Combining previous information with the information I recently dug up, Zhang Yuanqing’s mind was blown wide open, and many bold, chaotic speculations surged into his mind.
In the distant, unknown, ancient years, a earth-shattering upheaval occurred, a change caused by the confrontation of two major camps (perhaps with other factors).
Afterward, spiritual power began to decline, and the world fell into disorder and chaos. Later generations relied on spiritual power to cultivate, and various occupations emerged.
They were all free, without camp confrontation. Evil and orderly professions could coexist peacefully, but this was not the norm. As spiritual power gradually dried up, ancient cultivators became extinct, and an era came to an end.
Then, The Way of the Extraordinary was born, and the confrontation between the two major camps was re-established. A new cycle began with the birth of The Way of the Extraordinary.
That's why the Compass of Light made such a prediction!
"Logically, it's a continuation, but there are too many loopholes and details. If I let my imagination run wild, I could also think that each extinction is a major cycle. Heaven and earth have been reincarnated many, many times since their birth... I feel like I could write a book," Zhang Yuanqing thought.
There are too many mysteries. Without evidence, guessing wrong once can lead to vastly different outcomes.
For example, the reason for the apocalypse is that humanity's evil thoughts are too numerous, twisting into terrifying monsters. In fact, evil professions are the emotional garbage cans of humanity, bearing the karma for humanity. Orderly professions are the bad guys; they want to eliminate and destroy these garbage cans, allowing the garbage to flood human society, and then humanity becomes extinct, the world is destroyed, and falls into complete nothingness.
This is the ultimate meaning of Order.
When the world no longer needs order, that is the most stable order.
Well, this kind of wild imagination cannot be written into a book. It's not positive enough and would be destroyed. The court has always done this. Zhang Yuanqing suddenly paused.
Order, destruction!!
He froze for a few seconds, shaking his head vigorously to shake off the thoughts that had just arisen.
Then, he replied to Freedom Eagle with a "Thanks, let's keep in touch," and put down his phone, focusing on finishing his meal.
During this process, he glanced at Guan Ya, and thought of Queen, Green Tea, and Li Chunfeng, his three teammates. They were all smart people, with abilities, skills, vision, and knowledge far superior to ordinary Wayfarers.
If I could bring them in to discuss together, perhaps I could get more reasonable speculations.
But these things are destined not to be revealed to outsiders, not even to Qian Gongzi. Now he and Qian Gongzi maintained a delicate, tacit understanding of balance.
This is the balance that smart people should maintain. It is not suitable to break it, not suitable to make it clear.
"Ling Jun was looking for you earlier!" Guan Ya said while eating cold beef salad, "He said he lost a box of cigars. Did you steal it?"
"Steal? Things taken by scholars cannot be called stealing, it's borrowing," Zhang Yuanqing snorted.
"I saved his and Teng'er's lives, what's wrong with him repaying me with a box of cigars? He never says anything when I take Fu Qingyang's things. Ling Jun's perspective is really small."
Guan Ya looked jealous: "Fu Qingyang treats you better than he treats me. That brat."
Zhang Yuanqing quickly explained: "We have a pure male-male relationship." Guan Ya didn't argue with him, sighed and said:
"He's probably too lonely. Any genius is trash in his eyes. He thinks you're different from other trash. Although you always appear lazy and flamboyant, you've actually been struggling in adversity, never stopping, never slacking off. He thinks you are very similar in this respect, so he treats you as a confidant."
"Is that so? I thought it was because I flattered him well." After dinner, in the large villa, in the lounge.
"Ah, um, um, lighter, don't use so much force," Zhang Yuanqing moaned intoxicated. "Can you not shout? You're a Star Official, can't you handle this little bit of force?" Ling Jun sneered.
"Nonsense, this is my first time, unlike you, who enjoys it every day. Lighter, lighter," Zhang Yuanqing gasped. "You have a sensitive constitution," Ling Jun clicked his tongue.
In the softly lit inner hall, three wide soft sofas were lined up in a row, and three men in bathrobes lay leisurely on the sofas, with fruit plates, fine wine, and cigars beside them.
The aroma of cigars floated in the air, and soothing and melodious music played from the speakers.
Each sofa was accompanied by a bunny girl, with snow-white wrists adorned with green wooden bracelets, wholeheartedly giving the three masters a foot massage.
The wooden bracelets were props of the Wood Sprite profession. Wearing them granted immense strength, which was necessary to give the three masters a foot massage.
After all, even Star Officials, who are not known for their physical defense, could easily withstand bullets with the toughness of their skin and the strength of their muscles. Zhang Yuanqing had never had a foot massage before, and when the bunny girl used a little force, he howled.
Ling Jun, with a cigar in his mouth, gloated and joked, while Fu Qingyang closed his eyes, his handsome and chiseled face calm, full of masculine beauty.
"By the way, Yuanshi, are you free next week? Teng'er wants to treat you to a meal to express her gratitude for saving her life," Ling Jun said lazily.
"Next week?" Zhang Yuanqing turned to look at Qian Gongzi, "My boss told me to enter the Qin Feng Academy next week."
"Qin Feng Academy? That's a good place. It has a forest rich in resources, where you can hunt and pick valuable herbs. It has a smelting room where you can learn how to refine weapons, and a refining room where you can learn to identify herbs. There are many good things," Ling Jun put down his cigar and stuck a piece of cantaloupe in his mouth.
"These are trivial matters," Fu Qingyang said indifferently, "There may be a secret hidden in the Qin Feng Academy."
"What secret?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
Fu Qingyang pondered for a moment and said, "The Qin Feng Academy was originally a mid-court gang instance, a Overlord-level one, with a Qin Dynasty background. After it was cleared, it became the current academy. But I heard the Marshal mention that the hidden mission of this instance has not been completed."
"Why hasn't it been completed?" Zhang Yuanqing was a little surprised. Although Overlord-level instances are high-end, the mid-court does have Demigods.
Fu Qingyang glanced at him, "So it's a secret. When I realized it, it was too late. I didn't have time to collect clues or clear the mission, but you can try it, after all, you are different from trash like Ling Jun."
Ling Jun swallowed the cantaloupe and said, "Never mind the secrets, these things are too far away from us. I'll tell you, there's a good place in the Qin Feng Academy." As he said this, he showed a smile that Zhang Yuanqing instantly understood.
"There are pretty female teachers?" Zhang Yuanqing chuckled.
"Pretty female teachers are a must-have element of the academy, but what I want to say is not this. There is a lake in the Qin Feng Academy called Jiaoren Lake."
Ling Jun showed a look of longing, "Beautiful Jiaoren live there. In terms of appearance, outstanding beauties among humans are only the average appearance of Jiaoren. There is not a single ugly Jiaoren."
"Jiaoren?" Zhang Yuanqing became interested.
"They are alien beasts that lived in ancient times. They are equivalent to Level 1 Water Ghosts when they are born, and reach Level 3 when they are adults. A small number of elites can reach Saint level, and the most powerful Jiaoren Queen is Overlord level.
There are no males in their clan. After the females reach adulthood, they will lay eggs on their own to breed the next generation. They can also mate with Water Ghosts among The Way of the Extraordinary to give birth to mixed-blood offspring. There is no reproductive isolation.
This kind of alien beast, like ancient cultivators, is on the verge of extinction as spiritual power dries up, but The Way of the Extraordinary provides them with a habitat, allowing the race to continue," Ling Jun talked eloquently.
"After the Water God Palace Grand Elder cleared the Jiaoren Lake instance, he introduced this race into the Qin Feng Academy, but there are no Overlord-level Jiaoren in the Qin Feng Academy. I remember the strongest Jiaoren Queen is Level 5, right Fu Qingyang?"
Fu Qingyang closed his eyes and said indifferently; "Good memory, it seems that the Jiaoren Queen caused you a lot of psychological trauma back then."
"What do you mean?" Zhang Yuanqing became interested.
"Ling Jun thought the Jiaoren Queen was beautiful back then, and secretly sneaked out of the dormitory and into the lake, but was almost killed by the Jiaoren Queen. It was the academy's teacher who saved him," Fu Qingyang said. "Alas, alien beasts are alien beasts, they only know how to admire the strong, they don't understand romance, and their mate selection views are too distorted," Ling Jun was not embarrassed.
Zhang Yuanqing thought for a moment and suddenly asked: "Wait, Jiaoren are half-human and half-fish, right? The lower half is a fish, right? Instructor, how did you become sexually interested in the Jiaoren Queen?"
Ling Jun said lazily: "Isn't the upper half a human?"
Zhang Yuanqing was shocked: "Although it's a fish body, it's still sensible?"
Ling Jun froze for a moment, "What the hell are you thinking? What I mean is, although they are Jiaoren, they have angelic looks and fair, delicate skin. It's a romantic thing to talk about love with such beauties, not necessarily to do that kind of thing. You vulgar, lewd beast whose mind is filled with lust, so crude."
Zhang Yuanqing was not convinced: "You're not lewd? How did you understand?" Ling Jun was speechless.
Fu Qingyang's face twitched: "Stop this topic."
Zhang Yuanqing and Ling Jun looked at him together and said loudly: "Oh, you understood too, ee~."
Fu Qingyang was silent for a second, looked at the three bunny girls, and said coldly: "You guys go out first!"
8:00 PM, the living room round table.
Guan Ya, Xie Lingxi, Queen, and Yin Yao County Princess were sitting around the round table playing mahjong.
Yin Yao County Princess bit a small loudspeaker with her cherry-like small mouth, and her hands lingered on the mahjong tiles. Every time she played one, an mature woman's voice would come from the small loudspeaker, "Nine of Bamboo", "Three Myriad" etc.
Queen lost half a month's salary tonight and gnashed her teeth and said:
"I suspect that Yin Yao County Princess is cheating with Astrology. Jilika should cover her eyes."
"She's not cheating," Guan Ya said.
Queen was unconvinced: "Then why am I always the one losing money?" Xie Lingxi just looked at her and said tenderly:
"Queen Sister, is it possible that your skills are just too bad?"
Queen was about to retort when she suddenly saw Yuanshi Tianzun enter through the door and said happily: "Captain, you're back! Huh, what happened to your face?"
The three women turned to look, and Yuanshi Tianzun's face was bruised and swollen, turning into a pig's head.
"My brother-in-law beat me. Lingxi, come and feel sorry for your brother, I need ice and a massage." Zhang Yuanqing slumped on the sofa, sighing.
Xie Lingxi wrinkled her nose at him, unhappy that he called Fu Qingyang her brother-in-law.
"Captain, let me, let me!"
Queen, who had lost half a month's salary, was extremely active, trying to earn back the money she had lost from the captain by being a slave.
But Yin Yao County Princess held her shoulders down, unable to move.
"Shameful!"
The mature woman's voice of Yin Yao County Princess came from the small loudspeaker: "Now is the new era of female dominance, don't lose face for women."
"You just haven't had enough fun and don't want the mahjong game to end."
Queen muttered in her heart. Yin Yao County Princess proposed a solution: "Let the family's handyman come and serve you."
Forget it, Zhang Yuanqing said righteously: "I told you, that's not a handyman, they are beloved relatives and friends." He muttered and disappeared, turning into dreamlike starlight.
After showering and washing, the bruises and swelling on Zhang Yuanqing's face and body disappeared. With the self-healing ability of a Star Official, even if an arm was cut off, it could heal within half an hour. Of course, it cannot regenerate.
"Before entering the Qin Feng Academy, go home and visit first, then stay at Xiaoyuan's place for a few days. After the recent purge, the evil professions in the Songhai area have been much more honest. To accumulate prestige, I can only hope that the next instance is a Confrontation instance."
"Temporarily put aside the investigation of the Free and Unfettered Organization. There have been not a few gains, but mainly there are no clues. Chen Shu has blacklisted me. To continue the investigation, I can only take the risk of inquiring with the Zoo's Artifact Spirit."
He lay on the bed, thinking aimlessly.
Before entering the Qin Feng Academy, he could probably live a few peaceful days.
He used to think that university life was boring and tasteless, taking classes, playing games, accompanying his little aunt to go shopping, and occasionally being a craftsman. Now he suddenly misses the old days. He sighed in his heart, took out the Mao Wang speaker from the drawer, and said: "I want to know what Demon Lord knows about the Compass of Light."
After speaking, he opened the music player software on his phone and played music: "Loving You Walking Alone in the Dark Alley."
At the end of the song, the Mao Wang speaker made a "buzzing" current sound. After a while, the familiar hoarse voice sounded:
"I heard about the Compass of Light's prediction from the Fear Heavenly King of the Holy Church of War today. Do the sun, moon, and stars represent the ultimate power of the Night Watcher?"
At this moment, Zhang Yuanqing entered Night Wandering. A man's voice answered
"As you expected."
Zhang Yuanqing had heard this voice before. After a little recollection, he remembered that it was the mysterious person who told the Demon Lord the prediction of the Light and Shadow Compass. He invested in the Demon Lord.
"Why is it the Night Wanderer? What's so special about the Night Wanderer?" the Demon Lord asked.
"This question is beyond the scope. Even I don't know the reason. But I can give you a thought: Why is the Night Wanderer the profession with the peak combat power among all the orderly professions abroad and locally? Have you ever thought about this question?" "Do you know?"
"I don't know, I just want to tell you that the Night Wanderer has always been special."
The mysterious man said: "By the way, you just said that you met the Fear Heavenly King of the Holy Church of War? He didn't kill you, but instead told you the prediction of the Compass of Light?"
My companions were all killed by him, so he would naturally kill me too. I told him: Killing me is your freedom, but living is my freedom. You shouldn't stifle a life's freedom. He admired my understanding of freedom very much and wanted to make friends with me. We talked for a long time. I told him that I was a servant of the Phantom Eye Judge, controlled by the Holy Grail, and could not be freed for life."
"And then?"
"Then he said he was going to kill the Phantom Eye Judge. I hope he succeeds."
The Heavenly Kings of the Holy Church of War are all crazy, right? So you can escape death at the hands of a Heavenly King by using rhetoric? Note it down, it may be useful in the future, Zhang Yuanqing muttered in his heart.
The Demon Lord said again: "It seems you don't know either. Then, answer me another question: If you encounter acquaintances in the opposing camp in a Confrontation instance, how do you break the situation?"
"What happened?"
The mysterious man laughed. "Last month, I met a friend in a Confrontation instance. I didn't want to kill him, but I had to kill him. I couldn't violate the instance mission. He was an evil profession, but he was a kind person who actively redeemed himself. He told me that as long as you sincerely repent and have your heart set on the light, even the most heinous person can start over." The Demon Lord said in a low voice.
"You saw your own shadow in him, and you also want to redeem yourself?" the mysterious man said. After a long while, the Demon Lord said
"Recently, I listened to the audio recordings I made in the past. I'm becoming less and less like myself and more and more like a madman. I hate myself now, but I can't control the evil thoughts in my heart."
"I made friends with him, observed him, and examined him. I wanted to see if there was really a way back for the most heinous person. But in the end, I had to kill him."
"Before he died, he told me that he didn't blame me, he was liberated."
The mysterious man sighed:
"When you are promoted to Overlord, I will tell you how to get rid of the Fallen Holy Grail, but the risk is very high, and the probability of death is extremely high. You must be prepared to die."
"As for the way to break the Confrontation instance, it's very simple, just leave the instance."
"That's nonsense."
"Heh, what I mean is, leave the instance voluntarily, not when The Way of the Extraordinary sends you out. You need a Void profession item. I don't have one on hand, but I can find one for you," the mysterious man said.
"However, forcibly leaving the instance will deduct a certain amount of experience points, or even drop a level. Think it over yourself." The audio stopped abruptly.
A Void profession item, the Teleportation Jade Casket?
So that's where this item came from. Zhang Yuanqing chewed on the content of the conversation and found that the amount of information was huge.
First of all, he understood the origin of the Teleportation Jade Casket.
Secondly, he suspected that the Demon Lord's friend was a member of Master Wuhen's team.
Finally, it turned out that the battle in which the Demon Lord perished together with the Phantom Eye Judge was led by this mysterious man.
Could the person who disguised himself as the Demon Lord and took the Little Sun that day be this mysterious man?
Compared to the Demon Lord not being dead, Zhang Yuanqing was more inclined to this guess. After all, the Demon Lord's death was "endorsed" by the Lord of the Taiyi Sect, the Demigod of the Five Elements Alliance, and Master Wuhen.
The Saint Church of War's Shura invested in the leader of Dark Night Rose, the Five Elements Alliance invested in the Lord of the Taiyi Sect, and this mysterious person and the Beauty God Association invested in the Demon Lord.
The mysterious man hides his head and shows his tail, not revealing his identity, which is very consistent with the persona of a conspirator.
After the Demon Lord died, he took the Little Sun, intending to find the next investor? I am also a Night Wanderer, why don't you invest in me? Am I, Yuanshi Tianzun, not worthy!
The direction of exploring the Demon Lord's line is there. Investigate this mysterious man. Alas, I'm really busy, Zhang Yuanqing said in his heart. At this moment, the phone rang.
Zhang Yuanqing looked at the screen, the caller was Asano Ryo, who was living a good life. She actually contacted me on her own initiative? Zhang Yuanqing answered the phone:
"Moshi Moshi?"
A clear voice of a high school girl came from the speaker, but it contained suspicion and tension:
"Yuanshi-kun, I'm sorry to disturb you so late. I, I have something I want to ask you to help with."
As she finished speaking, Zhang Yuanqing heard a muffled sound of "thump" from the phone, as if a head had hit the tatami mat.