Director Lei held up a notebook and said, "According to these records, they have only performed the ritual twice within Dashun Country, including this time. But there’s no record of their activities abroad, so we don’t know the actual total number of times."

Chen Chuan asked, "If they’ve performed this cult ritual multiple times, have they never been arrested before?"

Director Lei said, "Sun Wheel Stones are not easy to find. They are a contraband item in every country. The fact that they could obtain one means a high-ranking member of the sect is providing cover for them.

According to past records, the Baixiang Sect usually doesn’t use locals for their sacrifices. Coupled with the fact that they typically operate in remote, desolate outskirts, it makes it very difficult for governments to find them. In fact, if something hadn’t gone wrong on their end this time, we likely would never have discovered them."

Chen Chuan understood. The Esoteric Bureau had limited manpower and usually only focused on matters within the city. For incidents occurring outside the city limits, no one would pay any attention unless it was reported in the news or some anomaly suddenly emerged.

He then asked, "The Sun Wheel Stone they had this time—was it brought in from abroad?"

Director Lei said in a low voice, "Sun Wheel Stones from different countries have certain variations due to different processing methods. I just examined it. This one wasn’t brought in from abroad. It must be domestic."

Chen Chuan looked at Director Lei. "So someone in this country is helping them too?"

"Perhaps a follower of the Baixiang Sect, and from the looks of it, not a low-ranking one." Director Lei’s expression turned serious. "This is no small matter. I need to report this to my superiors and continue the investigation."

He then said to Chen Chuan solemnly, "Chen, I will report your meritorious service in this matter. However, what comes next will be very complicated. You don’t need to follow up on it."

Chen Chuan nodded. "Director Lei, I understand."

Director Lei looked outside and said slowly, "I’m due for a transfer next year. I might as well see this last case through while I’m still in my post."

After the Esoteric Bureau had clarified the situation, they packed up their things and departed. They would submit a report to the Administrative Affairs Hall, which would take over the matter. As for the public, a reasonable explanation would be provided.

Chen Chuan exchanged a few words with Ren Shu and the others, said his goodbyes, and returned to his car to drive home.

After returning home, he went to his room and took out the Snow Monarch Blade. He unsheathed it for a look and saw that the blood-red line on the spine of the blade seemed even more vivid.

He still wasn’t sure what exactly had entered the blade back then. But for now, it seemed to bring more benefits than harm, so he decided not to delve into it any further. He believed he would figure it out sooner or later.

Since the end of his vacation was approaching and he would be returning to Central City in a few days, he didn’t go anywhere else for the remainder of his time. He only made occasional phone calls to classmates and acquaintances, and every day he would take his younger cousins to a newly opened amusement park for a while.

On August 30th, Chen Chuan came out of his aunt’s house, pulling a suitcase that also held some things given to him by his family, friends, and classmates. He placed them in the trunk, then turned to Nian Fuli’s family, who had seen him to the mouth of the alley, and said:

"Aunt, Uncle, you should head back. I’ll come back to see you when I have time."

"Chan’Er, remember to call."

Chen Chuan smiled and said, "I will." Just then, he looked down and saw the two little ones tugging at the corner of his clothes, their eyes welling up with tears.

His time at home had been the happiest days for the two little ones. He had brought them fun things, bought them tasty treats, and taken them out to play every day. Now that he was leaving, they were reluctant to see him go.

Chen Chuan chuckled and patted the two little ones on the head. "Whenever your big cousin comes back, I’ll take you out to play."

Nian Mo looked up, his eyes full of expectation, and said, "Then Big Cousin has to bring Xiaoming back with you."

Chen Chuan smiled. "Alright, I’ll bring him back with me." Chaoming also chirped with a "CHIRP!" at the four of them from his perch on the headrest. He then looked up at Yu Wan and Nian Fuli and said, "Aunt, Uncle, I’m leaving."

Yu Wan said, "Chan’Er, be careful on the road."

Chen Chuan nodded in acknowledgment, opened the car door, and got in. After closing the door, he glanced outside and saw that in addition to his aunt’s family of four, many neighbors were also watching him. He smiled, gave them a wave, and then started the car.

The Gard Car slowly drove forward. After going some distance, Chen Chuan could still see his aunt and her family in the rearview mirror, standing there and watching him go, until their figures disappeared as he turned a corner.

He looked ahead, once again driving along the same road he had taken at the beginning of the year, heading toward Central City.

This time, he had set out at seven in the morning. By three in the afternoon, he had passed the last checkpoint on the National Path and entered the territory of Central City. The Realm Token he was wearing ahead of time hissed softly a few times before connecting to Central City’s platform.

Immediately after, he saw a series of voice messages pop up, scrolling endlessly up the holographic screen.

He listened to them one by one. They were all from acquaintances, classmates, teachers, and colleagues in Central City. Since they hadn’t been able to contact him for a long time, they were just calling to check in. Most of them were about nothing in particular.

He replied to them in chronological order, letting them know he had returned to Central City today.

At the same time, he also received some advertisements for the arena tournament. The competition was set to continue into September and wasn’t over yet, but it was about to enter the final round.

He paid it some attention and saw that one of the two finalists was Huo Yucheng, whom he had noted before. The other fighter, Yu Shen, who had once been favored by many, had been eliminated. Surprisingly, however, he had managed to withdraw from the tournament unscathed.

This was a life-or-death battle, after all. Withdrawing unharmed required not only one’s own surrender, but also an opponent who lacked the confidence to press on.

He pulled up a few clips from their semifinal match. Just as he had initially judged, Yu Shen’s true strength was greater than Huo Yucheng’s, but he lacked the will to fight to the bitter end. He was forced to retreat several times by Huo Yucheng’s mutually destructive tactics and ultimately had no choice but to concede.

Although Yu Shen had a powerful background, from the organizers’ perspective, he couldn’t bring them much profit, so making it this far was already quite impressive.

After watching for a while, he noticed he had entered the city proper. He closed the holographic screen and drove onto an overpass. A little over an hour later, he arrived back at the Profound Palace Building. As he looked up, he saw a red figure standing atop the eaves. He gave a nod in its direction and then, under its watchful gaze, drove into the underground garage.

After parking the car, he got out with his suitcase and took the elevator up. When it reached the first floor, the doors suddenly opened, and a male and a female student in casual clothes got in. Both had well-proportioned figures and were quite good-looking.

After the two got in and pressed their floor button, the male student noticed his suitcase and tried to strike up a conversation. "Hey, are you a new student too?"

Chen Chuan said, "You could say that."

Hearing this, the male student became a bit more familiar, stepped forward, and extended his hand. "My name is Fan Cheng, and this is Kong Yao. We’re both new students this year."

Chen Chuan shook his hand and said, "Chen Chuan. Nice to meet you both."

Fan Cheng looked curiously at Chaoming, who was perched on Chen’s shoulder. "Chen, is that your pet? What is it?"

Kong Yao also glanced over a few times, clearly very interested in Chaoming.

Chen Chuan said, "His name is Chaoming. He’s a Bird Lizard." Chaoming chirped at the two of them, "CHIRP!", as if to say hello. His cleverness greatly surprised them.

Fan Cheng had no idea what a Bird Lizard was, but not wanting to appear ignorant, he feigned realization. "Oh, a Bird Lizard! That explains it, haha..."

Chen Chuan just smiled.

As they were talking, the elevator slowly rose to the twenty-second floor and stopped. Fan Cheng and Kong Yao’s dorms were on this level. The three of them exchanged contact information, and Fan Cheng said to Chen Chuan, "Since we’re all new students, let’s talk more when we have time."

Chen Chuan smiled and said, "Okay."

After the two of them stepped out, the elevator doors slowly closed. Fan Cheng turned to Kong Yao and said, "Hey, that guy Chen lives on a much higher floor than us. All the way up on the forty-ninth floor."

Kong Yao said, "I think the floor assignments are based on the academy’s initial evaluation of a student. The higher the evaluation, the higher the floor. I heard the highest doesn’t exceed the sixtieth floor."

Fan Cheng said in awe, "For Chen to be assigned to the forty-ninth floor, his evaluation must be way better than ours. Looks like we should try to get on his good side."

Kong Yao said, "But that’s just the initial evaluation. Only the matriculation assessment actually counts."

Hearing her mention that, Fan Cheng’s face clouded with worry. "I originally thought getting into Wuyi Academy was like a carp leaping over the dragon gate. I never expected that a low evaluation score would get you demoted to a non-affiliated student and forced into the arena tournaments. They don’t even let you quit. It’s a death sentence."

Kong Yao muttered, "I don’t want to fight in the arena tournaments either. I guess I’ll just have to spend more money to buy some courses from the instructors. If I can get a good sparring partner, I should be able to improve a lot."

"But everyone else is working hard too... Ugh, whatever. Let’s just leave it at that for now."

Forty-ninth floor. The elevator doors opened slowly, and Chen Chuan stepped out. A few steps later, he was at his apartment door. He took out his key and opened it. Chaoming spread his wings, glided down from his shoulder, and darted inside. Chen Chuan set his suitcase down by the wall, walked to the other side of the room, and pulled open the curtains.

Instantly, light from outside flooded in, falling upon him. He gazed for a moment at the pillar of light in the distance, in the direction of the arena tournament.

’Next, I need to find some time to go to the address my parents left behind and see what’s there.’

’But before that, I have to take care of a few trivial matters.’

Just as he was thinking this, Ni Qianqian’s profile picture began to flash on his communicator. He accepted the call, and Ni Qianqian’s voice came through. "Brother Chen, are you back in Central City?"

Chen Chuan replied, "I’m back."

Ni Qianqian said, "When you have a moment in the next few days, remember to drop by the bureau. There are some things the bureau needs to fill you in on. It’ll be good for you to know sooner rather than later."

Chen Chuan said, "Alright. Thanks for the heads-up, Sister Ni."

’Manager Qiu from the Processing Bureau mentioned before that there was something important he wanted to discuss when I returned to Central City. This must be it.’

’And Cao Guiqi had said something similar before, too.’

’I’ve always felt that something was hidden beneath Central City, but I wasn’t at a high enough level to be qualified to know. Now that I’ve reached the Third Limit, it seems these secrets are about to be revealed to me.’

...

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