Watching people sleep, and you call that top secret?

"Marshal..."

"Is this the 'Top Secret' you were talking about?"

Finally, someone couldn't hold back anymore.

A burly figure suddenly stood up.

He was tall, his military uniform bulging with steel-like muscles, and a sinister black eyepatch covered his left eye.

The Commander of the Western Border, Wang Pojun.

A one-eyed war god known throughout the army for his dauntless bravery and decisive ruthlessness.

"You had us leave behind the life and death of hundreds of thousands of brothers on the Western front to rush back to Yanjing just to see this?"

"A... green youth, right here, sleeping soundly?!"

His finger jabbed heavily toward the screen, his knuckles turning white from excessive force.

He practically roared those last three words.

This questioning was like a spark dropped into boiling oil.

Instantly, the entire room exploded.

"That's right! Marshal! What on earth is going on!"

"The Western Border is in critical condition, and the Northern Border has a million troops stationed there! How do we have time to waste here!"

"This kid is Lin Yuan, right? Old Martial God Lin's grandson? I've heard about him; he's arrogant beyond belief! Does he think he can do whatever he wants just because his grandfather is backing him!"

"Calling every top general of the military department here just to watch him sleep? What is this? An insult! A blatant insult!"

"Marshal, you must give us an explanation!"

The meeting room spiraled completely out of control.

However...

Zhao Lie, sitting upright in the primary seat, hadn't even lifted an eyelid from start to finish.

His face, as calm as a deep well, remained expressionless.

It wasn't until the clamor reached its absolute peak...

...that he slowly raised his eyelids, his eyes—as deep as the starry sky—sweeping across the room.

Then, he calmly uttered two words.

"Watch."

His voice wasn't loud.

It was flat.

Calm.

Yet it carried an absolute authority that brooked no argument or doubt.

This authority manifested like an invisible hand, instantly seizing everyone's throat.

The meeting room, which had been a sea of noise a second ago...

...fell into a dead silence once more at this moment.

"But..."

Wang Pojun's single eye stared fixedly at Zhao Lie, his chest heaving violently.

Ultimately, filled with indignation, he sat back down heavily.

No one spoke again.

Their awe and trust in Marshal Zhao Lie were etched into their bones.

Since the Marshal said so...

...then they would watch!

They wanted to see!

Just what kind of tricks this kid Lin Yuan, Old Martial God Lin's grandson, could pull off while sleeping!

...Time.

Minutes and seconds ticked by.

Lin Yuan was still fast asleep.

His sleeping posture was peaceful, his breathing steady.

However...

Just as the silence was about to drive everyone mad...

Buzz—

A barely audible, low-pitched hum abruptly entered the meeting room through the high-fidelity speakers.

The sound was like an ancient temple bell being gently struck, carrying a strange vibration that pierced the Soul.

At first, no one noticed.

But the humming didn't disappear.

It persisted.

And it was intensifying at an exponential rate!

Buzz—Buzz buzz—BUZZ!!!

The image on the screen began to show slight jitters.

No.

It wasn't jitters.

It was distortion!

The sunlight, the shadows of the trees, the wicker chair... even the outline of the sleeping youth—everything began to ripple violently like a reflection in water!

"Signal interference?"

A technical general subconsciously frowned, but before he could finish speaking, his pupils suddenly contracted!

Because he saw it.

Light.

Light appearing out of thin air.

First came wisps and strands—red, orange, yellow, green, cyan, blue, purple... countless colors of light seeped out from the Void Realm.

They were no longer formless, quality-less energy.

They had transformed into a brilliant, tangible flow of colors!

They were responding to a supreme order, a summons originating from the sleeper!

From all directions.

From above the Nine Heavens clouds, and from beneath the thick crust of the earth.

Thousands of light ribbons tore through the air!

Like a hundred rivers returning to the sea, they surged and converged toward the boy who was still snoring away!

A Spiritual Qi vortex—so massive it obscured the entire backyard and so magnificent it defied description—took shape!

...The silence in the meeting room was deeper than ever before.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on the giant screen; they even seemed to have forgotten to breathe.

On the screen.

The Spiritual Qi vortex, formed by the convergence of thousands of flowing lights, had already grown to a suffocating size.

Seven-colored rays of light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire sky over the Lin Family's backyard with dreamlike brilliance.

That majestic and vast energy fluctuation...

...even through the screen and across a great distance, still made these iron-blooded generals feel a tremor from the depths of their Souls!

This... what is this?!

A phenomenon of heaven and earth?!

Or some kind of secret technique they had never heard of?!

Just as everyone was filled with suspicion and their hearts were nearly jumping out of their chests...

...the long-silent Zhao Lie finally spoke slowly.

In his voice...

...there was a trace of excitement that had been suppressed for a long time, barely perceptible.

"Everyone."

"What you are seeing now is not some phenomenon of heaven and earth, nor is it any secret technique."

"This is a young man, while he is sleeping..."

He paused.

His gaze swept across the room as he said word by word: "Naturally triggering a resonance with heaven and earth."

Boom—!!!

These words were like a sudden clap of thunder, instantly exploding in the meeting room!

Sleeping?!

Triggering resonance with heaven and earth?!

Is... is that possible?!

Wang Pojun suddenly stood up from his chair.

His single eye went wide and round, staring fixedly at the peacefully sleeping youth on the screen, his face written with disbelief.

"Marshal! You... you aren't joking with us, are you?!"

"Sleeping and triggering resonance with heaven and earth? This... this is simply a fantasy!"

"Even those supreme top-tier experts would need to expend immense mental effort and use supreme power to trigger a phenomenon of heaven and earth on such a scale!"

"A young kid can do it just by sleeping?!"

The other generals also sucked in cold air, their shock no less than Wang Pojun's.

This had already exceeded the scope of their understanding!

It was too ridiculous!

Simply ridiculous to the extreme!

Zhao Lie ignored their shock and simply continued calmly:

"Look closely again."

"Feel the aura emanating from within his body at this moment."

Everyone hurriedly focused their minds.

They concentrated all their attention on the screen.

Through the military's most advanced energy detection equipment, they could clearly capture the terrifying aura emanating from Lin Yuan's body, which was constantly rising.

That aura was like a trickling stream at first.

But soon, it turned into a rushing river!

Then, in a very short period of time, it surged into a vast sea of stars!

Vigorous!

Majestic!

Unfathomable!

"This... this aura..."

An old man with white hair and beard, wearing the rank of General on his shoulders, tremblingly pointed his finger at the screen, his voice shaking.

"This is... the aura of the Meridian Opening Realm!"

"And... and more than one level!"

"Second level! No! It's the third level!"

"Wait! Fourth level! It's the fourth level!"

Following the old man's exclamation, Lin Yuan's aura on the screen was still skyrocketing at a terrifying speed!

Fifth level!

The entire meeting room fell into a deathly silence!

You could hear a pin drop!

Everyone's face was written with the same expression—blankness!

Meridian Opening Realm, Fifth Level!

They hadn't heard wrong!

The young man on the screen, who looked to be twenty at most, was actually already a super expert of the Meridian Opening Realm, Fifth Level?!