Realm Walker

Li Xianzong didn't step into the bedroom. He leaned against the doorframe, twirling his butterfly knife between his fingers, and grinned. "I'm going to kidnap the doctors, nurses, and patients at Pingtai Hospital. Test the waters with the authorities, lure out Yuanshi Tianzun, and then announce to the whole world that Li Xianzong has arrived in Songhai!"

The seductive, stunningly gorgeous woman sucked on her fingertip, her eyes swimming with desire. "That's insane. But aren't you afraid of dying? Never underestimate the Five Elements Alliance. Sure, they get played for fools half the time, and sure, there's no shortage of useless people riding the gravy train, but you can't deny it. The Lawful alignment faction is stronger than ours. How else can they justify themselves as the official authorities?"

Li Xianzong waved a dismissive hand. "That's not your concern. I need you to keep Fu Qingyang pinned down. Kangyang District is his jurisdiction. I'm confident I can get out in one piece, as long as he doesn't arrive in time. And before the stewards from the other districts arrive, anyway."

The woman smiled coyly. "And the payment?"

Li Xianzong was silent for a few seconds. "What's the fun in toying with ordinary men? But men of the Lawful alignment, the decent, upstanding types—those should get your blood pumping. I'll capture at least ten official Walkers for you within two weeks."

The female Protector's eyes lit up, and she ran her tongue across her lips. "Now that's interesting. Just imagining them falling, drowning in desire, it makes my skin tingle."

She paused to savor the thought, and a new hunger crept into her voice. "But I have one condition. I want Yuanshi Tianzun. He can't be too old. A college student would be ideal. He has to be handsome, and even better if he's never had a girlfriend before. A pure, innocent little puppy like that is so much more fun to break in."

Li Xianzong clicked his tongue in distaste. "You really are a freak. Even I find you terrifying."

The woman rose to her feet, her slender waist swaying as she crossed to the bed. She slipped on a gossamer-thin nightgown and pushed a pair of black rimmed glasses onto her face, then settled into the chair beside the round table. In an instant, she had transformed from an alluring, wanton temptress into an elegant, intellectual beauty radiating cool sophistication.

She regarded Li Xianzong in the doorway and kept her voice composed. "Every Evil-class Walker is a deviant. The only difference is the direction of the madness. Yours manifests as cruelty, bloodlust, and an overwhelming urge to destroy. And there's something else. You deeply despise women. An old heartbreak, perhaps?"

She tilted her head. "No, that's not quite right..."

The female Protector fixed her gaze on him, her eyes gently probing him. "You had zero interest in me while I was naked, but the moment I straightened up and became composed, mature, and dignified, the disgust in your eyes multiplied. Hatred, resentment, and the faintest trace of longing.

"Hmm, I understand now. The root of your hatred toward women is your mother. When she was about my age, and while you were still small, she must have done something you could never forgive her for."

Li Xianzong's chiseled features darkened in an instant, and murderous intent blossomed behind his eyes. "Don't try to peer inside my head. You're making me angry."

The female Protector let out a melodious giggle, her chest shaking with laughter, instantly shattering her cool intellectual aura. "Oh, look how upset you are. It's nothing more than your mother abandoning her husband and child, right? She was just an ordinary person. How bad could it really have been? You're in the business of evil yourself, and well acquainted with the ugliness of human nature. Why can't you forgive her?

"Abandoning one's family is still better than what I do, wouldn't you say? Then again, some people spend their entire lives trying but never manage to heal the wounds from their childhood."

Li Xianzong drew a deep breath, forcing down the rage churning inside him. His voice dropped low. "I have no interest in your analysis. At five o'clock this afternoon, I'm locking down Pingtai Hospital."

With that, he turned and left.

***

Zhang Yuanqing sat at his desk in the special building behind the Kangyang District Public Security Bureau. He had a lot on his plate lately. The full inspection hadn't yet been carried out, and his nerves were perpetually on edge because of that. The period when his third Spirit Realm dungeon was slated to open was also drawing closer by the day.

No one from the Taiyi Sect had come to question him yet, and the Red Dancing Shoes had only just been turned in. There was no telling when the purification would be complete.

He sat at his computer, scrolling through the official bounty list while turning things over in his mind.

My third Spirit Realm dungeon should be coming up soon. If it opens in early May, then the Nocturnal Specter solo dungeon would be happening in June. June is also when the large-scale slaughter dungeon is happening. If I'm lucky and the solo dungeon instance opens before the slaughter dungeon, I could level up to Level 3 and then enter the slaughter dungeon to break through to Saint tier in one shot. Otherwise, I'll have to wait until the end of the year.

The large-scale slaughter dungeon wasn't a mandatory event. Spirit Realm Walkers could choose whether or not to participate, so it did not conflict with the solo dungeon.

Li Dongze's warning had driven the pressure home.

Yuanshi Tianzun had risen too fast. Hostile factions were bound to take notice, and because Zhang Yuanqing was a complete newcomer who'd been a Walker for barely over a month, any experienced person could easily gauge his level. He had a skyrocketing reputation but was still below Level 3, which made him nothing more than a juicy, ripe target in the eyes of the Evil-class Walkers.

As he mulled over his predicament, the search results loaded. He skipped past the Saint-tier bounty list entirely and went straight to the Transcendent-tier bounty list.

Sitting at the very top was a Walker with the Spirit Realm ID "Ah Yi," a Level 3 Hex Master affiliated with the Psychic Assembly's Central Division.

【Assessment: An extremely twisted temperament.】

【Combat record: Two Five Elements Alliance Spirit Realm squads attempted to take him down. During the operation, he turned the tables, killed multiple official Walkers, and walked away without a scratch. In that single engagement, two Level 3 Walkers, four Level 2 Walkers, and three Level 1 Walkers were lost.】

The file included more detailed notes on what "twisted temperament" meant. Generally speaking, all Evil-class Walkers were lunatics and deviants, but the nature of each person's particular madness varied. Some were bloodthirsty, some depraved, some brooding, others were more radical. This "Ah Yi" checked every box, like a walking collection of every negative impulse rolled into one.

Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill of caution creep through him. Even if I summoned the Ghost Bride, I probably couldn't kill two squads of official Walkers. Nobody would be stupid enough to fight her head on. All they'd have to do is stall for time, and I'd be finished.

He moved on to the second name on the list. Spirit Realm ID: "A Loyal Subject Slays His Lord." A Level 3 Illusionist, affiliated with the Void Sect's Southern Division.

【Assessment: Radical temperament.】

【Combat record: To avenge his boss, he engineered the death of a Level 4 Saint from the Taiyi Sect and escaped cleanly. He remains at large to this day.】

In the supplementary notes, further investigation revealed that this individual had served under numerous bosses over the years, but every single one without exception had met a violent end. Eventually, nobody in the Southern Division was willing to shelter him, and he became a lone wolf.

"He can engineer the death of a Saint, and a Nocturnal Specter at that. This guy is terrifying," Zhang Yuanqing muttered as he scrolled further down.

Just then, his phone chimed with an incoming message.

His eyes left the screen immediately, and he snatched up the phone.

Xiao Yuan: I've dug up a few pieces of intel.

Zhang Yuanqing stood at once and ducked into a bathroom stall, then dialed her number.

The call connected, and the glamorous older woman's cool voice drifted through, tinged with a hint of amusement.

—Come to think of it, I still don't know your ID.

"Big Muscle!" Zhang Yuanqing blurted out without thinking.

Xiao Yuan let out a dry laugh.

—Well then, I suppose I guessed wrong. I could have sworn you were Yuanshi Tianzun.

He neither confirmed nor denied it, asking instead, "What's the intel?"

—It will be three thousand yuan per piece of information.

"I'll need to hear them first."

—Number one: Yuanshi Tianzun has shot up from the bottom of the evil organizations' Transcendent-tier bounty list all the way up to third place. The bounty is ten million yuan, two Transcendent-tier items, and one Saint-tier item.

Zhang Yuanqing was stunned. What the hell? I'm worth that much?!

His capture of the Holy Grail had only netted him a reward of two million yuan and two items. Of course, the A-rank Merit that came with it couldn't be valued using money and items alone.

—Number two: Two promising Level 3 Walkers from the Central Province branch were killed by 'Ah Yi.' He's now headed for the capital to hunt stronger official talents.

Zhang Yuanqing breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he doesn't come to Songhai. Godspeed to our colleagues in the capital.

—Number three: Li Xianzong has come to Songhai. He intends to hunt down the newly-famous Yuanshi Tianzun of the Songhai branch.

Zhang Yuanqing's mind went blank, filled with a sharp buzzing. Of course. Whatever one feared most was exactly what would show up. And the one who had his eyes on him was that guy, of all people.

Li Xianzong's profile surfaced in his memory without effort. The man was a member of the Bing Zhu Sect, active along the coastal regions, and was a trusted subordinate of the Demon Eye Heavenly King, one of the Bing Zhu Sect's Four Heavenly Kings.

The Demon Eye Heavenly King was a Sovereign-tier Enchanting Demon, a supremely terrifying existence. In Five Elements Alliance terms, Li Xianzong was equivalent to a Five Elements elder's right hand man, and this man had been personally dispatched to crush Yuanshi Tianzun.

The official assessment of Li Xianzong was that he was bloodthirsty, brutal, arrogant, and cunning. In short, a murderous psychopath with a functioning brain.

Li Xianzong was a born fighter whose temperament was a perfect match for the Enchanting Demon class. From the moment he'd become a Walker, he had blazed a trail of dominance, a rising star with few peers at his level.

He had already built a modest reputation for himself, but his relatively low level had kept him from climbing the official bounty list. That changed the instant he advanced to become a Level 3 Enchanting Demon and single-handedly assassinated a Level 4 Saint from the Psychic Assembly. That rocketed him into the top five most wanted individuals overnight.

A heaviness settled over Zhang Yuanqing's heart.

The chasm between Level 4 and Level 3 is nigh uncrossable. For Li Xianzong to have assassinated a Level 4 Saint, he not only had to have considerable strength, but he also must have used items and had every possible advantage of timing and terrain on his side. Being targeted by an enemy like that, and with him having ample time to set things up... Damn. My chances of surviving aren't great.

Setting items aside and comparing raw strength alone, both the Enchanting Demon and Nocturnal Specter classes were considered apex classes. A Level 3 Li Xianzong could absolutely demolish a Level 2 version of himself.

As for items, the Red Dancing Shoes, the artifact of supreme evasion and pursuit, was for the moment not in his possession. Because of that, his combat power had taken a massive hit. He probably couldn't kill Li Xianzong by relying on the Ghost Bride alone. That man was bound to have trump cards of his own.

I need to reach Level 3 as soon as possible and get a full attribute boost, or I'm in real danger.

"Auntie Xiao Yuan, anything else?"

—That's all. It's nine thousand total. I'll give you a discount—make it ten thousand.

Xiao Yuan's voice was cool and detached, yet somehow pleasant to listen to. What a tempting woman.

"I'll swing by with the money when I get a chance."

With that, Zhang Yuanqing hung up.

***

Inside Pingtai Hospital, Jiang Yu'er, clad in her white coat, waved goodbye to her last female patient and stretched her limbs. Just one more hour of killing time, and she was off the clock. There were no patients scheduled the next day, which meant she could carve out an hour or two at night to play games with her nephew. That useless boy still didn't have a girlfriend, but she, his adorable, supremely considerate, and ever so generous auntie, would graciously condescend to keep him company.

Jiang Yu'er strolled out of her office and wandered over to the consultation room next door. She leaned against the doorframe and smiled. "So, any news on that Wang Qian yet?"

Inside the consultation room sat a woman in her thirties surnamed Zhao, one of Jiang Yu'er's regular gossip partners. The women of the obstetrics and gynecology department loved gathering to chat in between their demanding shifts. Patients, colleagues, nothing was off limits.

"I heard from the department head that Wang Qian resigned. Switched to a different career." Dr. Zhao sighed. "Ever since his nephew passed, he hasn't been in the right place mentally. Being in the hospital probably brought back too many memories. A change of scenery might do him good."

Jiang Yu'er let out a soft grunt.

"Xiao Jiang, what about that thing I mentioned last time? Have you thought it over? My cousin works at a state-owned enterprise. He's got a stable job with a great salary, and is decent looking too. His qualifications are genuinely impressive. I showed him your photo and, oh my, the boy couldn't eat or sleep for days. He begged me to make introductions."

Jiang Yu'er rolled her eyes. "Sis Zhao, with my qualifications, he would need to be at least a director of a state-owned enterprise if he wishes to marry me. Your cousin is way too low-ranking. He couldn't afford me."

They were all close enough to speak without filters.

Dr. Zhao laughed.

"Oh, get over yourself," she chided her younger colleague. "Wait too long and you'll end up an old maid."

Mid-sentence, a gunshot rang out in the distance. Color drained from Jiang Yu'er's face.

Dr. Zhao froze for several seconds, confusion clouding her features. "What was that?"

Before she finished, a tide of noise came rushing in from the direction of the main lobby. Screams erupted one after another, overlapping in waves.

Static hissed through the public address system, followed by a man's voice, dripping with arrogant menace. "Attention, attention. From this moment forward, Pingtai Hospital is under my control. Everyone stay where you are, get down, and place your hands over your heads. Anyone who runs will be shot on the spot."

After that came several more gunshots.