Rank 5

Investigation Bureau headquarters.

The atmosphere in a top-secret conference room was heavy.

Nine figures sat in silence around an oval-shaped long table.

They were of different genders, ages, and ethnicities, but without exception, they all carried the air of solemnity that comes with long-held authority.

They were the true decision-making layer of the Investigation Bureau headquarters, holding the supreme power to respond to global supernatural incidents and allocate vast resources.

“That Yue Shi is indeed extraordinary,” a capable-looking woman said, breaking the silence.

“He actually managed to force the laboratories that those transcendent families have operated for years to activate their final self-destruct programs. And by the looks of it, Yue Shi escaped unscathed.”

Her fingers lightly tapped the table. She paused, her tone tinged with a hint of regret. “If he hadn't taken it too far—directly causing the fall of Amber City and resulting in irreparable civilian casualties and negative fallout—I would have truly liked to try and reach out to him, to see if we could bring such a rare ‘talent’ into the fold.”

“Enough, let's not talk about such impracticalities,” the Minister of the Bureau, whose hair and beard were entirely white, said slowly from the head of the table.

“How is the resettlement work for the Amber City refugees progressing?”

The capable woman immediately composed herself and responded respectfully, “Rest assured, Minister. Most of the surviving citizens have been dispersed and resettled into basic security zones in several nearby safe cities according to the plan. Supplies and medical care have been followed up. Subsequent psychological intervention and employment guidance are also being carried out simultaneously.”

“Good,” the Minister nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping across the room.

“Although Yue Shi is quite special, he is not yet worth the headquarters making a massive fuss. It’s only those shady transcendent families who would pin their so-called hopes on the Otherworld. It’s nothing more than grasping at straws.”

His tone suddenly became incredibly solemn as he changed the subject. “The real crisis we face now is the recent abnormal movements of several forbidden zone masters. Their activity levels and their erosion of the real world are both significantly increasing.”

“Especially the Tree of Truth! The frequency and intensity of its branches invading reality have increased by three hundred percent in the past month. This is a core threat capable of shaking the very foundations of human civilization!”

The Minister's word was law. While he spoke, the other eight people—no matter how powerful they were in the outside world—sat like school children, holding their breath and listening intently. Not one of them dared to interrupt.

Only after the Minister finished his explanation did a middle-aged man with a resolute face, sitting in the first seat to his right, frown and ask a question:

“Minister, there’s something I still can't quite figure out. Why did a branch of the Tree of Truth coincidentally appear at Lab 0 just as it self-destructed? Is there some connection behind this that we aren't yet aware of?”

The others also showed expressions of thought.

A man sitting at the end of the table, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and looking more like a scholar, pushed his glasses up and said, “What’s so strange about that? Director Zheng, you might not be very familiar with the style of those at Lab 0.”

“Those labs, and the families supporting them, have always been outrageously bold. In the past, they even dared to secretly study the Sea God in an attempt to steal its power. It’s not surprising at all if they got their hands on something related to the Tree of Truth for research and ended up attracting its attention.”

An old woman in a vintage long-sleeved robe nodded slowly and added, “That's right. That lab was like a malignant tumor, and the families behind it were becoming increasingly arrogant, repeatedly crossing the red line. Now that the lab is destroyed, from a certain perspective, it might not be a bad thing.”

“We can take this opportunity to wipe them all out in one fell swoop, removing those unstable elements. We can let that wanted criminal Yue Shi take the fall, and we’ll just eliminate him afterward.”

“That’s a good idea,” someone agreed with a nod.

The Minister raised his hand to stop further discussion. “Those transcendent families and their shady experiments are not important.”

“I have summoned you all today to inform you of something far more important and severe. I have observed that the rules of our reality are becoming unstable, and certain restrictions are loosening.”

He paused for a moment before dropping an earth-shattering piece of news: “And this means that it is now possible for humanity to give birth to a true Rank 5 transcendent!”

“What?”

“Rank 5!”

“Is that true?”

In the conference room, the other eight people all looked stunned, except for the Minister.

Even with their status and strength, they found it difficult to remain calm upon hearing this news.

“Rank 5... I thought that was only a theoretical realm, forever out of reach,” the capable woman murmured, her eyes shimmering with shock.

“If it's possible to advance to Rank 5, then Minister, wouldn't you...” The resolute middle-aged man looked at the Minister with great excitement.

The atmosphere in the conference room suddenly became heated.

There were no Rank 5 transcendents in this world.

At least, not in the confirmed real world.

The occasional rumors on the internet about someone breaking through to Rank 5 were actually just the conjectures of the ignorant or smoke screens released by those with hidden agendas to put on a show of strength.

No matter how brilliant their talent or how mountain-like their resources, the highest realm of transcendents in the real world was firmly restricted to Rank 4 by an invisible shackles.

Even those as strong as the Bureau's Minister or the Black Guanyin, who guarded the Mysterious Garden single-handedly, stood at the peak of Rank 4, infinitely close to Rank 5.

They were separated from Rank 5 by only a thin veil, yet that seemingly small gap was like a chasm that could not be crossed no matter what.

This was because the base rules of the real world did not allow the existence of Rank 5 transcendents.

This rule was a double-edged sword. It restricted the growth of human transcendents, but it was also a layer of protection.

The forbidden zone masters were all terrifying entities that could be called divine ghosts, and they were blocked from reality by these rules.

If not for this, given the power of those masters, they would likely have invaded in full force long ago, turning the real world into their hunting ground.

The Bureau had always claimed to the public that the existence of forbidden zones was a result of humanity using wisdom and strength to trap the most dangerous supernatural beings within them.

The truth, however, was that the rules of the real world restricted the forbidden zone masters. Only the lower-ranking supernatural beings under their command could penetrate reality relatively easily, creating continuous disturbances.

But now, the Minister was telling them that the rules of reality were loosening, and humanity had hope of reaching Rank 5!

While this was certainly exhilarating news, as humanity would gain a higher level of power...

It also meant that the intensity of the erosion of reality by the divine ghosts in the forbidden zones would increase like never before!

The protection provided by the rules was gradually failing.

“This is a death race against time,” the Minister’s voice struck a chord in everyone’s heart.

“The rules of the real world will gradually change. In the future, the forbidden zone masters will definitely be able to descend in their true forms for a full-scale invasion. Before that happens, we humans must give birth to our own Rank 5 transcendents to contend with them. Otherwise...”

He did not continue, but the sense of despair over the collapse of civilization already permeated the entire conference room.

At this moment, a relatively young man with a sharp brow spoke up, “Minister, our headquarters has several Rank 4 peak experts who have been stuck at this bottleneck for many years.”

“Now that reality is loosening, out of so many Rank 4s with such deep foundations, at least one should be able to seize the opportunity and break through to Rank 5, right?”

Upon hearing this, the Minister shook his head, a trace of bitterness appearing on his face. “You’re thinking too simply.”

“If the difficulty of advancing from Rank 3 to Rank 4 is 1, then the difficulty of breaking through from Rank 4 to Rank 5 might be 10,000, or even higher.”

The young man who had just spoken was startled. “That much?”

“It’s more than just difficult,” the Minister said heavily.

“Some transcendents, limited by the nature of their own abilities, are born without the qualification to advance to Rank 5. This path is a narrow bridge; it is truly one in ten thousand!”

“No one has ever walked this path, and no one knows how to walk it. I even suspect that the method for every transcendent to reach Rank 5 is different, with no commonality at all.”

The Minister’s gaze swept over the crowd as he tossed out another urgent threat: “We aren't just racing against the forbidden zone masters; we must also be faster than that madwoman, Black Guanyin!”

“Mrs. Tang...” At the mention of this name, the expressions of several people present became somewhat subtle.

“You should have all heard about how she trains her people,” the Minister said with a complex tone.

“If she, or those ‘seedlings’ of hers, are the first to advance to Rank 5, you can imagine what the situation will be like.”

The Minister didn't finish his sentence, but everyone present could already fill in a bloody picture.

A super-expert who viewed all living beings as ants would not necessarily be a savior for the existing order and the general public; they were more likely to be a new disaster.

Tang Zhuhe was indeed also working hard to save this world and fighting against the supernatural.

However, her ideas were always unconventional and extreme.

She firmly believed that in this terrible era, aiming for ‘protection’ would make it difficult to produce a supreme expert.

The more cautiously one tried to protect, the more they would lose everything bit by bit in the competition for survival.

Therefore, with the ‘seedlings’ she favored, she adopted a training model that could be described as bizarre and even cruel.

She would give them a certain degree of protection and lift all external worldly restrictions on them!

No legal constraints, no moral standards, no personal ties—within the boundaries she set, these ‘seedlings’ could grow wildly without restraint. They could fight and grab for everything without regard for anything else, plundering resources by any means necessary. She encouraged them to use any method to increase their power.

Killing the innocent, robbery... none of it mattered.

Even if internal strife and killing occurred among these ‘seedlings,’ she almost never intervened.

In her view, those who failed in internal strife simply proved to have lower cultivation value.

The victors, meanwhile, would become even stronger and continue to enjoy her protection, climbing toward the peak of power in an environment of absolute freedom on the path she had smoothed out.

Transcendents screened and trained through this model were certainly powerful and decisive, adapted to cruel competition, but they were also very likely to become selfish, ruthless, dark, twisted, and arrogant.

But Tang Zhuhe didn't care about any of that.

In her extreme logic, the race between humanity and the supernatural had reached a critical moment of life and death.

As long as a ‘god’ could be produced at the critical moment by concentrating resources—even if it was an evil god—it would at least preserve a spark for human civilization. That was better than losing everything and seeing civilization completely extinguished.

The conference room fell into silence for a while. The road ahead was treacherous, and the atmosphere was somewhat oppressive and low.

Seeing everyone's mood, the Minister changed the subject again, encouraging them: “Don't lose heart, everyone. Danger also means opportunity!”

His eyes were like torches as he swept them over the people present. “The changes in the real world and the loosening of the rules are also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for us, who have been trapped at Rank 4 for many years.”

“Those of you sitting here are all geniuses who lead the way in your respective fields. The invisible shackles of the old rules are loosening. As long as we can seize the opportunity, there is no reason we cannot go a step further and catch a glimpse of the legendary Rank 5 realm!”

These words were like a shot in the arm for everyone present.

The hesitation and solemnity in their eyes were gradually replaced by desire and determination.

Powerful strength and a long life were goals pursued by all transcendents. The supreme level that was once out of reach was now right before their eyes.

“For humanity, for the future!” The Minister stood up, his voice powerful and echoing in the conference room.

The other eight people also stood up, ambition burning in their eyes.

“For humanity, for the future!!!”

...

Fluorite Valley.

A high-end residential complex.

In the evening, warm lights were lit in every household, and the aroma of dinner wafted through the air.

Suddenly.

“Aaargh!!!”

A shrill scream rang out.

The sound came from the fifth floor.

The neighbors were all startled by the deathly noise.

The fifth floor, in the apartment where the incident occurred.

Yue Shi sat leisurely on the sofa in the living room.

The lights in the room were not on. The city neon lights shining in from the window illuminated a list he held in his hand.

A list of Lab 0 members.

Holding a red marker between his fingers, he crossed out a name on the list.

This name belonged to a lab researcher who should have already been dead. But Yue Shi's malice was endless, so he had specifically come to exterminate the family.

The air was thick with the smell of blood. A family of four sat in a circle on their knees, each with their mouth wide open and stuffed full of their own internal organs.

“This household has been cleared,” Yue Shi said coldly.

The plush teddy bear possessed by Ghost hopped out from the side. Without looking at the corpses on the floor, it nimbly jumped onto the arm of the sofa.

“This city is a bit restless. I just gathered some intelligence through the local network. The death rate in Fluorite Valley has recently skyrocketed, especially non-natural deaths. Violent incidents, bizarre suicides, and sudden deaths of unknown causes are popping up constantly.”

The plush bear tilted its head. “Guess what’s going on?”

Yue Shi didn't even lift his eyelids, calmly spitting out two words: “Demon Seeds.”

“Correct answer,” Ghost giggled.

“The supernatural domain where the Life Vine resides is only two hundred kilometers away from Fluorite Valley in a straight line. A significant number of Demon Seeds have flowed into this city.”

Yue Shi’s gaze remained on the list, looking for members whose registered residence was in Fluorite Valley. “First, deal with everyone in this city who has a connection to the Glory Association.”

“As for the Life Vine? Once we’ve cleaned up these small fry, we’ll just kill it along the way.”