"Drip～" After the yellow light flickered and went out, the sensors on the three projection units slowly retracted, and the holographic display in the study gradually dissolved. Then it would just be waiting for Tianfa's reply—hoping that everything would be settled before I entered the solo spiritual realm. Zhang Yuanqing thought this as he saw the study door open, and Fu Qingyang, dressed in white, stepped in. He glanced at him and said calmly, "Your posture is off—stand straight, look down at a 45-degree angle, and keep your face expressionless. That will give you more presence and stronger pressure." Zhang Yuanqing quickly rose, "Master, what are you talking about? How could I possibly learn from you? That would mean I'm usurping your position—what I really want is to just follow you and have enough to eat." Fu Qingyang gave a rare, dry, slightly sarcastic chuckle, "By next year, it might just be me calling you 'master.'" Maybe I'm advancing too quickly, and that's putting pressure on him, Zhang Yuanqing thought. "There is indeed some pressure." "Fu Qingyang returned to his throne," "So I'll take a leave of absence and enter the guild's questing instance of the White Tiger Army for training. For the coming period, you might not see me much." The cycle of the guild's instance is too long. Since becoming a Grand Master, Fu Qingyang has only entered one instance, and the next one remains far off. His White Tiger Army instance has already been fully conquered; to advance, he'll have to follow the Marshal's example. "Like the Marshal, spending a full year in the instance?" Zhang Yuanqing furrowed his brows. Fu Qingyang looked at him, "It seems you're mocking me!" "?" Fu Qingyang coldly said, "Who else could spend a full year in the instance like her? My personal goal is to reach Level Eight. With my combat strength and the Sword Master's cloak, my death rate would still reach 70%. The duration—longest three months, shortest one month." Zhang Yuanqing's brows remained tightly knit. "When exactly will you enter the guild instance?" Fu Qingyang pondered, "Once the compensation from Tianfa arrives, I'll immediately head into the guild's quest副本. Yuanshen, I've always wanted to enter the White Tiger Army's quest副本, but in the past, you were only a Level 4 Saint. Back then, you lacked self-defense capabilities against skilled opponents and were too conspicuous—so many evil classes targeted you that I wasn't confident in your safety. Now, however, you're unbeatable under the Master's dominion, and you've gained the Five Elements Experience Card, allowing you to challenge even a Level 7 Master. Against an 8-level Master, you now have solid self-defense. You're no longer just a sapling needing constant protection." Fu Qingyang nodded. "While I'm away, the Dog Elder will be monitoring this area. The plants in the courtyard are his eyes and ears; when necessary, he will manifest through them via the vegetation." "Also, the Heavenly Punishment will likely respond tomorrow. You've agreed to return only three items, which is a bit high for the price they've asked—definitely, they'll negotiate. Just settle for something reasonable, don't worry too much about it." "Understood!" Zhang Yuanqing nodded. Fu Qingyang added, "By the way, you and Guan Ya can move in here. There are several rabbit maids in the villa, all professionally trained, who can assist you with both daily life and official matters." Old man, just hand over those rabbit maids to me—I'm sure I'll make better use of them than you will... Zhang Yuanqing made a comment. The next day, Zhang Yuanqing awoke to the clear sound of Xie Lingxi's voice: "Brother, we're back!" Dressed in his pajamas, he stepped into the living room and saw the Queen and the young green tea lady carrying their luggage, looking rather disheveled and unladylike, having collapsed onto "You're so slow," Zhang Yuanqing complained. It only took about twenty hours to drive from Ba Gui Province back to Song Hai—they should have been back yesterday. "We also want to enjoy ourselves," Xie Lingxi stepped forward and hugged her brother's arm. "Have you settled the matter with the King of Pluto? Has the divine punishment affected you at all?" the Queen asked. Zhang Yuanqing then recounted the details of the negotiations. "Oh, dividends! Dividends!" Xie Lingxi jumped with excitement. Zhang Yuanqing pressed her forehead firmly and pushed her gently onto the sofa. "What's the big deal? We haven't done anything at all, so what dividends?" "Well, even without achievements, there's always effort," Xie Lingxi pouted. "I originally planned to give you each a divine-quality item, but that would make you overly dependent on it. Plus, mechanical weapons are rapidly becoming widespread—your team doesn't really need external support anymore..." Zhang Yuanqing was still speaking when Xie Lingxi quietly interjected, "Wait—didn't you forget your own nickname? You're the Divine of Equipment, aren't you?" "Zhang Yuancheng delivered a sharp blow," "Each of you will receive fifty million federal credits—this is settled." The queen immediately beamed, and she was quite willing to pay. She usually spends generously, and her salary and bonuses barely cover her expenses. On this trip, she first allocated one million in recovered funds, plus fifty million federal credits, totaling just under five million credits in earnings. As Zhang Yuancheng was about to distribute the funds, his phone suddenly rang—Fu Qingyang's call. "Hello?" he answered. "Come to the meeting!" Fu Qingyang said. Zhang Yuancheng perked up and snapped his fingers sharply, vanishing into the adjacent room. In the spacious and opulent study, three projectors were already in operation, casting three broad beams of blue light that illuminated a large conference table and the participants gathered before it—just as on the previous day. Zhang Yuancheng passed through the group and sat down behind the desk; his figure instantly materialized beside the table. Everyone's gaze immediately turned to him. Miao Longsen spoke first, "Master Yuanshǐ Tianzun, the Heavenly Judgment has responded." He turned to the paladin. After a moment of silence, the paladin spoke formally: "Following discussions at the board, Heaven's Judgment is willing to offer one rule-item at the Saint level and one material of Master quality. You may keep the Thunder God's Seal and the Enchanting Perfume, but you must return the Heart of the Sea, the Unbalanced Doll, and the Sword of Judgment." The Master-quality material had reduced from three to one. Zhang Yuanqing paused for several seconds, then said: "Deal!" Osmon and Xia Zhao exhaled in relief. "May I ask about the attributes of the rule-item?" he inquired with curiosity. The paladin looked at him coldly, "You are free to choose not to trade, but you have no right to select among the rule-items—we offer what we offer." The tone was direct and unyielding, yet Zhang Yuanqing did not object, merely shrugged: "As long as the quality meets the standard." Rule-items were not common, and Saint-level rule-items were even rarer than Master-quality items; Zhang Yuanqing did not believe he had any choice in the matter. Master Miao immediately said, "After the meeting, please present the compensation for mental distress and material losses to me, Lord Hunter of the Demon-Hunting Order. Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun, simply hand over the returned items to Fu Qingyang—once that's done, the meeting is adjourned!" Master Miao vanished first into the beam of light, followed by the others. Zhang Yuanqing rose immediately and snapped his fingers, arriving at the entrance of the basement—where the array sealed the space, making it impossible to enter by teleportation. He swiped his access card to open the iron gate and proceeded to the sixth room on the left. On a single bed, King Yin of the Underworld sat against the wall, turning his head to look at him. "Will I be handed over to the Heavenly Punishment, or to the headquarters of the Five Elements Alliance?" "It doesn't matter." Zhang Yuanqing opened the gate and made a gesture of invitation. He led King Yin to the main hall on the first floor, where Fu Qingyang had already been waiting on the soft sand cushion in the living room. Zhang Yuanqing then opened the warehouse of the "Return of the Dead" guild and handed over three items—the "Heart Qian Gongzi didn’t even bother to look—just directly stored the items in the warehouse, then pressed firmly on the冥King’s shoulder, gazing at his trusted subordinate and said, “After the transaction is complete, I’ll place the equipment and materials into Baihui’s warehouse. You simply apply to collect them—then I won’t return.” He looked at Zhang Yuanqing, “I’ll make every effort to emerge from my current state by the end of October.” With that, he vanished into a streak of swordlight, soaring upward into the sky. Zhang Yuanqing stood motionless for several seconds before finally grasping the meaning of Fu Qingyang’s last words. October was the deadline for his death fate. His throat felt as though something had been lodged there, and he rushed out of the living room, the sky now clear blue, with no trace of the white robe. … At 11 a.m., Zhang Yuanqing received a brief message from Fu Qingyang: “The final two rows of the warehouse have an excess of materials of Saint-level quality—please retrieve them in batches.” In the bedroom, Zhang Yuanqing leapt off the bed, sat down by the desk, and with a burst of excitement, opened the White Guard's faction warehouse. As he scanned the final two rows of materials and props, he went through each one, applying for usage one by one. He collected the forty items of Saint-tier quality three times over, piling them up to fill the entire floor of the bedroom. With Fu Qingyang overseeing the quality, he didn't conduct further checks—simply transferred them into the Little Red Hat, since both the faction warehouse and his inventory space couldn't hold all the materials. Next came the four Master-tier materials from the headquarters, and one Master-tier material from Tianfa. Once all the materials were received, Fu Qingyang sent another message: "Equipment for the Swordsman!" Zhang Yuanqing immediately opened the clan warehouse and, after submitting the application, retrieved a crimson arm guard. After a few seconds, the item's attributes appeared: 【Name: Arm Guard of Despair】 【Type: Armor】 【Function: Potential】 【Description: This belonged to a renowned one-armed swordsman. Since childhood, the swordsman had been frail and chronically ill, with inherent weaknesses. Consequently, in every battle, he fought with his full strength, determined to sink his ship and never retreat. Over time, this arm guard absorbed his resolve. When worn, the swordsman's "sink-or-swim" effect is doubled, lasting for five minutes.】 【Note: According to the law of conservation of energy, strength does not arise spontaneously—every burst of power requires a corresponding sacrifice.】 The "sink-or-swim" is the swordsman's ultimate skill, akin to Ye You Shen's "Moon's Roar," though the latter enhances Ye You Shen's specific abilities, while "sink-or-swim" provides all-around, comprehensive boosts. With its effect doubled, it offers an exceptionally powerful enhancement. This is an elite item capable of enabling Guan Ya to fight beyond her level. The cost was five minutes of weakened condition. That would be sufficient for Guan Ya up to level six. Zhang Yuanqing satisfied himself with the items in his inventory, and finally requested the rule-based item from Fu Qingyang. After approval, a simple matchbox rolled onto the desk. The matchbox—clearly not a combatant—could hardly do anything impressive, right? Just lighting a match and scalding an enemy into a blister? Zhang Yuanqing stared at it with a strange expression, picked it up, held it in his hands, and read the item properties: 【Name: Little Girl's Matchbox】 【Type: Solid Fuel】 【Function: Make a Wish】 【Description: A renowned little girl's matchbox. Light one match, face the flame, and make a wish—your wish will come true, according to the rules.】 【Note 1: The little girl never received roasted goose or a Christmas tree. Do you know what this means?】 【Note 2: Never light the third match—otherwise, you'll see your grandmother.】 【Note 3: The matches inside refresh every 24 hours.】 】 【Note 4: Wishes will certainly come true, but not every wish will be fulfilled for you.】 【Note 5: When the matchbox fulfills your wish, you must also fulfill someone else's wish.】 When he first saw the "Introduction," Zhang Yuanqing's immediate reaction was: Wow, I'm really making progress! Yet something felt off—because the feature that every wish must come true seemed overly buggy and illogical. The second time he read Note 1, his heart sank. Clearly, wishes are subject to certain limitations, but Note 1 was too general. To truly understand how to use the item, he would need to complete the "ownership" process by placing it in his inventory. Notes 2, 3, and 5 were easy to grasp: you can make no more than three wishes within a single day, or else you'll meet your deceased grandmother in heaven; and after 24 hours, the number of matches will be refreshed. As for Note 4, he still didn't understand it. Zhang Yuanqing placed the matchbox into the inventory slot, and at that moment, he fully understood the usage of this rule-based item, grasping the meaning of Note 1 and Note 4.