Wuzhou Group, Chang Sheng Gene, Tianshen Technology, Beidou Biology.
The major factions worked with the authorities to formulate a series of regulations restricting the Awakened.
Anyone who violated them
would face joint sanctions.
At the same time,
the authorities announced that, in response to the new era, they had begun preparations to build Five Super Cities across the country.
In the east, Shanghai City would be the center; in the south, Shenzhen City; and in the west, the Snowy Region.
In the north, Shuntian City would be the center, and in the middle, the ancient capital of Chang'an, with its thousand-year history.
These Five Super Cities would be completely open.
Everyone would be allowed to enter.
The aim was to protect the lives of more people amid the chaos to come.
Meanwhile, after a series of studies, the major factions and the authorities
had divided the Awakened's path of evolution into levels and stages,
to assess their strength and the danger they posed.
Lu Yuan took a look. It was exactly as he remembered, especially the classifications for the Awakened.
But he couldn't help doubting whether they could really protect more people.
That would be difficult.
Once the path of evolution had opened,
the authorities no longer had the power to control everything. Some problems were simply impossible to solve. There was no helping it—the changes had come too fast, and there had been far too little time to prepare. In an era like this, the only thing people could rely on was their own strength.
After browsing the official news, Lu Yuan opened a few forums to see what people were saying.
Almost every discussion was about the Awakened, and the topic was hugely popular.
Some people had even succeeded.
They posted to share their experiences.
For example, they went deep into the mountains to search for mysterious ancient trees and fruit.
Others suggested keeping an eye out for certain antiques.
In short, the theories were all over the place, true and false mixed together, with everyone saying something different.
Lu Yuan couldn't help shaking his head.
Wasn't it far from easy to embark on the path of evolution and gain extraordinary power?
For ordinary people, it was a rare opportunity. Just like in his previous life, it would take countless hardships.
Just as he was about to close the page,
he noticed several extremely popular posts that caught his eye.
People had started voting on who the strongest Awakened were under the current circumstances.
Five people had won by a wide margin.
And the netizens had given them impressively imposing titles.
They were Winged Sky God, Northern Emperor, Asura, Ice Fairy, and Southern Emperor.
Together, they were known as the Five Great Supremes.
Below the post,
there were also videos and pictures of these five Awakened, showcasing their fighting prowess and abilities.
Lu Yuan smiled and clicked one open.
First was Winged Sky God.
He was a tall, slender young man with silver hair falling to his waist.
He bore wings of wind and thunder and hovered in midair, arcs of electricity coursing over him. He had an otherworldly air.
In the footage, Winged Sky God fought a Mutant Beast dozens of meters tall. With a beat of his wings, wind and thunder surged forth, shattering the trees around him. Electricity enveloped his entire body, making him look just like the legendary Thunder God.
The Mutant Beast he fought was taken down in just a few minutes, its blood staining the ground.
Next was Northern Emperor, who, according to rumors, came from the north.
He was a man two meters tall, with bronze-colored skin.
His black hair was cropped short, and he was bare-chested, his whole body radiating strange light.
He fought an enormous elephant as tall as a building, armed with a pair of long tusks. Every punch he threw made the ground tremble.
Then there was Asura. Clad in black combat gear that revealed only his eyes, he charged into a horde of Mutant Beasts with a blood-red battle saber in hand, bringing slaughter and bloodlust in his wake.
There was also Ice Fairy, a woman in a white dress. Wherever she went, the world turned to ice and snow. Finally came Southern Emperor, whose bearing was as noble as the title suggested. His entire figure was hidden in light, and his methods were peculiar. Any Mutant Beast that came near him simply exploded.
Each of the Five Great Supremes was immensely popular and powerful.
People online were also arguing over who was the strongest.
Most thought it was Winged Sky God. They believed he was extraordinary and would become a true god in the future.
Lu Yuan even saw that Winged Sky God had plenty of fans, just like a celebrity.
Most of them were women.
They all said that Winged Sky God was not only powerful but also had an otherworldly air and a handsome face.
And every time he fought, he was protecting the weak. He had a noble heart, unlike the other Awakened.
Some people disagreed, saying it was all an image carefully cultivated for him, and that some faction had to be pulling strings behind the scenes.
That claim found plenty of support.
There really was a lot of information online suggesting that each of the Five Great Supremes came from a different faction. Winged Sky God was said to be connected to Wuzhou Group, though others thought that was just baseless rumor, with no solid evidence.
All in all, the Five Great Supremes were a hugely popular topic, discussed and debated everywhere.
How long had it been, and people were already daring to call themselves gods, emperors, and sovereigns?
Lu Yuan couldn't help feeling speechless.
If this had been his previous life, perhaps he wouldn't have thought much of it.
He might even have agreed with those netizens.
Because in his previous life,
he had been just like most people, looking up to those figures with longing in his heart.
But things were different now.
The world was only at the beginning of its transformation. The truly powerful had yet to appear or be born.
Even though it was only a video, Lu Yuan could still judge their abilities.
The five of them did have considerable potential.
But none had even reached the Awakening Realm.
To him, they were only a little stronger than the team from Chang Sheng Gene.
So after watching for a while, Lu Yuan closed the video and continued browsing.
Aside from those five, some netizens and authoritative organizations were also talking about creating a Top 100 List for the Awakened. But it was still in its early stages, so only a dozen or so people had made the list.
One familiar name was among them.
Young Celestial Master Chunyang of Longhu Mountain.
He was ranked in the top five, and people believed he could stand shoulder to shoulder with the Supremes.
Besides him, there were other strong contenders posting videos of their battles against Mutant Beasts to attract attention.
It was safe to say that in the three months he had spent in seclusion, the world had changed completely.
It now worshiped the strong and their power.
"The worst of times, the best of times—and an age that belongs to me!"
Lu Yuan turned off his phone and let out a breath. After seeing so much, his blood was burning.
Deep down, he was the sort who loved a fight. In his previous life, he had started far too late.
But this life was different. He had a whole new path ahead of him.
A path that would let him surpass everyone!
Next,
it was time to begin the next phase of his plan.
Lu Yuan had a ten-year head start. He knew how to gain the greatest advantage at the lowest cost, and he kept every plan tucked away in his mind.
Ring, ring.
Just as he was thinking, his phone rang.
He picked it up and saw that it was Old Master Ge.
Since Lu Yuan had helped the old man get his granddaughter into school, the two of them hadn't been in touch.
Lu Yuan knew what the old man was like. He generally wouldn't reach out first.
If he had, something must have happened.
Without giving it another thought, Lu Yuan picked up and answered.
"Hello? Is that you, Lu?"
"It's me. What's the matter, Old Master?" Lu Yuan replied.
"Thank goodness." The other end seemed to let out a sigh of relief before continuing, "I've called you so many times over the past few days, but you never answered. I thought something had happened to you. How are you? Are you all right?"
The global transformation had affected everyone. Old Master Ge didn't have many friends, and his relationship with his son and daughter-in-law wasn't good either.
If there was anyone he was fond of, it was Lu Yuan. Otherwise, he wouldn't have brought out his family's ancient book back then.
It had nothing to do with getting his granddaughter into school. It was simply a matter of friendship.
So when he learned that Lu Yuan was safe,
the old man felt happy, too.
"I'm fine. What about you, Old Master? Is your whole family all right?" Lu Yuan checked his phone.
He saw that the old man really had called him many times, once every day for the past three months. Lu Yuan had been unreachable then, with his phone turned off, so he hadn't received the calls.
So he asked after them in turn.
"I'm fine, too. We've moved to a new place. It's very safe."
As he spoke, Old Master Ge sighed. "It's just that my granddaughter is giving me a headache. She keeps clamoring to go out and take on the world with her classmates, to gain some extraordinary power. I can barely keep her under control."
"Oh? What has she been saying?" Lu Yuan smiled.
In his memories, Old Master Ge's granddaughter would go on to become quite someone.
"She said she saw online that Mount Li Imperial Tomb has changed a lot lately, and that it's an opportunity she absolutely has to seize."
Old Master Ge said it casually, then continued, "But it's so dangerous outside now. She's only a teenager, so I just locked her up at home."
Clearly, he didn't think his granddaughter could do anything in such a chaotic situation.
After all, for ordinary people like him, the only thing they could do was try their utmost to stay alive.
The so-called Awakened seemed a world away.
Mount Li Imperial Tomb?
At that,
Lu Yuan was slightly taken aback.
Then he calculated the timing. It was about right.
That was the resting place of the Ancestral Dragon, full of legends, and one of his plans as well.
He just hadn't expected the news to have spread online. But that was only natural.
Information traveled too quickly these days, and changes were happening everywhere.
Mount Li was bound to attract a lot of attention.
Soon after,
he exchanged a few pleasantries with Old Master Ge, then opened his phone and searched.
Sure enough, Mount Li had changed. The mountain now rose a thousand zhang high, with many mysterious entrances appearing.
But beyond that, there was very little information. The reports were scattered, and hardly anyone was discussing it on the forums.
"Looks like they've sealed this off, too."
Lu Yuan fell into thought.
He had entered the place in his previous life and knew much more about it.
The world was still in the early stages of its transformation.
All kinds of strange treasures were emerging one after another, throwing the situation into chaos.
Some factions were taking advantage of this period to seize those treasures by any means they could, hoping to rule everything in the future.
The chaos would not settle down for several years.
Mount Li Imperial Tomb was being watched by many powerful factions, including the likes of Wuzhou Group and Chang Sheng Gene.
They would suppress the news and send people in on their own, to gain the advantage.
Their goal was to enter and find divine treasures.
They wanted to use them to expand their strength.
Even so,
some things had still leaked out.
It was easy to imagine that the first major clash between the Awakened would break out soon.
But only Lu Yuan knew
that the imperial tomb held a great terror and was extremely dangerous.
Without a key, most people would return empty-handed, with countless dead and wounded.
Of course, for Lu Yuan, things were completely different.
Without another thought,
he took out the Mysterious Small Tripod and the Ghost Seal.
"I can't afford to delay any longer. Next stop: Mount Li Imperial Tomb."
Lu Yuan thought that his strength had already reached a terrifying level.
They already had the visualization method and Supernatural Powers. All they lacked was a supreme Breathing Method, which was absolutely essential.
Therefore, he had to go to the imperial tombs.
Besides, Shanghai City was already a long way from Chang'an City.
And with the territory having expanded, the journey would take even longer.
In the end.
Lu Yuan decided to rest for one night. Once he had everything ready, he would head straight for his destination.
Shenzhen.
It was the economic center of the south.
Within the country, its status was no lower than that of Magic City or Shanghai City.
Otherwise, it would never have become one of the main areas of the Five Super Cities in the future.
In the heart of the city stood a hundred-meter-tall skyscraper.
From its top floor, one could look down over most of the city.
The building's interior was extravagantly decorated and brightly lit.
And the entire building.
Belonged to a single company: Chang Sheng Gene.
After the world's transformation, money had become wastepaper. Countless tycoons had gone bankrupt overnight, reduced to ordinary people.
But Chang Sheng Gene had seized the opportunity during that period and risen to prominence.
Its research institutes.
Had extracted mysterious substances from Spiritual Fruits and Exotic Grasses, and astonishingly, could use them to create Awakened.
More importantly, the Lineage of Chang Sheng Gene's controller had also revived some kind of powerful bloodline. In just one month, they had taken control of most of Shenzhen, growing even more powerful than before.
In fact, the reason the authorities had managed to stabilize Shenzhen in the early days of the transformation was Chang Sheng Gene's cooperation.
It had directly become a force that could stand toe-to-toe with the likes of Wuzhou Group and Tianshen Technology.
In truth.
Of the Five Super Cities planned by the authorities, all except Shuntian City—
The other four.
Were now each occupied by a powerful faction.
As with Shenzhen at present, Chang Sheng Gene was, in a sense, its ruler.
At that moment.
In a room on an upper floor of Longevity Building.
Dozens of men in black suits stood ramrod straight, their hands clasped behind their backs.
Judging by their bearing, none of them were ordinary men.
They were all highly trained.
And almost all of them were Awakened, people others could only look up to.
Yet now, every one of them wore a respectful expression as they looked in the same direction.
A middle-aged woman sat back on the sofa. She wore an elegant burgundy cheongsam and a jade bangle of deep green on her wrist, its soft glow lending it an extraordinary air.
"So, everyone we sent to investigate the Meteorite Incident at Wuzhou Farm is dead?"
The woman spoke, lifting a bowl of strong tea. Her tone was cold.
"Yes."
"Two teams in a row have been wiped out. I was careless this time. I guarantee the same thing won't happen again."
A middle-aged man lowered his head as he spoke.
The elite squad from Chang Sheng Gene had all been equipped with special devices.
If they died, the people behind them would know immediately.
As soon as he received the news,
He had come over at once.
After all, he had failed to complete the mission and would have to take responsibility, so he asked the woman to give him another chance.
"How interesting."
The woman took a small sip of tea, her gaze icy, then looked at a document on the table.
The document was thin, and on top was a photograph.
As for the person in the photograph—
It was none other than Lu Yuan!
Before you continue