Chapter 748: Awakened Intent

After Chen Chuan’s blade swept past, his eyes reflected the stunned disbelief on Assistant Ling’s severed head. The man seemed unable to believe the strike had been so fast, so sharp.

At that same moment, Hong Fu’s blade and the retracted Meteor Hammer struck him, creating two explosive impacts.

Yet, he didn’t even flinch as the powerful attacks landed. Completely ignoring them, he reached out and grabbed Assistant Ling’s head by the hair, holding it aloft as the headless body tumbled from the True Form Tree.

Just then, Hong Fu froze. Cold indifference and vivid awareness flickered alternately in her eyes. Instead of attacking him again, she stood to the side, blade in hand.

Chen Chuan held Assistant Ling’s head level and said calmly, “Assistant Ling, you’ve lost.”

A look of agreement appeared on Assistant Ling’s face. He smiled. “Yes, you’ve won. Was that Spiritual Sense you used just now…?”

His expression was one of admiration. “I knew I wasn’t wrong about you. With your strength, our vision would have a much greater chance of success if you joined us. What a pity.”

Chen Chuan stared at him. “I have a question. You said someone in the Processing Bureau sent you to deal with me. Do you know who it was?”

Assistant Ling said, “Unfortunately, I only received the message through an intermediary. The person was very cautious and never revealed their identity. You know how it is—I would have left after succeeding. It didn’t matter to me who they were, as long as it benefited my mission.”

From the dissipating spiritual energy, Chen Chuan could tell he was being truthful. He then asked, “Is this True Form Tree in the Merging Land right now?”

Assistant Ling answered readily, “Correct. It’s right there. Our people are watching over it. If you’re interested, Manager Chen, you can try to find it. I look forward to seeing what you choose, even though I won’t be around to witness the outcome.”

“Besides you, who else at the academy is involved in this?”

Assistant Ling smiled. “Regarding that question, Manager Chen, even if I told you, would you dare believe me?”

Chen Chuan nodded. “One last question.” His gaze fixed on the man’s face. “The Great Collision is coming. According to your plan, if the True Form Tree hasn’t accomplished your goals by then, how do you intend to respond?”

Assistant Ling’s smile never wavered. “The Great Collision may arrive in a few years, or it could be more than a decade away. It is precisely because time is of the essence that we cannot stop. We must race against time, using every means necessary to achieve our goals. If we haven’t succeeded before it arrives, we will enter the Merging Land ahead of schedule. That is where the two worlds first began to intersect, a place that can withstand the aftershocks from both. The government and corporations have installations there. It’s the place most likely to endure, and we will continue our life’s work there.”

Chen Chuan said, “So, in the end, your so-called preparations and ideals are nothing more than a plan to escape into the Merging Land?”

Assistant Ling sounded perplexed. “Is there something wrong with that? The True Form Tree allows people to transcend the shackles of their physical bodies. They can temporarily cast aside these burdens and exist within it as forms of consciousness, simply waiting for the day of their rebirth.”

He said with a note of pity, “Manager Chen, I truly hope you will reconsider. You don’t have to be bound by the inherent shackles and perceptions of humanity and our world. The world is changing. Its people must also cast aside the past and reshape their consciousness.”

After saying this, Assistant Ling saw the calmness in Chen Chuan’s eyes and seemed to realize something. Just as he was about to speak again, his face suddenly twisted. The entire head began to swell, as if some power was about to burst forth from within.

When the head had swollen to its limit, it exploded with a muffled BANG, like a grand firework going off.

Chen Chuan watched calmly. He slowly pulled back his hand. Dangling from his finger was a transparent, slender, branch-like object—the Realm Token that Assistant Ling had worn.

‘I should take this back for analysis. I might discover something.’

With Assistant Ling dead, authority over the Sky Garden’s Domain naturally fell to him, as he now held the highest level of clearance.

Chen Chuan glanced at Hong Fu. Her eyes were vacant for a moment, then her lively awareness returned, and she fixed her gaze on him.

He was about to deactivate the Domain when Hong Fu suddenly spoke. “I want to leave this place.”

Chen Chuan looked at her, surprised. This was the first time he had heard her speak in this state; the voice he usually heard was cold and emotionless.

He asked, “Why?”

Hong Fu lowered her gaze. “Because of my autonomous consciousness. The Academy tolerates its existence because my ability to react independently makes me a more convenient servant to them. However, that tolerance is conditional on my actions aligning with their will. But just now, I resisted a direct command. That action has been recorded. The Academy will inevitably try to ‘correct’ this, which means they will annihilate my consciousness.”

Chen Chuan nodded. “What do you need me to do?”

Hong Fu looked at his blade. “The passage to the Merging Land is open. I can go there. The Academy’s protocols forbid an externalized Consciousness Body from entering that place. According to procedure, if one breaks away, the connection must be severed immediately, followed by self-purification.

Her lively eyes turned to Chen Chuan. “I will try to enter it. Your blade can sever my externalized consciousness from its main body. Then, I can break free.”

Chen Chuan asked cautiously, “Will this have any effect on your main body?”

Hong Fu answered truthfully, “It will have some impact, but the main body can recover quickly. However, the Consciousness Body that manifests from now on will be a different me—one that is completely subservient to commands.”

Chen Chuan understood. Without the slightest hesitation, he nodded. “Alright. I’ll help you.”

Hong Fu gazed at him for a moment, then her body dissolved into a gracefully fluttering red shadow, turning and descending toward the passage to the Merging Land.

Chen Chuan closed his eyes, concentrating. He could indeed sense a spiritual aura, like an invisible vortex of fine threads being pulled, extending deep into the Merging Land.

Standing on the branch, he gripped the hilt of the Snow Monarch Blade. His spiritual presence surged, climbing steadily. Once it reached its apex, his eyes snapped open. He leaped into the air, raising the blade high with both hands, and as he fell, he brought it down in a powerful slash!

A flash of blade light slashed across the passage to the Merging Land, reaching all the way to the ground!

With a THUD, his feet landed firmly on the ground. Beside him, at the great passage to the Merging Land, the surging spiritual vortex had been cleanly severed. Its leading end scattered, dissipating into the air.

He slowly straightened and looked over. There was no longer any activity from the other side. It seemed Hong Fu had broken her bonds and was now free.

‘But,’ he thought, ‘I’ll probably never again see the Hong Fu with her own consciousness at the academy.’

He turned, intending to deactivate the scene, but at that moment, he sensed something and looked back. A red scarf was drifting toward him, spiraling upward into the air.

He looked up and felt an intention transmitted from above. Hong Fu’s Consciousness Body, now severed from its source, was unmoored. It needed an anchor to survive long-term. Instead of leaving immediately, she had chosen to ask him for that anchorage.

In return, she would manifest to aid and protect him if he ever faced a crisis he couldn’t handle alone. If he refused, she would depart to find sanctuary elsewhere.

Chen Chuan looked up at the red scarf hovering above him. After a moment’s thought, he nodded. The scarf drifted down and settled around his neck, fluttering in a passing current of air.

Chen Chuan glanced at the scarf, then tapped the Realm Token. A moment later, the surrounding scenery shattered and collapsed like broken glass.

He looked up, watching the brains hanging on the tree dissipate one by one. The image of Teacher Wu and his notes came to mind. He also remembered the first anomaly he dealt with upon entering Central City—the innocent victim, Xiaoman, and her brother, who had been turned into a mannequin.

He had a strange feeling that one of the brains on that tree might have been Xiaoman’s brother.

As all the lights and shadows faded away, the space reverted to its true form as the Sky Garden.

Birds sang among the fragrant, colorful flowers and trees, as if the preceding ugliness had never occurred.

His gaze swept across the area, landing on Assistant Ling’s headless corpse. Nearby lay the Meteor Hammer, and further away, his Snow Monarch Blade’s Sword Scabbard.

He walked over, picked up the Sword Scabbard, and sheathed his Snow Monarch Blade. Then, touching the Realm Token, he began to draft a report.

The report stated that Wuyi Academy’s assistant, Ling Jianxing, had attempted to ambush him and had been killed in the process. It requested immediate dispatch of a team to retrieve and examine the body, and it also included a reminder to An Shield to invoke the no-confidence clause.

Since Assistant Ling had explicitly said there was a problem within the Processing Bureau, Chen Chuan naturally had to take precautions. The incident had to be covered up to allow for a secret investigation.

Furthermore, Assistant Ling’s ability to obtain higher clearance suggested he might have received authorization from someone powerful. He also recalled that the previous tournament had been proposed by none other than Vice Principal Tan; it was hard to believe he wasn’t connected to this affair.

Vice Principal Tan was currently in a meeting in the White Bird District. He wasn’t at the academy when the incident occurred—a convenient alibi, one might say.

The “no-confidence clause” was designed for exactly this type of situation, and only an Investigation Chief with substantive authority had the power to invoke it.

Until he submitted his report to the Upper Layer and reached a preliminary conclusion, this information would not be disclosed to any unrelated personnel, nor could it be transmitted elsewhere. This would ensure a complete information lockdown.

In less than a quarter of an hour, an elite team from the Processing Bureau arrived at the academy, taking over the scene and beginning their work.