Tracking into the Unrevealed

Four days after the meeting on the cruise ship, under Mr. Chi's coordination and arrangements, Noche smoothly entered the Jibei Dao convergence zone without any complications along the way. He had prepared several contingencies beforehand. If it really proved impossible, he would have forced his way through. As long as there were no martial artists on the scene, slipping past on his own abilities wouldn't have been difficult; he could figure out how to leave when the time came. Naturally, that was a last resort. Great Shun was not like the small, politically chaotic countries he had encountered in the past. It was a global power capable of mobilizing immense combat strength on short notice. Such a move was exceptionally perilous. Even if he ultimately managed to get away, the faction backing him might abandon him under pressure. Avoiding it was for the best. As for abandoning the mission and retreating outright, he had never considered it. Most of the resources he enjoyed were provided by the faction behind him, and his family remained in their grasp. Pressing on with the mission would keep them safe, whereas retreating of his own accord could bring ruin upon them. At present, following the map provided by Mr. Chi, he bypassed the garrison's sphere of influence, traveling through uninhabited wilds toward a location marked on the map. An airship departing from Shengu City would pick him up there, where the other two martial artists would rendezvous with him before they headed together toward the target's area. Terrain impassable for ordinary people posed no difficulty for him. Just two days later, he reached the designated area right on time. After waiting less than half an hour, an airship appeared in view—punctual to a fault, which left him satisfied with Mr. Chi's arrangements. When carrying out missions in the Sanmawojia Continental Association and the Chiluojiaduo Confederation in the past, what he loathed most was the locals' complete lack of punctuality, which had caused immense headaches for his operations. Fortunately, that was not the case this time. Once the airship arrived overhead, he grabbed the rope ladder dropped down from above, swiftly propelled himself upward, and gained a steady footing on the deck. Declining the crew's offer to handle his suitcase, he carried it himself as he followed an attendant to the upper-deck cabin. The other two martial artists had already arrived. One was a burly, middle-aged man with a book resting on the table before him. With his professional eye, Noche immediately recognized from the ornate cover and cursive script that it was an anthology of prose poetry. He knew this man hailed from the Convergence faction and went by the codename "Moon Rhinoceros" for this operation. The other was a tall, lean middle-aged man wearing sunglasses and bearing traces of Western Continent heritage. Codenamed "Tuner," he belonged to the Refinement School. Noche knew this man had deep ties to their employer, the Yuanren Company; while participating in eliminating the target, he was presumably also tasked with keeping an eye on them. Moreover, this man, like him, was a martial artist who cultivated the Visage of the Divine, so Noche took extra notice of him. Tuner seemed to sense his gaze. Turning his sunglass-covered face toward him, he said, "Mr. Noche, the airship needs to bypass several outposts to get there. The journey will likely take at least five days. If you need anything, just inform the onboard attendants. Lianwei Heavy Control delivered two active conscious entities, which are in the cabin below; you can go pick one out first." Noche nodded in thanks. While he had acted cold toward Mr. Chi, he was rather courteous toward fellow martial artists—all the more so since they would soon be cooperating as teammates, making it necessary to establish good rapport beforehand. The two were seated some distance apart, and he did not push in close either, instead taking a seat at a suitable distance along a curved banquette against the wall. After speaking to an attendant, the field screen in front of him lit up, and before long, it began playing an animated cartoon. The burly middle-aged man glanced over. Seeing anthropomorphic animals chasing each other about—wolves and sheep, cats and mice—a flicker of disdain surfaced in his eyes. Clearing his throat, he opened the poetry collection on his table and immersed himself rapturously in the elegant, enchanting verses. The journey turned out longer than anticipated, for the garrison in the Jibei Dao convergence zone was expanding at extraordinary speed. Perhaps to guard against elite squads of the Old Imperial Court, watchtowers had been erected across numerous remote areas. These watchtowers had vast observation ranges, forcing their spotter to detour well in advance upon sighting them. As a result, they were delayed two days beyond the original schedule, not nearing that uncharted area until the evening of the seventh day. From the airship, the spotter peered through a telescope at the garrison fort established here, confirmed that people were currently stationed inside, and reported the situation upward. These people posed virtually no threat to those aboard the airship. Furthermore, due to the distance, there was no telegraph here capable of relaying word directly back to the rear. The airship simply flew right over the fort, slaughtered all the convicts who had emerged to receive supplies, and smoothly seized the place. Noche and the others rested here for the night, made some adjustments to their previously drafted tactics, and set out the following day to search for their target. Locating a single person in dense woodlands was difficult, but their target was a martial artist; passing through any area was bound to leave traces behind. Moreover, backed by the Yuanren Company, they had brought along a rather special item that could help them track the target's whereabouts much more easily. Just as the three arrived, at a train station somewhere in Center City's Fengde District, Mr. Zhuan carried his suitcase into the convergence zone's underground passage. While waiting for the train to arrive, the mask spoke: "Zhao Zhenye might not make a move, but after all this time, if he's mastered the secret technique he wanted to cultivate, we might not be able to beat him." Mr. Zhuan said, "Impossible to be that fast. Thinking back on it later, he's probably refining certain esoteric legacies and incorporating his own power into them. His talent and natural gifts may be exceptional, but altering esoteric legacies meticulously refined by past generations isn't that easy." The mask said, "Let's hope so. I'm not worried about Councilor Chen; my only fear is some slip-up on your end. I said I'd come in person, but you wouldn't agree." Mr. Zhuan turned his head toward the depths of the tracks. "The train is here." The mask said, "Fine, fine, I'll shut up." With the sound of a whistle, a train pulled into the station. Mr. Zhuan boarded. Before long, the train started up again, rolling toward the convergence zone amid the rhythmic grinding of wheel hubs. *** In the unrevealed territory of the convergence zone, by the sea. Chen Chuan had stayed here for over half a month in one stretch. His progress with the Grand Radiant Light Forms and the Grand Firmament Forms had been rapid; he had completed ten forms of each. With just the final two forms left, he would achieve mastery across all twelve forms. However, the further he advanced, the greater the toll every mobilization seemed to take. If he had merely focused on cultivating one form, where only a certain portion of mutated tissue was prominent while the rest played a supporting role, the consumption wouldn't have been especially large. Yet every part of his mutated tissue had been tempered. Whenever they were set in motion together, while the power increased accordingly, the consumption naturally soared in tandem. Still, so long as there was an ample supply of nutrition and energy, none of this posed a problem. With this vast hunting ground beneath his feet—untamed for at least several centuries—his cultivation and consumption were fully supported. In truth, even if he went nowhere and simply stayed here, it was enough. Throughout this past half-month, prey drifted down from the upper reaches every day; he had no need to go hunting all over the place and could focus entirely on cultivating in peace. Savoring abundant nutrition and a steady supply of delicious ingredients while feeling himself grow stronger bit by bit was an immensely pleasurable experience for him. It was just reaching noon. Gazing into the distance, he saw a large school of sizable fish swimming rapidly through the river where it emptied into the sea, their dorsal fins leaving long streaks across the water's surface. Just then, with a boom, over a dozen massive, crab-like creatures burst from the riverbed. Their exaggerated pincers snapped shut around the fish, tearing them apart and stuffing the flesh into their chela-lined mouths. Chen Chuan showed an expression of interest. If he wasn't mistaken, these should be "giant stone crabs." For days, they had lain silent at the bottom of the bay without making a sound; even he hadn't noticed them, though that was also because they posed zero threat to him. These stone crabs possessed a special mutated tissue that toughened muscular mutated tissue and improved impact resistance to a degree. Although he had external conditioning jin to rely on, he would never turn down an increase in impact resistance. Even if the boost was slight, progress came from piecemeal accumulation, and an extra margin of safety sometimes meant an extra margin of victory. With a release of his spiritual power, over half of the dozen-plus giant crabs feasting below collapsed instantly. Sensing that something was wrong, the remainder plunged into the water and scurried away. Chen Chuan had no intention of driving them to extinction, only taking enough for his own use. Light flickered in his eyes, and with a whoosh, the prismatic stone hovering beside him shot forward. Driven by sufficient spiritual power, this object could be extraordinarily fast, though it required prior buildup and preparation—an opportunity hard to find in fast-paced combat. No matter; he felt it still possessed untapped potential and could be developed gradually. As the prismatic stone flew out, the shells of those large stone crabs were sliced cleanly open, splitting into several pieces. As he walked closer, clumps of transparent, gelatinous matter rose instantly from the water's surface and floated toward him. While still airborne, they dispersed into mist and integrated into his body. Applying this substance directly to the body was actually more effective, but he found that bothersome. There was plenty of it anyway, and the first use yielded the most prominent effect, with subsequent uses doing little, so there was no need to be overly meticulous. After absorbing them, he didn't let the remaining ingredients go to waste. Going up to collect some snow-white crab meat, he cooked it and enjoyed a hearty meal with Chaoming. Yet right as he was savoring the delicacy, he once again sensed that gaze directed at him. His eyes flashed, and in that instant, the prismatic stone hovering beside him darted toward that spot with a sudden whoosh! …… ……