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Not only were the Magicians of the Southern Sea’s families astonished, but the Magicians of Yundu were just as surprised, for no one expected that Murong Ziyi would turn out to be a Black Tortoise Practitioner.

The child from the Ziyi Family had been known for her talent in Thunder Art since she was young.

The natural aptitude required for Thunder Technique was extremely high, and it was utterly useless before reaching Third Rank.

As a result, many children from Magician families would not practice it.

However, this disciple from the Murong Family seemed exceptionally stubborn, fixated on this secret technique from a tender age and had even sought to apprentice under Elder Master Zhang.

Elder Master Zhang had taken on his first foreign surname disciple in a thousand years, and indeed, she did not disappoint him.

In just a short span of ten years, Murong Ziyi became a Super First Rank Magician.

A Super First Rank at the age of twenty was probably unique in the world, and many believed that her future could even surpass that of Zhang Zhiyun.

Yet no one anticipated that this child would turn out to be one of the Four Saints’ Magicians. The Purple Garment Family... had kept it deeply hidden indeed!

While everyone was buzzing with discussion, Chen Qing was pondering another matter.

He wasn’t too concerned about the Purple Garment Family concealing a Black Tortoise Practitioner because Big Dipper and Earth Fiend Magicians would only truly show their power in the third version of the game, and that required players.

Without players, according to the original history, those remnant demon wills in nature would be suppressed and diminished by the current Ancient Powers.

This world had already gone through three cycles of reincarnation, and the will of the Four Saints was likely already diluted to a certain extent.

Possibly not just the Four Saints, but other techniques of Big Dipper and Earth Fiend level might fade away and gradually exit the stage because of this dilution.

Chen Qing couldn’t quite understand one thing: with players already managing three cycles in this world, had none of them really managed to get a Four Saints technique into the late stage?

According to the game’s arrangement, any Big Dipper or Earth Fiend Technique, by the late stage, could condense the topmost true form of that ancient demon, considered a kind of alternative revival.

Once the bloodline of that top-tier demon was passed on again in the world, the wandering technique energies would dissipate on their own.

This was an official strategy of the game designers, which informed many gamers who had played in older servers that, upon learning of this, they would start smaller accounts on newer servers.

This was especially true for the "whales," the kind who had collecting obsessions—those would inevitably rush to snatch away Four Saints Techniques.

With the planning of the operators, Chen Qing remembered that after the 300th server zone, a Four Saints slot could cause countless guild wars, with backers willing to spend hundreds of millions, truly invigorating the business of gaming studios.

Given the current transmigration context, how could no one be making a move on these Four Saints Techniques?

Could something have happened that he was unaware of?

And this time... Chen Qing suddenly recalled something. After that White Tiger Sorcerer disappeared, it seemed that his body had no trace of ancient demons...

Right, there were none!

Chen Qing began to react to this realization.

The Five-Colored Clan was an important family in Yundu, and he wouldn’t believe that they weren’t controlled by Ancient Demons because merely breaking the Zhang Family wouldn’t be realistic in controlling such a massive force.

If it was very likely that the Five-Colored Clan was controlled by Ancient Demons, then why did that lad with the White Tiger Art have no trace of Ancient Demons in his body?

The trials of the Four Holy Palace must be related to the Four Saints Techniques, but how could the Four Saints Techniques maintain stability in someone without Ancient Demons?

Not to mention, when the offsprings harboring the Four Saints Techniques realize that the people their family controls are actually a bunch of parasites, will they still remain loyal?

This might...

Chen Qing looked up and gazed at Murong Ziyi on the screen, who was executing her techniques, his brows slightly furrowed. He had a feeling that Murong Ziyi... might also not be possessed by an Ancient Demon.

If his guess was right, would a talented child like Murong Ziyi be content to work for a bunch of parasites?

Did she know... or was she unaware?

Perhaps the breakthrough had been found...

Chen Qing thought this and abruptly turned his gaze towards the red-robed guild leader of Shenwu Guild: Shenyue!

Bai Su had begun collecting Black Tortoise fragments with a purpose since entering the third level and was clearly targeting the Black Tortoise Practitioners. This person... had come here in person, surely knowing something.

"What is His Highness King Qin looking at so intently?" Shenyue asked with an amused smile, looking at Chen Qing without disturbing the others, but chose to communicate via voice transmission.

"Shenyue elder seems to know something, doesn’t he?"

"Yes..."

"Are you interested in sharing a bit of the inside scoop with this young man?" Chen Qing asked jokingly.

In truth, he didn’t hold out much hope. Up to this moment, information was key; why would someone else tell him anything?

"It’s possible..."

"No worries, if you’re reluctant, then—huh?" Chen Qing was startled. He wondered if he had misheard. Were the women of Neon....so generous?

"I can share some information with you, but His Highness King Qin must agree to certain terms with me."

"That would depend on the value of the information you provide. If you were to give me something trivial and then expect me to assist, I would be at quite a disadvantage."

"I will share a bit first. Whether or not His Highness King Qin wishes to hear the rest, we can then decide whether to collaborate, how about that?"

"This mode of transaction is rather agreeable." Chen Qing smiled immediately upon hearing this. If the other party dared to tell him the beginning, he was eighty percent sure he could guess the latter part; he certainly wouldn’t miss out on such an opportunity.

"His Highness King Qin must have seen it already." Shenyue looked at the two fighting on the screen and spoke up, "Murong Ziyi is actually not an Ancient Demon."

"I had that suspicion, but I wasn’t certain... It seems like Elder Shenyue is certain?"

"We are, of course, certain, because we conducted experiments back then." Shenyue smiled and said, "His Highness King Qin knows of so many ancient secrets, but don’t you know that large-scale Ancient Forces, especially the mainstream ones of today, are repelled by the Four Saints Techniques?"

"Huh?" Chen Qing was taken aback. "Is that so?"

He wasn’t playing dumb; he genuinely didn’t know...

After all, former players didn’t have the power to become demons. Under their planning, players would combat demons through very conventional means, such as inheriting techniques or by unlocking new professions through learning ancient legacies, then gradually confronting the Ancient Demons.

But now, these fellows were taking a different approach, engaging in a takeover!

What they were doing was directly seizing the bloodlines of Ancient Demons. After all, the game’s players were all about saving the Human Race, whereas in this world, longevity was a more common pursuit, with many instead leaning towards transforming into demons.

According to the existing intelligence, the Four Major Guilds, who hold the greatest power, are all of demonic descent.

Their bloodlines clashed with the Four Saints Techniques... This was something Chen Qing had not considered at all, as he hadn’t singled this out in his designs.

Now that it was brought up, Chen Qing suddenly realized that he might have been relying too much on his old designs and hadn’t considered that there could be loopholes outside his own creation. Without his design, then how could certain bugs be explained?

Like... why did the Techniques of the Big Dipper and Earth Fiend choose humans for inheritance, rather than... the more talented demons?

He hadn’t explained this before, but in this real world, it sorted itself out. Those ancient spirits didn’t want other demons to inherit from them, and that was the reason!

This explained it. Spirits chose humans because the human bloodline was weak, but conversely, they had strong learning abilities.

They could inherit abilities well and assimilate their own bloodline, and once a Technique reached its peak, with the aid of some ancient relics, a human could solidify their demon form and thus inherit the spirit’s bloodline.

If it were passed down, their own bloodline would be revived.

That was the reason those spirits were willing to choose humans, and if they had chosen demons, there was a chance the bloodlines would become mixed. That was why they refused to choose demons.

And with this explanation, Chen Qing roughly guessed what this group of Ancient Demons wanted to do...