With a shift of Chen Chuan's thought, the two hands of the towering silhouette behind him reached forward, five fingers spreading wide. Even though they were condensed entirely from translucent light, the palm lines across them remained distinctly visible.
The two massive hands tested a grip. He could clearly feel that this was an extension of his own body, and from them he could register every tactile sensation conveyed as the fingers moved.
Even the currents of air stirring in the room and the ambient temperature fed back to his senses with utter clarity.
Moreover, through the eyes above, he could look down upon "himself" seated below. In particular, the vertical eye in the center seemed capable of taking in his body and the surrounding environment from every conceivable angle and orientation, leaving virtually no blind spots.
It was an entirely novel sensation, yet it felt as though it were meant to be this way all along.
This was the spirit visage he had condensed, essentially a replica of his own self.
The primary purpose of a spirit visage was actually cultivation, but it could just as well be used in combat against others. In the terminology of the former state religion, it was known as the visage of the Dharma-protecting spirit official.
With a stir of his intent, a layer of flickering Spiritual Fire surfaced across the spirit visage. Because the spirit visage itself was so massive, the fire shone with dazzling brilliance and radiant splendor. It was fortunate that it remained seated; had it stood upright, its imposing majesty would have been even more overwhelming.
Now he truly understood why the former state religion had commanded such deep veneration in the past. Manifesting such external visages, complemented by resonant chanting and sublime voices, and backed by manifold wondrous powers, they were practically celestial beings descending to the mortal world. How could ordinary people not surrender in awed reverence and prostrate themselves in worship?
According to the manual, reaching this step marked the completion of the external visage. Yet this was merely an initial completion; from here on, continuous tempering and refining were still required.
In the end, the external visage could become even more lifelike, appearing just like flesh and blood if desired. However, this was not mandatory; the strength of an external visage depended solely on the depth of its refinement, and whether it physically resembled flesh made no difference to its combat potency.
It was just that in the beginning, the more closely an external visage resembled oneself, the greater the combat power it could unleash. After all, it functioned as an exact duplicate of the body the cultivator knew intimately, merely scaled up in size, making its movements and manipulation completely smooth and natural.
Once one mastered the spirit visage to full proficiency down the line, further possibilities opened up, allowing for other external transformations.
According to the manual's brief overview on this topic, the Visage of Man could undergo arbitrary transformations, but this required meticulous design and preparation beforehand. It was not something that could be altered on a whim. Otherwise, forcing such changes would produce nothing more than empty show, which would impair one's combat effectiveness due to unfamiliarity, rendering it practically useless for anything other than intimidating onlookers.
Moreover, based on the descriptions, one could only accomplish this after reaching a profound realm—at the very least beyond the Longevity View—which was why the booklet touched on it only in passing.
That mattered little. Such things could be approached step by step, and for now, it was not the main concern. The crucial point was that having condensed an external visage, he could now use it to advance the subsequent stages of cultivation.
The external visage was not pure flesh, but an intersection of body and spirit. As such, it was ideally suited to the environment on the other side, allowing mutated tissue to undergo continuous metamorphosis during cultivation, elevating the self until one reached the realm of "connecting the heavenly bridge."
Of course, this was merely the foundational principle. Actually achieving it required proper guidance, a suitable cultivation manual, ample resources, and a fitting environment. Lacking any single one would make walking this path exceptionally difficult.
At present, he possessed the cultivation manual and knew how to proceed. As for cultivation resources, he had already exhausted the gifts left by the three previous martial artists. Fortunately, he was based in Center City; though the Municipal Council was gone, the Government Affairs Department would take over responsibility for his supplies going forward.
Furthermore, for his prior deployments to suppress active conscious entities and beings from the other side, the Government Affairs Department had long since delivered compensation for his expenditures.
Without the Municipal Council, the Government Affairs Department could actually provide an even greater abundance of food and nutrients, as vast amounts of resources had formerly been squandered on unnecessary expenditures. These provisions would easily see him through this period.
Then came the cultivation environment. Generally speaking, one could choose to cultivate in the convergence zone or make a journey to the Ring of the World. He certainly had no time to head to the convergence zone over these next two months. As for the Ring of the World, ordinary people could not go there; martial artists had to be stationed there for long periods and sign much stricter agreements, though they would also gain access to more cultivation resources in return—Senior Wan was a prime example.
Fortunately, he did not need to do that. With the Xuejun Saber, he could slash open a fissure at any time, so all he needed was to step inside and cultivate.
Moreover, it was evident that the area beyond was situated near the Ring of the World; it was not overly deep, nor would he encounter anything excessively formidable. In truth, with the current power of the Xuejun Saber, he likely couldn't venture any deeper even if he wanted to.
He checked the time: today was July 22nd. The international investigation team would likely arrive by the end of the month, or at the latest in early August if there were delays. With not many days left, he could still make use of this free window to cultivate in peace.
After thinking it through, he willed the Spiritual Fire radiating from the external visage to retract.
At present, the spirit visage could not emit its own Spiritual Fire; everything it displayed came entirely from his true body. Consequently, despite possessing immense physical strength, its combat prowess had not taken a sudden leap. In a clash between martial artists, Spiritual Fire was a critical factor; without it, one lacked external protection and stood almost no chance of victory.
To endow the spirit visage with its own Spiritual Fire required completing the step of "connecting the heavenly bridge" and attaining the realm of the Longevity View. One could imagine what terrifying combat prowess a martial artist wielding such magnificent Spiritual Fire would command. Martial artists below that realm were simply no match for them—such was the case with the aberrant ghost, Protector You, whom he had encountered that day. And that hadn't even been Protector You at his peak; he had been fighting on sheer instinct alone. Prior to mutating, when his Spiritual Fire had been vigorous and bolstered by rich combat experience and skills, his combat prowess would likely have been more than double. That would have been entirely beyond Chen Chuan's ability to handle back then.
After quietly experiencing it a moment longer, Chen Chuan shifted his intent. The entire spirit visage dissolved into wisps of white mist, which were then drawn back and contained within his field.
Because condensing the spirit visage had consumed a tremendous amount of energy, he needed to replenish himself before crossing over to cultivate. Standing up, he left the meditation chamber and went to the cold storage room, retrieving some high-energy nutritional supplies delivered by the Government Affairs Department and consuming them simply.
At the same time, he checked the messages received from the Defense Department throughout the day. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he returned to the meditation chamber, briefly inspected the esoteric ritual, and then picked up the Xuejun Saber. With a forward slash, he split open a fissure and stepped inside.
Finding his footing amidst that radiant light, he willed the white mist around him to surge, instantly manifesting a massive silhouette nearly ten meters tall behind his back.
With his back to the fissure, he planted the Xuejun Saber into the ground and hovered cross-legged in midair, the spirit visage mimicking his posture in perfect unison.
Following the instructions in the manual, he silently sensed the omnipresent encroachment, guiding the spirit visage to absorb it.
This encroachment served as the necessary nourishment for this stage of cultivation, yet it was also one of the prime causes of mutation in martial artists.
In the parlance of the former religion, these were referred to as elixir toxins or defilements of desire. Religious rituals were commonly employed to resist and dispel them. The booklet he had obtained from Wan Song also provided remedies, primarily utilizing biotech-extracted drugs, injecting specialized nutrient fluids, implanting independent mutated organs capable of absorbing toxic impurities, or relying on relics to stave them off.
Because Chen Chuan possessed his second self, he had no need for any of these. Furthermore, by neither exchanging for nor seeking out such items, nor heading to the convergence zone, outsiders would only assume he was still preparing for the next phase of cultivation rather than having formally begun.
Amidst his quiet cultivation, time slipped by swiftly, and in what seemed like the blink of an eye, the end of the month arrived.
On July 29th, two airships arrived from the west, entering the airspace of Great Shun and charting a course toward Jibei Dao Center City.
On the gasbags of the airships was a blue-green circular insignia, centered around a purplish-silver slit bound as if by chains—the emblem of the International Joint Investigation Team.
The International Joint Investigation Team was formerly the International Oversight Team from the era of the Grand Alliance. In addition to receiving funding from various nations today, they had also inherited key assets dating back to the Grand Alliance, making them essentially the last direct successors of the alliance.
On this occasion, the investigation team had set out from Huansuo Island in the Western Ocean—one of the former headquarters sites of the Grand Alliance—and crossed the Western Continent. Because they held internationally authorized flight privileges, the airspace of all sovereign nations in non-wartime remained open to them, allowing unhindered passage along the entire route. However, along the way, they had also inspected and gathered defense conditions and intelligence from various countries' Center Cities, leading to intermittent stops. Having departed in early July, they only arrived at the Eastern Continent late in the month.
Members of the investigation team were personnel drawn from nations across the world who operated independently of individual states, including staff who had originally hailed from Great Shun.
In addition to professional investigators, this team included two internationally renowned martial artists.
Yet upon joining the investigation team, all members renounced their previous nationalities and official titles, no longer taking the stance of any single nation. Instead, they took maintaining the Ring of the World and protecting the people of the entire globe as their personal duty.
The investigation team had been dispatched this time because far too many defense and security incidents had occurred in Jibei Dao Center City of Great Shun in recent years, prompting their grave concern and scrutiny.
Over the past decade, the largest breach in the Ring of the World had occurred right in this city. During that span, it had also weathered a severe maternal reproductive fission incident, alongside the counteroffensive of the former Imperial House and reports of entities smuggling across from the other side openly appearing within the city.
Although these crises had been resolved, the Municipal Council had now been overthrown. Consequently, they harbored deep doubts regarding whether Jibei Dao Center City could maintain a stable political structure and governance. This concerned the stability of the entire Ring of the World. If their findings concluded that Jibei Dao could not adequately protect Center City, then under the international maintenance treaty co-signed by Great Shun, the city would be placed under long-term oversight by the investigation team.
If the situation proved severe, the highest tier of the agreement stipulated that the city would be transferred to international trusteeship until a stable governance structure was negotiated and established, and until international evaluations confirmed that the Jibei Dao government still possessed the capacity to maintain the Ring of the World before administrative control would be returned.
Although in practice such an outcome was unlikely to occur in a country like Great Shun, restructuring the city's management model back to its previous configuration was by no means difficult to achieve.
On August 2nd, the two airships reached the skies above Jibei Dao Center City, slowly descending onto the mooring tower in Weiguang District.
Chapter 940