Chapter 214: Tasha

The airplane surged into the clouds, flying quietly.

The sea of clouds billowed and surged.

Chen Shu looked out the window, thinking quietly.

This was a rare supersonic passenger plane, using a Formation to shield against external and cabin noise, which was why it was so quiet. Yet even so, it would take nearly ten hours to fly from Yujing to Duqin.

Furthermore, the flight path would pass through Yuanzhou.

After passing Yuanzhou, one would leave the country, and then it would be the western part of Zhongzhou; after flying over a large expanse of small countries there, one would reach Duqin.

Zhongzhou borders both Xizhou and Dongzhou, and is only separated from Beizhou by a single strait at its closest point.

There is no Nanzhou.

Come to think of it, how could there be an East, West, South, North, or Center? Everyone is on this same planet; it is just that the ancient Central Huaxia civilization controlled the discourse, and since the continental plate of Zhongzhou is indeed the most regular and largest, they called themselves Zhongzhou, and everyone else followed suit afterward.

Although Duqin is located in Xizhou, perhaps because it is close to the western part of Zhongzhou, the main population of the country is also yellow-skinned—the western part of Zhongzhou is the origin of Huaxia, and after Shengzu unified the world, he relocated to the current position due to various considerations.

Ancient Duqin was once glorious as well.

Its most glorious time was around the first few centuries AD.

At that time, Duqin was called Tasha, which is the name of their capital today. Because it bordered the unified nation established by Shengzu, it learned many advanced knowledge, technologies, and systems in the early years. When Shengzu's great relocation project was completed, they rose to power quickly by relying on these things.

At that time, Tasha could be called the light of Xizhou civilization.

But its decline also came very quickly.

Civilization and history are always closely related to geography; the geographical conditions of that region were truly not good—

The climate was fine, but there were many deserts and Gobi, and while the land was actually not bad, there were many natural disasters, and the terrain was flat, lacking natural barriers to defend. When the country entered a period of weakness or when more powerful civilizations rose in the surrounding areas, it would easily collapse due to invasion.

Even with Cultivators, it was the same.

Shengzu understood this point very well.

All glorious and brilliant civilizations must rely on geography and climate.

Later generations generally believe that it was precisely because Shengzu determined that if the Huaxia civilization he created remained in its original place, it would likely be difficult to sustain for long, that he made this decision—a decision that countless descendants have had to feel deeply shocked by when reading about it in books for thousands of years since.

A migration of over ten thousand kilometers and nearly one hundred million people, with all Cultivators mobilized, took hundreds of years to complete this feat.

This spirit alone overshadowed everything else.

Facts have proven that this was an incomparably correct decision.

Due to the surrounding terrain, the central part of Zhongzhou is difficult to be fully invaded by external civilizations. Although its climate is not perfect, it is sufficiently excellent and stable, which ensured the continuation and prosperity of the Huaxia civilization. With the foundation of the people, the cultivation world also became prosperous. Added to this is the highly concentrated distribution of Forbidden Lands here, the direct benefit of which is that in any period of ancient times, this country always accounted for at least half of the seventeen deities.

Adding all these reasons together, this "Central Land" recognized by the whole world was formed.

Currently, there are only two countries in the world that can barely be mentioned in the same breath as Yiguo.

One is the Yaoguo, which occupies the entire Dongzhou and gathers all the power of the Demon Race; the second is Lanya, which is dominated by Night People, highly open, and has gradually risen in the last few hundred years by relying on excellent immigrant talent from various races and a series of large and small wars.

Duqin is not far from Lanya.

Chen Shu felt a bit sleepy and gradually closed his eyes.

He had also stayed up very late last night; not only did he have the intention to stay up on purpose, but there was indeed something to do—the Spirit Sect sent someone to deliver a special communicator to him at ten o'clock in the evening, Teacher Shi Qian finished organizing the improved Thunder Method and sent it to him at twelve o'clock, and after tinkering with the communicator, studying the Thunder Method that the great masters had spent over half a year finally improving, and then looking at the young ladies, it was already almost dawn.

It was just right to get over the jet lag in advance.

If he took a nap now, it should still be morning when he arrived in Tasha. They would rest in Tasha for a while before heading to another city.

He had to make a video call to Qingqing when he arrived.

Otherwise, she would secretly cut corners.

Chen Shu's consciousness grew dim.

……

The plane was about to land.

Zhong Miao Zhimen sat by the window on the left in the last row, and Zhang Suannai sat by the window on the right; the two occupied the last row, with no one else in the middle.

Finishing his meditation, Zhong Miao Zhimen took a thumb ring out of the inner pocket of his Daoist robe. This thumb ring was polished to be incomparably smooth and crystal clear; it looked like some kind of yellowish, low-purity jade, but it was actually made from human bone, and the cultivation and system of the bone's owner were quite extraordinary—at the very least, one could tell from the texture and weight of this bone that it came from a Heavenly Human.

Ancient Heavenly Humans had the habit of making Artifacts from their own bodies; usually, a Heavenly Human would leave a will before death to arrange such matters.

This thumb ring was the same.

After changing hands several times, it fell into the hands of the Daoist sect.

Zhong Miao Zhimen put this thumb ring on his thumb, and then his eyes burst with a faint light.

With the help of the thumb ring's power, he not only made up for his shortcomings in the Buddhist System and Secret Sect System, but even strengthened himself in all aspects—he could touch the World Will, World Memory, and Predicted Timeline more clearly.

Zhong Miao Zhimen held his breath and looked forward.

That Ninth Stage from the Imperial Family made him afraid to look directly.

And Qingcai Keke, who was sitting not far from the Imperial Family's Ninth Stage, and the nameless person sitting in the middle of the plane, also emitted a dazzling "luster" from their bodies.

The only difference was that the light on Qingcai was continuous, while the nameless person's would occasionally flicker.

This meant that they were very important to the world.

They would change the world.

As expected of people with such high talent.

Zhong Miao Zhimen withdrew his gaze.

When he first learned that these two had talents that exceeded the category of geniuses, his first thought was that both of them had contracted the extremely serious Genius Disease, because the human body's hardware determines that all human talent will be within a rough range, and even the top geniuses are only at the top of this range; it is impossible for anyone to possess talent that exceeds the limits of human hardware, except for Genius Disease patients.

It seems that is not the case now.

Genius Disease is a terminal illness; once one embarks on the path of cultivation, death is certain.

Therefore, no matter how talented Genius Disease patients are, they are destined to die young and cannot emit such dazzling light.

Zhong Miao Zhimen glanced at Zhang Suannai next to him again.

The light was equally dazzling.

It's just that……

This person hadn't even fastened their seatbelt, lying sprawled across a row of three seats with one foot propped high up on the back of the seat in front, while the other foot dangled crookedly off the front of the seat; they were sleeping soundly, with drool still leaking from the corner of their mouth.

"..."

The Gate of All Wonders recited a Buddhist "Amitabha."

The plane landed.

Zhang Suannai, caught off guard, rolled downward and tumbled under the seat, yet she seemed completely unbothered, as if nothing had happened; she climbed up, wiped the drool from the corner of her mouth, and asked:

"Are we there?"

"We're there."

"Oh..."

Zhang Suannai wiped her mouth again and sat up straight.

A series of rustling and clicking sounds.

The soldiers in front had already begun preparing in an orderly fashion.

Most of them had put on individual combat armor; this type of armor looked very sci-fi, and domestically, only a few special units and the Royal Guards were equipped with it. At the same time, some who were primarily responsible for individual combat also took out their weapons and entered a fully armed state, looking somewhat exaggerated.

The security personnel deplaned first.

Outside, there were people from the embassy and the Duqin side to welcome them.

The scene was still quite grand.

It could be seen from subsequent events that the deterioration of the situation within Duqin was already very severe; even in the capital, one could be attacked at any time, to the point that armed personnel had to be dispatched just to escort a group of foreign experts to their hotel.

The group traveled in different vehicles, driving through Tasha streets.

Chen Shu looked out at the surroundings through the window.

Tasha was the economic, political, and cultural center of Duqin; it had not yet been affected by the flames of war and was still very prosperous, with people coming and going on the streets.

This was also a city with a long history.

But it was also evident that this place was far poorer and more backward than back home, with infrastructure, the people's standard of living, and public security far inferior to those at home.

After the vehicles had driven for a few kilometers, Chen Shu had already seen at least dozens of beggars, and the number of homeless people was too many to count; besides that, he also saw at least five theft incidents and three bloody brawls, and someone even pulled out a gun in front, only to be shouted down by the armed guards dispatched by the Duqin Government.

This motorcade was of a high standard, consisting of reception vehicles used by the Duqin Government for foreign affairs, vehicles from the Yiguo Embassy, and armed vehicles.

As the motorcade drove past, people on the street cast their gazes over one after another.

Awe;

Envy;

Fear;

Curiosity;

Chen Shu had a preliminary impression of this place.

An ancient, chaotic city.

As the war approached, its order was being challenged, and people were living cautiously.

They arrived at the hotel.

The hotel was also one specifically used by Duqin to host foreign guests; the surrounding environment was not easily susceptible to attacks, and there were special guards stationed there, making it suitable for setting up sentry posts; even by domestic standards, the conditions were top-tier, being both modernized and possessing artistic beauty.

In short, the conditions were very good.

Chen Shu was staying in a standard room, sharing it with Professor Shi, with security personnel on both sides, spaced out in such a way.

Before long, someone came to knock on the door.

It was time to eat.

Chen Shu had watched short videos online before; Duqin's food was actually okay, and there were a few dishes that looked quite appetizing, which was not easy. However, in order to cater to the tastes of foreigners, most of the dishes made by this hotel were primarily Yiguo-style meals, and they were made quite mediocrely, which left him somewhat disappointed.

The restaurant where they ate, however, was decorated very beautifully, reflecting the artistic attainments and aesthetics of the Duqin people.

It was a matter of national face, after all!

Just after returning to the room from eating, another staff member from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came to knock on the door; it was a woman.

Chen Shu went to open the door for her, and Professor Shi also crowded over, standing behind him.

"Greetings, two experts, sorry to bother you."

"Please speak."

"It is like this: recently, the flames of war have spread and drawn closer to Leche, making Leche very dangerous, and our negotiations with the Blue side regarding the Square Body have not yet reached a consensus; therefore, we will have to stay in Tasha for at least another week or more, and we will decide based on the situation then."

"A week or more?"

"Yes. During this time, you can go around and explore Tasha; the cultural attractions in this city are quite good. If you wish to go, we will also provide a dedicated tour guide and translator. However, there is one point I must clarify to the two experts."

"Please go ahead."

"Public security in Tasha is very poor, and thieves are rampant during the day. Perhaps thieves cannot steal things from the experts, but you still need to heighten your vigilance; do not expose personal finances or leave valuables lying around as you might at home, so as to avoid unnecessary trouble. Furthermore, try not to go out after dark, and do not go to overly remote or chaotic areas or consume goods in small shops. The most important point is that no matter where you go, you must bring security personnel with you; there could be gang shootouts or suicide attacks by the Watcher on the streets of Tasha at any time, and this will protect everyone's safety."

"May I ask—"

Chen Shu raised his hand and said, "Can we designate the security personnel?"

"This will have to be discussed with Colonel Song, because the security personnel are arranged by him, but I think it should be possible."

"Thank you."

"You are welcome," the female staff member said. "I still need to go notify the other experts, so I won't disturb you further; have a good rest."

"Alright, alright."

Chen Shu actually really wanted to go out and look around; only after exploring would he have things to tell Qingqing, and if appropriate, he could even buy some souvenirs to bring back for them.