Chapter 249 - 247: The Journey Home

As the sun rose, another busy day began on Harmony Island.

Last night, a True Gang Realm Martial Artist from Yanhua and another from Europe had each died under mysterious circumstances. The incident naturally caused a stir, and both sides launched investigations. The trail eventually seemed to lead deep into the sea. The true culprit had stolen a Magna speedboat to escape, causing several more casualties in the process.

The first witnesses were Yanhu People. One stayed behind on the water’s surface to treat the injured, while the other gave chase, running across the waves in pursuit.

And that’s when things really started to heat up.

First, there was Yanhua. When the higher-ups learned that Yang Shen, a Middle Stage of Innate Martial Artist, had gone chasing after Luo Sheng—who was hiding his strength and suspected to be at the Mid-stage True Gang realm—they couldn’t sit still.

’Damn it! That’s a key figure for the future development of the Noon Realm, a man who possesses a special flame capable of burning away the River of Calamity and Pestilence! He’s also the nation’s most dazzling genius of the last two years, the Champion Scholar of the college entrance exams!’

Europe couldn’t sit still either. The killer was one of the Yanhu People? Then they had to grab him and negotiate a good price!

The only race they had managed to subdue in the Noon Realm, the Mo Race, had suffered heavy losses in the recent Calamity Plague, making their cooperation difficult to continue. The remaining six of the Twelve Clans were extremely far away. Just as they were about to be kicked out of the game, how could they possibly miss this opportunity?

Magna also mobilized. As part of the White Skin Alliance, they naturally had to lend a hand. Besides, it was their speedboat that had been stolen, giving them the perfect excuse!

Harmony Island’s top experts had all gone to the Noon Realm to suppress the troubles, some even chasing the River of Calamity and Pestilence for over a thousand kilometers. However, there were still a few Jade Viscera Realm masters left—about seven or eight of them from the three different factions—and they all gave chase in the direction the speedboat had fled.

In the latter half of the night, the pursuers returned. They had found only the shattered remains of the speedboat, but there was no sign of Yang Shen, nor had they captured Luo Sheng.

But... they had witnessed the fleeting afterimage of some kind of extremely massive creature...

It was on the scale of a kilometer, arguably the largest on Cyan Blue, and its form bore a striking resemblance to a "Dragon."

This information left Europe and Magna completely baffled, but Yanhua connected it to the intelligence Yang Shen had previously revealed in the Noon Realm.

Of course, strangeness aside, finding the people involved was the most critical task.

Just as dawn was breaking, while everyone was discussing sending more people to search and contacting nearby inhabited islands to expand the search area, a young man came running across the water and returned to Harmony Island....

Yang Shen, carrying Luo Sheng’s head wrapped in broad seaweed, returned to the island in this unremarkable fashion. The people stationed on the beach to receive supplies didn’t even react at first.

After all, not everyone recognized his face.

It wasn’t until Shen Juanzhou rushed over with a team. "Yang Shen? How did you get back?"

Yang Shen smiled. "Should I leave, then?"

"That’s not what I meant! Are you okay? That was too reckless!"

Shen Juanzhou let out a long sigh of relief. His group was the very team that had been about to set out to search for Yang Shen again.

"Luo Sheng is at least Early-stage True Gang and was hiding his true strength. Didn’t you ever think about what you’d do if you actually caught up to him?"

Yang Shen tossed Luo Sheng’s head to the ground. The terrified head rolled a few times, collecting a layer of sand.

"I caught up to him, so we had a go at it...."

The others fell silent, their minds seemingly frozen.

Completely unfazed by the severed head, Shen Juanzhou immediately crouched down to examine it. It really was Luo Sheng!

"You... you killed him? How did you do it?"

Yang Shen answered calmly, "Compared to him, I’m better at fighting on the water. Plus, I specifically studied targeted Martial Arts for it back at school."

"It was a bit dangerous, but I succeeded in the end."

’It’s best if this bastard Luo Sheng has no connection to Uncle and the others. Now that he’s dead, let it be over.’

Yang Shen wasn’t sure if Yanhua would find the "Dragon" in the future, or what their attitude would be, but at least with the traitor Luo Sheng out of the picture, things would be a little cleaner.

Back then, Uncle and Yiming had no other choice but to cooperate with Luo Sheng to some extent. It was said that Luo Sheng had also drunk the same Dragon Blood that Yang Shen had swallowed, which was how his strength had advanced by leaps and bounds.

It had also fueled Luo Sheng’s ambition.

Yang Shen and Shen Juanzhou returned to the Yanhua base. A report was naturally in order, and Yang Shen clearly recited the story he had prepared.

It had to be said, the boy who once couldn’t even tell a lie could now do so without batting an eye.

The base administrator naturally asked about the "Dragon." "Last night, the search party we sent out witnessed a massive life-form diving into the sea. Did you run into it?"

Yang Shen shook his head. "No. It was too dark on the sea, with no points of reference. Besides, Luo Sheng’s flames created a huge amount of steam. By the time I finished the fight, I had no idea where I was."

"I think I might have felt some unusual waves on the surface, but they were quite far from us, so I didn’t get distracted."

The base administrator nodded, not showing much suspicion. In this matter, Yang Shen was the hero who had bravely given chase alone, not a suspect.

Most people at the Yanhua base would only think one thing: Yang Shen was fucking incredible. A Middle Stage of Innate successfully hunted down and killed an Early-stage True Gang!

Among the younger generation, he was truly a champion of the last few years!

They were the military, who admired bravery, not a bunch of detectives who suspected everyone...

Speaking of detectives... the survivor, Zheng Tao, had already confessed most of what he knew, including the evidence he had on his partner being a mole.

But more on that later.

After the debriefing, Shen Juanzhou dragged Yang Shen to the "hospital"—or rather, the "field hospital"—to confirm he wasn’t injured.

Lying on a hospital bed, Yang Shen waited boredly to have his blood pressure taken. Shen Juanzhou sat on the opposite bed and remarked with a sigh, "You already drew a lot of attention by burning up a tributary of the River of Calamity and Pestilence in the Noon Realm. After this, I’m afraid you’ll be completely famous on Harmony Island."

Yang Shen shrugged. "It’s not like I have something to hide. If I get famous, I get famous."

’Perfect for boosting my reputation.’

But Shen Juanzhou shook his head. "It’s different. Harmony Island doesn’t just have Yanhua. There’s also Magna, Europe, and other smaller nations just making up the numbers. When their personnel rotate back home, information about you will definitely end up in the hands of various national agencies. It’s hard to say whether this attention won’t turn into covetousness."

Yang Shen didn’t care in the slightest. "I’m a Martial Artist, not a scholar. Anyone who’s interested is welcome to try their luck."

Shen Juanzhou sighed. "Alright, then. Just to keep you in the loop, Zheng Tao confessed a lot. Luo Sheng had been acting strange for the past year. Even on the way to Harmony Island, Zheng Tao suspected he was involved with the Rebel Species, but he kept holding out hope that he was wrong."

"During his time in the Noon Realm, Zheng Tao actually traveled back and forth to Harmony Island a few times. His secret investigation led him to suspect that Luo Sheng was in contact with a Rebel Species mole within the European team. This is very good for us. The person from Europe who died was a Rebel Species mole. So, whether the Europeans know it or not, we now hold the moral high ground."

Yang Shen raised an eyebrow. "Yanhua... cares about morality?"

Shen Juanzhou smiled. "We do when we can win the argument. When we can’t, we just win the fight."

Yang Shen nodded. ’That’s more like it! This is the Yanhua I know.’

Overflowing with Martial Virtue.

When they’d had that conflict with the Europeans, Shen Juanzhou had pointed a gun right in their faces and told them to scram. How domineering!

"Putting all the information together after the fact, our basic theory is that Luo Sheng was meeting with that mole at sea when Liu Xi stumbled upon them. She fought them both, one against two. Unfortunately, she only managed to take one of them down with her... Luo Sheng knew he couldn’t cover up Liu Xi’s death, so he planned to flee."

"As for what Luo Sheng was originally planning... the trail has gone cold again. We might have to wait for the Jianghuai Criminal Investigation Team to conduct their own internal investigation."

’He was probably contacting people from the Rebel Species, trying to get information on the Dragonification Experiment. It’s the same reason he was looking for Jiang Xingjian and Long Jiu in the first place.’

Of course, he wasn’t doing it out of the goodness of his heart. Luo Sheng’s real intention was to control the "Dragon" to satisfy his own ambitions, not to be some good Samaritan and solve the problems plaguing Uncle and Yiming.

Shen Juanzhou recalled something else and said with a sigh, "Oh, right. Zheng Tao also added a crucial piece of information... After he started suspecting Luo Sheng, he did some investigating back in Jianghuai, digging through some old case files... It was only during the fight last night that he officially confirmed it: what Luo Sheng had mastered wasn’t the ’Martial Skill: Flying Flame’ at all, but Fist Intent."

Yang Shen was slightly puzzled. "Is that important?"

"Very important. Because years ago... when Luo Sheng was a senior in high school, there was an unsolved murder case in Jinshui District. A girl was burned to death... The police investigated for a long time but came up with nothing, unable to lock down a suspect."

"After all, the investigation initially focused on people who had mastered Flame Martial Techniques or Fist Intent, which meant they completely overlooked high school students, who theoretically couldn’t have done it."

"Looking back now, we can infer that Luo Sheng had probably already mastered Fist Intent back then. He kept it hidden to avoid suspicion, only finding a flame-type Martial Arts to cultivate after he started working so he could use his abilities openly..."

Yang Shen couldn’t help but be stunned... ’In a way, Luo Sheng was a genius, too. He mastered Fist Intent in high school, just like me, but he managed to hide it for so many years.’

’But he walked a path of evil... No, it’s more like he was born evil and was just very good at hiding it.’

’Even back at the Training Camp, based on the timeline, he must have killed Liu Yuankui to investigate the Rebel Species and the Dragonification Experiment. I wonder how much Liu Yuankui was tortured before he died... which would explain why it took so long. The actual separation must have been the easiest part...’

After Shen Juanzhou finished explaining all this, he stood up and said:

"We were already planning when to arrange for your return to the country. Now, after this whole mess, I think it’s even more important that you don’t stay here long. Every country is asking about you. Lingering here will only invite trouble."

"The airport is now partially operational. If we need you to come back in the future... for example, to burn up the River of Calamity and Pestilence, it’ll be more convenient. I’ll arrange for you to leave tomorrow."

Yang Shen nodded. It was indeed time for him to go back.

"How long is the flight?"

"A direct flight is impossible. You’ll have to make at least three transfers, but it’s still much better than taking a boat. It should take three or four days... you might need to rest overnight somewhere."

After they had settled these matters, Shen Juanzhou left. Yang Shen, however, was forced to stay and sleep in the infirmary for the night.

It was all the same to him, really. He didn’t have a home here, and his dorm room was just a bed. The only difference was the color scheme.

’At least the hospital has nurses, right?’

Yang Shen lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep.

’I still need to get stronger...’

’Uncle... whether it’s a remnant soul or a true soul.’

He believed that with the Xuanqi of the Cultivation Side, there would eventually be a solution in the future...

The night passed without a word, only a whirlwind of thoughts in his mind.