Chapter 674 - 673: Mechanism Zero, Dragon Bone

The location of the Zero Agency was unexpected.

About twenty minutes later.

Li Jing, guided by Bai Lu and Zhou Jinliang, left the bustling city and went to the coastal area. From there, he accompanies them towards the Outer Sea just outside the border of Hua Xia.

Soon after.

He sensed a spatial portal existing in the seemingly empty sea ahead.

Seeing Bai Lu and Zhou Jinliang purposefully guiding him toward the spatial portal, a glint of surprise flashed in Li Jing’s eyes.

"Your Zero Agency really surprised me. Your headquarters is actually in a stratified space."

Bai and Zhou both seemed stunned at his words.

The former asked in surprise.

"Can you sense the existence of other space levels directly?"

"It’s nothing substantial."

Li Jing smiled and replied nonchalantly.

"Someday, when the two of you reach the Ninth Realm and gain some insight into the rules of space, you may easily sense them too."

"..."

Bai Lu.

Today.

Was caught off guard.

The Ninth Realm?

How far away was that for her?

Despite her youthful appearance, her actual age was over three hundred years.

Her situation was considered favourable.

The Spiritual Qi on Earth is thin.

Which accomplished cultivator would not have lived for three to five hundred years or even a thousand years?

She knew about the Ninth Realm.

But she had never seen the Ninth Realm.

That sort of existence.

If placed on Earth, it would at least be an old monster who had witnessed the entire history of mankind, for several thousands of years, if not tens of thousands. Normally, one wouldn’t have a chance to meet them.

At that level.

They would not casually appear in the narrow circle of Earth’s cultivators.

Unless a Ninth Realm ascendant caused a heavenly tribulation and was captured by a satellite, the Earth’s cultivators would acknowledge the existence of the Ninth Realm and its proximity.

Leaving these matters aside.

At this moment, Bai Lu, who was flexing from Li Jing’s statement, couldn’t help but be curious about his actual realm.

Zhou Jinliang also couldn’t help but look at him with a sidelong glance.

Being able to casually say, "if one day you two can enter the Ninth Realm," Li Jing must be at least at the level of a Ninth Realm ascendant, right?

If he were an ascendant...

Had he... had he been to the rumored "Immortal Realm"?

With these questions in their minds, the two led Li Jing straight into the spatial portal.

There’s no spatial displacement process in a stratified space.

To be precise.

Because the space levels are directly overlapping, the spatial displacement is so brief that it cannot be detected.

Right after he crossed the entrance, Li Jing’s view suddenly broadened.

Immediately.

An area of land, probably no more than ten kilometers large, came into view.

In truth,

This stratified space was astonishingly small.

The land was covered by regular and orderly constructions.

The only thing worth mentioning was an unremarkably strong offensive formation above the land.

This defense.

A Seventh Realm could probably dismantle the Zero Agency single-handedly.

But if one were to be honest.

The Zero Agency could perhaps only achieve up to this level.

With the stratum space entered.

The exact number of people in the Zero Agency and their cultivation levels were no longer secrets to Li Jing.

In this stratified space.

There were roughly thirty thousand people.

Of these, fewer than two thousand were legitimate cultivators.

The highest cultivation level.

Was merely the mid-stage of the Seventh Realm.

The number of Seventh Realm inhabitants totaled nine.

People at the Sixth Realm like Zhou Jinliang were slightly more abundant, with thirty-five present in the Zero Agency.

The Fifth Realm housed around a hundred people.

There were about three hundred individuals in the Fourth Realm.

The remaining.

Would mostly be Third Realm and Second Realm individuals.

In terms of staffing, the Zero Agency was stronger than a single administration bureau of Blue Star Dragon Jade, since they had individuals in the Seventh and Sixth Realms.

But you need to understand.

The nature of the Zero Agency is equivalent to the Administration Bureau.

Most of the cultivators in Hua Xia available for public positions were here.

...

Soon.

Li Jing, led by Bai and Zhou, arrived at the core of the Zero Agency. They landed on a helipad filled with various kinds of armed helicopters and fighter jets.

Many people from Zero Agency were busy on the helipad.

Upon Li Jing’s arrival.

He drew the attention of many people.

At this moment, with his true face visible, his demeanour was remarkably transcendent.

From the viewpoint of ordinary people.

He was exactly like an immortal being who had descended.

Standing on the helipad, Zhou Jinliang spoke.

"Master Li, I can only accompany you up to here. From here on, Bai Lu will drive you to the research center where you will meet Mr. Li Zehui and Ms. Song Lijun."

Li Jing nodded, turned his gaze to Bai Lu.

"Let’s go."

Bai Lu nodded, gestured with her hand, and escorted Li Jing into a military off-road vehicle that had been prepared earlier.

...

After about ten minutes.

Bai Lu drove Li Jing to the entrance of a research center at the heart of the Zero Agency.

Before they got out of the car, Li Jing saw an imposing middle-aged man accompanying two familiar faces walking out of the research center.

Seeing the three people, Li Jing’s gaze fell on the latter two.

The relatives of the Li family.

All, not bad.

However, it was a thing of the past when his parents were still alive.

After his parents died in an accident, those relatives were really "showing their true colors", calculating in all sorts of ways.

His uncle, Li Zehui, and Aunt, Song Lijun, were among the few people who didn’t treat Li Jing badly, and due to their close family relationships, he would often help them take care of their child and showed them consideration.

As he opened the car door and got out, Li Jing gave a tranquil smile.

Li Zehui and Song Lijun who were standing in the front could scarcely believe their eyes.

News.

Indeed, they had received it.

Though, it was indeed hard for them to believe, that Li Jing, who had been missing for six years, would return.

What they couldn’t believe even more,

Was that Li Jing had spent the last six years in another world and had become an accomplished cultivator with achievements beyond imagination.

Compared to that,

They were more inclined to believe that there was some kind of scheme going on - someone was attempting to approach them by using Li Jing’s identity.

However, seeing him now, they had no choice but to dispel any doubts.

It’s true, that Li Jing’s appearance and temperament had drastically changed, but for them, who were relatives at one point, recognizing him was no challenge.

"Li...Li... Lizi, is that really you!?"

Li Zehui was utterly surprised.

"Genuine."

Li Jing gave a tranquil smile, walked slowly to them and looked at Song Lijun.

"Auntie, long time no see."

Meeting this greeting, close to fifty years old Song Lijun was startled into silence, tear welled up in her eyes. Without saying a word, she came forward and hugged him.

Li Jing was slightly taken aback, not expecting this at all.

Feeling Song Lijun’s strength as she embraced him, his emotions, which had remained unstirred for over a hundred years, were momentarily triggered breaking his tranquility but was soon restored by Soaring.

After hugging Li Jing, Song Lijun quickly let go of him.

"You stinky kid, where have you been for all these years?"

"It’s a long story."

Li Jing shook his head, then said,

"Auntie, you’ve aged."

Just as Song Lijun was about to say something, her face fell, and she said wordlessly,

"You kid, you’ve been gone for six years and can’t even make small talk now, can you? I’m almost fifty, how can I not age?"

Saying so, she wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes.

"It’s good that you’re back."

Li Jing nodded, then said,

"Unfortunately, I’m only back temporarily, I no longer belong to this world, and I’ll be leaving after a while."

Before Song Lijun could say anything, Li Jing pulled out two Hundred Year Fruits and handed them over.

"A Hundred Year Fruit. Consuming it can prolong life by a hundred years. Auntie, you and Uncle each take one."

Song Lijun was going to say "Can’t you just not leave?",

However, Li Jing showed her through his actions,

That he no longer belonged to this world, that was a fact.

Hundred Year Fruit.

A single one can prolong life by a hundred years.

These were things that shouldn’t necessarily exist on Earth.

With the two he had in his hand, casually throwing one out would cause chaos to the world in minutes.

Ordinary people.

How many of them can live past a hundred years?

Many people pass away in their forties or fifties...

Looking at the two Hundred Year Fruits Li Jing handed her, Song Lijun turned her head to look at Li Zehui, watching as he shook his head to signal her to reply.

"These... are too precious. I can’t possibly accept..."

Before she could finish speaking, Li Jing thrust the fruit into her hands.

"Please, take it. These mean little to me."

As he spoke, he turned his gaze to the middle-aged man who had been waiting nearby, choosing not to disrupt their family gathering.

The man smiled at him and extended a hand towards him.

"Liang Shou, chief strategist of Department Zero. Bai Lu and Zhou Jinliang both work under me."

"Hello."

Li Jing shook his hand, then turned his focus to Li Zehui and Song Lijun.

"Uncle, Aunt, we can catch up later. Let’s discuss the serious matters right now. I’d like to understand the details about Earth’s Spiritual Qi rejuvenation plan."

"Okay, let’s discuss this in the meeting room."

Li Zehui spoke up.

Liang Shou then gestured towards the meeting room with a welcoming hand.

...

Not long after,

Li Jing and the others had entered the research center’s meeting room.

Li Zehui and the rest were practical people,

so after settling down, Song Lijun started a projector to display years’ worth of research data concerning the rejuvenation of Spiritual Qi.

Li Jing displayed a somewhat embarrassed expression.

This data.

He couldn’t understand it.

He coughed slightly and then began speaking.

"Aunt, could you please explain in simpler terms how you think we can artificially enable the full-scale rejuvenation of Earth’s Spiritual Qi?"

Seeing his face, expressing an "I’m sorry I’m illiterate" sentiment, Song Lijun couldn’t help but laugh. As she controlled the projector to switch display materials, she began to explain.

"Cultivators have always existed on Earth, with many living for such a long time that they’ve witnessed the entire history of human development. But the Spiritual Qi of Earth has always been in a state of severe deficiency. No one can verify when Earth was rich in Spiritual Qi, but that era undoubtedly existed."

"Almost all cultivation techniques practiced by modern cultivators can be traced back to ancient times, an era that science cannot judge if it ever existed or not. Yet, the existence of so many cultivation techniques alone strongly suggests the once glorious era of cultivation civilization on Earth. But their history has been lost to subsequent generations, or perhaps deliberately erased."

After saying those words, Song Lijun paused for a moment before continuing.

"As for the research on the full-scale rejuvenation of Earth’s Spiritual Qi, Hua Xia only began about seventy years ago. The earliest researchers were a group of elderly cultivators who wished to change the cultivation environment. Ordinary scholars like your Uncle Zehui and me joined in later."

"After years of research as well as investigation of ancient books and narratives shared among cultivators, we found that the main reason for Earth’s Qi deficiency was a catastrophe that occurred during ancient times. This led to drastic changes in the world and ushered in an era of Qi exhaustion, a time cultivators call the ’Dharma-Ending Age’."

"The idea of changing the abundant Qi present in the greater scheme of things is, needless to say, impossible. Even from Earth’s perspective, we humans are insignificant. However, we have never ceased to attempt using external forces. That’s primarily what your Uncle Zehui and I have been invested in over the years, investigating the potential and uses of many supernatural powers that could be invoked with the help of various cultivators."

Right at this point, Song Lijun manipulated the projector, displaying several photographs.

Upon seeing these pictures, Li Jing furrowed his brows.

All these photos showcased the same thing.

A gigantic Dragon Bone fragment lying underground.

Dragon.

Li Jing had witnessed it before.

But this Dragon Bone was significantly larger than any he’d ever seen.

The Candle Dragon of Chen Tang City was no more significant than a caterpillar in comparison to this Dragon.

Quite naturally,

Li Jing thought of the Ancestral Dragon.

This was hardly surprising since, even a hundred years ago, he had received news that the Ancestral Dragon existed in Earth’s Big World, and that the bloodline of Hua Xia people was somehow linked directly to it.

"Our research mainly focuses on this Dragon Bone."

Song Lijun continued to explain,

"The discovery of this Dragon Bone can be traced back to several dynasties before Hua Xia was founded. It’s so massive that it’s beyond imagination. In fact, Hua Xia is built on this Dragon Bone. The ancient concept of a ’Dragon Vein’ has been proven to outline the Dragon Bone’s path. After thorough research, we found out that there is an incredible power within this Dragon Bone. If we could dilute and disperse this power, it could potentially change the overall Spiritual Qi environment of the Earth."