Celestial Human Diagram

Counselor Pei’s car drove a loop around Wuding District on the elevated highway before dropping Chen Chuan back at the Profound Palace Building.

Chen Chuan said his goodbyes and returned to his dorm. The first thing he did was open the files Counselor Pei had sent him.

The files contained a general description of the Domain Creature situation in the Central City, as well as the Dashun Government’s strategies for managing and maintaining them.

Ni Qianqian had told him before that there was a growing global call to connect all the Central Cities, allowing them to share Domain information and resources.

This was the so-called "Skyline Project."

The documents clearly stated that this project was indeed moving forward.

The project was divided into three steps. The first phase was national self-integration, the second phase was regional consolidation, and the third phase was global unification.

Currently, progress was still limited to within individual countries. One of the main factors driving this project was the problem of Domain Creature schisms.

Every Domain Creature schism caused major instability, requiring nations to expend enormous resources to maintain control and repair the damage.

But if the Central Cities were connected, a problem in one location could be met with immediate support and resource allocation from others, which would significantly reduce costs and improve national operational efficiency.

However, even within the Dashun Country, the various Central Cities had different opinions and objections. Opponents were everywhere.

This was because such a move, which favored centralized national power, would in turn weaken and harm the authority and interests of the individual Central Cities, so it was currently facing great resistance.

The Dashun Republic was a global power and a regional hegemon, with a tradition of strong central authority dating back to the Old Imperial Era. If even Dashun faced such issues, it went without saying that the rest of the world’s nations were encountering all sorts of problems with implementation.

An appended assessment report pointed out that if the world’s nations could cooperate fully and smoothly advance the Skyline Project, the defensive strength of the World Ring could be more than doubled within three years.

However, the project had been proposed and discussed for at least sixty years, yet it was still stuck in the first phase. Therefore, it was highly unlikely to be accomplished.

As the two worlds grew closer, Rifts were also becoming more numerous. The number of Central Cities had been increasing for over seventy years, and the new Domain Creatures that hosted these cities were grown from their split-off entities.

And these split-off entities weren’t completely controlled; some did leak out.

Within Dashun Country, with the exception of first-generation offshoots from the nine primogenitors which could not be leaked, second- and even third-generation offshoots could be sold after a certain growth period and used by other nations to establish new Central Cities.

The sale of these Domain Creatures wasn’t a one-time transaction. They still required subsequent modulation and management from Dashun, including long-term maintenance and technical support, which effectively projected Dashun’s influence abroad.

But if a first-generation offshoot were to be lost, not only could the modulation technology be leaked, but its vulnerabilities and weaknesses could also be exploited.

The document proposed that due to the nature of these offshoots, besides guarding against the covert actions of major corporations, they also had to be wary of covetous eyes from the Merging Land and other certain entities.

Therefore, this wasn’t just a matter for a single Central City, but an issue of national security, and even the World Ring Defense itself.

The file listed the main factions and groups to be wary of. At a glance, they filled an entire page, with different colors indicating their threat level.

From nations to corporations, from extremist organizations to rebel armies, it included everything.

Judging from this list alone, it looked like they were preparing for a war. One could only imagine the scale of the maintenance effort required this time. It would likely not be limited to Jibei Dao Central City and could trigger various clashes and confrontations in the international arena.

The report gave no specifics on the number of offshoots or the exact time of the schism, only a vague timeframe between April and June.

He could understand that. The specific time would never be leaked. Counselor Pei probably didn’t know it either. He estimated only officials at the level of the Central City’s Civil Affairs Chief, the Speaker, and Specialist Liang would be privy to it.

In addition to this overview, the files also marked the locations of safe passages and temporary military outposts, as well as emergency contact methods and encrypted communication channels routed through independent Domain Creatures.

These were prepared so that if the main Domain’s information network went down, dispersed military and security personnel could use them to quickly engage and receive orders and dispatches from their superiors.

After reading through all the content, he silently committed it to memory.

Fortunately, Fighters had good memories. And after beginning Spiritual Cultivation, memorizing such things became even easier. He had memorized everything after just one read-through.

And as soon as the allotted viewing time was up, all the content erased itself.

Chen Chuan got up from the sofa to pour a glass of water. After returning, he sat and looked out at the night view, his mind racing with thoughts.

’Teacher Xue told me to master the God-Shaking Hammer and the Hollow Seal before April,’ he thought. ’It seems Teacher Xue knows something. And from his later reminders, it’s highly likely he plans to teach me something special on top of that.’

’These things are probably not simple.’

’If I don’t make enough progress by then, I might miss my chance.’

It seemed he needed to speed up his progress.

After finishing his water, he placed the empty glass on the table in front of him and got up, heading for the training room.

「The next morning.」

Chen Chuan headed to the training class as usual. As he walked into the training ground, he saw Yu Lie standing there with his hands in his pockets.

The man looked to have fully recovered, showing no signs of the beating Chen Chuan had given him.

However, he hadn’t seen those few people from the Special Operations Committee again.

When Yu Lie saw him, he walked over and said, "Captain Chen, I lost to you last time because I was careless. Don’t worry, I won’t come looking for you again until I’m absolutely certain I can win."

Chen Chuan smiled. "Actually, Major Yu, if you’d like to spar, I’m always available."

Yu Lie curled his lip but didn’t reply, turning and walking to the side.

A moment later, the three replacement trainees arrived. Chen Chuan was surprised to see that one of them was Gu Haiting. Seeing the man glance at him and walk over, he greeted him, "Mr. Gu, are you here for the training too?"

Gu Haiting smiled and said, "Teacher Chen’s training class is sponsored by my company. Besides, my company also needs to organize a team to go to the Merging Land, so Teacher Chen’s experience is very important to us."

He checked the time, then said to Chen Chuan, "After the training session ends, would you have some time, Captain Chen? I’d like to talk."

Chen Chuan had a feeling this wasn’t a simple coincidence. It was about time for Gu Haiting to say whatever he needed to say. He nodded. "Of course."

They waited for only a few minutes before Chen Bitong walked in. He was always swift and decisive. As soon as the time came, he began the lesson without any unnecessary words.

The surroundings once again transformed into a scene from the Merging Land. The people around Chen Chuan began to disappear one by one, until only Chen Bitong was left standing there. He said, "Captain Chen, follow me," and turned to walk away.

Chen Chuan immediately followed.

Since the last training session focused on the Ink Monster, he hadn’t faced that type of entity again. The simulations had mostly pitted him against unique creatures from the depths of the Merging Land.

This time, however, was special. It targeted underwater organisms.

Underwater, one needed different methods of breathing and movement. He had studied this with He Xiaoxing before and possessed a certain degree of underwater breathing ability. Chen Bitong also knew this method. Although their approaches were different, the results were the same.

Seeing that he had a foundation, Chen Bitong immediately skipped this step and began teaching him the next parts.

This included underwater evasion techniques, how to use Emitting Force underwater to inflict lethal damage on large creatures in the shortest time possible, and how to use spiritual and Domain contact to quickly identify a creature’s species and characteristics in order to adopt targeted countermeasures.

Chen Bitong repeatedly warned him that if he encountered an unknown organism, he should not rashly engage it without understanding its traits. Instead, he should try to avoid it and retreat, only considering a fight if escape was impossible.

The most important principle in the Merging Land was self-preservation. When one’s strength was insufficient, one shouldn’t think they could solve every problem alone. It was best to rely on the collective strength of a team to get further.

Chen Chuan agreed with this. Unless one’s power reached a certain level, a well-coordinated team could definitely exert far greater combat strength.

When this training session was over, Chen Bitong didn’t immediately announce its end. Instead, he said, "The training class will be temporarily suspended after April while we await further news. Come back when it resumes, Captain Chen."

Chen Chuan understood. This must be due to the Fumu’s schism. He didn’t know if this training class would even exist after the event. Looking at it this way, there were only ten days of training left for sure.

He indicated that he understood. After bidding farewell to Chen Bitong, he walked out with Gu Haiting.

Gu Haiting said, "Captain Chen, I know a good place. Shall we go there for some tea?"

Chen Chuan said, "Alright. I’ll follow your arrangements, Mr. Gu."

After leaving the building and getting into a Gard Car, he followed Gu Haiting’s sedan toward Ji Yang District. When they reached the port, he followed Gu Haiting onto a medium-sized cruise ship and headed out to sea.

Just then, he saw a familiar-looking large cruise ship docked there. He said in surprise, "The Rhino Horn?"

Gu Haiting said, "That’s the Rhino Horn’s sister ship, the Ivory. But it’s not a cruise liner; it’s an armed exploration vessel. It came to the Central City this time to undertake and coordinate a mission for the government."

Chen Chuan was lost in thought.

The cruise ship sailed out to sea, stopping in a location beyond the reach of the Central City’s Domain signal.

Gu Haiting took out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "The Sun is nice today, and the waves aren’t too rough. Come on, Captain Chen. Let’s get some air on deck."

...

...