Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

In Tokyo, at the Disaster Countermeasures Agency, Oda Ichiro, after reading the conditions sent by various countries, stood up in anger and cursed, "Baka yarou! These damned bastards, saying they'd help our island nation, they're clearly a bunch of robbers!"

An official nearby whispered, "Lord Oda, given the current situation in the island nation, I'm afraid we are unable to suppress the beast tide in Tokyo Bay."

Oda Ichiro angrily retorted, "Idiot, are you questioning the Empire's incompetence?"

Upon hearing this, the official was so frightened that he immediately lowered his head and said, "This subordinate dares not."

Slap, slap, Oda Ichiro was still not satisfied. He cursed and raised his hand to slap the official's face twice in succession.

The official, his face bruised and swollen, stood up straight and bowed again, saying, "Hi!"

Fujiwara no Kyoji, sitting nearby, couldn't stand it any longer. He slammed his fist on the table and shouted angrily, "Enough, Oda-kun! This is not the time for you to be angry. Doing this only makes you look incompetent."

Oda Ichiro's face darkened: "Fujiwara no Tsukasa, what do you mean?"

Fujiwara no Kyoji scoffed, "Oda Ichiro, is this how you talk to me?"

Oda Ichiro was startled. He immediately realized that this Fujiwara no Tsukasa was no ordinary person.

Their attitude immediately softened.

Fujiwara no Jiji didn't bother with any more words to Oda Ichiro. He looked at Tsukimi Riko and asked, "Riko, tell me about your discoveries on the seabed of Tokyo Bay."

Riko Tsukimi's face was pale. She said with lingering fear, "The creatures of the sea have been contaminated by the source of pollution behind the torii gate. These creatures are different from the mutated beasts on land; they don't have crystal cores within them. Instead, they are controlled by a kind of spiritual imprint, which I call 'Gate Imprint.'"

Fujiwara no Miyaji's expression changed: "Without crystal cores, it means that even if we kill these alien beasts, we won't gain anything. And if the source of pollution continues to spread, those marine creatures will be continuously controlled and launch attacks on our island nation?"

Riko Tsukimi nodded. "That makes sense."

After she finished speaking, her expression turned sour, and the mood of everyone in the meeting room became somewhat gloomy.

Oda Ichiro jumped out and shouted, "Then send out special forces to bomb them! I refuse to believe these creatures can't be killed!"

Riko Tsukimi's face darkened, and she coldly snorted, "No, if we force a large-scale bombardment, not only will it not have a good result, but it will probably also cause the seal on the torii gate to loosen faster."

Ichiro Oda took a deep breath: "Then what do you suggest we do?"

Fujiwara no Miyaji then took over the conversation, saying coldly, "Temporarily blockade Tokyo Bay and suppress the Sea Serpent Kin."

"Starting today, Ichiro Oda, you are being removed from your command position during the Tokyo Bay incident."

After these words were spoken, the entire conference room fell silent again.

Oda Ichiro suddenly stood up: "What did you say?"

Fujiwara no Kyoji looked at him: "Don't you understand? This disaster was caused by you stealing the blood mud from Crimson Cloud Ridge."

"Who are the people of the island nation criticizing now? Who is the international community watching? If you continue to sit in this position, you will only make the situation worse."

Riko Tsukimi looked up at Ichiro Oda and echoed, "This time, it wasn't the Dragon Kingdom that deliberately created trouble. Strictly speaking, it was your greed, Ichiro Oda, that harmed our island nation. You are a sinner against the country."

Upon hearing this, Oda Ichiro's expression changed completely.

He plopped down on the chair.

……

At the headquarters of the Ninth Bureau in the Dragon Kingdom, Elder Ye watched the latest video sent back from the island nation and said with a solemn expression, "The Gate Seal's relatives do not have crystal cores, but they can recover by relying on the power of the Gate. This is somewhat different from what we have in Crimson Cloud Ridge in the Dragon Kingdom."

Wang Jun stood to the side, his face grave, and said, "Elder Ye, if something like this appears in our coastal city, it could cause quite a bit of trouble."

Elder Ye nodded: "Therefore, the development of psionic weapons must be accelerated. Inform Director Zhou that the Mountain and River Seal Project will be launched ahead of schedule."

Wang Jun's spirits lifted: "The Mountain and River Sealing Plan?"

Old Master Ye said in a deep voice: "Investigate famous mountains and rivers, ancient battlefields, ancient tombs, underwater ruins, Kunlun Mountains, Qinling Mountains, Changbai Mountains, Shennongjia, East China Sea, and South China Sea."

"All of them have been included in the first batch of observation list."

Wang Jun immediately replied, "Yes."

Elder Ye then looked at Zhang Xuanling's information and said, "Also, have Zhang Tianshi organize the ancient books of Longhu Mountain. We need to know exactly how much our ancestors left behind."

In Nanjiang City, after receiving the message from headquarters, Zhang Xuanling looked solemn and took out a tattered ancient scroll from a wooden box.

Zhou Zhenshan glanced at him and asked, "What's this?"

Zhang Xuanling said, "I didn't fully understand the old collection from Longhu Mountain before, but now, considering the context of Chixia Ridge and Dongjing Bay, there is a sentence in it that is probably very important."

Zhou Zhenshan asked, "What did you say?"

Zhang Xuanling opened the ancient scroll, pointed to a line of blurry small characters, and said, "This record says that in the world we live in, there are nine mysterious gates between heaven and earth. Behind those gates is another world, where the beings hidden are neither immortals nor ghosts."

Zhou Zhenshan's pupils suddenly contracted: "Nine portals?"

Zhang Xuanling nodded: "What exactly this gate is is unknown. Blood Gate, Sea Gate, Ghost Gate, perhaps it's just one of them."

Zhou Zhenshan fell silent for a long time before finally saying in a low voice, "This world is becoming more and more unfamiliar."

Zhang Xuanling smiled wryly: "To be precise, it was only after the resurgence of our intelligence that we truly began to understand this world."

Zhou Zhenshan fell silent for a moment, realizing that his current fifth-tier strength was still too weak.

He looked at Zhang Xuanling and said earnestly, "Celestial Master, time is running out for our Dragon Kingdom. Our people need you, and they also need to cultivate as a whole to cope with future changes. So, in the future, we will need to trouble you a lot more to find the way forward."

Zhang Xuanling naturally understood what Zhou Zhenshan meant. Currently, the strongest human being was only at the fifth rank, so how exactly did he break through to the sixth rank?

No one knew the answer, but he said, "Don't worry, Director Zhou, this old man can still move. Our Dragon Kingdom will rise again."

……

In the Azure Lotus Forbidden Zone, on the Black Dragon Lake side, Chu Zhou didn't pay too much attention to the changes outside.

After absorbing the Blood Eye fragment, he clearly felt that his mental domain seemed to have undergone a change.

Previously, his perception was more about the life force, the flow of spiritual energy, and the strength of strange beasts.

But now, as his consciousness sank into the ground, he vaguely saw some things he had never noticed before.

They were strands of extremely pale gray silk threads.

Some are hidden deep in the mountains and rocks, some flow along the underground water veins, and some are like spider webs, appearing and disappearing if you are not careful.

Chu Zhou's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "System, what is this?"

The next moment, a system notification sounded: "Ding, unknown rule residue detected, suspected door imprint trace."

Door marks?

Chu Zhou immediately became interested. He hadn't expected that after absorbing the Blood Eye fragment, he would still be able to sense such a thing.

He began to sweep across the entire Black Dragon Mountain with his spiritual power.

They discovered that neither Xiao Jinbao nor Qingfeng had any marks from the door.

However, just as Chu Zhou's consciousness swept over the edge of the Spirit Spring Valley, his expression changed.

There, Xuan Ku was sitting cross-legged in meditation, and Chu Zhou sensed that a very faint gray aura was wrapped around Xuan Ku's body.

The aura wasn't strong, it was so weak it was almost negligible, but it was definitely there.

Chu Zhou's seven lotus leaves stirred, and he spoke, "Mysterious Bitterness."

Upon hearing Chu Zhou's message, Xuan Ku opened his eyes, quickly stood up, and respectfully knelt down, saying, "Master."

Chu Zhou asked, "Have you encountered anything strange lately?"

Xuan Ku did not hide anything. He said, "Master, now that you mention it, there really is something strange. This humble monk has indeed been having the same dream lately."

Chu Zhou became interested. Generally speaking, strong people rarely dream after breaking through to a higher level.

Chu Zhou asked, "What dream?"

Xuan Ku frowned and said, "This humble monk dreamed of a temple. The temple was very old, as if it had been abandoned for many years. There were many stone Buddhas in front of the temple gate, and all of them had their eyes closed."

Chu Zhou asked, "And then?"

Xuan Ku's expression turned somewhat solemn as he said, "They keep urging me to go in, but I have a feeling that if I really go in, I might not be able to come back."

In the underground ancient city, the strange rock that had been pretending to be dead suddenly spoke: "Human, you'd better stay away from that temple."

Although he gave a hint, no one outside could hear him. Chu Zhou smiled and said, "Little Shishi, do you know that temple?"

The strange stone snorted coldly, "I don't know him."

Chu Zhou said, "Your tone changed just now."

The strange rock roared, "When did my tone change?"

Chu Zhou, too lazy to waste words, said directly, "If you don't tell me, I'll have Xuan Ku go in and take another look tonight."

The strange stone immediately cursed, "Lotus Demon, you're truly despicable!"