Realm Walker

Why was he there? What the hell was the Demon Eye Heavenly King doing at Songhai University?

Zhang Yuanqing's heart rate spiked, adrenaline flooding his system like he'd stumbled upon a white tiger deep in the mountains. He froze in place, his mind racing at full speed.

Is this a coincidence? The Demon Eye showing up at Songhai University?If it isn't, then he's here for me. My age narrows it down easily enough. A local in his early twenties would almost certainly be a college student. And I killed Ou Xiangrong on this very campus.That incident was never publicized, but plenty of official Walkers at the Songhai Branch knew about it. With the Demon Eye Heavenly King's status and connections, digging up that intel would've been trivial.

I remember Fu Qingyang mentioning that the Demon Eye Heavenly King has the ability to identify Spirit Realm Walkers. That's how he tracked down Kou Beiyue.He's probably already swept through Songhai University multiple times without me knowing. The only reason I've been safe is because I haven't come to class these past few days. I dodged a bullet without even realizing it.

Cold sweat beaded on Zhang Yuanqing's forehead at that last thought, and he tried to force his emotions down.

Stay calm. Stay calm. The Demon Eye doesn't know my face. Fu Qingyang has analyzed his identification ability before. It's an active skill, something he has to deliberately activate, not a passive skill that is running all the time. Just act like a normal passerby, walk past him, then slip out through the back gate. I can never come back to campus after this.

He drew a slow breath. While the Demon Eye was focused on sweeping, Zhang Yuanqing fished a mask from his pocket and slipped it on. He maintained a casual, unhurried pace and pulled out his phone, sending a group message to Fu Qingyang, Guan Ya, and Li Dongze: HELP!! The Demon Eye Heavenly King is at the front gate of Songhai University!!

He kept his expression perfectly placid. His fingers were steady as stone as they typed out the message. Every storm, every crashing wave of panic, stayed locked behind his eyes.

Once the message was sent, he pocketed his phone with practiced calm. Eyes forward, stride unchanged, he walked toward the Demon Eye Heavenly King in his sports headband.

One step. Two steps. Three.

At last, he passed right by him. The Heavenly King kept his head down, sweeping with focused diligence, paying no attention to the students drifting past. Just another janitor doing his job.

Zhang Yuanqing fought to keep his breathing even. He didn't allow himself a single sigh of relief, not even the faintest micro expression of tension leaving his body. Only after crossing the plaza at the school entrance and turning onto a quiet path toward the lecture halls did he finally let himself exhale.

That was terrifying. Absolutely terrifying. As long as the Demon Eye Heavenly King is alive, I'll never sleep soundly. This man kills on suspicion. I'm sure he's already had people investigate me. He probably knows I'm a law-abiding citizen on paper, but the fact that he's staking out Songhai University anyway means he isn't planning to let me go.That's the nature of Evil-class Walkers. Flexible moral compasses, the whole lot of them. All that talk about needing evidence before killing someone? Complete nonsense.

Zhang Yuanqing cursed internally as he quickened his pace, heading for the rear gate. That was when a voice floated over from behind him, light and breezy, carrying the warmth of a sunlit smile.

"You recognized me, didn't you?"

Zhang Yuanqing's feet stopped. His body went rigid, every muscle locking up at once. Then, like a gear rusted stiff, his neck turned, inch by agonizing inch, until he was looking over his shoulder.

The path was lined with trees, their canopy thick with summer leaves. Sunlight filtered through the branches and scattered in dappled patches across the ground. Standing among those shifting spots of light was the young man with the sports headband, leaning on his broom and studying Zhang Yuanqing with an easy, squinting smile.

"Are you... talking to me?" Zhang Yuanqing said, even as his emotions detonated like a bomb within him. But the more his heart raced, the more his face became a mask. Perfectly still. Perfectly blank.

The Demon Eye Heavenly King clicked his tongue, still leaning on the broom. "Your reaction at the gate was far too obvious. It's not your fault, really. For an Ancient War God[1] like me, every ripple on a battlefield stands out like a bonfire in the dark. There were too many people at the gate and it was inconvenient to make a move. So I followed you here.

"Now, how would a Songhai University student recognize me? What a coincidence. I've been looking for someone who goes by Yuanshi Tianzun, and he also happens to be a student here. Don't tell me that's you."

Zhang Yuanqing's instincts fired before conscious thought could catch up. He was about to activate Night Wandering and run, but the Demon Eye Heavenly King reached up and pulled off his sports headband.

"Let me confirm whether you're a Spirit Realm Walker first."

The headband slid away to reveal a third eye in the center of his forehead. The socket was rimmed in crimson, the iris a pale gold, and the pupil a vertical slit. The eye was cold, devoid of emotion, radiating an aura of pure evil and chaos. It rolled in its socket with a wet, squelching sound.

Boom.

The instant Zhang Yuanqing laid eyes on the vertical eye, it was as if a bomb went off in his mind. His thoughts shattered into countless chaotic fragments. There was no pain, no fear. Just a return to the most primordial silence—an absolute void.

In reality, his face twisted into a grotesque rictus as blood streamed from both eyes like tears. The Power of the Dark Moon inside him spiraled out of control, tearing at his body's vitality, trying to convert his flesh into a Yin corpse.

ROAR!

A piercing, resonant dragon's cry suddenly echoed through Zhang Yuanqing's sea of consciousness. The roar carried a purifying magic, as though it could wash clean the very soul. It hauled him back from the abyss of collapse, stitching his shattered thoughts together piece by piece until clarity crashed back upon him like a wave.

He regained awareness. He could see the Demon Eye Heavenly King a few meters away, and that terrible vertical eye. It was still horrifying, still grotesque enough to freeze the blood. But somehow, it no longer felt quite so lethal.

What was that roar just now? Zhang Yuanqing was equal parts bewildered and elated, but there was no time for questions. He activated Night Wandering, vanished, and sprinted away with everything he had.

The Demon Eye Heavenly King didn't pursue. Instead, he curled his lips into a smile.

"Interesting! A tiny campus like Songhai University, and it's hiding a Rain Master."

A bone chilling wind erupted out of nowhere, and the sky darkened as storm clouds rolled in, swallowing the sun and shielding it behind a veil of gray, plunging the world into gloom.

Gale force winds engulfed the area. The trees around the Demon Eye Heavenly King bent sideways in unison, their trunks curving into semicircles, threatening to snap at any moment. Students near and far were sent sprawling, while the more petite girls were lifted clean off their feet, their screams piercing the air. Nearby windows exploded in cascading showers of glass.

In the midst of that apocalyptic storm, tears of blood leaked from the vertical eye on the Demon Eye Heavenly King's forehead as it fully awakened. Twisted black lines like living tattoos began to crawl outward along the Enchanting Demon's face, beginning from the eye socket, spreading rapidly across his body.

He leaned on his broom and spoke, his voice carrying over the wind. "Hey, hey, hey, fight me if you want, but if you drag innocent people into this, I'm going to get angry."

His lips peeled back into a manic, unhinged grin.

***

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Zhang Yuanqing dragged his battered body forward, pushing himself to a speed he'd never reached before in his life, tearing out of Songhai University and continuing toward Fu Family Bay.

He was faster than the cars racing down the road. Pedestrians gaped in shock. A few fumbled for their phones to record him, but by the time they brought their cameras up, he'd already vanished.

More than ten minutes later, having run a distance he couldn't even estimate, Zhang Yuanqing collapsed in a secluded park. He crumpled onto the grass, chest heaving violently, gulping down air in desperate, ragged breaths. Several minutes passed before his breathing steadied enough for him to gather a sliver of focus and take stock of his condition.

The worst damage had been done to his soul. It felt like it had been shattered and reassembled. It manifested as his body's loudest complaint, a screaming headache, a splitting agony that pierced his temples as though someone were trying to crack his skull open from the inside. It rivaled the pain of his old ailment at its worst.

Beyond that, his internal organs had sustained significant damage, and his body temperature had plummeted, both consequences of the Power of the Dark Moon running wild.

Just one look from that eye nearly killed me. So that's what a Sovereign-tier Enchanting Demon can do. And he wasn't even trying to kill me. If he had been, I wouldn't have had a chance to resist. I'd have been dust.

He shuddered for a long moment before his mind drifted back to the dragon's roar that had saved him.

Who was it that saved me? Anyone capable of interrupting the Demon Eye Heavenly King's power has to be at the Sovereign tier. I remember either Guan Ya or Fu Qingyang mentioning that there's an elder stationed at Songhai University.

The gale winds and the dragon roar... I don't know what class that elder belongs to, but they're definitely not a Fire Sage.

Just then, a shrill ringtone blared from his pocket, and Zhang Yuanqing's heart seized instinctively. I'm going to change that ringtone one of these days.

He pulled out his phone and checked the caller ID. It was Fu Qingyang.

He answered immediately. The centurion's voice came through the speaker, carrying an unmistakable note of relief.

—It sounds like the Water God Palace Elder intervened in time.

The implication of those words clicked instantly, and Zhang Yuanqing's mind sharpened. "You contacted him?"

Fu Qingyang gave a brief acknowledgement, then pivoted away from any hint of a self-congratulatory statement.

—Did your identity get exposed?"

"Yeah," Zhang Yuanqing replied, exhaustion dragging at every vocalization.

He'd activated Night Wandering to escape. The Demon Eye Heavenly King would have seen that clear as day. A Songhai University student, and a Nocturnal Specter. Even a child could connect those dots.

Fu Qingyang considered this for a moment.

—Your student records were destroyed and classified the moment you joined the Five Elements Alliance. It won't be easy for the Demon Eye to trace your home address through official channels. You haven't told any classmates where you live, have you?

Zhang Yuanqing thought back, then shook his head. "No."

Even if the Demon Eye Heavenly King knows I'm a student at Songhai University, he doesn't know I'm Zhang Yuanqing, and the school's records won't contain any information about me either.As long as I stay away from campus, he'll have a hard time finding me in the short term. But this can't last forever. Damn it. This guy is such a pain.

A surge of frustration burned through him.

Li Xianzong was the one who'd tried to kill him first. He'd killed Li Xianzong fair and square, with each side fighting with everything they had. The Demon Eye Heavenly King was just a bully punching down, and a shameless one at that.

No. Actually, the blame belonged to the Slaughter Cessation Palace Master. The Demon Eye had come to Songhai to kill her. Zhang Yuanqing was just a side errand. If the Palace Master hadn't been drawing trouble like a magnet, the Demon Eye Heavenly King would never have traveled all this way for a nobody like him.

That woman, Zhang Yuanqing cursed inwardly.

Fu Qingyang spoke again.

—The Demon Eye has your scent now. Given his methods, I'd estimate he'll track down your home within a week. I'll push the elders to close the net and deal with him as soon as possible.

A week before he finds my home. Zhang Yuanqing felt a chill run down his spine. "And if the elders can't deal with him?"

What if the elders are the ones who get dealt with?

Fu Qingyang paused, choosing his words carefully.

—Then you'll be in real danger. My plan would be to find a way to mask your presence so the Demon Eye can't locate you. If you were a Saint-tier Nocturnal Specter, you could probably manage it on your own. But at your current level, you'd need an item for that. Items like that are quite rare, and the Songhai Branch doesn't have any in stock. I'll submit a requisition to headquarters for you to borrow something similar, assuming they have one.

It seemed logical, but Zhang Yuanqing couldn't help the skepticism creeping in. The Demon Eye Heavenly King will go through the entire city with a fine-toothed comb. Sooner or later, he'll find the real Yuanshi. If I can block his detection ability, that might buy enough time.But the requisition process will take forever. Just waiting for a response could eat up days. What if the item hasn't arrived before the Demon Eye tracks me down? And what if headquarters doesn't even have one?

"Thank you, Centurion."

After exchanging thanks and goodbyes, the centurion hung up. Zhang Yuanqing immediately sent messages to Guan Ya and Li Dongze, letting them know he was safe.

He scanned his surroundings. Nobody was in sight. He quietly produced the Demon-subduing Awl and pressed its tip lightly against his thigh.

Brilliant golden light erupted, running through his body like a purge. Two faint streaks of gold flashed through Zhang Yuanqing's eyes and vanished. The cleansing power gave his mind an extraordinary clarity, and a name surfaced.

Bill Tarantino.

The Void-class foreign Walker had come to Songhai to conduct trade. He had to be sitting on a substantial inventory. The Merchants' Guild had a stockpile that was the most extensive of any Spirit Realm Walker organization in the world. Ling Jun had said so himself.

He could ask Fu Qingyang to handle the purchase of a presence-masking item, but that would put the centurion at a disadvantage in any upcoming negotiations. And if the Songhai Branch made the purchase, the item would belong to the organization. He'd only be borrowing it at best.

An item that could mask his presence was absolutely worth acquiring. It was a guaranteed good investment. If he didn't need it later, he could always sell it to the Songhai Branch. It was better to approach Mr. Tarantino himself.

That would mean revealing to Bill that he was a Spirit Realm Walker, but Zhang Yuanqing suspected the man had probably guessed as much already. After all, injuries that required a specific small blue pill to treat were almost certainly Walker-related.

The Void and the Love and Desire classes were both Lawful professions. Given Bill's philosophy of traveling the world, his network, and his status, the man surely had a wide circle of friends. To someone like him, Zhang Yuanqing would be just one acquaintance among many.

Revealing his Walker identity wasn't a major risk, but he absolutely could not reveal his Spirit Realm ID. After all, Yuanshi Tianzun had a very particular reputation in Songhai. There was too much notoriety tied to it.

With his decision made, Zhang Yuanqing dialed Bill Tarantino's number. The line rang for a few seconds before connecting, and Annie's soft, melodic voice came through.

—Hello, who's calling?

She spoke in English.

Who's calling? They didn't save my number? These two foreigners have zero respect for this great Tianzun.

"Ms. Annie, it's me. Chen Shu's son," Zhang Yuanqing replied in English.

There was a pause of two or three seconds on the other end before Annie finally placed him. Her tone bloomed with warmth.

—How can I help you?

"I'd like to purchase something from Mr. Tarantino."

Annie's voice lit up with delight.

—Oh, you've made up your mind? You want to spend ten million to buy information on the pill's user base?

In your dreams.

Zhang Yuanqing neither confirmed nor denied it, but kept his voice low and even. "I'd like to meet with Mr. Tarantino. Right now, if that's convenient."

Annie agreed without hesitation.

—Of course! Shall I send a driver to pick you up?

"That won't be necessary."

1. Ancient War God is the title of a Sovereign-tier Enchanting Demon. ☜

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