Zhang Wen arrived at the Rat Tunnel Society once again. However, this time he did not come in his true body.
Standing before the same old inn was a slender woman cloaked entirely in pitch-black robes. The garment concealed her from head to toe. Even her breathing seemed nonexistent. Unless one was an extremely high-level expert, it would be impossible to tell that this figure was merely a water clone of Zhang Wen.
She walked inside calmly and asked for Room 777.
The old man seated behind the worn wooden counter slowly opened his eyes. His cloudy pupils swept over her for only a brief moment before he spoke in a hoarse voice.
"How many pillows and blankets does the young lady require?"
"Ten of each," the woman replied softly, her voice devoid of emotion.
The old man smiled faintly and tossed her a key. A black spatial door appeared beside the staircase on the right, shadows swirling like the maw of a demon that had waited countless years for prey.
The moment she stepped through, the scenery changed.
She found herself inside a silent reception hall. A man dressed entirely in black emerged from the void as usual and gave a slight bow.
"What does the honored guest require?"
The woman did not waste words. She placed a dull gray spatial ring onto the table.
"Deliver this ring to Zhang Lin, the challenger for the position of Holy Son of the Chaos Sacred Land."
The man in black paused for a single breath before replying evenly.
"The fee is fifteen thousand supreme-grade spirit stones."
The woman flicked her hand.
A torrent of supreme-grade spirit stones poured out like a shining river, the clashing sounds echoing throughout the room.
"Make sure it reaches him personally."
"Understood."
The man responded immediately without asking anything further. The Rat Tunnel Society had never cared who the client was. They only cared about payment.
The woman turned and left at once.
After her figure exited the inn and moved some distance away, her body dissolved into fine droplets of water and vanished into the darkness, as though she had never existed.
Only moments later, a middle-aged man walked in her place.
His appearance was entirely different. Sharp facial features, slightly dark skin, and cultivation only at the late stage of Body Integration. Completely ordinary. Entirely unremarkable.
He spoke the same words, received the key, and stepped through the black spatial door once more.
The man in black appeared again.
The middle-aged man, another clone of Zhang Wen, spoke slowly.
"Help me spread a message. Tomorrow, poisonous rain will fall upon Sword Heaven City. Tell everyone to avoid those raindrops at all costs. If even a single drop touches the body, the consequences will be impossible to predict."
The man in black frowned slightly, but he did not refuse.
"The fee is five hundred supreme-grade spirit stones."
The payment was delivered instantly, without the slightest hesitation.
"By tonight, the news will be spread through every underground channel, from mercenary associations to the black markets," the man in black confirmed.
The male clone nodded, then turned and walked out.
When he stepped beyond the inn, the old man at the entrance was still seated in the same place, his eyes half open and half closed. Zhang Wen's clone made a gesture as if activating a teleportation formation. Spiritual energy trembled faintly, and the body dissolved into clear droplets of water before vanishing in complete silence.
In the late night hours before dawn, Sword Heaven City gradually fell quiet. The formation lights along the city walls continued to flicker softly. Outside the city, countless water clones separated from Zhang Wen's main body and drifted along the wind with perfect subtlety. No one sensed their existence at all.
One of them flowed with the current until it reached the great river to the east. The massive stream stretched beyond sight, pure water energy permeating every inch of it. Zhang Wen gathered all the droplets together, forming an enormous curtain of water, then slowly pushed it upward into the sky without a sound.
Rain clouds began to form.
They were not ordinary clouds, but clouds forged entirely from his own water energy. Every drop was under absolute control. The rain that was about to fall was no longer governed by the laws of heaven and earth.
Morning arrived.
Inside the White Dragon Trading House, Zhang Wen leaned against a wooden chair, calmly sipping hot tea. The sound of rain echoed continuously outside. Raindrops struck the roof and stone ground in steady rhythm. The sky was shrouded in dark gray mist, as though the entire city had been swallowed into another world.
He glanced outside briefly, then let out a soft sigh.
The number of investments he could make had now increased to five, yet he still possessed nothing truly worthy of investing. Even though he held an enormous amount of supreme-grade spirit stones, using them for investment would be nothing more than a waste of opportunity.
Especially now, the only person truly worth investing in was Ming Yuan.
But investing in someone with Black Fortune was equivalent to challenging the heavens themselves. The risk was undeniable.
If he was going to take that gamble, the item used would have to be at Saint level or Emperor level at the very least. Otherwise, the return would never be worth the pursuit that would inevitably follow.
As he pondered, Zhang Wen's fingers brushed across the spatial ring on his hand unconsciously.
Suddenly, a clear and youthful voice rang out from within the ring.
"Big brother. Big brother. Can you hear me?"
The corners of Zhang Wen's lips lifted slightly. A smile that rarely appeared on his face emerged without him realizing it. It seemed that what he had entrusted the Rat Tunnel Society to deliver had finally reached its recipient.
"I can hear you, you little brat," he replied with ease. "How are you doing now?"
On the other end, a young man sat within a vast cultivation chamber. The four walls were embedded with countless supreme-grade spirit stones, the spiritual energy within denser than even Sword Heaven City by several times. His face resembled Zhang Wen's in many ways. Sharp eyes, bright gaze, and a tall, well-proportioned figure.
Zhang Lin broke into a wide grin, his heart pounding so violently it felt as if it might burst the moment he heard his brother's voice again.
"Big brother, I'm doing really well. Sister-in-law takes great care of me. Where are you right now? Are you injured? Do you need any resources? I'm very rich now. If you want anything, I can send it all to you. I'm already the official challenger for the position of the next Sacred Son."
Zhang Wen chuckled softly.
"Don't worry about me. I'm still on the Black Wind Continent. As for my exact location, you don't need to know for now. I'm in a place that's fairly safe."
He paused briefly before his tone shifted.
"And you… the matter of digging out your own Sacred Bone. Are you insane?"
Zhang Lin laughed lightly. His voice sounded far more relaxed than Zhang Wen had expected.
"I'm fine, big brother. I had my reasons. I've started using my brain like you told me to."
Zhang Wen frowned slightly, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"Then tell me how you used it."
On the other side, the young man laughed proudly.
"Hehe. I traded the Sacred Bone for an Emperor Phoenix Flame Pill."
Those words caused Zhang Wen to freeze for a moment.
The Phoenix Flame Pill. An Emperor-tier pill belonging to the Phoenix Clan, a treasure whose value could not be measured with spirit stones.
"With that pill's effects, it can even revive the dead," Zhang Lin continued, his tone turning serious. "I traded for it after I heard that your body had been blown apart by the ancestor of the Gu Clan."
His voice lowered slightly before he continued.
"In case you really had died. When I went to retrieve the fragment of your soul you hid within the Cave of Time, once you revived, you could take that pill. Your cultivation would then be restored instantly, wouldn't it?"
Zhang Wen let out a soft laugh. The sound carried emotions too complex to describe. Both he and Zhang Lin had secretly left fragments of their souls within a hidden place known as the Cave of Time. If either of them were to die, the survivor could revive the fallen one through that fragment of soul.
"I really don't know what to say anymore. Forget it."
He fell silent for a moment before asking again.
"Then what about your cultivation? After losing the Sacred Bone, how are things now?"
Zhang Lin answered without hesitation.
"I'm still in the recovery stage. My core power hasn't returned yet, so I currently have no cultivation at all. But sister-in-law said that the fact I didn't die is already a miracle. The Sacred Land is rushing to gather resources for me, but it seems to be obstructed by someone named Wang Teng."
Zhang Wen closed his eyes briefly and spoke silently in his mind.
"System, come here."
A voice immediately sounded beside his ear.
[I am here, Host.]
"Can you perform long-distance investment?"
The system fell silent for a moment before replying in a firm tone.
[I cannot.]
Zhang Wen nodded in understanding. That was already what he had expected. But before he could continue speaking, the system's voice suddenly turned unusually serious.
[However… Zhang Lin is special. I can exempt certain rules for him.]
Zhang Wen's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Why?"
The system fell silent once more, as if struggling against some internal restriction, before answering slowly.
[I am sorry, Host. I cannot answer that question at this time.]
[I advise you to reach a cultivation level beyond the Great Emperor, or higher still, before asking me again. When that time comes, I will answer without concealing anything.]
Those words caused the room to fall completely silent. Even the sound of rain outside seemed to fade from Zhang Wen's ears.
He remained motionless for a long while as an unfamiliar feeling slowly formed within his heart, like countless threads beginning to tangle together in chaotic knots.