Yang Ying had no intention of pursuing the investigation into the Ape Worship Cult, but he knew such inquiries would inevitably lead back to him. After all, he had entered Wudang Mountain through legitimate channels using his real identity, and he had a prior conflict with the Ancient Legion.

If any investigator with the clearance to look into the matter simply pieced these clues together, it would be easy to deduce that the two Ape Worship Cult members came to Wudang Mountain specifically to eliminate him.

Therefore, Yang Ying left no traces when he departed; making an anonymous call was merely a way to reduce hassle. What if the Temple of Psionics deemed his personal safety unsecured and demanded he report to the police station, or assigned personnel to guard him twenty-four hours a day? Where then would his freedom lie?

Yang Ying returned to his hotel to pack, booked a flight, and contacted Kalia, who was stationed in the Asteroid Belt. He briefed her on the events and instructed her to investigate the background of the Ape Worship Cult. Defense alone, he reasoned, was no sustainable strategy.

"And where will you be going, Commander?" Kalia inquired.

"Running around the entire globe. Since this trip to Earth had an element of tourism built in, I might as well see the world," Yang Ying replied contentedly, sinking into a sofa. "I'll stay in each place for a day or two, then move on. Let's see if the Ape Worship Cult's operational capacity can keep up."

The next morning, Yang Ying boarded a plane, leaving Wudang Mountain behind, embarking on a world tour to evade the Cult's pursuit.

The first stop was Shanghai, the terminus of the Yangtze River.

This metropolis, destined to be one of the world's foremost cities five hundred years hence, was the most ultramodern place Yang Ying had seen since his transmigration. Steel and glass formed the main architectural theme, suffused with an air of surrealist artistry.

The magnetic rails used by the maglev vehicles on the streets ran three layers deep above ground: one at ground level, one at ten meters, and another at twenty meters; supposedly, there were two more layers underground.

Yang Ying rode a tourist bus on the uppermost track, the vehicle hovering twenty meters up, moving with absolute smoothness and speed, entirely free of turbulence.

The streams of traffic surging beneath him and the towering skyscrapers surrounding him were powerful testaments to technological progress and humanity’s resolve to reshape the world.

Only the Huangpu River remained seemingly unchanged throughout the city; the banks on either side, however, had long since transformed beyond recognition.

Over two days, Yang Ying toured over a dozen museums. They displayed the shifts of the ages from various angles, presenting society, history, and technology like volumes in a vast textbook laid out before him.

Two days were insufficient for a complete survey, but they were enough.

On the day of his departure, the first Dragon Knight of the Protoss was born.

Next, he traveled to the Great Wall.

As the proverb went, he who has not been to the Great Wall is not a true hero. Yang Ying hadn't been a hero in his previous life, so he made up for it in this one.

The Great Wall had endured five centuries of wind and weather; following a major restoration two hundred years prior, minor repairs were carried out annually.

As one of the world's oldest and most magnificent wonders, the structure gave Yang Ying a feeling entirely distinct from the high-tech cities.

Here, Yang Ying truly sensed the unbroken lineage connecting this world to the one from five hundred years ago.

Following this, he rented a personal aerial vehicle and spent half a day flying from the eastern end of the Great Wall to the western end, reaching Jiayuguan. From there, he took a flight to Lhasa, Tibet, then switched vehicles several times to reach the base of Mount Everest.

Yang Ying had prepared an entire set of mountaineering gear and had studied extensive materials, making the ascent routes clear in his mind. Furthermore, a fully equipped camp at the foot of the mountain allowed him to begin climbing from an altitude of five thousand meters.

Despite this preparation, as he climbed above seven thousand meters, he felt the immense power of the heavens and earth. The biting cold wind and the thin air were potent forces of oppression, enough to instill fear and despair in ordinary people, preventing them from advancing.

However, Yang Ying possessed a body painstakingly refined, a will strong enough to withstand nature’s pressure, and the Psionic Warming technique to maintain warmth around him. He moved step by painstaking step in the icy wind, drawing closer to the summit.

The surroundings were pure, boundless white. When thirsty, Yang Ying would scoop up snow, place it in his personal cup, heat it into water with his psionics, and drink.

The Psionic Warming technique was detailed in both the Psionics Manual and the numerous methods taught at the Taiji Temple; he had mastered it to the point where he could even condense his psionic energy into a tiny flame in this extreme cold. Beyond that, manifesting psionics into sword glows or icy currents was also within his casual grasp.

Twenty-four hours later, Yang Ying stood on the summit. The thin air nearly suffocated him, but he held on. Standing atop the Himalayas, the entire world seemed to lie beneath his feet. The release of spirit and the foundational work of the preceding weeks caused his mental power to surge.

A voice boomed through his mind via telepathy—Baal chanting an ode: "Master, the Great Master! The first lamp on the second tier of the Central Continent Spire has been lit, making the light illuminating the continent brighter. Your will is strong enough to crush diamonds. Your humble servant Baal is truly incompetent and cannot conjure language beautiful enough to praise your greatness; these few words barely scratch the surface of your magnitude..."

Yang Ying smiled, turned, and began his descent.

Next, he flew to Paris, the former capital of France. Its most famous landmark was the Eiffel Tower, but he only learned from the tour guide beneath it that the symbol of Paris was no longer the original structure.

"The original Eiffel Tower was struck down by an Ape Worship Cultist wielding a light staff over thirty years ago. A new one was built on the same site a few years later. That cult that worships the ape-men has become the largest terrorist organization in the solar system," the guide explained.

Yang Ying had already learned the inside story from the archives at the Taiji Temple. At that time, the founder of the Ape Worship Cult, Master Ape Horace, led a dozen cultists into Paris, engulfing the city in flames, causing tens of thousands of deaths, before they all retreated unharmed. It was one of the Ape Worship Cult's major operations shortly after its founding.

According to the guide, this incident still cast a shadow in the minds of many people today.

Leaving the Eiffel Tower, Yang Ying visited the world-renowned Louvre Museum. This place had not escaped misfortune either; more than half of its artistic treasures had been destroyed by fire, though thankfully, half were saved, and the three ultimate treasures remained safe due to robust protective measures.

As was his habit, he stayed for two days before leaving again.

Over the next half month, Yang Ying zipped back and forth across the globe. Even he didn't know where his next stop would be, choosing destinations randomly at the airport to increase the difficulty for the Ape Worship Cult trying to find him.

His footsteps marked many places.

During this period, the Protoss developed rapidly. Zealots and Dark Templars, High Templars and Dark Templars successively emerged, increasing the number of individuals from whom Yang Ying could seek knowledge about psionics.

He had essentially mastered the methods of the Taiji Temple and integrated them with those from the Psionics Manual. To create a distinction, Yang Ying consulted the High and Dark Templars, using Protoss knowledge to modify the Taiji Temple’s techniques, transforming their appearance enough to deceive the Temple's disciples.

The Protoss research into mental power had reached a state of perfection, far surpassing even the Temple of Psionics, let alone the Taiji Temple. As the saying went, mastering one principle unlocks all others; the Taiji Temple’s methods were child's play for the Templars.

The Templars' psionic intensity measured above ten thousand, which wasn't as high as Master Pang Qian's hundred thousand, but both Templars existed in a pure energy state, granting them superior understanding of the essence of psionics. The Protoss possessed numerous methods for pushing psionics to their absolute limits.

Psionic methods were divided into cultivation methods and application methods. Cultivation methods increased psionic intensity, making oneself stronger; application methods did not increase intensity but were means of using psionics to create various supernatural effects.

Yang Ying now combined psionic techniques from the Protoss, the Temple of Psionics, and the Taiji Temple, making his strength incomparable to before.

Leveraging these diverse means, Yang Ying was confident that he could handle even another combination like the Laughing Ape Mask and the Raging Ape Mask with ease.

The time for the Sword Master qualification examination was approaching. Yang Ying concluded his global jaunt and returned once more to Wudang Mountain.