A few days flashed past. On New Year's Eve in the ninety-eighth year of Jianzhi, with the exception of the garrison rotation units, the majority of the front-line forces at Youdu held a grand bonfire banquet at Huanli Pavilion outside the city.
Roaring bonfires were kindled across the ground, and glowing flames drifted through the night sky like flickering sky lanterns. Over the open expanse outside Youdu, it felt as though a star-studded galaxy had gathered.
Above the army, more than two hundred airships hovered over their respective sectors, serving as relays for field communications.
On the ground, field creatures worked in tandem with information amplifiers to project large field screens, broadcasting the main venue's activities directly to the dispersed sectors.
This New Year, because the army still had incomplete assignments and could not withdraw, they had no choice but to celebrate within the convergence zone.
Although they could not return home for the festivities, the main campaign had concluded, and all that remained were mop-up operations with no major combat expected, so the atmosphere was relatively relaxed.
At the banquet, representatives from the military department were present, along with special commissioners dispatched by the Executive Government.
On the spot, they read out commendations for the officers and the entire force, as well as promotions for meritorious lower- and mid-tier personnel, instantly enlivening the atmosphere.
As supreme commander of the front line, Chen Chuan stepped forward to deliver a few brief remarks before opening the banquet.
In this era, with the great advancement of biotechnology, the one thing never in short supply was food. As long as transport lines remained clear, the front line's logistical supply was more than sufficient. However, synthetic rations offered only nutrition and convenience, lacking in flavor.
Fortunately, after capturing Youdu, canned goods of every variety sat piled high in warehouses, while pastures, vegetable plots, and sprawling plantations designated for officials and the imperial family lay both inside and outside the walls. Livestock, poultry, and fresh produce were plentiful, and since it was New Year's Eve, supplies were laid out in abundance.
The troops spontaneously put together various performances. Though not professional acts, they made up for it with lively energy, and rounds of applause and cheering rose in waves across the various sectors.
Whenever a particularly impressive performance appeared, it was immediately relayed via the field screens to other sectors for the entire army to watch.
Seated on the command platform, Chen Chuan watched the performances alongside everyone else. He mused that if he had not entered the Supreme Advisory Council, the higher-ups likely would have offered him an option to transfer into the military with a high-ranking post.
That was also a valid path. As a martial artist, he had no need to lead troops in battle personally; that was the responsibility of the staff officers and operational departments underneath him.
The place he would most likely be deployed was beyond the Ring of the World, confronting those otherworldly beings.
Yet he did not reject that prospect, for he could obtain more precious materials for cultivation from the other side.
Becoming an advisor did not mean he was barred from those places either; in fact, it granted him greater authority and freedom of movement.
Fan Zhentong had mentioned that many past advisors preferred fighting on the front lines, and not a few had fallen at the Ring of the World—their Purist Faction had such an example.
Come to think of it, since embarking on the martial path, though he had visited the other world by way of rifts, he had never stepped through official channels. Once the dust settled, he planned to see it for himself.
Seated beside him at that moment was Special Commissioner Chi from the Executive Government. As Qiao Dingguo's confidential secretary, Chi was naturally aware of the recent shift regarding the Advisory Council's nominated seats.
He glanced at Chen Chuan. Without a doubt, once the New Year passed, this young man would be a full member of the Advisory Council.
Entering the Supreme Security Advisory Group meant stepping directly into the highest echelons of power in Great Shun; every full advisor possessed a direct line of communication to the summit.
The Advisory Council also determined the fundamental direction of current national policy, whereas the Executive Government was merely the formulator and executor of specific affairs.
Members of the Advisory Council were all martial artists of the Dongxuan View, each possessing strategic-level destructive power.
Through their respective factions, they could extend their influence into the martial artist communities within the military, the government, and the apparatus of state power, making it exceedingly difficult for any bureaucratic machinery to sideline them.
Still, he had never anticipated that submitting the Advisory Council's recommendation would yield such a result. The top brass clearly held this young man in very high regard.
Regardless, it was a good thing; after all, Chen Chuan stood in their camp.
At that moment, a performance came to an end. Chi clapped along, then remarked, "I heard Commander Chen accepted an invitation to the Wuyi League?"
"Yes," Chen Chuan replied. "I graduated from Wuyi Academy myself, and many of Great Shun's martial artists hail from Wuyi. Facing the Great Impact on our own won't be enough; we need a steady influx of reserve talent. The competition and exchange in the league help raise martial standards."
Special Commissioner Chi smiled. "Speaking of which, I am also a Wuyi graduate. I originally followed Vice Premier Qiao as a security officer. Because I handled affairs reasonably well, I eventually stepped off that path to take up administrative work."
Chen Chuan nodded. He could tell that Special Commissioner Chi was a fighter of the third limit and still kept himself in good condition, likely engaging in practical combat exercises regularly.
Special Commissioner Chi said, "I completely agree with what Commander Chen said just now. Great Shun needs sufficient reserve talent. The state increases Wuyi's enrollment quota year after year precisely to encourage applicants.
"Around the world, no small number of martial artists fall at the Ring of the World each year, and the situation ahead will only grow more severe. Only an adequate pool of talent can ensure we survive once the Great Impact arrives. And to accomplish this, we must command sufficient resources and channel them where they belong."
Chen Chuan nodded. "Such measures are necessary."
Special Commissioner Chi smiled wryly. "Yet some within the government do not think that way. A pessimistic minority feels the gap between us and the other side is too vast, believing we cannot win. Before the other side even marches upon us, they are already contemplating surrender. Such people exist within the Advisory Council as well."
Chen Chuan was not surprised that such people existed in the Advisory Council. After all, its members were representatives of interest groups put forward by different factions, and quite a few within the Convergence Faction and Refined Practice School held precisely that mindset.
As for what the very top thought or intended, he was not yet certain. But resistance was undoubtedly the priority; had it been otherwise, none of what lay before him would exist today.
At that moment, another burst of thunderous applause rang out, louder than before.
Chen Chuan looked over. It was a shooting contest.
Target practice was common in the military, but the targets this time were different—they were all live aberrants.
During the capture of Youdu, the army had taken a large number of aberrants captive. These creatures were instruments of war thoroughly controlled by the former imperial household, impossible to tame. At the same time, given their level of aberrant corruption, they could never be used for food; the only course was extermination.
Yet systematically disposing of them was overly tedious and labor-intensive, so they had simply been hauled out for officers and soldiers to use as live targets.
Over just a few days of disposal, the troops had turned it into quite an entertaining spectacle.
On one screen, he saw a captain step forward and aim at a thick-hided aberrant over ten meters tall. With a single gunshot, the beast dropped dead on the spot, its colossal frame crashing to the ground.
For ordinary people, such a feat was difficult to imagine, yet he had pulled it off effortlessly.
Chen Chuan, however, could tell that the officer possessed unique spiritual power that let him pinpoint the creature's most fatal vulnerability. As long as his weapon had sufficient lethality, the result was guaranteed.
Another soldier stood inside a massive cage, festooned with handguns. A swarm of aberrant birds was released, practically engulfing him.
Immediately, a continuous barrage of gunfire erupted, and the birds plunged one after another.
With the final gunshot, every aberrant bird in the cage lay dead. Aside from stray feathers and blood spattered across him, the soldier remained completely unharmed, drawing roaring cheers and applause.
Chen Chuan clapped as well. Glancing across the other sectors, similar impressive displays were unfolding. These individuals possessed spiritual power to varying degrees, and as the Great Impact drew nearer, more and more such people were emerging.
Those with talent would only proliferate; expanding enrollment at Wuyi was both a practical necessity and an inevitability.
More performances followed, and the banquet continued until midnight. When the clock struck twelve, the army substituted cannon salvos for firecrackers.
Rumbling artillery fire tore through the night sky, welcoming the new year with echoing reverberations across the wilderness and ushering in Year 99 of Jianzhi in the Republic of Great Shun.
From the first to the third of the month, aside from a few units tasked with special duties, most of the army rested and recuperated.
Chen Chuan stayed in the barracks cultivating without going anywhere. It was not until the fourth that, seeing no urgent matters at hand, he prepared to open the final secret vault and take a look.
Leaving an avatar behind, he took Mingchengzi and Mu Xiaoren along the singular path out of the convergence zone and arrived in Haixi Dao.
Jiang Linghuai had already returned to the ranks before the New Year, but the area before Boxin Lake had been cordoned off.
Having Mingchengzi and Mu Xiaoren wait outside, Chen Chuan brought out the black talismanic artifact to open the rift and stepped inside.
Pilingzi had already departed, so by rights no one should have been here. Yet as he walked out of the mountain cleft, he sensed a presence. Looking up, he saw a Xuanist clad in a black robe standing there.
The man bowed with hands clasped. "Greetings, Xuanji Chen. I am Mi Zhuzi, and I have waited here for you for many days."
He offered a faint smile and continued, "Back then, when you had my disciple pass on your message, I intended to come and give you an explanation upon hearing it. Yet your army's discipline is stern and its majesty imposing, and I did not dare provoke a confrontation lightly, so I came here to wait. But I must say a word to you: back then, I did not deliberately set myself against your side; I was merely entrusted by the puppet emperor and compelled by the circumstances at the time. Even so, I did indeed obstruct your side..."
With that, he bowed to Chen Chuan once more. "The fault lies entirely with me and has nothing to do with the Duanchen Sect. I, Mi Zhuzi, am willing to accept punishment."
Chapter 1466