With those words, the oppressive atmosphere that had enveloped the front hall dissipated, leaving Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi to breathe a small sigh of relief. The sense of crisis, as if being watched by a hungry wolf, was gone.
The woman at the front desk narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the young man and woman seated a table away, then stealthily glanced outside the hotel.
“I understand. Please wait a moment, guests.”
She withdrew her gaze, leaving those cool words behind as she walked deeper into the hotel, the sound of her high heels clicking fainter with each step.
“Phew.” Xie Lingxi exhaled, her small face pale, whispering:
“Primordial Brother, I, I suddenly remembered something.”
Zhang Yuanqing looked at her sideways.
Xie Lingxi voiced her suspicion: “We couldn’t find any information on ‘Master Traceless’. Could it be, not that he’s unknown, but that our clearance is too low?”
The mere presence of a front desk clerk held such terrifying pressure; one could only imagine the level of Master Traceless.
Zhang Yuanqing nodded gravely:
“I thought the same, which is why I was planning to escape. And I am quite confident in my ability to do so.”
“Ah?” Xie Lingxi was startled, her eyes wide: “My legs were completely weak; I had no thought of running away. I just wanted to bury my head in your armpit.”
That’s why I was confident in escaping. I just have to run faster than my teammate. Zhang Yuanqing thought sarcastically. He opened his arms, tucking Xie Lingxi’s head into his armpit, and asked:
“Does this make you feel safe?”
“Primordial Brother, let me go, quickly let me go, it’s embarrassing,” Xie Lingxi struggled.
She pulled her head out from Zhang Yuanqing’s armpit, straightened her askew, headset-style headphones, and lowered her voice:
“Primordial Brother, my headphones are an Item. They can eavesdrop on all sounds within a five-hundred-meter radius.”
She listened intently, and said softly:
“That woman has entered the elevator. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor. She opened the second room to the left of the elevator. She’s disappeared?!”
Xie Lingxi lifted her face in shock: “She vanished out of sight.”
Vanished out of sight? Did that room block all external prying? Zhang Yuanqing patted the young girl’s shoulder, signaling her to stay calm.
They waited in silence. During this time, Xie Lingxi frequently glanced outside the hotel, ensuring that the bodyguards brought by the Family were keeping an eye on her, which gave her a slight sense of security.
About ten minutes later, she tilted her head, whispering, “She’s come out.”
A few minutes more, and Zhang Yuanqing heard the “ding” of the elevator as it returned to the first floor, followed by the clicking of high heels. The strikingly attractive auntie returned to the front hall, looking at them, and said:
“Follow me.”
Her gaze swept over the young ones with serious expressions, and she scoffed, “If you’re scared, you can also turn back now.”
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled: “Sister, you seem kind and benevolent, obviously a good person. We’re not afraid.”
Xie Lingxi spoke softly, “Auntie, we’re just here to convey a message. We mean no harm.”
The woman’s expression softened slightly as she nodded and led them onto the elevator, up to the fourth floor.
She stood in the corridor, looking towards the second room to the left of the elevator, and said:
“Go in.”
Zhang Yuanqing saw the room number: 404!
Good name. He twitched the corner of his mouth and pulled Xie Lingxi to the door, turning the handle.
“Click!”
The instant the light latch springing noise sounded, it felt as if a calm yet powerful force enveloped them, and the scenery in front of them changed rapidly.
The carpeted hallway transformed into simple celadon tiles, the white painted walls into a structure mixed with bricks and wood, and the bright lights into flickering candlelight.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi looked around in astonishment; they found themselves in the grand hall of a temple, with a domed ceiling seven or eight meters high, adorned with convex floral patterns and painted with deities.
Beneath the dome stood a five-meter-tall golden Buddha, holding a flower with a gaze that was part compassionate, part majestic, and part stern.
On the offering table, eighteen thick candles were lit, their candlelight bright.
Below the Buddha were meditation cushions, upon which sat a monk dressed in blue cassock, large in stature, sitting cross-legged as tall as Xie Lingxi.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi exchanged a quiet look, their eyes filled with fear and solemnity. Just a moment ago, they were in the hotel corridor, and the next, they were in an unfamiliar temple.
If it weren’t for the lack of an instance prompt in their ears, they both would have doubted that they had entered the spirit realm for a mission again.
This Master Traceless is more terrifying than I imagined. What level of spirit realm walker has such abilities? Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath, looking at the figure in the blue cassock with respect:
“Are you Master Traceless?”
“The Night Wandering Deity and Musician, are you from the official organization?”
A low and hoarse voice came through, sounding strange, as if enduring some pain.
“Yes!”
Zhang Yuanqing did not dare to hide anything.
The hall fell silent for a dozen seconds before the low, hoarse voice echoed again:
“What did the Regretful Father say before he died?”
Zhang Yuanqing’s voice involuntarily deepened, “He asked me to tell the master: I’m sorry, I still don’t know whether it was my mistake or the world’s.”
As he spoke those words, he once again remembered the gaze of the Regretful Father on his deathbed, that look flickering with hatred and sorrow.
The hall fell into a long silence once more, a silence so deep that it made Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi’s hearts race.
Finally, Master Traceless sighed:
“I understand.”
Xie Lingxi hesitated, then mustering her courage, asked softly:
“Master, he saved my life; he is not a bad person. Why, then, did he become one of the evil classes?”
The monk in the blue cassock slowly said:
“He once had a daughter, very smart and well-behaved, always had excellent academic performance from childhood. As she went to college, she gradually changed, began to pursue material things, blindly competing with classmates. To support his daughter, the Regretful Father worked day and night, desperately earning money, but he could never satisfy her growing needs. Until one day, he discovered his daughter had borrowed a lot of money online and had been taken advantage of with inappropriate photos.
“He couldn’t repay those debts, and felt his daughter had disgraced and humiliated the family honor. After a big argument, he threatened to disown her. The Regretful Father believed that it was all his daughter’s fault, her becoming materialistic, selfish, and unrecognizable.”
“Later on, the loan company took control of the girl, forcing her into the flesh trade. They played with her without restraint, humiliated her, and in her despair, she committed suicide by jumping from a building.
“The Regretful Father was devastated. He began to think that the fault was his own; if he could have provided a better material life for his daughter, if he could have had the money to pay off her debts, then perhaps all this tragedy would not have happened. He regretted that argument countless times, thinking that if he could have been comforting and supportive to his daughter at that moment, then the subsequent events might never have occurred. He felt as if he had pushed his daughter into an abyss.
“After his daughter died, he planned to sue the loan company, those who had tormented his daughter and driven her to her death, but the lending company had a lot of influence locally, and he lost the case.
“He became despondent for a long time, realizing that the fault was not with his daughter, but with him, with this world. He believed that people cannot change their environment; they are influenced by it. When society incessantly screams about material wealth and money into your ears, you will inevitably be affected, become money-worshipping, become materialistic, with no one being an exception.
“His daughter had not yet entered society and didn’t understand the wickedness of human hearts. She was lured into spending, into borrowing, and ultimately onto a path of no return. The world was rotten to the core, he decided to take revenge for his daughter himself.
“He broke into the loan company, killed those who had humiliated her, who had driven her to her death, and then fled the scene. It was that act of slaughter that granted him the Character Card, becoming a Bewitching Demon.
“The Regretful Father was an extremist, but not a Bloodthirsty villain. However, once he became one of the Evil Classes, there was no turning back. He went further down that path, his level getting higher and higher, but his pain also grew more intense.
“Until one day, he met me and followed me to cultivate, hoping to dissolve the resentment in his heart and to find redemption. But he was too extreme; he didn’t want to kill the innocent, yet he stubbornly refused to reconcile with this world.
“Perhaps death was the best end for him.”
No wonder he saved Xie Lingxi. His daughter was about the same age as this girl. He regretted countless times not having helped his daughter back then. That leap to save Xie Lingxi wasn’t just about her; it was about saving his daughter who had committed suicide years ago. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at Xie Lingxi, who stood silently, her eyes reddening.
He sighed softly and said:
“Master, I think he has already found redemption.”
Master Traceless, with his back turned to them, neither agreed nor disagreed, simply waved his hand lightly. Two streams of light emerged from his sleeves, landing at the feet of Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing.
Looking closely, they saw two black jade stones, each about the size of half a palm, with black light swirling inside, changing into various shapes, dreamlike and illusory.
After only a few seconds of looking, Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing felt darkness before their eyes and dizziness.
“Thank you for bringing back his last words. This is called the ‘Dream Connection Jade Talisman.’ Crush it, and you can contact me. If you encounter danger, I will help you once. This is only valid in the real world; it will not work in the spirit realm,” said Master Traceless indifferently:
“Leave now.”
The statue of the Buddha and the Candlelight began to warp, shattering into pieces, and Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi found themselves back in the hotel. They were standing in front of the open door to their room, which was a standard Solo room.
At their feet lay the two black jade stones.
With those words, the oppressive atmosphere that had enveloped the front hall dissipated, leaving Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi to breathe a small sigh of relief. The sense of crisis, as if being watched by a hungry wolf, was gone.
The woman at the front desk narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the young man and woman seated a table away, then stealthily glanced outside the hotel.
“I understand. Please wait a moment, guests.”
She withdrew her gaze, leaving those cool words behind as she walked deeper into the hotel, the sound of her high heels clicking fainter with each step.
“Phew.” Xie Lingxi exhaled, her small face pale, whispering:
“Primordial Brother, I, I suddenly remembered something.”
Zhang Yuanqing looked at her sideways.
Xie Lingxi voiced her suspicion: “We couldn’t find any information on ‘Master Traceless’. Could it be, not that he’s unknown, but that our clearance is too low?”
The mere presence of a front desk clerk held such terrifying pressure; one could only imagine the level of Master Traceless.
Zhang Yuanqing nodded gravely:
“I thought the same, which is why I was planning to escape. And I am quite confident in my ability to do so.”
“Ah?” Xie Lingxi was startled, her eyes wide: “My legs were completely weak; I had no thought of running away. I just wanted to bury my head in your armpit.”
That’s why I was confident in escaping. I just have to run faster than my teammate. Zhang Yuanqing thought sarcastically. He opened his arms, tucking Xie Lingxi’s head into his armpit, and asked:
“Does this make you feel safe?”
“Primordial Brother, let me go, quickly let me go, it’s embarrassing,” Xie Lingxi struggled.
She pulled her head out from Zhang Yuanqing’s armpit, straightened her askew, headset-style headphones, and lowered her voice:
“Primordial Brother, my headphones are an Item. They can eavesdrop on all sounds within a five-hundred-meter radius.”
She listened intently, and said softly:
“That woman has entered the elevator. The elevator stopped on the fourth floor. She opened the second room to the left of the elevator. She’s disappeared?!”
Xie Lingxi lifted her face in shock: “She vanished out of sight.”
Vanished out of sight? Did that room block all external prying? Zhang Yuanqing patted the young girl’s shoulder, signaling her to stay calm.
They waited in silence. During this time, Xie Lingxi frequently glanced outside the hotel, ensuring that the bodyguards brought by the Family were keeping an eye on her, which gave her a slight sense of security.
About ten minutes later, she tilted her head, whispering, “She’s come out.”
A few minutes more, and Zhang Yuanqing heard the “ding” of the elevator as it returned to the first floor, followed by the clicking of high heels. The strikingly attractive auntie returned to the front hall, looking at them, and said:
“Follow me.”
Her gaze swept over the young ones with serious expressions, and she scoffed, “If you’re scared, you can also turn back now.”
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled: “Sister, you seem kind and benevolent, obviously a good person. We’re not afraid.”
Xie Lingxi spoke softly, “Auntie, we’re just here to convey a message. We mean no harm.”
The woman’s expression softened slightly as she nodded and led them onto the elevator, up to the fourth floor.
She stood in the corridor, looking towards the second room to the left of the elevator, and said:
“Go in.”
Zhang Yuanqing saw the room number: 404!
Good name. He twitched the corner of his mouth and pulled Xie Lingxi to the door, turning the handle.
“Click!”
The instant the light latch springing noise sounded, it felt as if a calm yet powerful force enveloped them, and the scenery in front of them changed rapidly.
The carpeted hallway transformed into simple celadon tiles, the white painted walls into a structure mixed with bricks and wood, and the bright lights into flickering candlelight.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi looked around in astonishment; they found themselves in the grand hall of a temple, with a domed ceiling seven or eight meters high, adorned with convex floral patterns and painted with deities.
Beneath the dome stood a five-meter-tall golden Buddha, holding a flower with a gaze that was part compassionate, part majestic, and part stern.
On the offering table, eighteen thick candles were lit, their candlelight bright.
Below the Buddha were meditation cushions, upon which sat a monk dressed in blue cassock, large in stature, sitting cross-legged as tall as Xie Lingxi.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi exchanged a quiet look, their eyes filled with fear and solemnity. Just a moment ago, they were in the hotel corridor, and the next, they were in an unfamiliar temple.
If it weren’t for the lack of an instance prompt in their ears, they both would have doubted that they had entered the spirit realm for a mission again.
This Master Traceless is more terrifying than I imagined. What level of spirit realm walker has such abilities? Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath, looking at the figure in the blue cassock with respect:
“Are you Master Traceless?”
“The Night Wandering Deity and Musician, are you from the official organization?”
A low and hoarse voice came through, sounding strange, as if enduring some pain.
“Yes!”
Zhang Yuanqing did not dare to hide anything.
The hall fell silent for a dozen seconds before the low, hoarse voice echoed again:
“What did the Regretful Father say before he died?”
Zhang Yuanqing’s voice involuntarily deepened, “He asked me to tell the master: I’m sorry, I still don’t know whether it was my mistake or the world’s.”
As he spoke those words, he once again remembered the gaze of the Regretful Father on his deathbed, that look flickering with hatred and sorrow.
The hall fell into a long silence once more, a silence so deep that it made Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi’s hearts race.
Finally, Master Traceless sighed:
“I understand.”
Xie Lingxi hesitated, then mustering her courage, asked softly:
“Master, he saved my life; he is not a bad person. Why, then, did he become one of the evil classes?”
The monk in the blue cassock slowly said:
“He once had a daughter, very smart and well-behaved, always had excellent academic performance from childhood. As she went to college, she gradually changed, began to pursue material things, blindly competing with classmates. To support his daughter, the Regretful Father worked day and night, desperately earning money, but he could never satisfy her growing needs. Until one day, he discovered his daughter had borrowed a lot of money online and had been taken advantage of with inappropriate photos.
“He couldn’t repay those debts, and felt his daughter had disgraced and humiliated the family honor. After a big argument, he threatened to disown her. The Regretful Father believed that it was all his daughter’s fault, her becoming materialistic, selfish, and unrecognizable.”
“Later on, the loan company took control of the girl, forcing her into the flesh trade. They played with her without restraint, humiliated her, and in her despair, she committed suicide by jumping from a building.
“The Regretful Father was devastated. He began to think that the fault was his own; if he could have provided a better material life for his daughter, if he could have had the money to pay off her debts, then perhaps all this tragedy would not have happened. He regretted that argument countless times, thinking that if he could have been comforting and supportive to his daughter at that moment, then the subsequent events might never have occurred. He felt as if he had pushed his daughter into an abyss.
“After his daughter died, he planned to sue the loan company, those who had tormented his daughter and driven her to her death, but the lending company had a lot of influence locally, and he lost the case.
“He became despondent for a long time, realizing that the fault was not with his daughter, but with him, with this world. He believed that people cannot change their environment; they are influenced by it. When society incessantly screams about material wealth and money into your ears, you will inevitably be affected, become money-worshipping, become materialistic, with no one being an exception.
“His daughter had not yet entered society and didn’t understand the wickedness of human hearts. She was lured into spending, into borrowing, and ultimately onto a path of no return. The world was rotten to the core, he decided to take revenge for his daughter himself.
“He broke into the loan company, killed those who had humiliated her, who had driven her to her death, and then fled the scene. It was that act of slaughter that granted him the Character Card, becoming a Bewitching Demon.
“The Regretful Father was an extremist, but not a Bloodthirsty villain. However, once he became one of the Evil Classes, there was no turning back. He went further down that path, his level getting higher and higher, but his pain also grew more intense.
“Until one day, he met me and followed me to cultivate, hoping to dissolve the resentment in his heart and to find redemption. But he was too extreme; he didn’t want to kill the innocent, yet he stubbornly refused to reconcile with this world.
“Perhaps death was the best end for him.”
No wonder he saved Xie Lingxi. His daughter was about the same age as this girl. He regretted countless times not having helped his daughter back then. That leap to save Xie Lingxi wasn’t just about her; it was about saving his daughter who had committed suicide years ago. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at Xie Lingxi, who stood silently, her eyes reddening.
He sighed softly and said:
“Master, I think he has already found redemption.”
Master Traceless, with his back turned to them, neither agreed nor disagreed, simply waved his hand lightly. Two streams of light emerged from his sleeves, landing at the feet of Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing.
Looking closely, they saw two black jade stones, each about the size of half a palm, with black light swirling inside, changing into various shapes, dreamlike and illusory.
After only a few seconds of looking, Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing felt darkness before their eyes and dizziness.
“Thank you for bringing back his last words. This is called the ‘Dream Connection Jade Talisman.’ Crush it, and you can contact me. If you encounter danger, I will help you once. This is only valid in the real world; it will not work in the spirit realm,” said Master Traceless indifferently:
“Leave now.”
The statue of the Buddha and the Candlelight began to warp, shattering into pieces, and Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi found themselves back in the hotel. They were standing in front of the open door to their room, which was a standard Solo room.
At their feet lay the two black jade stones.
