Chapter 40 The Spirit Platform

Yun Qian had been unconscious since the evening and still had not woken up by the next morning.

Through Xiao Liu, Yun Bai repeatedly confirmed that Yun Qian was only in this state because she was overly exhausted.

He waited until his sister woke up, and only after thoroughly comforting her and the others did he heave a long sigh of relief.

Hum—

Yun Bai felt his Divine Sense pick up movement from the nameplate at his waist. Looking down, he saw it was a message from Zhang Huai of the State Religion's Personnel Hall.

There were three messages.

First, the State Religion was preparing for a major project, and he was to be on standby at all times.

Second, the squad Yun Bai would be in at Xinyue Hall had been arranged. Members of Xinyue Hall were mostly organized into squads of under six people. Throughout the entire Northwest Region, Xinyue Hall oversaw over a hundred such squads. Yun Bai had been assigned to Squad Yi-43.

"Judging by the number, this is a Grade-Yi squad," Yun Bai thought, surprised. Xinyue Hall graded teams based on their combat effectiveness and mission completion, divided into Grade-Jia, Grade-Yi, and Grade-Bing. Members of Grade-Yi squads usually had reached the Late Stage of the First Realm, and they were basically all battle-hardened veterans.

The State Religion's Foundation in the Northwest Region was still shallow, and most of the top-ranked squads in Xinyue Hall had been transferred from elsewhere. Any squad deemed worthy of being specially requisitioned had undoubtedly established numerous battle achievements.

The reason Zhang Huai notified Yun Bai early in the morning was that the captain of Squad Yi-34 had come to the National Temple to accept a mission that morning. Supervisor Zhou Shengtai had asked for his opinion, and after internal discussion, the captain of Squad Yi-34 finally agreed to accept Yun Bai.

Because Yun Bai was a seed specially cultivated by the State Religion, Supervisor Zhou Shengtai had gone to great lengths regarding his transfer.

Third, this was also the message Yun Bai cared about the most. It concerned his grudge with Chen Qiang. The Northwest Army had stepped in to mediate, hoping Yun Bai could settle the matter privately with the Chen family. The Chen family promised to apologize and provide some compensation. As for the compensation, both parties needed to set a time to negotiate. The preliminary time was set for the Chen hour nine days later, at Fengtian Restaurant.

"The Chen family has quite some influence, truly managing to convince the military to clean up their mess," Yun Bai thought, gritting his teeth in hatred.

But after all, he was not a hotheaded youth.

His sister's life was already on a countdown; he could not act on impulse and ignore the bigger picture.

Right now, he had no time to investigate the case in detail; he was alone and his energy was limited.

The urgent priority was to become stronger, earn money, and cure her illness.

"If I could extort a hefty sum from the Chen family, that would be great," Yun Bai had already made his decision.

Revenge had to be plotted slowly; he would never give up.

Right now, the first thing to consider was treating his sister!

"I should go to the National Temple first." Yun Bai immediately headed toward the State Religion.

Just as he entered the main hall, the first person Yun Bai saw was, surprisingly, Jiang Shuanger.

"Yun Bai, long time no see," Jiang Shuanger said, looking somewhat surprised to see him.

"Good morning, Miss Jiang," Yun Bai said. "I received a message from Brother Zhang Huai this morning, so I rushed over."

"Oh him, he's at the Martial Arts Hall, so you should hurry over," Jiang Shuanger said excitedly. "Hehe, my father is back, and I'm just about to go find him, so I'll be off first."

After bidding farewell to Jiang Shuanger, Yun Bai headed straight for the Martial Arts Space.

"Brother Zhang." When Yun Bai found Zhang Huai, he discovered that Zhang Huai was busy directing his subordinates to move items.

The plaza within the Martial Arts Space was piled high with tightly sealed crates, and people were bustling back and forth, busy without pause.

"Yun Bai." After turning around and seeing Yun Bai, Zhang Huai wiped the sweat from his forehead and walked towards him. "Your squad has been decided, and your new captain is asking to see you."

"Thank you for your hard work. What is all this?" Yun Bai asked.

"The higher-ups just assigned a mission to build a spirit connection platform 130 li northeast of Chu Prefecture City. Your squad captain is currently in the inner hall for a meeting; you'll know soon enough. You can go to the Martial Arts Hall to wait a moment, until Elder Zhou calls for you."

While speaking, Zhang Huai led Yun Bai in front of a pile of crates. From afar, he heard someone calling him from behind. "Oh, look, these are all the supplies for this construction mission—oh—coming, coming! Sorry, I'm really too busy to get away, so I'll take my leave first. Please, make yourself at home."

After speaking, Zhang Huai hurriedly went back to direct people in moving items.

"Build a spirit connection platform?" Yun Bai immediately realized that this matter was of great importance.

In Yun Bai's understanding, the spirit connection platform was an important strategic Foundation for the State Religion to ensure stability within the Human Race's territory. It was somewhat similar to a combination of a communication base station and an energy station on Blue Star.

An unknown number of spirit connection platforms spread across the Human Race's territory formed a massive network that covered the entire Human Race's domain.

The spirit connection platforms were mainly responsible for coordinating and regulating Spiritual Qi, allowing Cultivators of the Human Race within the domain to absorb Spiritual Qi faster.

Absorbing Spiritual Qi faster meant that Cultivators could Cultivate faster, recover faster, and have stronger combat effectiveness.

Previously, when Yun Bai Cultivated, he often needed to meditate and circulate his energy for nearly dozens of breaths before he could absorb Spiritual Qi from the outside world.

Yun Bai had originally thought this was a normal phenomenon. Later, after reading a large amount of material in the Scripture Pavilion, he learned that Cultivators outside the Northwest Region absorbed heaven and earth Spiritual Qi at nearly twice their speed.

The reason for this was that their Northwest Region lacked spirit connection platforms. Due to the delay in Spiritual Qi allocation, Cultivators in the Northwest Region always felt a significant lag when absorbing Spiritual Qi.

It could be said that the spirit connection platforms were extremely important strategic facilities for the Human Race managed by the State Religion, and in past wars, they were also key military targets for the Demon Race. The Spiritual Qi network built through these spirit connection platforms was directly linked to the lifeblood of the entire Human Race's prosperity.

"Hmm?" Supervisor Zhou Shengtai's voice suddenly rang out in Yun Bai's mind.

"Yun Bai, this is Supervisor Zhou Shengtai. Come to the inner hall immediately."

"Is this Divine Sense transmission?" Yun Bai had long heard of such a method, but this was the first time he had encountered it.

Yun Bai hurried over.

He saw that the doors to the inner hall were wide open. Upon entering, he saw two people sitting there.

One of them was indeed Supervisor Zhou Shengtai. The other was a sturdy, burly man, about thirty years old, bald and beardless, with dark, rough skin—one look was enough to tell he was a warrior who had long braved the elements.

Both of them looked toward Yun Bai.

"Yun Bai, come here," Supervisor Zhou Shengtai greeted. "This is the captain of Squad Yi-43, known as 'Bald Leopard' Captain Zeng Fu."

"Hello, Brother Zhou. Hello, Captain," Yun Bai said, bowing respectfully.

This captain, Captain Zeng Fu, was extremely tall; even sitting down, he was half a head taller than the Supervisor Zhou Shengtai beside him, and one had to know that Supervisor Zhou Shengtai was nearly 1.8 meters tall. Not only that, the seemingly explosive muscles on Captain Zeng Fu's exposed arms gave one the feeling that they were cast from steel.

Captain Zeng Fu grinned at Yun Bai, revealing his white teeth.

"Yun Bai, I hear you are a Genius. Our squad welcomes Geniuses, but we welcome the strong even more. When we carry out the great sweep tomorrow, I will give you opportunities to practice more so you can master actual combat experience as soon as possible. Your talent is high, and I believe you will soon become one of us. But I will say this ugly truth upfront: if you cannot adapt within a week, then we can only say it was not meant to be," Captain Zeng Fu said bluntly.

"Very well. Rest assured, Captain, I will certainly work hard. I will never drag the squad down, and I will not cause Brother Zhou to lose face," Yun Bai said earnestly.

"Hahaha, good," Supervisor Zhou Shengtai said. "Then that's settled. Later, take this kid to meet his teammates and brief them on the mission. Tomorrow's mission is our current top priority, so we cannot be lax."

"Oh right, Yun Bai. You know about the negotiations with the Chen family, right?" Supervisor Zhou Shengtai asked.

"Zhang Huai has already notified me."

"Regarding this point, whether you agree to a private settlement or not, our State Religion respects your choice," Supervisor Zhou Shengtai looked at Yun Bai seriously. "I personally understand your difficulties, but the Chen family handled this matter very cleanly; we haven't been able to find more evidence in these past few days. This includes the battle in the trial grounds with the Short-snouted Magic Boar that you mentioned. That place had clearly been re-processed with Spells, and all traces had been covered up."

"The main culprit, Li Pazi, is already dead. So even if you were unwilling to settle privately, the punishment Chen Qiang would receive would be nothing more than a few years of imprisonment, which is completely insignificant. Perhaps, with the Chen family's help, Chen Qiang might not even have a worse life in prison than he does outside."

Yun Bai raised an eyebrow upon hearing this.

He had originally been a bit worried that the strange traces left after he used the black hole would arouse suspicion. He hadn't expected the Chen family to clean them up for him along the way.

What Supervisor Zhou Shengtai said, Yun Bai had already understood clearly throughout the night yesterday.

"Thank you, Brother Zhou, for your concern. I have already decided to settle privately with the Chen family," Yun Bai said calmly.

"Then what are your thoughts?" Supervisor Zhou Shengtai chuckled. "How much money do you plan to ask for?"

"This..." Yun Bai was stunned; he hadn't had time to think about this matter. "I don't know. Do you have any suggestions, Brother Zhou?"

"Hahaha, then you've asked the right person," Supervisor Zhou Shengtai said. "Kid, this Chen family has been rooted in Chu Prefecture City for many years, and many people in the Northwest Army are from the Chen family. Our State Religion currently cannot easily move against it. When we first entered Chu Prefecture City, our State Religion signed a treaty: as long as these noble families do not commit offenses, our State Religion will not easily move against them."

"So if you are unwilling to settle privately with them, you might not be able to do anything to the Chen family anyway. Instead of that, it's better to extort a sum from them."

"In my opinion, just ask for this amount."

Supervisor Zhou Shengtai held up a few fingers.