Chapter 133: Mastery of the Body

The “Empire Bastion,” Song Yangcheng, arrived at astonishing speed and left just as quickly. Qi Lei had originally hoped to keep this formidable figure in Jingmen Safe Zone a little longer, but by noon the following day, Song Yangcheng had already returned temporarily to Shanghai to deal with matters there.

Although Yi Shen had not gone to meet him when he arrived, he witnessed the appearance of the warplane with his own eyes when Song Yangcheng departed.

He was somewhat surprised. He had not expected humanity, under such circumstances, to develop such an advanced branch of technology.

The warplane’s organizational structure seemed to incorporate certain materials from another world. Some sections even displayed durability values and health bars, suggesting that in certain areas, humanity had already managed to bridge the gap between the technological tree and datafication.

Of course, although Song Yangcheng had stayed for only twelve hours, his influence on the various factions within Jingmen Safe Zone was still considerable.

At the very least, with such a powerful figure lending his support, several policies in Jingmen Safe Zone proceeded much more smoothly. Qi Lei also took advantage of his influence to reclaim some authority that had fallen into the hands of the guilds, doing his best to prevent the kind of guild monopolization that had once occurred.

Xiao Ge remained in Jingmen Safe Zone for the time being. Four days later, Yi Shen officially became a member of the Central Regional Unified Coordination Bureau and was issued a specialized communicator.

This communicator was custom-made rather than an ordinary, rudimentary device. It was said that each one cost several million contribution points to produce. The device could be folded up, and once unfolded, it could project images and take photographs. It also came equipped with positioning and alarm systems.

Through it, Yi Shen officially came into contact with the Twenty-Six Forms of Physical Arts that Battlefish had mentioned before.

Apart from the Twenty-Six Forms, Yi Shen also found a wealth of strategies and opinions posted by powerful experts on the forum of the bureau’s internal network.

Some discussed techniques for breaking through domains, while others focused on optimizing the use of magic. There were even people who used the device to post special bounties.

Rather than merely being a Unified Coordination Bureau, it was more like a communications platform for the top explorers throughout Huaxia. The only drawback was that top explorers who joined as inspectors had to complete assigned missions at regular intervals while enjoying the benefits of shared resources. Some of those missions could consume enormous amounts of time and energy.

In fact, the bureau had invited Battlefish before as well. At the time, however, his level had not been high enough, and most of his attention had been focused on Jingmen Safe Zone and Qi Lei. He had therefore only completed an initial registration and had not joined the bureau’s ranks.

More than half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

Yi Shen’s daily life was more or less the same as before. He mainly focused on integrating the resources left behind by Peach Blossom Cove while continuing to dismantle and digest large quantities of materials. With Qi Lei’s assistance and the information shared by the bureau, Yi Shen’s research points increased even further.

By now, he was no longer limited to mage skills alone. He had mastered most skills that possessed an elemental nature.

As for forbidden spells, Yi Shen had acquired another one: [Lightning and Thunder].

[Lightning and Thunder] was a formation-type skill similar to Sky-Splitting Wind Array. It could bombard a designated area with lightning. Its destructive power over a wide range was even greater, filling the region with vast quantities of electrical elements.

Yi Shen had been training in the Twenty-Six Forms of Physical Arts as normal. Most of those techniques were not especially useful under ordinary circumstances; their greatest emphasis lay in practical combat. Battlefish had begun taking over some of Jingmen Safe Zone’s affairs in recent days, leaving Yi Shen without anyone to train against.

Xiao Ge had accompanied him in training once before, but unfortunately, her profession focused mainly on support and healing, so she had little practical combat ability.

By early June, most areas of Jingmen Safe Zone had stabilized. The regions that had suffered severe damage had largely been repaired as well. Although Qi Lei’s condition had not deteriorated further, the new appointments were officially announced according to the original plan.

Battlefish formally took over and became the commander-in-chief of Jingmen Safe Zone.

The major guilds had no objections—or perhaps they simply did not dare to object. Battlefish possessed both the strength and the qualifications, understood Jingmen Safe Zone thoroughly, had powerful figures supporting him, and maintained a good relationship with the Black Mage. His appointment therefore proceeded with almost no resistance.

It was worth mentioning that, because of the massive loss of personnel and the heavy casualties suffered within the secret realm, many small and mid-sized guilds had been forced to disband. The major guilds also needed to recruit new members.

Peach Blossom Cove was the first to begin, and the other three major guilds soon followed, launching new rounds of team recruitment.

Jingbei Industries and Peach Blossom Cove lowered their entry requirements considerably and absorbed a large number of newcomers. At the same time, Jingmen Safe Zone as a whole was rapidly recovering and developing.

The various martial academies would probably resume classes during this period as well.

The senior high division, however, might need to wait a little longer. Among the martial academies, Penglai Martial Academy and Radiance Martial Academy had suffered the most severe damage. A proposal had already been made to merge the two schools. The four southeastern, northwestern, and other divisions would no longer exist; instead, the schools would undergo a comprehensive structural transformation.

As for Zhu Qing’s Story of a Small Town shop, it had officially gotten off the ground under Peach Blossom Cove’s influence.

There was no denying that she possessed genuine ability and knew how to capitalize on the influence brought by the Black Mage and Battlefish. Although the shop did not technically belong to Peach Blossom Cove, everyone understood that some extraordinary figures stood behind it.

One day, when he had some free time, Yi Shen took the three sisters into a dimensional gate and helped raise their levels.

With his extensive experience in hunting monsters, he did not need much time to bring all three sisters above level twenty. The only regrettable thing was that Zhu You and Zhu Ke spoke even less with Yi Shen than before. Whenever they were together, they remained nervous and restrained, with an unmistakable hint of ingratiation.

To gain some things, one inevitably had to lose others.

Yi Shen understood that the gap between their strength and his had grown far too great. There was no longer any chance of restoring the friendship they had once shared.

Still, Zhu Qing had a very clear understanding of her position.

Although they could no longer become friends, their relationship could still deepen in another way.

For instance, on a clear night, after helping Yi Shen gather a batch of materials, she did not leave the warehouse where he was staying. Instead, she and Yi Shen took their relationship a step further.

The summer wind was refreshingly cool.

Yi Shen was surprised to discover that, because he had to take every precaution not to hurt Zhu Qing, he needed to maintain constant control over his own body. In its own way, this was another form of improving his command over his physical strength.

(End of Chapter)