Chapter 86: Paperman

Chapter 86: Chapter 86: Paperman

On the highway to the Royal Capital, Chen Qi was speeding along in his maglev sports car.

He was traveling light and hadn’t brought much with him.

The only thing of any real value was probably the Compass Chen Qi had acquired in the Chaotic City.

The Royal Capital was said to be a Treasure Land, and Chen Qi planned to learn how to appreciate its qualities.

Chen Qi had briefly studied this Compass before; it was definitely an Extraordinary item.

Its function wasn’t for combat, but for Observation of various magnetic fields.

Whether it was the Life Magnet Field of a living creature or the natural fields found everywhere, it could perceive them all with accuracy.

The Compass had two hands, one long and one short. Its use was also quite simple. When Chen Qi injected his Spirituality into the long hand, his own senses would extend outward with its rotation.

Chen Qi had experimented once. If he poured half of his Spirituality into the Compass, all the various magnetic fields within a one-kilometer radius became clearly visible.

And if he injected his Spirituality into the shorter hand, its rotation could lock onto the location with the strongest magnetic field reaction within a three-kilometer radius.

The miraculous nature of this item truly excited Chen Qi.

If not for its precise and complex structure, which Chen Qi wasn’t confident he could disassemble without breaking, he would have long since taken it apart into a pile of components.

Given its unique function, it was the first thing Chen Qi thought of when he decided to enter the Royal Capital.

If the Royal Capital turned out to be a lion’s den, at least with this he wouldn’t get lost while escaping.

To ensure a smooth trip, Chen Qi had made more than just this one preparation.

Although his body had fully recovered and his Life Magnet Field had once again expanded to five meters...

...for the sake of hiding his true strength, Chen Qi still used his Spirituality to restrain it to a two-meter range.

Even if the Royal Capital was equipped with a Life Radar, it would only detect his life level as 5.

As for his Spirit Awakening, Chen Qi planned to hide it for as long as he possibly could.

This wasn’t about playing the fool to get the jump on his enemies; it was simply a player’s survival instinct.

Right now, he was just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill LV2 rookie player.

To make himself seem as plain and ordinary as possible, Chen Qi had even postponed his skill promotions.

’With great power comes great responsibility... and the most work.’ As a former wage slave, that was one lesson Chen Qi understood well.

If Plum Blossom 10 knew about Chen Qi’s maneuvers, he would surely laugh at him for being paranoid and seeing shadows everywhere.

He was just reporting for duty at headquarters, not walking into a trap alone; he was being far too cautious.

But Chen Qi firmly believed all this was necessary. You only get one life, and a man has to be responsible for his own skin.

If he lost his life due to a moment of carelessness, there would be no second chances.

「Three hours later.」

The Royal Capital was now faintly visible.

A rare trace of nervousness rose in Chen Qi’s heart. He’d heard too many legends about the Demon; it was hard to treat it as nothing.

Although it was almost impossible for him to meet that particular entity, what if?

The car’s speed slowly decreased as Chen Qi followed the flow of traffic into the Royal Capital.

······

「Rewind to more than ten days ago.」

Chen Qi had just left Talin City to track down Najir Buffon.

"Damn it, I failed again."

"Why? Why?"

"Why can’t I ever become a Great Grandmaster? Every time, I’m just a little bit short."

On a remote, barren mountain outside Talin City, Yu Hongwu’s eyes were crimson. He was hysterical, his entire being exuding a frenzied aura.

Around him, the ground was cracking inch by inch, as if it had just been trampled by a colossal beast.

Before him, a stone page was soaked in fresh blood. Countless dense lines on it twisted and warped in the blood, an exceptionally bizarre sight.

This was the third day since Yu Hongwu had recovered and once again attempted to practice the Original Martial Canon.

He had clearly sensed that sliver of connection, yet he was always just shy of grasping it.

The hopelessness and powerlessness of seeing hope but never being able to touch it was driving him insane.

"Why?"

"Why?"

"I risked everything and went through so much just to obtain a single page of the Original Martial Canon."

"As long as I succeed in my Cultivation, I’ll become the fourth Great Grandmaster in the Red Falcon Sect’s thousand-year history, and the most powerful one at that!"

"Because my breakthrough to Great Grandmaster relies on the Original Martial Canon."

After failing from the Rebound last time, Yu Hongwu had thought he’d already grasped that slim chance.

Now, it seemed it was all just Mirror Flower Water Moon.

Did he have to be like the patriarchs of old, toiling for decades in search of a Spiritual Object just for a lucky chance at a breakthrough?

But Spiritual Objects were in the Inner Ring World. How could they be so easy to find?

The Red Falcon Sect had produced countless Grandmasters over a thousand years, but only three Great Grandmasters. There was a reason for that.

As for heading to the Outer Ring World?

That was even more impossible. The channels to the Outer Ring World were firmly controlled by the major powers and Middle-tier nations.

Ordinary people like them, born in small countries, had no access at all.

As for sneaking across?

He might as well die of old age in the Celestial Martial Country. At least he could be buried in peace.

Being unable to break through due to the lack of Spiritual Objects was the fate of nearly every Grandmaster in the Celestial Martial Country.

But there was one group that never had to worry about this: the Divine Tao Palace.

The Original Martial Canon was the most powerful Spiritual Object. As long as they could communicate with it, they could break through to become a Great Grandmaster.

How could this not make the other Grandmasters burn with envy, jealousy, and hatred?

Even though the Divine Tao Palace was powerful and had suppressed the Celestial Martial Country for millennia, there had still been no shortage of Grandmasters throughout history who united to rebel.

All for the sake of obtaining the Original Martial Canon.

Yu Hongwu and the others colluding with the Black Blood Federation was simply them learning from their predecessors.

The only difference was that they had been luckier and had actually succeeded.

But now, on this very last step, he had failed repeatedly and was stuck.

"Celestial Pigeon, Celestial Pigeon!"

"I can sense it. This page of the Original Martial Canon is connected to a terrifying life form called the Celestial Pigeon."

"It has already seen me. I’m just a little bit away from seeing it."

"It laughed. It’s mocking me for overestimating myself."

"No, absolutely not! I will succeed!"

Yu Hongwu’s mental state grew increasingly unstable. He stared intently at the stone page, his eyes even beginning to weep blood.

Perhaps this was the price for overestimating his abilities and trying to peer at a powerful existence.

If nothing unexpected happened, the best outcome awaiting Yu Hongwu would be to gouge out his own eyes and become a crazed martial arts fanatic.

But the more likely outcome was another Rebound, which would cost him his life completely.

At this critical moment, a gust of wind blew past, and a Paperman landed on the bloodstained stone page, perfectly blocking Yu Hongwu’s line of sight.

Yu Hongwu was jolted from his delirium and immediately looked around with extreme nervousness.

"Who?"

"Come out!"

As a cunning old fox with a calculating mind, once his wits returned, Yu Hongwu instantly realized someone else had intervened.

This page of the Original Martial Canon was a treasure he had risked his life for. He would absolutely not allow any outsiders to lay eyes on it—not even his own disciple.

"Tsk, tsk. Are you looking for me?"

"I came to this Talin City to check on [Red Heart 7] and see if this newly-online fellow has been courting death."

"I didn’t expect to run into such an interesting human like you instead of the person I was looking for."

"You fool. To think you’d try to achieve your breakthrough in the Lanyu Kingdom, not knowing that even if you were lucky enough to succeed, you’d be eaten in the very next instant."

On top of the stone Original Martial Canon, the Paperman, stained with a trace of blood, had actually started to speak.