19: Chapter 19 Yunfeng Mountain at Dusk

Two more days passed.

Yunfeng Mountain fell into complete silence.

In the past, occasional hikers would come to see the sunrise, but now, not a soul could be seen.

The mountain paths were desolate, the birds and beasts silent; the entire mountain range seemed to have sunk into a long hibernation.

Li Xiuyuan could finally roam freely on the mountain, enjoying this rare tranquility.

In a few more days, he would be able to raise his bloodline to Level 4.

He had tried consuming the beasts on Yunfeng Mountain to speed up his progress, but he soon discovered—whether because the creatures were too weak or he was too strong—that consuming those ordinary beasts only added 0.1 to his Spirit Energy value.

It was pitifully little.

Even if he ate every beast on the mountain, he estimated he could only scrape together five points.

The Mountain Wolf's injuries had fully healed, and Li Xiuyuan had even bestowed a name upon it: Ao Wu.

Over these two days, Li Xiuyuan had become increasingly adept at using the ancient coin. He could now slightly spread the scales on his body to hide the ancient coin within them.

When needed, with a slight movement of his intent, the bronze coin would slide out from between his scales, changing size and adjusting speed at will, like a bolt of golden lightning, controlled with ease.

"The area outside the mountain has been surrounded by people," Ao Wu said upon returning to Yunfeng Mountain.

Yunfeng Mountain and Phoenix Mountain were adjacent. Although the latter had been surrounded by the Security Bureau like an iron bucket, Ao Wu knew of a hidden wild path that wound through the dense forest between the two mountains, allowing it to bypass all eyes and travel back and forth quickly.

Li Xiuyuan said, "I know. I have reached a certain cooperation with someone."

"Is he trustworthy?" Ao Wu asked.

Unlike Li Xiuyuan, it could not sense the aura of the Rising Beings hidden within Gu Xiao, nor did it understand what those terrifying human thermal weapons meant.

"He should be trustworthy. Right now, we are still too weak and need to find a backer," Li Xiuyuan said.

In truth, he had another worry: given humanity's almost fanatical obsession with technology, even with the resurgence of Spirit Energy, technology would by no means stagnate. Instead, it was very likely to usher in an unprecedented explosion.

As long as they were willing to explore, this thing called Spirit Energy would sooner or later be researched into a thousand different uses, perhaps even becoming a new energy source.

The reason current technology had so many limitations was not because of anything else, but because humanity itself was too weak.

Once humans broke through their own shackles with the help of Spirit Energy, they would certainly be able to develop even more powerful weapons.

Li Xiuyuan did not tell Ao Wu about these worries, as Ao Wu could not yet understand such things.

Seeing Li Xiuyuan say this, Ao Wu became even more wary of humans.

...

...

Outside Yunfeng Mountain,

Director Du personally led men to surround the entire mountain completely.

A few hikers who had approached an entrance were stopped.

"Hello, Yunfeng Mountain is closed. Please turn back," a Security Bureau officer in uniform blocked their way with a blank expression.

A young woman with a sweet appearance stepped forward, her eyes darting around, her voice soft and delicate, "Big brother, we just want to hike Yunfeng Mountain. We won't cause any trouble for you."

The Security Bureau officer didn't even lift his eyelids. He had been working all day and had to pull duty at night, so he was already annoyed.

His tone was as hard as a rock, "I said, you cannot enter."

The pretty hiker's expression stiffened, and she retreated awkwardly.

A middle-aged man stepped forward, his attitude amiable, "Little brother, how long will this Yunfeng Mountain be closed?"

"Not sure, it certainly won't be opened for a while."

"Go back quickly, don't wander around here."

The group turned away helplessly.

After walking quite a distance, the sweet woman's expression darkened, "Second Uncle, with the blockade this tight and drones patrolling from time to time, it's hard for us to sneak in."

"Since the blockade is so strict, it means Yunfeng Mountain has been targeted by the higher-ups."

"Even if we kill that snake, it will be very difficult for us to occupy Yunfeng Mountain."

A young man wearing glasses adjusted his frames.

The leading middle-aged man pondered for a moment, "It doesn't matter. Even if we can't occupy Yunfeng Mountain, we can use this commotion to deceive everyone and let Eldest Brother take men to Phoenix Mountain to get that ancient ancestral relic."

He looked up at the mountain range in the twilight,

"The plan remains unchanged. When it gets late, we will enter the mountain."

This group was dressed as hikers, but in reality, they were all from the Qiu Family.

The news of Yunfeng Mountain being blockaded reached Patriarch Qiu Yaozu, and his intention was that the plan remained unchanged. This time, Patriarch Qiu Yaozu had brought almost everyone the Qiu Family could fight, intending to either kill the giant snake on Yunfeng Mountain and occupy it or take advantage of the chaos to seize the ancient ancestral relic on Phoenix Mountain.

Meanwhile,

Deputy Director Lv Haidong had already obtained three anti-materiel sniper rifles through special channels, and the bullets were all high-power armor-piercing rounds. Although he had lost the authority to mobilize personnel, Deputy Director Lv Haidong had still cultivated a few trusted subordinates willing to disobey discipline.

On a mountaintop three kilometers away from Yunfeng Mountain, three anti-materiel sniper rifles had been set up. Deputy Director Lv Haidong gazed at Yunfeng Mountain from a distance, intense killing intent rising in his eyes.

In fact, Deputy Director Lv Haidong and Li Xiuyuan had no prior enmity; it was just that Deputy Director Lv Haidong needed Yunfeng Mountain, and Li Xiuyuan just happened to be inside.

Deputy Director Lv Haidong was even someone who genuinely wanted the Xia Kingdom to reach the pinnacle in the coming golden age. For this goal, he could do anything by any means necessary.

It was just that his philosophy was very different from the higher-ups. The higher-ups believed they should strive for cooperation with Rising Beingss, but Deputy Director Lv Haidong believed these Rising Beingss possessed an indelible cruelty in their bones—they should either be enslaved or eliminated.

Deputy Director Lv Haidong wanted to stick to his own philosophy and use his own methods to accomplish things, even if it meant offending many people in the process, or even making enemies with some Rising Beingss.

Phoenix Mountain,

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu, who had already stepped onto the mountain path and was heading toward the temple at the summit, felt the aura belonging to the ancient ancestral relic the moment he stepped onto Phoenix Mountain.

Even if he couldn't occupy Yunfeng Mountain on this trip, being able to seize that ancient ancestral relic inside Phoenix Mountain would make the trip worthwhile.

"Uncle, Qiu Jin has been guarding here for two days and can roughly determine the location of that relic," the tall man followed behind Patriarch Qiu Yaozu.

Patriarch Qiu Yaozu nodded, praising, "You two brothers have done well. In the younger generation of the Qiu Family, you, Wenhua, and your brother Qiu Jin are all outstanding talents."

As they spoke, the two passed through Phoenix Temple in the twilight and continued to climb toward the summit.

At the end of the mountain path, a short figure had been waiting there for a long time.

Qiu Jin looked at the two approaching, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

Night had finally fallen.