Chapter 407

Chapter 408: Ripples in the Calm

Yu Sheng’s idea won everyone’s support: after all, a man who could talk the Dark Angels to death had to be an expert at fighting the Dark Angels’ Domain.

Xuan Che looked into Yu Sheng’s eyes and asked with curiosity: “When do you plan to leave? If it’s only a nearby planet, there’s no need to use the Otherworldly Hotel. I can ask the City Lord here to arrange a Celestial Ship.”

Yu Sheng waved a hand and said: “No rush. We just fought those people in black and got a lot of new intel. We should rest a day, and I also have other plans. As for the Celestial Ship, I’d rather let Foxy run there directly. Let’s not involve that ‘City Lord’ in this one.”

Xuan Che nodded, then suddenly reacted and asked: “Do you think that City Lord is suspicious?”

Yu Sheng thought carefully and said: “Not necessarily suspicious, but I feel she isn’t very reliable. Since we landed on this planet, many things have felt off. Maybe it’s like you said, the City Lord of Ink City and the planet’s Youth Form Guardian Elder have gotten slack, so they missed the shadows right under their noses. But I still feel their slow response has another cause.” [Something here just doesn’t add up.]

Zheng Zhi tensed up and blurted out: “Did they already switch sides? What if that City Lord now works for Yun Qing Zi? Wouldn’t that put us in danger?”

Xuan Che shook his head and said: “It shouldn’t be that bad. Before I met City Lord Mo Ran, I set a Heart-Probing Arcane Formation around her. During our talk I kept checking her aura and changes in her Divine Sense. There was nothing wrong. Mr. Yu’s concern was something I considered in advance. But from what I saw, her cultivation isn’t high. Even if she’s good at hiding, it’s unlikely she could fool me that perfectly.”

Yu Sheng said slowly: “Either way, we should be as careful as possible here. No one can say how deep Yun Qing Zi’s Infiltration goes on this planet, and now we’ve found people from Holy Revere Hermitage have slipped in as well. The Hermitage Order believers hiding in Sentinel Silence can’t be just that one priest. We cut down their leader today, so the rest will definitely react.”

Xuan Che’s face grew mostly grim as he nodded.

Yu Sheng glanced around the room.

Zheng Zhi spoke up before Yu Sheng could: “I’ve reported our local situation to the bureau. I’ll file an add-on report about the Dark Angels in a bit.”

Immortal Yuan Hao said next: “I’ve already told our junior brothers to check who left the Grand Void Spiritual Axis for Sentinel Silence lately. Those two Immortal Foxes are likely not the only cases. If Yun Qing Zi’s ‘pollution’ really projected into the Grand Void Youth Form when the Demon Suppression Tower went out of control, many people were probably affected. If needed, we can issue a Five Sects urgent order and stop all Celestial Ships heading to Sentinel Silence so things don’t get worse.”

Yu Sheng nodded lightly. Hearing these arrangements, he felt much more at ease. [Good, that plugs the biggest holes.]

He let out a breath, stood up from the sofa, and said: “That’s it for now. Everyone’s tired. Get some rest. We’ll talk tomorrow.”

They rose to head to their rooms. In the middle of the room, Irene, who had been zoning out in boredom, saw the serious talk finally end and bounced up with joy as she walked over: “Hey, you finally finished. I was about to fall asleep listening from the side.”

Just then, Xuan Che was circling the coffee table on his way back to his room and wasn’t watching his feet. The 66.6-centimeter-tall doll was like a little stumpy gourd that you could kick by accident if you weren’t careful, and she stepped right into the coffee table’s blind spot. The next second, Yu Sheng watched, wide-eyed, as his eldest senior brother took a step and caught his foot on Irene’s head.

“Hey-”

Yu Sheng only had time to lift a hand to block when a bright light burst before his eyes.

In fact, the whole room lit up.

A blinding arc of purple spiritual light exploded with a “bang,” and a powerful electric field spread through the air, making everyone’s hair stand on end. A blast of Divine Thunder that even an Immortal would struggle to endure erupted out of thin air and launched Xuan Che straight up. In the glare, a figure flashed; by the time Yu Sheng reacted, his eldest senior brother was on the ceiling.

Half a second later, Xuan Che crashed back down.

Irene also tumbled from the huge recoil, rolled across the floor, then popped up to a sit and stared around in a daze. A moment later she realized what had happened and leaped toward Yu Sheng with delight: “Hey, Yu Sheng, my electricity discharged!”

“Forget your discharge!” Yu Sheng’s hair was still puffed up. He grabbed the little doll out of the air and stared in a cold sweat toward where Xuan Che landed as he asked: “Whoa, are you okay?”

Xuan Che struggled to his feet, still dazed. Yu Sheng called to him twice before he blinked, looked at the doll in Yu Sheng’s hand with a baffled face, and finally squeezed out a line: “Why did that happen?”

“I want to know too!” Yu Sheng was even more confused as he said: “When she bumps into us, it’s just a zap. How did you get blasted like half your life was gone?”

Immortal Yuan Hao had been watching closely. At last the Old Hunk spoke, eyeing his junior nephew, whose face had just recovered and was now half numb again: “Che’er, what realm are you at now?”

Still foggy, Xuan Che answered on reflex: “My Spirit-Form stage is complete, but I haven’t reached the Dao-Seeking realm.”

Immortal Yuan Hao stroked his chin and said: “Then the next big tribulation is still a ways off. But you can prepare in advance. Have your master stock you with elixirs and artifacts that guide heavenly thunder and strengthen the body. With your constitution, I can basically confirm your Dao-Seeking will trigger a Thunder Tribulation.”

Xuan Che blinked and said: “But my master said I’ll most likely face a Spirit Tribulation.”

Immortal Yuan Hao’s eyes went wide as he said: “Your master once swore he’d face a Worldly Tribulation. He prepared for ten years, then got struck by lightning for three days and nights on the road down the mountain. Do you trust him, or me?”

Xuan Che almost said he trusted his master. But after glancing at this Elder Senior Uncle, who had weathered many love tribulations and still kept a very upbeat mood, he swallowed his words (maybe it was also because he saw the doll hanging from Yu Sheng’s hand), lowered his head with an awkward look, and said: “I understand.”

Yu Sheng listened, dumbfounded. He didn’t really understand the ways of Cultivation, but he could tell this was a big deal. Still, he didn’t ask more, since they had already dragged out Immortal Yuan Ling’s black history. Asking now would have felt rude.

…

“That is the recent situation of the Second Unit. No major cases lately. Order in Boundary City is good. The key controlled Otherworlds are stable.”

Deep in the Special Affairs Bureau building, inside the Director’s office, Song Cheng stood before Bai Li Qing’s desk and gave his report, sneaking glances at the Director’s face as he spoke.

Her expression didn’t change much. As usual, the Director sat behind the desk with a perfect poker face, neat and strict like a carefully finished statue. Only when she gave an occasional nod did she show a trace of human warmth.

But as a long-time veteran of the Special Affairs Bureau who had worked with Bai Li Qing for years, Song Cheng still saw a little looseness and faint good mood hiding inside that tight look.

“How is Mistbound City?” Bai Li Qing asked suddenly.

Song Cheng straightened his gaze and answered quickly: “Exploration continues. Progress is steady. We’ve roughly figured out the pattern of entities forming in the fog and the active zones of most dangerous entities. We’ve set up forty-six ‘safe houses’ with matching exit points and built semi-permanent comms. Next, we’ll open exploration permissions according to plan for a few dense-fog blocks and most light-fog blocks, allowing more Spirit Realm Detectives and Investigators to help explore or collect resources in the fog.”

“Mm,” Bai Li Qing nodded lightly.

The office fell quiet for a moment.

After a few seconds, Song Cheng heard the Director let out a soft breath.

“It’s been very peaceful lately,” Bai Li Qing said softly.

“Yes, pretty peaceful,” Song Cheng smiled as he said: “Especially compared to earlier.”

“The only thing worth noting was that operation at the ‘Dark Little House’ a few days ago, right?”

“Right. It involved the ‘Ancients’ after all,” Song Cheng said with a nod. “Besides that, nothing major.”

They chatted for two lines and fell quiet together again, almost as if they were enjoying the calm.

Peace felt great. No one had suddenly opened a Door that cut across the Borderland, and no Dark Angels had fallen from the sky.

“How is the newcomer named Zheng Zhi?” Bai Li Qing asked, leaning back in her chair, a bit more relaxed.

“He’s been reporting normally and seems to be growing fast,” Song Cheng replied with a smile. “He got dragged, half clueless, all the way to the Featherwing star domain. Among all past rookies, that has to be one of the wildest internships.”

“‘Newcomers’…” Bai Li Qing murmured, almost to herself, as she said softly: “That’s nice.”

Song Cheng blinked, as if he wanted to add something. But his phone buzzed and cut him off. He checked it, and his face changed at once.

Bai Li Qing noticed immediately and asked: “Hmm?”

“Zheng Zhi just sent a message,” Song Cheng raised his head slowly, his tone complicated, and said: “On Yu Sheng’s side…”

Bai Li Qing almost instantly changed posture and asked: “Is he coming back?”

“…they ran into the Dark Angels again.”

Bai Li Qing: “…”