Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

“Wu Mayan! Wu Mayan! Wu Mayan!”

Excited shouts were echoing from the portable crystal processor.

All her confidantes and the boys, including Si Mao, had gone crazy.

However, Guo Xiaohe was no longer attracted by them.

Her head went blank, and she took the chicken wing from Ding Lingdang’s hands subconsciously. She looked at the chicken wing and then at Ding Lingdang, wondering whether she should be panicked or thrilled!

Ding Lingdang. It was truly the ‘Crimson Queen’ Ding Lingdang!

She was a super expert who had been famous in the Heaven’s Origin Sector for more than ten years! Compared to her, Wu Mayan—the Eagle of Iron Plateau, who had only been in the Heaven’s Origin Sector for one year—was just a rookie. He was definitely no match for her in terms of capability, fame, or influence!

Besides, Wu Mayan had always trained below Ding Lingdang after he came to the Heaven’s Origin Sector and considered himself her disciple. Everybody knew it, too!

Guo Xiaohe had missed Wu Mayan’s fan meeting, but the legendary ‘Crimson Queen’ Ding Lingdang showed up miraculously and even roasted two batches of chicken wings for her.

That—that—that was too…

Holding the chicken wings in a daze for a long time, she suddenly shrieked and jumped to her feet, rushing to the brook not far away.

She waved the chicken wings at her father and shouted, “Dad! Dad! You—you—you invited Ding Lingdang to barbeque with us? That—that—that is Ding Lingdang. The Crimson Queen!

“Dad, how did you manage it? That is incredible. Highly incredible of you!”

Guo Chunfeng was washing and dissecting the fish with a male colleague of his. The two of them had prepared a bucket of small fish. Hearing the voice, they turned around at the same time and smiled at her.

Guo Xiaohe’s crazily waving arms suddenly halted, as if she was magically frozen. Squinting, she observed her father’s male colleague suspiciously.

This guy…

He looked plain and had messy hair. He was wearing slack shorts and a linen T-shirt with a tiny hole on his sleeve.

In general, he seemed to be exactly the same type of person as her father, not able to care less about his appearance.

Guo Xiaohe could not tell how old the guy was.

At first glance, he was a young man slightly older than her, but there was an immeasurable feeling to his plain-looking face.

After she blinked, the feeling was gone, and the guy was another mundane, unattractive person.

However, Guo Xiaohe vaguely felt that, like her father, when the guy squatted near the brook, he was like a rock, a blade of grass, or a tree. They seemed to be part of the mountain, as if they had naturally grown here!

As for the face… the face…

Guo Xiaohe was quick enough to stuff the chicken wing into her mouth and bit it hard in case she shrieked again.

The plain-looking young man extended his hand to her with a smile. “Nice to meet you. I am Li Yao.”

Guo Xiaohe took a breath for a long time. She tried to hold it back but failed. In the end, she was shrieking at the top of her voice.

“Ah! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Good heavens! Was she in a dream? It could not possibly be not a dream, right? Vulture Li Yao? Vulture Li Yao!

Vulture Li Yao was an Ultra-Level Federal Hero. In the few years at the beginning, it had mainly been for the purpose of propaganda.

However, as his endeavors in the Flying Star Sector and the Blood Demon Sector were publicly known, all the citizens of the federation, from seniors a hundred and eighty years old to little kids, were all impressed by his legendary experiences of fighting the Immortal Cultivators, destroying the Eye of Blood Demon, and disrupting the Patriots Partnership!

If Wu Mayan, the Eagle of Iron Plateau, was a regular idol, and Ding Lingdang, the Crimson Queen, was a super idol, then Vulture Li Yao, as Wu Mayan’s master, could not be described as an idol at all.

Calling him an idol would be a great insult to him.

He was the kind of illustrious individual that should only appear in textbooks or exams. For example, ‘briefly describe Vulture Li Yao’s experiences in the Blood Demon Sector and analyze the procedures of him breaking into the Eye of Blood Demon’, which would frustrate and infuriate the test-takers and make them wake up in fear from nightmares!

However, the god who should only appear in textbooks or exams was wearing slack shorts, a T-shirt, and slippers, showing up in front of her face with a smile a bucket of fish.

“Xiaohe, I hugged Wu Mayan one more time. One more time. Hahahaha. I’ve hugged him for you!”

On the light beam, her confidantes who did not know what was happening on her side were still yelling.

“Xiaohe, I planned to ask my uncle to have dinner with Wu Mayan so that I could bring you together. He agreed at first! But later, he said that he had to have dinner with his master at night and could only meet us another day! Rest assured. I’ll definitely make an appointment with him for you another day. It’s all on me!” the fat boy said, half to ask for compliment and half in regret.

Guo Xiaohe moved her lips and intended to explain to her friends, but she put down her portable crystal processor when it almost reached her mouth.

How should she explain? Should she tell the guy that it would be unnecessary because Wu Mayan’s master was standing right in front of her face and would be having dinner with her and Wu Mayan?

[Calm down. I must calm myself down!]

Guo Xiaohe rubbed her chest hard for a long time. Still, she could not help but jump to a giant rock nearby in the end and roar to the sky, “How can anybody calm down when they run into something like this? Am I mad, or is it the world?”

…

Two hours later, everybody had enjoyed enough food and drink.

Guo Xiaohe had finally managed to recover from the overwhelming shock and accept the fact that her father was the director of the Secret Sword Bureau as if she had just woken up from a dream.

But the girl was rather carefree. She was playing with Ding Lingdang delightedly immediately after she was back to herself!

Li Yao and Guo Chunfeng went to the depths of Jade Maple Mountain with two empty buckets.

It was said that there was an icy spring at the bottom of a cave inside the mountain. The water from the spring could add quite a unique flavor to tea.

Li Yao stretched out his arms and patted his puffy belly, smiling. “After being busy as bee for more than a year, I almost feel as if I’m not suited to this new lifestyle, having rested for half a month. I feel that my bones are itching, and I have to find something to do!”

“Why don’t we swap our jobs?” Guo Chunfeng smiled, too. “That is very easy for you to say, young brother. You’ve been living your life comfortably this past month, eating, sleeping, and training. How enjoyable it was! But I was ten times busier than before!”

“Those who are capable must be troubled! Who else could find all the members of the Patriots Partnership lurking in the Secret Sword Bureau, the federal army, and other government agencies except for you, Brother Guo?”

Li Yao grinned. “How does it feel, Brother Guo, Director Guo? You are now the absolute leader of the secret frontline of the federation. With the authorization of parliament, you’ve also received the top confidential intelligence of the federation and the Blood Demon Sector. Even the Jade Crystal Disc that stores Elder Nether Spring’s memories is yours to parse. You now have even more power than Lu Zui did in the past. How does it feel?”

“That’s all temporary.” Guo Chunfeng shook his head and said, “It has to be done in order to uproot the Patriots Partnership. After everything is over, I will report to parliament in person and submit my proposal to restrain the power of the Secret Sword Bureau. At the very least, it should be checked and balanced in a certain way. Only by doing so can we make sure that the ambitions of an individual will not expand infinitely and that the tragedy of the Patriots Partnership will not happen again.

“As for how it feels…

“In short, grueling!

“You know that I have never been a man lustful for power. I am only interested in cracking cases and capturing criminals. If a second person was qualified to be the director of the Secret Sword Bureau, I would be more than happy to give them the post and continue working as the supervisor of the first division as before.

“There’s nothing on my mind right now except to solve everything as quickly as possible so that I’ll have more time to spend with my wife and my daughter.”

Li Yao smiled. “I think you’ve done a great job as the director, Brother Guo. I’ve read the case files. You have been very prudent, and you paid attention to the subtle differences between the members of the Patriots Partnership instead of punishing them alike.”

“Of course,” Guo Chunfeng replied solemnly. “The biggest taboo of such cases is amplification, like how Jin Tuyi struck the ‘remnants of Elder Nether Spring’ in the Blood Demon Sector or how Lu Zui struck the Children of the Nether World on our side. Such cases were merely means for them to remove their dissidents! If we punish all the members of the Patriots Partnership in the same way, it will shake the foundation of the federation and raise new mistrust!

“It’s just like the nonexistent Abyss. If we were determined to find out who Abyss was, how much trouble would we have caused, and how many innocent people could’ve been wrongly accused?

“Therefore, prudence is the top guideline for me when working on the case. We cannot make things up. We cannot imagine that a random guy is a member of the Patriots Partnership without solid evidence!”

Li Yao nodded and looked at Guo Chunfeng. “You’re quite right, Brother Guo. However, speaking of Abyss, I feel that he might not be nonexistent.”

Guo Chunfeng was dazed and stopped. “What do you mean? Elder Nether Spring confessed countless times that Abyss does not exist and was just a disguise for the Children of the Nether World before his death under the soul searching technique. Besides, the examination on his memories reported no traces of Abyss at all.”

Li Yao continued walking forward, spinning the empty bucket quickly on his fingertip. He said unhurriedly, “Elder Nether Spring was a man at the peak of both worlds. Is it strange to think that he could grit through the interrogation? Besides, one percent of the area inside his brain was completely sealed by himself. Nobody knew what was hidden inside. Now, the information has perished together with his brain cells.”

Guo Chunfeng followed him up. “You are suspicious that Abyss is not nonexistent? What proof do you have?”

“Nothing. It’s just my intuition.” Li Yao smiled and tapped his temple. “However, my intuition has often proved to be correct. I’m not going to let go of the lead. I will certainly pursue further until I dig out the real Abyss!

“Brother Guo, what’s up? Let’s keep walking!”

“Oh. Okay, okay. Look, that is the Blue Light Cave I told you about!”