The Bluebird Carries a Message

Two Worlds Pass, General's Residence.

General Liu Yong'an, who was in charge of guarding Two Worlds Pass, and his adviser, Zhang Xingjian, discussed the arrangements following the appearance of the Mind-Fixing Divine Ability. They reached a consensus to prevent any problems.

Afterward, Zhang Xingjian suddenly remembered something. "By the way, General, Commander Wang's team has finished testing the Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage Mind-Fixing Divine Ability."

General Liu furrowed his brow. The testing was finished? That was good news.

They had only been able to test it briefly the night before last, given the time constraints, before heading to the battlefield.

The reason was that the divine ability had been uploaded to the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network, where all the races could learn it freely. So they had to seize the moment, get ahead of the enemy, and build on their gains before the other side learned it too. Otherwise, things would return to the way they were now, with both sides evenly matched.

Zhang Xingjian knew that as well, so he had kept Commander Wang and a group of people busy testing every aspect of the divine ability, its strengths and weaknesses, to make it easier to use in the future.

After the efforts of tens of thousands of people, they had finally gotten the results that morning.

Zhang Xingjian continued his report. "First, there's the question of this divine ability's range. Like most divine abilities, when used by an individual, it only works within the area affected by Spiritual Qi."

The range affected by Spiritual Qi was actually determined by Talent Qi: one inch of Talent Qi meant a radius of one meter.

Take the Three-Star Cultivators who made up the largest proportion of the forces at Two Worlds Pass, for example.

When Three-Star Cultivators first advanced to that rank, they had four inches of Talent Qi, so their Spiritual Qi affected an area with a radius of four meters.

Ordinary divine abilities, such as Spiritual Qi Blades, wind blades, and fireballs, weakened rapidly once they left the area affected by Spiritual Qi. Usually, after traveling another meter or two, they would dissipate completely.

Furthermore, once a divine ability left the area affected by Spiritual Qi, the cultivator could no longer control it in the slightest. They couldn't even change its direction, let alone make it collapse or dissipate.

Only divine abilities that condensed into physical forms, such as ice spikes and steel swords, could remain outside the cultivator's area of Spiritual Qi influence for a long time, though the cultivator would have already lost control of them.

So neither General Liu nor Adviser Zhang was surprised that the Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage divine ability stopped working once it left the area affected by Spiritual Qi.

To be honest, they would have been surprised if it still worked after leaving that area.

As it was, there was nothing unusual about it.

Zhang Xingjian continued his report. "As before, its range increases when used with the Combined Forces Divine Ability. If ten thousand newly advanced Three-Star Cultivators form a formation, its area of influence is still a little over eighty-six meters in radius. That hasn't changed either."

General Liu mused, "It hasn't changed... That seems normal enough. I thought this remarkable divine ability might break through that limitation, but I suppose I was getting ahead of myself."

Zhang Xingjian was disappointed too.

For a giant thirty or forty meters tall, eighty-six meters was only two or three steps away. The divine ability would only work when they were practically nose to nose. And if the enemy tried to escape, a little hop might be enough to get them out of range.

There were two ways to increase that range.

The first was to increase the number of people in the Combined Forces formation.

But ten thousand was already the maximum number the Combined Forces Divine Ability could handle, so that method wasn't an option for now.

Unless they could improve the Combined Forces Divine Ability again. But that would be difficult too. Ten thousand was already the limit of what military cultivators had managed over the past century.

Going beyond that was basically impossible.

The second method was to increase the cultivation of the soldiers in the Combined Forces formation—that is, recruit cultivators of a higher rank.

Newly advanced Three-Star Cultivators had a divine ability range of four meters. In a formation of ten thousand, the area of influence had a radius of eighty-six meters.

But if they used Four-Star Cultivators instead, their divine abilities would have a range of at least eight meters. In a formation of ten thousand, the area of influence would have a radius of at least a hundred and seventy-two meters.

That would double the divine ability's range and greatly increase the combat strength of the combined-forces giant.

However, cultivators could only improve their cultivation through constant thought and research, so their cultivation could be considered proportional to the time they had spent at it.

Most people awakened at eighteen. By the time they advanced to Three-Star, they were already in their thirties or forties. By that logic, they should be in their fifties or sixties by the time they reached Four-Star.

For humans, whose lifespans were a hundred and twenty years, their fifties and sixties still counted as middle age.

But most people had already lost their drive by around forty. They just wanted to live quietly and peacefully, and might remain Three-Star Cultivators until they died.

So there were far, far fewer Four-Star Cultivators in the world than Three-Star Cultivators. They accounted for only a tenth as many, or even less. And most of those Four-Star Cultivators were old men.

Leaving aside whether people of that age were suited to the battlefield, these Four-Star Cultivators were the middle pillars of society's research into divine abilities and extraordinary energy. That alone made them ill-suited to the battlefield.

Besides, the body's functions inevitably declined with age, so the destructive power of the giants they formed remained an open question. After all, a giant's physical strength depended on the physical strength of the people who made it up.

That was why the battlefield rarely saw old people.

Unless...

Unless humanity had reached the brink of extinction.

At that point, there would be no choice. They would have to fight with everything they had.

It wasn't that there were no young Four-Star Cultivators. With a population of over ten billion, humanity could find ten thousand Four-Star Cultivators in their thirties or forties. But anyone who reached Four-Star at that age was a remarkable talent, a true prodigy.

Was it really wise to spend them on the battlefield?

And what if they were targeted by other races once they entered? That would be a huge loss.

So the hundred races had an unspoken agreement: those who entered the Void Battlefield were generally around Three-Star. That way, even if they were lost, the blow to their race wouldn't be too great.

Having finished discussing the Chicken-Rabbit Cage Divine Ability's range, Zhang Xingjian went on to report the results of the other tests.

About an hour later, Zhang Xingjian had finished going through all the test results.

Throughout that time, General Liu had listened in silence, occasionally asking a question or two.

Just then, General Liu suddenly asked, "Xingjian, have you found out who created this divine ability? The one called 'Anonymous'?"

Zhang Xingjian replied, "Not yet! Ying Capital, Central Capital, and Yan City all sent word this morning that they haven't found anything."

"Nothing? Never mind. As long as they're one of our people, that's all that matters."

Zhang Xingjian didn't object. To people like them, guarding Two Worlds Pass, it didn't matter which country the creator came from. As long as the creator belonged to humanity, that was enough.

Besides, it was probably better for the creator to keep hidden. That would save them from all sorts of damned, troublesome nonsense. What really mattered was that the creator came up with more useful divine abilities.

At that thought, Zhang Xingjian said, "By the way, General, it seems they're planning to publicize our victory across the country, along with the Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage divine ability."

General Liu understood at once. "They're trying to lure the other person out?"

Zhang Xingjian fell silent. When he'd heard the news that morning, he had already figured out their plan. He just didn't know if they would find the person this time.

After a moment, General Liu waved a hand. "Never mind. There's nothing we can do about it. We just have to guard Two Worlds Pass well. I hope they can resist the temptation."

General Liu glanced toward the door, as if remembering the past.

Truthfully, he didn't have much faith in Anonymous either. After all, only a tiny few in this world could resist fame and fortune.

Great Chu Kingdom, Liyao City, Xiaoxiang Academy, Academy Office Hall.

At that moment, the academy's director was speaking to a young woman in her mid-twenties.

"Jiang Zichun, you've done a good deed by reporting this divine ability. The academy and the government have decided to reward you with ten thousand points of Earth Luck."

Hearing that she was getting ten thousand points of Earth Luck, Jiang Zichun, standing across from the director, was so excited she nearly jumped for joy.

Ten thousand! She'd never seen that much in her entire life. If she relied on saving up Human Luck on her own, it would take more than ten years.

Now that she had all those points, she could buy the divine abilities she'd been eyeing.

At the thought, Jiang Zichun thanked her again and again.

The director, surnamed Wu, waved a hand. "No need to thank me. You've earned it. Without your information, we couldn't have achieved such a great victory at Two Worlds Pass."

Hearing Director Wu say this, Jiang Zichun finally accepted the reward without reservation. But she had already decided to give half to An Youyi. After all, without An Youyi's reminder, she wouldn't have received the reward.

After the reward was handed out, Director Wu offered a few more words of encouragement, leaving Jiang Zichun fired up.

Just then, Director Wu suddenly asked, "Zichun, do you know who created the Chicken and Rabbit in a Cage Divine Ability?"

The creator?

Jiang Zichun was a little confused. "Teacher, isn't the creator of this divine ability 'Anonymous'?"

Not getting the answer she wanted, Director Wu continued, "I mean their real identity. Do you know who they are?"

Jiang Zichun shook her head. "I don't know. I only discovered that divine ability the night before last. Then yesterday, I told An Youyi, Zhang Yurou, and the others about it."

"All right."

Director Wu sighed in disappointment, though she hadn't expected much in the first place. "By the way, were you the one who left that message on the Heavenly Dao Virtual Network?"

"I left it! There aren't many questions in the divine ability right now, so it's easy to memorize the answers. I wanted the creator to add more questions, so I left a message there. But they didn't reply."

"Oh, I see! All right, you can go. By the way, the academy has decided to offer a dedicated arithmetic course. You should come take a look when it's ready."

"Mm, thank you, Teacher."

Director Wu watched Jiang Zichun leave and shook her head. Once Jiang Zichun was gone, she immediately activated the Bluebird Messenger Divine Ability, sending out the current situation and her suspicions.

At once, a somewhat illusory little bird, its body covered in blue-green feathers, beat its wings and flew north.

Watching the bluebird fly away, Director Wu let out a sigh of relief. She had done all she could. How those people judged the situation and acted afterward was no longer Xiaoxiang Academy's concern.