Died Peacefully

The metal door was pushed open a crack, and Sun Miaomiao's head poked in from the outside.

"Captain, there's a notice for a meeting upstairs. They say someone from headquarters has arrived, and we need to urgently discuss the upcoming defense and patrol arrangements."

Shen Tingxue nodded. She turned to look at Gu Yuan and pointed to the equipment in the center of the room.

"You practice here on your own and get familiar with controlling your blood-qi projection."

With that, Shen Tingxue opened the door and walked toward the conference room.

Sun Miaomiao turned around, just about to follow in Shen Tingxue's footsteps, when she felt something tugging at her.

Gu Yuan was gripping her sleeve tightly, having deftly fished a hazelnut chocolate out of his pocket and stuffed it into her hand.

"Sister Miaomiao, no need to rush off," Gu Yuan said, lowering his voice and leaning in closer.

"What exactly is the background of that Alchemist-tier warlock? Why is the Bureau making such a big fuss today?"

Sun Miaomiao looked down at the chocolate in her hand, skillfully tore open the wrapper, and took a large bite.

She peeked out the door to make sure Shen Tingxue was no longer in the hallway before pulling her head back and lowering her voice.

"I heard headquarters found out that the warlock is connected to the Fusionists."

"Fusionists?" Gu Yuan was stunned.

In his eighteen years, he had heard of fierce beasts, cults, and foreign heretics, but he had never heard of this.

"It's normal that you don't know." Sun Miaomiao swallowed the chocolate in a few bites and brushed the crumbs off her hands. "This is something that has only appeared in the last two years. Their organization is called the Fusion Sect."

"They replace parts of their own bodies with the organs of fierce beasts," Sun Miaomiao said, a hint of disgust appearing on her face, "to gain stronger physical bodies and explosive power."

"I've heard they can even transform completely into the shape of a fierce beast."

An image of a person with a pig's head and a lizard's tail instantly flashed through Gu Yuan's mind. The mental image was so grotesque he didn't even dare to imagine it.

What kind of anti-human, perverted obsession was this? Turning oneself into a monster?

"But the price is also very heavy," Sun Miaomiao pouted. "After transforming into their beast form, they lose their sanity completely and become machines that only know how to kill."

Gu Yuan nodded. This sounded like a low-quality genetic modification experiment.

"Also, recent intelligence shows they are attempting an even more sinister technique," Sun Miaomiao said, her expression turning serious.

"What technique?"

"Grafting the Dao Foundation of others."

Hearing this, Gu Yuan felt a chill run through his entire body, and he couldn't help but shiver.

Grafting a Dao Foundation?

Can that thing even be grafted?

Isn't this just like digging out the Supreme Bone in fantasy novels? A literal physical forced extraction? What a bunch of deranged cultists.

Sun Miaomiao suddenly turned her head and stared at Gu Yuan.

"Especially those geniuses with high talent," she whispered. "They only dig out high-level Dao Foundations to improve their own talent and perception of heaven and earth."

High-talent geniuses?

Isn't that talking about him?

Gu Yuan swallowed hard, feeling like his whole world had just turned upside down.

"Then, Sister Miaomiao..." he gave a dry laugh, "what about those whose Dao Foundations are dug out? What happens to them in the end?"

"Uh..." Sun Miaomiao tilted her head and thought for a moment.

"You could say they passed away very peacefully."

Gu Yuan's face darkened.

Peacefully, my foot! That just means they're dead as a doornail!

Sun Miaomiao stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry. Even if you gave them ten times the courage, they generally wouldn't dare to make a move in the city center."

"Not to mention that our Destiny Bureau has the whole city under martial law and is stepping up personnel checks. Right now, those rats are only thinking about how to tuck their tails and escape Sea City."

"Alright, the chocolate was good, thanks." Sun Miaomiao waved at Gu Yuan. "I still need to go summarize the meeting points for the Captain. I'm off."

She pulled the door open and walked out with a light step.

Gu Yuan watched as the metal door closed once more.

The training room fell completely silent.

He walked over to the lounge chair nearby, sat down, and looked down at his own hands.

First-tier martial artist, blood-qi projection, two tons of punching force.

Now, he could finally be considered to have truly stepped over the threshold of a real martial artist; he finally had a bit of confidence in his ability to protect himself.

Suddenly, the phone in his pocket vibrated, interrupting his thoughts.

Gu Yuan took out his phone, and the first message was from Zhang Yining.

"Old Gu, see you at the martial arts gym tomorrow? My brother Zhang Tian is back from Tianbei Martial University, and he says he wants to see if we've been slacking off lately."

Gu Yuan rubbed his chin.

Zhang Yining's cousin, Zhang Tian.

As soon as that name came up, an image of a pretentious snob with his nose in the air and a swaggering walk surfaced in Gu Yuan's mind.

Zhang Tian was a year older than them, and ever since they were kids, he had used his one-year head start in cultivation to constantly throw his weight around as their senior.

After getting into Tianbei Martial University last year, he couldn't go three sentences without mentioning "how things are at our university" whenever they gathered for holidays.

Now that he was back on break, he called it "checking for slackers," but in reality, he was likely just looking to lecture them and flaunt the superiority of a top-tier martial arts student.

Gu Yuan's fingers tapped rapidly on the screen.

"I'll be there on time tomorrow."

After hitting send, he shoved his phone back into his pocket.

He stood up and shifted his gaze to the alloy humanoid target in the center of the training room.

Gu Yuan walked up to the target, lowered his center of gravity, and instantly poured his blood energy into his right leg.

He took a step forward, the power erupting from his waist as his entire body snapped like a fully drawn bowstring released.

His right leg whistled through the air, delivering a heavy, powerful whip kick that slammed into the midsection of the alloy target.

"CLANG!"

A massive metallic ringing echoed thunderously throughout the enclosed training room.

The alloy target, weighing several hundred pounds, swayed violently.

Seeing this, Gu Yuan retracted his right leg and stood firmly in place.

He leaned in to take a closer look.

On the hard armor of the target's waist, there was a clear, two-inch-deep footprint indented into the metal.

Gu Yuan patted the dust off his pant leg with satisfaction.

Ten o'clock at night.

Shen Tingxue was personally driving Gu Yuan home; it was rare for the Destiny Bureau to work this late.

Soothing music played in the cabin as Shen Tingxue steered with one hand.

Gu Yuan sat in the passenger seat, watching the streetscape recede outside the window.

The SUV slowly pulled toward the gates of the Destiny Bureau.

Guards armed with live ammunition stood on both sides of the gate, the atmosphere noticeably more severe than when he had arrived during the day.

As they passed through, Gu Yuan habitually cast his gaze toward the guard booth on the right side of the gate.

Inside the booth, the old man was holding an enamel mug, sipping his water slowly.

[Steel Bone] (Purple)

Immediately after, a line of small text appeared beneath the entry.

[Acquisition Condition: Guard the gate with the holder of the entry 10 times.]

[Current Progress: 0/10. Each completion grants an increase in blood energy control and defense.]