Chapter 5: Cultivation (2/2)

“Natives?” Zhou Shan sneered and looked at the sky, “It looks like Earth won’t remain calm much longer. There were dozens of spaceships that just landed, which means dozens of aliens. I didn’t imagine we’d make contact so soon.”

Lu Yin stared at the man who didn’t seem all that surprised, but they were soon interrupted by the woman who came up to report, “Executioner, we plan to take the spacecraft back to Nanjing for analysis. Unfortunately, the alien’s heart was destroyed. The traces make it seem like he should have had a weapon on hand, but we weren’t able to find anything.”

Lu Yin had ruined the surroundings after he had searched Vesta’s corpse, so they were simply unable to restore the scene to its original state. Zhou Shan looked over, “Little Brother, could you hand over anything that you took from the alien’s body to help us with research? Rest assured, we will return it once our investigation is complete.”

“This is his weapon, I didn’t take anything else,” Lu Yin pulled out the dagger after some muttering, opening his shirt up to show Zhou Shan and the rest. It was impossible for anyone here to recognize the cosmic ring; the people of this plane wouldn’t even think of a ring that acted as a storage space.

Zhou Shan took the knife and waved it around, a careless slash splitting the earth open in front of him. “Sharp, this material truly isn’t from Earth,” he said as he handed the weapon to the spectacled woman, stern gaze focusing on Lu Yin to confirm that nothing else had been concealed. He stepped forward and patted Lu Yin’s shoulder, complimenting him, “You’ve killed an alien and defeated a Snow Maiden, Little Brother, that’s quite good. What’s your name? Would you be interested in joining my camp as a captain?”

Lu Yin agreed without any hesitation, but in reality, he had no other choice. The Executioner seemed gentle for now, but he knew that he was currently under suspicion. Almost anyone would believe that he’d hidden some of the alien’s possessions away, so he couldn’t be allowed to leave. It was better to just agree and avoid conflict; he didn’t currently have the power to handle someone in the Realm of Sky in a fair fight. Vesta had only died to carelessness, something Zhou Shan would certainly avoid. Besides, there were numerous other cultivators around as well; Zhao Yu alone would be difficult to deal with.

Said girl suddenly frowned from the side, turning to Zhou Shan, “I can’t contact the Water Sage. All forms of communication were cut off when they descended.”

Zhou Shan nodded solemnly, “The pulse from their descent took out communication lines. I’ll send out emergency repair teams shortly; rest assured that the Blue Camp is fine for now. The Water Sage is powerful.”

Zhao Yu nodded in silent agreement.

……

One couldn’t unlock all the secrets of the alien spacecraft overnight, but fortunately it was small enough to be transported back into Zhongshan with ease. Zhou Shan stood at the highest point of Nanjing, looking towards the south. The woman with glasses approached him, “Executioner, we finished searching the area surrounding the crater. There was nothing hidden; that man isn’t lying.”

Zhou Shan sighed, “I understand. You may leave.”

“There is another thing I must report. We found evidence of a battle being covered up around the pit. This Lu Yin may not be as simple as he seems. He may be very strong.”

Zhou Shan smiled, “I know. He defeated a Snow Maiden even with injuries to his right palm and leg; his true strength is at the peak of the Realm of Earth. He also doesn’t seem to have absorbed energy crystals a single time in his life; he’s really interesting.”

“Should we continue to monitor him?”

“No need. We should be as united as possible right now. Besides, so what if he hid his strength? He’s only in the Realm of Earth, he can’t reach the next level.”

“Understood.”

Meanwhile. Lu Yin was in his new captain’s residence near the middle of the camp. While none of the 80,000 soldiers truly served this so-called fourteenth captain, he himself was only concerned with using the formcast model to become a true cultivator. Sitting down cross-legged on his bed, he took ten minutes to slow his breathing before opening his eyes and calmly retrieving the formcast model from his cosmic ring. He grew excited as he bit his index finger hard enough to draw blood, pressing the crystal into the wound.

The formcast model slowly vanished underneath his skin, and it wasn’t long before the excruciating pain he was waiting for arrived. His gaze defocused and he clenched his teeth as he endured the mind-numbing pain, waves of agony crashing into his body and tearing everything apart. This was the feeling of his cells developing and re-organizing, his very organs and blood vessels writhing as they warped. It felt like a burning hand was squeezing his entire being.