Chapter 68: Zhang Juzheng’s Tomb
Various crafty schemes and treacherous thoughts came to mind, though w.a.n.g Hu suppressed them a few seconds later.
It was useless to think of all these at the moment. Things involving such serious consequences weren’t something that the current him could intervene in.
w.a.n.g Hu asked tentatively, “Baijun, what you’re saying is…?”
Di Baijun stayed silent for a few seconds. Perhaps it might only have been a coincidence if only one issue out of the many had taken place, but since there were so many problems, then that meant that it was definitely no coincidence.
Yet, she didn’t know how she should be explaining it because she had no idea who was creating all these problems either.
Was she supposed to tell the jerk that those Qin, Han, and other names that were pa.s.sed down from the Era of Severance were identical to those of the Holy Tribunals that she had heard of in the past?
What was the point if only the names were identical?
Even she didn’t know more or know anything for certain. There was no use in telling that shameless jerk.
With her brows deeply locked together, she said, “Be careful of China.”
At present, out of all these problems that she had discovered, the only abnormality was that they were related to China.
Although w.a.n.g Hu didn’t fully understand, he also agreed with her nevertheless. He said gravely, “Let’s go online and take a look at what exactly is going on? Is this happening worldwide or only in China?”
Di Baijun nodded.
Roar~!
“Mommy, Daddy, I wanna sleepy sleep.”
Little Treasure’s drowsy voice reached them at this point. Big Treasure was standing beside her and nodding.
w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun looked over to see a faint white glow appearing around Big Treasure and Little Treasure, and they hurried over to them at once.
A faint glow slowly appeared in Di Baijun’s eyes. Two seconds later, she relaxed and said, “It’s fine. The spiritual energy nourishment holds great benefits for Big Treasure and Little Treasure. It’ll help their bloodlines to develop a step further.”
w.a.n.g Hu calmed down at once, too. After they settled down the two little fellows and let them return to the cave to sleep, they immediately went online to check out the situation.
The Internet was already in an uproar.
“What the heck, my body has become stronger for no reason. What happened? Am I going to awaken superpowers?”
“You must be dreaming. It seems like everyone’s bodies are becoming stronger. Surely, this can’t be spiritual energy nourishment again?”
“It doesn’t seem like it’s happening overseas. I called my friend and asked just now. It seems like it’s only happening in China!”
“Nice! China is so impressive!”
“The great China is the most awesome! Not gonna explain why[1].”
“What the heck? Don’t all of you cultivate? This is a great time for one to become stronger! You may even be able to make use of the opportunity to cultivate True Qi!”
…
…
After reading several comments, w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun reached a preliminary conclusion—the current situation was only happening in China. It was just like what happened three years ago when a sudden growth in spiritual energy density level took place only in China, and it ended up surpa.s.sing the spiritual energy density level in every other part of the world.
A few seconds later, a message appeared. It was from China’s cabinet.
“This is an emergency message from the cabinet. A second round of spiritual energy nourishment has taken place. Please seize the opportunity to cultivate as much as you can. Do not panic. This is normal. If unusual circ.u.mstances arise, please inform the relevant authorities…”
w.a.n.g Hu and Di Baijun exchanged a look. They spent another few more minutes reading more comments before they stopped.
They had completely confirmed one thing—there was indeed something amiss in China, and it was big. They had to be careful.
w.a.n.g Hu sank into contemplation for a while. Then, he glanced toward the south where Hu County was and said seriously, “Baijun, we have to get ready and be prepared to leave at any moment now.”
Di Baijun nodded. It was now possible for some Third Realm cultivators from that alternate world to enter this part of the world.
They couldn’t afford to take a gamble on whether China could fend off the enemy or not. All they could do was to be prepared to leave anytime.
“Let’s go back to cultivating for now,” said w.a.n.g Hu.
Di Baijun gave her silent agreement. After suppressing all her unnecessary thoughts, she started to focus on cultivating.
Spiritual energy nourishment was a great opportunity to cultivate.
Nearby, Su Ling was already cultivating a long time ago.
Meanwhile…
In the capital of China, China’s higher management officials—including Dong Pingtao, all wore incredibly solemn and awful looks on their faces.
They convened once more via a video conference call for another cabinet meeting.
“We’ve found the cause. About fifteen minutes ago, a tomb suddenly appeared out of thin air at the Zhang ancestral grounds in the central region.
“Four words ‘Tomb of Zhang Juzheng’ are written on it. Like what happened with Zhang Dingguo’s tomb the last time—the moment it appeared, an extremely great burst of spiritual energy instantly swept through the whole country.
“The research inst.i.tute sent us a report just now. The current spiritual energy density level has likely already reached a point high enough to allow Third Realm cultivators in. Additionally, it is also still rapidly increasing at the moment. As for how high specifically it’ll go, they’re currently still in the midst of their calculations.”
An elderly man in charge of matters relating to this spoke solemnly.
Most of the ones present were alarmed and uneasy upon hearing what he said.
Another tomb again!
How exactly was it related to the previous one?
Why were they emerging one after another? And even bringing with them ma.s.sive amounts of spiritual energy?
What had exactly happened prior to the Era of Severance?
Too many questions and too much pressure weighed down heavily on their hearts.
If this had happened without the matter about the alternate world, they would have been delighted and welcomed it with open arms, of course.
After all, the higher the spiritual energy density level was, the more likely it was that Chinese cultivators would far outperform the rest of the world, be it in speed or limit.
To an era in the midst of a reform, the meaning behind this was obvious.
Yet, they simply had to be faced with the threat from the alternate world instead.
Take the current situation for example. Some Third Realm experts from the Hu County alternate world could enter China now.
However, what about outside of China?
Even peak-level Second Realm experts couldn’t get out of the world pa.s.sages.
This was totally weal and woe coming in a set.
After a few seconds of silence, Dong Pingtao slowly broke the silence. He said, “The most professional archaeologists are already on their way. Defense operations have also been officially initiated at Hu County. There’s no need to worry about these two matters of highest priority for the time being.
“This emergency meeting is mostly to discuss how we should handle the impact that this incident will bring to other areas.
“For example, the people with supernatural powers that will emerge in China and the rest of the world, cultivation progress, as well as new alternate worlds that may appear within our borders, etc. The last one, in particular, is something that we cannot afford to make any mistakes about.”
Everyone present nodded. They naturally understood the importance of this.
A great increase in spiritual energy and spiritual energy nourishment brought tremendous impact.
There were both positive and negative effects to this. They had to handle this appropriately, especially the last point.
Should a powerful alternate world pa.s.sage appear without their knowledge—once the other party entered China and wreaked havoc, the consequences would be unthinkable.
“Let’s get back to our respective duties for now. We’ll act according to what we’ve planned,” said Dong Pingtao.
The cabinet meeting ended. Another huge storm took place in the world.
Two days pa.s.sed in the blink of an eye. The rapid increase in spiritual energy came to a stop and returned to its normal slow increment rate.
Ten days later, the spiritual energy nourishment ended.
Another emergency cabinet meeting was held the next day.
On the large screen, an elderly man wearing a researcher’s uniform was currently speaking to them solemnly. He said, “According to the ten cla.s.sification levels that we made based on how strong the Second Realm is and their corresponding spiritual energy density levels… and our investigations and research based on the Hu County alternate world’s spiritual energy, as well as Zhang Dingguo’s legacy; we’ve also come up with ten approximate cla.s.sification levels with regard to Third-Realm spiritual energy density levels and their corresponding level of strength.
“These ten levels refer to physical strength levels and not combat strength levels. After all, levels of combat strength differ even with the same amount of physical strength.
“You can treat it as a cla.s.sification system for cultivation realms. At present, the spiritual energy density level in China has already reached the third stage of the Third Realm.
“In terms of cultivation speed, there has been a great increase in the average speed. Based on the current fastest cultivation speed in China, the research inst.i.tute estimates that, with our help, our people should likely be able to reach peak-level Second Realm in two years.
“As for the Third Realm, we’ve been studying it all this time, but rebirth and remolding of one’s body and the forging of the divine body are extremely mysterious and profound. We haven’t had much progress yet, but if one wants to be reborn more times, they’ll definitely need an extremely great amount of energy…”
Ten-odd minutes later, the video was switched off.
An elderly man said gravely, “As of 9 a.m. this morning, we’ve found a total of 18,569 new supernatural power wielders. This number is more than six times that of the last time. A total of 965 people has also made use of the opportunity to break through to the Second Realm. As for new alternate worlds, we haven’t found any as of now…”
Li Aimin said, “As for the Multi-Species Department, at present, we’ve found a total of 203 animals that made use of the opportunity to break through to the Second Realm. The actual number is definitely bigger. A big trend of various animal species breaking through will also definitely come next.
“We foresee that the Multi-Species Department’s current manpower and authority will be vastly insufficient. There will also be a huge trial in terms of relations between China and the animals…”
Right on the heels of it, more and more elderly men spoke up one after another to report matters about various aspects of the country.
At last, Dong Pingtao spoke.
“With regard to the Hu County alternate world, the secretariat has already confirmed the plan to hunt that Hui and will start on it soon. Currently, that Hui is the only one with the knowledge of the world pa.s.sage that we can confirm.
“After we kill it, we’ll conceal the world pa.s.sage and try our best to delay the Hu County alternate world from discovering it and then China.
“As for Zhang Juzheng’s tomb, why don’t everyone take a look at the recorded video instead?”
After he spoke, the large screen switched on again, and everyone looked at it attentively.
The tomb was largely identical to Zhang Dingguo’s. At the end of it was also a large burial chamber.
Engraved within were large amounts of inheritance and some words in the very center.
“This old man, Zhang Juzheng, was blessed with a high position in the Great Ming[2], yet I was powerless to do anything.
“I could neither resist the extraterrestrial demons nor protect us humans.
“Fortunately, we ultimately still have a chance. I bury my remains here and leave behind this inheritance to fight for that ray of hope of survival for my clan.
“Those who enter this tomb but are not children of our clan shall die.”
Everyone could clearly sense the strong and heavy repressive atmosphere even through the screen.
Everyone had a grave and solemn look on their faces as they contemplated this.
[1] A Chinese meme used when someone finds a forum post’s question or view stupid so they can’t be bothered to explain too much.
[2] This refers to the Ming dynasty of China that lasted from 1368 to 1644.