65: A replacement for Su Chen? Sherlock's choice!

Qin Zheng's reaction caused a flicker of surprise to flash in Jiang Zhenyue's eyes, which immediately morphed into an even deeper arrogance.

He flicked his whisk, and those rock arms slowly retracted into the ground, as if they had never appeared.

"Hahaha! It seems War God Qin is still a sensible person!"

Jiang Zhenyue laughed up at the sky, his voice shaking the roof tiles, making no effort to conceal his arrogance.

"Fusang is but a tiny plot of land; the moment a Minamoto no Yoshinobu appears, they dare to claim the Dominion? It's simply laughable! Now that the Blue Star is undergoing drastic changes and Spiritual Energy Revival has begun, it is the perfect time for my Kunlun Ruins to fulfill our mandate, emerge to protect Divine Summer, and lead the Divine Land toward supreme prosperity!"

Originally, Jiang Zhenyue was just an Evolver with modest strength; he could only show off in front of ordinary people. If he encountered the military, he would be blasted into dust in minutes.

However, for some unknown reason, the concentration of Spiritual Qi in the Kunlun Ruins had suddenly increased a hundredfold. Under this terrifying Spiritual Qi, the Disciples under Jiang Zhenyue's command in the Kunlun Ruins naturally saw their strength advance by leaps and bounds, progressing triumphantly.

Now, not to mention ordinary bullets, even if a nuclear bomb were dropped on him, he would have no fear.

His immense strength instantly fueled Jiang Zhenyue's ambition; he was no longer satisfied with living in seclusion in the Kunlun Ruins.

Sure enough, upon hearing Jiang Zhenyue's arrogant words, the expressions of Qin Zhenshan and Lei Zhen instantly became even uglier.

"Protect," "Lead"—the meaning hidden between the lines showed that he didn't hold the current government in any regard at all!

One could not be too careful against these suddenly empowered Evolvers; the Dominion in Fusang was the best example.

One had to remember that the first thing Minamoto no Yoshinobu did after appearing was to take off the head of the Fusang Prime Minister, Nakamura Kenichi, and announce he was taking over Fusang.

However, others didn't think that far ahead. After the initial shock, faces filled with wild joy!

"Venerable Jiang! It's the expert from the legendary Kunlun Ruins!"

"Hahaha, our Divine Summer really does have its own hidden forces!"

"Venerable Jiang emerging from the mountains is the fortune of our Divine Summer, and the fortune of the Blue Star!"

"If Venerable Jiang can join forces with Lord Kraken, what do we have to fear from the invasion of alien races!"

"The most urgent matter is to hurry and rescue Lord Kraken!"

However, upon hearing the words "rescue Kraken," the smile on Jiang Zhenyue's face instantly vanished, turning into a cold snort.

"Hmph!" The cold snort seemed to contain a strange power, causing everyone's hearts to shiver.

Immediately after, the conference room door was pushed open again. Dozens of young Disciples, dressed in cyan Daoist robes, wearing hair buns, and looking arrogant, carried in a massive giant turtle covered in strange rock-armor patterns, walking in slowly.

The giant turtle's shell was as heavy and thick as a mountain, its four limbs as thick as palace pillars. As it slept with its eyes closed, it emitted a heavy aura that made one's heart palpitate.

The young man leading them had a sinister face and carried an ancient-looking longsword on his back. His gaze swept over the people in the room, carrying an undisguised sense of superiority.

He was none other than Jiang Zhenyue's eldest Disciple, Song Qingshu.

Song Qingshu stepped forward, bowed slightly to Jiang Zhenyue, then turned to the Divine Summer leadership, a mocking curve hanging on the corner of his mouth:

"Ridiculous! As the pillars of Divine Summer, you actually tie the fate of the nation to a Vicious Beast that could go out of control and go mad at any moment? How truly foolish!"

His voice was sharp and unsparing: "Not to mention whether that Kraken has already turned to ash by now, even if it were lucky enough not to have died, have you forgotten how it destroyed cities and lands, slaughtering living beings? The tragic state of Tokyo is still vivid in our minds!"

"For such an uncontrollable monster, instead of thinking about destroying it as soon as possible, you actually dare to attempt to revere it as a guardian? Absurd!"

"Bullshit!" Lei Zhen could no longer hold back; he slammed his hand on the table, his hair standing on end from rage.

"Monster? Kraken slew the invading giant beasts, located vibranium mines, and warned of the world-ending crisis! Which of these is not a massive favor? In your mouth, it becomes a damned monster? Kid, a person needs to have a conscience!"

Academician Chen also excitedly retorted: "And Kraken has infinite Evolution potential! Only he can keep up with the pace of increasingly stronger enemies! We can research and solve the problem of it going out of control! But we absolutely cannot stop eating for fear of choking!"

"Research and solve? That's easy to say!" Song Qingshu sneered and interrupted mercilessly.

"How can you guarantee that you can control an alien entity that possesses high intelligence and whose power is constantly skyrocketing? If you exhaust the nation's strength to feed it, only for it to turn on you and leave, or go completely mad in the end, Divine Summer would face a catastrophic disaster in an instant! Can you afford to gamble on that?!"

His words were like cold poisonous thorns, stabbing into the deepest fears in many people's hearts.

Song Qingshu scanned the changing expressions of the crowd, smiled triumphantly, turned to the side, and pointed at the Rock-Armored giant turtle that had been carried in. His voice suddenly rose, full of incitement:

"However, today, my master and I have emerged from the mountains to solve this great worry of yours!"

"This is the treasure of our Kunlun Ruins—the Rock-Armored Spirit Turtle! Within its body, it possesses the Bloodline of an ancient exotic beast, and its genetic compatibility is unparalleled in the world!"

Song Qingshu's voice carried a fanaticism: "We only need to inject the serum of that Kraken, and the Spirit Turtle will be able to obtain a similar... power of Devouring Evolution!"

"Although the efficiency is far inferior to that monster, it has the advantage of being absolutely safe and absolutely controllable!"

He suddenly spread his arms: "This turtle's intelligence has not yet opened, and it completely obeys my master! No matter what level it evolves to, it will be the most reliable barrier to protect Divine Summer!"

"At that time, we only need to take the sea beast flesh and blood used to feed that monster and instead provide it to the Spirit Turtle, and it will be able to become Divine Summer's new, never-betraying National Guardian Beast!!"

A sound of gasping echoed throughout the room. Many people's gazes instantly turned hotly toward the sleeping giant turtle!

Qin Zhenshan, however, frowned deeply and poured cold water on the idea: "Even with Kraken's efficiency, it required the entire nation's supply. Your Spirit Turtle has even lower consumption efficiency; wouldn't the flesh and blood required be an even more astronomical figure? How could our Divine Summer afford that?"

Jiang Zhenyue stroked his beard and smiled, speaking leisurely: "Commander Qin is overthinking it. Ordinary livestock naturally won't work, but the flesh and blood of mutated sea beasts containing spiritual energy is a great tonic. This is the second purpose of my visit here—"

He turned his gaze toward Qin Zheng, with an unquestionable tone: "I ask War God Qin to immediately submit an application to the council, mobilize the nation's strength, and do everything possible to hunt deep-sea giant beasts! Build more of those menshen mecha of yours; they can serve exactly to hunt blood-food for my Spirit Turtle! The stronger the Spirit Turtle, the safer Divine Summer will be! This is a merit for a thousand autumns!"

The entire room's gaze instantly focused on Qin Zheng. The pressure descended like a mountain.

Using the nation's entire strength to support a giant beast completely controlled by an individual? This was no different from handing over the nation's fate to someone else!

Qin Zheng could clearly see the ambition and arrogance hidden deep in Jiang Zhenyue's eyes.

Once he agreed, many unpredictable things would inevitably happen. But... the world-ending crisis hung over them like the Sword of Damocles. Kraken's life or death was uncertain.

If this Spirit Turtle could truly become a reliable guardian force... individual power and position, compared to the survival of hundreds of millions of citizens, were not that important...

Just as Qin Zheng's brows were furrowed—zzzt... Inside the communicator in the corner of the conference room, Chen Feng's hoarse roar, so excited it cracked, suddenly exploded, instantly piercing through all arguments!

"War God! We've detected it! The large-scale life detector has a reading!! Lord Kraken... he is still alive!! The signal source is at the bottom of Mount Fuji! He is still alive!!"