The next morning, the War God Palace issued an announcement: Shen Mu had subdued the King-Level Monster East Sea Azure Dragon in the coastal waters and tamed it, making the powerful King-Level Monster guard Bohai Bay forever.
The news caused another enormous uproar as soon as it was released. Some who had personally witnessed Shen Mu battle East Sea Azure Dragon even joined the discussion.
Before long, countless versions of the details of Shen Mu's battle with East Sea Azure Dragon spread across the internet. The most exaggerated claimed that Councilor Shen merely shook his body, and East Sea Azure Dragon immediately bowed its head in submission.
While Shen Mu had become a topic of conversation among ordinary people, he had already set out on a journey to understand heaven and earth.
This had also been Hong's suggestion—to let Shen Mu see the world and witness all living things.
Changshan City Martyrs' Cemetery was the resting place of countless heroes who had bravely sacrificed themselves during the Great Nirvana Era.
At its deepest point stood the most conspicuous gravestone, inscribed with: Tomb of Bohai Hero Zhao Chen.
"Bohai Hero..."
Shen Mu stood before his own gravestone from his previous life, surrounded by all kinds of floral wreaths.
Many people came to sweep his grave and lay flowers for his previous life. It was because of that battle that Kyoto Base City had avoided suffering a devastating blow during its early construction, indirectly saving hundreds of thousands of people.
Not many had the time to visit the grave, but someone always came every few days.
Shen Mu looked toward several nearby gravestones. They belonged to his parents, younger sister, grandfather, and others from his previous life. In the end, they could at least be considered reunited as a family.
Then Shen Mu borrowed a broom from the cemetery office and silently swept his own grave.
From the moment he had been born in his previous life, he had retained the memories from before his transmigration. At first, he had thought he had arrived in a peaceful and prosperous parallel world.
Though he had not been so outrageous as to speak at three days old and walk at five, he had displayed extraordinary intelligence at a young age and been hailed as a child prodigy.
After entering elementary school, he had imitated the transmigrators before him. While studying all kinds of knowledge, he became a literary plagiarist and fulfilled his long-cherished wish of becoming famous—until the spread of the RR Virus shattered everything.
During those years of Great Nirvana, aside from himself, who had awakened psychic power, all his relatives and friends died one after another. They perished before his eyes amid repeated life-or-death crises.
He had protected no one.
After finishing the grave-sweeping for his previous-life family, Shen Mu's memories finally came to an end.
In the end, Shen Mu looked at his own gravestone.
"Things are good now. They'll only get better."
Shen Mu spoke those seemingly contextless words. To outsiders, it seemed as though he was comforting this slumbering Bohai Hero, telling him that humanity had already established a new era and order.
With that, Shen Mu turned and left.
On the road that followed, Shen Mu's steps seemed much lighter.
Having seen the traces left behind by his previous life, Shen Mu felt as though some kind of shackle had been released from his body. Then he began traveling on foot.
The sun and moon revolved, and the stars shifted.
In just a few months, Shen Mu crossed mountains and rivers, plains, gorges, and vast deserts...
He visited perilous places where all traces of humanity had completely vanished, comprehending the most harmonious way nature and all living things coexisted.
By the end of December, Shen Mu had walked into the lands of Jiangnan.
Since ancient times, Jiangnan had been a place steeped in culture. Countless poets and scholars had left behind verses that endured for ages.
"The warm breeze intoxicates the travelers, making them mistake Hangzhou for Bianzhou."
Shen Mu stood before a tranquil lake. This was the once-famous West Lake, and the original site of Hangzhou.
The so-called Hangzhou City of Jiangnan Base City was not the real Hangzhou. It was merely a Satellite City named Hangzhou so people would remember the prosperity of the old society.
Changshan City, where Shen Mu lived, was the same. Before the Great Nirvana, it had been part of the outskirts of Beijing.
Shen Mu stepped onto the lake's surface. A layer of white frost rapidly spread beneath his feet, freezing the entire lake solid.
This was the ability Shen Mu had awakened after reaching Planet-Level: control over ice and snow, the same as Third Councilor Mohanderson.
As for the Azure Dragon Avatar's ability, it was liquefaction, allowing its body to temporarily transform into a liquid state. It was also a water-element ability.
According to some research reports from the War God Palace, once any War God who had comprehended an artistic conception became a Councilor, the power they awakened would inevitably share the same origin as their artistic conception.
As for War God-level warriors who had not fully comprehended an artistic conception, that was uncertain.
As a transmigrator, Shen Mu speculated that once one fully comprehended an artistic conception, the cosmic energy absorbed would mostly be energy corresponding to that conception's attribute. Thus, one's genetic energy and attribute would become fixed.
As Shen Mu walked across the frozen lake, an icy artistic conception swept outward. Gradually, sparse snowflakes began drifting through the air.
"Beep, beep!"
Suddenly, Shen Mu's communications watch sounded a series of piercing alarms.
"Highest Assistance Directive: an Advanced War God-level warrior is fighting within the Base City and has implicated ordinary people?"
After glancing at the date—December 26—Shen Mu formed a rough guess.
The next instant, Shen Mu vanished from the spot. Riding ice spikes beneath his feet, he shot toward Jiangnan Base City. Propelled by psychic power, he moved far faster than a first-stage Planet-Level warrior.
Jiangnan's central urban district, HR Alliance Plaza.
Amid the crowd, a tall blonde woman with blue eyes held a remote control and shouted sharply, "Luo Feng!"
"On a residential street beside the HR Alliance, I placed T111 bombs. The moment I press this button, tens of thousands of people will die!"
Not far away, a young man clad in a Black God Suit controlled sixteen throwing knives. For a moment, he was afraid to act rashly.
"War God Luo Feng, Madam Venina, please remain calm! Do not act impulsively!"
A group of security department warriors was evacuating the crowd and maintaining order. The middle-aged man in a Tang suit leading them hurriedly tried to persuade the two not to act impulsively.
"Luo Feng." Venina stared at Luo Feng intently.
"Either release my husband and me, or we will drag tens of thousands of people down with us. You choose."
Luo Feng's expression grew increasingly cold. More than a dozen throwing knives around him hummed as though he were hesitating.
The next instant, an extremely cold current suddenly swept across the entire HR Plaza.
In what seemed like an instant, an exceedingly thin layer of white frost appeared over everyone's bodies.
"Quite the nerve, using the lives of tens of thousands of ordinary people as bargaining chips."
Shen Mu's voice suddenly echoed across the entire plaza. Then a figure enveloped in ice-blue genetic energy descended from the sky.
At the sight of Shen Mu, the middle-aged man in the Tang suit from the security department immediately breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly said, "General Shen."
This form of address came from Shen Mu's position in the Chinese military.
Venina's expression changed dramatically. She had not expected Shen Mu to arrive first. After all, he was a powerhouse from the Limit Martial Hall. This was serious trouble.
"Councilor Shen, we had no choice. That Luo Feng openly violated the War God Palace's regulations within the Base City..." Venina began explaining stiffly.
Before she could finish, Shen Mu interrupted her. "Hand over the bomb remote."
There seemed to be a strange magic in his indifferent voice. Venina's expression instantly went blank, and she released the remote she had been gripping tightly.
The remote then floated directly up and landed before Shen Mu.
Only then did Venina regain her senses, but it was already too late.
"Venina, you have violated the War God Palace's first prohibition. As a Councilor of the War God Palace, I have the authority to execute you on the spot."
Shen Mu expressionlessly made a light beckoning gesture. An ice spike condensed in midair, then transformed into an ice-blue streak of light that instantly pierced through Venina's brow.
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