I am the True Hunter! The Expert Has Arrived?

I am the true hunter! The experts have arrived? After resting for a moment, Chen Yan summoned the system panel to carefully examine his bountiful harvest.

[Host: Chen Yan]

[Age: 1 year, 18 days]

[Cultivation: Amateur Fifth Dan]

[Qi and Blood: 2104/10000]

[Spirit: 2446/10000]

[Charm: 93/100 (Endowed with Spiritual Essence)]

[Luck: 95 (Continuous Good Fortune)]

[Constitution: Innate Dao Body (Born close to the Dao, proficient in all laws)]

[Skills:]

[Qi Nurturing Foundation Art (Proficient) (7100/10000)]

[Meditation Method (Great Success) (0/10000)]

[Efficient Absorption (Proficient) (6600/10000)]

[Deep Sleep (Proficient) (6600/10000)]

[Godly Movement (Proficient) (6600/10000)]

[Image Projection Scroll (Proficient) (6100/10000)]

[Shadow Concealment (Proficient) (6100/10000)]

[Divine Sense Differentiation (Great Success) (0/10000)]

[Arrow Barrage (Proficient) (6100/10000)]

[Achievement: Perfect Foundation Establishment (Gold)]

As he focused his attention on the [Meditation Method], a wave of enlightenment surged into his heart.

After breaking through to the Great Success realm, the Meditation Method was no longer merely about passively tempering the spirit or resisting attacks.

With a slight shift of Chen Yan's thoughts, the Great Success-level [Meditation Method] began to operate on its own.

The next moment, he clearly perceived his own consciousness being wrapped in an invisible shroud of light, as a condensed and powerful spiritual barrier quietly took form.

Almost instantly, Chen Yan grasped the utility of this barrier!

This barrier could not only steadily withstand spiritual attacks, illusion erosion, and mind-reading attempts from cultivators at or below his realm...

Even when facing spiritual shocks from higher realms, it could significantly weaken their power, buying precious reaction time for his consciousness.

The changes brought about by the breakthrough in [Divine Sense Differentiation] were even more intuitive.

Previously, at the Proficient realm, he could split his divine sense into at most four strands; attempting to cultivate four skills simultaneously had felt strenuous, making it impossible to achieve perfection.

But now...

Chen Yan took a deep breath and sank his mind into the sea of consciousness.

Split!

His previously unified spiritual power was instantly and precisely sliced and reorganized.

One strand, two strands, four strands... eight strands!

Eight distinct strands of equal intensity, independent of one another, floated quietly in his sea of consciousness, awaiting instructions.

He even felt that this was not yet his limit!

"Eight tasks with one mind..."

Chen Yan smacked his lips.

However, he quickly discovered a new problem.

When he attempted to increase his skill proficiency through cultivation as he usually did, the progress bar crawled forward at a pace as slow as a tortoise.

After cultivating for an hour, the proficiency had only increased by a pathetic 1 point.

To grind a skill from the Great Success realm to Perfection required a full ten thousand points of proficiency.

At this rate, he would have to practice without sleep or rest for over a year to advance.

This efficiency was far too low!

It seemed that conventional, arduous cultivation was becoming increasingly cost-ineffective for him at his current stage.

"It appears the best course of action now is to set aside the two skills that have reached Great Success and focus on grinding the others to Great Success first!"

"And if I want to maintain a rocket-like upgrade speed, my only hope remains hunting the Spirit Race."

A coldness, entirely disproportionate to his age, flashed through Chen Yan's dark, round eyes.

"So, you think you can treat Blue Star as your own personal buffet, do you?"

"So you think of me as your top-tier furnace, do you?"

"Then let's see who the real hunter is!"

"And who, exactly, is whose experience pack!"

Jiang City Public Security Bureau, Special Investigation Team headquarters.

The conference room was thick with smoke, the atmosphere so oppressive it felt as though it could be wrung out like a wet cloth.

In this line of work, cigarettes never left one's fingers.

Those who didn't smoke had learned to do so just by breathing in the secondhand haze!

On the projection screen was an electronic map of Jiang City, with over a dozen locations marked by red crosses.

Falcon, the deputy captain, stood before the screen, his expression grave.

"Captain, everyone, these are all the Spirit Race cases we have handled recently."

He used a laser pointer to draw a circle on the map, enclosing the Family Compound and Willow Shade Lane.

"The North Lake Park incident began when neighbors smelled the stench of a corpse from a solitary elderly resident..."

"The Family Compound incident was triggered by a surveillance clip of 'Peppa Pig,' which felt like a prank-like warning."

"As for the Willow Shade Lane incident, according to the testimony of the survivor Wang Jian, at the final moment of the attack, he was also aided by a mysterious 'senior,' which allowed him to turn the tables and kill his assailant."

"These cases appear isolated, but they share a common thread."

Falcon took a deep breath and stated his conclusion.

"I suspect that a mysterious martial artist, or a group of them, possessing mental detection capabilities, is lurking in Jiang City."

"They can track the movements of the Spirit Race, but perhaps their own strength is limited, preventing them from confronting the threats head-on. Thus, they choose to use this 'borrowed knife to kill' method to guide us into handling them."

The conference room fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the flickering glow of cigarette embers.

Chen Kefa furrowed his brows, crushed his half-smoked cigarette into the ashtray, and lit another.

"You mean to say that someone is using us as their weapon from the shadows?"

His voice was raspy.

"And their motive?"

Falcon shook his head. "The motive remains unclear for now. As for why they won't show their faces... I suspect they might be afraid of us... or rather, afraid that the Martial Arts Association would covet their mental cultivation techniques."

"Mental martial arts..."

Chen Kefa exhaled a thick ring of smoke, his eyes filled with exhaustion and helplessness.

Those four words hung over the heart of every member of the Special Investigation Team like a massive boulder.

If they had possessed the means to detect mental fluctuations, the tragedy at Willow Shade Lane would never have happened!

One hundred and seventy-two households, nearly five hundred lives!

They hadn't even been able to send out a distress signal before being treated as trophies by the Spirit Race and hung upon the walls amidst a facade of false peace!

In the conference room, an older team member clenched his fists until they creaked, his eyes rimmed with red.

"If we had mental martial arts, the people in Willow Shade Lane... they wouldn't have died!"

Another member lowered his head, his voice choked with emotion.

"If we had mental martial arts, Yu Lei would have..."

Yu Lei.

At the mention of that name, everyone fell silent.

He was their former comrade, an excellent Special Investigation Team member who, during a pursuit mission, suffered a mental shock from the Spirit Race. He collapsed on the spot, his mind shattered, leaving him a drooling invalid who could do nothing but stare blankly all day.

For a martial artist, such an end was more despairing than death itself.

Oppression, anger, and a sense of powerlessness permeated the small conference room.

"Knock, knock, knock."

A knock sounded at the door.

Falcon immediately turned off the projector and said in a deep voice, "Come in!"

A young team member pushed the door open and saluted.

"Report! We have received notice from our superiors: an expert group from the Martial Arts Association will arrive in Jiang City tomorrow!"

"The higher-ups demand that we ensure the safety of this expert group at all costs!"

A team member couldn't help but frown. "An expert group? What are they coming for? To assist us in hunting the Spirit Race?"

"If not, coming at a time like this is just causing trouble! It's an unnecessary increase to our workload!"

The young team member's expression turned strange as he glanced at Chen Kefa.

"Uh... the higher-ups also specifically instructed that you, Captain, are to be personally responsible for the security detail."

Chen Kefa stubbed out his cigarette, feeling a sudden headache.

He stood up and exhaled one final ring of smoke.

"Understood."