You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

Xuan Shui Zhenjun added at the opportune moment.

"Of course, reports must be supported by evidence or have clear leads. We at Qingwei Sect will verify the information and will never wrong an innocent person, but we will also never tolerate anyone using this opportunity to make false accusations, frame others, or mislead the public. If anyone is found to be causing trouble under this pretext, they will be severely punished!"

"Yes, yes, of course!"

"We understand that a report must be based on solid evidence!"

"Elder Xuan Shui, rest assured, we will never act recklessly."

Everyone readily gave their assurances, their attitude even more enthusiastic than when they had discussed the disciples' issue earlier. After all, this concerned their own safety and the possibility of tangible benefits.

Seeing that he had achieved his dual goals of deterrence and enticement, Chen Yang said no more and simply waved his hand.

Everyone felt as if they had been granted a pardon. After bowing again, they hurriedly left the meeting room, afraid of being called back if they were too late.

After everyone left, only Chen Yang, Huang Zhenren, and Xuan Shui Zhenjun remained in the conference room.

Chen Yang picked up the tea that had gone cold from the table, took a sip, and asked.

"Master Huang, Elder Xuanshui, how many disciples has our Qingwei Sect recruited so far? I only caught a glimpse of it when I returned before, and I saw that the mountain gate was bustling, but I don't know the exact number yet."

Master Huang stroked his beard, a proud look on his face, and replied.

"Reporting to the Sect Leader, since the sect opened its gates, as of yesterday, more than 4,800 disciples have passed the preliminary assessment and been officially registered! This is only after completing the basic registration and preliminary testing. More people will come in succession, and it will be just around the corner to break the 5,000 mark!"

Xuan Shui Zhenjun also sighed.

"Sect Leader, these are all promising talents who showed their cultivation abilities or strong desires at the very beginning of the spiritual energy revival! It is foreseeable that this group of people will definitely be the cornerstone of the future cultivation world."

Even if the spiritual energy becomes more abundant later and more people awaken, it will be difficult to surpass this batch in terms of first-mover advantage and initial affinity for spiritual energy.

Unless they are newborns born in an environment rich in spiritual energy, but even then, it would be at least five or six years before they mature.

Master Huang nodded in agreement.

"Elder Xuan Shui is absolutely right. Those who can 'stand out' at this stage are far superior to ordinary people in terms of talent, temperament, and opportunity. In fact, we have already reaped most of the biggest benefits of this first wave."

The rest, even if given to those sects and families, wouldn't be a big deal. Besides, as you've seen, Sect Leader, while there are still quite a few people coming to become disciples, the proportion who pass our increasingly rigorous comprehensive tests has clearly begun to decline.”

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang's lips curled into a meaningful smile.

"Oh? So, we've actually pretty much made our 'first pot of gold'? And the overall quality of our subsequent disciples has already started to decline?"

Master Huang affirmed.

"That's right. The first batch of people with the best talent, the strongest will, and the most favorable opportunities have basically been recruited by us. Although there are many promising talents among those who come later, overall, the average talent and temperament are indeed declining."

"Hahaha!"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang couldn't help but burst into laughter, his cold demeanor from when he faced that group of people vanishing completely.

"So, it's no big deal for us Qingwei Sect that I just agreed to keep the same conditions for a year, and even gave them the 'sweet soup' afterwards? Because we've already eaten the best 'meat'!"

Xuan Shui Zhenjun also smiled.

"Sect Leader, you are absolutely right. Our peak period for recruiting disciples is actually nearing its end. What follows is mainly about consolidation and training."

Let them compete for the 'market' of disciples who face intense competition and whose future talent may be relatively average. This will not only quell their resentment and avoid unnecessary conflict, but it also won't cause us any real loss. Why not do it?

Huang Zhenren added.

"Moreover, Sect Leader, by offering the bait of 'rewards for reporting,' you can also subtly warn those who might be restless and even uncover potential collusion with foreign enemies. This move is truly brilliant."

Chen Yang's smile faded, a glint of shrewdness flashing in his eyes.

"Excellent. In that case, our next focus should be on nurturing our nearly five thousand disciples! We must truly transform them into the wings that will propel the Qingwei Sect to future success!"

As for those outside... let them fight it out. Five years later, when the next generation of gifted individuals has grown up, we'll come back and reap the rewards!

Master Huang and Master Xuanshui exchanged a smile and responded in unison.

"Master is wise!"

Master Huang and True Lord Xuanshui accepted the order and began to refine the disciple training program and the specific details of resource allocation. The crowd in the square in front of the hall gradually dispersed, each going about their duties. The Qingwei Sect, which had just experienced rapid expansion, began to adjust to a deeper and more refined operating mode after Chen Yang's return.

Chen Yang stood alone in front of the hall for a moment, looking down at the mountain gate shrouded in mist and layered with palaces, his mind churning with thoughts. The influx of nearly five thousand fresh talents was both an opportunity and a heavy responsibility.

Truly uniting these diverse young people into a cohesive force and forging them into the backbone of the Qingwei School's future is no easy task. Fortunately, the core team has sufficient cohesion, and resources are temporarily in place, which is a good start.

Just as he was pondering, he heard footsteps behind him. Master Huang had returned, his face showing a look of seeking instructions.

"Sect Leader, although the noise from outside has been temporarily suppressed, there are countless internal affairs to attend to. Besides training disciples, allocating resources, and strengthening defenses as usual, are there any other priorities that need to be addressed?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yang withdrew his gaze from the distance, pondered for a moment, and then spoke.

“Resource accumulation cannot rely solely on sitting idle and depleting resources. The accelerated recovery of spiritual energy means that long-dormant opportunities are also rapidly emerging. Our Qingwei Sect possesses this mountain range and has a profound historical foundation, which may contain legacies that our predecessors have not discovered or were unable to unlock.”

He looked at Master Huang with sharp eyes.

"Next, in addition to consolidating our foundation, we must take the initiative and continue to explore the continuous mountain range to which our own sect belongs!"

Search carefully to see if you can find any hidden immortal abodes or ancient cave dwellings. Even finding some broken formations, scattered inheritances, or discovering a few more spiritual vein nodes would be a great supplement to the sect.

Master Huang immediately understood and nodded.

"Sect Leader, your insight is brilliant! This matter should indeed be made a regular practice."

Since the signs of spiritual energy resurgence became apparent, we have already arranged for our disciples to keep a close watch during their patrols. In the past few days, we have also dispatched several elite teams to explore deeper into the mountains, into treacherous and rarely visited areas. However, there have been no concrete reports yet.

Xuan Shui Zhenjun, who was standing nearby, also chimed in.

"Rest assured, Sect Leader, we have a contingency plan for this matter. Now that you have given clear instructions, I will immediately increase manpower and expand the search area, paying particular attention to areas that are mentioned in ancient texts, or those with unique terrain and unusual concentrations of spiritual energy. Any clues will be reported to you immediately!"

"Alright, Elder Xuanshui, you will be in charge of this matter, with True Man Huang assisting you from the side."

Chen Yang nodded in satisfaction.

"Remember, safety comes first. It's better to be slower than to compromise the safety of the exploration team, especially to guard against any ancient restrictions or ferocious beasts or monsters that may be lurking there."

"I will obey the orders of the leader!"

The two agreed in unison.

Having finished giving his instructions, Chen Yang didn't linger. He turned and left the main hall square, intending to return to his quiet pavilion on the back mountain to properly analyze his gains from this trip, especially the mysterious "World Spirit Pearl." However, just as he stepped out of the foot of the mountain where the sect's office was located, his cell phone vibrated. The caller ID showed "Jiang He."

Chen Yang paused slightly, walked to a secluded shady spot, and pressed the answer button.

"Hello, Jiang He?"

Chen Yang spoke.

Jiang He's familiar voice, tinged with suppressed excitement, immediately came from the other end of the phone.

"Chen Yang! We have important information! We may have found one of their 'strongholds' in China!"

Chen Yang's eyes narrowed, his tone calm but concerned.

"Oh? Where is it? And which family or sect is it allied with?"

"This time is different."

Jiang He speaks a little too fast.

"The location is deep in a remote, uninhabited area of ​​the Gobi Desert in the northwest, far from any known cultivation territory. This is based on our current intelligence."

This outpost appears to be highly independent, with no indication of direct cooperation or interaction with any local families or sects. It seems more like a covert base established and operated entirely by themselves.

"No man's land? Independent base?"

Chen Yang frowned slightly.

"How did you find it? They would definitely hide this place very well, making it difficult to reach with ordinary investigative methods."

"It is achieved through satellite positioning and the capture of special signals."

Jiang He explained, his voice carrying the certainty of a technician.

"Do you remember the black-clad corpses and armor you left here before? We've made a breakthrough in our research on that armor, and we've basically figured out its energy operation mode and internal communication protocol framework."

We've already extracted most of the research value from the armor itself. Although its built-in stealth positioning and status feedback module is no longer functional, we've reverse-engineered it and simulated similar signal characteristics.

He paused and continued.

"We made a bold attempt—taking a thoroughly researched and unreserved core module of a decommissioned armor and placing it in a controlled outdoor environment from the heavily shielded underground laboratory."

Sure enough, after a period of time, some kind of 'hidden mole' left in this module was activated, attempting to send out a very weak location signal, and soon after, it initiated a self-destruct sequence.

"Self-destruct?"

Chen Yang grasped the key point.

"Yes, self-destruction."

But we were prepared. The instant the signal was emitted, we deployed the highest-level military monitoring satellites and ground listening stations to conduct triangulation, pinpointing the approximate location of the signal before it finally disappeared—in that uninhabited area.

Jiang He's voice carried a hint of smugness.

"In the following days, we mobilized multiple remote sensing satellites to conduct high-precision, multi-spectral repeated scans and comparative analyses of that area, combined with some other intelligence clues."

Finally, faint traces of human activity and anomalies in the heat source of a suspected camouflaged underground structure were discovered. It can be basically concluded that this is one of their hideouts, and likely of considerable importance!

As Chen Yang listened to Jiang He's explanation, his fingers unconsciously tapped the tree trunk beside him. Reverse tracing, luring the snake out of its hole, then using high-tech methods to capture traces… the Special Administration Bureau's combination of tactics was indeed brilliant.

But he remained vigilant.

"Could it be a trap? A flaw they deliberately left behind?"

"The possibility is extremely low."

Jiang He answered very affirmatively.

"First of all, we discovered the armor's self-destruct mechanism and signal residue through extremely detailed microstructure analysis and energy trajectory backtracking."

Its level of concealment far exceeds the current level of conventional technology. It is more like a creation that combines ancient rune array principles with modern precision electronic technology. They are probably confident that we cannot crack it to this extent.

Secondly, the traces of the base we observed are highly consistent with the characteristics of long-term covert operation, and the camouflage is extremely sophisticated. It would have been impossible to detect without a highly targeted and meticulously planned reconnaissance mission. If it were a trap, there would be no need to make it so 'realistic' and costly.

Finally, our reconnaissance was conducted silently, without alerting the enemy.

After pondering for a moment, Chen Yang felt that Jiang He's analysis was indeed reasonable.

He suddenly thought of another problem.

"You just said that the research on armor is 'thorough'? And that their genetic modification project has even made a breakthrough?"

"Yes!"

Jiang He's voice was noticeably louder.

"We have not only mastered 70-80% of the materials science and energy conduction technology of the armor, and can start to try to imitate or even improve it, but we have also made key progress in the research on the 'gene activation agent' they use!"

By dissecting and analyzing tissue samples from the bodies of men in black at different levels, and combining this with the limited cooperation of several surviving individuals we captured, we discovered that lower-ranking members of this group generally used one or more specialized gene-modified drugs.

This drug is not simply an implantation of foreign genes, but more like a powerful 'catalyst' and 'targeted modifier' that can achieve results in a relatively short period of time at the cost of overdrawing some of the life potential and stability.

It significantly enhances the user's physical attributes and neurological responses, and even, to some extent, 'optimizes' or 'activates' certain cultivation aptitudes, allowing an ordinary mortal to quickly acquire combat power comparable to a low-level cultivator!

Chen Yang's brows furrowed even more.

"If this potion can be mass-produced and used, wouldn't that mean they can mass-produce an army of 'pseudo-monks'?"

"Theoretically, this is possible, but there are also significant limitations."

Jiang He explained.

"First of all, drug compatibility is a major issue."

It places high demands on the user's basic physical condition, nerve strength, and even mental will. Those who are not physically strong enough and are forcibly injected or ingested will either die from an explosion or suffer genetic collapse, turning into monsters.

We estimate that they also went through rigorous screening and preliminary training before a portion of the people could withstand the drug modification.

Secondly, while the potion does have an enhancing effect, it seems to have a 'ceiling' and its stability is questionable. The modified individuals may have serious deficiencies in potential, lifespan, and temperament, making them more like quick-fix consumables. (End of Chapter)