Kyoto Base City

Eight hours later, Bai Yang finally finished the training exercise.

Sister Mei and Yang Wu immediately brought him food and water so he could get some rest.

His physical stamina was astonishingly good now. This little bit of exertion was nothing.

He glanced around the studio. Jia Yi and Lu Ting were both sitting cross-legged with their eyes closed, deep in thought.

With their talent and level of cultivation, they were sure to gain something from this.

That was why they had insisted on staying to watch until the end.

The three of them didn't want to disturb them, so they silently left.

The remaining video editing and computer data entry would naturally be handled by Huashan's professional staff. He didn't need to worry about it.

Bai Yang and Yang Wu had set out from Jiangnan Base City early that morning. It was already afternoon.

Huashan's headquarters was essentially one enormous underground base. There really wasn't much to see.

Since they'd made the trip to Kyoto Base City, they all wanted to go out and look around.

Unfortunately, until the video was edited, they might need to consult him at any moment, so he couldn't get away.

Bai Yang sat in his office, a spacious room measuring more than fifty square meters.

The staff had thoughtfully projected a natural landscape onto the windows, making it almost impossible to tell that they were underground.

Bai Yang connected his tablet to the office computer and began downloading Huashan's classified intelligence.

As the head of the Ninth Group, he should have had access to these files long ago, but Huashan was a special organization.

Its internal network was strictly isolated from the outside world by physical barriers. At last, he could get what he wanted.

The information he was most interested in concerned the locations of the various civilization ruins on Earth and details about unusual monsters.

August 2057 was when the Golden Horned Behemoth's egg would arrive on Earth.

That was exactly one year from now.

If possible, he really wanted to get there early and kill it the moment it landed.

But the original story only said it was somewhere near the Hawaii Islands. That was an enormous area.

In the vast Pacific Ocean, it would be impossible to find.

To make matters worse, that area was also the site of Ancient Civilization Ruin No. 12.

It was one of Earth's three great forbidden zones. The Silver Blue Empire's fleet flagship had crashed there.

Luo Feng's first big score in the universe—the Black Dragon Mountain X81 Spaceship—had also been discovered there.

Needless to say, a place like that was under constant surveillance by the instruments of various nations.

And yet, they still hadn't detected the Golden Horned Behemoth's juvenile form. Later in the story, it was even able to disappear completely while recovering from its injuries.

So, just like Babata, it must have had some way to block signals and conceal itself.

Bai Yang set those concerns aside and downloaded everything in one go.

He could think through a plan later. Given enough time, he would find a better solution.

As for information on unusual monsters, that was even more important to him for now.

It was directly tied to his growth in strength, and the "Dragon Beasts" among the monsters especially caught his attention.

According to the original story, there were some extremely unusual and rare monsters whose evolutionary origins were unknown.

Perhaps they had emerged due to some unique factors. These monsters had strange names, and humans called them "dragons" as a mark of their strength.

The Iron Armored Dragon Luo Feng encountered was one such Dragon Beast.

Although its strength was nothing special, and it could only throw its weight around in the outskirts of Magic City.

These monsters might not be very strong, but their genetic potential was certainly exceptional.

Bai Yang even suspected that their progress was slow precisely because their genes were so exceptional.

The principle was the same as with him: a stronger foundation required more resources.

Once he completed the Monster Body, he would be able to grow seventy-two dragon-headed tentacles from his flesh.

The original Orochi could even make every dragon head spew terrifying high-energy beams.

Bai Yang didn't want his appearance to become quite that bizarre, but under the temptation of greater strength, it was no big deal.

That was also why he had set up a base in Kunshan ahead of time. Magic City's urban center was bound to have plenty of Dragon Beasts.

It might even be the area with the highest concentration on land, apart from the ocean and Australia.

This was something he could only entrust to absolutely loyal monster slaves. It wasn't suitable to involve Huashan.

Bai Yang slept through the night. No one came to ask him about the details of the Platinum Light Shadow, even by the following morning.

It seemed Huashan's work recording and modeling the video was going smoothly.

If all went well, very soon, the whole of Huashan—

and even the military strength of all Huaxia—

would see an explosive leap forward.

August 25, 2056. Jingshan Satellite City, Kyoto Base City.

Mei Xiaqing drove Bai Yang and Yang Wu to the train bound for the main urban district.

Only then did Bai Yang realize that Huashan's headquarters was actually underground in Jingshan City.

When they got off in Kyoto's main urban district, everything looked much like Jiangnan Base City, except that the weather was a little cooler.

There was no sign of the red walls and yellow tiles from his previous life. Instead, there were only skyscrapers steeped in technology.

Thinking of those tacky, supposedly traditional buildings from his previous life, some real and some fake, he unexpectedly found himself missing them.

Cities like this all looked alike. Almost none of the familiar landmarks he remembered were left.

Disappointed, he wandered around for a little while, then quickly grew bored.

Suddenly, he remembered something.

Since he was in Kyoto, hadn't he still not settled things with the Bai Family?

Given the Bai Family's power as one of the HR Alliance's twelve families in Huaxia, they knew a great deal about him.

The family's current head, his aunt-by-marriage Bai Pianqing, should already know, right?

Bai Yang began to get excited. If he suddenly dropped by for a "visit" under these circumstances—

how would they react?

And what kind of face would she put on when she next had to face his uncle and cousin, Bai Sheng?

The moment the thought came to him, he acted on it. Bai Yang used his tablet to look up information on the Bai Family.

When Bai Pianyong left Kyoto with his two children, Bai Yang had been too young to remember much.

The computer quickly displayed the location of the Bai Family's old residence.

Bai Yang waved down a taxi and headed there.

As one of the twelve largest families in Huaxia, the Bai Family might have ranked near the bottom,

but they could still make friends with a few War Gods and maintain a large group of mid- and high-level War Generals.

The Bai Family also had a Spirit Reader bloodline, aside from those three women.

It was hard to say whether they had any other powerful members.

Spirit Readers' abilities were also impossible to guard against. They could challenge opponents far above their level with ridiculous ease.

Sitting beside him, Yang Wu said worriedly, "Sir! Should we notify headquarters before going there? Have them send people to back us up?"

Bai Yang smiled. "It's fine. My cousin trained with the Bai Family before and spent some of their money trying to break through to the War God level.

"My main purpose this time is to pay them back. Of course, we'll keep things peaceful."

Yang Wu was his subordinate, but Bai Yang's eyes were bright, and he looked eager for action.

Yang Wu simply couldn't believe that his master really meant to do that.