At the headquarters of the Special Case Investigation Team, Director An Yuansheng had reviewed the investigation report from Li Fufeng and his colleague no less than ten times. He put down the report and rubbed his temples, thinking, “When this report goes up, those people above are going to have quite a headache.”
He was still suffering from the aftereffects of being bombarded with information. Just thinking about the future situation they would face gave him the urge to submit his resignation letter and apply for retirement on the spot.
… Even a supernatural martial arts system had emerged, with two subordinates demonstrating their lightness skills right in front of him. So accepting that there was a Lord of the Heavenly Capital from beyond this world who had practiced martial arts to the point of becoming superhuman didn’t seem so difficult. Then accepting that this Lord of the Heavenly Capital’s personal domain and all his followers had been destroyed by the catastrophe of Returning to the Void, and that supposedly every world had its day of entering Returning to the Void, shouldn’t be a problem either, right? Finally, based on facts and reasonable speculation, accepting that Blue Star was in a stage of spiritual energy resurgence, and that more extraordinary individuals similar to the Lord of the Heavenly Capital might return in the future, should be undeniable, right?
… As if they could accept it! Damn this spiritual energy resurgence!
— Did this mean that the world was about to become a runaway horse, galloping towards a future they couldn’t even imagine, and they didn’t even know if that future was good or bad, or what roles they would play in it?
An Yuansheng sighed heavily.
For an organization established by the national government, symbolizing social order and stability, such a completely unpredictable future was too terrible!
— But undoubtedly, in this world where spiritual energy was continuously resurging and they had no way to stop it, supernatural powers, such as the martial arts system, might become a dominant factor in shaping the future and determining the new order. People with supernatural powers would undoubtedly occupy higher positions in the future world and play more important roles in the new order.
Even future international situations might change due to the emergence of supernatural powers. Think about the Lord of the Heavenly Capital – if any country in today’s world had such a powerful figure, it would be tantamount to possessing another invincible nuclear weapon, but more convenient and harder to guard against.
Given the current situation, since spiritual energy resurgence and the emergence of supernatural powers were an unstoppable trend, the only thing Yao Country could do was to firmly grasp this power, seize the initiative, and prepare for all future changes. At the very least, they absolutely couldn’t be left with nothing while others possessed nuclear weapons.— Presumably, other countries that had received reports from their investigators were thinking similarly!
“Collect and organize all the martial arts techniques submitted by Li Fufeng and his team. Start by selecting absolutely trustworthy individuals within a certain range to try practicing, prioritizing selections from the military… According to the analysis, all the people in the Sword Realm were incarnations of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital. Since he generously passed on martial arts techniques to everyone in the dream and didn’t take them back or instruct against spreading them after waking up, he probably doesn’t mind, or even hopes for the widespread dissemination of martial arts.”
An Yuansheng twirled his pen, listing the upcoming plans one by one.
These plans were not a unilateral decision by him alone, but were agreed upon by the upper echelons of Yao Country, after obtaining analysis and deductions from experts in various fields, and finally reaching a unanimous judgment.
“Gather historians to conduct a detailed textual research on the ancient history of Yao Country. It would be best to find unofficial histories privately kept by civilians. Any details related to supernatural powers must be recorded, and can no longer be ignored as fabrications or folk legends like before… Oh, especially the period from 300 to 500 years ago. According to speculation, the Lord of the Heavenly Capital should be from that period, or at least, the time when he left with his followers should be between 300 and 500 years ago… Organize the history of that period in detail. Even if we can only find possible traces related to him, it’s a gain for us.”
“… Next, is to search for traces of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital. In today’s technological society, there are cameras everywhere, and it’s impossible for a person to completely conceal their traces. However, the power possessed by the Lord of the Heavenly Capital may be beyond our understanding, and it’s not impossible for him to evade the entire world… But we still have to try. If successful, perhaps we can sit down and communicate with him properly. According to the higher-ups, if he needs it, the country can even designate a piece of land specifically for him to establish a sect and accept disciples. Based on Li Fufeng and his team’s experiences in the Sword Realm, although his power has reached an inhuman level, the experts’ profile of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital’s personality still shows commonalities with ordinary people. In this aspect, we in Yao Country have an advantage over other countries, after all, this is his homeland…”
“— If we can really discover any information related to the Lord of the Heavenly Capital when investigating the history of that time, we might be able to play the sentiment card, which could be a shortcut to finding him.” For instance, if he had any enemies or benefactors back then, and their bloodlines still exist today, wouldn’t it be the country’s turn to step in? The Lord of the Heavenly Capital, wherever he is, would have to remember a favor, right?
After finally organizing the upcoming plans and distributing them to various departments, half a day had passed. An Yuansheng rubbed his temples and let out a heavy sigh, his face unable to hide his fatigue. “… I’m really getting old.”
Thinking about the martial arts techniques submitted by Li Fufeng and his team, which were said to strengthen the body after practice, he felt a bit tempted. He wondered if it would still be effective to start practicing martial arts at his age.
****
Li Fufeng had no idea that his superior was interested in the martial arts techniques he submitted. He was busy dealing with the aftermath of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital’s return along with his colleagues from the Special Case Investigation Team.
Now they fully understood the truth of everything.
The day when the sword shadow slid down from the sky was November 11th, the day of Hanguang Sword’s return to Blue Star.
This sword, which was said to have been severely damaged in that great storm hundreds of years ago, probably sensed something left behind on Blue Star by the Lord of the Heavenly Capital at the moment of its return from the sky, which led to the shocking changes in the five regions and the surging of spiritual energy that transformed into misty areas.
— With the concept of spiritual energy resurgence, scientists around the world, including Yin Xubai, no longer needed to obsess over what exactly the components of that mist, which was greatly beneficial to the human body, were. Without a doubt, this should be the legendary spiritual energy.
And those five mountain ranges were probably celestial spiritual veins. They had heard about concepts related to spiritual energy and spiritual veins in the Sword Realm, and now they were just connecting them to reality.
There was also a lot of information they had inadvertently learned in the Sword Realm. After returning to Blue Star, they were required to recall these countless times, ensuring that no potentially useful information was missed.
Most of this information seemed useless, and even Li Fufeng and his team didn’t know its value. But as long as they could remember it, when placed in the hands of true professionals, these scraps of information could be utilized without waste, and perhaps some very valuable intelligence could be discovered from them.
The information about the celestial spiritual veins was one such example.
When Li Fufeng and his colleagues inadvertently mentioned the concept of spiritual veins, it was immediately associated with the five mountain ranges, including Kun Mountain, by the experts. Connecting with other clues, these brightest minds of Yao Country could easily reconstruct most of the truth behind this anomalous event:
On November 11, the Hanguang Sword Master returned to Blue Star, activating the celestial spiritual veins of the five regions, transforming the spiritual tide into misty areas.
During this process, perhaps due to the overwhelming mental will of the sleeping Lord of the Heavenly Capital, people who happened to be near the five regional spiritual veins were drawn into his dream.
They “crossed over” into the Sword Realm that had not yet collapsed in the dream, meeting the original inhabitants who should have long been dead but were “reborn” and constantly reincarnating due to the Lord of the Heavenly Capital’s will.
Because the dream was so deceptive, these false people born in the dream believed they were the descendants of the original followers, having safely survived the baptism of Returning to the Void and lived peacefully in the Sword Realm for hundreds of years. Even the “transmigrators” were deceived, believing it was a real world.
They even spent a full three years in the dream. They interacted with those NPCs for three years without noticing anything amiss, even practicing martial arts and integrating into the dream world.
If not for the Lord of the Heavenly Capital’s awakening at the end, many “transmigrators” had already prepared to spend their lives in that world.
… Even Li Fufeng didn’t hold much hope of returning to Blue Star.
Therefore, when he fell from that dream world into reality, opening his eyes in the cold wind of Kun Mountain, finding himself still wearing the clothes he had on when he disappeared, he almost thought he had just experienced an incredibly realistic dream.
But the internal energy flowing through his body’s meridians and his noticeably stronger and more agile physique told him everything was real.
When he took the phone handed to him by Chu Xingrui and saw the date December 27 displayed on it, Li Fufeng was completely stunned, his thoughts in chaos.
… What was real, and what was fake? If everything was just a dream, why did he still retain some of his martial arts cultivation? If everything was real, why had only a month and a half passed in reality after spending three years in the dream?
Fortunately, Li Fufeng was among those with stronger psychological resilience, having previously experienced Adams and the inn incident. He knew that many things in this world were beyond common understanding. Some “transmigrators” who were unintentionally caught up in this anomalous event had much worse reactions than him.
People from other countries weren’t the responsibility of the Special Case Investigation Team, but Yao Country citizens were within their jurisdiction.
Comforting their emotions, assigning professionals to communicate with them, understanding their experiences, trying to gather enough information from each person, figuring out if they had gained any powers in the Sword Realm that needed to be treated cautiously, arranging psychological experts for some to prevent them from falling into depression after their dreams of becoming rulers in another world were shattered… and most importantly, discreetly probing each person’s character to identify if any of them might become uncontrollable after gaining power and challenge the established order. If so, they needed to prepare corresponding measures early on.
During this process, they also encountered some good talents with clean backgrounds, quick minds, who passed political vetting, and showed good martial arts aptitude. The Special Case Investigation Team naturally extended olive branches to them.
These various tasks should have been handled by multiple teams, but since Li Fufeng and Liu Ningshuang were direct participants in this anomalous event, other colleagues often had to seek their help when dealing with related work, which was quite overwhelming.
Moreover, the most headache-inducing aspect was that this incident had already become too big to be resolved simply by keeping the transmigrators quiet.
— From the moment that “I’m back” resonated in the ears of countless people in this world, the incident could no longer be kept completely confidential.
Although ordinary people still didn’t know the more in-depth information due to the unanimous agreement among various countries’ officials to block the news, just the fact that #supernatural powers exist in the world, and a being with such powers has returned to Blue Star# was enough to set the whole world abuzz!
— This was undoubtedly another matter for the Special Case Investigation Team to handle, although it was mainly Chu Xingrui’s department’s responsibility.
Under these circumstances, the two had been so busy for a week since their return that their feet barely touched the ground. Every day after waking up, they couldn’t help but touch their pillows and sheets, counting how many more hairs had fallen today.
At this time, the Yao Country Special Case Investigation Team headquarters had essentially become a 007 club. Among a group of balding wage slaves, an ethereal, invisible soul floated back and forth, curiously observing everything around.
And no one around could see his existence.
Naturally, everything here was unguarded against him.
The ghost named Adams passed through the crowd like a breeze, arriving at the familiar office — since the spiritual energy revival, the restrictions on him in this area had been lifted.
In the office, Li Fufeng, finally catching a breath during a busy moment, was sprawled in his chair resting. Across from him was Liu Ningshuang, looking dejected and lost in thought.
“Are you okay?” Li Fufeng poured a glass of water, pushed it across the desk to his colleague, his tone carrying a hint of worry, “It’s been a week, haven’t you figured it out yet?”
“Do you also think that since everything was just a dream, waking up from the dream is the most perfect ending, with no one dying, nothing lost, because it was all just a dream?” Liu Ningshuang didn’t drink the water, just raised her head, her tone carrying a strange mockery, “After all, who cries for those who die in dreams, who truly feels sad for things lost in dreams? Just waking up is enough, right?”
Her expression carried deep confusion and bewilderment. She didn’t need Li Fufeng to answer, just muttered to herself with a distant gaze.
“But I feel it wasn’t just a dream…”
… In her senses, those three years spent were real, and the girl who practiced boxing with her for three years was real too. Not just an illusion in a dream.
… If denying her reality, defining her as a false entity in a dream, that would be too tragic.
“I think so too.”
Li Fufeng leaned forward, placing his hand on hers.
“?” Liu Ningshuang’s eyes widened in surprise.
Li Fufeng smiled slightly at his colleague. “Many things don’t need such definite answers. Why must we determine whether it was a dream or not? Whether the people in the dream were real or fake?”
He removed his hand and leaned back in his chair.
“… The lingering thoughts of the deceased, after their death, were reborn in the dream of the Lord of the Heavenly Capital. In this way, they accompanied their lord back to the world of the living. Finally, after their wish was fulfilled, they disappeared without regret. If you’re willing to think of it this way, isn’t it also a perfect ending?”
Liu Ningshuang stared at him blankly. The ghost Adams, who had somehow perched on Liu Ningshuang’s shoulder, wore an identical blank expression. In their eyes was reflected the young man’s smile.
“— Who says the real truth can’t be like this?”
****
“… What a romantically fairy-tale-like explanation! If I weren’t the one who wrote this dream, I might have been convinced.”
Bai Yi, who had seen all this through Adams’ eyes, was sitting on a bench in an abandoned park, petting a cat.
He suddenly spoke to the empty air in front of him.
“… Speaking of which, aren’t those nightmare instances the same? Just a dream of the protagonist? The plot in the instance happened long ago, everyone has already died, and the protagonist is just the lingering thought of the deceased? As for the mission to clear the instance…” he said casually, “I guess it’s probably the last obsession of the protagonist before death?”
As he said this, the smile at the corner of Bai Yi’s lips grew wider. He looked at the unresponsive air, as if he had already received a definitive answer.
“— Isn’t Adams’ existence the best proof?”
We are currently recruiting. CN/KR/JP Translators/MTLers are welcome!
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/HGaByvmVuw
Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!
Use arrow keys (or A / D) to PREV/NEXT chapter