By some means, all of Blue Star’s physical laws and experimental results were tampered with, affecting the entire planet’s physical observations and practices, thereby leading experimenters to draw incorrect conclusions.

"You mean the return of Gui Xu wasn’t an accident. It originally belonged to Blue Star, or perhaps, Blue Star originally belonged to it, and was only separated by the influence of some High Level beings..."

CLAP... CLAP... CLAP!

Academician Zhang was stunned for a moment, then couldn’t help but applaud. "Your guess is exactly the same as my own theory. Old Ge, this disciple of yours is truly remarkable."

"You flatter me, Academician Zhang. I was just making a casual guess."

Zhao Rui smiled. He was able to think along these lines so quickly mainly because he had been influenced by related information in his past life.

Although the two worlds were similar in many ways, they had parted ways from the moment of the Spiritual Qi Revival over a hundred years ago. They were alike, but not identical.

Thus, many literary works from his old world did not exist in this one.

"The first step in science is learning to hypothesize. If you don’t even dare to imagine, how can you possibly verify anything or build the castle of rules?"

Academician Zhang nodded and continued, "Since Old Ge brought you here, it means he approves of you. There are some things you’ll find out sooner or later anyway."

"We people of the Central Plains face difficulties that extend beyond just the invasion of the Alien Races from Gui Xu. They also include those yet undiscovered alien civilizations lurking in the depths of space..."

"This is also why we built these bases. Only by mastering unknown powers and technologies as quickly as possible can we hope to face the crises that may come in the future."

As Zhao Rui listened to Academician Zhang, his gaze remained fixed on the image displayed by the Compass.

In the final image, Blue Star was like a lone boat adrift on the ocean, its form gradually coming into view.

But this Blue Star was completely different from the Earth he remembered from his past life.

While it looked more or less the same, its size was vastly different.

It was at least four or five times larger than Earth.

"How did they manage to separate Blue Star into two parts?"

Zhao Rui’s limited knowledge of physics was completely insufficient to understand it.

But he didn’t need to understand it right now, because conventional physics had long since become ineffective in the face of these problems.

"The key to all this lies with True Qi, or what we call Virtual Particles."

"Virtual Particles?"

"Correct. Virtual Particles, and their counterparts, the Dark Particles found within one’s Divine Soul Thought. These are all things the physics world has re-encountered since the return of Gui Xu."

Academician Zhang spoke with ease and confidence while Zhao Rui listened quietly.

At first, he could rely on the broad knowledge from his past life to follow along, but as the topic grew deeper, he could no longer keep up.

"Some of this is probably impossible to understand if you’re not a researcher. In short, the existence of Virtual Particles has already changed the future of the entire Central Plains."

"Thank you for explaining so much to me, Academician Zhang."

"Don’t mention it, young man!"

Academician Zhang glanced at Elder Ge, then said in a deep, meaningful tone:

"It’s good that you’re willing to listen to an old man like me ramble. I’ll lend this to you. I hope you will scale the peak of the Martial Dao, find a way forward for Blue Star, and secure a future for humanity."

’He’s only lending it?’

’I spent all this time chatting with you, and for what? A complete waste of effort.’

"Um, since I’m already here, Dean Zhang... surely you have something even more amazing, right? I’m still missing a weapon."

"..."

Dean Zhang promptly shoved Elder Ge and Zhao Rui out of the room and slammed the security door shut.

Zhao Rui shrugged, putting on a helpless expression. "Elder Ge, I told you I shouldn’t ask for more. See? Now we’ve made him angry."

Elder Ge shot him an irritated glare. It was obviously Zhao Rui who wanted more, yet he was trying to pin the blame on him.

"Alright, let’s go. Academician Zhang is a very busy man. The fact that he was willing to talk to you for so long is already a huge show of respect for me. Don’t mention any of this to anyone once we’re outside."

"Yes, I know."

With that, Elder Ge led him toward another area of the corridor.

This area was completely different from the high-tech section they had just left.

Inside were countless seeds and low-level organisms.

Zhao Rui recognized some of these seeds and organisms from the Gui Xu Forest.

Clearly, all of these had been brought back from Gui Xu.

’It seems the strength of the Central Plains Court is far greater than I imagined.’

Even a Grandmaster of Dharma like himself had found it difficult to escape the Gui Xu Wilderness.

For the Central Plains Court to be able to bring back so many things from the Otherworld... this was no simple feat.

"You’ve been to Gui Xu, so I imagine some of this looks familiar. Their value isn’t just in their appearance; their true worth lies in certain essences they contain, which perfectly match the descriptions in the pharmacopoeias handed down by our ancestors..."

As he spoke, Elder Ge retrieved a bottle of ointment from what looked like a medicine cabinet and handed it to Zhao Rui.

Zhao Rui took the ointment and examined it, asking curiously, "For bruises and injuries?"

Elder Ge shook his head. "A Broken Mirror Pill!"

PFFT!

Zhao Rui nearly did a spit-take.

He thought this stuff was just some medicinal plaster, but it turned out to be a Realm-Breaking Pill.

"It increases a Martial Artist’s chances of breaking through to the Grandmaster stage by fifty percent."

"It’s condensed from the essence extracted from plants in Gui Xu."

"So? There’s a lot of good stuff here, wouldn’t you say?"

Zhao Rui couldn’t help but nod.

"Do you have any..."

"No! Absolutely not!"

Zhao Rui quickly cut Elder Ge off.

’This old man’s greatest hobby is trying to get me to inherit his "legacy" and guard some place or other.’

"Fine, there’s none! What are you so worked up about?"

Elder Ge said nonchalantly, then turned and led Zhao Rui out of the botanical storage facility.

For the rest of the afternoon, Elder Ge continued to familiarize Zhao Rui with the base.

He explained some of the base’s research achievements and future research directions.

He also shared some methods and strategies for dealing with the Returning Ruins Beasts.

Right up until Zhao Rui left the base, Elder Ge never again mentioned him taking over his post.

The setting sun illuminated the brilliant and colorful evening clouds, like a beautiful painted scroll.

Zhao Rui stepped into the air and rose straight into the clouds.

A few moments later, he was back at the lodgings Master Qingyang had arranged for him.

"Zhao Zhenren, did your trip go smoothly?"

"It was fine. Everyone, the situation over in East Japan is quite complex. I’m afraid the beast rampages won’t be stopping anytime soon. We must all remain vigilant."

"Of course."

Master Qingyang and the others all nodded in agreement.

This small interlude came and went quickly.

After Zhao Rui returned from the base, no one disturbed him again.

His daily work consisted of splitting into two groups with Master Qingyang and the other Dharma Grandmasters to patrol the entire coast of the Dongqi Peninsula.

If they found any trace of an Exotic Beast, they would either drive it away or destroy it on the spot.

In his leisure time, he would play chess and spar with the others, collecting and copying some of their Martial Arts.

During this time, his third uncle, Zhao Jinze, also called to say that their relatives had all been settled in a city near Qingcheng Mountain.

Officials from the city had personally arranged housing and jobs for them.

Hearing this, Zhao Rui couldn’t help but nod.

With the prestige of the Qingcheng Sect, his words carried considerable weight throughout Sichuan Province.

With his family settled, Zhao Rui could finally relax.

He was no longer on the defensive; instead, he gradually began to take the initiative.

Usually in pairs, they would venture several hundred nautical miles out to observe and patrol the area near Shikoku Island, also known as Exotic Beast Island.

「One day.」

He was out on patrol as usual. This time, his partner was his fellow Daoist from the Qingcheng Sect, Cang Zhenzi.

The two of them concealed their presence and gradually approached the vicinity of Exotic Beast Island.

Suddenly, a flash of brilliant light lit up the entire sky over the East Coast.

Then, they saw a massive hole appear abruptly on the surface of the sea, looking remarkably similar to the passage he and Mo Ling’Er had disappeared into before.

"It’s a spatial channel!"

Zhao Rui was shocked. This was a new one.

This one didn’t seem to be extending from within the sea. It looked as if it was forming in mid-air.

"It seems the Exotic Beasts can’t be contained anymore,"

Cang Zhenzi said, his eyes narrowed and his tone serious and solemn.

"Why does this channel look different from the ones used by the Various Martial Arts Sects in the Central Plains?"

Zhao Rui asked curiously.

"It is the same. It’s just that naturally formed ones don’t require an Exotic Treasure to consume Energy to maintain spatial balance,"

Cang Zhenzi explained.

"Oh!"

Zhao Rui responded, but before the sound of his voice could fade, the mouth of the channel suddenly darkened as a gigantic creature revealed its form.