaming at any moment.
The crackling static persisted for a few seconds before a familiar voice came through:
"What do you want? Didn't we agree never to meet again?"
It was Bing Ge's voice. Zhang Yuanqing's eyes widened.
Immediately afterward, the demon lord's voice followed:
"I'm on the verge of reaching that realm, but before I do, I want to kill the Eerie Eye Judge. Young Soldier King, I need your help. Don't you want to break free from the Eerie Eye Judge's control?"