Fu Qingyang sat at his desk, logged into his account, and entered the online meeting room. This meeting featured six senior elders from the three branches—Dog Elder and Fu Qingyang from Songhai, while the other four elders have traditionally been less involved. The gentle-minded Dog Elder has quietly borne the brunt of most administrative responsibilities over the past few years, only beginning to ease up as the ambitious Qian公子 ascended to leadership. Five minutes before the meeting began, the senior elders from the three branches joined one by one. Once everyone was present, the "Cinnabar Sword" elder from Hangzhou cleared her throat and said: "The three semi-divine combat incidents have now lasted for ten days. During this period, incidents triggered by equipment have reached well over a hundred—ranging from robberies and murders to thefts and assaults—accidents have become increasingly frequent, and the number of victims has surpassed a thousand. Even under the condition that the most powerful, high-tier equipment ranked among the top fifteen was withdrawn early by the president. "Ladies and gentlemen, the responsibilities we now carry are truly substantial." Pausing momentarily, he shifted the tone and smiled, "The headquarters compiled the latest summary yesterday and noticed a significant improvement in the pace of returning items—Grand Elder is truly pleased. Yesterday, Li Secretary called me to request a meeting, where we’ll develop a work plan to ensure all items are recovered by the end of the month. Here’s the most up-to-date table—please take a look." He then uploaded the table into the chat box of the meeting room. "This is also one of the objectives of this meeting. A senior from Crab Market immediately remarked, "It seems the Songhai Branch has achieved this. Dog Senior, Fu Senior—how have you managed it? If you have any effective methods, please share them." The four senior elders from the Crab Market Division and the Hangcheng Division opened the table with curiosity and anticipation. "Event 1: Little Red Cap! A girl in a red hat appeared in the Songhai Inner Ring Tunnel, transporting all 42 people inside the tunnel into a special space that remains within the tunnel. That night, the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign entered the tunnel..." "Event 2: Seedling Propagation! This item fell in the Songfu University Park, continuously emitting a reproductive aura. Nearly thirty students were affected, engaging in intimate encounters in the woods and becoming addicted—each night returning to the park unconsciously. Fortunately, aside from propagation, it has no other adverse effects..." "Event 3..." "Event 4: Hypnotic Phone! This item was found by a senior high student. Its function is to hypnotize its target, making them fully obedient to the holder." After discovering the magical powers of his smartphone, the senior high school student hypnotized his female neighbor next door, claiming ownership and issuing her multiple humiliating demands. As his desires grew, he went on to hypnotize female teachers and classmates at school. Currently, the student has been arrested by the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign. Since he has reached the age of eighteen, he now faces the harshest legal penalties. This artifact originates from a malevolent profession abroad, causing bodily metamorphosis in its wielder. A delivery rider acquired it and thus gained the abilities to spin silk and climb walls. He proudly dubbed himself the "Chinese Spider-Man," believing that greater abilities entail greater responsibilities. Night after night, he roamed the city, yet due to the exceptional public order, he never encountered any criminals—eventually, he himself became the culprit. While fleeing from the pursuit of Yuan Shi Tian Zun, he accidentally collided with a skyscraper wall and perished... "Event 7..." "Event 8..." After reviewing the table's contents, the meeting room fell into silence, the elders remaining silent for a while. After a few seconds, the Elder of the Crimson Sword took a deep breath: "Are all these achievements gathered by Yuan Shi Tian Zun?" One individual's performance rivaling that of the three major divisions? What an efficiency! Fu Qingyang said calmly: "Unfortunately, you won't be able to replicate this approach." ...The Elder of the Crimson Sword sighed: "Under such acclaim, there are no empty talents—talented geniuses consistently outperform ordinary practitioners by a significant margin." "Just recently punished, yet now they've achieved two major feats." He was referring to the "Clay Mountain Sea" item recovery and this latest one. The senior elders felt a surge of envy—not for the items recovered, but for the Songhai Branch itself. There had once been Fu Qingyang, and now there's also the Primordial Sovereign. The Songhai Branch has solidified its status as a pillar within the Five Elements Alliance. "It's not just that talent is gathering at Songhai; when will the headquarters finally dissolve the Songhai Branch?" remarked a senior elder from Xie City, then added, "Since the Primordial Sovereign excels at collecting items, shouldn't he take charge of that matter?" Fu Qingyang frowned and shook his head: "The very head of the branch hasn't even been recovered yet—how could the Primordial Sovereign possibly be expected to do so?" He knew exactly what the other meant. Among the top fifteen items, only two remained unrecovered—the ninth and the third. The Dog Elder said: "When it comes to treasure hunting, no one on this world is more skilled than the Head Elder. For the past ten days, his energy has been fully devoted to the first fifteen items. Yet he hasn't even found the ninth and third items—there's likely only one explanation." The Red-Sand Sword Elder spoke slowly: "Those two items have already been obtained by the Spirit Realm Travelers and stored in their inventory. Given the unique qualities of these items, they're fortunate to have been acquired by a Keeper-type profession. If they had fallen into the hands of a chaotic or evil profession... Ah, the headquarters informed me that the Head Elder has already given up searching and has publicly shared the attributes of these items, hoping the headquarters will issue a quest to find them. Should either item be recovered, he is willing to offer two exchange tickets from the Universal Merchant House." As he spoke, he uploaded a table to the chat window. The other elders opened the table and reviewed the attributes of the two items, then fell silent once again. The Dog Elder chuckled with a wry smile: "Indeed, no one can match the Head Elder's mastery as a Void-class professional—he truly possesses so many rare, unusual "If it falls into the hands of the evil orders, it would be a disaster." A disaster for the lawful orders. Fu Qingyang furrowed his brows. "The Universal Trading House?" The Jade-Sand Sword Elder replied: "It's a rule-based artifact of semi-divine level—no, even higher. Its attributes and abilities are unknown. It was first officially recorded during the time the Light Compass emerged, triggering a semi-divine-level conflict. That chairman, using merely a single exchange voucher for 'The Universal Trading House,' single-handedly defeated three semi-divine beings." One against three semi-divine beings... Fu Qingyang took a deep breath. "I understand now." Using that artifact would inevitably entail significant sacrifices—otherwise, that chairman would have already summoned it to confront the Wine God Club by now. "Over the phone, a subordinate reported in a hushed tone: 'Item No. 9... 'I've encoded the information and sent it to you via email.'" Immediately, the Grand Guardian of the Night Rose turned around and returned to her desk, opening her computer and logging into the email. Upon opening the message sent by the subordinate, the content appeared as a jumble of characters and 12 languages. The Guardian glanced at it briefly and accurately deciphered the intended message from the chaotic text. She remained silent for nearly fifteen seconds before suddenly bursting into laughter—sounding both rough and joyful. The subordinate on the phone remained silent, never having seen the Guardian laugh so freely before; though she often grew angry, such a heartfelt, exuberant laugh was entirely unprecedented. "You've done very well," the Guardian said, her voice slightly congested with phlegm. "Get ready—find an opportunity to join Qin Feng Academy. This has been the leader's long-held aspiration. It may very well come true through you. What kind of achievement is that? You should understand." The sound of the subordinate's hurried breathing could be heard clearly through the speaker. ... Xian'an County, at the border between Jiangnan Province and Huaihe Province. In a dilapidated rented house, a bedroom cluttered with disheveled clothing, the curtains drawn partially, revealing narrow slits. A figure sat at the table, gazing intently at the items before him, chuckling nervously: "An invaluable treasure of the town's temple—what kind of treasure has been left behind by such a humble person, that I have managed to find? Heaven has helped me! Heaven has helped me! Hahahaha..." Chattering in a neurotic, almost manic way, he suddenly paused, tilted his head, and chuckled softly: "No—now it's a new era. We need new names... Master-tier items!" Sunlight filtered through the curtain slits, casting one half of his face in shadow while the other half glowed with brightness. His expression was both dazed and frenzied—his one eye vacant, the other wildly agitated. For some time now, he could not suppress his desire for bloodshed, nor could he endure the longing to heal and restore himself. He had continuously consumed the spiritual bodies of several spiritual realm practitioners and the souls of over a dozen ordinary people Without the power of purification, this undoubtedly intensified his mental pollution, leading to a form of mental fragmentation. "Good disciple, good disciple, I wanted to die from grief—hah, hah, hah…" The strange, guffawing laughter echoed throughout the rented apartment. Xiao Yuan wore a wine-red suit jacket and a white women's blouse, leaning casually against the counter, silently listening as he chattered, her composed and elegant face expressionless, with a gentle warmth subtly shining in her eyes. Kou Beiyue and the slightly chubby man were half-crouched at the counter, intently listening. The way ordinary people handled their props was particularly interesting—most used the abilities to fulfill their personal desires, while others saw themselves as saviors or destined heroes. "But the high school senior situation wasn't that bad—only average. Aside from the inner-ring tunnel incident, the worst I've seen in the past six days was the curse murder case, where over twenty people in the entire neighborhood died. You can't possibly imagine the reason the caster gave for killing them," Zhang Yuanqing said. "What was the reason?" Kou Beiyue and the chubby man asked in unison. "All the victims had yellow hair. The perpetrator's wife had been unfaithful, and he said…" Zhang Yuanqing gathered his breath, as if reciting a spell: "Yellow-haired people must die!" "Kou Beiyue and the young guy were completely puzzled: 'What does that mean?'" "Zhang Yuanqing had previously discussed his views on romance with her, back when he was single—then he could speak freely and openly about such matters. But now, he feels more reserved. "I no longer like it," Zhang Yuanqing shook his head. Xiao Yuan nodded once, turned around, facing the hotel entrance. Zhang Yuanqing then shifted his tone, teasingly adding, "But I really like women like Xiao Yuan." She didn't turn around, as if she hadn't heard, yet a subtle smile curled at the corner of her lips. There's a deep, unyielding languor in her eyes and expression, still lingering to this day. "Madam Manager, I'm back again, Zhang Yuanqing," he said, smiling warmly as he approached, already eager to unveil a masterpiece he's about to craft. He glanced at Lian San Yue, who sat motionless, a faint smile playing at her lips. "Here's a piece of bad news," she said. Zhang Yuanqing's heart skipped a beat. "What bad news?" Lian San Yue set her cigar down and lounged back into the躺chair with the same relaxed ease. "The fire stones have been sold out. They're essential for starting the Hundred-Refining Furnace, and only thirty are produced each month. I still had ten left, but yesterday, they were all purchased by someone else." Zhang Yuanqing's face darkened. "Are you playing me?" How incredibly coincidental could it be? Lian San Yue's smile remained unchanged, her posture as relaxed as ever. "I am playing you—though not in the way you might think. I'm the most reliable of all. For a divine-tier item, even if it's a rule But indeed, someone does intend to play you.