59: Chapter 59 One breath and you can run two laps? The academicians are going crazy, the air here is sweet!

The sensation of time-space travel isn't actually as bizarre and fantastical as portrayed in movies; instead, it feels more like being spun in a tumble dryer for half an hour, only to be struck on the back of the head with a club upon exiting.

"Ugh—"

When the feeling of weightlessness underfoot finally vanished and was replaced by a solid surface, whether it was the battle-hardened Lei Keming or the group of pampered Academicians, their first reaction was to uniformly bend over and retch toward the jade-white floor.

"Is... is this what motion sickness feels like? It's even more intense than a centrifuge."

Academician Li Zhenbang clutched his knees, his face deathly pale, but he gripped the portable air detector in his hand tightly; it was a scientist's instinct.

"Beep—"

The device emitted a crisp alert sound.

Li Zhenbang instinctively glanced at the screen. His old eyes, previously clouded by dizziness, widened instantly like copper bells, and even the urge to vomit was scared away.

"Holy crap?!"

This expletive, bolstered by a robust Dantian breath, echoed across the entire square.

"Oxygen content 35%! The negative oxygen ion concentration is off the charts? Is this device broken? It's showing a value of 99999+?"

Li Zhenbang straightened his back abruptly and took a deep breath.

In that instant, a cool, sweet stream of air, carrying the fresh scent of plants, surged through his nasal cavity and straight to his crown.

His lungs, exhausted from the long journey, felt as if they had been washed with the finest lubricant, with every alveolus rejoicing.

"It's sweet! The air here is sweet!"

Li Zhenbang danced with excitement, like a child who had discovered a New World.

"Is this even air? This is gaseous life essence! If you take a breath here, even a vegetative patient could sit up and run two laps! This is... this is a biological miracle environment!"

"Quiet! Quiet! This floor tile..."

Beside him, Professor Wang from the School of Geology was lying on the ground, tapping the floor tile beneath him with a small hammer.

"Clang, clang, clang!"

The sound was crisp, lingering in the air.

"Mohs hardness over 10! Harder than diamond! And..."

Professor Wang took out a magnifying glass, eager to press his face against the ground to get a better look.

"This texture, this luster... Is this a solid piece of top-grade mutton-fat white jade? No, it's ten thousand times purer than that! A plaza this big, all paved with this jade? It's simply... simply a waste of heaven's gifts! This is a crime!"

And the most insane of them all was the biologist, Professor Chen Shuhua.

She had been holding onto a pillar, trying to vomit, but when she lowered her head, she saw an inconspicuous little purple herb growing in the crack of the pillar.

"This is..."

Chen Shuhua's eyes went wide. With trembling hands, she carefully plucked the herb and sniffed it under her nose.

"Three-Leaf Purple Ganoderma? Is that the legendary divine herb recorded in the Compendium of Materia Medica that went extinct long ago?"

She frantically pulled out a sampling tube, stuffed the herb inside, and muttered to herself: "I'm rich! I'm rich! If the active ingredients in this one herb can be extracted, that Alzheimer's disease that has plagued humanity for fifty years could be declared conquered by tomorrow! This isn't just an herb, this is a Nobel Prize!"

The entire Huaxia investigation team, having just landed, had already fallen into a state of frenzy known as academic carnival, even before the people from Taichu Holy Land could speak.

This group of old men and women, whose combined ages reached several thousand years, looked like a bunch of elementary students who had just entered a candy store; some were picking at the wall plaster, some were bottling air, and some were even using test tubes to catch flower petals falling from the sky.

The people from Taichu Holy Land standing on the other side of the square were all stunned.

Sect Master True Person Xuanweizi held a whisk in his hand, having already struck a refined, immortal pose, prepared to say a few polite words, but he was completely thrown off by the frenzied energy of these old folks.

"This..."

Sect Master turned his head and whispered to the young Daoist boy beside him, "Are these the great scholars of Blue Star? Why do they look like uncultured bumpkins who have never seen the world? Our floor tiles are just ordinary refined white jade; there's plenty of it in the back mountain."

"Ahem!"

Jiang Chen finally recovered his strength at this moment.

After all, he had the plane immunity granted by the system; although he felt dizzy, it wasn't as exaggerated.

He straightened his handsome Zhongshan suit and strode forward, wearing a smile that was both friendly and carried the distinct air of a cunning merchant.

"Senior Sect Master! I've heard so much about you! I am Jiang Chen!"

Jiang Chen took the initiative to extend his hand.

Sect Master was stunned for a moment, then immediately realized this was the etiquette of Blue Star.

He quickly tucked the whisk onto his arm and extended his hand to shake Jiang Chen's.

"Oh! Son-in-law! We've finally been waiting for you!"

Sect Master's grip was strong, and his enthusiasm was even greater, but his eyes drifted past Jiang Chen's shoulder, staring fixedly at the mountain of cargo containers behind him, his Adam's apple bobbing visibly.

"That... these iron boxes, could they be..."

"That's right!"

Jiang Chen snapped his fingers and turned sideways, introducing them quite boldly.

"That's a small gift prepared for your sect."

"From box number one to fifty, it's all chilled happy water. To ensure the taste, we specifically installed nuclear-powered refrigeration units; the current temperature is exactly 3 degrees, the optimal taste!"

"From fifty-one to one hundred, it's various flavors of self-heating hot pot and snail rice noodles. Considering that you fellow Daoists might not have tried them, we've thoughtfully provided one hundred professional cooking aunties to teach you on-site!"

"As for those behind..."

Jiang Chen pointed to the largest cargo containers, lowered his voice, and said mysteriously.

"Those are one hundred of the latest top-spec gaming pods prepared especially for you, pre-installed with hundreds of masterpieces like Black Myth and Elden Ring. Holographic projection, immersive experience, guaranteed to make you enjoy the game!"

"Hiss—!"

Sect Master gasped, his beard trembling with excitement.

Nuclear-powered refrigeration?

Professional cooking aunties?

And immersive gaming pods?

How is this a small gift? This is clearly fulfilling his old man's entire wish list in one go!

"Son-in-law, you are a sincere man! Too sincere!"

Sect Master gripped Jiang Chen's hand tightly, his eyes becoming slightly moist.

"From now on, Taichu Holy Land is your home! Whoever dares to bully you, I will be the first to cut them down! Even if it's the Heavenly King himself, it won't do!"

"You're too kind, you're too kind."

Jiang Chen agreed with a smile, but his gaze scanned the crowd.

The elders were all there, each smiling like a blooming flower, drooling while surrounding those cargo containers.

Tens of thousands of disciples were also there, lined up neatly, looking over here with curiosity.

However.

The person he wanted to see most, and the main target of this cross-border trip, was not there.

"Senior."

Jiang Chen's heart skipped a beat, and the smile on his face faded slightly.

"That... where is Linglong? I've arrived, why hasn't she come out?"

"Uh..."

Sect Master's smile froze on his face.

He rubbed his hands awkwardly, his eyes starting to drift, looking everywhere but daring to meet Jiang Chen's gaze.

"That... the Saintess, she... is feeling unwell."

"Unwell?" Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow. "She is a powerhouse at the Soul Transformation Stage with a diamond-hard body; how can she get sick?"

"Oh, son-in-law, you don't know."

Sect Master bit the bullet and began to make up a story.

"The wind was strong last night, and the Saintess... caught a cold. Yes, that's it, a cold! You know, it's cold at high altitudes; Saintess Peak is so high, it's normal to catch a cold from the wind."

"And... and she has recently reached a critical point in her cultivation, and there are a few... um, little red spots (pimples) on her face. She said it's impolite to meet people looking like this, afraid it would scare you, so she is currently in seclusion to recuperate."

Jiang Chen: "..."