Ability Users and Cultivators

"Ability Users! Ability Users…"

Director Qi muttered the words twice, his brows already drawing tightly together. He had understood the implication behind Director Han’s words. Ability Users were appearing so frequently that Patrol Security was almost unable to keep the lid on things.

That was why the Imperial Capital had decided to establish Local Special Departments. If things really were as they seemed, maintaining public order and stability across the country would become a huge problem.

"You haven’t found the cause yet—not even the slightest clue?"

Director Qi looked up at Director Han, desperately wanting a solution. For ordinary people, this sort of thing might be an opportunity, but for a high-ranking official like him, who was accustomed to peaceful days, anyone would have to be out of his mind to think this was a good thing.

"Nope~"

Director Han shook his head. "We’ve only detected what seems to be a rising concentration of some substance, which has triggered a series of changes. It seems to have been slowly altering our environment all along.

"According to Dr. Wu and the other researchers, this substance might undergo a massive outbreak after some time. That could very well trigger a drastic change. Our most important task right now is to find the point in time when that change will occur and prepare in advance to face it."

"Will it be April?"

Le Erya suddenly spoke up. After hearing her, Wu Mengchen subconsciously entered April into the data.

"Director, it really is April!"

After hearing Le Erya’s words, Wu Mengchen instinctively plugged them into the calculations. A moment later, she suddenly raised her head. "We kept failing because we could never find the precise point. It turns out we were missing one condition.

"But once the result was entered directly, we could work backward and find a reasonable answer. It really is April—probably from early to mid-April. Xiao Ya, how did you know?"

Le Erya hurriedly replied, "That’s what the cloaked man wearing the Jester Mask said today. After he realized we were Ability Users, he told us to be careful in April and bring our families to stay with us and look after them before April."

Director Han’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly asked, "What else did he say? Think carefully and try to remember."

Le Erya carefully recalled the conversation before saying, "He seemed to mention that Spiritual Qi would reappear in less than two months. There was another word too—Spirit Beasts."

"Spiritual Qi? Could that be the mysterious factor that keeps increasing?"

Wu Mengchen’s eyes shone brightly. "Spirit Beasts should refer to Mutant Beasts. Besides humans developing into Ability Users, individual wild animals with special abilities will appear as well. Mutant Beasts. We’d never heard of such creatures before, but the ones appearing now have all mutated recently. They should be related to this so-called Spiritual Qi."

"Boundless Celestial Venerable!"

Daoist Yiyouzi, who had remained silent since entering, suddenly spoke. Then, with some certainty, he continued, "If this old man’s guess is correct, this so-called Spiritual Qi refers to the Primordial Qi of ancient times—the origin of the world and the foundation of cultivation.

"It is said that Primordial Qi gradually declined during antiquity. By the era of the Hundred Schools of Thought in the Middle Ages, the connection between Heaven and Earth had been severed, and immortals and gods became legends.

"After that, Primordial Qi continued to diminish. By the modern era, it had vanished completely, ushering in the Age of Dharma Decline. Since then, cultivating even the slightest bit of magical power has been incredibly difficult!

"This old Daoist had always found it strange. Although my aptitude wasn’t poor, there was no way I could have progressed so much and broken through to cultivate magical power in just one month. Now it seems that Primordial Qi must have begun to revive.

"If that is the case, those great sects and schools hidden away in Blessed Lands may also emerge and begin moving about."

There was no lack of worry in Daoist Yiyouzi’s voice. Cultivators did exist in the modern world, but their numbers were pitifully small. One or two of them might even be weaker than ordinary people. The former Daoist Yiyouzi, for instance, could be defeated head-on by a slightly capable special forces soldier as long as the soldier was prepared.

"What~ Hidden sects? What are those?"

Director Qi, Director Zhang, and the others were all dumbfounded. The events of that day had completely overturned their understanding of the world. First there were Ability Users, and now there were cultivators. Could there even be things like battle aura and magic?

Director Han smiled. "Cultivators aren’t that mysterious. You’ve heard of the Celestial Masters Sect of Dragon Tiger Peak and Xiaolin Temple of Taiyue Mountain, right?

"In fact, they exist in everyday life too. Take those great martial artists and so-called qigong masters, for example. Once they cultivate to a profound level, they can train a breath of qi—or force. This is the practice of cultivating qi, and that qi is called Inner Qi, or Inner Force. People like them fall within the category of cultivators."

"Old Han, I remember you practice martial arts too. Could it be that you also…?"

Director Qi looked at Director Han uncertainly. The two of them were very familiar with each other.

"That’s right. Last month, I also cultivated a breath of qi and entered the ranks of cultivators. Twenty years of hard work—it wasn’t easy!"

Director Han sighed, but the smile on his lips could not be concealed no matter how hard he tried.

"Look!"

As he spoke, he raised his right hand and placed it on the marble tabletop. "Hiss, hiss~" His fingers slowly sank into the tabletop, sending a considerable amount of white stone powder spraying into the air.

Director Zhang and Director Qi were nearly stunned. Fingers piercing stone, and slowly pushing into it like that—were they dreaming? Could a human really do this?

"That’s nothing!"

Le Erya curled her lips disdainfully. She had personally seen Gu Sheng plunge one hand into a wall as easily as poking tofu, then pull it down with a sweep, bringing the entire wall crashing down.

"Oh! Criminal Inspector Xiao Le looks down on this, huh? I was just thinking about whether I should teach you a little!"

Director Han became interested. "Could it be that you’ve seen someone even more impressive?"

"Of course!"

Le Erya nodded repeatedly. "That’s the person from today. I personally saw him thrust his entire hand into a wall as effortlessly as poking tofu, then lightly pull it and bring an entire wall crashing down. If you don’t believe me, ask He-jie. He-jie even fought him and nearly got hurt!"

"Criminal Inspector Lin!"

Director Han and the others all turned their gazes toward Lin Qinghe.

Lin Qinghe nodded. After organizing her thoughts, she spoke in a deep voice. "That person was very strong. He treated the entire fight with me like a game. Within ten meters, he casually caught the bullets I had just fired. Not to mention how he flipped over an entire wall with a single movement of his hand.

"Also, he said something in the hall. He said he knew a great deal—far more than we did. If he hadn’t wanted to avoid causing trouble in Hangcheng recently, he would have posted that material online long ago. I estimate that he knows far more than we do."

Lin Qinghe deliberately aroused Director Han and the others’ interest in Gu Sheng. Her competitive nature made her eager to find Gu Sheng, fight him again, and capture him to send him to prison.

"He knows more? Interesting. Daoist Yiyouzi, I’ll leave it to you. Find him."

As expected, Director Han’s interest grew greatly, and he prepared to use his trump card, Daoist Yiyouzi. This cultivator was something of a charlatan. He had once made a living telling fortunes for people, but his predictions were fairly accurate, with several being astonishingly so. That was what had attracted Patrol Security’s attention, and Director Han had personally recruited him into the team.