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Over an hour later, an off-road vehicle came to a stop at the foot of Mount Qingding. Chen Chuan and Chang Dong stepped out. "This place might be suitable," Chen Chuan said. Chang Dong looked up, then surveyed their surroundings. "It's quite secluded and the terrain is high. Looks pretty good. Come on, let's head up and take a look." The two climbed the stone stairs to the summit of Mount Qingding. Chen Chuan said, "This is the Moshen Temple I mentioned." Chang Dong inspected it and remarked, "Judging by the style, worship here must have gone on for at least several centuries, right? Though the main structure looks like it was rebuilt in recent decades." He stamped his foot on the ground. "The materials are truly solid—sturdy enough to serve as a martial arts arena." Chen Chuan nodded. Moshen Temple had originally possessed an inheritance of fighters. Previously, he and Sancheng Huang had sparred here; despite being a contest between two third-limit fighters, the surrounding ground had remained remarkably intact, proving that a great deal of special materials had been used in its construction. Chang Dong was in no hurry to go inside. Standing there, he gazed into the distance and realized that more than half of Center City was visible from this vantage point. This had to be one of the highest elevations in the entire city. "It really is quite good," he said. "Looking at this alone, it's very suitable as a station. However..." He glanced at the main hall and walked inside. Once within, he looked up at the statue of Moshen and said suddenly, "The inside is empty." Chen Chuan followed his gaze. Chang Dong was clearly not referring to the statue itself. And "empty" was relative to "occupied." Chen Chuan asked, "Mister Chang, are you saying there was something inside before?" Chang Dong nodded. "Many places still retain traditions of worshipping deities. During the Period of Cold Silence, such worship is merely a spiritual and emotional solace, but during the Period of Flux, certain entities can truly manifest. "Some of them came over from the opposite world through fissures in the past, while others were born in our native world as the two worlds drew closer together. There should have once been such an entity inside this statue..." Chen Chuan was not surprised. After all, he frequently dealt with urban legends and anomalies, and could even be considered something of an expert in that regard. Such phenomena were often tied to religion and rituals. Chang Dong stepped forward a few paces, examined the incense on the altar table, and rubbed some between his fingers. "Mind-focusing incense. In the past few months, someone must have attempted to gather mental energy here. Perhaps because of that, the entity inside was taken away. When an entity that has long received offerings senses that its dwelling place is no longer secure, it sometimes follows the incense smoke." "The past few months..." Chen Chuan looked at the segment of incense and could not help recalling the time three months ago when the Heavenly Gate opened. He turned and asked, "Mister Chang, will this cause any issues?" "Hard to say," Chang Dong replied, looking at the statue. "Perhaps only those who made offerings back then know." After observing it for a moment, he turned around. "This place is reasonably suitable, but we are the Purist Faction after all. Using an old religious site as a stronghold feels a bit inappropriate. Besides..." He patted his belly. "Acquiring this place and renovating it would cost a fortune. How about we check out some other places?" Chen Chuan smiled and agreed. After leaving the temple, the off-road vehicle drove across the city to the edge of Hongsheng District, stopping in front of a small knoll. This time, Chen Chuan brought Chang Dong to the place where Instructor Wu had once lived. "This used to be an open residential development area that was later completely abandoned. A Wuyi instructor of mine used to live on this hill. Well, he still resides here." Chang Dong looked over; all that remained was a burned-out ruin. "We won't be disturbing him, will we?" "I think he won't mind." The two walked up the knoll. Swept by constant winds over the years, not much remained. Chang Dong looked outward and said with certainty, "This place was once contaminated by something." Chen Chuan said, "I looked into the history of this land. Molan Company originally planned to develop a commercial district here, but later Molan ran into some trouble of its own, and people who came here inexplicably contracted a strange illness, so the area was abandoned once again." Chang Dong looked at the ground beneath his feet. He bent down, grabbed a handful of soil, and seemed to sense something from it. After a moment, he stood up and brushed off his hands. "Something was planted beneath here." "Something?" "Indeed." Chang Dong gestured in a circle. "It was massive—likely a plant of some kind whose root system spread across this entire area. If I'm not mistaken..." He stamped his foot. "There should still be cavities formed by the root network underground, along with residues, which is why it continues to affect the surrounding terrain." Chen Chuan asked, "What could it be?" Chang Dong shook his head. "Hard to say without seeing it, but it could only have come from the Confluence or a biological laboratory." He looked at Chen Chuan again. "Ordinarily, your Disposal Bureau should have records regarding this." Chen Chuan said, "I checked before, but it was too long ago and many files were sealed. My rank was too low back then to access them. I'll search through them again once I get back." Chang Dong waved his hand. "It doesn't matter if you can't find anything. That thing is long gone; this was probably just a cultivation and incubation site. This level of contamination has virtually no effect on us fighters—spending a single night in the Confluence exposes you to more corruption than a year here." He let out a thoughtful hum, seemingly calculating the pros and cons. After a while, he rubbed his belly and said, "I think this is the spot. It's secluded, spacious, and the contamination serves as a deterrent to ordinary people, functioning as a natural barrier. "Besides, no one has cared about this place for at least twenty or thirty years, so acquiring this land should be quite cheap, right? After all, the funds allocated from above are limited, so I have to pinch pennies." Chen Chuan said, "If there's anywhere you need help, Mister Chang, don't hesitate to say so. I am a member of the Purist Faction as well." "I can handle these trivial matters myself, Supervisor Chen, so don't worry about it," Chang Dong said with a smile. "Our fellow member should be arriving in a few days. Having her help me will be plenty." Chen Chuan did not insist. He indeed had plenty on his plate, and the faction's presence had never been about funds or premises, but martial strength. Thus, as long as he focused on training and raising his strength, that would be his greatest contribution to the faction. "Now that the station's location is settled, I have one more matter." Chang Dong looked at him, his tone growing more serious. "My trip here also carries a mission that I need to make clear to you, Supervisor Chen." Chen Chuan said, "Please go ahead." Chang Dong said, "I told you before that the branch our Purist Faction established here was nearly wiped out because of a certain target, remember?" Chen Chuan nodded. Chang Dong sighed. "That target was actually originally one of our Purists as well—a talent we held in high regard and groomed heavily. "At the time, he did some bad things, but certain high-ranking members of the faction tolerated his actions because of his talent and aptitude, believing that with proper nurturing, he could become a mainstay of the faction in the future. So they merely gave him symbolic punishments. "Yet he grew increasingly out of line later on, intensifying his excesses until many of his actions crossed the baseline of what we could tolerate. In the end, a team was organized to apprehend him." He shook his head and said, "You already know the outcome. The faction had taken him seriously, yet we still underestimated him. In that battle, the branch and the personnel dispatched by the faction were almost entirely wiped out. "Later, someone in the faction reviewed the engagement. Had he wanted to leave, no one could have stopped him back then. He deliberately exposed his own tracks." Chen Chuan's eyes flickered slightly; he understood immediately. If that was the case, it wasn't a desperate counterattack after being cornered, but premeditated slaughter. He asked, "What limit was he at?" Chang Dong said gravely, "Fifteen years ago, when he was not yet twenty, both his mind and body had already reached the complete level. With his talent, he might have crossed that threshold by now." Chen Chuan said, "If he could cross it, he must have had someone backing him." He recalled Chen Bitong. Even with someone of Chen Bitong's talent, lacking sufficient resources had prevented him from breaking through that boundary. Chang Dong said, "Setting him aside for now, because of how dangerous this target is, others in the faction are currently responsible for tracking and hunting him down. "What I want to talk about is this: because the branch was almost completely wiped out back then, the true circumstances remain murky. "Most of the bodies of our fallen comrades were recovered at the scene, except for one person whose remains were never found. Most believed he had perished somewhere else. "Recently, however, someone spotted traces of him. Through certain intelligence channels, we learned he might still be in Center City. We need to find him and find out what really happened." As he spoke, he took out a photograph and said, "This person." Chen Chuan took the photo and examined it. It showed a young man in his twenties with a long face, mugging for the camera and grinning broadly to reveal a mouthful of white teeth. He wore an unbuttoned, spotted orange shirt, looking like someone brimful of confidence and fond of clowning around. However, if this photo was taken over a decade ago, the man had to be around forty now. On the back of the photo was a name: "Tian Rui." Chen Chuan said, "I'll keep an eye out." Chang Dong said, "Mm. The Disposal Bureau should have an easier time locating someone. There's no deadline on this—fifteen years have already passed, so there's no rush. It's just..." He sighed. "We owe an explanation to the comrades who fell back then." Chen Chuan nodded. Chang Dong looked around and said, "Let's head back for now." Chen Chuan got into the vehicle and rode all the way back to his residence in Wuding District. Stepping out at the entrance, he bid Chang Dong farewell and returned inside. Entering the living room, he picked up the case of pure substance resting in the corner and carried it upstairs. He thought to himself that this pure substance should be enough. Yet while this issue was resolved, the matter of mental cultivation still required consideration. A fissure would be ideal. He had previously heard Senior Cao mention that secret caches existed out in the wilderness; those places might also harbor fissures. If necessary, he could search for one out there. Yet aside from that, another possibility actually existed. Setting the case down, he looked toward a corner of the room. There rested the Xuejun Saber, still slumbering. ... ...