Spirit Realm Walker

The arena rippled and dissolved. When the world in front of his eyes settled, Zhang Yuanqing was back in his bedroom. 

Blood dripped off his chest and onto the floor. His ruined T-shirt was soaked through, and the fabric had gone stiff and tacky.

His Power of the Dark Moon had run dry, so the hole that had been punched through his chest hadn’t fully closed. It was still leaking blood, slow and steady, but he didn’t feel the pain. He was probably already numb.

He crossed to the full-length mirror by the window and took a look at himself. His face was bloodless, and his clothes were shredded. Beyond the gruesome wound in his chest, there were claw marks and bruises up his arms, across his cheeks, his thighs, and his stomach. He looked like a prisoner of war fresh off a torture session.

I’m so tired, so wrecked. He tugged the curtains shut, lowered himself to the floor an inch at a time, and flopped down.

I’ll sleep it off. Sleep fixes everything. That Zhao Chenghuang bastard’s probably soaking in Life Essence right now, getting himself patched up. It must be nice, being a third-generation Walker noble. Nothing a commoner like me could ever match.Still, I won. I’m the champion. The Houtu Boots are mine now.

Unfortunately his head hadn’t been clear when he bailed, and he’d left the yin corpse behind as well.

Whatever. Fu Qingyang can grab it for me.

The exhaustion of the fight rolled over him, and hunger bloomed within him. Alas, he didn’t have the energy left to peel himself off the floor and get something to eat.

***

It was noon. At Wuhen Inn, Xiao Yuan was, for once, on edge. She kept glancing at her phone, checking for messages, checking the time.

When the clock hit 11:40, she couldn’t take it anymore. She opened her chat app and fired off a message to Yuanshi Tianzun: Is the match over yet?

The message went off into the void. No reply.

She breathed deeply, the front of her white shirt straining, and made herself wait.

By 12:30pm, after texting Kou Beiyue to pick up lunch, she dialed Yuanshi Tianzun’s number.

—Sorry. The number you have dialed is unavailable…

She frowned as she listened to the automated voice. Was his match still not over?

The way Yuanshi had put it, the ultimate showdown was a straight fight for the championship, with just him and Zhao Chenghuang one-on-one. How long could an arena fight drag on? It had already been a whole morning. Why wasn’t it over?

Honestly, she was curious how things would turn out, and perhaps even a little hopeful, but she caught herself. There wasn’t much point in hoping. As a newcomer amongst the Spirit Realm Walkers, Yuanshi Tianzun squeezing into the top three was already a pleasant shock.

Taking the title was a long shot. If he actually pulled it off, that would say a lot about the dearth of talent available within the ranks of official Walkers.

The inn door swung open and a delivery guy in a blue safety helmet stepped inside. With his sharp features, heavy brows, and keen eyes, he had the look of a vicious little stray dog.

It was Kou Beiyue, with a delivery box strapped to his back. He’d brought a full spread of food for Xiao Yuan and himself.

Money had been flowing into Xiao Yuan’s pockets from every angle lately. She’d sold Yuanshi Tianzun’s intel a few times, and received another two hundred grand for hunting down Walker corpses for him. With cash to spare, her meals had gotten a serious upgrade.

A stretch performing delivery runs had done something for Kou Beiyue too. His complexion was no longer pale and sickly, and his face had developed a healthy tan. Dripping with sweat, he stood in the blast of the air conditioner by the door and let the cold air wash over him for a moment before bounding over to the front desk, grinning. 

”Xiao Yuan, Xiao Yuan, guess who I ran into on my route just now? Blood Steamed Bun.”

That earned him a small frown. ”You’re still in contact with him?”

Blood Steamed Bun was a subordinate of the Hex King, vice president of the Psychic Assembly. He’d earned himself some merit in the Black Wuchang affair, and the Hex King had posted him to Jinshan City, where he’d set up the Jinshan office to court and recruit Evil-class Walkers.

That man had a strange obsession with food delivery. Even at the height of summer, he’d ride his little electric scooter from door to door, dead set on running the routes himself. That was how he’d stumbled into meeting Kou Beiyue.

Blood Steamed Bun had decided that Kou Beiyue, a fellow delivery enthusiast, was raw material worth shaping, so they’d swapped contact info. Kou Beiyue had said, loudly and repeatedly, that he did not enjoy delivering food, and that life had forced it on him, but Blood Steamed Bun didn’t buy a word of it.

Kou Beiyue waved a dismissive hand. ”Relax, I know what I’m doing. That guy’s no saint, moody as hell, and he kills without blinking, but he’s not bloodthirsty, just your garden-variety bad guy. And it’s not as though the official Walkers are short on those.”

When he saw Xiao Yuan’s face darken, he rushed to explain, ”I just wanted to squeeze some intel out of him. It beats having you running down to the black market every single day, doesn’t it? And look, I already got something out of him. Something big.”

”Something big?” Xiao Yuan repeated, offering a cold laugh.

This kid. Ever since he’d become an Enchanting Demon, he’d been under her wing, training with Master Wuhen, and was as green as they came. It was fair to say he’d barely seen the wider world outside. What would he know about which intel mattered and which didn’t? Odds were that Blood Steamed Bun had fobbed him off by tossing some throwaway piece of nothing.

Kou Beiyue set down the delivery box, dug out his phone, and unlocked it.  ”Blood Steamed Bun just forwarded me this. It’s an updated bounty list from inside the Psychic Assembly’s Eastern Division. It’s only the Eastern Division’s list for now, but I figure the other major evil organizations will sync theirs up within a day or two.”

She offered the young man a slight nod. The bounty list had been updated? That did count as real intel. An evil organization wouldn’t make alterations to their bounty list on a whim.

She took the phone he held out and read the message.

Updated Transcendent-tier Bounty List:

1. Yuanshi Tianzun. Reward: twenty million, one Saint-tier item, two premium Transcendent-tier items.

2. Zhao Chenghuang. Fifteen million, one Saint-tier item.

3. Only I Am Supreme. Fifteen million, two premium Transcendent-tier items.

4. Sun Miaomiao. Ten million, two premium Transcendent-tier items.

5. Earth God. Fifteen million, one premium Transcendent-tier item.

…

Zhao Chenghuang, who had previously sat at the top of the Transcendent list, had dropped to second. And there, at the head of it, bold and brash, was Yuanshi Tianzun.

Her eyes narrowed, and her striking face froze. The news was finally sinking, and only one thought was left in her mind.

The arena fight had concluded. Yuanshi Tianzun had won. 

He beat Zhao Chenghuang. He actually beat Zhao Chenghuang… 

She lowered the phone and stared blankly out of the inn’s windows. After a long moment, she set the phone down.

”I’m going to see Master Wuhen,” she said quietly.

***

In the study of the Fu Family Bay villa, Ling Jun circled the yin corpse, sizing it up from every angle.

”The body of a Level 3 Enchanting Demon, and it’s carrying the scent of an Earth Wraith too. Tsk, tsk. Where’d Yuanshi Tianzun dig up a corpse like this? I don’t recall him putting in a request to you for help. You never mentioned it either.”

Corpse No. 1 was bound up in a tangle of vines, a low growl emanating from the base of its throat as it thrashed and twisted about, fighting to tear loose and kill the two living men in its sight.

The last order it had received was to kill the enemy, which defaulted to killing every living thing. Its master had bailed after making an entire arena of people want him dead, without issuing the order to stand down.

Fu Qingyang sat behind the desk, unbothered. ”You’re not from the Five Elements Alliance. I don’t have to tell you everything.”

He changed the subject. ”Go tell Bunny Girl No. 2 to get the payouts ready. Every White Tiger Guard member gets a bonus of one million.”

”On it!” Ling Jun said as he left, pleased with himself.

Fu Qingyang watched the trash go, then picked up his phone and opened his chat app, specifically the Five Elements Alliance elders’ group.

Elder Teddy: Not bad, not bad. Now both Transcendent- and Saint-tier champions are from our Five Elements Alliance.

Great Tang War God: It’s been years since we’ve had a day this good. Back when the Female Marshal was still up and coming, she needed two separate runs to take both the Transcendent- and Saint-tier titles.

Luoshen: Yuanshi Tianzun’s talent is genuinely frightening. He doesn’t seem to have a ceiling. Elder Sun’s not living down his blunder anytime soon.

Fire Sea War God: Interesting. I like this Yuanshi Tianzun kid. You White Tiger Legion lot should hand him over to my Crimson Fire Gang, hahahaha.

Most days, this group barely stirred. When there was real business, the elders would surface, say a few words, and then the group would go quiet as a grave. However, even hours after the arena bout, they were still tossing out comments now and then. The mood in the group was jovial and lively. In the elders’ minds, the Five Elements Alliance had steamrolled the Taiyi Sect in the tournament, and had gained significant honor.

At the Sovereign tier, ordinary profit didn’t move them. Honor was what counted, and it counted even more the higher you climbed.

Fu Qingyang snorted. This pack of old fossils hadn’t hesitated when betting on Zhao Chenghuang, dropping millions without so much as a blink. When it came to backing Yuanshi Tianzun, they suddenly turned stingy, coughing up a few tens of thousands, penny-pinching the whole way.

Now that Yuanshi Tianzun had beaten Zhao Chenghuang, every last one of them was beaming. It all made sense, though. A few million was pocket change to the elders. What mattered more was honor. Face.

He typed out a single message in the chat.

Fu Qingyang: My thanks to the elders for your generous contributions.

One simple line, but it landed like a ringing slap.

The group, which had been humming along nicely, grew dead silent.

Nobody said a thing.

A dozen seconds later, a message popped up on his screen: You have been removed from the group.

***

By the time Zhang Yuanqing woke, it was dusk. He propped his worn-out body upright and glanced down at his chest. The puncture wound had healed cleanly, without a scar. The cuts and bruises on the rest of his body had vanished too.

I’ve recovered thirty, maybe forty percent. I’m so hungry… 

He got up, dizzy and swaying, stripped off his wrecked clothes, grabbed a dry T-shirt, shorts, and a towel, then crept to the door to unlatch the deadbolt.

He cracked it open and listened for movement in the living room. It was quiet out there. Grandpa and Grandma were both out. At this hour, his idle Grandpa was probably out walking, chatting up the neighborhood regulars, and Grandma had probably gone to the wet market to buy ingredients for dinner.

Zhang Yuanqing quickly slipped into the bathroom, scrubbed the blood off himself, then grabbed a mop and went back to the bedroom to clean the floor. The bloody streaks, puddles of blood, and the body-shaped outline of dried blood and sweat were all mopped away.

He stuffed the ruined clothes into a trash bag, headed downstairs, and dumped it in the building’s communal garbage bin.

Once all of it was done and he was clean and dry, Zhang Yuanqing turned right around and walked to the braised chicken place outside the complex. He ordered three portions and caught the plain, undisguised envy in the owner’s eyes.

While waiting for the food, he grew impatient, fished out his phone and turned it off airplane mode. Only then did he spot a missed call from Fu Qingyang.

He texted Auntie Xiao Yuan the news of his win first, same as always, then went through the congratulatory messages one by one, from Xie Lingxi’s ”Bro Yuanshi, you’re amazing” down to Big Muscle’s ”Holy shit you absolute freak!”

He scrolled past Li Dongze’s ”Oh, my God” and down to Guan Ya’s ”For now, good and evil will receive their just dues.”

This woman, he thought with a shake of his head. Her dirty jokes get more unhinged by the day. 

Model student Zhang Yuanqing sent Guan Ya a bashful little emoji.

Zhang Yuanqing: I’m just a kid, I don’t get what you’re saying. Uh, is the chef free tonight? My stomach’s empty.

He opened the White Tiger Guard chat group and saw Fu Qingyang’s message.

Fu Qingyang: @Yuanshi Tianzun When you’re up, come to Fu Family Bay and collect your yin corpse.

Phoenix Descending: Long live the guild leader!

Shichiro: Long live the boss!

Little Axe: Thank you, Guild Leader!

World Sweeper: Thank you, Guild Leader!

Even the White Tiger Guard members who never usually piped up had chimed in with a ”Thank you, Guild Leader.”

Huh? Why’s nobody talking about me? Am I not the man of the hour today? A bit put out, Zhang Yuanqing scrolled up through the chat and saw the notice.

Fu Qingyang: One million bonus each, not counting mid-year and year-end.

Stunned, he opened his email inbox, and sure enough, there was the email confirming that a million yuan had landed in his bank account.

Yuanshi Tianzun: Centuring, may you and your descendants for ten thousand generations rule over all the land. By the grace of Heaven, may your reign be long and prosperous!

A wall of kowtowing ”thank you boss” stickers flooded the chat.

Shichiro: It’s over. This guy is too good at licking boots. I can’t outdo him.

Little Axe: …

Phoenix Descending: Yuanshi Tianzun, don’t you have the pride of a genius?

Yuanshi Tianzun: In the face of the centurion’s blazing holy radiance, the faint firefly glow of mine isn’t worth mentioning.

After sending the message, Zhang Yuanqing saw Fu Qingyang drop a personal red packet just for him.

Fu Qingyang: Don’t get the wrong idea. This is the champion’s reward. I don’t encourage bootlicking. Nobody should follow his example.

Phoenix Descending: …

Shichiro: …

Little Axe: …

He closed the group chat and jumped straight into the forum, itching to see how the official Walkers rated him.

This was the main event.

***

In a dim bedroom, Zhu Rong lounged against a single armchair in a long dress with her elegant legs crossed. She watched the young man across the room and smiled.

”Give me his blood.”