After a thousand years of cultivation, he returns at the pinnacle!

Ye Wuhen returned to the capital on the evening of the following day.

As the special plane landed at the military airport on the western outskirts of the capital, dusk was falling. The indicator lights on either side of the runway illuminated in the twilight, like two rows of silent guides. The cabin door opened, the gangway lowered, and Ye Wuhen was the first to emerge. He wore the dark gray robe he had worn for three whole days in the Apostle's Hall; several tears at the hem were from sword energy, and the left sleeve disappeared completely below the elbow, revealing a bandaged forearm. Faint traces of blood seeped from the bandages, already dried, a dark brown hue.

His right hand gripped the longsword, now only the hilt remained. He had held the hilt for so long that the warmth and sweat of his palm had left a dark patina on the binding rope. Throughout the entire voyage from Kunlun Mountain to the capital, his hand had never left the hilt.

Zhou Tianze followed him out. His bare upper body was wrapped in a military jacket borrowed from the medical team, the zipper only pulled up to his chest, revealing his chest wrapped in bandages. In his right hand, he carried a long, rectangular cloth bag containing the two fragments of the broken spear. His left eye gleamed with a normal, human, moist light in the setting sun.

Luo Qinghe was the last to step down the gangway. Her right arm had fully regained sensation, and her fingers were repeatedly flexing and extending at her side, as if confirming that this regained touch was not an illusion. With each flexion and extension, her fingers trembled slightly.

Below the gangway, Chu Tianxiong and several core personnel from the Bureau of Special Management had been waiting for nearly an hour. The moment he saw Ye Wuhen and the other two descend the gangway, Chu Tianxiong's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something. But in the end, he simply stepped forward and lightly patted Ye Wuhen on the shoulder. The slap was so light it was almost imperceptible.

"It's good that you're back." Chu Tianxiong's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against glass. "It's good that you're back."

Ye Wuhen looked into his eyes, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "The sword is broken."

"I know."

"Zhou Tianze's spear also broke."

"I know."

"Luo Qinghe's hand is healed. Zhou Tianze's eyes are healed too."

"I know."

Ye Wuhen remained silent. He lowered his head, looking at the broken hilt of the sword in his hand, his thumb tracing the thirty-year-old wear mark on the guard. This mark was left thirty years ago, when he first held the sword. He was twenty then, fresh out of the Awakening Academy, full of youthful vigor, believing that this sword could cut through everything. Thirty years later, the sword was broken, but he was still alive. He didn't know if he had won.

"Let's go." Chu Tianxiong stepped aside to make way, "We'll talk in the car."

The convoy drove out of the airport and onto the highway. Chu Tianxiong and Ye Wuhen sat in the back seat of the middle car, Zhou Tianze sat in the front passenger seat, and Luo Qinghe sat on the other side by the window. The car was well soundproofed, blocking out the sounds of the wind and traffic, leaving only the faint hum of the air conditioning vents.

Ye Wuhen leaned back in his chair, his eyes closed. His right hand was still gripping the hilt of the broken sword, his thumb repeatedly rubbing the worn mark on the guard.

"Who is he?" he suddenly asked.

Chu Tianxiong didn't answer immediately. He took a thick file folder from the front storage compartment and handed it to Ye Wuhen. The folder was sealed with the red seal of the Bureau of Extraordinary Management, and next to the seal was a line of handwritten small print: "Top Secret. Access restricted to S-level and above."

Ye Wuhen opened his eyes and took the file folder. He removed his thumb from the hilt of his sword, untied the cotton thread sealing the folder, and pulled out a thick stack of documents. On top was a photocopy of a student record. The boy in the photo was seventeen, wearing a white shirt, with handsome features and gentle eyes. Next to it was brief personal information: Jiang Chen, male, seventeen years old, student in Class 5, Grade 12 at Jiangzhou College. Father: Jiang Tianyi, security guard in a residential area in northern Jiangzhou. Mother: Jiang Xueqin, housewife, who had previously sold vegetables and worked in a textile factory.

He turned to the second page.

This page is a copy of the Awakening Day test report. He could understand every single piece of data on the report. Spiritual Power Fluctuation Value: Zero. Talent Attribute: None. Awakening Level: None. Overall Assessment: The world's first case of a person without abilities. In the lower right corner of the report were three signatures: the tester, the reviewer, and the principal of Jiangzhou Academy. Next to the principal's signature, a line of small print was written in pen: "This result has been repeatedly verified and is confirmed to be correct."

Ye Wuhen's gaze lingered on that line of small print for three seconds.

"The powerless." He repeated the three words.

"Yes." Chu Tianxiong's voice came from the side, "The first case in the world. On Awakening Day, this news became a trending topic worldwide."

"Then what?"

"Then, a month later, he killed Astra on the hundredth floor of the Thirteenth Apostle's Hall."

Ye Wuhen continued flipping through the pages. The third page contained the investigation report on the Emperor Hotel bombing. The fourth page was the investigation report on the Liu family massacre; all 269 members of the family died overnight, with no residual spiritual energy or signs of combat at the scene, officially classified as an accidental fire. The fifth page was a report on the C-level monster incident at the training ground; the Black Scale Wolf was instantly killed by unknown means. The sixth page contained detailed intelligence on the failed assassination attempt by the Dark Night Organization; of the three peak A-level Awakened, two were dead and one was crippled.

He turned to page seven. This page contained a report on the arrival of the Apostles in the capital, featuring an aerial photograph taken by a drone: in the void, a million swords cascaded like an inverted Milky Way, with a boy in a school uniform standing in the center. Below the photograph was a concise description: "On October 19th, Jiang Chen killed approximately 100,000 Apostle vanguards and 23 Apostle giants of 30 meters in height above the capital. Time: Not recorded. Method: Sword Sea. Casualties: Zero."

Ye Wuhen stared at the photo for a long time. The posture of the young man in the photo, standing in the center of a million sword seas, was exactly the same as his posture today in the center of a ten million sword seas in the hundredth layer of the void. His right hand was raised, his five fingers loosely clenched, and his expression was as calm as if he were doing something he had done countless times before.

He suddenly remembered that earlier that day in the void, before Jiang Chen unleashed his sword domain, he had glanced down at his right palm. The movement was so brief, so fleeting, that the live stream camera barely captured it, but Ye Wuhen saw it. Because at that moment, he too was looking at his right palm—the hand that had held a sword for thirty years, now reduced to just the hilt.

Jiang Chen's expression remained unchanged as he looked at his palm. But Ye Wuhen noticed that the corner of his mouth twitched slightly.

Now, looking at this photo, he suddenly understood the meaning of that curve.

Jiang Chen looked at his hand, making sure it was still there. Making sure it could still hold a sword. Making sure it could still kill.

Ye Wuhen closed the file and shut his eyes. The car remained silent for a long time.

"Where does his power come from?" he asked.

"I don't know." Chu Tianxiong's voice was low. "The General Administration's intelligence system started tracking him on the day of his awakening, and they've been tracking him for a month, checking every single record he has from birth to the present. There's nothing unusual. His birth record is normal, kindergarten is normal, elementary school is normal, junior high is normal, first year of high school is normal, second year of high school is normal. All medical examination reports, all report cards, all social media posts—everything is normal."

He paused.

"Then, the day after his awakening, he changed."

"How did it change?"

"On the afternoon of Awakening Day, he was hit by an out-of-control car on his way home. His injuries were minor, just superficial wounds, and he was discharged after one night of observation at the hospital. But after that night, he was like a completely different person."

Ye Wuhen opened his eyes.

"It's a different person?"

Ye Wuhen remained silent for a long time.

What happened that night I was hit by a car?

"I don't know," Chu Tianxiong said. "The hospital's surveillance footage shows he stayed in his room the whole time and didn't leave. His mother came to pick him up the next morning, and his expression and actions were no different from the day before. But from that day on, he was different."

Ye Wuhen looked down at the hilt of the broken sword in his hand. He rubbed the thirty-year-old wear mark on the guard with his thumb again, then looked up and gazed out the window.

"I'm going to Jiangzhou...to see him again."

What Ye Wuhen and Jiang Chen didn't know was that far away in space, the Apostle Realm was also experiencing turmoil.