With those words, the oppressive atmosphere that had enveloped the lobby vanished completely. Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi breathed a collective sigh of relief, the sense of being watched by hungry wolves dissipating.
The receptionist narrowed her eyes, scrutinizing the young couple across the desk while subtly glancing toward the hotel's entrance.
"I understand. Please wait a moment, guests."
She withdrew her gaze, her tone cold and dismissive, and strode deeper into the hotel, the click-clack of her high heels fading into the distance.
Huff. Xie Lingxi exhaled, her small face pale. In a low voice, she said, "Brother Primordial, I... I just remembered something."
Zhang Yuanqing turned to look at her.
Xie Lingxi voiced her suspicion: "We couldn't find any information about Master Wuhen. Could it be... not that he's obscure, but that our security clearance is too low?"
If a mere receptionist could exert such terrifying pressure, the level of power Master Wuhen possessed was unimaginable.
Zhang Yuanqing nodded solemnly. "I had the same thought. That's why I was planning to escape just now. And I was confident I could pull it off."
"Huh?" Xie Lingxi's eyes widened in surprise. "My legs were completely weak! I didn't even think about running. I just wanted to bury my head in your armpit."
That's why I'm confident I can escape. I just need to run faster than my teammates, Zhang Yuanqing thought to himself. He spread his arms, clamped Xie Lingxi's head under his armpit, and asked, "Does this make you feel safer?"
"Brother Primordial, let go of me! Let go! This is so embarrassing!" Xie Lingxi struggled fiercely.
She wrenched her head free from under Zhang Yuanqing's armpit, straightened her askew headset, and whispered, "Brother Primordial, my headset is a magical artifact. It can monitor all sounds within a five-hundred-meter radius."
Concentrating intently, she murmured, "The woman entered the elevator. It stopped on the fourth floor. She opened the second room on the left. She's gone?!"
Xie Lingxi looked up, her face filled with astonishment. "She's vanished!"
Vanished? Did that hotel room block external observation? Zhang Yuanqing patted the girl's shoulder, signaling her to remain calm.
The two waited in silence. Throughout the wait, Xie Lingxi frequently glanced outside the hotel, reassured only by the sight of her family's bodyguards keeping a watchful eye on her.
About ten minutes later, she tilted her head and whispered, "She's coming out."
A few minutes later, Zhang Yuanqing heard the elevator ding as it returned to the first floor. The click-clack of high heels followed as the strikingly beautiful auntie reappeared in the lobby, gazing at them.
"Come with me," she said.
Her cold gaze swept over the solemn young faces. "If you're scared, you can always turn back."
Zhang Yuanqing chuckled. "Sister, you have a kind face and a compassionate heart. You look like a good person. We're not afraid."
Xie Lingxi added softly, "Auntie, we're just here to deliver a message. We mean no harm."
The woman's expression softened. She nodded slightly and led them into the elevator, taking them to the fourth floor.
Standing in the corridor, she pointed to the second room on the left. "Go in."
Zhang Yuanqing noticed the room number: 404!
What a fitting name. His lips twitched as he pulled Xie Lingxi to the door and turned the handle.
Click!
The moment the latch clicked open, a profound and powerful force seemed to envelop them, and the world before their eyes rapidly transformed.
The corridor's carpet became plain porcelain tiles, the whitewashed walls morphed into a mix of brick and timber, and the fluorescent lights flickered into dim candlelight.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi exchanged stunned glances. They stood in the main hall of a temple, beneath a domed ceiling seven or eight meters high, adorned with intricate spiral patterns and painted with countless deities and Buddhas.
Beneath the ceiling loomed a five-meter-tall golden Buddha, its eyes lowered in serene contemplation, its expression simultaneously compassionate, majestic, and stern.
Eighteen thick candles burned brightly on the offering table, illuminating the hall with a warm glow.
A meditation cushion lay beneath the Buddha, upon which sat a tall monk clad in a cyan robe. Even seated, he was as tall as Xie Lingxi.
Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi exchanged a silent, apprehensive look. Just moments ago, they had been in a hotel corridor; now they found themselves in this unfamiliar temple.
If not for the absence of an Instance Notification, they would have suspected they had entered the Spirit Realm for another mission.
Master Wuhen is far more terrifying than I imagined. What level of Spirit Realm Walker could possess such power? Zhang Yuanqing took a deep breath, gazing respectfully at the monk's cyan-robed back.
"Are you Master Wuhen?" he asked.
"Nightwalker and Musician," a deep, raspy voice replied, its tone strained as if suppressing pain. "Are you with the Official Organization?"
"Yes!" Zhang Yuanqing answered without hesitation.
Silence hung in the hall for several seconds before the raspy voice echoed again:
"What did Ashamed Father say before he died?"
Zhang Yuanqing's voice unconsciously deepened. "He asked me to tell the Master: 'I'm sorry, I still don't know if the fault lies with me or with this world.'"
As he spoke, he once again recalled the look in Ashamed Father's eyes in his final moments—that flickering gaze filled with hatred and sorrow.
The hall fell into a prolonged silence, so heavy it made Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi uneasy.
Finally, Master Wuhen sighed. "I understand."
Xie Lingxi hesitated, then mustered her courage and asked softly, "Master, he saved my life. He wasn't a bad person. Why... why did he become an Evil Class?"
The cyan-robed monk replied slowly, "He once had a daughter—very clever, very obedient. She excelled in her studies from childhood through university. But as she grew older, she changed, becoming materialistic and blindly competing with her classmates. To support her, Ashamed Father worked day and night, desperately trying to earn more, but he could never satisfy her growing demands. One day, he discovered she had borrowed a large sum of money online and had been photographed in compromising situations."
"He was unable to repay the debts and felt his daughter had brought shame upon the family. The father and daughter had a fierce argument, during which he threatened to sever their relationship. Ashamed Father believed it was all his daughter's fault—she had become materialistic, selfish, and unrecognizable.
"Later, the loan company gained control of the girl, forcing her into prostitution. They exploited and humiliated her without restraint. In despair, she jumped to her death.
"Ashamed Father was devastated. He began to believe he was the one at fault. If he had provided his daughter with a comfortable life, if he had been able to repay her debts, this tragedy would never have happened. He endlessly regretted their argument, thinking that if he had comforted and supported her then, things might have turned out differently. He had personally pushed his daughter into the abyss.
"After her death, he planned to sue the loan company and the thugs who had tormented and driven her to suicide. But the loan company wielded considerable influence in the area, and he lost the case."
"He was deeply despondent for a long time, eventually realizing that his daughter wasn't at fault—it was him, it was the world. He believed that humans couldn't change their environment; rather, they were shaped by it. When society constantly screams materialism and money into your ears, you inevitably become materialistic and money-worshipping. No one can escape this influence.
"His daughter hadn't yet entered society and was naive to its dangers. She was lured into excessive spending and borrowing, ultimately leading her down this irreversible path. This world was rotten to the core, and he resolved to avenge her himself.
"He stormed into the loan company, killing the villains who had humiliated and driven her to suicide, then fled the scene. It was that act of slaughter that earned him his Character Card, transforming him into the Seductive Demon.
"Ashamed Father was an extremist, but not a bloodthirsty villain. However, once you embrace an Evil Class, there's no turning back. He spiraled further down this path of no return, growing stronger in level but increasingly tormented.
"Until one day, he met me and began following me to cultivate, hoping to quell his inner rage and find redemption. But he was too stubborn. He refused to indiscriminately kill innocents, yet stubbornly refused to reconcile with the world.
"Perhaps death is the best fate for him."
No wonder he wanted to save Xie Lingxi. His daughter had been about the same age as this girl. Countless times, he had regretted not reaching out to save his daughter. That desperate lunge wasn't to save Xie Lingxi; it was to save the daughter who had jumped to her death years ago. Zhang Yuanqing glanced at the "little green tea," Xie Lingxi, who stood speechless, her eyes rimmed with red.
He sighed softly and said, "Master, I believe he has already found redemption."
Master Wuhen, his back turned to them, neither affirmed nor denied this. With a gentle wave of his hand, two faint beams of light slipped from his sleeve and landed at Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing's feet.
They stared down at the objects: two palm-sized jade stones as black as ink, their interiors swirling with dark, luminous energy that shifted into dreamlike, ever-changing forms.
After only a few seconds of gazing at them, Xie Lingxi and Zhang Yuanqing felt their vision darken and their heads spin.
"Thank you for bringing back his final words," Master Wuhen said calmly. "These are Dream-Connecting Jade Talismans. Crush them to contact me, and I will assist you once in times of mortal danger. This power is limited to the real world; they are ineffective within the Spirit Realm."
"Now, depart."
The Buddha statue and candlelight twisted, shattered, and vanished. Zhang Yuanqing and Xie Lingxi found themselves back in their hotel room, standing before the open door of a standard single room.
Two black jade stones lay at their feet.