Chapter 1 The Beginning

Nine o'clock in the evening.

Zhang Yuanqing sat cross-legged on the villa's terrace, the Grand Luo Star Plate in front of him, his eyes filled with condensed starlight like water.

The night was dark, and the vast and distant night sky in the eyes of mortals was a tapestry of stars in his eyes, brilliant and dreamlike, silent and mysterious. Zhang Yuanqing stared at the night sky, his expression devoid of joy or sorrow as he earnestly observed the stars, his temperament mysterious and ethereal, like an ancient sage sitting on a mountain peak, comprehending the past and present.

After entering the mid-stage of Level 6, his Star Observation Technique had greatly improved, mainly reflected in the increased time scale. Taking the Yin-Yang Disk incident as an example, Zhang Yuanqing could previously see the progress of the matter within three days. Now it was seven days. This was the growth of the time scale.

However, as long as it involved a high-level master, the progress of the event would be filled with areas shrouded in mist. These areas could not be窥探 (kuī tàn - spied upon).

As for demigods, there wouldn't even be misty areas. Demigods seemed to have the ability to counter star observation and divination. Low-level *Lingjing Xingzhe* (spiritual realm walkers) couldn't "see" them.

"Well, there is indeed mist, which means that a high-level master is involved in this matter. The boss guessed correctly. They will ask Elder Cai to take action, but it could also be Elder Di Hong?"

"With Huang Taiji's relationship, this Grand Elder shouldn't actively deal with me, but he can't stand on my side regarding the Yin-Yang Disk. Headquarters won't tolerate me encroaching on public assets."

He didn't want to encroach on public assets, but the boss's 80 million couldn't be spent in vain. Later, his refusal of Secretary Li's compromise was because he couldn't swallow his anger. It was like someone designing to trick you, and after failing, they apologized and returned the money, thinking it was over? There was no such cheap thing.

Neither he nor Fu Qingyang were the kind of people who believed that taking a loss was a blessing.

Zhang Yuanqing斂 (liǎn - restrained) the starlight in his eyes, ending the deduction, and letting the information related to the Yin-Yang Disk dissipate.

A few seconds later, he reopened his eyes, starlight shining, the stars reappearing, the stars colliding and shifting, showing the future trend.

This time, Zhang Yuanqing was deducing the whereabouts of "Hades."

The collision of stars in the night sky became more and more intense, and the flashing light also changed. The entire night sky seemed to have become a display screen, and only those who controlled the code could understand the changes on the screen. More than ten minutes later, the flickering and wandering stars returned to their original positions, and then... a star in the southwest suddenly shone brightly, then dimmed.

Zhang Yuanqing suddenly opened his eyes, "Southwest... Hades is in the southwest."

He obtained relatively detailed information about Hades from Annie. Deducing using the information as a medium, obtaining a specific location was already a gratifying harvest.

To go further, he would have to establish a causal relationship with the other party or have personal items, flesh, blood, hair, etc. as a medium, but at this stage, it was impossible to obtain these things.

"After the Yin-Yang Disk incident is over, I'll go to the southwest as if on vacation. Hmm, let's deduce Guan Ya and the others..." He reopened his starry eyes to observe the stars.

"The spiritual realm isolates the Star Observation Technique, but I have too deep a karma with Guan Ya, so I can get some enlightenment... Still alive? Of course they are still alive in non-death instances. What a lonely deduction." Zhang Yuanqing ended his star observation, feeling his eyes a little sore, accompanied by slight dizziness.

Star observation consumed too much star power, and he also had to maintain the Grand Luo Star Plate while observing.

"It's a bit embarrassing. My Taiyin power is not as good as those who mainly cultivate Taiyin, and my star quality power is not as good as those who mainly cultivate stars, but I have the power of the Sun God, which is a natural enemy of the same profession." At this moment, a streak of dark light that ordinary people could not see swept across the sky and landed on the terrace. A handsome man and a beautiful woman emerged from the dark light.

"Yuanshi, long time no see!" The handsome man waved at her with a mischievous smile.

Zhang Yuanqing ignored him completely, staring at the foreign beauty. This was a sister, no, an aunt, with a stunning appearance and beauty.

Shoulder-length chestnut hair, slightly curled at the ends, a perfect oval face, delicate and deep features, and light blue eyes full of charm. She wore a white vest, a black leather jacket, and a pair of slim-fitting jeans.

Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself that she was indeed a stunning beauty who could corrupt the mentor's filial piety.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Ling Jing glared at him, "You've been staring at Victoria for longer than the safe value. Please take back your gaze, otherwise our master-disciple relationship will end today."

"I'm just curious, don't judge a gentleman's heart with your own mean measure," Zhang Yuanqing retorted.

Ling Jing said, "Victoria, this is who I was talking about. The lustful and romantic Yuanshi Tianzun (Primordial Heavenly Lord) whose girlfriends are all over Songhai."

Zhang Yuanqing: "???"

Victoria smiled slightly, "Hello!" With a standard Beijing accent, her Mandarin was even more standard than Zhang Yuanqing, a Southerner.

Zhang Yuanqing stopped teasing and stood up to salute, saying solemnly, "I'm troubling you."

"It's just a small favor," Victoria said.

The purpose of her trip was to set up a formation to bestow the power of secrecy upon Yuanshi Tianzun.

The next morning, Zhang Yuanqing had just taken two bites of fried dumplings when a group of law enforcement officers stormed in, all dressed in formal attire, handsome men and beautiful women. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought it was a Korean idol drama.

Leading the way was a strong man as sturdy as a black bear, also in formal attire, but with two buttons of his shirt open, revealing dense, curly black hair.

This strong man, whose temperament looked like a Fire Master and whose figure looked like a Fire Master, strode to the dining table, his voice rough and loud.

"Yuanshi Tianzun, I am a senior executive of the Huaihai Branch, *Lingjing* ID Raging Fire, you are suspected of encroaching on the assets of the Five Elements Alliance, please come back with us to cooperate with the investigation. This is an arrest warrant issued by the headquarters." They even sent a Fire Master. Zhang Yuanqing immediately understood the sinister intentions of Secretary Li and the Detective Elder.

After the Tribunal, everyone knew that Yuanshi Tianzun was unruly and rebellious, daring to confront even the Ten Elders of the headquarters, so the Huaihai Branch sent an impulsive and violent Fire Master to arrest him, in order to make the two powder kegs collide.

Once he resisted, or even took action, the nature of the matter would escalate into "Yuanshi Tianzun resisting arrest for fear of guilt."

Zhang Yuanqing's gaze fell on the arrest warrant, and he saw the *Lingjing* ID of the signatory - Cai Hetu!

"Go where?" He retracted his gaze and continued eating his dumplings.

"Huaihai Branch," the strong man said.

Zhang Yuanqing responded with an "oh," his tone indifferent, "Wait for me to finish breakfast."

As expected, as soon as the strong man heard this, he immediately frowned, pressing down on Zhang Yuanqing's shoulder with one hand, "Please come back with us, immediately..." Before he could finish speaking, his eyes suddenly became empty, and he stood there blankly.

The handsome men and beautiful women from the Huaihai Branch behind him were all stunned there.

Zhang Yuanqing gently pulled away the big hand on his shoulder, buried his head in eating, and after the last bowl of soy milk entered his stomach, he took out a paper towel to clean his mouth and said, "I'm done eating."

This sentence was like a spell to解除 (jiě chú - dispel) the magic. The stunned people regained their senses one after another, their eyes regaining their brilliance, and they were all stunned after seeing the scene in front of them.

In their consciousness, Yuanshi Tianzun had refused to cooperate and had already been forcibly taken away by Executive Raging Fire and boarded a special car to the Huaihai Branch.

Everyone thought that Yuanshi Tianzun was nothing more than this, and they were thinking about finding an opportunity to make things difficult for this genius along the way. After all, as middle-level cadres of the Huaihai Branch, everyone was extremely dissatisfied with Yuanshi Tianzun's encroachment on their own treasures.

But now, they were still in the villa, and Yuanshi Tianzun was sitting at the empty dining table with a smile on his face.

Illusion! Including "Raging Fire", the pupils of the people in the Huaihai Branch contracted, and the arrogance and momentum of the law enforcers seemed to be doused with a bucket of cold water.

They didn't even understand when they were hit by the illusion. Seeing that the effect of the initial威 (wēi - intimidation) had been achieved, Zhang Yuanqing smiled and got up, "I am willing to cooperate with the investigation, let's go." He put his hands in front of the strong man,

"Do you want handcuffs?" Raging Fire's expression changed. Before leaving, the Detective Elder had indeed hinted that Yuanshi Tianzun had encroached on the assets of the Huaihai Branch and should be properly敲打 (qiāo dǎ - warned/punished) along the way.

But now it seemed that even if violent law enforcement was used, it would probably be carried out in an illusion.

At this time, a young woman with a good appearance said, "No need, you only need to go back to assist in the investigation, not a criminal."

Raging Fire followed the steps down, "Let's go!"

The patrol team of the Huaihai Branch came by car, and naturally they went back by car. Huaihai was across provinces from Songhai, with a total distance of two hundred and ten kilometers. They set off in the morning and arrived at the Huaihai Branch at noon.

With the initial intimidation not long ago, the town law team was well-behaved along the way, without making things difficult for him or provoking him.

Zhang Yuanqing was directly taken to the interrogation room of the Huaihai Branch. A small room, cold lights, an interrogation chair, and a video recording device facing him.

The layout of the interrogation room was exactly the same as that of the headquarters' investigation department. After he was left in the interrogation room for an hour, the heavy soundproof door was pushed open, and a young man with a bit of a military temperament walked in.

"I ask, you answer." The young man sat down, first put down the recording pen, then spread out the confession book, picked up the pen, and said coldly.

"In which instance did the Yin-Yang Disk go missing?"

"Gang instance."

"What level?"

"S level, Mo Sect's Mechanical City." The young man paused in his writing gesture, looked up at him and continued to ask, "List of gang members who traveled with you."

"The list of members involves privacy, I refuse to answer."

"How was the Yin-Yang Disk lost? Explain the process in detail." The office of the Huaihai Branch was located in the bustling city center, similar in scale to a public security bureau. Turning left out the door was a shopping mall, surrounded by residential buildings. To the right was an elementary school.

The offices of the major branches were located in the city center. At first glance, this contradicted the original intention of never revealing the existence of *Lingjing Xingzhe*. The headquarters of superhumans should be located in deserted suburbs for the most security.

But in fact, the selection of the official branches was very particular. The primary condition was dense population.

The more densely populated the place, the safer it was. The existence of moral values made all *Lingjing Xingzhe* apprehensive. No one was willing to carry out massacres in bustling areas, and even demigods would be cautious.

Therefore, since the establishment of the Five Elements Alliance, the major branches had hardly been targeted by the big shots of the evil camp.

If it were a deserted suburb, it would probably have been wiped out by the masters and demigods of the evil organization long ago.

After all, they were barefoot and came and went without a trace, while the official was the maintainer of order, and the temple couldn't run away with the monk. Therefore, in the cruel confrontation between camps, they had to sacrifice some morality and kindness in the eyes of ordinary people.

In the top-floor office, the Detective Elder stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at the endless stream of traffic, and said, "Raging Fire said that Yuanshi Tianzun's illusion has reached the peak level of the Saint realm, so it shouldn't be Star Illusion. He refined Ichikawa Mi into a spiritual servant, plus the corpse of the Greedy God General. He alone is equivalent to several Level 6 Saints. It's terrifying how he has achieved such accomplishments in just five months."

The black-robed old man with round glasses sighed, "If his personality could be more gentle, the headquarters would cultivate him into the sixth alliance leader at all costs, but with the precedent of the Marshal, the Ten Elders won't let him enjoy the power, unless he can smooth out his edges."

"Marshal..." Hearing this, the Detective Elder immediately remembered the messy things of the past. When she was young, the Marshal didn't have Yuanshi Tianzun's rebellious spirit, but she also had a bad personality, strong and domineering, stabbing people with her sword at the slightest disagreement.

The Marshal joined the Five Elements Alliance in the Saint realm. Before the Saint realm, she worked for the Sky Punishment organization. It was said that when the elders of the Bo family planned to have this darling of the heavens transfer to the Five Elements Alliance, the two demigod leaders of Sky Punishment were alarmed and sent a team composed of first-level executives to reside in the Fu family to put pressure on them. The Five Elements Alliance was not to be outdone and immediately sent an elders' team. The two sides argued in the Fu family for a year, arguing when they met, and fighting after arguing, wishing to dig up ancestral graves. In the end, they offered huge benefits to recruit this young lady into the Five Elements Alliance.

It was not easy to recruit the seed into their ranks, so the headquarters treasured her, giving her the greatest benefits and conveniences, holding her high. But then something happened.

As the pearl of the *Lingjing* family, Fu Qingxuan herself had an outstanding appearance, coupled with her extraordinary talent.

She naturally became the object of pursuit by the official young talents and second and third generations.

The second and third generations were a very complex group, including outstanding people like the Four Young Masters of the official, but also many extravagant and pleasure-seeking good-for-nothings.

So someone used despicable tricks, but Fu Qingxuan had the qualifications of an alliance leader and was super intelligent, so how could she be calculated by good-for-nothings, so she stabbed the person to death with a sword.

Although the other party was at fault first, the crime did not deserve death, and it was not up to Fu Qingxuan to decide. So the headquarters wanted to warn her about her temperament as the pearl of the Fu family, so that she would restrain herself. The punishment was not heavy, demotion, one month of confinement, a fine of 30 million, and two props.

Fu Qingxuan had never suffered such treatment. She was a little princess in the Fu family, a little princess in the Sky Punishment, and a long princess in the Five Elements Alliance, very willful and domineering, so she made a scene at the headquarters, causing the Ten Elders to lose face.

There were many similar examples. During Fu Qingxuan's tenure, she did not obey orders and often beat and injured colleagues. She would teach a lesson to anyone she did not like, and stab anyone who was of a bad nature. Although she did not cause any more deaths, the headquarters could not restrain her at all.

The reason why she entered the gang instance for training was also because the conflicts had intensified to the point where they were difficult to reconcile, even deeper than the current conflict between Yuanshi Tianzun and the headquarters.

Fortunately, after a year of training in the instance, her temperament had calmed down and she was no longer so sharp.

Over the years, as Marshal, she gradually matured and finally looked like an alliance leader.

Therefore, the headquarters was justified in warning Yuanshi Tianzun, just to avoid the emergence of another rebellious "child" like Fu Qingxuan.

A soft knock on the door interrupted the Detective Elder's thoughts. He looked at the frosted glass door of the office and said, "Come in!" The young swordsman pushed the door in, presented the record, and then retreated.

The Detective Elder returned to the table, sat opposite the black-robed old man, and read the record carefully. A sneer appeared on his serious face, "The Yin-Yang Disk fell into the abyss? A clumsy excuse, does he really think that Fu Qingyang can settle this matter for him?"

The black-robed old man said lightly, "Encroaching on the Yin-Yang Disk is indeed a bit arrogant." On this matter, the Huaihai Branch and Yuanshi Tianzun had irreconcilable conflicts of interest.

The Detective Elder snorted, "Not only arrogant, but also stupid! Does he think he can eat official assets as he pleases? The headquarters won't agree, and neither will the alliance leaders. If such a precedent is set, will other branches follow suit and transfer public property to their private pockets? Over the years, many executives and elders' relatives have tried every means to eat the assets of the Five Elements Alliance into their own wallets, and convert public money into private property through legal means. The headquarters has always severely punished such behavior."

He raised his teacup and took a sip, looking at the black-robed old man, "Has the Tiger Talisman been issued?"

The black-robed old man shook his head, "Elder Cai has already applied to the Marshal, and it should arrive before get off work today."

"Once the Tiger Talisman is issued, the matter will be defined, and the alliance leaders won't indulge him." The Detective Elder threw down the pen, "Stupid."

The two stopped talking and silently drank tea.

Not long after, the black-robed old man's phone rang. The Detective Elder glanced at the lit phone screen. The caller was Elder Cai's secretary.

The black-robed old man answered the phone, clicked on the speakerphone, and smiled, "Secretary Zhou."

A man's deep voice came from the other end of the phone, "The Tiger Talisman has not been issued. The Marshal refused."

"What?" The black-robed old man and Elder Lei Quan straightened their backs abruptly, staring at the phone screen in astonishment.

"The Marshal refused," Elder Cai's secretary repeated.

The black-robed old man picked up the phone, his tone hurried, "What's the reason?"

"She said..." Secretary Zhou's tone suddenly became strange, "She's in a bad mood, and won't lend it!..."