Saturday, eleven in the morning.
Zhang Yuanqing yawned as he got out of bed, his eyes bleary with sleep. Ever since becoming a Night Wanderer, he hadn't been able to sleep at night. He spent entire nights gaming, then had no energy during the day, constantly nodding off.
Two days had passed since the Spirit Inquiry that night. Li Dongze and Guan Ya had been going out frequently to help search for Black Impermanence and his subordinates.
This had put Zhang Yuanqing's combat training on hold.
According to Li Dongze's original plan, Guan Ya was supposed to teach Yuanshi some combat techniques next. With a Night Wanderer's physical abilities, it shouldn't take long to learn the basics.
But because of the Holy Grail and Roster incidents, the training had to be postponed. After all, the Second Team was short-handed.
Zhang Yuanqing had once asked Li Dongze about the teammates who had never shown up, but the Squad Leader's expression had immediately turned awkward, as if he had something difficult to say.
The considerate Yuanshi Tianzun had chosen not to press him.
Also, Wang Qian of the Stop-Killing Palace had agreed to become his informant. He was unexpectedly cooperative and seemed to understand his role well.
Because of the Ou Xiangrong incident, Songhai University had tightened its rules. The school no longer allowed students living on campus to go out at night, so the get-together had been put on hold as well.
After washing up, Zhang Yuanqing saw that his grandmother hadn't finished making lunch yet, so he went back to his room and started playing with the Infant Spirit.
At that moment, he was setting up a grab-a-toy test for Little Doubi. After his experience surpassed 50%, the purity and depth of his Lunar Power had increased. He had then discovered that the Infant Spirit, nourished by his Lunar Power, had become a little smarter.
Zhang Yuanqing arranged textbooks around the chubby, adorable Infant Spirit: math on its left, Chinese on its right, and English and physics in front and behind.
"Your master is brilliant and well-read. You can't fall behind, either. Pick one."
Little Doubi stared with round, shining eyes and tilted its head, thinking for a long time. At last, it understood what Zhang Yuanqing meant. It quickly began scrambling forward on all fours, heading for the physics textbook.
"Oh, a promising child."
A smile spread across Zhang Yuanqing's face, but then he saw the little guy crawl right past the physics textbook and hug the PS5. Unable to touch anything solid, it tumbled to the floor.
"You good-for-nothing! You're nothing like me!" Zhang Yuanqing scolded angrily.
"When I was your age, I could already compose a poem in seven steps."
He sighed in disappointment. If he wanted to improve the Infant Spirit's intelligence and raise it to be talented, he would have to learn the Night Wanderer's ghost-raising skill.
That meant leveling up.
By his estimate, his second Spirit Realm mission was coming soon.
After lunch, Zhang Yuanqing went into his bedroom, poured warm water into a teacup, opened the bedside table, and took out a white bottle of medicine.
"Honestly, I've been so busy lately that I forgot to take my medicine. I'm already two days overdue."
As he muttered, he tipped the bottle and poured a few small pills into his palm.
Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing froze.
Right, I'm two days overdue. Why hasn't my old affliction come back?
My condition has been getting worse. The attacks should only be getting more frequent. There's no way I should be overdue.
Could it be because I became a Night Wanderer and my physical condition changed?
"Come to think of it, I haven't had an attack since I advanced to Night Wanderer. Could I be cured?" Delighted, he still wasn't sure, so he decided to test it.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pictured his father's indistinct face in his mind.
After an unknown amount of time, his heart gave a thump. His mind surged, and all kinds of noise flooded into his head as countless fragmented images resurfaced.
But in the next instant, the noise became orderly, and the images stopped being fragmented.
No, it wasn't that the sounds and images had become orderly. It was that his brain had become better at processing information.
He heard his uncle dancing in the living room, with "Jianbing Guozi" playing in the background.
His aunt-in-law was watching a TV drama in the bedroom, occasionally complaining, "It's too noisy. Keep it down."
In the kitchen, he heard his grandmother washing dishes.
The bed downstairs creaked and groaned. Judging by the sounds of bodies bumping together, Zhang Yuanqing could proudly assert that the woman was on top.
His brain kept processing information.
"Guan Ya always seems to have this hard-to-describe confidence about her, and the Squad Leader seems quite courteous toward her, unlike the way he treats me and Wang Tai. When I mentioned those teammates, the Squad Leader looked embarrassed and helpless. Musician Wang Qian's attitude shift was a little odd, too. Yesterday, he looked down on me."
"Little Doubi is especially attached to my little aunt. Little aunt, little aunt."
Just then, the bedroom door suddenly opened, instantly shattering Zhang Yuanqing's uncanny state.
"Come on, take me shopping at the mall," Jiang Yu'er said sweetly.
Today, she wore a pleated skirt that fell to her knees, white sneakers, and a loose pale-blue top. With her sweet, cute face, she looked gentle and demure, with a distinctly natural style.
Jiang Yu'er's demure appearance was the main reason she was so popular in the matchmaking scene.
Confident men thought beautiful, gentle women were easy to handle, while insecure men felt less pressure around them.
Zhang Yuanqing stared blankly at his little aunt. Two warm streams of blood suddenly spurted from his nostrils.
Songhai Airport.
In the underground parking garage, Fu Qingyang had been waiting in a business van for a long time. Frowning, he called his assistant.
When the call connected, he asked in a low voice,
"Why hasn't he come out yet?"
He had come to pick someone up. The flight had landed an hour ago, but his assistant still hadn't brought the person out.
Centurion Fu's time was precious. How could he waste it on something so trivial?
"Centurion, he..." The assistant lowered his voice. "He's chatting up a beautiful woman and won't leave the airport. He says he wants to get to know her better."
A vein throbbed on Fu Qingyang's forehead.
"Tell him he can come out on his own, or I can go in there and drag him out."
The assistant acknowledged him and hung up.
A few minutes later, the assistant led a young man into the underground parking garage and headed toward the van.
The young man wore loose cream-colored trousers and a pale-blue top. His clothes fluttered as he walked, giving him an exceptionally airy, graceful appearance. He had handsome features and half-lidded eyes that crinkled with a smile, and an innate languor that seemed to seep into his bones.
Affable, languid, harmless.
That was the impression he gave.
Fu Qingyang said coldly, "As expected of the Flower Prince. Wherever you go, women throw themselves at you."
The Flower Prince was as famous as Fu Qingyang, and he lived up to his name as an unabashed playboy. His father was the Sect Master of the Taiyi Sect, and he came from a distinguished family. With his exceptional talent, he was constantly surrounded by admiring women.
Being a womanizer alone wouldn't have been enough to put him on par with Fu Qingyang. He was nicknamed the Flower Prince because he understood women well and had an excellent reputation among them.
Ling Jun responded to the taunt with a half-lidded smile. "Don't put it so crudely. Beautiful women are works of art. You have to savor them and get to know them slowly to discover their beauty. That's true refinement."
Fu Qingyang frowned. "Your refinement cost me an hour and delayed important business."
"Brother Qingyang, life isn't just about work. There are plenty of other beautiful things worth discovering." Ling Jun smiled with narrowed eyes. "I already know about the Judge of Ghostly Eyes incident. I'll do everything I can to help you. Father is very concerned about the Ghost-Eyed Judge's death."
"Why?" Fu Qingyang looked at him.
"The man died around the same time as the Demon Lord. Father suspects there's a connection between the two."
"Why is the Sect Master so fixated on the Demon Lord's death and finding the Demon Lord's successor?"
"Because before the Demon Lord died, he left something very important in his Role Card."
"What?"
"I can only tell you that it represents the ultimate truth—the essence of the Spirit Realm."
Runfa Mall, milk tea shop.
Carrying a pile of shopping bags, Zhang Yuanqing sat down, picked up a glass, and took a long drink of iced milk tea. He sighed with satisfaction.
He immediately felt alive again.
The most exhausting thing about shopping with his little aunt wasn't the physical strain, but the mental torture.
Fortunately, the lovely figures of the young women around him helped ease his fatigue. Zhang Yuanqing sipped his milk tea, in a pretty good mood.
He had confirmed that his strange illness had improved significantly.
Not only had the attacks become less frequent, but he could also trigger them more easily himself. Most importantly, after an attack, his headaches and nosebleeds had become less severe.
Maybe one day he'd be able to control his brain surges at will. Then he wouldn't have to get Wang Tai to help with his papers. Heh.
No, that would be too pathetic. Zhang Yuanqing quickly banished the tempting thought from his mind.
"Ah, I don't make enough to get through the month," his little aunt lamented.
Zhang Yuanqing glanced at her and scoffed. "When have you ever made enough? You spend your grandparents' money."
His little aunt was still a medical intern and earned next to nothing, yet she had no shortage of luxury goods. Most of her expenses were covered by her grandparents.
His grandparents had substantial savings, their eldest daughter had a successful career, and their eldest son had married a wealthy woman. None of them was short on money, so their savings could only go toward indulging their youngest daughter.
Jiang Yu'er pouted and put on a pitiful expression. "That's right, that's right. Your aunt is useless and can't make money, so I have to rely on my father."
As they chatted, Zhang Yuanqing pulled out his phone and, out of habit, logged into the official forum to see if there were any interesting posts.
The official forum served two main purposes. First, the authorities used it to issue important announcements and share information. Second, it gave Spirit Realm Walkers from all over a place to communicate and share information and intelligence.
Zhang Yuanqing thought browsing the forum was a quick way to broaden his horizons.
Soon, a post caught his attention:
#A Large Number of New A- and S-Rank Spirit Realms Have Appeared for the Night Wanderer Class, and Night Wanderers Employed by the Authorities in Various Regions Have Begun "Disappearing"#
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