Thousands of military psychics, combined with thirty thousand elite special forces soldiers equipped with the latest Hercules IV Model Combat Armor, made the base impenetrable. Among them were three hundred psychics of the mutation/mental type produced by the Federal Academy of Sciences, and over four thousand bio-engineered beings—more advanced than Jack, who was killed by the Sai Shi on Easter Island. Furthermore, there were two hundred and seventy formidable Jieshi.

This was the elite force directly subordinate to Wolf Fang—the stronghold Wolf Fang had painstakingly built over nearly a century of maneuvering within the Federal Military Department.

Above the base, ten Nantianmen-class heavy dreadnoughts and thirty Beitianmen-class battleships, newly manufactured by Hardtide Defense Corporation, patrolled. Combined with three mixed space fleet squadrons directly managed by the Federal Military Department, a total of over four hundred large warships had turned the five-hundred-kilometer radius around the base into an impregnable fortress.

Fifteen hundred meters deep underground, within the base’s secret chamber, Gu Xiechen looked helplessly at the base deployment map displayed on the light screen.

He coughed lightly and smiled wryly, “Marshal, is all this fuss really necessary?”

Wolf Fang, clad in a grey homespun Daoist robe and glowing with vigor, puffed out his chest. He looked sternly at Gu Xiechen and said in a deep voice, “Not being able to step onto the Dao Path is the greatest sorrow of my life. With my current cultivation, merely consuming the Liangyi Duotian Dan will allow me to instantly form a Golden Core. I cannot allow anyone to interrupt such a crucial moment.”

He sneered, and Wolf Fang coldly pointed at the countless flashing light spots on the deployment map: “As long as I can form a Golden Core, no price is too high.”

Gu Xiechen spread his hands, wordlessly retreating to a corner of the secret chamber.

The walls, floor, and ceiling of this hundred-meter-square chamber were cast from meters-thick specialty armor plating, capable of withstanding a direct hit from a ten-megaton nuclear warhead. Now, the four walls, ceiling, and floor were embedded with extremely high-quality Zakkara energy crystals—what the Asian Daoist Alliance referred to as spirit stones!

The floor held the Great Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array; the four walls held the Four Symbols Spirit Gathering Array; and the ceiling held the Lesser Heavenly Cycle Spirit Guiding Array. These three great formations continuously drew upon the earth’s spiritual energy from a radius of over a thousand li, causing the spacious chamber to churn with thick, milky-white spiritual energy, dense as milk. The spiritual energy concentration here was absolutely no less than that of any Celestial Grotto-Heaven on Earth.

Only Wolf Fang, who controlled the allocation of all Federal military resources, could amass such an abundance of top-grade Zakkara energy crystals. Ordinary Zakkara crystals required thousands of pieces to yield one decent mid-grade crystal, and hundreds of mid-grade crystals to extract a single top-grade one. To lay out the three great spirit gathering formations, a staggering one hundred and eight thousand top-grade Zakkara energy crystals were used. Wolf Fang had spent a lifetime’s worth of effort just to finally accumulate this fortune.

Sitting cross-legged in the corner of the chamber, Gu Xiechen mused inwardly, The old fellow seems to know he has a chance to gather a Golden Core one day? So, he’s thoroughly prepared! But then again, one can’t be sure what else he’s preparing for!

Watching Wolf Fang sit with extreme solemnity upon the focus point of the Great Five Elements Spirit Gathering Array, Gu Xiechen also closed his eyes, dedicating himself entirely to cultivation.

He had promised to guard Wolf Fang’s meditation. If anything unusual occurred after Wolf Fang consumed the Liangyi Duotian Dan, Gu Xiechen was sworn to use all his power to save him.

“I hope Siren and Arithia have smoother breakthroughs after taking their medicine… their natural aptitudes are good, and they don’t carry the same massive risk as Wolf Fang!” Gu Xiechen muttered under his breath.

Wolf Fang, trembling slightly, reached out with shaking hands and retrieved the vial of medicine given to him by Gu Xiechen. This contained his dream.

As an outer disciple of the Kunlun Dao Sect who could never truly step onto the path of cultivation, it was Wolf Fang’s lifelong regret. Despite holding supreme authority in the Federation, Wolf Fang understood clearly: what was the worth of his power compared to those lofty, true cultivators? Only by becoming a true cultivator himself could he transform from a chess piece into someone qualified to make the moves.

“Heh, Gu Xiechen, I owe you one!”

Wolf Fang grumbled, flicked his wrist, crushing the vial. He placed the starkly black and white Liangyi Duotian Dan into his mouth.

Two powerful currents, one cold and one hot, exploded in his mouth, roaring down into Wolf Fang’s abdomen. In an instant, they fractured into countless streams, like inhaling steel wires, rushing throughout Wolf Fang’s body. With a soft hiss, countless fine black vapors began to escape from the body of Wolf Fang, whose physical form had already been honed to its extreme limits through nearly a century of martial arts cultivation. A foul, fishy stench emanated from him, immediately neutralized and dissolved by the surrounding spiritual energy.

Staring in astonishment at the monkey-like black, oily fluid seeping from his skin, Wolf Fang’s face twitched for a moment, then he let out three loud, joyous laughs. He immediately focused all his attention on the internal changes occurring in his body. Wolf Fang’s wife was an inner disciple of the Kunlun Dao Sect, and he himself was the worldly representative painstakingly cultivated by the sect. Although he couldn't cultivate the Dao, he was not short of several profound cultivation methods.

Being a veteran of the Federal Military, the moment he sensed wondrous changes occurring within his body—previously stagnant zones where true Qi could not pass suddenly becoming smooth; compressed true Qi that couldn't be refined suddenly showing tendencies toward condensation; and the twelve Heaven Lattices, always blocked, suddenly connecting—Wolf Fang immediately followed the path he had fantasized about countless times: he began cultivating the Kunlun Dao Sect’s strongest body cultivation technique, the Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual.

The Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual was a body cultivation technique created by a predecessor of the Kunlun Dao Sect, reverse-engineered from the legendary Ten Revolutions Profound Art. It was currently the strongest body cultivation method in the cultivation world; given sufficient aptitude and external opportunities, it was more than enough to break through the Soul Transformation stage and reach the Void Shattering stage. Since Wolf Fang was a soldier, he would not, and could not, choose various esoteric Daoist arts. The method that best suited his heart was this direct-combat body refinement technique.

The most crucial point was that the aura of the Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual was deeply concealed, like the essence of jade marrow hidden deep within a stone, making it difficult for others to detect the earth-shattering changes happening to his body.

Gu Xiechen opened his eyes as if sensing something. His immense spiritual power gently enveloped Wolf Fang, sensing every change occurring within him.

What was initially perceived as a chaotic red light under his spiritual sensing gradually became refined. Following the transformation caused by the Liangyi Duotian Dan, Wolf Fang’s aura grew lustrous like jade, his fluctuations nimble and subtle, giving the impression of fine mutton-fat jade meticulously carved by a master artisan. Tiny, previously non-existent meridians slowly sprouted within Wolf Fang’s body. These newborn pathways continuously absorbed the abundant external spiritual energy, slowly growing stronger.

Normal people possess the Twelve Primary Meridians and Eight Extraordinary Vessels, but Dao cultivators possess far more than these. Only those possessing Spirit Veins can become true cultivators.

And the so-called Spirit Veins were precisely these newly forming meridians within Wolf Fang’s body. They existed independently of the Extraordinary Vessels and Primary Meridians, emerging directly from a person’s five viscera. If the five viscera were seeds, these new meridians were the roots and branches extending from them. The internal Qi of the five viscera, corresponding to the Five Elements Qi, flowed through these Spirit Veins, slowly absorbing external spiritual energy to transform it into True Essence imbued with Five Element properties, while continuously devouring the existing true Qi within his body, also converting it into True Essence.

Gu Xiechen observed Wolf Fang silently.

When Hei Jieke consumed the Liangyi Duotian Dan, he had zero cultivation base, so the changes in his body were subtle and hard to detect. But Wolf Fang had immersed himself in martial arts his entire life; his internal true Qi was incredibly vast, and its flow generated huge disturbances. Gu Xiechen could easily see precisely how the Liangyi Duotian Dan was taking effect.

Five fine, new Spirit Veins slowly grew out of Wolf Fang’s five viscera, gradually piercing through his body and spreading throughout his entire form.

It was clear that Wolf Fang’s inherent attribute leaned towards Fire. The Spirit Vein growing from his heart was exceptionally robust, at least ten times stronger than the other four. Gradually, nine-tenths of the medicinal power from the Liangyi Duotian Dan was seized by Wolf Fang’s Heart Meridian. The Heart Meridian grew faster and tougher under the nourishment of the medicine. The other four meridians soon flagged, only managing to sprout slightly before their speed of spreading outward stagnated.

However, the Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual that Wolf Fang had chosen was clearly biased towards the Earth attribute. As the technique circulated, internal true Qi and incoming external spiritual energy flowed more toward the spleen. The resulting True Essence also carried a faint yellow hue—the Earth attribute. But the Spirit Vein that had grown on his spleen was weak and thin, swallowing true Qi and spiritual energy at a terrifyingly slow rate. Ignoring the influx of external spiritual energy, it would take at least ten years just to fully convert the true Qi Wolf Fang already possessed!

Wolf Fang noticed this problem as well and opened his eyes with a trace of helplessness.

“The Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual is the technique most suited to my heart… but…”

Wolf Fang felt a dryness in his mouth. The Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual could conceal his burgeoning power, giving him enough time to properly handle the transfer of his authority. Cultivators were forbidden from interfering in Federal politics—this was a mandatory rule in the Declaration of Reclusion. But Wolf Fang was simply too reluctant to relinquish the power he held; he genuinely wished to hand this authority over to his direct subordinates.

If he switched to a Fire-attribute technique, not only was the Crimson Heaven Fire God Art he possessed incapable of concealing his aura, but the technique itself was far inferior to the Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual!

Gu Xiechen frowned. From his perspective, the longer Wolf Fang remained Chairman of the Federal Military Department, the better—ideally, not leaving until Gu Xiechen’s own faction had significantly grown.

He naturally understood the reason behind Wolf Fang’s choice of the Nine Revolutions Profound Jade Manual.

After a moment of contemplation, Gu Xiechen suddenly jumped up, grabbing three more Liangyi Duotian Dan in his hand.

Five streaks of purple light shot out, and the five Wu Jia brothers strode out. Following Gu Xiechen’s command, they swiftly arranged the Five Elements Transmigration Grand Array around Wolf Fang. As the array operated, the focus point this time was placed on Xin Jia. All the spiritual energy surrounding Wolf Fang was devoured by the array and converted into a single, pure... and dense, earth-yellow spiritual energy that coiled around Wolf Fang.

“Let me lend you a hand!” Gu Xiechen shouted, feeding the three Liangyi Duotian Dan toward Wolf Fang’s mouth. “Consider whether you want to swallow them yourself. I have no idea what happens if one consumes too many of these pills!”

Wolf Fang froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter, “Good, good, good! If I succeed this time, you and I will be sworn brothers from now on.”

“Heh, heh, you actually have this many spirit pills that are worth more than gold in the cultivation world!”

Glaring at Gu Xiechen, Wolf Fang opened his mouth and sucked the three Liangyi Duotian Dan inside.

Brothers with the Chairman of the Military Department? Well, things would certainly be more convenient for official matters from now on!

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