CHAPTER 414: CHAPTER 412 BACK ROAD

Ji Quanzhen suddenly looked at Lu Ren with vigilance: "You haven’t been overtaken by your subconscious, letting the subconscious replace you, have you?"

Lu Ren chuckled: "If my subconscious had replaced me, then my dark side would have been completely magnified, and I wouldn’t be so polite as I am now."

"Fair point." Ji Quanzhen mused: "I recall there was once a Quanzhen Cultivator from Wudang Mountain, who, upon entering the Inner Realm and embarking on the Original Path, couldn’t overcome his Mirror Image. This person was quite evil before, but after returning, he became a totally different person, charitable and willing to put others first. When Huaxia faced difficulties back then, he tirelessly traveled the world."

Lu Ren was dumbstruck upon hearing this. Such a reversal of personality ultimately wouldn’t make one themselves anymore, even the dominant consciousness would be altered, which might not necessarily be a good thing.

The two chatted while eating. By the time they were full, all the seafood and roasted deer had been eaten clean, leaving only some bones scattered nearby.

After extinguishing the fire, Lu Ren and Ji Quanzhen stood by the sea, waving at a monitoring satellite in low Earth orbit constantly observing the area.

Due to Ji Quanzhen’s request, Huaxia specially deployed three satellites for round-the-clock surveillance, leaving the Beautiful Country suspicious, as if Huaxia had discovered something there.

Just an hour later, a cruiser slowly sailed toward the deserted island.

By the time Lu Ren and Ji Quanzhen walked on the waves and boarded the ship, dusk was already near, and on the endless ocean, the dim sunset was slowly setting.

"Who is this?!"

The cruiser’s Captain Li Ting looked at Ji Quanzhen beside Lu Ren, who was curiously looking around, full of doubt.

"This is Taoist Ji Quanzhen. I remember you should have met before, Captain Li."

Lu Ren smiled, finding the scene quite amusing.

Ji Quanzhen looked displeased: "I say, Captain Li, you’ve really become forgetful. We met just over a month ago, but now that the old Taoist is on board, you pretend not to know me."

"Ah, this..." Li Ting stammered, looking at Ji Quanzhen who had turned into a monkey-like figure, covered in hair, with sheer astonishment.

"Please don’t mind, Taoist Ji. You’ve changed quite a bit, and I really didn’t recognize you at first."

Ji Quanzhen snorted lightly, but unlike a typical monkey’s vindictive nature, he waved his hand nonchalantly: "Forget it. I’ve recently had a breakthrough and rejuvenated. You couldn’t recognize my handsome self, that’s understandable."

Lu Ren: "..."

Li Ting: "..."

The armed personnel nearby: "..."

As the cruiser returned, heading toward a coastal military port, on the deck, Li Ting glanced furtively at Ji Quanzhen playing with a stick in the distance, then turned to Lu Ren and whispered.

"Warden Lu, is Taoist Ji alright?"

After all, his ship played a main role in excavating Sun Wukong’s tomb, so he certainly knew what Ji Quanzhen had encountered there and understood why Ji Quanzhen and Lu Ren chose an isolated island for seclusion.

Seeing the cautious and concerned look on Li Ting’s face, Lu Ren gazed at the sea, enjoying the salty sea breeze, laughed: "Don’t worry, it’s just that his intrinsic identity has been altered by Sun Wukong’s curse, the rest is no different from Taoist Ji."

After a moment’s consideration, Lu Ren patted Li Ting’s shoulder: "Don’t worry, this is an opportunity. Maybe someday, Taoist Ji might really wield an iron rod, facing countless Immortal Gods, and create a world-shaking havoc."

Li Ting, as someone with cultivation himself, understood many secretive matters. Having a special cruiser, he had participated in many top-secret missions, and was aware that Huaxia had secretly established a dock on the lunar surface, while launching three preliminary ships to explore a star 27 light-years away.

In the absence of warp technology, the teleportation array magic of the Immortal Path also remained dormant due to the unmanifest Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism, resulting in prolonged cosmic voyages at a mere ten-thousandth of light speed.

In Lu Ren’s view, these ships were utterly vulnerable without any protection, and if they encountered a dark matter energy surge in the cosmos, they might be lost in an instant.

Li Ting did not perceive Lu Ren’s myriad of thoughts at that moment, yet his face showed even greater concern.

"I wonder when those Ancient Immortal Gods will finally return?"

Lu Ren quietly felt the gradually reviving spiritual mechanism between heaven and earth. Nowadays, the entire planet beneath his feet was teeming with burgeoning vitality.

To describe it bluntly, it was as if a once-dim pearl suddenly illuminated in endless darkness, and this trend was growing, with an intensity that could catch the eye of lurking unknown entities.

Perhaps in the Mythical Era, with Immortal Gods suppressing the world and the Celestial Court exercising infinite elite soldiers, freely conquering the cosmos, Earth’s illumination was a declaration of the flourishing and strength of cultivation here.

But now, with no protective measures, and such a remarkable glow of Heaven and Earth Spiritual Mechanism re-emerging, anything capable of sensing it is bound to swoop in for a bite.

That’s why Huaxia is now frantically searching for Secret Realms, or stable passages across the cosmos, in preparation as a backup for the entire nation.

"Who knows, maybe decades, a hundred years, or this generation might never see it, or perhaps tomorrow, just do your best, don’t overthink it."

Lu Ren patted the heavily burdened Li Ting on the shoulder once more, offering no further word, retreating to his cabin for rest.

Li Ting gripped the railing tightly with both hands, unintentionally exerting force, causing the railing to creak. When he came to his senses and released his grip, the railing bore two distinctly fingerprinted handprints.

"Rest easy, if the sky falls, there will be tall ones to hold it up, the Human Race will not face extinction."

Next to him, Ji Quanzhen extended his monkey head.

Li Ting suppressed the odd feeling in his heart, respectfully paying disciple’s homage to Ji Quanzhen.

"Grandmaster Ji!"

Ji Quanzhen raised an eyebrow, placing the stick across his shoulders: "I really misjudged, turns out you’re a disciple of Qingcheng Taoist Lineage."

Li Ting replied: "My father was a Qingcheng’s Taoist, later descended to resist Japanese invaders, strictly speaking, he could be considered a cultivator at home."

Upon hearing Li Ting’s explanation, Ji Quanzhen slightly nodded: "No wonder your main Martial Path is blood and slaughter, never showing the moderate and peaceful approach of Qingcheng Martial Path."

Li Ting smiled: "Learned these tricks in the military."

Ji Quanzhen didn’t dwell on it further, only saying: "Rest assured, we’re preparing quietly... even if, even if we lose..."

He gazed at the starry sky, his expression uncharacteristically solemn: "We still have a spark, and a single spark can illuminate the entire Liaoyuan, as long as we stay true to our original aspirations, everything can rise from the ashes."