Chapter 24: [Technique Transmission] Buzz Point (Part 1)

At last, having said what he wanted to say, Captain Ye rose in satisfaction, patted off his backside, and left. “I’m going out to arrange tonight’s mission. I’ll bring some food in on the way. Get some proper rest.”

Those words were directed at Chen Yi.

Tang Qirui saw the bloodshot veins in Chen Yi’s eyes and stopped disturbing him as well. He got up too. “Don’t rush yourself. There’s still Captain Ye, Pang Xiaolei, and the others. The few of them together can’t even match one of you? Take a breather first.”

“Exactly. You still have us. You don’t have to put yourself at the front of everything.”

Chen Yi smiled bitterly. He wanted to ask, When have I been putting myself at the front?

At the beginning, he had clearly never planned on doing that. How had the things he did without realizing it ended up so different from his original intention?

Also… could they maybe pay a little attention to the Technique Transmission function? Why were they looking down on it? Did they have any idea how long he had mentally prepared himself to hand over that function? How long he had struggled over it?

Chen Yi sighed, leaned backward, and lay straight down on the floor of the Scripture Pavilion.

Listening to the breathing of the Wang brothers not far away, one light and one heavy, Chen Yi slowly relaxed, easing his brain from its excessive pain.

At some point, he fell asleep.

When he woke up again, it was just as Wang Xiaosi had entered Qi Refining.

He was startled awake by Wang Xiaosi’s delighted voice. When he opened his eyes, he saw Wang Xiaosi get smacked on the back of the head by his brother, who gritted his teeth and lowered his voice. “Keep it down.”

“What?”

“The Sect Master is resting.”

“Ah, the Sect Master… Third Brother, is Chen Yi really the Sect Master? Then did he set down this sect doctrine? After you entered the sect, did you hear a voice constantly echoing in your head, telling you to turtle up, stop showing off, develop safely, and scale for the late game?”

“Cough!”

Before Chen Yi had even opened his eyes, he was already thinking he might as well never open them again for the rest of his life.

What the hell was this sect doctrine? I never set down any doctrine! Turtle up and stop showing off? Develop safely and scale for the late game? When did I ever say that?

But with that, Chen Yi suddenly remembered the expressions many people had shown after joining the sect—some stunned, some thoughtful, some indescribable.

They had some manners, so they held back and did not ask.

But this…

Just destroy it all.

Chen Yi rolled over and sat up, righteous and awe-inspiring. “Do you know what we’ll be facing in the future? Do you know what the sect’s mission is?”

He spoke so suddenly that the Wang brothers both shuddered and nearly jumped.

Chen Yi kept his face cold and used a universally applicable golden line. “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand even if I told you.”

He beckoned. “Come here. Let me check your physical condition.”

Chen Yi’s posture really did bluff Wang Xiaosi. Even Wang Xiaosan said, “Just the aberrations and bacteria alone are enough to wipe out all of humanity. I heard even more terrifying life-forms will appear later.

“Xiaosi, now that you’ve joined the sect and started cultivation, the road you’ll walk from now on is no longer the same as before. The sect will become the cradle for cultivating talent. The more we receive, the more we have to give in return.

“Accumulating strength now to face future disasters, growing as much as possible, and standing at the front when the day comes that something happens—that is our responsibility.”

Wang Xiaosi’s awareness was definitely not as high as his third brother’s, but he still knew what was good and bad. He no longer brought up the sect doctrine, and the way he looked at Chen Yi grew much more respectful.

He said, “My dad said that for a man, the thing most worth being proud of is being a husband and a father, and always having the ability to support everyone from behind.”

After speaking, he glanced at Chen Yi.

Chen Yi suspected he wanted to call him dad. In any case, it definitely could not be husband.

Good big son.

He rubbed his nose and crooked a finger at Wang Xiaosi. “All right, hurry up and let me check. I’m in a rush to go out.”

Wang Xiaosi smiled and leaned over. His gaze landed on Chen Yi’s eyes, which had suddenly turned pitch-black, and he could not look away. It was as if he had been drawn in and was sinking into them. “Your eyes…”

But Chen Yi quickly withdrew his divine ability. “Entering Qi Refining isn’t as immediately effective as I imagined, but it’s much better than before. You’re an infection source right now, so stay inside the Scripture Pavilion and don’t go anywhere. Keep cultivating for a while. I’ll check again when I come back.”

Wang Xiaosi asked, “Can I learn spells?”

“Go ahead and learn, as long as you’re not afraid of being sucked dry into a human husk.” Chen Yi deliberately frightened him. As he got up, he looked at Wang Xiaosan. “Third Brother, you’ve only just entered the sect too, and now you’ve run into this. Your foundation still isn’t stable, and Wang Pingyuan has only entered the sect for the first time. Stay here with him. If anyone asks, tell them I said so.”

Wang Xiaosan stood up. “You’re going to North Mountain? I’ll go with you.”

Chen Yi gave him a look. “What did I just say?”

Wang Xiaosan fell silent, deflated, and sat back down. After Chen Yi left, he kept glaring at his disaster of a younger brother. “This is all your fault!”

Wang Xiaosi was not convinced. “What did I do?”

As soon as Chen Yi went out, Captain Ye, who had received the notice, hurried over with a mess tin of food in his hand. “Eat first, then talk.”

Chen Yi shook his head. “Get me something convenient to eat on the road. I really can’t feel at ease about North Mountain.”

Captain Ye also knew the priorities. As if he had already prepared it, he flipped his palm over and showed him field rations. “Will this do?”

“Works.”

“Then we move out?”

“We move out.”

On the sect plaza, ten special action team members stood fully armed and ready to depart.

Straight-backed postures, matching uniforms, tactical vests that not only held peachwood daggers, Five Emperors coin daggers, black dog blood, and other items, but also carried [illegible] and [illegible].

Pang Xiaolei led one squad, looking high-spirited and confident.

Xun Shiming led the other squad, with a [illegible] slung across his back.

The combination of cold weapons, modern firearms, and mystical weapons already possessed enough killing power against all enemies humanity currently faced, including terrorists.

When Chen Yi walked over, everyone turned their eyes to him.

Counting Chen Yi and Captain Ye, this group of twelve was absolutely, at present, the strongest nonscientific humans on the surface of the earth.

All of them had assembled in order to respond to a bacterial colony that had only just emerged and had not stirred up the slightest wave yet.

Other people might say using a butcher’s knife to kill a chicken was overkill, but Chen Yi just so happened to like the feeling of using a lion’s full strength even when hunting a rabbit.

“Move out!”

Captain Ye shouted the order, took two sets of tactical headsets from Pang Xiaolei, and handed one to Chen Yi.

Chen Yi took it, studied it for a moment, then put it on.

Together with the combat uniform they had issued him two days ago, once he put the tactical vest over his body and laced up the mid-cut black combat boots on his feet, he had all the combat supplies the other team members were equipped with, aside from the [illegible]. Finally, he also carried a black sword case on his back, one hundred eighty centimeters long and thirty centimeters wide.

Chen Yi only felt that he was so handsome he had no friends left.

What man did not have a soldier dream when he was young?

After they left the sect space, night had already deepened. Most of the lights in the village had gone out. Some of the Watchmen Special Action Team members left on duty had already returned, while the rest were hidden beneath the night, silently guarding the village.

Chen Yi took a couple of breaths. He still did not smell the aberration stench, but this time, he had to go over at night and see it with his own eyes.

Chen Yi had never been careless about the dangers of this world, yet it was still impossible to guard against everything.

If something like this could happen beside him, then what about other places?

This world…

Was going to fall into chaos.

The road to North Mountain was hard to walk. The beam of the flashlight was limited, but Chen Yi never used the Light Spell for illumination. He wanted to save as much as he could. If he could cast Dust-Removal Spell one more time, he could clean away these bacteria that much faster.

He could not do anything about the outside world for the moment, but the bacteria around his own home had to be dealt with completely.

After circling around the grave of some unknown ancestor, they walked a little farther and arrived at the back side of North Mountain.

Chen Yi looked back in the direction they had come from.

A section of forest near the sect had been flattened. Large engineering vehicles were working through the night, planning to build a base there. After all, the inside of the sect was a separate space with no signal, which made work very inconvenient.

He had heard Tang Qirui had stayed up all night again last night. He did not know whether he would be working until late into the night again today.

The appearance of ancient bacteria was not abrupt. On the day he handed over the sect and met the top leader, Chen Yi had mentioned that the folded space hid countless bacteria that humans could not resist. This could not even be considered an invasion by the other side, merely a change in the natural environment.

It was just that back then, both he and the country had thought they still had time.

Drawing his gaze back, Chen Yi jumped down from a three-meter cliff and landed lightly.

He was at the fifth level of Qi Refining, and his physical strength and power could easily deal with the entire eleven-person squad behind him. Combined with Gale Legs, which strengthened his legwork, he could move through a dense forest like this with the lightness of a swallow.

Chen Yi walked alone at the front. As they approached the peach grove, he had already infused his eyes with his divine ability. Then, no longer conserving spiritual energy, he lit up the Light Spell.

It was like holding a small sun in his hand. It was far beyond the glow of a flashlight, illuminating every last detail in a circle around him.

“That scared me.” Captain Ye’s unserious voice came through the tactical headset. “Out of nowhere like that, it almost blinded me.”

Chen Yi looked back at Captain Ye, who was five meters behind him, and asked directly, “Want me to put it out?”

Captain Ye chuckled. “I just like it. Once I reach the third level of Qi Refining, no matter what, I’m taking this spell first.”

Hearing them talk, one of the team members asked curiously. Captain Ye explained, “When you use it on aberrations, it lands every damn time. Works better than freaking strong acid. The way the aberrations scream from the pain feels awesome!”

The surrounding team members all looked at the light in Chen Yi’s hand and practically drooled.

Chen Yi: “…”

Why did this operation feel different from what he had imagined?

Where was the thunderous momentum?

Where was the killing intent?

Where was the covert advance, like a sharp blade stabbing into the enemy’s heart, dancing on the edge of Death’s knife—the powerful synonym for heroes behind the scenes?

This was it?

Before he realized it, they had arrived near the pit.

Under Chen Yi’s divine ability, even in the dark, he could see the bacteria clinging to the surfaces of objects in this world perfectly clearly.

It was much better than when he first saw it that afternoon, which showed that the bacteria’s reproduction also required time. Even if this place was the source, it would not be so easy to send all the bacteria over immediately.

Early discovery and early prevention. That was good.

Chen Yi cast the spell over the newly appeared bacteria and arrived outside the pit. He craned his head to look, and sure enough, there was still the most inside.

This place really was a source.

How to manage it still required some thought.

Behind him, Captain Ye assigned the mission, having the team members spread out with the pit as the center to form a massive encirclement.

He especially emphasized, “Shoot birds. Kill snakes. Don’t even let a single grasshopper get out. The pathogens they’re carrying absolutely cannot be allowed to spread. That’s it. Spread out on site.”

No one answered. Before departure, the mission objective had already been repeated again and again. The instant Captain Ye’s voice fell, everyone moved like night owls, rushing toward their assigned positions.

Chen Yi glanced back distractedly.

Now this was more like the scene he had imagined.

“Squad One in position.”

“Squad Two in position.”

They were all cool.

Reports came one after another through the headset while Chen Yi stared at the pit, eager to give it a try.

He wanted to jump down and take a look, to study the source up close.

Footsteps came from behind him, the rustle of combat boots stepping on fallen leaves.

He turned back and saw Captain Ye following him.

Unlike the other young, strong soldiers, Captain Ye had white hair and an aged face. His body had even started shrinking with age, but his spirit was sharp and hale, like an ancient weapon, simple, powerful, and weathered.

He came to Chen Yi’s side and said, “I’ll go down with you.”

Chen Yi wanted to say there was no need, but after a second thought, he said nothing.

After he had more or less cleared the bacteria at the bottom of the pit, and more than half his spiritual energy had also passed, the two of them jumped into the pit one after the other. The pit, which had looked fairly large, instantly became cramped.

And it was not an illusion. Once inside, the spiritual energy here really was denser than elsewhere, but it was also different from the sect space’s spiritual energy. It was chaotic and untamed. Cultivators who absorbed this kind of spiritual energy had to filter and purify it. If they failed to handle it properly, once their cultivation grew high, they would suffer the legendary qi deviation.

This kind of spiritual energy was precisely the source of the current Spiritual Energy Revival.

Spiritual energy came from an alternate-dimensional space, and bacteria were like convecting air, arriving in this world together with the spiritual energy.

Very soon, they found a crack at the bottom of the pit. The spiritual energy was pouring out from here.

In Chen Yi’s eyes, a small amount of bacteria was pouring out with it.

As soon as those bacteria emerged, they adhered to the walls, continuously gathering and expanding. Once they reached a certain scale, they would leave this area and invade outward.

This time, Chen Yi did not even need to use his divine ability. Captain Ye had already sensed the difference in this area and asked, “Can we cultivate here?”

Chen Yi nodded.

This world’s spiritual energy was still relatively thin. Only those with the very best talent could awaken “superpowers,” but it did not yet have an environment suitable for cultivation.

Inside the sect, it was also because of that peach tree, as well as the Spirit-Gathering Array, that they had the purest, densest spiritual energy for cultivation.

However, as more and more spiritual energy channels like this appeared, although they would also bring more ancient bacteria, large amounts of spiritual energy had appeared as well. This was probably the best portrayal of fortune and disaster depending on each other.

Next Chapter >