On Greenpeak Hill, Chu An had captured a few more wisps of pure essence, but they were thin and weak.

Even though he got some benefits from it, he felt let down. This was different from the great expectations he had in the beginning.

His master believed that this was due to him not having enough mental energy. After all, not being able to capture pure essence was one thing, but not being able to see them meant that there was something wrong with Chu An.

“Looks like you’re still lacking. It might be too early for you,” he said with a sigh.

Chu An didn’t think that he was at fault here. With a frown, he asked, “Could someone be fighting over the pure essence with me? Since you bought the news, it means that we’re not the only ones who know about this.”

“That’s a possibility, but those who can snatch pure essence are people whose physical bodies and minds have almost reached the pinnacle of perfection.

“Such people have important positions in the government and companies. Look at Central City now. The Fu-Mu Entity is propagating, and the imperial army is outside. The foreign companies have also hired mercenaries to wreak havoc here. All the powerful martial artists are either protecting important government officials or solving crises. They don’t have the time to fight for pure essence.

“Besides, even though the companies and government are using these people, they’re also on guard against them. They check on their biofields periodically to make sure they’re not doing anything abnormal. When monitored so closely, would they really have the courage to capture pure essence, even if they knew that it’s coming?

“Some may do it, but only a couple people at most. Also, a few wisps of pure essence are nothing, but once you get more, you need to refine them. Besides, no one can capture many in one go. Some will slip by.”

But Chu An didn’t want to give up. “Can’t you capture some for me? Since we can keep pure essence around, there are other ways to gather them, right?”

The old man shook his head. “Only those that settle down in our world after scattering to every corner of it can be stored. Otherwise, you need special methods. If I captured some, I would be the one absorbing them, regardless of whether I want to or not.

“I’m at the age where my mutated tissue has long since entered a slump. Even if I take pure essence, it’ll be useless. Besides, I’ve told you before. Pure essence is like bait. After absorbing it, the existences will have an easier time finding you. If one can’t reach a higher limit, they won’t be able to resolve this crisis. Then, the cons will outweigh the pros.”

The old man shut his eyes to sense the world around him. The tremors from the gaps were weakening. “You shouldn’t be impatient. We have plenty of time. Your mind grows stronger when you capture pure essence, and this substance spills out in stages. The ones now were from the first stage. After this, more will come.”

“How long before it happens?”

“Perhaps ten minutes, or perhaps two hours. It all depends on the pure essence. I can’t really tell.”

“It depends on the pure essence?” Chu An couldn’t understand it.

“Think of pure essence as an active biosentient entity. Even though it doesn’t have independent will, it has specific movement patterns. Honestly, you can even treat it as part of the existences from the other world,” the old man said.

After some thinking, Chu An thought of something, and fear grew in his heart.

“Stop overthinking. You might not understand now, and I’m the same, but once you reach an appropriate stage, you will,” the old man said while staring at him.

***

Chen Chuan was absorbing the pure essence spilling out from the other world. His body was like a bottomless pit that could dissolve the core of the pure essence before merging with it.

He never stopped to refine the pure essence, even though the old man said that a martial artist would need to do so if they absorbed too much.

After overlapping with his second self, Chen Chuan's body became much stronger than that of the average person. The moment pure essence entered him, he could skip the process of refining it and just absorb it.

But he could sense that the amount of pure essence was declining as time went by.

According to what Chen Bitong told him, pure essence wasn’t going to keep coming. Instead, it showed up in waves, though the reason behind it was unknown. That was fine, though. All Chen Chuan needed to do was wait.

However, while he was meditating, he sensed something, and he heard a piercing screech in his ear. It didn’t come from his Realm Pass.

After some thinking, he figured out the origin of the sound.

As his mental energy and body grew stronger, his biofield became more sensitive toward the outside world. At this moment, without even needing his Realm Pass, he could sense other people’s biofields and biosentient entities’ domains.

He removed his Realm Pass and looked outside. In the beginning, the world was a little blurry, and the lights flickered, but as he focused, the neon lights that usually only existed when shown through his Realm Pass became clearer.

At that moment, it was as if his senses could head to further places, but at the same time, more sounds and light assaulted his senses.

This was because multiple biofields, domains, and all sorts of information merged into one, and his brain took them all in. He had no way of sorting them out.

If he could overcome this and find a way to see the world through his own eyes, he could break free of Realm Passes forever, but he didn’t need to do this. Realm Passes were useful and made these things more pronounced, thus allowing him to see the things drifting outside the boundaries of the physical world.

He could see the huge gap above him, even though he should only be able to do so after taking special medicine. Sand-like things seemed to be spilling out of it. He wasn’t supposed to be able to see them, but as he continued watching, they fell on him, and his second self started turning blurry.

Having better senses wasn’t necessarily a good thing. Before reaching a certain level of strength, it was necessary to keep these things away from him.

Chen Chuan put the Realm Pass on again and pulled back his released biofield and mind. After adjusting his breathing, he prepared himself to get ready for the pure essence that was about to come.

After a few minutes, someone called him. Once he answered, he heard a familiar voice. “Captain Chen, it’s me, Liang Guanghai.”

“How can I help you, sir?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Where are you right now?” Liang Guanghai asked instead.

“I’m in one of Skyshark’s airships. It’s in Deep End District.”

Liang Guanghai was quite surprised. “In one of Skyshark’s airships? That makes it easier for me to communicate with you. Captain Chen, the World Ring Defense System just came up with a new plan, and we need you to carry it out.”

“What is it?” Chen Chuan asked.

“Go to the airship’s communication relay station. I need to show you certain things. I’ll have the airship give you authorization.”

“Okay,” Chen Chuan answered and ended the call. He took a moment to sense the outside world, but there was still no sign of pure essence. If some came, though, he was already experienced in the act after absorbing a lot of it, so he could capture it with just a thought.

After coming up, he saw two overseers coming toward him from the stairs. One of them walked forward and said, “Captain Chen, we received instructions from the World Ring Defense System to work with you. Please come with us.”

Chen Chuan nodded and went to the front of the airship’s upper level. The biosentient entity serving as the communication relay station was right there.

In this area, Chen Chuan could easily send and receive messages from all parties. This time, though, Liang Guanghai wanted to show him something that required a lot of domain resources, so he had to disconnect certain unimportant communication channels.

Since the two overseers had no authorization to learn about what was going to be said later, they saluted and left Chen Chuan alone.

Chen Chuan looked ahead. A moment later, he saw light shining down, and a blurry video opened up in front of him. It showed Xu Chan’s team fighting against a huge creature.

His eyes were trained on it. Was that an active biosentient entity?

Also, this building seemed like it was inside some kind of company...

After some thinking, he instantly realized where it was.

Due to domain interference and the intermittent sending of data, the videos lagged quite badly. They showed only a blurry, slightly moving but otherwise frozen image before jumping to the next one.

Even so, Chen Chuan learned the gist of the situation and deduced the level of strength of both parties.

He watched the video for a while before contacting Liang Guanghai. The moment the call went through, Liang Guanghai asked, “Did you see it, Captain Chen?”

“I did. What do you need me to do?” Chen Chuan asked.

“The situation is quite complicated. Safe Shield has detected some unusual signals. The three departments and some others have come up with a plan, and we need a strong martial artist to carry it out.

“I wanted to let you rest, but the other departments have been pushing for you to carry out this plan. They believe that you’re the most suited for it.

“Before that, though, I need to ask: Can you keep fighting?”

“For now, I have no issues,” Chen Chuan answered.

“I’ll send you recovery medicine, then. I’ll also send you the plan. You can give me a concrete answer after reading it,” Liang Guanghai said.

“Okay,” Chen Chuan answered.

After the call, he heard a notification on his Realm Pass that he had received the plan.

He took a look, and his eyes flickered in surprise. Then, he gave it a closer once-over before reading it from top to bottom again.

How should he put it? The plan was very bold and risky. It also required meticulous coordination. If they succeeded, they could end things once and for all.

But if anything went wrong...

After some more consideration, Chen Chuan looked up, put his hand on the Realm Pass, and contacted Liang Guanghai again. “Sir, I’ve read the plan. I’m willing to take part in it.”

“Have you considered everything, Captain Chen?” Liang Guanghai asked gravely.

There was no hesitation in Chen Chuan’s voice. “I have.”

“Alright. Since multiple departments are required for this plan to work, we’ll give you two hours to rest and recuperate.

“It’s now 9:25 p.m. Two hours later, we’ll carry out the plan. I’ll have someone coordinate with you. From this point onward, we’ll be maintaining contact at all times. Captain Chen, please make sure to stay in top condition.”

“I will,” Chen Chuan promised.