Indeed, there was a message from Fu Qingyang in the chat app: "The senior monks Guangfeng and Ganlu have gone missing from the Hangzhou branch. The Hangzhou branch has requested assistance from Songhai. I'm heading over to check on the situation. If you return, please come and join the support immediately." Both senior monks have gone missing at the same time? Zhang Yuanqing raised an eyebrow, and immediately dialed Fu Qingyang's phone, only to hear a voice prompt indicating the number was out of service. This meant Fu Qingyang was currently within a realm, a realm of illusion, or a protective barrier. With Fu Qingyang's wisdom and strength, there was truly no cause for concern—unless the peak-level master chose to be unorthodox. Senior Monk Guangfeng possessed a rule-based artifact—the "Cotton Blanket for the Fearful," said to be unbreakable even by half-gods. Thus, Zhang Yuanqing remained calm, hung up, and then dialed the dog senior's number. After a few seconds of ringing, the call connected, and JOJO's voice came through: "Master Yuan Shi?" How is it that you're answering the phone? Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself, slightly puzzled "Ms. Jojo said with a cheerful tone. After a few seconds, the speaker emitted the gentle greeting of the Dog Elder: "I heard from Fu Qingyang that you've recently been tackling a challenging raid involving the White Tiger's troops. How have you found time to call me?" Zhang Yuanqing replied directly: "The Senior Elder of Hangzhou and the Senior Elder of Ganlu have gone missing. Fu Qingyang has been dispatched for rescue efforts and is currently out of contact." The Dog Elder's calm voice grew serious: "I understand. Fu Qingyang and the Heavenly Fire Elder are leading the rescue operation. High Peak must have been targeted by the evil faction. Recently, the evil faction has been increasingly active, frequently attacking the official dominators. If you've been following the forum, you'll notice that three official dominators have already returned to the spiritual realm." "The evil faction has been so assertive lately?" Zhang Yuanqing furrowed her brow. He does pay attention to external developments, but not to localized battles—rather, to the broader picture. Currently, the half-gods and high-level rulers of the evil faction have chosen to remain concealed, restoring the previous calm. Individual losses among saints and rulers are not within Zhang Yuanqing's immediate concern. He simply trusts Fu Qingyang—whenever a major event occurs or a grand conspiracy emerges, Fu Qingyang will surely inform him. The campaign hasn't even begun, yet turmoil has already stirred at the level of Sovereigns. I haven't appeared publicly in a while—have the evil Sovereigns grown so bold as to dare hunt down Master Gao Feng? Zhang Yuanqing asked, "How long has Master Gao Feng been missing?" "For six hours!" Dog Elder replied. "While handling a certain sect together with Master Ganlu, he lost contact with the Hangcheng branch." Six hours missing... Zhang Yuanqing's expression eased slightly. "Cowardly ones can protect him for four hours. Master Gao has been away for two hours now—so they should be safe for now. Dog Elder, you stay behind in Songhai. I'll handle this matter." Yuan Shi's tone was confident. Challenging Master Gao, at least an Eighth-Level Sovereign, required a formidable evil profession rank—both in number and strength. Suddenly, Dog Elder felt a deep sense of time passing, a sense of profound change and maturity. Back then, this young man had been nothing but a clumsy, inexperienced rookie—often startled into bowing down, his head hitting the ground after a vigorous shake of his head. Fresh out of the gate, still so green and unpol In no time at all, he has become a major figure in the Spiritual Realm, on par with his father Zhang Zizhen, or possibly even surpassing him—only a matter of time. As he thought of this, he heard Yuan Shǐ Tian Zun's voice through the speaker asking, "How is the investigation into Ho Zhengkui's case progressing?" The Dog Elder remained silent for a few seconds, then sighed, "It's an old case—we simply can't trace anything further. I and Ms. JOJO compiled a list of those who at the time clearly held the status of Supreme-Level Spiritual Travelers capable of threatening Ho Zhengkui, representing both the Lawful and Chaotic factions. These individuals have since risen to the highest ranks—either achieving semi-divine bodies or reaching the peak of Supreme-Level status, now holding positions of great influence and authority. Our own level, however, is insufficient to reach them. Moreover, at the time of Ho Zhengkui's assassination, there were no immediate beneficiaries. The official institutions that now exist only began to take shape over the past two decades. "If the purpose of the Alliance for Freedom is merely to delay the official establishment of the second-largest region, then the individuals behind the assassination of Hu Zhengkui must be much broader in scope—indeed, even the top-tier masters from the first-largest region are now under investigation." "It truly is a puzzling case—after all these years, it's extremely difficult to unravel." Zhang Yuanqing didn't press further, but instead asked, "How have you been getting along with Ms. JOJO?" The Dog Elder sighed again, "I've actually been getting along fairly well with her, though she's rather temperamental—more spontaneous than steady. Didn't you see the news? She's become a popular online influencer." "Influencer? What on earth!" "She tames the dogs in the pet house, travels around the zoo during the day, with her four-poster bed carried by a large dog, followed by a group of dogs. Sometimes she enters the lion enclosure, sometimes the tiger garden, sometimes she patrols the monkey garden. She doesn't shy away from visitors and is often photographed and posted online." "The old dog elder sighed, saying, 'Thankfully, she has good judgment—she hasn't slammed her paws at the visitors, otherwise the zoo would be in chaos. Still, even this has drawn immense attention from outside. The zoo explains that this tabby cat has been infected by the virus and has gained the power to command all the animals. 'So now she's a celebrity—every day, visitors come to see her. As long as she sits on her platform bed and is carried out by the dogs, the crowd goes wild.' Zhang Yuanqing mentally pictured the scene and couldn't help but mutter under his breath: 'A floral beauty parade in animal form?' He smiled: 'She's been lonely in Pan Shen's labyrinth for several decades. Let her enjoy herself—perhaps tomorrow the world will end. The revelation of the spiritual travelers will simply unfold. There's no point in hiding anymore. The old rules no longer suit the current situation. 'The government will understand. If not, that's fine.' " Hastily hung up the phone, Zhang Yuanqing picked up a thick glass cup from the reception area—the one Fu Qingyang used for drinking. He took out a tissue, wiping the rim. Then, he summoned the Red Ballet Shoes and tucked the tissue into them. —The money gentleman’s bedroom and bathroom are cleaned daily, with hair strands and skin flakes meticulously removed. Only the items in his study are cleaned in the evening, and since the money gentleman enjoys drinking wine, the wine glasses serve as the best means of capturing his DNA. "Tap, tap, tap…" The Red Ballet Shoes took steady strides, crossing the window and sprinting toward the villa’s exterior. Zhang Yuanqing didn’t immediately follow. The peak elder must have gone missing in Hangzhou or Jiangnan Province; at the Red Ballet Shoes’ speed, it would take at least an hour to travel from Songhai to Jiangnan Province. But for Zhang Yuanqing, the journey from Songhai to Jiangnan Province takes only fifteen minutes. Taking advantage of the ample time, he compiled the list of saints who had initially entered the Pan God’s maze and sent the information to his uncle. And for each saint, note their profession, and analyze the kind of equipment they might need based on their combat style, professional weaknesses, and other characteristics. After compiling all this information, it had already been half an hour. Zhang Yuanqing didn’t wait for his uncle’s reply; he turned off his phone, tucked it into his pants pocket, and dissolved into starlight. Following the intuitive connection between the items and their owners, within ten minutes he caught up with the Red Dance Shoes, riding the wind beside them. After another fifteen minutes, they arrived at an industrial park in the suburban area of Hangzhou. The Red Dance Shoes circled aimlessly within the park, like a headless fly. The elder was present in this area, yet the Red Dance Shoes couldn’t enter—unless it was a barrier. According to its nature, the Red Dance Shoes would have already kicked wildly, indicating that the elder’s entry wasn’t through a barrier. Zhang Yuanqing’s eyes shimmered with transparent ripples as he surveyed the park from above, but he found no illusion. "In a dream?" he immediately dismissed this possibility. Fu Qingyang wasn’t a dream-master and didn’t possess the ability to enter dreams. If someone were pulled into a dream, their physical body should remain in the real world. Yet the Red Dance Shoes couldn't find his body. Neither a dream nor a barrier? Then what could it be? "The Red Dance Shoes couldn't find the Master's body, which means he's not in the real world—therefore, he must be in the dream. But the Master can't enter a dream unless this one is particularly special." With that thought, Zhang Yuanqing activated his dream-jump ability, and several dream scenes appeared in his eyes—each strange and vivid, ranging from nightmares to spring dreams to beautiful dreams. At the same time, the entire campus beneath him lost its color, turning into a monochrome photograph—buildings, streets, and greenery all warped and collapsed into ruins. On top of the ruins, Fu Qingyang stood, wielding the Golden Dragon Sword and dressed in a swordmaster's cloak, resolute and majestic. Ten or so zhang behind him, a tattered cotton blanket lay spread out—within it, the high-ranking Elder Gongfu lay unconscious, bleeding heavily, and a beautiful woman stood beside him. It must be Elder Ganlu from the Hangzhou branch. There are four figures facing Fu Qingyang. Two wear the black robes unique to the Southern School, floating in mid-air. The other two: one stands before a ritual table, where candles burn, and there are straw figures, copper coins, wooden swords, silver needles, talismans, and ceramic bowls and jars filled with various materials. The other is a grotesque figure—his head crowned with antlers, face veiled in green scales, with fierce vertical pupils, back adorned with twin wings, his body covered in armor-like keratin, black talons, and sheep-like feet. A thick, agile tail extends from his spine, ending in a sharp, black toxic spine. This grotesque spirit of the gū (parasite) stands atop the head of a massive black-scaled serpent, forty meters long. Amid the collapsed ruins, countless venomous snakes and gū insects crawl, rustling softly, surrounding Fu Qingyang. Both sides appear to have just endured a fierce battle—both are breathing heavily, the ruins stained with blood, with scattered corpses of gū insects and gū beasts, and broken soldier figurines scattered throughout. " This scene was only visible after he initiated his dream-jumping—normally imperceptible to the naked eye. It means that Fu Qingyang is indeed within the dream realm. Zhang Yuanqing examined the rulers of the evil faction, cross-referencing their profiles and identified the one with antlers as the spirit-herb cultivator, the spirit realm ID "Snake Raiser," a senior elder of the Southern Division of the Spirit Energy Association, and an eighth-tier impurity evil spirit. The other impurity evil spirit, spirit realm ID "Iron Hex and Fate's End," rated seventh. As for the two cloaked entities appearing as ethereal beings, their appearances remained indistinct and unidentifiable. Zhang Yuanqing hesitated no further and immediately entered the dream scene, yet a powerful barrier blocked his way. The dream-jumping failed. He encountered a kind of seal-like restriction, having observed the dream realm but unable to penetrate into it. Zhang Yuanqing realized that the place where Fu Qingyang resided was a domain where dream and seal converged—essentially a seal, yet one grounded in the fabric of dreams. Entry required the presence of a Dream Master. This explains why the Red Dance Shoes can't even be kicked at. This realm is visible only to Dream Weavers, and to enter the Dream Barrier, one must be an Eighth-Level Void Walker—a very stringent requirement. Zhang Yuanqing speculates that the force forming this realm is likely a high-quality artifact from the Southern School. Genuine Void Walkers lack the ability to weave such realms, but artifacts are always capable of doing so, often in unusual ways. "Senior Tianhuo seems to have sustained serious injuries and has retreated into a blanket, while Senior Ganlu and Senior Gao Feng appear to be unharmed. However, once anyone timid uses the blanket, it must remain undisturbed for four hours." "Senior has the Seven-Star Lamp Array and the Divine Blade of Cutting the Immortals, yet hasn't used any of his reserves—probably waiting for me." Zhang Yuanqing notices a large area of blood on Fu Qingyang's chest. He immediately retrieves the Yajime Mirror, summons a duplicate, then takes out the Thunder God Set and has the duplicate wear it. The duplicate activates the suite of skills, enveloped in electric light, as if the fallen Thor has descended to the mortal realm. With his palm pressed against the seal, the electromagnetic cannon rapidly coalesces. "...A remarkable young prodigy!" the impure spirit standing atop the serpent's head remarked. "Promoted to Sovereign just in June last year, and within just six months, you've already matched our standing. The three major organizations now regard the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign as an irritant, a thorn in their side. Yet in my eyes, you, Fu Qingyang, are the true threat to the Free Faction." From the transcendent to the Sage realm, no matter how fast one ascends, it's always impressive. After reaching Sovereign rank, a six-month leap from Level Seven to Level Eight truly commands awe. Most Sovereigns take five to ten years to climb from Level Seven to Eight—those with exceptional talent may advance faster through faction dungeons. But achieving such a leap in just six months? That has only been accomplished by the Mage Kings and Marshals since the emergence of the Spiritual Realm. "Enough talk!" Fu Qingyang said coldly. "Our rest period is over. If you won't act The impure, demonic spirit with antlers on its head laughed wildly, "Do you really want to die so desperately? Indeed, with two Void Beings supporting you, the longer you hold on, the more easily your emotions unravel. Do you think you can fight to the very end and defeat us?" Even a prodigy like Fu Qingyang could not possibly overcome four masters of evil vocations. Before the Void Beings, even the most powerful sword aura would merely be a paper tiger. Fu Qingyang's own sword techniques could not withstand the spirit's curses—depriving fortune, polluting purity. Fu Qingyang replied calmly, "Fight to the end? I merely use you as a means to refine my sword skills. It's you who should act swiftly—by the time you drag this out, you'll be in greater danger." As he spoke, a brilliant, sharp blue beam pierced through the barrier, setting the entire area ablaze with lightning. Fu Qingyang smiled slightly, "The danger has arrived!"