An Uncanny Calm

At the end of the street, Zhao Jin leaned against a wall, watching the battle draw to a close. It's time to find a vessel for the Earth Mother's consciousness, he thought.

His body faded, vanishing from the spot.

When he reappeared, he was already outside Ningcheng, standing before a small hill several hundred meters high.

The hill was quiet, its slopes covered mostly in grass and wild shrubs.

Zhao Jin looked at the hill and muttered in his mind, I want the ability to release slashes that can cut through objects. Set the limit to one hundred Destiny Force.

His Destiny Force pool of 1,312 flickered slightly, dropping to 1,212.

At the same time, information flooded into Zhao Jin's mind.

Slash: Able to cut through the hardest substances in this world! (Range: Anywhere within line of sight. Cost: None!)

A very simple description.

Zhao Jin raised his left hand and looked toward the peak of the hill.

A translucent, straight line of energy manifested from his left hand. Under his control, the slash extended to ten meters in length.

The translucent line swept diagonally across the protruding peak. No dust or smoke rose, but a deep groove appeared five meters down the summit.

The severed section of the peak began to slide downward, letting out a low rumble.

The massive boulder tumbled down the hillside, finally rolling to a stop right at Zhao Jin's feet.

Looking at the black stone, Zhao Jin pulled out his phone and opened a picture of the Earth Mother.

A sinister female face appeared on the screen. Her eyes were half-closed, her gaze carrying an air of supreme arrogance.

Zhao Jin raised his other hand and directed a series of slashes at the stone, carving it in the likeness of the Earth Mother.

After half an hour of continuous carving, a black stone face of a woman stood before him.

The face was two meters long and one meter wide, bearing an eighty percent resemblance to the Earth Mother on his phone screen.

He stared at the face, pocketed his phone, and pressed his left hand against the stone. A golden light flared.

“Ruler of flesh and blood, terminus of consciousness, Earth Mother, pray be reborn into the mortal realm!” Zhao Jin chanted, reciting the words from the chronicle.

According to the Earth Mother's chronicle, when she was first born, her consciousness had also attached itself to a stone, which was how she eventually earned her title.

Above the stone face, the words Zhao Jin spoke materialized into floating text, glowing with Destiny Force.

Zhao Jin began to channel Destiny Force into the stone face, stopping after transferring only five wisps.

The Destiny Force hovering above the stone face attempted to merge into it.

However, as it drew close, the Destiny Force suddenly detonated, dispersing into the air.

Is it because the conditions haven't been met yet, so it can't enter? Zhao Jin frowned slightly at the sight.

But he quickly noticed that a few scattered flecks of golden light had managed to penetrate the stone face anyway.

The stone face of the Earth Mother grew increasingly eerie. Beneath the half-closed eyelids, the stone eyeballs actually twitched slightly.

The grass and flowers surrounding the carved stone turned black, withered, and crumbled into ash.

Seeing this, Zhao Jin's lips curled upward. He pulled out his phone and sent a text to Liu Wen.

“The preparations for the Earth Mother's birth are complete. Now, we just wait for the show to begin.” After sending the message, Zhao Jin cast one last look at the stone face and vanished.

Half an hour later, a truck rumbled to a stop. At the wheel was a Night Slave.

Several Night Slaves climbed down from the vehicle and worked together to hoist the Earth Mother's stone face into the back of the truck.

Meanwhile, inside the Ningcheng Hospital.

In Zhang Yi's hospital room, Wang Pingcheng, the garrison commander Zhuge Ming, and Peng Fei had gathered.

Dressed in civilian clothes, Zhuge Ming let out a bitter smile on his stern face. “Captain Zhang, I didn't expect that after all this running around, you'd end up leading us again. It seems the higher-ups are completely helpless against these monstrous things as well.”

“For now, the higher-ups have placed General Zhuge and me under your command. No one else knows about this, which should prevent any moles from leaking information,” Wang Pingcheng added.

Lying in bed, Zhang Yi looked at the heads of Ningcheng's two most powerful enforcement agencies and felt a headache coming on. “Since the higher-ups have already made their decision, you two shouldn't keep running over to my room. Aren't you just drawing all the enemy fire straight to me?”

Hearing this, Zhuge Ming looked embarrassed. “I'm just a rough soldier who leads troops. I don't understand all these complex schemes. I'll leave right away.”

“No need. Since you're already here, I might as well lay out my arrangements,” Zhang Yi stopped him.

Peng Fei, who had been eating a banana off to the side, brightened up at those words and stared at Zhang Yi. “Zhang Yi, I'd expect nothing less from you! The appointment just came down, and you already have a plan!”

The other two also looked at him with curiosity.

Zhang Yi shook his head. “It's not much of a plan. Going forward, you will...”

With Zhang Yi's secret appointment, the inspectors and the military in Ningcheng fell into a brief period of calm once more.

Meanwhile, after Tang Yongyun released his news...

In the bustling downtown center of a large overseas island...

A white castle stood proud, surrounded by a heavy perimeter of armed bodyguards.

Inside, the castle was adorned with every luxury imaginable.

In a study on the top floor...

An obese white man in his seventies, dressed in white, was reading a book.

Beside him, a shapely secretary in a miniskirt spoke up. “Mr. Marcus, Tang says he's returning to sell his shares. It seems the assassins you sent out have finally terrified him.”

Hearing this, Marcus sneered. “It seems he finally realizes he isn't worthy of holding the Syndicate's shares. In that case, go and convene a shareholder meeting. Let's give Tang a proper send-off.”

Back in Ningcheng, Tang Yongyun boarded a flight that very night to return to the Syndicate.

While he prepared to deal with those old geezers, the Liu family was not idling either.

That same day, they pulled some strings to take over the largest church in Ningcheng.

They renamed it the Church of the Earth Mother and moved the stone face inside.

Liu Jiyun even devised a strategy to recruit followers by throwing money around—essentially buying their devotion.

At the same time, members of the Liu family began mobilizing to recruit believers.