Blind Spot
Chapter 443: Unexpected 404 II

Chapter 443: Unexpected 404 II

Li Chengyi immediately recounted the process of how he had been on high alert ever since discovering the man in black last time and how he had encountered him again in the same place.

Both of them had an inexplicable look in their eyes.

"Achen, can you assure me that every word you’ve said is true?" asked Lin Daquan as he glanced at Yserine and a thought struck him.

"I can assure you! And I suspect that these people might all come from the same organization, and there might be new infected individuals approaching," Li Chengyi said solemnly.

"Heh... that’s some nerve!" Yserine snorted coldly as she watched Li Chengyi from the side.

"What does the esteemed one mean by that?" Li Chengyi feigned ignorance.

Fu Ran gestured with his hand for the people around to step back and signaled Li Chengyi to follow him to the side.

The two quickly stepped into the depths of the woods, walking hundreds of meters before stopping.

"How did you manage that?" Fu Ran asked softly.

"What do you mean by that, Lord? I risked my life to catch the criminal!" Li Chengyi replied, dissatisfied.

"Who could you possibly fool with such talk? Haven’t you seen the looks in the eyes of those team members? Not even they believe you, so how do you expect the higher-ups to believe?" Fu Ran scoffed.

"Would the esteemed one care to say whether this counts as a merit or not?" Li Chengyi asked.

"It counts, of course it counts. But only if you can handle the merit all by yourself!" Fu Ran replied coldly.

"Does the esteemed one also want a share of the spoils?" Li Chengyi caught on.

"You’ve been too sloppy; it’s of no use. But I can help you. I’ll perfect all the details for you, both human and material evidence. We’ll share the merits and everyone will be happy at the end. How about that?" Fu Ran suggested with a smile.

"Can the esteemed one guarantee that it will fool the superiors?" Li Chengyi raised an eyebrow.

"How do you think I became the lord of this county?" Fu Ran’s smile broadened. "I’ve done schemes like yours before, just not as frequently as you do. Understand? You’re too hasty."

"The esteemed one is truly astute!" Li Chengyi immediately understood and smiled as well.

"Achen, you’re talented and dare to take risks. If we work together, with your martial talent, it’s only a matter of time before you climb higher. There’s no need to rush things," advised Fu Ran.

"The esteemed one speaks the truth, I take the lesson to heart," Li Chengyi nodded.

That’s what he said, but he didn’t want to stay here for too many years.

Even if the flow of time was substantial, the lifespan of his body was still ticking away. Staying here too long was just wasting time.

As Fu Ran had said, he would deal with the risks of fabrication while Li Chengyi would handle the actual capturing of criminals. Dividing the work would certainly make it more perfect.

Once the cooperation was established, the two quickly returned to the scene, this time with Fu Ran leading the way to bring the people back. He announced that everyone present could share the merits.

Suddenly, everyone understood the unspoken agreement and smoothly cooperated in silence.

Regardless of where Li Chengyi got his captives from, he caught them. That was all that mattered.

Soon, two weeks later, the Divine Martial Bureau of Cangshi County unexpectedly discovered an infected person’s lair during a joint operation.

They promptly reported it to the Blood Guard Bureau.

The experts from the Blood Guard Bureau deployed and, after a fierce battle, killed fourteen latent-phase infectees and completely destroyed a large nest of infectees in the vicinity of Cangshi County.

Fu Ran communicated with the Blood Guard Bureau, bribing and ingratiating himself, and quickly made his way through the increasingly corrupt bureaucracy of Shaoyin Country.

Suddenly, from the lord of the bureau to the lowest ranking members, everyone had merits and rewards, and all were overjoyed.

The operatives from the Blood Guard Bureau also received rewards and promotions.

As for the so-called nest, it was entirely composed of criminals and rapists captured by Li Chengyi who were congregated and infected, creating the appearance of a lair.

As long as those who knew the truth and benefited kept quiet, this so-called nest of infectees would be considered real.

In this way, in less than three months after taking office, Fu Ran, the lord of the Divine Martial Bureau, was promoted to the post of Deputy County Protector.

And the new lord was Lin Daquan, while Li Chengyi was promoted to the Deputy Lord.

His subordinates received varying degrees of promotion and substantial rewards.

Such a speed of promotion was absolutely staggering to outsiders.

The Raven House.

Li Chengyi, now wearing the uniform of the Deputy Lord, visited the place again.

This time his authority had increased by one level, so he should have access to more information.

Of course, a mere one-level increase was nothing compared to the restricted levels of the God Limit Heart Technique and the Illusory Color Dragon information.

But this time, he wasn’t there to buy such information, but rather something else.

He pushed the door and entered the hall, where two people happened to be purchasing information. Li Chengyi waited for a while until they completed their transaction, then stepped forward to the counter.

The person in charge was still the old man from last time.

"What is it this time?" the old man raised his eyes and glanced at Li Chengyi, pausing for a moment at his Deputy Lord uniform.

He was well aware that the young man in front of him had risen to the position of Deputy Lord through fabrication, but what of it?

The man had courage and attentiveness; every time he fabricated, he risked his life and got personally involved.

After all, if any one of the infectees were to cause trouble, the fabricator would bear the greatest risk, gambling with his life.

The power of an ordinary martial artist was far less than that of an infectee.

A slip up would mean certain death.

So, the old man paid no mind to such matters. Similar deeds were all too common in these times.

"I’m here for information on the True Seal Spirits," said Li Chengyi.

"Which part do you want?" the old man asked.

"I heard that once martial arts are practiced to the extreme, one can merge with the True Seal. I want to know, how can I find information regarding this?" Li Chengyi inquired.

Indeed, this trip was for the sake of Imprints.

Having practiced True Qi martial arts for so long, he was increasingly aware that True Qi was a process of continuously evolving and growing closer to some kind of Imprint.

After all, he was different from others; he already possessed the Giant Strength Imprint, which made the comparison very clear.

The more he practiced Pine Pattern Energy, the more he felt that True Qi was constantly strengthening and tempering his physical body, and it was faintly condensing something similar to the faint outlines of the Giant Strength Imprint in his abdomen.

Now that his True Qi cultivation had reached a level equivalent to seventy years of training, he was nearly on par with a genius who had spent a lifetime diligently accumulating his practice of Pine Pattern Energy.

Such exaggerated amounts of True Qi, combined with a density three times that of Common Pine Pattern Energy, allowed him a glimpse into the ultimate purpose of True Qi.

"This belongs to martial arts of certain grades; different grades have different methods, and even within graded martial arts, only the higher grades possess the method to integrate the True Seal." The old man answered.

"What grade would have it?" Li Chengyi frowned and asked.

"Within the Five-Color Rank—white, red, black, silver, gold—at least Grade Black martial arts would have it." The old man replied.

"Then I want to ask, how would a master of Grade Black martial arts who has integrated the True Seal rank in the two lists of Shaoyin Country?" Li Chengyi asked gravely.

The old man stretched out his hand and made a gesture of ten.

Li Chengyi quickly got the message and paid ten taels.

"Top ten in both lists, all of them." Once the money was in place, the old man immediately answered.

"I also want to know, are the legends true about that top-tier powerhouse who could destroy a country by drawing upon the stars?" Li Chengyi said.

"This one’s free." The old man smiled, "Our Shaoyin State Preceptor is one of them. The Blood Rain Technique can integrate three major True Seals."

".....!!" Li Chengyi walked out of Raven House’s base in shock.

Knowing that Grade Black martial arts required integrating the True Seal, he understood that the top ten in the two lists were all Imprint-level powerhouses.

With this in mind... the situation about this massive blind spot became somewhat more transparent.

Obtaining one Imprint could augment himself to such an exaggerated degree, he could hardly imagine to what extent those top list masters’ martial arts and their integrated imprints could amplify them.

’This world.... tsk tsk...’

And there’s the State Preceptor Song Yunhe... Could it really be him who was the one drawing upon the stars!?

This was beyond his expectations.

Leaving Raven House, he headed straight for his residence. As the deputy county master, he was actually entitled to be allocated housing, but he hadn’t moved and still lived in his original place.

Even upon arriving home, Li Chengyi’s mind was still pondering over the situation here.

Without a doubt, the martial arts here were all aimed at Imprints; he had come here originally in search of materials, but he hadn’t expected that this trip would indeed be the right choice.

He was, after all, here for the Imprint materials, but the True Qi Martial Arts here turned out to fulfill his goal in another way.

Thinking of this, he took out the small arched door that had been made into a pendant from inside his collar.

He removed it, placed it on the ground, then cut open a wound on his thigh, took out the key hidden inside, and inserted it into the small lock on the small door.

Click.

The door slowly began to open.

Li Chengyi took two steps back, looking at the sliver of opening in the door.

Taking off his clothes, he dashed forward naked, and at the moment when the door was wide open, he abruptly entered through it.

"Puff."

In the blink of an eye, he re-entered the special passage that he had passed through on his initial journey.

Enveloped in white light, he burst forth from the immense vortex of Midlane, flying towards the reality he had come from.

In the white light, the appearance of his body’s surface quickly reverted back to that of Li Chengyi.

This time returning, he had to make some preparations. Since the side of Midlane possessed martial arts that pointed directly to Imprints, he planned to cultivate True Qi Martial Arts there long-term.

Moreover, his true purpose was to use the supercomputing of Rainbow Candy to calculate the refinement efficiency of True Qi Martial Arts and their optimization and compression.

If he could deduce the method of integrating the True Seal that would be best, but the True Seal belonged to a product of the Black Sea, and without data from the supercomputer, it was impossible to complete.

The Black Sea was a domain of Chaos that could not be cognized, and it was highly unlikely that the deduction could be completed.

Going forward, he would have to run between both sides, as long as he completed it within the time that the passage established by Instructor Yserine was maintained.

Of course, due to the differential flow of time, he had to be quick!

Otherwise, one year in Midlane would only be one day in reality, meaning that two hours in reality would see a month pass by in Midlane.

Without careful attention, developments there could completely stall due to his disappearance.

In the white light, the surrounding Black Sea remained dense and silent, pitch-black without any light.

’Brother, why did you come out so quickly?’ Yserine’s voice suddenly faintly echoed in his ear.

’I...’ Li Chengyi was about to reply when suddenly the white light passage in front twisted violently, emitting a sharp screeching noise.

Something was wrong!

A chilling sense of fear surged through him instantly.

Li Chengyi abruptly, inexplicably turned his head to the right.

The Giant Strength Imprint on his chest slowly lit up with white light, diffusing throughout his body, allowing him to clearly ’see’ that in the distant reaches of the Black Sea, there was an immense Angel giant.

The giant had countless ash-grey wings. Its face was a black vortex, its body pitch-black, and with arms spread open, it was diving towards him.

"It’s the King of the Death Angels!! Brother, get back quickly!! It’s too late!!" Yserine shrieked.

Without a word, Li Chengyi turned around and dashed towards Midlane.

He had only flown a short distance, the closest to Midlane.

"Puff!!"

Instantly, he flew out from the door again, tumbling into the courtyard.

The small arched door swiftly twisted, shrank, and soon reverted back into a pendant.

Li Chengyi stood up and put on his clothes, his heart still pounding, his scalp tingling, and goosebumps all over his body.

Just in that instant, without any need to think, he knew that if he had been caught, he would definitely have died without doubt.

"Puff."

Suddenly, the door pendant emitted a wisp of black smoke, dissolved, and turned into a pile of ash, completely ruined.

"....!?" Li Chengyi was stunned.

If the door was broken, how would he return!?