Chapter 10: A Random Name

"I was previously the director of the J City National Museum, and I have a particular interest in historical artifacts and ancient Daoist and Buddhist scriptures related to Buddhism and Daoism. Since retiring a few years ago, I have been continuously researching these things.

One month before these ability users appeared, I began to feel something different while studying those Buddhist and Daoist scriptures; it seemed as though there were subtle changes in my mental state.

At the beginning, I didn't pay much attention to these feelings, thinking perhaps my understanding of these Buddhist and Daoist scriptures had deepened a layer; after all, that feeling was far too slight.

But a few days later, while reading an ancient Daoist scripture, I saw a paragraph describing the meridian pathways for a certain type of Daoist meditation. I subconsciously followed this cultivation route to meditate on the corresponding meridians in my body, and then, without realizing it, I entered a meditative state.

By the time I came to my senses, four or five hours had already passed, and I could clearly feel an energy in my body similar to the true Qi or spiritual energy described in the books of the ancients, and I could also feel these energies drifting in the outside air.

In the days that followed, I meditated every day according to that cultivation route. I could feel the energy in my body becoming more and more abundant and refined. Furthermore, this energy was subtly improving my body. As of now, my body is much better than it was a month ago; even my hair has turned black again, and my complexion has become much younger. One would never be able to tell that I am nearly seventy years old.

Moreover, I can sense that among the energy drifting in the air, besides the energy I can absorb, there are other energies present, some of which are similar to the energy within the bodies of those ability users."

After Director Qian finished speaking, the entire room fell into silence. Everyone was shocked. Could it be that the recent anomalies were not just about ability users, but that even so-called cultivation and immortality had appeared?

After the shock came fervor. After all, this was cultivation, this was immortality—things that could grant longevity. Everyone present was a heavyweight from the military or political spheres, and none were young; the youngest among them had already reached middle age, not to mention that most could already be considered elderly.

There were also some who were relatively calm and not carried away by this news who began to ask questions.

"How do you know these energies appeared suddenly, rather than having always existed? Is it because of the ability users who have appeared during this time? And if you can cultivate and absorb energy through meditation techniques, then how did that energy enter the bodies of the ability users? Or rather, what method did they use to absorb energy and awaken their abilities?"

"And what about those cultivation techniques? Have you let others experiment with them? Is it only certain people who can cultivate, or is there no threshold and anyone can do it?" someone also asked with a fervent expression.

"My speculation about the time these energies appeared does indeed have a certain connection to the ability users who have awakened during this period, because these energies are becoming more abundant and concentrated during this time, so I suspect that the reason ability users are able to awaken is very likely related to these energies that are still continuously increasing.

However, it is mainly because I was not the only one who cultivated and absorbed these energies during that time. Some monks and Daoists I knew before, as well as some I didn't know, also achieved results in their cultivation during that period. After I was able to start cultivating, I took the initiative to find them and communicate.

And before this, I can basically confirm that no one had cultivated anything, not even the most devout Daoists and monks.

Furthermore, a small portion of well-preserved ancient ritual objects in museums, Daoist temples, and Buddhist monasteries across the country have also recently been subtly emitting energy fluctuations, as have a very small number of broken arrays buried beneath the ancient capitals of past dynasties. Because it cannot be 100% guaranteed whether those broken arrays will suddenly erupt and cause some kind of disturbance,

for the sake of safety, it was decided to hold this meeting in B City, because there are also some residual broken arrays beneath J City.

Therefore, based on these events, it can basically be determined that these energies that allow people to cultivate and absorb them, as well as other energies, began to appear one month ago. I suspect that those ability users should have started to awaken only after these energies reached a certain level of concentration. As for how those ability users specifically awakened or how they absorbed this energy, it has not yet been researched, but what is certain is that they are also unaware of this," Director Qian said as such.

After saying this, Director Qian looked at the people in the conference room, who were all still looking at him with more or less expectant gazes, and understood in his heart what they were thinking. Thus, he continued:

"As for the cultivation techniques, after communicating with other friends I was familiar with and confirming that one could start cultivating, I took the initiative to report these matters to the state. Before the ability users began to awaken, I and other Daoists and monks I was familiar with who were able to start cultivating had already cooperated with the state to conduct experiments.

I regret to tell everyone that not everyone is able to cultivate. After all, some Daoists I knew before who were devout to the Dao could not cultivate, let alone ordinary people. At the time, we selected nearly twenty thousand people of all ages from confidential units within government departments and soldiers with high loyalty and security clearance to conduct experiments, and in the end, only four succeeded in cultivating.

Two of these four were young soldiers from martial arts families who had a relatively good understanding of the so-called extraordinary meridians, dantian, and internal energy. Another was a man in his forties who, like me, was quite interested in metaphysics and Daoist arts and had been researching these in his spare time. There was only one person in his thirties who had no understanding of these things. So, at present, it seems that while cultivation does not necessarily require young people, it does have certain requirements, and the threshold is not low.

As for what kind of people and what conditions are required to cultivate, we are still researching it. Once we have some results, we will share them with everyone, and we will also select some people from among you to continue the experiments."

Watching the people below, who were still full of expectation and fantasizing that they too could succeed in cultivation, Director Qian smiled knowingly. After all, this was immortality, something that could allow a person to live long and see much; how many people could resist the temptation of such a thing, and how many would not want to grasp such an opportunity? He himself had been so excited he couldn't sleep after discovering he could cultivate and experiencing the various benefits it brought. He wondered how many people would return after the meeting and stay up all night cramming this related knowledge.

But the most important thing at the moment was not these cultivation matters. Telling them now was only because they were the high-level officials of the country; if they were the last to know, it would inevitably lead to some conflicts and suspicions, not to let them become obsessed with it. Thinking of this, Director Qian gave them some time to calm down before saying:

"Everyone, the most urgent matter right now is not these cultivation things. Since I have told you all about these matters, the state will share the results with you once they are researched, so everyone should just understand the situation for now and not be obsessed with it.

The most urgent matter at present is still the issue of the ability users. The main purpose of this meeting is to consult with everyone on how to deal with the increasing number of ability users and to prevent ability users from causing chaos and to establish response measures for after ability user-related crimes occur.

So now, I will first announce the plans from above regarding this."

In view of the situation at hand, combined with the fact that these bigwigs usually have a lot of work to attend to, this meeting ended after several hours of heated discussion.

Thus, the Anomalous Event Investigation Bureau, the department agreed upon in this meeting, was born as a result.

This department is composed of eight branch bureaus—East, South, West, North, Southeast, Northeast, Southwest, and Northwest—and a headquarters in J City. It is mainly responsible for handling and investigating anomalous events occurring across the country. The directors of each branch bureau are concurrently held by the highest government leaders where the branch is located, and the headquarters is headed by Director Qian. Of course, only a framework has been built for now. The special personnel in each branch currently only consist of some awakened ability users drawn from government departments, the military, and the police, as well as some cultivators found by Director Qian. The main force for resolving events still relies on elite soldiers drawn from major military regions and the cooperation of local troops.