Sensation Points Break the Record! Helicopters Want to Chase Me? Eat My Exhaust!

At the World Trade Center, the air still hung heavy with the smell of burning and water vapor.

The skyscraper, which had nearly burned clean through, now stood blackened in the night wind like a drowned chicken freshly doused with a bucket of cold water.

The fire was completely out.

There were no rekindled flames, no toxic smoke, not even a single ember left.

On the ground, over ten thousand people stared blankly upward.

No one knew who started it, but applause suddenly erupted from the crowd.

Then, like something contagious, it rapidly spread.

Several people who had just been rescued from the fire supported one another and bowed deeply to the dark figure standing on an iron sword in midair.

"Thank you, Sword Immortal! Thank you, living bodhisattva!"

The fire commander wiped the muddy water from his face, his eyes red.

He stood at attention and snapped a regulation military salute toward the sky.

The hundreds of firefighters behind him saluted in unison.

The sight made hearts ache.

Hovering in midair, Lin Bei watched the dense crowd below bowing and saluting, and his mouth twitched.

"If they keep bowing like this, they're going to shave years off my fucking life."

Though he grumbled inwardly, he stood ramrod straight, keeping his aura of badassery firmly in place.

Just then, deep in his mind, that long-absent mechanical voice finally rang out.

"Ding!"

"Host detected to have successfully rescued all trapped civilians and completely extinguished the fire!"

"Epic timed mission [Rescue from the Sea of Flames] completed!"

"Calculating Sensation Points..."

"Ding! Total Sensation Points earned from this mission: 31,500,000!"

"Mission target exceeded! Distributing rewards!"

Lin Bei's eyes lit up.

Thirty million!

Had this fucking caused a sensation across the entire country?

"Ding! Congratulations, host! You have received: ten high-grade spirit stones!"

Lin Bei felt a slight weight settle into the storage ring on his right index finger.

A sweep of his divine sense revealed ten stones radiating rich spiritual energy already lying quietly in a corner.

In a godforsaken place like Earth, where spiritual energy had dried up, these ten high-grade spirit stones were practically nuclear batteries!

"Congratulations, host! You have received: supreme-grade defensive magical treasure [Black Tortoise Jade Pendant]!"

A warm, smooth sensation suddenly touched his chest.

Lin Bei looked down. A red cord had appeared around his neck, with a dark green jade pendant carved with a Black Tortoise hanging from it.

The moment the pendant touched his skin, a cool current instantly coursed through his entire body.

The exhaustion from consuming so much Spiritual Power by repeatedly activating the levitation formation disk vanished completely.

This thing could withstand a full-power strike from a mid Foundation Establishment cultivator.

In modern terms, it could take a large-caliber armor-piercing round without even leaving a scratch on his skin.

It was the equivalent of an extra life.

"Here comes the main event." Lin Bei licked his cracked lips.

"Ding! Congratulations, host! Your cultivation has unconditionally increased by one layer!"

"Current cultivation: Qi Refining Third Layer!"

The instant the words ended...

A terrifying surge of Spiritual Power appeared out of thin air inside Lin Bei's dantian.

Without any guidance from him, it rampaged through the extraordinary meridians throughout his body like a wild horse freed from its reins.

Crackle, crackle...

A series of sharp cracks came from inside Lin Bei's body, like beans popping in a pan.

His bones stretched, his muscles restructured, and even his fascia became incomparably tough under the Spiritual Power's violent scouring.

Pain.

Heart-piercing pain.

But it hurt so good!

Veins bulged on Lin Bei's forehead, and even the flying sword beneath his feet trembled slightly.

Clenching his fists tightly, he endured the dozen or so seconds of transformation through sheer grit.

His eyes snapped open, and he let out a long breath of turbid air.

In midair, that breath actually condensed into a white arrow of air, shooting several meters before dissipating.

Qi Refining Third Layer!

Lin Bei flexed his fists.

He now felt as though he could punch an ox into a pile of pulp.

His reserves of Spiritual Power had grown to more than three times what they had been at the Qi Refining Second Layer.

Awesome!

The job was done. Time to leave.

If he stayed any longer and someone managed to see through his mask with a high-powered telescope, he could kiss his peaceful days goodbye.

Just as Lin Bei was about to activate his flying sword and slip away...

A deep rumbling suddenly came from the distant horizon.

It was so loud that even the air vibrated with it.

Lin Bei raised an eyebrow and turned to look.

In the night sky, three dark gray attack helicopters were racing toward the World Trade Center at tremendous speed in a triangular formation!

The searchlights beneath the helicopters tore straight through the night and landed squarely on Lin Bei.

The intense light was blinding.

Lin Bei narrowed his eyes.

The cabin door of the helicopter in the middle stood wide open.

Sun Lixin gripped the door handle tightly, half his body leaning out of the cabin as the fierce wind billowed his dark jacket.

He stared fixedly at the dark figure standing on an iron sword in the searchlight beam, his heart pounding so hard it nearly burst from his chest.

Found him!

Finally found a live one!

Ever since receiving military district commander Gu Changshan's absolute orders, Sun Lixin had practically turned Jinghai City upside down.

He had gone through national highway surveillance, expressway checkpoints, and even sewer inspection records.

Yet this "Sword Immortal" seemed to have evaporated into thin air without leaving so much as a hair behind.

Today, the moment the livestream of the World Trade Center fire appeared online, Sun Lixin had leaped from his chair. Without even taking time to request authorization, he had deployed three attack helicopters and charged over.

"Quick! Get closer! Don't let him escape!" Sun Lixin shouted at the pilot.

The pilot was drenched in sweat, both hands gripping the control stick tightly.

"Group Leader Sun, we can't get any closer! The air currents over there are too turbulent, and... and that's a person flying in the sky!"

Sun Lixin gritted his teeth and snatched up the loudspeaker beside him.

"Sword Immortal! Please wait!"

"We're from the National Security Bureau Special Operations Group!"

"Thank you for your tremendous contribution to Jinghai City tonight!"

"We mean you no harm! The military district commander would like to meet you. He has something important to discuss with you in person! Please stay a moment!"

The amplified voice echoed across the sky above the entire World Trade Center.

The crowd below immediately erupted into an uproar.

"Holy shit! The state machinery is moving!"

"Even the National Security Bureau is here? Are they trying to recruit the Sword Immortal?"

"No shit. How could the country not keep an eye on a nuclear-weapon-level powerhouse like him?"

In midair...

Listening to the calls from the loudspeaker, Lin Bei's lips curled into an amused smile.

Have some tea?

Have a chat?

Did they really take him for a three-year-old?

If he actually went with them, who knew whether he'd end up on an autopsy table in some underground laboratory tomorrow, being sliced up for research by a bunch of white coats?

Even taking ten thousand steps back, supposing the military really only wanted to recruit him...

After finally awakening a cultivation system, wasn't it better for him, Lin Bei, to flirt with girls and sleep comfortably at university?

Go work for the country, doing 996 every day, or even 007?

Impossible. Absolutely impossible.

The core of a lazy man's philosophy was to stay as far away as possible.

Lin Bei looked at the helicopter hovering fifty meters away, a careless smile tugging at his lips beneath his mask.

He said nothing.

He merely raised his right hand slowly.

Under Sun Lixin's tense gaze...

With over ten thousand people below and tens of millions of livestream viewers watching...

Lin Bei casually gave the attack helicopter a less-than-regulation military salute.

The motion was crisp and clean, carrying an indescribable air of roguish arrogance.

Sun Lixin froze.

Before he could work out what the gesture meant...

Lin Bei stomped down.

In that instant, he poured the terrifying Spiritual Power of the Qi Refining Third Layer into the iron sword beneath his feet without holding anything back.

BOOM!!!

An enormous white sonic boom cloud burst outward in every direction, centered on Lin Bei.

The violent blast slammed straight into the helicopter fifty meters away, sending the steel beast weighing over ten tons rocking violently.

The pilot hauled on the control stick for dear life, barely managing to stabilize the aircraft.

By the time Sun Lixin, clinging tightly to the cabin door, opened his eyes and looked again...

There was nothing ahead.

Not a trace of the Sword Immortal remained.

Only a streak of azure light shot into the heavens like a meteor tearing across the night sky, vanishing deep into the thick clouds in the blink of an eye.

"Where is he?!" Sun Lixin slapped his thigh in agitation and shouted at the pilot, "Is there still a radar signal? Chase him!"

Drenched in sweat, the pilot frantically tapped the instrument panel, his voice trembling.

"Group Leader, we can't! His radar signal disappeared instantly! That burst of speed exceeded at least Mach 3! This helicopter can't even catch his exhaust!"

Mach 3.

Faster than even the most advanced fighter jets currently in service.

Sun Lixin stared into the pitch-black night outside and gave a bitter laugh.

He pressed his headset, his voice thick with helplessness.

"Commander, the target has disappeared. He's too fast. We can't catch him at all."

Inside the underground command center...

Gu Changshan watched the sonic boom cloud on the screen, which had yet to fully dissipate, and remained silent for a long time.

He neither lost his temper nor blamed Sun Lixin.

He merely picked up the enamel tea mug on the desk and took a large gulp of strong tea that had gone completely cold.

"Understood." Gu Changshan's voice was unusually calm. "Return to base. If someone at that level doesn't want to see us, we won't find him even if we turn the heavens upside down."

"Still, at least we've confirmed one thing."

"This Sword Immortal bears no hostility toward our Huaxia."