Chapter 162: The Capital Shakes: The Fallen "God of Shadows"

On the outskirts of the Imperial Capital, inside a secret laboratory buried five hundred meters underground, the lights suddenly turned a blinding crimson.

"Beep—beep—beep——————"

A sharp, prolonged alarm blared through the control room. Dozens of quantum monitoring devices, each worth hundreds of millions, began emitting black smoke simultaneously. On the screens, the purple curves representing the Soul strength of the "Shadow Demon," which had been fluctuating, were flattened into a line of despair in 0.01 seconds.

"Re... Report, Team Leader! The 'Shadow Project' has failed!"

A researcher in a protective suit slumped in their chair, pointing a trembling finger at the large screen. On the screen, the final image transmitted by the Shadow Demon was a giant, purple slipper with a rabbit pattern printed on the sole.

"How is this possible? The Shadow Demon is an S-Rank assassin who awakened the 'Void Physique'! He can penetrate the Sea of Consciousness defenses of a Great Grandmaster!"

The Team Leader with the gold mask sitting at the head of the table stood up abruptly, their voice filled with incredulous terror. "And what about that sudden burst of energy fluctuation just now? According to the feedback, the Shadow Demon's Soul was not destroyed, but... but 'formatted'?"

"To be precise, it's 'dimensional flattening'."

The deputy team leader corrected in a dry voice, as the computer in front of them had calculated an absurd result. "There exists a rule-based power of an extremely high dimension within the target's Sea of Consciousness that flattened the Shadow Demon directly from its Soul structure. The Shadow Demon's current state... is more like a sticky note stuck on a ventilation duct; it didn't even have time to scream."

The gold-masked Team Leader froze in place, the goblet in their hand shattering with a "crack." The expensive red wine flowed through their fingers, looking exactly like the blood that the Shadow Demon no longer possessed.

"A college freshman... a War God Realm Sea of Consciousness... crushing an S-Rank assassin with a casual slipper..."

They muttered to themselves, an unprecedented chill shooting from their spine straight to the top of their head. "Quick! Cut off all signal contact with the North Territory airship! Seal all experimental records regarding 'Jiang Chen'! Before the 'Tyrant' project is complete, absolutely no one is allowed to provoke that sleepwalking devil again!"

The Tianli Research Institute, an organization that struck fear into the hearts of those in the West and the Chaos Lands, felt the fear of being devoured by darkness for the first time because of a boy who was currently sleeping.

Meanwhile, in the secret conference room of the Imperial Capital's General Administration of Education.

The holographic projection was replaying the momentary anomaly that had just appeared above the "heavenly phoenix" airship. Although it lasted only a fraction of a second, the War God-level Mental Energy fluctuation that swept across ten thousand miles was still captured by the Great Xia Kingdom's top monitoring satellites.

"Everyone, you all saw it, right?"

Deputy Director Zhou Zhen scanned the room with a grave expression. Sitting here were the pillars of the Great Xia martial arts world.

"According to satellite radar, just three minutes ago, a small-scale 'dimensional collapse' occurred above the airship. And the target coordinates were exactly the cabin where Jiang Chen is located."

Minister Lei Long snorted coldly and slammed a hand on the table. "The Zhao family and those Western scumbags really haven't given up! That old thing, the Shadow Demon, has been missing for over a decade; it turns out he went to become a lackey for the Tianli Research Institute. That aura just now was clearly the Shadow Demon attempting to force his way into Jiang Chen's Sea of Consciousness."

"And the result?" an old, white-haired War God asked eagerly.

Lei Long's expression became extremely strange. He took a deep breath, his tone carrying a sense of awe that said, "I can't even believe it myself":

"The result... the Shadow Demon's aura evaporated completely the moment it entered Jiang Chen's brow. According to the feedback from the sensing Formation we left on the airship, Jiang Chen didn't even turn over from start to finish. In fact... his snoring even became more rhythmic at that moment."

The conference room fell into a deathly silence.

These big shots began to exercise their highly developed imaginations—a byproduct of their high Realms—and started wild speculation.

"Hiss—!"

The white-haired War God gasped, his eyes bursting with dazzling brilliance. "I understand now! Jiang Chen is 'fishing'! He is deliberately holding beauties in his arms on the airship, putting on a facade of being weak and obsessed with lust, but in reality, he has laid out a 'Great Formation of Heavenly Annihilation' within his Sea of Consciousness, just waiting for a greedy assassin like the Shadow Demon to walk right in!"

"No, it's more than that." Zhou Zhen pushed up his glasses, his tone deep. "Look at how he dealt with the Shadow Demon; that wasn't killing, that was 'erasure'. This shows that Jiang Chen's understanding of the Law of Mental Energy has already reached the Saint Realm of 'Word of Law'. He crushed a Divine-Grade assassin in his sleep as naturally as we would swat a mosquito."

"This isn't sleeping at all! This is him sending a warning to all the hostile forces in the world!"

The big shots became more and more excited as they spoke, each one outdoing the other in their wild, self-convincing theories.

"He is telling the Western Church and the Tianli Research Institute—'I can crush your trump cards while I'm sleeping, so if I wake up, do you even think you'll be able to stay on this Earth?'"

"Record it! List this residual Mental Energy fluctuation as an SSS-level teaching file! Let those arrogant Geniuses see what 'true laziness' is, and what it means to 'subdue the enemy without fighting'!"

"Achoo—!"

Inside the bedroom of the airship ten thousand meters in the air, Jiang Chen suddenly let out a sneeze the size of a finger snap.

This sneeze was no small matter; the airship's entire defensive barrier flashed violently, as if it had been struck by some heavy object.

Jiang Chen opened his eyes groggily, and the first thing he felt was an extremely intense, all-encompassing "squeezing sensation."

This squeezing sensation was very high-end, carrying a certain warm, body-temperature, and even slightly sweet-scented touch.

He lowered his head and discovered that he was at the center of an extremely metaphysical "three-phase balance."

On the left, Mu Qingxue was fast asleep, half her body pressed against his chest. Her snow-white wrists, which exuded a faint chill even in her sleep, were tightly wrapped around his neck.

On the right, Su Qingyue was like a small heater, almost melting him entirely, with her long legs resting unceremoniously across his waist.

On his chest, Iliya was maintaining her semi-beast form, her nine tails like a giant ball of cotton candy, wrapping him up tightly. One of the tails was even brushing restlessly against the tip of his nose.

"..."

Jiang Chen fell into a ten-second existential crisis.

Who am I? Where am I? Wasn't I scrubbing the back of that fierce Empress in my dream last night? Why, after waking up, does it feel like I've entered some high-end "human humidifier" and "temperature-controlled room"?

He tried to move his sore waist, but discovered that this movement triggered a chain reaction.

"Mmm... stop it..."

Mu Qingxue let out an extremely suppressed and soft murmur. Because of Jiang Chen's movement, the Cold Poison in her body seemed to sense that the heat source was trying to escape, instinctively tightening her arms and burrowing deeper into Jiang Chen's embrace.

In that instant, Jiang Chen felt like his ribs were about to be crushed by this "iceberg air conditioner."

"Brother Jiang Chen... meat... I want to eat meat..." Su Qingyue seemed to be thinking of something in her dream as well. Not only did she not let go, but she leaned her little mouth over and took a bite on his shoulder.

"Hiss—!"

Jiang Chen gasped in pain, his Waking Up Anger about to explode instantly, but when he saw the three stunning yet exhausted faces beside him, that fire inexplicably extinguished.

He looked around and discovered that, at some point, a purple... sticky note had appeared in the corner of the wall?

"What is this thing? Who stuck trash on my wall?"

Jiang Chen beckoned with his hand, and that mass of the Shadow Demon's Soul fragments, which had been flattened and looked nothing like a human shape, floated into his hand.

【Ding! Detected junk mail being violently dismantled.】

【Obtained: Void Stealth Fragment x1.】

【Description: This is the "legacy" left behind by a certain overestimating assassin; it can help the host block 50% of external malicious perception while sleeping.】

Jiang Chen looked at the thin, flake-like trophy in his hand, completely confused: "Did I... swat a mosquito last night?"

He didn't remember the Shadow Demon's invasion at all. In his view, last night was just him dreaming that a waiter's hands were too rough, so he casually gave them a slipper.

"Master... are you awake?"

Iliya, in his arms, finally opened her eyes, her purple pupils filled with haziness. Her small fox ears twitched, and then she exclaimed with delight: "Master! Your Divine Might just now was so powerful! That stinky shadow was flattened by you in an instant!"

Jiang Chen: "Huh? Divine Might? I was just stretching in my sleep."

The airship continued to fly steadily through the clouds.

"Jiang Chen, your Mental Energy is too unstable right now; you must undergo deep 'Qi and blood guidance'."

Mu Qingxue had already resumed her cold, mentor-like demeanor, but if one ignored the slightly disheveled collar caused by their "sleeping in the same bed" earlier, as well as her earlobes which were red enough to drip blood, these words still sounded quite authoritative.

At this moment, Jiang Chen was sitting on a specially made Spirit Stone throne, with the three women surrounding him in a triangle.

Su Qingyue held a bowl of Spirit porridge emitting an astonishing medicinal aroma; it was something she had personally brewed using the Phoenix True Fire, and every spoonful contained enough life essence to make an ordinary Grandmaster explode.

"Come, Brother Jiang Chen, open up." Su Qingyue blew on the spoon, her eyes filled with that persistence of "although I'm also very shy, I must take responsibility for your body."

"Um... I can do it myself." Jiang Chen awkwardly tried to take the bowl.

"No!" the three women said in unison, directly interrupting his movement.

"Your Mental Energy has just stepped into the War God Realm, and your Physical Body cannot fully bear the pressure of that dimension." Mu Qingxue explained with a serious face (though in reality, she was wildly overthinking), "Although that Shadow Demon was weak, his Void aura contaminated your Meridians. Now, we must use our Physique characteristics to perform 'physical cooling' and 'True Qi detoxification' for you."

"Detoxification?" Jiang Chen watched as Mu Qingxue's jade-white hands rhythmically pressed against his chest. The cool, refreshing sensation made him want to close his eyes and fall asleep again. "Teacher, are you sure you aren't taking advantage of me?"

Mu Qingxue's movements stiffened abruptly, then she feigned calmness and pressed one of Jiang Chen's major acupoints: "In the eyes of a healer, there is no gender. I am helping you stabilize your Sea of Consciousness. What, Great Xia hero Consultant Jiang, are you afraid that I, your mentor, will eat you?"

"Exactly, exactly!" Iliya joined in the fun, her nine tails winding around Jiang Chen's legs, and one tail even pushed its luck by sneaking under the hem of his pajamas. "Master's leg muscles are a bit stiff too; Iliya can use the special massage technique of the Celestial Fox clan to help you relax..."

Jiang Chen tilted his head back, looked at the airship ceiling, and sighed: "This road to the North Territory is really... too torturous."

While enjoying the meticulous (and perhaps a bit excessive) care from the three women, he felt his experience points rapidly climbing within his body.

The feeling of being taken care of as a "critically ill patient" while actually "farming" experience to become stronger made Jiang Chen feel that the threshold of the War God Realm didn't seem so hard to cross after all.

"By the way, Jiang Chen." Mu Qingxue suddenly said in a low voice, a hint of gravity flashing in her eyes. "News just came back from the Capital: the Zhao family's Old Ancestor has gathered all their affiliated forces in the Magic City and has even contacted the head of the Tianli Research Institute. They are calling this the 'God-Slaying Campaign'."

Jiang Chen took a bite of the Spirit fruit fed to him by Su Qingyue, juice overflowing. He mumbled indistinctly:

"God-slaying? Did they get something wrong?"

Jiang Chen patted the black jade pillow in his arms, his eyes revealing a hint of extremely dangerous laziness.

"In this world, the only 'God' is the person who decides who gets to have a good night's sleep."

"Since they don't want to sleep, then after this battle... I will let their entire clan sleep forever."

The airship emitted a joyful tremor and accelerated into the deepest thunder-storm zone of the North Territory.

In the center of that thunder-storm, a great net woven from "Fox Ancestor fur" and "War God ruins" was waiting for the arrival of this Sleep God.

And Jiang Chen, resting on Mu Qingxue's lap, was wondering if he should ask the Empress for some "overtime pay" when he took his nap later.