Magic City.
In a little-known, gloomy place, several men in black cloaks were talking about something, their hoarse voices echoing through the darkness.
"We can't stay in Magic City anymore. Those Special Affairs Bureau people are like dogs. Wherever we run, they can find us."
"Then what do we do? Are we supposed to abandon the mission to open Pandora? The Ninth Seat will kill us!"
"No. At least, we can't open Pandora in Magic City now. Let's see if we can contact the Ninth Seat. If possible, Shenzhou might work too."
"..."
The men were holding a secret discussion in the darkness when a sudden sound tore through the air, followed by a tremendous explosion.
Boom!
Smoke instantly filled the spot where they had been standing.
On a raised platform, several people wearing monkey masks watched the spot. The shot that had just torn through the air had come from a person lying prone with a black sniper rifle. He murmured, "Target hit. Requesting permission to finish them off."
"Permission granted."
With that, he pulled the trigger again, and another tremendous report rang out.
"Start searching for suspicious persons. Those cultists won't die so easily. Remember, they're from the God-Binding Cult. Don't take them lightly." The speaker was a man wearing a monkey mask with gold-trimmed patterns. Holding a black staff, he stood on the platform and looked down at the spot.
The others vanished from the platform in an instant, leaving only the prone sniper sighing to himself.
"Sigh... If I weren't bad at close combat, I'd show you all what I can do!"
In the jungle, Li Chen sat resting on a large rock, watching the others fight. After using that move just now, he had been left drained.
It really is powerful, but it takes too long to condense. And it only worked because there's so much energy in the Secret Realm. I can't handle the mental energy it consumes, either. The experiment had revealed many flaws to Li Chen, but if he could eliminate them, only the advantages would remain.
It was powerful, took little time, and could catch an opponent completely off guard. Something so extraordinarily small could unleash such power; it was almost equal to a strike from the Looking River Realm.
Perhaps its power would continue to grow as he eliminated its flaws, but he would have to deal with them gradually. It consumed far too much mental energy.
He looked at Su Zhe, Jianping, and the others. Their training methods were all rather strange. Su Zhe was being chased and beaten by the Tree Demons as usual, while Jianping stood in place with his eyes closed.
Holding a blood-red longsword, Jianping was like a swordsman. He did not need to use his eyes to observe his surroundings. Every swing of his sword was as though he had seen the Tree Demons' attacks, cutting them down.
"Comprehension?" Li Chen had more or less guessed it was because of Jianping's talent. His talent allowed him to immerse himself in his own world, and those attacks were like trials within that world. As long as he dealt with them, it was equivalent to training, though Li Chen was not entirely sure.
After all, it was someone else's ability, not the same as his.
He looked over at Luo Lin and Meng Xi. They were hardly fighting the Tree Demons at all. Luo Lin blocked most of the attacks with Telekinesis alone, while Meng Xi had her eyes closed, as though she had fallen into a dream.
Li Chen shook his head and looked away. He got up and resumed his earlier experiments.
Before long, intermittent explosions sounded through the forest again.
On Student Island, Yu Qingnian and Faluo stood talking in the monitoring room. In front of them were feeds showing many of the students. It was unclear where the cameras were hidden or how their feeds were transmitted from the Secret Realm to Student Island.
Faluo was slightly surprised. "Is this kid's ability really that overpowered? He's only in the Dripping Water Realm, yet he can cause such a huge commotion."
Yu Qingnian smiled. "An S-rank ability. Did you really think I was joking?"
"S-rank?" Faluo was bewildered. He had carefully checked the names and talent ranks on the student roster. How could there be a student with an S-rank talent? Had his eyes played tricks on him? But that couldn't be right. If the academy had an S-rank student, it would surely have told the Sequence Users.
"Mm... The student named Li Chen was my student when he came here. And at the time, I didn't know his ability was S-rank either. The people from the Special Affairs Bureau had concealed the truth." Yu Qingnian adjusted his glasses and spoke mildly as he looked at the frail figure on the screen.
"Huh? Then why not make his ability public? That way, the academy would give him the best training environment," Faluo asked, somewhat puzzled.
But Yu Qingnian merely shook his head. "That's often how it is. Geniuses are more easily buried, and they face the malice of countless people."
"His talent is good, certainly. I also wondered before why the Special Affairs Bureau had changed his talent to B-rank. But I gave it careful thought. There are no more than fifty people in the country with S-rank talents, and which of those S-rank talent holders didn't wait until they had become a major figure before revealing themselves?"
"Danger is always present. Sequence Users may seem to be well regulated now, but there are still quite a few dangers. If a child with an S-rank talent were to die before growing up, it would be a loss not just for Canglan, but for the entire Xia Kingdom."
"Those monsters beyond the borders are already eyeing us hungrily, and now humanity is also falling apart from within. There will come a time when it all erupts. Until then, we can no longer afford any losses."
Faluo nodded silently. He naturally knew how much pressure the Strange Pavilion faced at the borders. The monsters in the black fog beyond them seemed endless. Only by relying on powerful people to guard the borders had humanity survived until now.
"Let all this remain empty talk for now. Once he has fully grown, it won't be too late to reveal his ability. The academy tournament in a year will be an excellent opportunity. Then we'll see at a glance whether he's a dragon or a worm. A powerful talent also requires a powerful heart, one that can push upstream." A faint glow flickered in Yu Qingnian's eyes as he spoke.
"I'll get going first, then. Those little brats have nearly wrecked the Secret Realm," Faluo said, rubbing his fists.
"Go ahead."
In the dim forest, Li Chen seemed to be holding a glowing sphere in his hand, but it suddenly transformed into a long blade.
Through constant experimentation, he had found many ways to control energy, such as the long blade now in his hand.
It was a blade formed by compressing a considerable amount of energy. It was extremely sharp and would not break. Because it was an accumulation of energy, he could disperse it and bring it together again, controlling it at will.
It could also become countless fragments of energy, floating in the air. With the slightest movement of his hand, they would become sharp blades, capable of piercing a human body in an instant.
Li Chen merely pointed a finger, and the enormous Tree Demon was instantly struck by countless blades formed from concentrated energy. It was terrifying, but it consumed a great deal of mental energy.