Realm Walker

Zhang Yuanqing found himself marveling yet again at how the gap between Saints was staggeringly wide. Back at the Fenghua District Public Security Bureau, when Fu Qingyang had wounded Steward Pang with a single thrust, he had felt a similar sense of awe. But that encounter had been restrained on both sides, and far from a genuine fight to the death.

He had assumed that when it truly came down to life or death, the steward might at least put up a decent fight against the centurion. It turned out the man had simply flailed around a few extra times before it was over.

Zhang Yuanqing walked onto the balcony. His feet squelched against the bloodstains as darkness swirled through his eyes, and he reached out to commune with the lingering spirit trapped inside the ruined corpse.

A hand tapped his arm. He turned to find Fu Qingyang’s coldly composed face staring back at him.

”Give me the Demon-subduing Awl.”

”Oh, right...” Zhang Yuanqing said, mentally kicking himself for nearly forgetting. He retrieved the Awl and handed it over, then hesitated before adding, ”Can you maybe not cuff me this time?”

Fu Qingyang gave a cool nod. ”It doesn’t matter either way.”

Forget it. It’s not worth arguing with him. Zhang Yuanqing turned his attention back to the spirit communion. After a brief period of careful concentration, he managed to reassemble the shattered spirit fragments and summon the entity forth.

Steward Pang’s spirit materialized wearing a stern, slightly vacant expression, but its solidity far surpassed that of any spirit Zhang Yuanqing had encountered before.

A Saint-tier spirit... I wonder how much experience this will give me. Excitement and apprehension wrestled in his chest.

Fu Qingyang spoke up. ”Pang Wudi was a Level 4 Saint. Devouring his spirit carries a risk of mental disorientation, but with this purification item in play, that risk drops to a minimum while the benefits remain unchanged.”

Zhang Yuanqing nodded. Given the rewards of consuming a Saint’s spirit, a little risk is more than acceptable.

”But the item isn’t omnipotent,” Fu Qingyang continued on to explain. ”You need to understand where your limits are. Level 4 Lawful-class spirits are the ceiling of what you can handle. Level 4 Evil-class spirits, Nocturnal Specters, and Level 5 Lawful-class spirits are off limits.”

”What happens if I try?”

Fu Qingyang gave him a flat stare. ”You die.”

Zhang Yuanqing drew a deep breath and swallowed Steward Pang’s spirit whole. The next instant, a torrent of spiritual energy crashed into his sea of consciousness, dragging with it a chaotic mess of memory fragments and waves of negative emotions.

He felt like a drowning man clinging to a branch at the river’s edge, desperately hugging it as floodwaters roared past. At any moment, the current could rip him away and grind him to dust. This was the most perilous spirit communion he had ever attempted.

He endured the sensation, teeth gritted. Time lost all meaning, until at last the raging flood subsided and his sea of consciousness stabilized. Ravenously, he began absorbing the fragments of memory.

***

Through the haze, he found himself in an elegant room scented with sandalwood incense. A cloaked figure stood by the window.

”The things you’ve been doing on the side... if the Five Elements Alliance ever finds out, you’ll be looking at a long stretch in prison at best, execution at worst. Have you made a decision on that proposal I asked you to consider?” the figure said. His voice was rough and gravelly, and it was impossible to discern its true timbre.

Zhang Yuanqing heard Steward Pang’s voice. ”What can you offer me?”

”Your talent is exceptional. Join Dark Rose and you will be cultivated accordingly. We can also provide you with the resources and support to climb the ranks within the Alliance itself. And we can ensure you pass the comprehensive inspection without issue.”

The figure by the window paused briefly, then said in a measured tone, ”Of course, the most important point is this—Dark Rose will ultimately rule the Spirit Realm. Our leader is destined to become the supreme Nocturnal Specter, surpassing even the Taiyi Sect Master.”

”Fine. I’ll join Dark Rose.”

”Excellent. From now on, I am your superior. You may address me as Great Protector.”

***

The scene shifted. It was the same sandalwood scented room, the same cloaked figure standing by the window, his rough voice low and serious.

”Black Wuchang has made contact with us. He’s lying low in Songhai, and our leader has entrusted me with handling the liaison.”

”What do you need me to do?” Steward Pang asked.

”Keep a close watch on every move the Five Elements Alliance makes. Then wait for my signal.”

”Understood.” The Steward hesitated, curiosity getting the better of him. ”What exactly is your leader and Black Wuchang planning?”

The cloaked man with the harsh, grating voice let out a laugh. ”Demon Lord and Ghost Eye Judge are both dead. That thing and the Fallen Holy Grail counterbalance each other, maintaining an equilibrium. If Black Wuchang wants to seize control of the Fallen Holy Grail, he has no choice but to come to our leader for help.”

”That thing?”

”It’s something Demon Lord controlled, one of the highest level artifacts in the Nocturnal Specter class. It’s also what both the Taiyi Sect Master and our leader have been obsessing over.”

***

It was night. Water flowed beside him—a river, shrouded in darkness. He was standing at a gloomy underpass beneath a bridge, and from the shadows came the voice of an adult male.

”Kill Yuanshi Tianzun. Avenge Rampaging Recklessly. Ghost Eye Judge was indeed killed by Demon Lord. At the time, there was one other person besides the boss who was present. His Spirit Realm ID is Young Soldier King. Three days from now, if I receive confirmation that Yuanshi Tianzun is dead, come back to this same spot. I’ll hand over the real world identity of Young Soldier King.”

The real world identity of Young Soldier King? Zhang Yuanqing cursed inwardly. The thing he feared most had come to pass. Dark Rose was also hunting for Demon Lord’s heir.

If they ever got their hands on Bro Bing’s identity, then his own secret as Demon Lord’s heir would be blown wide open. At that point, his only option would be to come clean with the Five Elements Alliance. But he still had no idea what Taiyi Sect and Dark Rose truly wanted with the Demon Lord’s heir.

The one stroke of luck was that Dark Rose and Black Wuchang were deeply suspicious of each other. Steward Pang had not shared the information about Demon Lord’s heir with Heaven’s Injustice.

”I’m dancing on a tightrope,” Zhang Yuanqing muttered to himself.

Still, looking at it from another angle, the intelligence he had gained this time was extraordinarily valuable. If he played his cards right, it might even lead them to Black Wuchang.

***

Blazing, purifying golden light erupted in his field of vision, flooding his sea of consciousness and scouring his mind clean. Zhang Yuanqing wrenched free of the communion and jolted awake.

He hissed through his teeth.

He was lying on the sofa, his head throbbing as though someone had driven steel needles into his skull. Was this a side effect of the communion, or had Fu Qingyang knocked him out again?

Please don’t let it be a brain hemorrhage, he prayed as he pressed a hand to his temple and sat up.

A few meters away, Fu Qingyang sat in a single seat armchair, a thread of anticipation weaving its way through his voice. ”Any leads?”

Zhang Yuanqing pinched the bridge of his nose, waiting for the worst of the pain to ebb before answering. ”Steward Pang’s superior was a Walker who called himself ’Great Protector.’ The man wore a cloak every time they met. The two of them must have had some special method of communication, but I couldn’t find it within the spirit memories. It may have dissipated with death, or it may have been deliberately hidden.”

He laid out the intelligence piece by piece: the existence of Great Protector, the full inspection, and the power that the Demon Lord had used to counterbalance the Fallen Holy Grail.

Fu Qingyang listened patiently. When he learned that Dark Rose possessed a way to circumvent the comprehensive inspection, his eyes narrowed. ”Anything else?”

The information was significant, but it hadn’t quite met his expectations. None of it offered a meaningful advantage in the hunt for Black Wuchang.

”I know why Steward Pang tried to kill me,” said Zhang Yuanqing. ”The night before last, he made contact with Black Wuchang’s subordinate, Heaven’s Injustice. The Hex Master ordered him to kill me as revenge for Rampaging Recklessly’s death.”

Fu Qingyang’s eyes lit up at once. He straightened in his seat and gave a firm nod. ”Excellent. That’s our breakthrough. If we can capture Heaven’s Injustice, we’ll be one step closer to Black Wuchang.”

”What’s the plan, Centurion?”

Fu Qingyang’s gaze settled on him, the corner of his mouth curling upward. ”I’m going to need you to die for a bit. Take the next two days off. Meet me at Fu Family Bay tomorrow night.”

Zhang Yuanqing gave an admiring nod. ”Brilliant idea. Your wisdom knows no bounds, Centurion.”

He paused, then asked, ”And Steward Pang’s body?”

Fu Qingyang was in an excellent mood. ”I’ll handle the cleanup. Go home.”

Zhang Yuanqing said his goodbyes and stepped into the elevator. The moment the doors closed, he let out a long, relieved breath.

All that careful buildup, deliberately saving the most critical piece of intelligence for last, had been designed to manipulate Fu Qingyang’s emotions. By the time the centurion heard about the meeting in three days, he would have felt the deep satisfaction of a final shoe dropping, and that wave of fulfillment would cause him to overlook certain finer details.

Zhang Yuanqing knew full well that after every spirit communion, the young nobleman observed him closely, using his Scout abilities to gauge whether he was lying or holding anything back.

He didn’t blame him for that. If their positions were reversed, Zhang Yuanqing would have done exactly the same thing. It wasn’t a matter of distrust. It was simply the need to maintain control over critical intelligence.

Fu Qingyang shouldn’t have noticed what I left out. And devouring a Saint-tier spirit gave me a ten percent experience boost. It felt incredible.

He savored the changes the surge of experience had brought. The duration of his Night Wandering stealth had finally reached thirty-seven seconds, and his other passive abilities had improved noticeably.

Kill seven or eight more Saints and I might actually reach Level 3. Fu Qingyang definitely trusts me more than those Taiyi Sect people. If we manage to catch Heaven’s Injustice, he’ll definitely bring me in for the spirit communion. When that happens, I just need to keep the information about Bro Bing hidden again.

He could only hope the operation the following night would go smoothly.

***

The next morning, at half past eight, Guan Ya pulled up to the bureau in her blue sports car.

She stepped out with a designer handbag slung over one arm and a container of homemade low-fat breakfast in the other hand. She looked the same as ever—white blouse, black pencil skirt, legs for days clad in sheer stockings, her hair styled to effortless perfection, topped off with her fair-skinned and alluring mixed-heritage features.

Every morning when she climbed out of that car, the windows along the administrative building would suddenly fill with faces of young officers and older men alike, materializing under the pretense of a smoke break to appreciate the goddess of the special division.

These days, pretty faces were a dime a dozen. Between cosmetic tweaks and semi-permanent makeup, any girl with a decent foundation could qualify as attractive. But a figure this captivating was far rarer, and a woman who combined that figure with real elegance and the means to drive a sports car was rarer still.

Up on the third floor, Chen Yuanjun stood by the window with a cigarette.

”Hey Old Chen, are you checking out the view too?” A middle aged officer commented as he sidled over and lit up his own cigarette.

”No.” Chen Yuanjun replied as he exhaled a thin stream of smoke. He was genuinely just there for the cigarette.

The older officer admired the graceful silhouette in the distance, clicking his tongue appreciatively. ”Look at that walk. There’s nothing wrong with admiring a beautiful woman. You’re not exactly young anymore, and still unmarried... Don’t tell me it’s because you’ve got your eye on her?”

The bureau was practically crawling with young men who harbored secret crushes on that particular ”colleague.”

Chen Yuanjun smiled but offered no explanation. The woman was undeniably gorgeous, but his aesthetic threshold had been set impossibly high since childhood, courtesy of his Auntie. After growing up around that level of beauty, very few women could truly take his breath away.

”Come to think of it,” the middle aged officer continued, ” there’s been some young guy hanging around her all the time lately. They go in and out together. It might be her boyfriend.”

He gave Chen Yuanjun a nudge. ”Next time I spot him, I’ll give you a heads-up.”

***

In the office, Guan Ya ate her breakfast while waiting for Yuanshi to arrive.

In her estimation, the rest of Squad Two was painfully dull. The more time she spent around Yuanshi, the more interesting she found him. When he wasn’t there, the office felt oddly empty.

It was remarkable, really, how fast the kid had grown. A little over two weeks ago, he had been a complete rookie, but fast forward to the present and he had already caught up to her in rank.

Guan Ya’s talent was genuinely formidable, especially when it came to combat. The Scout class was renowned for its solo-fighting prowess at the Saint tier, and the Fu family elders thought very highly of her, predicting that her overall strength would undergo a dramatic leap once she reached that tier.

But Guan Ya had no real desire to level up. She liked good food. She liked shopping. She liked binge watching dramas, getting her nails done, and going for drives. The one thing she did not like was grinding levels.

After several years of coasting, the Fu family elders had given up on her, and her mother had started scheming to marry off her beautiful daughter into a strategic alliance. So Guan Ya had fled to her cousin’s side for protection.

Even so, she still had no interest in leveling.

Ugh, if the gap keeps getting wider, we won’t even be able to team up anymore. I’ll have to stop being such a layabout. She chewed her bland, healthy breakfast and sighed inwardly. Fine. I’ll push myself. Level 3 by next month.

She ate with one hand and scrolled through the official forum on her phone with the other. A pinned post highlighted in red immediately caught her eye.

【#Kangyang District Squad Two’s Nocturnal Specter Yuanshi Tianzun Dead in Sudden Accident#】

***

The morning was filled with brilliant sunshine.

Somewhere in an open air park, a man in a hooded sweatshirt sat on a bench, with a cap pulled low, wearing a face mask and dark sunglasses. Not a single feature of his was visible.

A chime from his pocket notified him of a text message. He fished out his phone and checked the message.

”Kangyang District Squad Two’s Yuanshi Tianzun is dead. There’s a post on the Five Elements Alliance official forum. The person who posted claims they heard it from the Nocturnal Specter Yuan Ting. That guy’s a notorious big mouth, but the things he says tend to be accurate. I’ll keep monitoring the situation for further confirmation.”

A screenshot of the forum post was attached.

It was a message from one of his informants. As a Hex Master of considerable skill, Heaven’s Injustice maintained his own network of contacts. After meeting with the Dark Rose operative, he had instructed his people to closely monitor activity on the Alliance forum.

Heaven’s Injustice let out a derisive snort. He powered off his phone, shoved both hands into his pockets, and walked out of the park with his head down.