I grabbed two handfuls from my own pocket, and that kid nearly lost his mind. Luckily, when I returned them to him, I also recited the incantation to unseal the Beast Sealing Technique for him; otherwise, he might have tried to fight me.

Seeing that everything was settled, I had one last thing to do: leave.

The Two Elements Microdust Array is easy to enter but hard to exit. I had the ability to get in, but not to get out.

But now, none of that was a problem anymore. Casually flipping open ""Jade Palace Golden Chapter"" and skimming through it, I quickly found the line introducing the Two Elements Microdust Array.

Who can't follow instructions step by step? Besides, my seven thousand eight hundred sixty-nine years of life weren't for nothing. Following the method, the sky burst with radiant light, and twelve streams of fire converged from twelve directions, centering on me.

With a twist of my right hand, palm facing up, the twelve flag gates fell into my palm. This was the essence of the Two Elements Microdust Array—the twelve flag gates. With them in hand, the array was broken. With them, I could set up the Two Elements Microdust Array anytime, anywhere. My way back was now completely unobstructed.

This trip really was a bountiful harvest, and of course, there was that kid. With his two hundred years of cultivation, who knows how many lifetimes it would take to get the things here. It was his great luck to enjoy such fortune, all because he happened to strike up a conversation with me.

William Brooks, who had only known me for less than three days in total, must have had very complicated feelings. Seeing my actions, he knew I was about to leave and hurried over, since he had no way to return to the surface on his own.

I didn't say much, grabbed him, and soared into the air. With a quick calculation, the Severing Gold Scepter was already in my hand. I wanted to test its power under my control. A strange jet-black light responded to my will, a rainbow flashed, lightning sparkled, and the stone ceiling above was instantly shattered. The power of the Severing Gold Scepter far surpassed that of my Six Sentinel Blade Aura, making breaking through the earth even easier.

As soon as I surfaced on West Lake, I immediately ducked back down, pulling William Brooks with me. Damn, it was midday and the whole lake was full of tourists. If we just popped up like that, people would think water ghosts had come back to life.

William Brooks, being sensible, didn't say much either. He pulled me to a secluded spot, and we snuck ashore. West Lake is pretty big, after all.

With magical protection, not a drop of water touched us, but William Brooks still looked like a refugee, carrying at least eight bags.

We exchanged a smile. This treasure-hunting trip had made us friends.

I'm still an undocumented person, without a household registration in the People's Republic of China, let alone an ID card. So, we could only lay low for now. He has some influence in the human world, so I left everything to him.

Brother William Brooks, I'm counting on you to take care of everything for me in the human world.

Chapter Two: Soaring Freely Across the Nine Heavens

Brian Cooper is living quite comfortably now. William Brooks really is resourceful; basically, Brian Cooper's identity issues have been resolved. For things William Brooks couldn't handle, he took care of them personally. After all, he's a high-level demon with boundless magical power. Tricks like invisibility and walking through walls are a breeze for him. He moves through human government offices as if they were his own home. Under William Brooks's guidance, he forged his identity flawlessly.

With William Brooks's persuasion and encouragement, his current identity is as follows:

A new student in Class 4, Grade 1, at Changchun No. 1 High School, same school, same grade, same class as William Brooks, and still named Brian Cooper, male. He originally wanted to write "male" or "male bird," since that's what you call birds, but William Brooks absolutely refused.

Currently sixteen years old, both parents deceased. No matter how much William Brooks tried to persuade him, he refused to give himself that kind of trouble, insisting on living alone. William Brooks arranged for him to have wealthy parents, even altering the couple's memories, but Brian Cooper was dissatisfied, saying their education level was too low, their appearance too vulgar, and so on. He also complained that their original daughter—the girl who would have been his sister—was too ugly. In the end, that plan was dropped.

He lives at No. 4 Pingquan Road. Anyway, they have plenty of ways to make money. Even without breaking the law, a two-hundred-year-old demon can amass a considerable fortune through legitimate means. Besides, Brian Cooper and William Brooks had just returned from treasure hunting, and had plenty of ancient artifacts that were useless to them but could be sold as antiques in the human world. For convenience, Brian Cooper simply bought the entire five-story standalone office building at No. 4 Pingquan Road. Each floor is just over 200 square meters, not huge, but the location is very quiet and not far from the city center, near the Nanguan Electric Company.

Living off his parents' inheritance was something William Brooks insisted on—there must be no unexplained sources of income, so no one could find any flaws. For authenticity, William Brooks repeatedly emphasized that they couldn't just conjure up money to spend; it had to be withdrawn from the bank. Now, Brian Cooper has about twenty million in so-called parental inheritance in the bank, with a clear origin. William Brooks said it was bribe money given to his parents, plus some of his own savings. Since it was all ill-gotten gains anyway, he just transferred it over. And the accounts are spotless, the money laundered by professionals, not a single leak.