Drawing and Swallowing

After issuing the directive, Commissioner Liang pondered for a moment. He suddenly had a feeling—had this operation gone just a little too smoothly? Yet the thought merely flickered past. No matter what, over a thousand of the enemy's security forces had been tangibly wiped out. Regardless of what Ferris Wheel Company was truly planning, they wouldn't pass up an opportunity handed to them on a platter. In truth, he was not worried about Ferris Wheel Company's conventional forces. However, within the company, there was a specific target they had to watch with extreme care—the greatest obstacle they would face in the process of purging Ferris Wheel Company. He reviewed the plan provided by Watchtower once more. Under the limited conditions available, this was already the soundest deployment possible. Having reviewed it, he instructed his female assistant once again to contact Enforcement Captain Xu Chan. "Old Xu, I had someone deliver a dose of medicine to your post. You know what you will be facing next, which is why I am authorizing you to command the final battle of annihilation. Across the three departments, only your seniority and prestige make you fit to shoulder this task. "If there's any personnel you need, name them, and I'll allocate them to you." Xu Chan replied, "Then I won't hold back. First, I need a few specific people: Nie Guanshan from the Government Affairs Hall, Yang Shen from the Pioneer Team, and..." Commissioner Liang immediately interrupted him. "I'm afraid those two won't be reaching you." "Hm?" Xu Chan was somewhat surprised. "They're unwilling? Or on another critical mission?" Commissioner Liang said in a heavy voice, "The intensity of this battle exceeded all prior projections. They have already fallen in combat." Xu Chan started, frowning. "Is that so?" Setting aside their individual combat power for the moment, their jin techniques were exceptionally distinctive. With those two present and properly coordinated, the success rate of this operation would have risen by at least twenty percent. Yet since that was no longer an option, he could only seek out others. He swiftly rattled off several more names. At this moment, another name suddenly crossed his mind—a young man who had made quite a reputation for himself in the bureau lately, supposedly possessing immense strength. Yet he shook his head inwardly. He had heard of the reputation, but he had never met the man in person, nor had they ever coordinated before; he simply couldn't feel at ease. Moreover, great strength wasn't necessarily a good thing; if an individual proved impossible to direct, it would only drag down the collective effort. Thus, the thought merely flickered through his mind before he dismissed it without mentioning the name. Even so, Commissioner Liang did not grant every request, as some of those individuals were currently protecting VIPs or standing guard in critical urban sectors. Xu Chan pondered for a moment. This lineup was barely sufficient, but it could not guarantee certain victory. He said, "I'll still need some support..." Commissioner Liang replied, "Aside from personnel I cannot reassign, you can request anything else you require." "Very well." Xu Chan didn't stand on ceremony and promptly laid out a string of demands. Commissioner Liang listened. None of the requests were simple, yet each was undeniably reasonable. He said, "Captain Xu, I grant all of these. The Defense Department has only one condition: resolve this matter before the next split wave." Meanwhile, Chen Chuan had spent the entire afternoon aboard the airship. Likely out of consideration for his rest, no messages had been forwarded to him. He stood beside the slanted porthole, looking outside. It was already dusk, yet the sky remained bright, and fissures could be seen flickering now and then below. Though he appeared to be admiring the scenery, in truth his spirit was extending outwards, sensing the movements of the world across the threshold. Since he did not know when the pure substance would arrive, and he had no intention of missing it, he had been waiting for the right moment. According to Chen Bitong, the pure substance dissipated and spread at extraordinary speed. Once it emerged, it would disperse across Great Shun and every corner of the world. Those who sensed it along the way would vie with him for it, after which nations and corporations worldwide would impose blockades. Therefore, he had to be ahead of the curve, and his actions had to be swift. The earliest window was an open gap during which no one would obstruct him, so he had to seize the chance and claim as much as he could. However, reflecting on it now, for Chen Bitong to pull off such an act, there were likely backers supporting and taking part behind the scenes. Those people probably knew what he intended to do as well. Thus, even if there was no active obstruction, there might still be competitors contending alongside him, in which case everything came down to individual ability. Sensing that the fluctuations were growing increasingly pronounced, he knew the pure substance was very likely on the verge of arriving. He turned away from the window and headed out to find Pan Xiaode. "Classmate Pan, my exertion earlier was rather heavy. I need a place to meditate in quiet." Pan Xiaode thought for a moment and said, "Classmate Chen, I have a quiet room here, originally prepared for fighters coming aboard for sightseeing. But we are in the sky, after all, so just refrain from any large movements." Having witnessed the state of Fengde District earlier, he had gained a vivid impression of a third limit fighter's destructive power. If Chen Chuan were to practice his strikes inside, this airship truly couldn't withstand the commotion. Chen Chuan said, "I only intend to regulate my breathing." "Then that's no problem at all." Pan Xiaode personally led him to a training room located in the middle of the lower deck. Though termed a training room, it also served as an observation lounge. Below, there was a circular opening about three meters across, covered by a sheet of transparent glass. It could be slid open, and when shut, one could look straight down at the landscape below. Once Pan Xiaode left, Chen Chuan sat cross-legged. By now, the ripples had grown even more violent. Knowing the pure substance could not be far off, he settled in to wait. At that exact moment, southwest of Center City on Mount Qingding—the site where Moshen Temple had formerly stood—the area was swarming with security personnel in helmets and full-body sealed hazard suits. Yet they were not the Center City Response Force; one glance revealed them to be private armed forces. In the middle of what had been the main hall of Moshen Temple stood only two people. One was a bearded elder who appeared about sixty years old. His face was lean and gaunt, his eyes shining with a lucid, piercing glow. He wore a foreign-tailored black formal suit, yet atop his head his hair was bound in a topknot of the old era, his hair and beard groomed with meticulous precision, not a single strand out of place. The other was a young man in his twenties, possessing refined, handsome features and long, slender limbs. He wore training robes, though an undercurrent of wickedness lingered in his eyes. He sat there casually resting both hands upon his knees. Clenching one hand into a fist behind his back, the elder looked outside and said, "Moshen Temple sits on elevated terrain in Center City, and it was once a major site of worship, offering an amplifying effect to your spirit's projection. "If the information is accurate, the pure substance will reach Center City in half an hour at most. Right now, no one should know that the sealed fissure there has been breached. "Chu An, if you manage to claim a portion of pure substance from this source, combined with what your family allocates to you, you will surpass your elder sister and that outstanding brother of yours in resource acquisition. Then, you might just catch up to them." The youth called Chu An looked up and asked, "Teacher, only 'might'?" The elder replied, "I have told you many times: post-birth potential assessments decide everything. On this path, they are destined to advance faster than you, even if they invest less effort. "However, when they slacken is precisely your chance to close the distance. Do not expect to overtake them in a single bound; so long as you ensure you follow close behind and do not fall behind the pack, you will have far more options when the time comes." Chu An said, "So long as there is an opportunity, I will seize it. But Teacher, I am curious—did you arrange for the person who breached the opening?" The elder remarked flatly, "Why would I do such a thing? I merely bought intelligence from a participant involved in the affair." "Breaching the blockades maintained by nations and corporations to leak pure substance across the entire world... that is truly daring. What could they possibly be after?" Chu An seemed somewhat amazed by such conduct. The elder seemed utterly dismissive of it. "Nothing more than ethereal, baseless ideals. Even if a rift has been torn open, what of it? In the end, that pure substance will only benefit some rabble. They will merely squander such resources, utterly useless for driving the world forward. "Enough, let the idle chatter end here." He turned around. "Now, I shall pass down a method unique to our Refinement School. It will allow you to better search out the pure substance from across the boundary. Prepare yourself." The relaxed air on Chu An's face receded, replaced by a slightly solemn expression. He rose to his feet and extended an open palm forward. The elder reached out as well, pressing his palm against his. When their palms met, a resonant hum rang out. In an instant, Chu An felt a surge of mental intention transmitting into him. He closed his eyes and sensed it for a moment, quickly grasping the method through the mental imprint conveyed by the elder. Clasping his hands behind his back, the elder said, "This technique of our Refinement School allows you to rapidly perceive the pure substance while repelling contamination, granting you the maximum degree of freedom from interference. "You must realize that the pure substance is not merely sustenance—it is bait. Those entities on the other side sometimes trace the pure substance to peer into our world. If the contamination accumulated within your body is heavy, your spirit will look to Them like a bright beacon shining in the dark of night. "Though They cannot cross over for now, it will inevitably become trouble in the future. By using this method, you can evade Their gaze. Well, the time draws near. The first batch of pure substance will arrive shortly. Prepare yourself." Aboard the airship, ever since Chen Chuan had sat down, his spirit remained cast into the world across the threshold, feeling the increasingly distinct ripples. Anyone else would have found it impossible to sustain this state for long. Whether drawing in quintessence through Lingming Reflection or simply touching and observing another world, contamination was unavoidable. Yet he possessed his second self, which could shoulder all of it on his behalf. After sitting quietly for half an hour, he seemed to perceive something—a fleeting flash of an essence. Prepared well in advance, the moment the sensation arose, his spirit surged toward it, wrapping around it in a flash. Simultaneously, he naturally tilted his neck back in the motion of taking a drink, as though swallowing something down. It seemed this was no mere mental contact or reaction, but something of tangible reality. As a moist, soothing coolness seeped into his body and mind, in this moment, it felt as though something had genuinely been swallowed whole.