“It hasn’t even been six months… but they’re already done waiting…” Xu Yangyi mumbled to himself as he gently tapped the car window. After ages, he turned his head and said to Peony: “I have a minor matter that I have to make a trip for. I’ll definitely be back within a month.”

“You, investigate all the surroundings powers gathered in Longsu Province. No matter the size!”

“Understood.” Peony nodded at once and took out a small notebook to jot down a note—she didn’t have Xu Yangyi’s pill spirit-blessed eidetic memory. Shortly following, she said in doubt: “Commander… why this?”

“All you have to worry about is getting it done.” Xu Yangyi laughed grimly and said: “Soon… you’ll see a few different things.”

Peony agreed and left. Xu Yangyi didn’t return together with her to Mingshui Province but instead brought Li Zongyuan with him to drive to Xiang Province’s airport.

“Master….” On the airplane, Li Zongyuan muttered as he gazed attentively at Xu Yangyi who was continuously exercising his five fingers. His master was taking joy in the feeling of regaining something that was once lost. He said respectfully: “Is your hand… okay?”

From his contemplations, Xu Yangyi regained his wits, and his gaze shifted outside the airplane window, and he said dimly: “It’s fine.”

“Then…” Li Zongyuan coughed dryly: “you’re not going to Longsu Province to take care of the situation? An A-rank legion’s organizational breakaway i-is a strike on Master’s honor…”

Xu Yangyi didn’t respond. There were some words that he couldn’t say to Peony, but he could speak his mind to Li Zongyuan who had handed over his life to him: “How many A-rank legions does Longsu Province have?”

“Two.” Li Zongyuan answered: “Black Armor and Heavenly Opening. Both their commanders are initial-stage Foundation Establishment cultivators, and they both have over around forty legionnaires. Among them, at least half are Foundation Establishment Seniors.”

“And what about the Heavenly Opening?” [1]

“There’s still no news about Heavenly Opening.” Li Zongyuan recalled: “Now that Longsu Province is completely sealed, there’s no entry or exit allowed. They have to switch over to telephone communication.”

A grim smile curved at the crook of Xu Yangyi’s mouth. He still hadn’t been officially appointed, but there were already some lineages starting operations to attack him. Perhaps he didn’t have much of a heated intention to capture the heavenly paradise before the Ketu-Rahu Sword had been forged, but now, through the chance ignition of that fire seed, he knew that he had to bring a slice of the heavenly paradise into his pocket.

“No worries.” He said as his gaze twinkled. Good… consider me the softest persimmon… While I really do look like that from the outside, there’s no way that now is the final moment as to whom the deer falls.

“Then are we still not recruiting?”

Xu Yangyi shook his head. It wasn’t that he was unable to, but he couldn’t recruit now!

A great shock was on the verge of unfolding in Longsu Province, to the extent that it influenced the cultivation world’s structure. The major and minor clans were bound to have already revealed a few things to those with the ambition to reign supreme. If he recruited now, who knew whether or not he would be stabbed in the back when the time came? Even if this didn’t happen, would seven or eight among the ten recruited run away before the dawn of battle?

His gaze turned beyond the window. The airplane was already starting to descend. Presently, he had to first know whether Xiaoqing and Fahai had left behind contingencies. If there was, he would be able to withstand the impact of every power with this confidence. If there wasn’t, he would have to plan otherwise.

Tianzi Mountain was a hundred kilometers away from Xiang Province’s provincial capital. Xu Yangyi didn’t stop in the slightest and immediately contracted a car, rushing towards Tianzi Mountain’s Wuling National Scenery.

As a large nationally renowned scenic area, there was an endless flow of countless passenger transports, coaches buses, and private cars on the road. After several hours, he and Li Zongyuan couldn’t help but to sigh wistfully concerning how many people were in China.

“Friends of the Everday Tour Group, please assemble here.”

“Everyone from the Supreme Tour Group, gather round!”

“Friends, this is Tianzi Mountain, a famous scenery in China with a long history. It’s named ‘Tianzi’ because in ancient times, the leader of the Tujia people, Xiang Dakun, commanded a local peasant revolt…” [2]

“At the side of Tianzi Mountain’s scenic area is Xiang Province’s famous Zhangjiajie landscape…”

All kinds of voices echoed amidst loudspeakers. People coming and going looked at them like idiots because no one traveling would wear a suit. Furthermore both Xu Yangyi and Li Zongyuan were both dressed on this occasion.

Xu Yangyi furrowed his brows imperceptibly. Through long periods of secluded and bitter cultivation, he no longer enjoyed venues with too many people, especially a place like this which could be said to be now jam-packed with people.

He took out an item and handed it over to Li Zongyuan. “Give this to the person in charge here.”

Any cultivator had a record on file with the Chinese government, and through the evaluation and reflection of one’s strength, they would receive different qualifications. However, these corresponding qualifications were their “Special Forces Identification”, or abbreviated to just SF. With this identification in possession, a majority of all of China’s regions had special channels dedicated to them.

And yet, this identification wasn’t a privilege that any cultivator could hold. The identification in Xu Yangyi’s hand had been issued to him after Ancestor Ancientpine decided to make him a Featherwood Guard branch master. Otherwise, if every person had this identification—all of China’s million Qi Condensation cultivators—things would’ve been a mess early on.

Bored senseless, Xu Yangyi found a place and took out a cigarette. At the door, there were a great many people. Places to sit had been filled up long ago. Tour group members walked back and forth in his surroundings. There were old men holding cups of warm tea and women loudly shouting with their relatives. There were also group members inadvertently swaying little red flags.

At the entrance of the scenic area, there was a team of military police standing. Li Zongyuan’s objective was there. Xu Yangyi glanced and pulled his gaze back, yet at this moment, he felt a sliver of murderous aura flare at his side without warning!

Sudden! Too sudden! And extremely concealed! He simply hadn’t felt any sign. Like so, this murderous aura suddenly arrived at his side and immediately locked onto him!

Who?

Out of reflex, his body faintly stirred, but Xu Yangyi restrained his movements at once.

An enemy in the darkness and himself in the light… Xu Yangyi’s gaze motionlessly swept over everyone present. The foe was hidden among many people, and this venue really wasn’t a good place to act. Perhaps the other party wanted to use this area to confine him, but in the final moment where the map was left behind and the dagger was in sight, this enemy was no longer able to control his murderous aura.

This represented… that the other was already extremely close to him.

“So eager?” Xu Yangyi took a light drag from his cigarette, and a shred of killing intent surfaced in his heart. Regardless of who it was, if this enemy truly believed that he didn’t dare to act in front of so many people, then they were gravely mistaken!

At the other side, Li Zongyuan had already made contact with the military police unit. Evidently, they were very surprised.

At this time, someone just happened to walk over to him.

Now, there was an old man in front of Xu Yangyi, so old that he almost couldn’t open his eyes. His hands shaking, he gripped a thermos while supported on a walking stick, yet he wasn’t inconvenienced in the slightest. But seemingly a careless accident, a person from behind knocked into the old man even more carelessly. Following a startled cry, the thermos that the old man had just twisted open flew out from his hand and towards Xu Yangyi’s hand.

Inside the cup, there was dark-green tea that cast a sparkling radiance beneath sunlight. Xu Yangyi’s pupils suddenly needled… because he clearly saw that this wasn’t tea!

It appeared to be identical to tea, but in fact… it wasn’t. He remembered a lesson from Heavens Law that this was an item called Daybreak Dew. The name was pleasant to the ear, but in truth, such an item… Once it touched one’s body, it would immediately invade a cultivator’s protective qi! Under Foundation Establishment, it was almost undefendable! Moreover, it would continue to corrode a person’s skin, flesh, and blood until the extremely volatile Daybreak Dew was practically exhausted!

Meanwhile, the old man yelped out in surprise, and his doddering body followed the falling cup and fell down towards Xu Yangyi, astonishment covering his face. As fate would have it, his walking stick was aimed right at Xu Yangyi’s dantian!

“I remember I said…” Xu Yangyi still hadn’t moved and said dimly: “if you want to come, you better send a decent assassin.”

“The Xingtian Legion has an assassin, and he is much more professional than you…”

His voice yet to fall, the cigarette butt in his hand had already been gently flicked out.

Boom! In the wake of a heavy groan, the tiny cigarette butt immediately made the sound of a blunt object hitting the human body! In the wake of a cracking noise, the old man’s neck was actually snapped by this cigarette butt!

The old man’s head oddly faced back at a ninety degree angle, yet there wasn’t a sliver of change of his face. Nonetheless, he charged towards Xu Yangyi with the same complete speed! And yet, the tail end of his walking stick was already starting to twinkle with blue spiritual light!

“This…” Xu Yangyi didn’t relax by a hair. Instead, he focused his gaze on the old man. An extreme feeling of danger followed as the blue dot of light in the old man’s cane progressively smoldered, swiftly pervading his mind!

In a flash, an incredulous idea surfaced in his mind. He understood… He understood what this old man wanted to do! Perhaps it was better to say that this wasn’t an old man but rather…

A machine puppet!

A suicide bombing!

In order to kill him or force out his killing move, that pair of greedy eyes in the darkness went so far as to make the choice to bomb a place with so many people! Regardless of whether or not there were mortals present!

Heavenly paradise, this word had already driven some clans to frenzy!

“GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!” In the crowd, Xu Yangyi exploded with a roar. Prompt to react, all the mortals were dumbfounded.

They saw… a person, the man who didn’t fit in with his suit. All of a sudden, a mechanical wing grew out from his back, and he flew into the air with a gust of wind!

“Dang…” Astonished, a young man looked at Xu Yangyi, who was over thirty meters high up in the sky, and wiped his eyes. “A-Am I seeing this right? I-Is this even human?”

“Superman? Batman?” A youth took out his cell phone and snagged a picture with all of his might. “Damn! This is basically Superman! A real Superman!”

“What is this demon?” A woman looked at sky, not daring to believe her eyes. “China… has their own S.H.I.E.L.D too?” [3]

The tourists and civilians didn’t sense… the terrible qi amassing at the center of them! Once this accumulation reached its ends in five seconds, no man, woman, or child would be left alive in a hundred-meter radius!

This was deranged!

Li Zongyuan heard Xu Yangyi’s voice and immediately sensed the mass of extremely unstable qi. His pupils suddenly constricted, and he screamed: “GET DOWN!!!”

Besides him, the military captain was checking his identification. Although the captain didn’t know why, he immediately got down on his stomach upon hearing this shout, as well!

BOOM!!! At almost the same time, an orange orb of light detonated in the crowd!

1. This “Heavenly Opening” is the same characters as Heavenly Opening Six Erosions. 天啟.

2. This is true. 天子 - Tianzi, meanings Son of Heaven, which is the name Xiang Dakun chose for himself.

3. This is a reference to the American comic book group S.H.I.E.L.D in the Marvel Universe. S.H.I.E.L.D stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement and Logistics Division.