Spirit Realm Walker

Zhang Yuanqing’s body, along with the Cat King Speaker, vanished into thin air. The indescribable, utterly mortifying sound effects disappeared along with his physical form as Night Wandering erased him from visibility. 

He cursed inwardly. The last time, he’d actually praised Demon Lord for not being some degenerate obsessed with women and for leaving behind proper recordings. How long had that lasted? Now this. 

Thank goodness it was the middle of the night and everyone was asleep. If his grandma, grandpa, or aunt overheard this, he’d never live it down. Well, his aunt might not judge too harshly. She already knew what kind of ”study materials” he kept in his collection. 

His thoughts drifted aimlessly as he leaned back in his ergonomic chair, emptied his mind, and waited for the scene to end. The air was thick with the sounds of passion.

A few minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing shifted in his seat. This woman’s voice is incredibly soft and seductive, he thought. You can tell she’s a beauty just from the sound alone. This Demon Lord certainly knew how to live.

Another ten minutes passed. He’d migrated from the desk chair back to his bed. Is the Demon Lord’s stamina really this insane? How is this still going?

A few more minutes crawled by. Almost unconsciously, he reached for the box of tissues on his desk and set it on the nightstand—Shit! He caught himself, yanking his hand back as if stepping away from a cliff’s edge, flushing with fury.

”Are you serious right now? Demon Lord, there’s something genuinely wrong with you. End this recording right now, or I swear I’ll smash this damn speaker to pieces.”

That last part was directed at the Cat King Speaker itself. He knew the item possessed its own awareness.

By this point, the moaning coming through the speaker had gone hoarse. The rhythmic slapping, however, hadn’t stopped once. Even Zhang Yuanqing, a man who’d surveyed his fair share of cinematic works, had rarely encountered anything quite this relentless.

At the same time, the repeated activation of Night Wandering over nearly half an hour had drained his Power of the Dark Moon almost to its limit. His stamina was bottoming out, and waves of exhaustion were crashing over him.

Zzzt…

Threatened with destruction, the Cat King Speaker chose self-preservation. The sounds of passion cut off immediately. After a few seconds of blessed silence, a woman’s voice drifted out from the speaker, soft and seductive but with a scratchy hoarseness to it.

”It’s already dawn, Lord Demon Lord. What got into you tonight? You nearly knocked my soul clean out of my body.”

After that came Demon Lord’s low rumble, his voice like a stone being dragged across gravel. ”You Wood Demons are in heat every waking moment. If I didn’t prepare a secret weapon, how would I ever put a frisky little thing like you in her place?”

The woman had clearly been thoroughly conquered. 

”A secret weapon?” she purred.

Demon Lord let out a short laugh. ”I ran into a merchant a while back and bought a bottle of spray from him. It works like a charm.”

Zhang Yuanqing’s brain quivered like a struck bell, and his expression changed instantly. A spray? Is Demon Lord talking about the Endurance Spray? Is that the item that he actually used? If so… 

Zhang Yuanqing’s face flooded with shock as a realization struck him like lightning. The Character Card rewards are Demon Lord’s old items!

To verify this new theory, he worked through it carefully. What were the Character Card rewards? First was the Red Dancing Shoes. Second was the Disguise Ring. Third was the Endurance Spray… If the rewards from the Character Card are items Demon Lord once owned, then I finally know how he cleared the Widow Xu stage.

There was a question from the Yin Yang Town dungeon that had nagged at Zhang Yuanqing. How had Demon Lord passed the Widow Xu encounter?

Based on the Cat King Speaker’s recordings, Demon Lord had clearly slept with Widow Xu, and her abilities were terrifyingly potent. Even Earth Wraiths, a class renowned for stamina and endurance, had crumbled against her. How could a Nocturnal Specter hold out? But if he’d used the Endurance Spray, then it all clicked into place.

Wait, no. Zhang Yuanqing frowned. The Red Dancing Shoes were also a Character Card reward, but they couldn’t possibly have belonged to Demon Lord.

The reason for that was simple. The legend of Sheling Tunnel dated back to the previous century, and the construction crew trapped inside had been wiped out by the Red Dancing Shoes’ endless dance. It was precisely because the shoes had shown up there that Sheling Tunnel had turned into a bugged trial Spirit Realm. If the Red Dancing Shoes belonged to the Demon Lord, he would’ve taken them with him when he left, and the bug wouldn’t have persisted all those years. The logic didn’t hold.

Zhang Yuanqing sat in silence for a long time, his mind racing at full speed. Then, suddenly, he latched onto a forgotten detail, something the Red Dancing Shoes had expressed: Your dancing is as terrible as ever!

His expression froze as a storm of revelation tore through his mind. So that’s what the Red Dancing Shoes meant…

The first time he’d completed the dance and subdued the shoes, the rule-type item had displayed that baffling message. Back then, Zhang Yuanqing had been fighting for his life moment to moment, clueless about how the Spirit Realm even worked. He hadn’t given it a second thought. Now, looking back, the implications sent a chill down his spine.

I still don’t know why the Red Dancing Shoes stayed behind in Sheling Tunnel, but one thing is certain. Demon Lord visited the Temple of the Three Paths Mountain Goddess at some point. He and the Red Dancing Shoes knew each other.

Zhang Yuanqing pinched the bridge of his nose. At last, the secret behind the Character Card rewards was cracked. After Demon Lord died, his items hadn’t been reclaimed by the Spirit Realm. Instead, they were stored within the Character Card through some unknown mechanism, becoming the card’s exclusive rewards.

His train of thought was promptly derailed by a renewed moaning from the speaker. The shameless couple in the recording had rested for a few minutes before going at it again like dry kindling meeting open flame.

Are Wood Demons really this outrageous? In heat every single moment? No ordinary woman could survive this kind of intense cultivation. This recording was probably made in spring… Zhang Yuanqing’s mind was a whirlwind of complaints.

Zzzt…

Static crackled through the speaker as it automatically skipped ahead. After a few seconds of silence, the Demon Lord’s low voice returned, sounding as if his vocal cords had been dragged through gravel.

”Field test complete. That guy wasn’t lying. The Endurance Spray really does work. I mean, everything functions perfectly fine on my end, but what man could say no to more endurance? It was five million well spent. That said, unless you’ve got two or three women around, or a Wood Demon in heat, you absolutely cannot use the spray under normal circumstances. Otherwise, you’d lose control at the sight of a sow.”

Demon Lord, Zhang Yuanqing thought, use your brain for once. Your complete disregard for boundaries with women in your later years, and how you threw yourself into the trap of the Love and Desire class just to sample the seafood buffet, was all because of the Endurance Spray. Did you forget its cost?Also, did you really have to mention a sow?

The Cat King Speaker continued its playback.

”Time flies. It’s been three months since I became a Spirit Realm Walker. Not to brag, but at the Transcendent tier, very few people can beat me. Unfortunately, advancing to the Saint tier requires waiting for the year-end slaughter dungeon to open. Until then, it doesn’t matter how many dungeons I clear, advancing to Level 4 is impossible. It’s like there’s a lock barring the gate from Transcendent to Saint tier, and the key can only be found inside a slaughter dungeon.

”My personal theory is this: Spirit Realm Walkers undergo a class change at the Saint tier. After the class change, you gain a new title and new powers. Since regular Spirit Realm dungeons only reward Power of the Dark Moon, and not those new post-class change abilities, the large-scale slaughter dungeon is mandatory. The ’new power’ rewarded for clearing it is the key to reaching the Saint tier.”

The Demon Lord’s analysis is sharp, Zhang Yuanqing thought. He’d essentially nailed the core purpose of the Slaughter Dungeon. The man was clearly no fool. Then again, becoming one of the strongest at the Transcendent tier in under three months was no small feat, especially considering the Demon Lord hadn’t even had good timing. The slaughter dungeon only opened at mid-year and year’s end. 

Zhang Yuanqing clicked his tongue and kept listening.

”Ran into that Void Walker again today. Every time he shows up, it’s completely silent. With that ability to appear and vanish without a trace alone, there probably aren’t many people alive who could kill him. He knows I’m being controlled by the Grail. He’s very sympathetic, but the Fallen Holy Grail is a high-tier rule-type item. Most of the time, rules simply mean there’s no solution. The only thing that can break a rule is another rule.

”He told me that to break free from the Fallen Holy Grail’s control, I’d need to obtain a specific item tied to the Nocturnal Specter class. Something that represents the supreme, that represents the light. Only by obtaining it can I escape Ghost Eye Judge’s control.

”I get the feeling he has ulterior motives for telling me this, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s good news. Life doesn’t feel so bleak anymore. I will reclaim my freedom. I will kill Ghost Eye Judge. Nobody gets to enslave me. Nobody.”

Zzzt…

Static hissed as the Cat King Speaker prepared its next recording.

Zhang Yuanqing seized the pause to think. Demon Lord’s method for breaking the Fallen Holy Grail’s hold came from a Void Walker. From what he’d heard, it sounded like a very high-level Merchant. What was this Merchant’s relationship with the Demon Lord? Did he know of Demon Lord’s death?

Zhang Yuanqing was desperate for more details, but the recordings that followed were just Demon Lord’s scattered, fragmented musings. They were disjointed thoughts with no central thread, more like casual diary entries about his feelings and daily life.

Zzzt… ”Damn it, I got hunted down by a female Saint from the Five Elements Alliance and nearly died. Once I reach the Saint tier, the first thing I’m doing is sleeping with her—Huh? Why did I think about sleeping with her instead of killing her for revenge?”

Zzzt… ”I finally found out why that female Saint was so hell-bent on catching me. Turns out the Wood Demon I slept with last time was her daughter. The woman looks like she’s in her thirties, and she’s got a daughter that old? This is so unfair. Her daughter was the one who climbed on top of me and started grinding first…”

Zzzt… ”I’ve finally figured out a way to freeload off the Love and Desire class without paying the price. Find a Knight-class item, and establish a contract proving the relationship is consensual on both sides. After the deed, neither party can use it as leverage to demand anything from the other.”

Zhang Yuanqing went and poured himself a glass of water. Sign a contract before hopping into bed? So such a thing is actually possible. The Demon Lord really channeled all his genius into this kind of thing. What a mess. Can we please get some actual substance?Any follow-up about that Void Walker?

Zzzt… ”Heard something interesting from Ah Ya today. The Berserker Divine General’s wife from the Bing Zhu Sect used to be the Lust Divine General’s sex slave. Even now, she comes running whenever he calls and gets tossed aside whenever he’s done. Ha! If the Berserker Divine General ever found out, he’d absolutely lose his mind. That’s hilarious…”

Zzzt… ”Reached this month’s quota of ten Lawful kills. Tsk, there are plenty of scumbags among the Lawful classes too. By the way, the Musician and Wood Demon classes have the most players running harems…”

Zzzt… ”Got ambushed by a whole group of Lawful Walkers today. Somewhere along the line, I’ve become everyone’s stepping stone to fame. They all want to kill me and make a name for themselves. Fine then. They can’t blame me for showing no mercy. One of them was a pretty little married woman. Turns out she’s the sister of the Zhu family head. Ha. Interesting. I think I’ll take my time with her…”

Zhang Yuanqing spewed out his entire mouthful of water. The sister of the Zhu family head. Could that be Chi Yue’an’s ex-wife? Was she ”trained” by the Demon Lord? Was that why she changed so drastically, and why she began tormenting her boy toys and her husband?

Was that the real reason behind Chi Yue’an’s psychological breakdown, the one that triggered him to create Bronze Sparrow Tower?

A phrase flashed through Zhang Yuanqing’s mind: What goes around comes around.

So you were the root cause of everything, Demon Lord. A strange cocktail of emotions swirled inside him. This Demon Lord was a character with far too many contradictions.

Call him a conqueror? Sure, that fit. There were precious few people in the world as strong as he’d been. But the man spent every waking moment thinking about sleeping with women. He had none of the gravitas a true powerhouse should possess, at least while at the Transcendent tier.

Call him a genius? That was also fair. He wasn’t stupid, gifted beyond measure, and reached the top of the Transcendent tier in under three months. His analyses of dungeons and the Spirit Realm were always on point. Yet he kept stumbling into the most absurd traps, like sleeping with a Love and Desire-class Walker and regretting it so badly he nearly squealed.

Call him a villain? That worked too. He’d done plenty of terrible things, and was officially certified as one of the Fallen. But he was also a pitiable character that fell under the Fallen Holy Grail’s control when he was still weak, and his mind was twisted a little more each day by its dark influence.

Every month, he’d been forced to complete tasks for his master. In the end, he’d traded his life for freedom and took Ghost Eye Judge down with him.

He was a truly tragic figure.

While Zhang Yuanqing silently processed all of this, the Cat King Speaker played another recording.

Zzzt…

”You seem to have taken a special interest in me. You’re clearly not gay, and we’re not family or old friends. So why?” 

It was the Demon Lord’s voice.

An unfamiliar male voice responded, ”Because you’re a Nocturnal Specter.”

”So what if I’m a Nocturnal Specter? Sure, they’re uncommon, but not exactly rare.”

”Wild ones are rare, though,” the man countered. ”Most Nocturnal Specters are firmly under the control of that person in the Taiyi Sect. Trying to cultivate one I can trust on my own? That’s no easy task.”

”Cultivate?”

”That’s right. I want to nurture a Nocturnal Specter. Honestly, most of the supreme ones want the same thing, Evil-class leaders included.”

”Why?”

”Because the Nocturnal Specter is a very special class. Anyone who’s seen the Compass of Light’s prophecy knows.”

”What’s so special about it? And what is the Compass of Light?”

”A little over twenty years ago, a powerful figure in the West unearthed a compass from the Spirit Realm. That compass possesses the ability to foresee the future, an ability that doesn’t belong to any known class. When the compass appeared in the world, it caused an uproar. Countless Spirit Realm Walkers fought to claim it. That included, as you’d expect, the five Alliance Chiefs of the Five Elements Alliance, the Taiyi Sect Master, the leaders of the three great evil organizations, and every major Lawful and Evil faction leader from the West.

”Three things came out of that battle. First, a prophecy was revealed. Second, people learned that the Spirit Realm contains three major zones, one of which has never been opened. Finally, three supreme ones fell. The marshal of the White Tiger Legion, the pope of the Sea God Church, and the president of the Psychic Assembly’s Eastern Division.

”That battle was also the direct catalyst for the founding of the Five Elements Alliance, the pact that united the five factions.”

”What does the prophecy say?” the Demon Lord asked.

The man laughed. ”That, I can’t tell you. But if you ever reach the Sovereign tier, I’ll share it with you.”

With a final hiss of static, the Cat King Speaker fell completely silent.

That’s a lot to take in. Zhang Yuanqing opened his drawer, tucked the speaker away, pulled out the Silencer mask and put it on, then drifted over to the window and stared out at the nightscape.

A deep silence blanketed the night. Across the way, the windows of the neighboring apartment building sat dark and lifeless while the corridor lights burned on without rest. Beyond the community’s gates, the streetlamps cast lonely pools of light across empty roads. It was a long time before a single car passed.

Zhang Yuanqing stood in the quiet darkness and turned the revelations over in his mind.

He’d already known the Spirit Realm was divided into three major zones, but he hadn’t expected that one of them still hadn’t been unlocked. The Five Elements Alliance database hadn’t mentioned that at all.

There was something special about the Nocturnal Specter class. He recalled that even the Aphrodite Society President had shown unusual curiosity toward Demon Lord. Was it because he was a Nocturnal Specter? If he could learn the specific contents of the prophecy, he could probably figure out why the class was so special.

But those secrets were far too distant from him. Zhang Yuanqing didn’t dwell on them, turning his thoughts instead to the exclusive rewards tied to Demon Lord’s Character Card.

Before, he’d treated the Character Card’s exclusive rewards as just a small perk, an extra reward each time he cleared a dungeon that nobody else received. Now that he knew every rewarded item had once belonged to the Demon Lord, though, Zhang Yuanqing had to throw out his old assumptions and reassess everything.

Demon Lord’s Character Card held additional secrets. That much was certain. But as Demon Lord’s successor, he still couldn’t access the core of those secrets. So when would he be able to? 

The revelations that night showed him when the things Demon Lord left behind would become his, and in what form they would be given. It was through the Character Card’s exclusive rewards. Everything the Demon Lord left behind would be delivered to him through those exclusive rewards, one item at a time. At the moment, it was Spirit Realm items. But what about later?

When Taiyi Sect had been searching for Demon Lord’s successor, they’d stated the criteria plainly: the black moon mark, and the Character Card’s exclusive rewards. In hindsight, the Taiyi Sect had given him the answer from the very beginning.

Just then, as his thoughts began to spiral outward, Zhang Yuanqing felt a sudden pang of dread, an inexplicable jolt of terror. The color drained from his face. His breathing turned ragged, and a spike of adrenaline raced through his veins.

He had the unmistakable sensation of being watched. And that sensation immediately made him think of the Demon Eye Heavenly King. The sensation he was feeling was the same sensation he’d felt when he experienced that vertical eye staring straight through him the day before. The only difference was that this time, the gaze was softer, and so it wouldn’t cause physical harm.

Has the Demon Eye found his way here?Is he conducting a blanket search, sweeping his way through my neighborhood?It seems he can use that third eye on his forehead to scan for Spirit Realm Walkers.

Zhang Yuanqing had prior experience. He slowed his breathing, emptied his mind, and let himself sink into perfect stillness.