Realm Walker

There it was.

Zhang Yuanqing lit up. This time he didn't push the yin corpse out front as a scout. He just broke into a dead run straight for the pillar of light.

A few seconds later, he made out the piece of gear wrapped in the glow: a thick set of tassets, shield-shaped plates strung together on a red cord, fine and carefully wrought.

A suit of armor had only so many parts. The bracers, breastplate and weapon were all spoken for. The most likely things left to appear were the tassets and helmet.

He ran, and ran, but something felt off. The gap between him and the tassets never closed. It was almost as if he were chasing a mountain that stayed exactly as far away no matter how hard he ran.

He stopped dead. He'd walked into an ambush. He sensed the itchy, all-too-familiar feeling. A ghost wall illusion. Zhang Yuanqing swept his gaze across his surroundings.

"Zhao Chenghuang, or Sun Miaomiao?" he called out.

The ghost wall illusion was a Nocturnal Specter ability, and to be able to snare a Level 3 Nocturnal Specter within it meant the caster could only be Sun Miaomiao or Zhao Chenghuang. And even then, they'd need an item to pull it off.

"Hey, Yuanshi Tianzun. Didn't think I'd actually be the one to catch you sitting out here," a crisp, playful voice piped up.

Zhang Yuanqing turned toward it and saw a slender figure slowly taking shape a dozen or so meters away.

It was a young woman in a black tee and a little black skirt, with pale thighs and a full chest. A pair of shining, dark-colored eyes was set in her round little face, and her whole appearance had a sweet and delicate look. Her hair was styled with a soft curl to the ends, and she possessed the noble air unique to a Nocturnal Specter. Everything came together to make her look like a small princess.

Zhang Yuanqing looked the sweet-faced girl over. "Catch me? How'd you know it was going to be me coming?"

Sun Miaomiao giggled playfully. "I didn't. As soon as I found myself in this stage of the dungeon, I just parked myself here. The armor pieces spawn at random, and every player can only equip one anyway. I figured I would hold one patch of ground, and sooner or later, a piece would land in my lap."

That was a smart play. Camping at one spot and waiting for the prey to appear certainly beat wandering all over the map. No wonder nobody had laid eyes on her this whole time. Zhang Yuanqing glanced around.

"That's a nasty ghost wall," he said casually. "It's actually got me boxed in."

Sun Miaomiao flashed her little white teeth, pleased with herself. "It's a charm that I run through my spirit servant. This one was refined from an Illusionist's spirit, you know."

Zhang Yuanqing understood it at once. No wonder her enchantment had fooled him. An Illusionist was the best possible "material" for refining a spirit servant, and a servant made from an Illusionist's spirit was absurdly powerful.

"Impressive."

While his mouth handed out the praise, he quietly switched on Soul Devouring. Black energy welled up within him, filling both eye sockets, and his whole bearing turned sinister and lordly, like a king of the underworld.

His gaze raked the area. There was nothing out of place anywhere. He couldn't find her servant.

"Are you looking for my spirit servant?" Sun Miaomiao asked with a grin, then pointed over her shoulder with her thumb. "She's right here."

Behind her, a horrible wraith took shape—a woman in an old, worn nightgown, hair hanging loose, her gown caked with black bloodstains. Thick clouds of resentment and hate rolled off her. She had clearly died in some wretched way.

"When it comes to battles between Nocturnal Specters. The right way to use a spirit servant is to make yourself the medium and channel its power. You don't shove it out front to charge the line like a tool. See?"

She was actually lecturing him. Zhang Yuanqing ignored her and reached out quietly to his yin corpse. He could feel plainly that the corpse was somewhere close by, and yet no matter what, he couldn't see it.

The corpse still answered to him. But when he gave it the order to attack Sun Miaomiao, he sensed its response. No target.

Is Corpse No. 1 snared in the ghost wall too? It was a dead thing, sure, but it had a spark of rationality, and anything with a spark of reason could be fooled by an illusion. If the corpse couldn't find a target, then...

Zhang Yuanqing didn't stop to think it through. He called out the Burst Pistol, raised the muzzle, and fired at Sun Miaomiao.

Bang, bang!

Dark red rounds tore through Sun Miaomiao's body, and she came apart like a soap bubble, then re-formed a little way off.

His stomach dropped.

Sun Miaomiao clasped her hands behind her back like an innocent, wide-eyed girl, and gave him a teasing little smile. "You can't hit me in here."

"An illusion's biggest weakness is how fragile the balance is," Zhang Yuanqing shot straight back. "It's all fake. In here, you can bewilder me, bait me, even get me to hurt myself, but you can't lay a hand on me yourself. And if an outside factor intervenes, your illusion will fall apart on its own."

Sun Miaomiao smiled, her big, dark eyes curving into crescents. "I only have to keep you boxed in. You're at the top of the leaderboard, right? All I have to do is stall. The other players will soon come running, and they'll find you here, stuck in the illusion. With everybody ganging up on you, you’ll get knocked out fast.

"Yuanshi Tianzun, you dragged my grandfather's good name straight through the mud. So while we're in this tournament, I'm going to humiliate you good and proper, and show all those official Walkers out there that my grandfather didn't want you because the Taiyi Sect is just overflowing with talent."

***

In the elder's row in the arena, Elder Sun felt the warm glow of pride. "Aiya, that Miaomiao, always taking things into her own hands. She said she wants to use the tournament to put Yuanshi Tianzun in his place and get a little payback for her old grandpa. How could I hold something like that against a junior?

"Well, well. Since her mind's made up, I'll just let her have it her way. Yuanshi Tianzun's got real talent. It's a pity that he ran into my granddaughter!"

Elder Sun tipped his chin up and looked down the row at the few elders with no heirs, or with wholly unremarkable ones, haughtiness gleaming in his eyes.

𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"It must be grand, having a good granddaughter," Elder Teddy said, sounding sour.

Elder Teddy was alone in the world. He'd lost both his parents when he was still young, and had been raised on scraps from a hundred households in a little fishing village in Fu Province, with only one yellow dog for company. Most of his life was already behind him, and he was still on his own.

The elders who'd caught the jab did not look pleased.

***

Within the ruined city, Zhang Yuanqing was still in a bind.

This enchantment is a nasty piece of work. The top three really do all have a few tricks up their sleeve. With the Yin Yang Spell Robe and the Red Dancing Shoes, I don't have to worry about getting one-shot, but neither of them can break an illusion. I could try opening the Yin Yang Spell Robe's formation, and break the illusion that way. Fight poison with poison.

"Wasn't Yuan Ting the one who trashed your grandfather's name? What the hell does it have to do with me?" he said.

Sun Miaomiao brushed his retort aside. "Yuanshi Tianzun, I'll give you one chance. Let's cut a deal."

"Two thousand for the whole night, or eight hundred for a go," he replied. "You pay me."

He waited for Sun Miaomiao to blow up so he could call out the Yin Yang Spell Robe and sucker-punch her.

Sun Miaomiao blinked. "What does that mean?"

He stared at her dumbly for a moment. "What kind of deal do you want?"

Sun Miaomiao brightened right up. "Give me your little spirit servant, and I'll help you take down that Zhao Chenghuang creep and hand you the crown. How's that?"

Zhang Yuanqing snorted. "If you're stalling for time, at least come up with a decent reason."

"No, I mean it. I'll drop the illusion right now," Sun Miaomiao said.

She didn't wait for him to answer. Black energy surged into her eyes, giving her a cold, noble air, and her small mouth opened with a soft inhale. The horrible wraith behind her thinned into blue smoke and drifted, curling and swaying, into those cherry lips.

Zhang Yuanqing felt some unseen pressure give way, then he saw the real Sun Miaomiao, standing in the ruins not far off, the tassets cradled in her arms.

Zhang Yuanqing's mind stalled for a moment. She actually dropped the illusion. What in the world is this girl angling for?

Just then, Sun Miaomiao's ear twitched. She looked off into the distance. "Somebody's coming. Let's take this somewhere else."

The two of them scooped up their yin corpses without a word between them, activated Night Wandering, and were gone.

A moment later two figures came pelting in, the sunny, easygoing Green Pine and, behind him, World Ablaze with a narrow-mouthed longsword in hand. Trailing behind the pair of them was Tone Deaf in the Cold Iron Breastplate, working hard to keep up.

World Ablaze hopped onto a wall and scanned the area. "Somebody beat us to it. There's no traces of fighting nearby. Looks like whoever it was just happened to be close. Lucky them."

The whole city was in ruins, with too many broken walls and rubble everywhere, and World Ablaze was no Scout, so identifying the holes Zhang Yuanqing's pistol had left in the wreck of the place was near impossible.

Green Pine's face fell. Of the three in their little band, he was the only one still without a piece of gear.

***

Somewhere in the ruins, Zhang Yuanqing breathed out a thread of the Power of the Dark Moon. Cold air rolled off it, and before it hit the ground, he gathered it back in and set it on his shoulder. He did it so Sun Miaomiao couldn't pull something dishonorable and jump Little Goofball.

The knot of the Power of the Dark Moon condensed on his shoulder into a little baby, chubby and round.

Once Little Goofball appeared, he did the natural thing and clambered onto his master's head. His plump little belly squished down over Zhang Yuanqing's head as he peered with his dark eyes at Sun Miaomiao right alongside him.

Sun Miaomiao gave a little bounce, her own dark quick eyes shining with excitement, with something close to obsession.

"Ah, that's him, that's him... He's so cuuute," she said, half-swooning.

Is this girl a cradle-thief? Zhang Yuanqing frowned. "You like spirit servants? That's not enough to make me trust you."

He was willing to show her this much, at least. When her ghost wall illusion came down, the reason he hadn't just run off after activating Night Wandering was because her line, "hand you the crown," had reeled him in.

He wanted to poke her a little to see what she was really about. Even if she sprang another ghost wall on him, it wouldn't leave him worse off than a minute ago.

"What I like is little spirit servants," Sun Miaomiao said without ever pulling her eyes off Little Goofball. "The littler the better, because they're all so sweet and cute. There's a scholar tree in my grandpa's courtyard with a few little servants living in it, and I go play with them every single day.

"I take out Zhao Chenghuang for you and help you win, and you give me this servant. How's that? Don't rush to say no. If you're afraid that I'm lying, I'll swear on my grandfather's good name that I'd never cheat you."

Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. Your grandfather's name is already in the gutter. How can you tell me that's not a con!?

"No."

"The Houtu Boots are a Saint-tier item. Is it not even worth one spirit servant?"

"He's not a spirit servant," Zhang Yuanqing replied adamantly. "He's a kid I'm raising."

"So there's nothing to talk about?" Sun Miaomiao's eyes went black, and a wisp of blue smoke drifted out of her mouth.

At the Transcendent tier, she was ranked third. Even with nobody backing her, she'd fight Yuanshi Tianzun without a second's hesitation, without a flicker of nerves.

Zhang Yuanqing changed tack. "If you actually mean it, we can do a different kind of deal. Say, once this tournament ends, I let this kid stay over at your place for a while. Maybe you could get yourself posted to Songhai, and then he could play with you every day."

Her lovely eyes lit up, clearly tempted.

She thought about it, then offered, "Can I hold him first?"

"You can, but you must pass that Illusionist servant over to me as collateral. Sorry, but until there's enough trust, I'm not letting the kid take a risk," Zhang Yuanqing said.

For sheer preciousness, the Illusionist at Sun Miaomiao's back hardly held a candle to Little Goofball. For raw power, though, it beat the not-yet-weaned Little Goofball into the dirt.

If Sun Miaomiao agreed without hesitation, Zhang Yuanqing would believe she really did love little spirit servants. If she hedged, or refused, he'd leave on the spot and pretend the conversation never happened.

"Okay!" Sun Miaomiao agreed at once.

She flicked a hand and steered the horrible wraith behind her drifting over toward Zhang Yuanqing.

Little Goofball shrank around to the back of his master's head, too scared to look at the ghost in the nightgown.

Zhang Yuanqing breathed out a thread of the Power of the Dark Moon to wrap up the female ghost, hooked Little Goofball by the scruff of his neck, and lobbed him over to Sun Miaomiao.

She darted forward, arms out, caught Little Goofball, and hugged him to herself for a hard round of smooching.

"Good baby, good baby~"

Little Goofball meant to put up a fight, but the Power of the Dark Moon surrounding Sun Miaomiao was just too comfortable, so he gave in and slumped against that soft cushion and let himself be kissed.

"Be good, baby. Can you talk yet? Say hi to big sis. You're so adorable~"

A few minutes later, Sun Miaomiao finally tore her eyes away and turned them on Yuanshi Tianzun. "I'm happy with this kid, so it's settled. I help you take the crown, you let him board with me for a while. Now tell me your plan."

This feels a little unreal. Sun Miaomiao's on my team, just like that? Zhang Yuanqing still couldn't quite wrap his head around it, but it wasn't as if he'd lost anything.

"You've been camping in this one area the whole time and never ran into the other players, so there's some stuff you're behind on. Let me fill you in.

"Of the eight players, World Ablaze has the fewest points left, with three. Green Pine, Yuan Ting, Zhao Chenghuang, and Tone Deaf are on four apiece. Earth God has seven, and you have ten, while I've still got thirty or so.

"Thanks to the rules around the reporting mechanic I dug up, the fighting from here is going to be guerrilla-style. Nobody's going to bunch up in one place again."

If they did bunch up, all it took was two shameless players dropping their pants when nobody was ready, and everyone except Earth God, Sun Miaomiao, and himself would get knocked out. Anyone with a working brain would steer clear of a big free-for-all. The right move was to use the huge map to their advantage and use hit-and-run tactics to pick each other off one by one.

"What rules did you dig up regarding the reporting mechanic?" Sun Miaomiao asked, curious.

It was easier to show her.

"It's like this," he murmured.

As he spoke, he shifted his consciousness into Little Goofball, took control of the little spirit servant, then lifted its two little hands and pressed them down hard on Sun Miaomiao's full, soft chest.

"Aah!" Sun Miaomiao yelped, then flew into a fury, swinging a hand down to deliver a chop onto Little Goofball's thin-fuzzed head.

"Get out of there!" she snapped.

The chop landed, and the Power of the Dark Moon shuddered all at once. Zhang Yuanqing's consciousness was shoved out of Little Goofball.

Little Goofball, freshly walloped, burst into tears.

Sun Miaomiao rushed to soothe him. "Baby, it's okay, it's okay~"

Zhang Yuanqing laughed. "Now, you could report me for molesting you. That's how it works."

Sun Miaomiao pulled a face. "What a shameless rule. Doesn't that put me at a disadvantage?"

She had to hand a man a free pass to grope her in order to file a report? What sort of joke was that?

Rubbing Little Goofball's little skull, Sun Miaomiao let the matter drop and mulled their situation over. "If it comes down to guerrilla-style fighting, then our biggest problem is Zhao Chenghuang. He's got a Level 4 yin corpse, and he can empower it with Corpse Transformation on top of that. I've also heard he's got a very special spirit servant, though he's never once used it.

"When it comes to items, he's got four or five Transcendent-tier ones. Add to that Yuan Ting's backing, and if we run into Zhao Chenghuang, the outcome is anyone's guess. We need to find a way to rope in one more ally."

Zhang Yuanqing bared his teeth quietly. Zhao Chenghuang's holding that many cards? The guy's second-generation nobility, not like me. I'm literally at the grassroots level!

He mulled it over, then said, "If it's an ally we need, I can try to bring Earth God over."

Yuan Ting was his secret weapon. He would hold him back as long as he could, then use him to execute a clean one-shot kill at the decisive moment.

Sun Miaomiao cuddled Little Goofball and nodded. "Then we try to bring Earth God around, clean out World Ablaze and that lot, take their points and their armor, then ride the lead to knock out Yuan Ting and Zhao Chenghuang. At the very end, I'll help you finish off Earth God."

Zhang Yuanqing looked at his little spirit servant getting squeezed and petted. Little Goofball, buddy, just take one for the team here and let your old master cash in.

***

Yuan Ting stood on top of a wall, looking left and right. "There's no sign of Miaomiao. No idea where she's run off to."

They hadn't seen Sun Miaomiao once since entering this round of the dungeon. A while back, the fourth piece of gear had appeared. He and Zhao Chenghuang had gone charging over, only to catch the backs of Green Pine and the others. The second the three of them spotted the pair, they had bolted without hesitation.

"Keep looking." Zhao Chenghuang said, then unexpectedly asked a rare question. "Yuan Ting, which way do you think the fighting goes from here?"

Yuan Ting pictured the retreating trio as he worked through the scenario. "Those three back there have obviously teamed up. Their next move has got to be collecting more armor, increasing their power, then either landing a killing blow on us, or seeking out Yuanshi Tianzun."

"Why not go for Yuanshi Tianzun?" Zhao Chenghuang asked.

"Yuanshi Tianzun's score is way too high, and most of us are sitting on four points. Knocking him out would cost them dearly, while making things easier for the rest of us. But if they ally with Yuanshi Tianzun and let him burn away his points while grinding us down, they will knock out us Taiyi Sect contestants out for the smallest possible cost. More importantly, setting aside the points tally, Yuanshi Tianzun is also just one man, and the condition for successfully clearing this stage is to be one of the last two standing."

He looked over at Zhao Chenghuang. "Once the three of us are out, World Ablaze and his crew can designate someone to go through. They can sort out some off-the-board compensation, and there won't be a problem. But there are three of us from the Taiyi Sect. If they ally with us, they have to take the risk of us cutting them loose once they've fulfilled their purpose."

Zhao Chenghuang gave a small nod. "That makes sense."

Just then a wraith came drifting over to them and settled onto Zhao Chenghuang's shoulder. Black-lipped and white-eyed, it was plainly the spirit servant that had drained Jiang Jingwei's essence the other day.

Yuan Ting gave a start. "You sent your servant out?"

He hadn't even noticed.

"Just checking the area," Zhao Chenghuang explained offhandedly.

As he spoke, far in the distance, a pillar of light shot up into the sky. They broke off the conversation and squinted toward it.

The glow held for a few minutes, then slowly faded. Right after that, they heard the Spirit Realm notification chime.

【Ding! Cold Iron Helmet equipped by Earth God.】

【All armor pieces have now surfaced!】

"That's a shame. It’s too far from us," Yuan Ting said ruefully..

Still, they now knew the make up of the armor. There were five pieces in total: breastplate, bracers, helmet, weapon, and that one set of tassets nobody had strapped on yet.

An odd little smile appeared on Zhao Chenghuang's frigid face. "Let's go. It's time to bring this stage to a close."