Chapter 1 The Spirit Body

The spirit body transformed into a torrent of memories, washing over Zhang Yuanqing's sea of consciousness. He saw fragmented images, witnessing the short lives of the two psychics—well, the most memorable events of their lives.

When a person dies, the spirit body becomes incomplete, and so do the memory fragments. Only the most profound memories and those closest to the time of death are preserved.

One of the psychics, the Mantis Man, was once a fallen officer of the law. In his youth, he was full of zeal, vowing to fight gambling and drugs to the death, maintaining a firm stance against pornography.

Later, he discovered that his superiors were part of a protective umbrella, his colleagues were accomplices, and he was falsely accused and imprisoned for refusing to join their ranks. In prison, he had a profound awakening, abandoning morality and conscience, embracing the darkness, and becoming a witch doctor.

"So, one must harmonize with the world," Zhang Yuanqing thought, recalling the words of Sun, the psychologist from the Songhai branch.

Extremists are like that. Once their beliefs collapse, they quickly turn to the dark side, becoming more depraved than anyone else.

But those who harmonize with the world are different. They have seen the darkness, their minds are clear, and they become even more steadfast and stable.

"But harmonizing with the world doesn't suit my personality," Zhang Yuanqing muttered to himself, continuing to absorb the spirit fragments.

A few seconds later, he had completely absorbed the memory fragments, his face filled with joy.

He had found several crucial pieces of information. First, the Spirit Alliance's strongholds—six in total, large and small. Excluding the major strongholds with a Master presiding over them, the remaining five strongholds gathered many dark forces under the Spirit Alliance's control. Second, there were indeed traces of the King of the Underworld.

A Spirit Alliance transcendent had once reported to the Rat Man that an anomaly had occurred near Xishan at a certain stronghold. Several criminals who had been investigating the environment had entered the mountains and disappeared. When they were found, they were almost dead from sleep, having been without food and water for days.

This meant that the King of the Underworld had indeed appeared, and sleep was indeed his weakness.

The King of the Underworld was new to this place, choosing to resolve the characteristics (price) of his profession in the deep mountains and forests. Sleep was indeed his weakness.

Unfortunately, the King of the Underworld should have already woken up and left.

This memory had occurred three days ago. Because it was recent, it had not dissipated after death and was still remembered by the remnant spirit.

"The King of the Underworld's next sleep time is in seven days. If large-scale incidents of living beings falling asleep occur again, we should be able to use military satellites to locate him. I'll ask Fu Qingyang for help," Zhang Yuanqing's eyes lit up.

No wonder the King of the Underworld was being driven to the point of desperation, having to sneak into the mainland. Search Sanyoujia + book title on Bi Ying or QQ browser to read it first every day.

The Free Federation's spy satellites were the best in the world, able to see anywhere they wanted. The King of the Underworld must need to transfer his position after each sleep, otherwise, he would definitely be observed by the satellites.

"Uh, but if it's in the deep mountains and forests, even if animals are found sleeping, the trees can cover it, and the satellite may not be able to locate him. But having a clue is better than having no clue. At least I know where he was three days ago. I'll go to Xishan tomorrow and see if that guy left any DNA."

He took out his phone and called Kou Beiyue.

The phone rang twice before being answered. Kou Beiyue's groggy voice came from the speakerphone: "What are you doing in the middle of the night?" He was clearly awakened by the phone.

"I need to ask you something," Zhang Yuanqing said, "Are you familiar with that Wandering Vagrant?"

"Not familiar. He beat me up."

"As if no one has ever beaten you up."

"You…" Kou Beiyue gnashed his teeth for a moment, then obediently replied, "I only know that he's from the Gui Province, from a poor area. He's an orphan, um, I think he's an orphan. He has a strange personality, is selfish, and not very likable."

"Don't keep saying 'poor area.' You're just a local from a prefecture-level city. Where do you get your sense of superiority? Even I, a Songhai native who sees everyone in the country as a country bumpkin, haven't said anything," Zhang Yuanqing said in a tone of an elder educating his son.

From the Gui Province. So that's where that guy's hometown is. Zhang Yuanqing pondered for a moment, "Do you think he's reliable? Could he have secretly fallen? I remember at Master Wuhen's sutra lecture, his heart was extremely twisted and bloodthirsty."

Evil professions are still evil professions. Even if they are wholeheartedly good, the probability of them falling is still higher than that of orderly practitioners. If they are constantly stimulated by external situations, they might fall.

A place like the border, which is full of criminals, is easy to fall into.

"Yuan Shi Tianzun, you're not allowed to insult my friend!" Kou Beiyue said angrily.

"Say that again!"

"Yuan Shi Tianzun, you're not allowed to… what you said might be true, but I want to explain a few things."

"Alright, I'll give you a chance to explain."

Kou Beiyue said, "I'm not familiar with him, but Master Wuhen's sermons can resolve the resentment and obsessions in people's hearts. Whether he secretly fell before or not, he definitely won't now."

"Got it!" Zhang Yuanqing hung up the phone.

"Oh, right, Xiao Yuan said you're making automatons. Can you, um, can I try them out for you?" Kou Beiyue still couldn't bring himself to ask him directly, so he changed his tone to be more subtle.

……

After speaking, he waited for Yuan Shi Tianzun's reply, but when he looked at his phone screen, he was furious.

"He hung up? Damn it, what does that guy think I am, something to be thrown away after use?" Kou Beiyue, lying on the bed, kicked his legs in anger.

Just as Zhang Yuanqing hung up the phone, footsteps came from the corridor. The green-painted iron door of the dormitory opened, and Little Green Tea skipped in, dragging a suitcase, looking around with great interest.

"Wow, we're all living here? Brother, are you living here too?" She seemed to have never lived in such a simple dorm before, and she was quite interested.

Queen and Annie followed behind her.

Xie Lingxi quickly grabbed the bunk next to Zhang Yuanqing, sniffed the pillow and bedding, and frowned, "It hasn't been used in a long time. It smells musty."

"Just put up with it, young lady!" Zhang Yuanqing said irritably.

"Okay, whatever Brother says." Xie Lingxi smiled sweetly.

"Just don't climb into Brother's bed in the middle of the night," Queen chuckled from the side. She also wanted this bunk, but this girl had snatched it first.

Annie opened her suitcase and took out disposable self-contained toiletries, towels, pajamas, etc.

Women were particular about being refined, and the more beautiful a woman was, the more refined she had to be.

Zhang Yuanqing lay on the bed, resting his hands behind his head, and said, "Tell me, what have you all found out?"

"A dilapidated little county town with a terrible economy, but a lot of junkies," Queen said first, "We went to bars and karaoke places and found a lot of people doing drugs. There's also a lot of petty theft. The public order is like something out of the eighties or nineties."

"It's normal for a border city to be a little chaotic," Zhang Yuanqing nodded.

"There should be a lot of Spirit Realm practitioners at the Extraordinary stage. We went to six nightclubs, and three of them had Spirit Realm practitioners stationed there," Xie Lingxi continued.

"Did you cause trouble?" Zhang Yuanqing asked. Spirit Realm practitioners at the Extraordinary stage weren't much different from ordinary people when they weren't using their skills. At least, you couldn't tell with the naked eye.

"We don't need to cause trouble. With our beauty, as long as we walk around a nightclub, there'll be a swarm of admirers—except for one blind guy who ignored us," Queen said, gesturing to her full, tall figure, and harrumphed twice.

"A blind guy can pretend to be asleep and let you violate him, but you can't seize the opportunity," Zhang Yuanqing said. "Anything else?"

"The number of folk practitioners in Nanming City is greater than that in the branch," Annie said seriously. "The people in this branch are in danger. It's easy for them to be followed when they go to and from work, and then have their addresses found."

Zhang Yuanqing sighed. "That's why most of them choose to live in the dormitory and haven't dared to go home in ten years."

There were many teammates in the dormitory, as well as guns. Plus, there were many officers of the law who were ordinary people. Even evil professions had to consider whether they were strong enough or whether their moral values were high enough.

When they were in a weak position, using the lives of ordinary people to make the enemy afraid to act rashly was wise and helpless.

Xie Lingxi frowned and said, "The more chaotic a place is, the weaker the official forces are. The more prosperous a place is, the more experts there are!"

"You're an expert. You don't want to stay in a remote, poor place, either," Queen said.

"Do you think I don't know that?" Little Green Tea pouted and said, "Brother, while we're arresting the wanted criminals, can we clean up this place a little?"

Annie frowned. "No, we need to arrest the wanted criminals first. That's the main purpose of our trip."

"That's your main purpose." Although Xie Lingxi was young, her words were sharp. "It wouldn't be a big loss for us if we didn't catch the wanted criminals, but clearing out the criminals on the border would be more meaningful for us. Of course, you don't care whether the border is safe or not. This isn't your country, after all."

"Alright, we need to do both and do both well," Zhang Yuanqing interrupted their argument with a slogan. "I've already found a clue about the wanted criminals."

Annie's face lit up with joy. She didn't expect Mr. Yuan Shi to be so efficient. She had a little more confidence in the mission to capture the King of the Underworld.

Zhang Yuanqing then told the three girls about what he had learned from soul interrogation and asked, "If we strike while he's asleep, can we be completely sure of success?"

Annie shook her head slightly. "Within his domain, all living beings below his level will fall asleep, and those at the same level will experience intense drowsiness. Unless we can attack remotely, he's not completely defenseless when he's asleep. His domain will automatically detect danger and wake him up. After forcibly waking up, he'll be in a brief state of weakness. Let me think. At level six, the state of weakness lasts for ten minutes."

"Ten minutes should be enough for me to kill him—no, capture him alive." Zhang Yuanqing suddenly stopped talking because he had captured the signal transmitted back by Yi Chuanmei.

A residential area next to the Public Security Bureau, an underground parking garage.

The Venom Chaser, who had just finished attending the memorial service, walked into the underground parking garage along the ramp with a gloomy expression.

It was late at night, and the parking garage was quiet and empty. The bright white lights illuminated the spacious area.

The Venom Chaser stopped in a secluded corner, looking around while saying in a low voice, "You're too late. Many brothers in the branch have died because of this. They shouldn't have died."

A hoarse, low voice came from behind a pillar: "There was an accident on the way."

"Because of your accident, how many families have lost their breadwinners?" The Venom Chaser said angrily. "Can you take responsibility?"

"Heh, I only care about whether you live or die. What do I care about other people's lives?" The voice behind the pillar sneered. "I'm here to tell you that the Fire Controller who saved you is not simple."

"Of course he's not simple. A level-six saint. Not a Fire Controller. He called himself Sanqing Daozu, but the Songhai branch has no record of him," the Venom Chaser said calmly, having already investigated. "He's here to carry out a secret mission. I can't confirm whether it's related to you yet. Don't contact me for the next few days."

After a pause, he tentatively asked, "Did you cause any trouble during the days you were away?"

"What? Are you afraid I'll implicate you?" The voice behind the pillar sneered.

The Venom Chaser's expression was stern. "I'm afraid I won't be able to save you."

The voice behind the pillar fell silent for a moment, then softened. "Don't worry. I didn't cause any trouble outside. I'm contacting you today to remind you that the Fire Controller has a very powerful Wraith by his side, one that even I fear."

The Venom Chaser was shocked. "A Wraith stronger than you?"

He wasn't surprised that the Fire Controller could control Wraiths. Wraiths weren't just something Night Watchers could control. You could use items as well.

What surprised him was that the other party hadn't shown his full strength last night.

Next, the words of the person hidden in the dark shocked the Venom Chaser again.

"It's discovered me."

"This…" The Venom Chaser's pupils shrank.

"Don't worry. It's only discovered me. It'll probably think I'm a member of the Spirit Alliance. There's no reason for it to associate me with you," the person said. "Of course, you'd better pray that he's a Fire Controller. If he's a Scout, your problem might have already been discovered by him."

"I understand," The Venom Chaser thought for a moment. "If he's not here for you, then what's his purpose in coming to Nanming City?"

"I don't know. If there's nothing else, I'll…"

The voice behind the pillar suddenly changed. "You're being followed." As soon as the words fell, a high-pitched howl erupted from behind the pillar, so sharp that it seemed to pierce the eardrums.

A mental attack.

But the next moment, an even more powerful and sharper mental force rampaged, the mental attack emitted by the Wraith, directly overwhelming the former's attack.

The Venom Chaser instantly experienced tinnitus, a splitting headache, and warm blood poured out of his nostrils.

But the Swordsman's iron will allowed him to suppress the pain of mental tearing and immediately summon his longsword, adopting a defensive stance.

"That's it, the Wraith by that Fire Controller's side." The voice behind the pillar sounded again, mixed with pain.

The Venom Chaser's face changed drastically, even becoming somewhat desperate.

His collusion with evil professions had been discovered, discovered by the senior deacon from the Songhai branch.

He only had two options: first, join forces with his companion to kill them and silence them; second, confess his guilt, leave his current position, and accept punishment from the headquarters.