Gu Xiechen let out a piercing shriek. The text was organized by Novel α..C.

Maria, syringe in hand, shot Gu Xiechen a triumphant wink and sneered, "Esteemed First Vice Commander, mighty Jieshi Sir, you fear pain too?"

Rubbing the stinging muscles of his rear, which felt as though he’d been stung dozens of times by killer bees, Gu Xiechen glared at Maria. He was, after all, still flesh and blood, and of course, he feared pain. The Grizzled Commander had demanded a comprehensive physical examination for Gu Xiechen, and he had naturally cooperated fully. However, Maria was too heavy-handed; Gu Xiechen felt like nothing more than a side of pork being mercilessly hacked by a butcher.

"Are you drawing blood for a test?" Gu Xiechen ground out through clenched teeth. "I’ve never heard of drawing blood from one’s backside!"

Maria shrugged, beaming, and winked at him. "Does it make a difference? It’s all your blood; it can be tested. Hmm, perhaps a bone marrow biopsy as well?"

Gu Xiechen suddenly thrust out his middle finger, and a faint wisp of chill air sprayed about a foot high from the fingertip.

Maria wisely raised both hands. "Heh heh, that shouldn't be necessary, your bone marrow is perfectly healthy! Uh..."

Maria looked at Gu Xiechen with a strange hesitation, her expression suddenly contorted. Gu Xiechen looked at her, puzzled. "What... what's wrong? Cramps?"

A nameless rage surged to his temples, and Maria glared at him, roaring, "Do you believe I can make you ache for days every month like a woman? Get out of my territory! Your body is perfectly healthy!"

Gu Xiechen sprang off the examination table and shot Maria a knowing, mischievous smile. Maria, her face grim, carefully placed Gu Xiechen's blood samples into a cooling container, not sparing him a single glance. Gu Xiechen pulled on his combat suit and stated calmly, "Let me guess what you were about to say. You wanted to ask me what exactly the Jie is... Hmm, I can only tell you it relates to spiritual power. If you can grasp the concept of the 'Purple Mansion Sea of Consciousness' from the Dao Zang, you can roughly understand the nature of its existence."

Frowning in thought, Gu Xiechen lightly patted Maria's shoulder. "Maria, it's a pity that Jieshi are so rare, and individually overpoweringly strong. Otherwise, I’d be willing to catch one for you to dissect. Hmm, the best I can describe it is this: the Christal Sphere fused with my spirit, or perhaps my soul, and in my brain, within some infinitesimal point near my brow, it has opened up a new power source—a source dozens of times more efficient than a martial artist's Dantian. That’s about it."

Maria frowned in concentration while Gu Xiechen strode out of the medical center. After a long silence, Maria, still deep in thought, sighed helplessly. "Without empirical verification, it's impossible to truly imagine the condition of a Jieshi. Sigh. Catching a Jieshi for research? That’s too difficult; Uncle Grizzle Beard would absolutely never agree to my request. Hmm, research this guy? How could I persuade him to cooperate with my studies?"

Maria's gaze, suddenly sly, swept over her own body from top to bottom...

Half an hour later, Gu Xiechen walked into the meeting room of the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps right on schedule. The Grizzled Commander and more than a dozen high-ranking brass and administrative officials were waiting for him.

"It’s settled, the Hell's Angels finally has its own Jieshi." The Grizzled Commander paced around the room, exultant, his bearing bordering on arrogant and willful. The dozen administrative officials followed his movements like radar dishes tracking a target—a scene rich with comedic effect. The Grizzled Commander laughed, his face blooming like spring flowers, and boomed, "The news of Evil Dragon taking the position of First Vice Commander of the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps is to be kept secret for now, especially from those bastards in the Military Department and the Special Oversight Committee."

Gu Xiechen asked, bewildered, "Why?"

The Grizzled Commander glared, shouting, "Why? Because of that damned Earth Federation Joint Defense Act! If the Military Department and the Special Oversight Committee find out you’re a Jieshi, they’ll be constantly scheming to have you fight for them, leaving you no time for the mercenary corps! Hmph, a Jieshi—that’s a fat piece of meat everyone wants a bite of!"

Gu Xiechen nodded. "I understand!" Keeping his true strength hidden benefited him. However, looking around at the dozen officials around the conference table, Gu Xiechen doubted how long this secret could be maintained. He had witnessed far too much insidious plotting when he was with the Gu Clan Group; who could guarantee there weren't moles here?

The brief meeting established Gu Xiechen’s status and authority within the Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps. No one objected to letting a Jieshi possess the same power as the Grizzled Commander. Might makes right—that principle was the highest law in the mercenary world. Not to mention the tangible benefits an actual Jieshi could bring to the corps.

Following this meeting, Gu Xiechen spent three days selecting one hundred elite warriors from the Base Internal Guard Corps to form his personal guard. As for the directly subordinate main combat regiment promised by the Grizzled Commander, Gu Xiechen decisively chose the Third Regiment. Banruo and Maha were among the few acquaintances Gu Xiechen had in the Hell's Angels; the two brothers practiced peculiar and powerful cultivation methods, and both had reached the Innate Realm through their own efforts—they were Gu Xiechen's best choice.

The hundred personal guards were all elites from the Internal Guard Corps, considered top hands within the entire Hell's Angels Mercenary Corps. But in Gu Xiechen's view, the soldiers' strength was still too lacking. He specially devised a hellish training plan for them, intending to spend two or three months pushing them further.

Before the training plan could be implemented, the Grizzled Commander rushed over, his face flushed with excitement yet boiling with anger, dragging Gu Xiechen out onto the vast ice sheet.

The biting cold, carried by the howling wind and swirling snow, made Gu Xiechen involuntarily twitch the muscles in his face. Even for an expert of the Innate level, being dragged from a warm ice base onto an ice field below minus forty degrees Celsius was hardly a pleasant experience.

The Grizzled Commander noticed Gu Xiechen's discomfort. He pulled Gu Xiechen up onto a small ice ridge before chuckling, "It's safe here; there’s absolutely no chance of eavesdropping equipment, which is why I had to drag you here. You, the First Vice Commander, need to get out there and be active. The commander of the Seventh Regiment, Dalaian, is locked in a vicious feud with his two deputies, and they need you to go mediate."

"What's so urgent?" Gu Xiechen knew the Grizzled Commander's office was heavily fortified, making eavesdropping virtually impossible. What matter required the Commander to be so cautious as to drag him out onto the ice plain for a private talk?

Cautiously glancing around, the Grizzled Commander lowered his voice. "Dalaian and his crew were stationed at a subsidiary mining area of the Danube Heavy Metals Company. They were bored, driving their patrol boats around aimlessly, and they discovered a new wormhole behind an asteroid belt. They went through it..."

"Inside was?" Gu Xiechen’s eyes lit up. A new wormhole? Could there be... behind the wormhole?

"A planet twice the diameter of Earth, complete with an atmosphere, surface vegetation, oceans, and lakes. However, the airflow at high altitudes in the atmosphere is extremely turbulent; small patrol boats cannot approach." The Grizzled Commander's face was flushed with excitement as he eagerly rubbed his hands together. "According to Earth Federation law, if our mercenary corps discovers this planet, we receive a massive monetary reward."

"If our mercenary corps surveys and maps the primary resource reserves and geographical conditions of this planet and then reports it, we could..." Gu Xiechen's heart pounded rapidly. "We could gain the right to exploit one-tenth of that planet!"

Discovering a new planet and surveying a new planet were entirely different matters. Discovering one only required a ship to pass by once. Surveying a new planet demanded immense expenditure of manpower and resources, and no one could say what dangers lay on the planet. Any organization that could mobilize the necessary personnel to survey the general conditions of a new planet and report it to the Federation would gain the exploitation rights for one-tenth of that planet!

Both Gu Xiechen’s and the Grizzled Commander’s eyes gleamed.

The Grizzled Commander said coolly, "No matter how powerful a mercenary corps is, it’s still just serving others. But if we can secure the foundation of one-tenth of a planet, coupled with you, a Jieshi, holding sway, we have a chance to develop into one of the Federation’s major powers!" A chilling glint flashed in the Grizzled Commander's eyes as he stated in a low voice, "When our mercenary corps becomes such a major power, we should have the strength to confront the Gu Clan Group head-on."

'Gu Clan Group'?

Gu Xiechen's heart gave a jolt. It seemed this outwardly rough and powerful man knew everything. Indeed, as the leader of the Hell's Angels with deep background ties in the Military Department, it would be absurd for the Grizzled Commander to ignore Gu Xiechen’s identity and origins.

"So, Commander's intention is?" Gu Xiechen narrowed his eyes. They were both intelligent people; many things only needed a hint to be understood.

"You take a thousand men and rush over there. The remaining two heavy patrol boats and three transport ships of the corps are all allocated to you," the Grizzled Commander ground out. "Dalaian's two bastards have lived too comfortably and actually dare not risk exploring the planet’s surface. Dalaian can’t manage them, so you go assert your authority. There are over two thousand more brothers stationed there; they will all follow your orders. You have two months to map out the general situation of that planet for me."

"I understand!" Gu Xiechen felt a surge of heat throughout his body. This was an opportunity—a chance for him to gain the means to directly confront the forces of Gu Juechen.

Defeating Gu Juechen and reclaiming the Gu Clan Group—he could not achieve that alone.

"I will remain at headquarters," the Grizzled Commander said, his face stern. "A newly discovered planet? This piece of fat meat will drive many people insane. I will watch things here. As soon as you have surveyed the planet's surface, send all the data back immediately, and I will file the report with the Federal Council. A planet twice the diameter of Earth, one-tenth of the exploitation rights—our brothers’ futures, whether we eat meat or grass, depend on this gamble!"

Gu Xiechen let out a deep breath, his surrounding Gang energy churning like thunder, emitting a continuous, dense series of crackling sounds from within his body.

The Grizzled Commander looked up at the sky and sneered, "If those two good-for-nothings under Dalaian refuse to obey, disable them. Mercenaries who have lost their edge are no longer mercenaries."

"I understand!"

Gu Xiechen's words carried a strong scent of blood.

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**is almost here, Little Gu’s destiny is about to change... Ah, recommendation tickets, comrades, try to smash them in!