Crystal-to-win? Crystal-to-win?

Accidents always caught people off guard.

Fang Zheng could swear that he had never imagined he would discover an entirely new way to spend money here, and in this manner—oh, no, a way to spend crystals.

Come to think of it, it was no surprise. After arriving in this world, Fang Zheng had basically given up on spending money. The reason was simple: when he built the game framework, he had naturally left in a payment portal, but it charged money directly through Taobao. Mobile games were mobile games; you could innovate in other areas, but recharging had to be as convenient as possible. What mobile game would deliberately make its payment function ridiculously complicated? They all wished players could tap once and get charged without even entering a password!

But Fang Zheng had been reborn into this world, not simply transported here. He had not even brought a phone with him, so how was he supposed to spend money? Thus, he had never paid much attention to recharging. Yet what Fang Zheng had not expected was that flowers did not bloom when planted with care, while willows thrived when stuck in the ground by chance. He had casually touched a Soul Crystal Core, and somehow even activated his own spending system.

Had he known something this good existed, why would he have risked infiltrating the Holy Temple?

Fang Zheng felt a little regretful now. If he had known Soul Crystal Cores could be used to spend crystals, what would he have had to fear from the Holy Temple's pursuit? He could have plunged into some remote wilderness, killed several hundred Demon Beasts, grabbed their crystal cores, and spent crystals like mad. Then he could draw a whole pile of Soul Stones, fear no one, directly fight the Holy Temple head-on, and become the Demon King... Uh, never mind that.

Unfortunately, the thought only circled through Fang Zheng's mind before being dismissed. The Holy Temple was immensely powerful, and confronting it head-on was hardly a good idea. Besides, Fang Zheng himself bore no grudge against the Holy Temple. Sure, the Holy Temple had killed the parents of this body, but so what? According to Williams's memories, had the master of that household committed few enough utterly deranged atrocities through Living Sacrifice? In Fang Zheng's opinion, those two had gotten off easy by being cut down with a single sword. They should have been captured, tied to stakes, and properly roasted on the pyre.

Thus, regarding the Holy Temple killing this body's parents, Fang Zheng felt no emotional ripples whatsoever and even found it a little amusing. Throwing himself away for a bunch of crazed Cultists? He had no interest in such a losing deal.

Thinking it over, it was safer to maintain a good relationship with the Holy Temple for now.

"Thank you."

Though these thoughts passed through his mind, Fang Zheng's expression did not change in the slightest. He merely smiled and thanked Malte before putting away the Spirit Crystals. Seeing Fang Zheng's reaction, Malte nodded inwardly. As a Grand Knight, he naturally had an eye for people. In his view, it was already remarkable for someone so young to possess such attainments and understanding of swordsmanship. In fact, when Malte had sought out Fang Zheng, he had prepared himself for the possibility that the young man might be difficult to deal with. Nothing in this world was perfect, and those blessed with extraordinary talent often had personality flaws. Malte had seen many such examples before, so before approaching Fang Zheng, he had specifically asked Knight Conan about him before coming to negotiate.

What Malte had not expected was that this young man was not only powerful, but also exceptionally calm and steady in the way he treated others—neither servile nor overbearing. That was truly rare. A person's great strength could be attributed to exceptional talent; even a country farmer could, through a fortunate coincidence, gain power comparable to a Dragon's. But a person's bearing, words, and conduct were not so simple. They required sufficient cultivation. Manners, etiquette, refinement—ultimately, these were the most important traits revealing a person's status and class. While Malte inwardly praised Fang Zheng, he was also puzzled. As a Grand Knight directly under the Bishop Council, he knew the circumstances of most Holy Kingdom nobles very well, yet he had never heard of such an outstanding young figure. If the nobility truly had produced a descendant so powerful and composed, he would have long become the subject of gossip at banquets and soirées.

And his name... was truly strange as well.

"Is Mr. Fang Zheng a citizen of the Holy Kingdom? I do not believe I have ever seen you before..."

"I am from the Silver Duchy."

Fang Zheng had naturally known that someone would question his origins. Ever since learning that he had produced Law Resonance, he had been trying to find a way to resolve the issue of his identity. Coincidentally, he had eventually dug up something from the memories of Williams's body—Williams's father had once lived in the Silver Duchy for a period of time. The man was lecherous by nature and had seduced no shortage of women there. As a Cultist, he had naturally been bold beyond measure, even openly throwing group parties.

Since quite a few descendants of Silver Duchy nobles had been involved, the matter eventually came to light and enraged many noble families. Williams's father naturally fled without a second thought, leaving behind the women he had deceived. Many were imprisoned or exiled by their families, while others simply "disappeared."

After returning, Williams's father had been rather proud of this affair. More than once, he had bragged to his son about it. Aside from lessons like, "See how capable your dad is? So many noble women fell into your dad's hands," there had also been his personal example of, "As a Cultist, corrupting civilization and destroying morality is truly thrilling."

This showed just how twisted the values of these Cultists were.

But for Fang Zheng, it was an unexpected delight.

After being reborn into this world and obtaining this identity and body that had nearly gotten him killed, Fang Zheng had been considering one question: how to distinguish himself from Williams.

And now, he had finally thought of a good solution.

Fang Zheng's choice of the Silver Kingdom had initially been only a vague idea, but as the days passed, that idea had become increasingly clear. For Fang Zheng, two issues in this world had to be resolved. First, why did he look so much like Williams? Perhaps it was fate playing a joke, but Williams resembled Fang Zheng himself by seventy or eighty percent, so Fang Zheng did not feel much unfamiliarity when looking at that face.

Of course, perhaps it was precisely because they looked so alike that he had ended up transported into this bastard's body?

The second issue was this body's bloodline. Through Williams's memories, Fang Zheng knew that magical civilization in this world was extraordinarily advanced; it could even determine relationships through bloodlines. Once someone became suspicious of Fang Zheng's appearance, he would inevitably face an investigation and have to explain his origins and his relationship with the Williams family.

Therefore, using this old incident involving Williams's father, Fang Zheng devised a version of events.

In this fabricated backstory, Fang Zheng came from the Silver Duchy. He was the child of a noblewoman who had been exiled because of Williams's father. He knew nothing of his own origins and had depended on his mother since childhood. Not long ago, his mother had died of illness, and Fang Zheng had brought their remaining assets to the Holy Kingdom...

This backstory could perfectly resolve the two greatest doubts. He and Williams were half-brothers through the same father, so it was natural for them to resemble one another. And since they shared a father, having a blood relation would hardly be surprising.

Of course, this identity might displease some people, but Fang Zheng did not care. The greatest problem he currently faced in this world was being identified as a Cultist. What Fang Zheng needed to do was completely separate himself from Williams. Even if he and Williams were half-brothers, as long as he was not a Cultist and was not on the Holy Temple's wanted list, that was enough.

As for everything else, it did not matter.

Naturally, Fang Zheng did not explain any of this to Malte. In his "setting," Fang Zheng himself did not know his own origins, so he merely followed the background he had established and exchanged a few brief words with him. After learning that Fang Zheng came from the Silver Duchy, Malte nodded in understanding and did not say much more. Instead, he began discussing their next move with Fang Zheng.

That left Fang Zheng rather helpless. According to the original plan, he and Stone were supposed to bring Miss M to find these Holy Knights, then lead them out. Now they had found the Holy Knights, but Stone and Miss M had vanished. Without Miss M's Starpath, they had nowhere to go within the sealed-off Shadow Canyon.

Only two paths lay before them now. They could either find Stone and Miss M, then use Starpath to teleport away, or escape on foot—after all, that was how they had entered in the first place.

But to Fang Zheng's surprise, Malte proposed a third option.

"Continue onward?"

Hearing Malte's suggestion, Fang Zheng frowned.

"Wouldn't that be dangerous?"

"It is indeed dangerous, Mr. Fang Zheng, but we cannot simply leave like this."

Faced with Fang Zheng's question, Malte nodded solemnly before explaining.

"In fact, although we were ambushed by the Lich in Shadow Canyon, we did not come away empty-handed. While we are not yet certain whether this Lich is the one we are seeking, we have discovered one thing... This Lich is hiding in Shadow Canyon for a purpose! It appears to be conducting some evil and blasphemous Dark Ritual within Shadow Canyon!"

"What?"

Fang Zheng was slightly startled upon hearing that.

"A Dark Ritual?"

"That is right. The reason it laid an ambush for us was because the blood and souls of Holy Knights could be used to perform its ritual! We lost many companions earlier. It may already have gathered enough souls and blood. We must stop its evil plan before the ritual is complete!"