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

"Yes, yes, yes! It was that purple stuff! Like venom! It hurt like hell when it was injected into my heart! But... but then I felt like the stuff in my brain disappeared! It really was those people who helped us get rid of it!"
"They forced us! We dared not tell you, sir! Spare us! Spare us, sir! We were forced! We know we were wrong! Please give us another chance!"

Liu Shaolong also cried out for his parents.

"My lord! It's not that we wanted to betray you! We dared not! Those people were too terrifying! We had no choice! Please, I beg you, for we were coerced..."

What benefits did they promise you?

Chen Yang interrupted his pleas for mercy, his voice even colder.

Liu Shaolong's voice stopped abruptly, and all color drained from his face.

Zhong Fabai said sadly.

"They...they said...after they've dealt with you...they'll support us...to become the true underground leaders of Hainan...resources, women, status..."

"understood."

Chen Yang nodded.

His face remained expressionless.

"It seems that Lord 'Ghost Face Wind's' original essence has given you immense courage and loyalty."

This sentence is like the final judgment of death!

The five people were instantly terrified!

"Do not!!"

"My lord, have mercy—Pfft!!"

Liu Shaolong's desperate pleas for mercy and Zhong Fabai's desperate screams mingled with a muffled, drum-like bang!
Chen Yang didn't even give them a chance to finish speaking!
He moved!
So fast that it left only a blurry afterimage!

Fingers clasped together like knives!

Five golden threads, as thin as hair, yet imbued with terrifying killing intent and destructive power, shot out from between his fingers in an instant!

Like five bolts of lightning that streak across the void, deciding life and death!

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!
Five faint, yet soul-piercing hissing sounds, seemingly rang out simultaneously!

Five golden lines pierced precisely into the foreheads of Zhong Fabai, Liu Shaolong, Zhao Xiongcheng, and the two Sea Shark Society executives who were slumped on the ground in terror!

The expressions of the five people froze instantly in the last moment of their lives—filled with extreme fear and a desperate desire to survive!
Their movements froze, and the light in their eyes went out instantly, like a candle flame!
His body felt as if all his strength had been drained, and he collapsed limply beside the cold, dirty pile of waste.

Chen Yang didn't even glance at the five rapidly dying corpses on the ground, as if he had merely brushed away a few specks of dust. Having dealt with these traitors, he vanished like a phantom into the night, heading towards the city.

He needs to contact Qiuniu as soon as possible to see if there are any new discoveries regarding the Kangping Pharmaceutical Baicao Shenghui line.

# # #
On the way back to the hotel, my phone rang again.

This wasn't a special connection from the "Heart-Eating Gu," but a normal satellite phone ringtone. The screen displayed a unique encrypted satellite identifier—it was Xuan Shui Zhenjun, handling matters at the laboratory base overseas!

Chen Yang slowed down and stopped at a relatively quiet street corner to answer the phone.

"boss!"

The voice of True Lord Xuanshui came from the other end of the phone, hoarse from a journey, and filled with barely concealed excitement and eagerness!

"Good news! All the equipment has been debugged! And..." He seemed to be walking briskly, with the wind whistling in the background.

I'll send you the address right away!

The infrastructure here is excellent! The location is superb!

Deep on the edge of a desolate desert, nestled against ancient mountains! The locals are incredibly ignorant and backward! Forget research institutions, not even a research mouse would venture here! It's perfectly safe! Absolutely the perfect place for our reverse engineering research on core samples of genetic warriors and the immortals!

Xuan Shui Zhenjun spoke very quickly, clearly excited about the base's landing.

The "security" he refers to means excellent secrecy on a secular level.

However, for beings at their level, absolute "safety" is difficult to define.

Chen Yang listened, a hint of satisfaction appearing in his eyes. The ability of True Monarch Xuan Shui to find a suitable location and establish infrastructure in such a short time was indeed impressive.

"I received the address."

So, all the initial problems have been resolved?

Xuan Shui Zhenjun's voice paused for a moment on the other end of the phone, and a hint of solemnity and uncertainty seemed to have crept into his original excitement.

"Boss... the infrastructure and equipment are all in place."

This is good news.

However… there’s another part to the ‘good news’ I just mentioned… that might require your personal decision.”

His tone became serious.

Chen Yang frowned almost imperceptibly.

"What's the problem? Just say it."

Xuan Shui Zhenjun lowered his voice, as if afraid of being overheard by some unknown being.

"That's right. While I was exploring the geological structure of this place where the desert meets the mountains, I unexpectedly sensed a very ancient, very pure, and very faint fluctuation of the earth's magnetic field and water elemental energy deep in a very hidden fissure!"
That fluctuation... was completely different from ordinary mineral veins or springs!

He swallowed hard, his voice filled with a strong desire to explore and a sense of doubt.

"Boss... I... I suspect... that near this godforsaken place... there might... very likely... be a celestial abode ruin that has been sealed away for countless years! Or... at least a cave dwelling left behind by a powerful being from ancient times!"

My Xuan Shui lineage is most sensitive to the aura of water-elemental veins, and that feeling… it's somewhat similar… but not entirely… in short, it's too strange! I can't be sure! But this is absolutely a tremendous, unexpected discovery! You must personally decide the next step!

Chen Yang's eyes sharpened instantly.

"Ruins of a Celestial Abode?"

This information was far more important to him than a well-equipped laboratory!

"it is good.

Send me the precise address.

wait for me.

soon."

He hung up the phone. Chen Yang glanced at the coordinates of the vast desert edge marked with a lonely red dot on his phone's map, a place far away in a foreign country. He then looked up at the vast night sky.

next moment.

His figure suddenly shot up from the ground! He held nothing back!

Boom!!!

The terrifying sonic boom cloud exploded like a giant white lotus in the quiet city night sky! The trees on the street below shook violently, and the car alarms parked on the roadside went off incessantly!
People looked up in terror, only to catch a glimpse of a blurry shadow that seemed to tear at their vision, like a black lightning bolt defying gravity, trailing a long, distorted tail of flame that pierced the distant, deep sky! It vanished into the horizon in an instant!

# # #
Dry, scorching winds, carrying intense dust and the lingering warmth of the desert sun, swept across the vast gravelly Gobi Desert.

In the distance, endless yellow sand and the black silhouette of ancient, undulating mountains stretch out.

At the bottom of a huge circular valley, nestled against steep mountain walls, a modern base stands out like a sudden, unexpected formation.

The high-strength alloy frame reflected the last warm rays of the setting sun, and the massive radiation-shielding dome, like a giant eggshell inverted, rested over the core area. The silver-gray exterior walls were riddled with ventilation holes. Several high, protective electric fences surrounded the base, covered with vine-like, concealed monitoring probes.

Several oddly shaped heavy transport vehicles were parked on the large tarmac, their huge tail doors open, seemingly loading and unloading something.

Xuan Shui Zhenjun stood on the observation platform at the top of the main control tower of the base, his gray robes fluttering in the wind.

He looked at the miracle that had "grown" from the desert in such a short time, his eyes filled with pride, but also with deep contemplation.

He seemed to be silently sensing, beneath the desolate, lifeless desert stretching for miles, that unusual, ancient pulse from the depths of the earth that had once made his heart pound wildly.

Rumble...

High overhead, a deep, rapidly amplifying engine roar was rapidly approaching!
This sound was not that of an ordinary airplane engine; it was more like the sharp whistle of a plane that had forcefully broken the sound barrier at high altitude and then made a precise and rapid descent!

Xuan Shui Zhenjun suddenly looked up!

Look far into the distance!

Ten thousand meters above the ground, against the backdrop of the golden-red afterglow of the setting sun, a blazing trail, bright white due to intense friction with the air, hurtled straight down towards the helipad in the center of the base like a spear hurled by a god! Its speed was unbelievably fast!
"We arrived so quickly?!"

Xuan Shui Zhenjun's heart trembled violently!

He knew his boss was far more capable than he had imagined, but this... this speed across half a continent was simply too astonishing!
This is by no means a simple matter of physical flight!

He instinctively conjured a water-based shield in front of him to block the shockwave that accompanied the high-speed fall!
boom!!!
The blazing white light plummeted instantly!
A dull, massive impact resounded! The solid ground of the entire base seemed to tremble! A huge shockwave spread outwards from the point of impact, whipping up clouds of dust!

The dust and smoke dissipated slightly.

A figure stood silently at the bottom of the shallow crater created in the center of the tarmac.

Chen Yang's clothes were charred and torn from the high speed and atmospheric friction, and his face showed signs of fatigue from the flight, but his eyes were as sharp as a hawk's as he surveyed the modern base that rose from the desert!

He stepped out of the shallow pit, ignoring the flying sand and stones, and his gaze instantly fell on the face of Xuan Shui Zhenjun who was walking quickly to meet him.

"The base does look quite impressive."

He nodded slightly, his tone certain.

"You've gone to a lot of trouble."

But... now let's get to your 'problem'.

Xuan Shui Zhenjun respectfully led Chen Yang into the tower while quickly reporting back.

"Boss, look!"

This is the main control center area, containing the life support system, monitoring center, and supercomputing unit for material extraction and analysis!

Over there, in Zone C, is the material synthesis and processing plant that I modified using a special water refining method! Zone D is the energy core power supply array! Zone E... is the planned reverse analysis and sample storage facility for the genetic warriors' source material!

The core bioactivity maintenance chamber and molecular beam analysis system have been installed, and the titanium alloy armored doors are sealed... We're just waiting for your command to begin receiving samples for reverse engineering..."

The tower was brightly lit, with huge screens displaying various data and monitoring footage. People dressed in what looked like researcher uniforms moved about quietly, their actions efficient and well-trained.

The heavy alloy gates, the sophisticated electronic instruments, the huge culture tanks and test tube arrays gleaming with cold light... every detail showcases the extraordinary and cutting-edge nature of this place.

Chen Yang's gaze swept over these cold, technological creations, a barely perceptible hint of approval flashing in his eyes. He paused for a moment in front of a huge, three-story-high cylindrical transparent culture chamber, watching the eerie green nutrient solution and bubbles swirling inside, surrounded by a dense array of intricate electrodes and sensors.

"Security mechanisms?"

"Layer upon layer of encryption! Triple isolation: physical, energy, and biological!"

Xuan Shui Zhenjun answered immediately.

"The core area is unlocked solely by your and my iris scans, palm prints, and life force fluctuations! Researchers only have access to peripheral information; this is codenamed 'Project Deep Sea.' Internal communication uses a one-time physically disconnected secure link! It is absolutely impossible to remotely intrude!"

He pointed to the heavy, silver alloy gate surrounding the core biological research facility, which resembled a bank vault.

"Moreover, the material of this door was forged by me using Haitian cold iron and extraterrestrial star silver, making its physical protection and energy defense top-notch!"

"Well done."

Chen Yang nodded in agreement.

"You said this place is remote and safe, and that's true. It's so desolate that there's not even a ghost in sight."

They entered the main control room. The silver-gray control panel was like a work of art, with a holographic projection screen displaying intricate geological profiles and the base's three-dimensional structure. Xuan Shui Zhenjun skillfully operated a few buttons, and the huge image on the main screen disappeared.

He turned around, his expression becoming extremely solemn and mysterious, even carrying a hint of awe.

"Boss, the basic tasks you assigned to the base are about 90% complete. I invited you here in person... precisely because of that 'but'."

He took a deep breath, lowered his voice, and pointed his finger at a special geological sensor simulation 3D map on the side of the control panel.

That was a simulation of a massive canyon rift valley, nearly a hundred kilometers northwest of the base. The simulation was magnified to show the deep geological structure. Deep within the complex intersections of rock strata, a specially marked golden-red dot was pulsating and flickering extremely faintly.

Xuan Shui Zhenjun stared intently at Chen Yang.

"Right here! At least five thousand meters underground! My deep magnetic field and water vein probes can barely penetrate it, but they have captured and amplified this extremely faint anomalous energy fluctuation!"

It is pure! Rich! Ancient! Its properties and structure far surpass any natural mineral vein or cave essence I have ever seen in my life! Moreover… it seems to be mixed with some… indescribable, highly ordered residual imprint of will! Although so faint as to be almost inactive…”

His tone carried a hint of excitement that even he himself wasn't entirely sure of.

"Boss... My Xuanmen Shuizhen lineage has a long history, and I once glimpsed a fragment of its essence in ancient, fragmented texts... That aura... I feel... it feels somewhat like... the legendary..."

Chen Yang asked him to lead the way, and they arrived at a deep mountain. After Chen Yang and Xuan Shui Zhenjun arrived, they saw that there was actually an array here.

However, unlike the formations in their country based on the Five Elements, Eight Trigrams, and Qimen Dunjia, this area shrouded in a strange, distorted halo exuded a murky, cold, and resentful aura, clearly indicating some kind of ancient foreign formation or restriction. (End of Chapter)