It's Clearly So Simple

Yu Xian pressed for details about the contingency plan. Once Yu Lie explained it, he was completely stunned. Extreme Disaster Contingency Plan No. 402 was also known as the Territory Grotto-Heaven Plan. It had been jointly drafted by hundreds of the nation's top powerhouses, spearheaded by Li Zhangzong, one of the Three Pillars of the Nation. Li Zhangzong was the country's foremost alchemist, formation master, artifact refiner, and puppet master. Zhang Daoqin had once remarked that across these four domains, Li Zhangzong's mastery stood completely unmatched. The Territory Grotto-Heaven Plan he had designed was an unrestrained, wildly audacious, and romantic vision. To counter the unknown disaster [5322], Li Zhangzong had initially conceived of shielding the entire country with an array barrier. Later, he grew bolder still, aiming to carve out a massive grotto-heaven and shift the entire nation into it, ensuring that whatever catastrophe struck, it would have nothing to do with Huaxia. Over the course of several decades, this later concept eventually evolved into the current Territory Grotto-Heaven Plan. "Minister, moving all of Huaxia into a grotto-heaven for protection—can that really be done?" Yu Xian asked after standing in stunned silence for a long time. Yu Lie smiled. "Two hundred years ago, the implementation steps for the Territory Grotto-Heaven Plan were already laid out. Over the years, the state has continually invested massive funds to prepare for it. "After all, we never know when disaster will strike. Being prepared is always better than being caught off guard. "Right now, however, the plan still faces a few issues. It was originally supposed to be carried out by Vermilion Bird, but more than forty cities have yet to complete their final arrangements. "We don't know whether Edward, the Blood Clan Progenitor, will successfully advance, nor do we know how strong this 'Star Rank' you mentioned truly is. But with an attitude of responsibility toward the entire populace, we decided after the meeting to activate the Territory Grotto-Heaven Plan regardless. "We must secure our internal stability first before turning to deal with external threats." "So my mission is to reach those forty-plus cities as quickly as possible and finish the setup?" Yu Xian asked immediately. Yu Lie nodded. "Right. But you won't have to handle all forty-plus cities alone. Azure Dragon has a spatial ability user, Vermilion Bird has one, and Black Tortoise has one as well. The four of you will only need to cover ten cities each." They walked a considerable distance further before finally arriving in front of a room. Six people were already waiting in the hallway outside. Judging by their uniforms, Yu Xian could tell they belonged to Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise. Qilin had its own uniforms as well, though most members in the Combat Division wore casual clothes; only other departments were required to wear uniforms. As Yu Lie and Yu Xian approached, a middle-aged man in an Azure Dragon uniform spoke up: "Old Yu, is this Salty Fish? You two aren't related, are you?" "All right, cut the nonsense. Stop thinking about poaching my people and assign the tasks already so we don't invite complications," Yu Lie snapped impatiently, stepping in front of Yu Xian. Tang Longhui, Minister of Azure Dragon, said between laughter and tears, "It was just one time we took people from Qilin—do you really have to hold a grudge this long? That was fifty years ago!" "Was it just 'one time'? Who poaches hundreds of people at once? That was an entire team!" Yu Lie said testily. Yu Xian was actually familiar with this story. Qilin had once possessed an artifact refining team over a hundred strong, only for Azure Dragon to quietly poach them all, leaving Qilin facing a dire shortage of transcendent equipment ever since. Of course, he knew Qilin had deliberately conceded them to Azure Dragon. Azure Dragon guarded the frontiers, after all, and had greater need for fine weapons. Zhu Ling, Minister of Vermilion Bird, spoke up. "Enough. Let's not waste time." She walked over to a sealed glass chamber, pressed her identification against the glass, and the Minister of Black Tortoise stepped forward to do the same. Tang Longhui and Yu Lie exchanged glares before stepping up and pressing their credentials against the surface as well. An instant later, circuits of light converged within the glass, rapidly focusing onto the four ID cards. Once their identities were verified, the glass dissolved on its own. "The four of you may enter!" Zhu Ling said to Yu Xian and the other three. Yu Xian glanced at Yu Lie. Seeing him nod, he stepped straight into the glass chamber. The next moment, he felt space shift around him, and he emerged inside an enormous white space. Right in the center stood a bald, white-haired old man, head bowed, working on something. "Come forward." The old man did not turn around, yet his voice resonated from all directions. "Elder Li, is this our first test?" The youth from Black Tortoise looked respectfully at the old man and asked. *Elder Li?* *Li Zhangzong?* Hearing the youth's address, Yu Xian looked at the old man in surprise. As one of the Three Pillars of the Nation, Li Zhangzong had not made a public appearance in ages. Many among the general public had even speculated that he had already passed away. Yet here he was—and likely having spent over a century in this place. It was hardly any different from being imprisoned. Looking at that aged back, Yu Xian could not help feeling profound respect. Following Li Zhangzong's instructions, he walked straight forward, leaving the remaining three staring at him in astonishment. "Junior Yu Xian pays his respects to Elder Li." Just like that, Yu Xian walked right up behind Li Zhangzong, bowing respectfully. "Good, good, good. Sit." Li Zhangzong was clearly pleased with Yu Xian's performance. With a gentle wave of his right hand, a prayer mat drifted over behind Yu Xian, and Yu Xian took a seat upon it. The other three were dumbfounded. The young woman from Vermilion Bird murmured, "He just walked over like that?" The space here was exceptionally chaotic, warping and shifting with almost every passing second. You might think you were taking a step forward when you were actually moving backward; you might think you were drawing closer when you were actually drifting farther away. Unless one could decipher the patterns of the spatial shifts, reaching Li Zhangzong's side was impossible. That was precisely why the youth from Black Tortoise had asked whether this was a test. "Let me try," the boy from Azure Dragon said. He immediately stepped forward along the path Yu Xian had taken. A second later, he appeared in a corner to everyone's right. The bewildered look on his face made it obvious that his brain had not yet processed how he had ended up there. "It really isn't that simple," the young woman sighed. The Black Tortoise youth looked at Yu Xian in the distance. "Then there's only one answer. He has an extraordinarily high sensitivity to spatial shifts, and he worked out every single pattern of variation in the shortest possible time." "What a freak!" the Vermilion Bird girl gasped. The Black Tortoise youth turned to her with a smile. "Codename Xuanming. Care to team up?" "Codename Zhu Yuan. Teaming up is fine, but if you hold me back, I'm backing out whenever I please," Zhu Yuan replied with a grin. Xuanming nodded. "Deal. We'll each calculate the spatial shifts on one side. You take the right, I'll take the left?" "All right," Zhu Yuan agreed. With that, the two turned toward their respective sections, dedicating their full focus to calculating the shift of every single spatial coordinate. Sitting on the prayer mat, Yu Xian watched their earnest expressions, then looked at the Azure Dragon boy charging around blindly, teleporting and flashing about erratically. A question mark popped up in his mind. *Are spatial coordinates really that hard to calculate?* *Why did it only take me half a minute using Super Brain?* *It's clearly so simple.*