Chapter 239: Online Meeting

Chapter 239: Online Conference

A thunderous "boom" erupted in Zhang Yuanqing's mind, as if a grenade had detonated inside, blasting his soul into fragments, grinding his consciousness to dust, leaving only a vast blankness.

A persistent ringing filled his ears.

He didn't know how much time had passed before Guan Ya's increasingly urgent calls jolted him awake.

"Yuan Shi, what's wrong with you?"

"Weren't you at Fu Qingyang's villa? How did the Demon Lord's portrait suddenly appear? What happened... do you want me to come over?"

As a Scout, Guan Ya keenly sensed something amiss from Yuan Shi's prolonged silence.

Zhang Yuanqing drew a deep breath, striving to keep his voice steady.

"Nothing, Sister Guan Ya. Thanks for the help. I still have matters to attend to here. Hanging up now!"

He couldn't wait to end the call. The moment he pressed the "end call" button, his entire being seemed drained, slumping against the chair back, gasping in great gulps.

Fuck! The Demon Lord isn't dead, the Demon Lord is still alive, fuck fuck fuck fuck...

If the Demon Lord isn't dead, then what am I as the Demon Lord's Successor?

Will the Character Card on me pose a hidden danger? How could the Demon Lord so coincidentally appear that night, taking the Little Sun from the Fallen Holy Grail?

The Demon Lord didn't kill me that night—he obviously knew I was the holder of his Character Card. He didn't kill me; does he have another purpose?

Does Bing Ge know the Demon Lord is still alive? No... the one who mailed me the Character Card that day, was it really Bing Ge?!

All manner of thoughts, doubts, rose like bubbles, dense and chaotic. His brain could no longer calm down to think.

The Demon Lord's manifestation stirred a deep fear in Zhang Yuanqing's heart. This fear swallowed his reason, driving him to his feet, walking toward the door.

—Report to the organization, tell the Five Elements Alliance the Demon Lord isn't dead, even if it exposes my identity as the Demon Lord's Successor!

Just then, the Mao Wang speaker on his bedside suddenly emitted a "zzzt" of static, followed by a low voice, sounding as if suppressing some pain:

"Any Spirit Realm Walker—only death can sever the Character Card's binding. Even the Five Alliance Lords of the Five Elements Alliance, even the supreme leader of the evil organizations, are no exception..."

Zhang Yuanqing's hand, already gripping the doorknob, froze rigid.

This was Master Wuhen's voice.

He remembered. He recalled that conversation with Master Wuhen. After the mysterious figure took the "Little Sun," he had suspected in his heart whether the mysterious figure might be the Demon Lord, and thus felt deep anxiety.

So the next day he rushed to the Wuhen Hotel in Jinshan City, questioning Master Wuhen, who was a Ruler.

The answer he received was the audio just played from the Mao Wang speaker.

Right. I clearly confirmed it—the Demon Lord was already dead... Zhang Yuanqing took several deep breaths, his emotions stabilizing slightly. He released the doorknob, returned to the desk, and sat down.

Pondering, contemplating...

"The Taiyi Sect's Sect Master said the Demon Lord was already dead! That contemporary strongest Night Wanderer, an existence stronger than the Five Alliance Lords—and wasn't it said that the Yin Princess mentioned the Sect Master cultivates the Star Official path, reputed to be omniscient?"

"Would such a figure misjudge? Obviously impossible. Moreover, the Demon Lord had connections with many big shots—the Beauty God Association's President, the Five Elements Alliance's White Tiger Marshal... If the Demon Lord had the ability to deceive even them, he wouldn't need to fake his death. It's clearly unreasonable."

People always believe what they're willing to believe. Zhang Yuanqing, as if grasping evidence, immediately overturned the possibility of the Demon Lord still being alive, and from this felt immense joy and relief.

"But the ghost bride shouldn't deceive me, nor has she any need to..."

The thought struck Zhang Yuanqing with two sudden doubts: first, the Demon Lord should have sensed the ghost bride at the time, shouldn't he? Why would he let her see his true face?

Second, the Demon Lord had once entered the Jinshui Amusement Park—how could the ghost bride not recognize him?

At once, he summoned a breath of Taiyin power beside him; pale black yin qi curled gracefully, coalescing into a slender figure clad in bridal robes, veiled beneath a crimson bridal headdress.

Part bewitching beauty, part sinister gloom.

"Wife, I suddenly recall a matter unasked." Zhang Yuanqing gazed at the portrait on the table and said:

"Do you have any impression of this man?"

The ghost bride stood motionless as a vengeful spirit—no, she *was* a vengeful spirit...

A soft, drifting voice, lovely yet faint, replied:

"Husband, this concubine does not know this person."

Doesn't know him... Zhang Yuanqing frowned, then suddenly realized: Jinshui Amusement Park wasn't originally an S-rank instance; it was only because of the influence of the Three-Dao Mountain Goddess that its difficulty rating changed.

And in the original version, the Nether Marriage wasn't a mandatory attraction.

The Demon Lord and Brother Bing most likely never played Nether Marriage; or perhaps the ghost bride was merely a low-level vengeful spirit back then, her intellect undeveloped—even if she had seen him, she might not remember.

Come to think of it, since I took the ghost bride away, Jinshui Amusement Park's difficulty might drop back to A-rank... whatever, who cares... Zhang Yuanqing said:

"I understand. Thank you, Wife."

Just then, light footsteps passed outside the door, fading into distance.

Must be one of the bunny girls passing by.

From beneath the red veil, the ghost bride's delighted voice suddenly drifted:

"So many nubile women here—which does Husband fancy? This concubine can possess her and consummate the marriage with you."

Though the Spirit Realm had cast her as a bride-to-be, eager to choose a husband, the ghost bride was a spirit, fleshless.

Ah, this... Only now did Zhang Yuanqing discover the ghost bride had so many uses—marry one ghost, and it's like marrying countless beauties?

He cleared his throat:

"Having Wife by my side is satisfaction enough for this husband."

And hurriedly swallowed the ghost bride back into his abdomen.

With this interlude, Zhang Yuanqing's mood settled considerably, his thoughts growing clearer.

"If—if the mysterious man isn't the Demon Lord, why impersonate him? Certainly not for Hei Wuchang's benefit—no need to playact before a dead man.

"Assuming the mysterious man sensed the ghost bride's spying, then he performed for her—but to what end? He wanted to convey a message through her—to whom? Me?

"But he couldn't possibly anticipate I'd return to Jinshui Amusement Park, nor that I'd subdue the ghost bride... wait, that man can mimic the Demon Lord's appearance, so he must know the Demon Lord well—could he also have foreseen that I would, at some future moment, obtain the Transmission Jade Talisman?"

The reasoning grew clearer, yet in the end all doubts circled back to the original question—what is the mysterious man's purpose in posing as the Demon Lord?

And why did he deliberately show his face to the ghost bride?

Compared to the initial bewilderment over the stranger's identity, now it was merely a shift from one doubt to another, offering no progress whatsoever in unraveling the truth.

"But at least there is a direction now. The final answer is always pried loose bit by bit through the ceaseless gathering of clues. Rather than ponder the stranger's purpose, what I must decide now is this—pretend nothing happened and bury the matter, or confess the truth to the organization and seek asylum? Perhaps the Five Elements Alliance can give me answers."

After a moment's deliberation, Zhang Yuanqing weighed the pros and cons and chose to conceal the matter.

For regardless of what the stranger schemed, whatever his aim, he had at least not manifested any tangible pressure or crisis.

Yet once the identity of the Demon Lord's heir was made public, the factions and heavyweights involved with the Demon Lord—based on what he alone knew—were already beyond the shelter of mere elders.

Stripping away the layers of fog, starting from the two words "danger" at the very core, any choice made by anyone with a functioning brain would be the former.

…

The Wuhen Hotel.

At four-thirty in the afternoon, past the lunch delivery rush, Kou Beiyue finally found time to return to the hotel. He pushed open the glass door and paused first at the entrance's air-conditioning vent, savoring a moment of humanity's high-tech convenience.

Then, sighing in satisfaction, he walked to the front desk and said:

"Xiaoyuan, I've dug up a crucial piece of intelligence."

Xiaoyuan kept her head down playing with her phone, not even lifting it, giving a perfunctory "Mm."

Dissatisfied, Kou Beiyue slapped the marble countertop of the front desk and snapped:

"It really is important intelligence."

Xiaoyuan went "Mm" again: "Is it that Yuanshi Tianzun emerged from the instance dungeon? Or that the instance strategy sparked a dispute between the Taichi Gate and the Five Elements Alliance? Or that the Demon-Eyed Heavenly King went missing? Or that that Evil Class is killing people somewhere?"

"You—these are all stale, rotten melons. Mine is fresh." Kou Beiyue glared and said:

"I found out the Evil Organization is holding a summit in Jiangnan Province to discuss how to assassinate Yuanshi Tianzun. He's in grave danger."

Xiaoyuan wore an "I knew it" expression. She put down her phone and looked at him with grave seriousness:

"What year does the Evil Organization *not* hold a summit? What year do they *not* target the officialdom's geniuses?"

"..." Kou Beiyue choked for a moment, unwilling to back down, he said:

"Forget it, not telling you then. Anyway, I've already agreed with Renxue Mantou to go to Jiangnan Province for the summit on the pretext of participating in a Slaughter Instance Dungeon."

The previously cool-faced Xiaoyuan suddenly widened her eyes and said in a deep voice:

"You're going to attend the summit!?"

Seeing Xiaoyuan's face turn ugly, Kou Beiyue's momentum instantly flagged, and he asked weakly:

"Y-yes... is there a problem? Don't worry, I definitely won't participate in the Slaughter Instance Dungeon. I'm just fooling them, attending the summit to gather intel."

Xiaoyuan sneered:

"Only you are smart. The high-ups of the Spiritual Ability Association, the War God Sect, and the Nihility Sect are all fools, I'm a fool too. How did I ever teach a fool like you."

Kou Beiyue was unconvinced, but he didn't dare argue with Xiaoyuan, whom he regarded as a mother-sister.

Xiaoyuan's face turned stern:

"The summit isn't something just anyone can attend. It requires a recommendation from the three major organizations, and there are further tests upon entry. You are acquainted with Yuanshi Tianzun, and you cultivate under Master Wuhen; you are not of the same path as them.

"Once your identity is exposed, death is certain!"

Kou Beiyue's face instantly changed, stammering:

"There are other tests? Renxue Mantou didn't tell me any of this..."

Xiao Yuan coldly snorted: "Right, why didn't Renxue Mantou tell you?"

Seeing Kou Beiyue hadn't caught on, Xiao Yuan raised her voice like a mother tutoring a child with homework, exasperated that iron wouldn't become steel:

"He's testing you, wants to see your background, your origins, see if there's anything wrong with you!"

Kou Beiyue understood, immediately saying:

"Then, then I won't go."

"Then Renxue Mantou will know you're suspicious, at least suspect you, don't hang with him anymore, can't even deliver takeout." Xiao Yuan said.

Kou Beiyue nodded, but with some reluctance, said:

"I heard the evil organization's top brass issued a death order, Fu Qingyuan and Yuanshi Tianzun, one must die. I wanted to infiltrate and see what they're planning..."

Xiao Yuan's expression changed, changing her tune:

"If you insist on attending the summit, there's still a way."

Kou Beiyue said delightedly:

"What way?"

"Seek help from Master Wuchen, he can help you bypass the evil organization's tests. When I was in the Transcendent Realm, I attended a summit once, that time Master Wuchen helped me, so I know the entry test procedures." Xiao Yuan spoke, leaving the bar counter, walking into the hotel depths.

"Wait!" Kou Beiyue stared at her suspiciously:

"Why did you change your mind the moment I said Yuanshi Tianzun and Fu Qingyuan one must die, aren't you afraid I'll be in danger?"

"No one would suspect an idiot like you is an undercover agent." Xiao Yuan calmly replied.

"Liar!" Kou Beiyue shouted angrily:

"It's because of Yuanshi Tianzun, right? In your heart, am I not as important as Yuanshi Tianzun? Xiao Yuan, I treated you as... the most important person, yet you only think of Yuanshi Tianzun."

The word "sister" was swallowed back.

"Nothing of the sort."

"You do."

"Nothing of the sort."

...

Seven-thirty in the evening.

After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing came to the computer, screen lit, displaying the official in-house conference software interface.

Zhang Yuanqing skillfully entered "Yuanshi Tianzun"'s ID account and password, clicked login.

Login successful.

The interface shifted abruptly, revealing a layout reminiscent of online classroom software, arranged like a miniature, bird's-eye view of a grand lecture hall.

At the very front stood the "podium," with rows of avatars arrayed below, each tagged with a Lingjing ID.

Yuan Shi Tianzun occupied the first seat in the front row; beside him sat Zhao Chenghuang, and next to him, Sun Miaomiao.

Beyond them, he spotted familiar figures: Tianxia Guihuo, Jiang Jingwei, Yuan Ting, Maoshan Shushi, Gu He Zu, and others.

Thirty-eight people in total.

Worth noting: Qingsongzi had been imprisoned by the Five Elements Alliance for colluding with Zhu Rong to frame Yuan Shi Tianzun, and thus missed the Killing Instance.

At this moment, the elder on the podium had yet to come online; all members were muted.

In the chat box below, a line of text popped up:

【Jiang Jingwei: Yuan Shi Tianzun's here, let's switch seats, I want the first spot.】

【Little Match Boy: Welcoming Yuan Shi Tianzun, long live the Venerable One!】

【Peony Fairy: Yuan Shi Tianzun, once we're in the Killing Instance, I'm sticking with you, okay?】

【Maoshan Shushi: Hehe!】

【Long Live White Tiger: The Venerable One's arrived, tsk tsk, once in the Killing Instance, I'll share life and death with the Venerable One.】

【Jiang Jingwei: Don't type so fast, you're pushing my messages up.】

……