Soul Split, Zen Pilgrimage

(The censored word in the previous chapter was "*****." Some readers guessed it—give them a like.)

"Sir, Master Wang is the Immortal Iron Fist."

Straddling a ninja and snapping his neck, she raised a hand and pointed at another man. Widow’s Bite discharged, and the 30,000-volt current instantly took him out. Black Widow reported to Egghead with utter calm.

Before she could finish, Egghead’s voice came through her earpiece. "I know."

How did you know again? If you knew, why didn’t you tell me… Black Widow did not know what to say, feeling a surge of frustration.

But after thinking it over carefully, she understood.

Egghead was cunning and had watched everything that had happened from an outsider’s perspective, making him less likely to be fooled by Master Wang’s smokescreen. It was hardly surprising that he had guessed Master Wang was the Immortal Iron Fist. It was perfectly normal.

If I hadn’t been so busy lately, and if the Winter Soldier hadn’t hit me in the head at Roxxon Power Plant and dealt an intelligence-reducing blow, I would have figured it out long ago… She quickly found herself an excuse, then asked, "So what should I do?"

"Just as you said. Agent Barton handles the outside, and you handle the inside."

Egghead’s voice sounded calm. "Use your own judgment. You don’t need to report to me. I don’t have time to listen to your report right now."

He did not say what he was busy with. A superior had no need to explain himself to a subordinate. Besides, S.H.I.E.L.D. had strict confidentiality regulations. Every matter had a certain level of classification, and no one besides those directly involved could ask about it.

After hanging up, Egghead made a flamboyant turn and headed for the conference hall on the top floor, with Hill following behind him after rolling her eyes.

In Hill’s view, the Director had probably suspected Master Wang was the Immortal Iron Fist long ago. He had merely suspected it, though, and only confirmed it after hearing Black Widow’s report. Yet he had not shown it, maintaining a superior’s mystery and authority.

This guy was not only black-faced, black-eyed, and dressed in a black trench coat. More importantly, he was black-hearted.

He was so good at putting on an act. No wonder he could be the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

My skin isn’t as thick as the Director’s. I need to study him properly.

Hill considered herself an expert on Egghead, but only now did she realize that no matter how much she studied him, she could never fully understand him. Egghead was an entire field of study, and a profoundly deep one at that. The deepest part was his color!

Egghead thought as he walked.

He was about to attend a meeting, a council meeting of the United Nations Security Council. Several council members required separate reports from him and Hill on the current state of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra, as well as the detailed plan to completely eradicate Hydra.

The United States Secretary of Security, former S.H.I.E.L.D. Director "Alexander Pierce," was waiting in the conference room.

He had arranged the operation against The Hand himself, using secret channels that did not belong to S.H.I.E.L.D. Aside from Black Widow, Hawkeye, and those hundred agents, even Pierce and Hill knew nothing about it. Yet he had taken the call right in front of Hill.

Partly because the operation had already begun, and Hydra would soon learn of it through other channels, so there was no need to conceal it. But it was also to test Hill. Even having Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the others participate had itself been a test—

Other than himself, he would never completely trust anyone.

For now, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and the hundred carefully selected agents were probably trustworthy. Hill, however, was still uncertain.

Since the Immortal Iron Fist and K’un-Lun were going after The Hand, with Black Widow and Hawkeye helping them, and perhaps even Ghost Rider stepping in, there should not be much of a problem.

Once the matter of The Hand was settled, they would have K’un-Lun as an additional ally. Then it would be time to begin the full-scale purge of Hydra.

For him and S.H.I.E.L.D., the real trial had only just begun.

Coulson and Melinda were at the air force base in Afghanistan.

Pierce, Hill, Garrett, Sitwell, Wu…

Which of you still isn’t Hydra?

Perhaps it was exactly as he least wanted to believe:

No one in S.H.I.E.L.D. could be trusted. Instead, Master Wang, who did not belong to S.H.I.E.L.D., was more worthy of trust.

Fitz and Simmons were the future of S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Technology Division. They were young and untainted, not good at disguising themselves or acting. One look was enough to tell they definitely were not Hydra.

Sending them to Master Wang while he had the chance could also count as a form of protection for them…

He was only afraid that once they left, they might truly never return!

The walls and ceiling collapsed, burying Old Wang beneath them.

Anyone in construction knew that the taller a building was, the deeper its foundation generally went.

This was a skyscraper, with foundations dozens of meters deep. Yet the Dragon Bone Fossil lay even deeper, beyond the reach of the original construction, separated by a forty-meter layer of earth.

Now, thick rubble and forty meters of soil had buried Old Wang beneath them. The precise demolition had caused the entire door and massive sections of wall to fall on top of him before he was covered by earth, sealed tight without so much as a crack.

There was no way to breathe.

Could anyone survive that?

Old Wang had not died.

No matter how thick or heavy the walls were, they could not block the spiritual perception he had continuously tempered through three lifetimes.

In truth, even before entering, Old Wang had known what awaited him inside. He knew that once he broke through the door, he would have to face a hail of gunfire and the roar of explosives.

But he had no choice. This was the only entrance. Beside the door stood even thicker, sturdier reinforced concrete walls, followed by thick layers of earth. Breaking through them would have been even harder. The Hand had prepared thoroughly. The place where the Dragon Bone Fossil was hidden was indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Old Wang was racing against time and had no time to hesitate. So he smashed through the door and immediately used the Monk’s ultimate technique, Golden Bell.

After drinking so much Well of Eternity Water essence, Old Wang’s True Qi had recovered to roughly one percent of its peak level from his previous life.

There was still a vast difference in quality. It was not condensed enough, nor pure enough. But it was sufficient to withstand heavy machine guns, shotguns, single-soldier rockets, and grenades. It could also block the detonation of large amounts of explosives.

Not to mention collapsing walls and earth.

The only pity was that the implanted receiver controller seemed to have malfunctioned. But that was fine. It was not important.

His strength was certainly nowhere near Hulk’s, but with True Qi supporting him, he was far stronger than Captain America pulling a helicopter by hand.

He shifted the broken walls and door into a stable structure, then held his breath.

A Grandmaster naturally could not be suffocated to death so easily, but getting out did not seem easy.

Did not seem.

Old Wang stopped breathing and slowed his heartbeat to its limit. He had learned this from Shen-zin Su and Tortolla the Turtle God, and it worked wonderfully.

That way, whether Alexandra or anyone else, they would all think he was dead.

Fine.

So, what now?

Monks had an incredibly awesome master-level skill called Soul Split. Its effect was "separate the body and soul, leaving the soul where it is." Its duration depended on how powerful the soul was. The stronger the soul, the longer it could exist without relying on the body.

Back then, in order to expand the number of Monks, Old Wang had used a forced-growth method to train a group of adventurers. Although each of them became a Monk master with considerable combat strength, some even reaching the Grandmaster level, their bodies had progressed too quickly for their souls to keep up. As a result, Soul Split could only last fifteen minutes.

The most embarrassing part was that after Soul Split, only the body could move. The soul could not…

Another skill, Zen Pilgrimage, allowed the soul to follow the guidance of Pandaria’s mists and instantly travel to the Monk holy land, Peak of Serenity, while the body could not move.

So what if the two skills were combined?

Old Wang smiled faintly.

"Out-of-Body Experience!"