Spirit Realm Walker

The Demon Lord let out a derisive laugh. ”Her? So eager to control me already?”

In response, Betty purred in her sweet, husky voice, ”My Lord, you are the most talented Nocturnal Specter of this generation. Our President admires you far too much to ever dream of controlling you. Besides, you have an old saying on your side of the world, ’If I should die beneath a peony flower, I will still be charming as a ghost.’ The President is the most captivating woman alive. Don’t tell me you aren’t looking forward to spending an intimate evening with her?”

The Demon Lord sneered. ”Heh, that’s because you don’t know we have another old saying over here. ’The whip cannot reach that far.’ I’ll bed her eventually, but the time isn’t right. Once I finish my last solo Spirit Realm dungeon and step into that supreme domain, I’ll go see her myself.”

A brief silence fell, then Betty spoke again, her voice low and tempting. ”What if the President could tell you a secret? A secret about the Nocturnal Specters. No—one of the highest secrets of the Spirit Realm itself.”

”Foolish woman,” The Demon Lord replied, his tone flat and dismissive. ”Every gift comes with a price tag. The Aphrodite Society would never reveal a secret of that magnitude without reason. You all will still want to control me. Hmm, do you know this secret?”

”I... I don’t know…”

”Don’t be afraid. You’re an irresistible little thing. I won’t kill you just so I can interrogate your spirit. Not until I’ve grown tired of you, at least.”

Then came a series of slurping sounds. Zhang Yuanqing, being the pure and innocent child he was, surmised that the foreign woman had to be eating some delicious cuisine to replenish her energy.

Right at that moment, Night Wandering ended and Yuanqing reappeared in his room. While he listened to the slurping sounds, his brow furrowed deeply as a realization struck him.

This item belonged to the Demon Lord!

The Cat King Speaker couldn’t be stored in the Inventory. It could only be carried on one’s person. And the audio that had just played featured the Demon Lord and a foreign woman. 

What did that mean? It meant the Cat King Speaker had been right beside the Demon Lord at the time. Who else other than the owner would carry this item around?

Bro Bing had asked him to find this item, yet it belonged to the Demon Lord. What was Bro Bing’s relationship with the Demon Lord?

Bro Bing definitely wasn’t the Demon Lord. The voice sounded all wrong, and his manner of speaking was completely different. Yuanqing had known Bro Bing since they were both in diapers, and he knew the man too well.

The Demon Lord’s voice came through the speaker again. ”Come on, let’s switch positions…”

The two seemed to have come to some sort of understanding. They stopped eating and began a deeper exchange.

Yuanqing had no choice but to activate Night Wandering again to keep the sound from leaking out. Just then, the moaning and gasping was suddenly replaced by a crackling hiss of static. The next moment, a quiet, familiar voice emerged from the Cat King Speaker’s grille.

”Great Detective, it’s your assistant, Ah Bing. I can’t tell when you’ll be hearing this recording, but I know that by the time you do, I’ll probably already be dead, or missing.

”Don’t ask about my relationship with the Demon Lord. That truth is more than you can handle right now. If I’ve gone missing, please don’t try to find me. At least—at least wait until you’ve survived your first large scale massacre dungeon and advanced to the Saint tier.

”This item will give you a lot of useful information—about me, about the Demon Lord… But remember, never let anyone else hear these recordings. If the contents leak, you know what to do. Silence them.”

There was a short pause, then he continued, ”The Demon Lord’s Character Card is my gift to you. It represents opportunity, but it also comes with endless risk. Don’t place too much trust in official organizations. Don’t trust anyone.

”Now, here’s your first clue. By the time you hear this recording, Ghost Eye Judge is most likely already dead. If Black Wuchang still hasn’t been found, you must find a way to locate him. Get the Registry. You have to get the Registry.”

How did Bro Bing know Ghost Eye Judge would be dead by now? He couldn’t have been sure of the exact time Yuanqing would get the Cat King Speaker. Unless the Ghost Eye Judge had already died before he recorded this message, which was why he was so certain.

A jolt ran through Yuanqing as he suddenly recalled what Yuan Ting had said during their conversation. ”Although the exact time of the Demon Lord’s death can’t be confirmed, it should be recent. Ghost Eye Judge died around the same time. Both Demon Lord and Ghost Eye Judge perished around the same time—is there a connection?”

I have to get the Registry, Yuanqing vowed. Bro Bing said it with such gravity. What does it contain that is so important? It seems like he’s tangled up in the deaths of Demon Lord and Ghost Eye Judge too. Could his disappearance be because of this?

If I uncover the truth behind their deaths, could it lead me to uncover why Bro Bing disappeared and where he is now?

Yuanqing waited a moment longer, until he was sure that the Cat King Speaker would remain silent, then he tucked it back into the drawer.

He sat at his desk for a long time, then dug out a notebook and began organizing his thoughts in writing.

”The Five Elements Alliance is searching for Black Wuchang. The Psychic Assembly’s Eastern Division is looking for him too. Too many factions are involved in this mess. If I want to find the Registry, the best approach is to join the search effort, operate under the Five Elements Alliance’s banner, and use that as cover.”

He would head to the office later, feel out the Squad Leader, and see if he could join the operation.

”Discovered a new profession: a ’love and desire’ class. Sounds like a foreign class. Tsk tsk, an irresistible little thing? I’d really like to see for myself.”

Yuanqing caught himself drifting off topic as he wrote and crossed out the second half of the sentence he had just written.

”Demon Lord had deep ties with foreign professionals. The question is whether he ever met the President of the Aphrodite Society in the end, and whether he obtained that secret from her. If he did, the Cat King Speaker might have recorded it…”

He took in a deep breath as something occurred to him.

”Come to think of it, is that why the Taiyi Sect is looking for Demon Lord’s successor?”

Before long, he had laid out his short term plans. One, find a way to join the search for Black Wuchang, and two, fulfill Ashamed Father’s last wish.

His long term objective was to prepare for his third Spirit Realm mission, but that was still far off and didn’t need consideration just yet.

Click!

He flicked open his lighter and watched as the flames licked across the paper. The fire leaped high, quickly consuming the plans he had just written out. 

After destroying the evidence, Yuanqing grabbed his phone and the Cat King Speaker, activated Night Wandering and leapt out the window. Using the AC’s compressor unit outside as a stepping stone, he vaulted into the common corridor.

There was no way he could waltz out through the living room right now. Grandma would disown him on the spot.

Knock knock!

Once in the hallway, he rapped on his uncle’s door.

His aunt answered, wearing a tight-fitting yoga outfit. She was well past her prime years, yet her figure could still pass for someone in her early thirties, which was genuinely impressive. Combine that with a pampered lifestyle and zero housework, and she looked about forty at most. Nobody would guess she had a thirty-year-old son.

”Auntie, where’s Uncle?” Yuanqing asked as he poked his head inside to look around.

His aunt rolled her eyes with a coquettish flair. ”That man just loves to fool around. Who knows where he’s run off to this time?” 

Yuanqing cut straight to the chase. ”I remember Uncle has a fanny pack. He doesn’t use it anyway, so why not give it to me?” 

The Cat King Speaker was too uncomfortable stuffed in his pocket, but it wasn’t worth carrying a whole backpack for. After thinking it over, a fanny pack was the best choice.

His aunt stepped aside. ”It’s in the walk-in closet. Go find it yourself.” 

Yuanqing darted into the closet and rummaged around until he found his uncle’s flashy purple designer fanny pack. He strapped it around his waist and headed for the door.

”Thanks, Auntie! Auntie, forever eighteen!”

”Wait!” She called after him, gesturing with her chin toward the rooms behind her with the ease of a long habit.

”Take the trash from the living room and bedroom down with you.”

Yuanqing flatly refused her. ”Not happening!”

”Hey!” His aunt put her hands on her slender waist. ”Getting too big for your britches, huh? Go take out the trash. Auntie will give you a hundred yuan.”

Unlike Grandma, who was ruthlessly cold and quick to threaten disownment, his aunt preferred to corrupt upstanding young men with cold hard cash. Too lazy to do any housework herself, she had been using Yuanqing as child labor since he was small. Her catchphrase had always been: ”Yuanzi, Auntie will give you pocket money if you help Auntie with…”

Over those years, Yuanqing had made quite a fortune off her.

”Auntie, I’m not a little kid anymore. Stop paying me to do your chores like the old days.”

”Two hundred.”

”Auntie, rest assured. Leave the trash to me,” Yuanqing replied as he happily trotted inside.

His aunt pulled two crisp red bills from her elegant LV wallet, thought it over, then drew out a third.

”Here!”

”Thanks, Auntie! Auntie, forever eighteen!”

”Oh, stop. Why not say fifteen while you’re at it?”

”Don’t worry, Auntie. I’ll call the police right now and have them arrest Uncle.”

His aunt doubled over with laughter.

”Shoo, shoo, shoo…”

***

Yuanqing took a cab to the office. Through the sheer power of his social skills, he’d managed to score a face mask from the stingy driver. He pulled up his hoodie, shoved his hands in his pockets, and strolled into the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau compound.

He pushed open the doors leading into the glass building and made his way to the second floor, where he spotted Li Dongze and Guan Ya crowded around Wang Tai. Guan Ya wore a teasing grin.

”Not bad! Who would’ve thought? You’re quiet as a mouse, yet you somehow hooked yourself a rich heiress. What does she even see in you? Your nose isn’t even that big.”

Li Dongze leaned on his cane, shaking his head with a sigh. ”Never judge a book by its cover. Never judge a book by its cover. You and those honest-looking bushy brows of yours, Wang Tai…”

Wang Tai sat at the edge of his desk, wearing the expression of a man questioning his entire existence.

Dongze’s ear twitched as he noticed the newcomer, and a smile spread across his face. ”Oh, our hero of the hour has arrived. Didn’t I tell you to stay home and rest?”

”I was bored, so I figured I’d stop by.”

Yuanqing was about to ask what they had been chatting about when Dongze nodded slightly and his expression grew serious.

”Yuanshi, that strategy guide of yours is causing more trouble than expected.”

”What happened?”

”Centurion Fu is currently in an elder-level meeting. The Council of Elders is having a serious disagreement over whether to ’sell’ the strategy guide to the Taiyi Sect.”