Chapter 1 Ling Qi Outburst

Wednesday, July 23, 2014, three forty-two in the afternoon, Shan State.

The sudden eruption and dissipation of Ling Qi (spiritual energy) in a remote area of the Kachin Mountains caused terrifying celestial phenomena. All surviving members of the Saint Serpent Litanies within and outside western Shan State knew that the unprecedented Void Ritual had failed.

Whether it was the 'observation group' on their way to rendezvous, or the 'logistics personnel' who had dispersed after preparing an escape route for the organization, all noticed this. These members of the mysterious organization hesitated, seemingly wanting to take a gamble—but soon, they heard the sound of helicopters vibrating the atmosphere in the distance. The wailing of police sirens and even the hum of marching armies began to echo from afar.

Before long, the remaining members exchanged glances and made a decision. They ultimately abandoned the rendezvous, retreated, and scattered into the crowd, quietly disappearing.

As a long-established organization, the Saint Serpent Litanies had contingency plans for ritual failure. The Bedouin leader had long confirmed the next successor: in the event of failure, the third-in-line leader of the Federal Branch would take over, and the focus of the entire Litanies would be completely withdrawn from World Island and relocated to the Americas.

After all, judging from the anomalies, the ritual was potentially viable; perhaps the bitter fruit was simply a result of the wrong era... Since the old era didn't work, waiting for the 'new era' to try again would merely mean losing the first-mover advantage.

Like snakes, they had enough patience to wait for the arrival of prey and opportunity.

At the national level...

Unlike the various forces within Shan State, which were engaging in large-scale, overt and covert struggles, the neighboring Zheng Country reacted swiftly.

In fact, even before the celestial disturbance began, someone had noticed the disappearance of a tourist bus. Several tens of minutes later, the missing bus was found with luggage intact, but all the passengers were gone. This immediately caused panic, and someone notified the local police. Zheng Country expatriates urgently called the Zheng Country embassy in Shan State, drawing the high attention of relevant departments and even the state.

This disappearance was quickly linked to the earlier 'celestial phenomenon'... After emergency discussions by 'relevant departments,' this suspected large-scale kidnapping case was defined as a 'terrorist activity.' The Zheng Country government would fully support the Shan State government's actions to find the missing persons as quickly as possible.

Therefore, the Shan State government army directly moved in at the first opportunity, joining forces with special operations teams from Zheng Country who had arrived via emergency airlift. The two sides began a joint sweep of the surrounding forest area, quickly discovering many clues—all of which led to a deliberately concealed cave entrance.

Two elite squads entered the underground cave at top speed, rescuing a total of fifty-seven multinational residents, most of whom were Zheng Country tourists and locals who had recently gone missing. All were in a coma, but their vital signs were good, except for one tourist who had suffered a heart attack and was now being resuscitated.

After corresponding and identifying everyone who gradually woke up, it was confirmed that no tourists who had gone missing today were harmed. However, the tourists who had disappeared before that were not found. In the depths of the cave, an elite squad discovered a large number of human and animal skeletons in a deep pit. The uppermost skeletons were new, but the skeletons below were extremely old, likely remnants of ancient human and animal sacrifices.

According to the murals within the cave, this place should be an ancient ritual site with great archaeological value. The new skeletons should be those of locals and tourists who had previously disappeared in the Kachin Mountains. This has not been specifically verified, but its authenticity is basically certain.

The turmoil in the Kachin Mountains attracted the attention of many countries and organizations around the world. All scenic spots in the Kachin Mountains were closed, and a large-scale thorough investigation was about to begin. But before that, some people had quietly left and disappeared.

As for the tourists who had disappeared and been found, after circling the brink of death, what they had to do now was... naturally, report that they were safe.

"I'm fine, Uncle Shao, yes, it's me, Qiming? He's fine, he's just asleep now... Ah, of course I'm fine! Can't you hear me talking to you here?"

"I'm fine, really I'm fine! Want me to tell you a crosstalk segment… No, I'm not from Jinmen so I don't want to hear it? Just believe me, just believe me."

"We'll be back later, yes, I heard the embassy has arranged a plane to fly directly to Chuncheng. Then we can transfer or take the high-speed train back to Hongcheng."

"Eh, Aunt Wen... Yes, yes, don't tell my parents for now, they're busy, you know? Since I'm safe, don't let them worry..."

"Hey, how can you say we deliberately made you worry! You two are so capable and well-informed, eh, I'm not flattering you, I'm really fine!"

"Okay, rest assured, I'm absolutely safe, and Qiming is unharmed. I'll bring him back to you two safe and sound. Now? He's asleep, let him rest for a while, um, he was a little frightened, but it's okay, I'm here."

After hanging up the phone from Shao Qiming's parents, Su Zhou, who had been smiling as he reported that they were safe, was gradually becoming calm.

At this moment, he was in the temporary camp in the Kachin tourist town, waiting for the Zheng Country government's next move under the protection of the Shan State army.

Wednesday, July 23, 2014, eleven zero two in the evening, Shan State.

Not a cloud in the sky, the moonlight like water, the clear moonlit landscape of the mountains was like a layer of pale yellow gauze, covering the sea of forests and ridges.

Looking at the distant scenery, Su Zhou's eyes were calm, while in the camp beside him, his friend Shao Qiming was sleeping on a table, covered with a blanket, with a peaceful expression.

"I didn't expect things to become so big... The whole world is watching."

Muttering to himself, Su Zhou couldn't help but open his phone. The 5G network was extremely fast. He could see that the videos of 'thunderclouds appearing and disappearing' sent out by Dianzhou netizens and Shan State tourists had begun to circulate wildly on major online platforms. Whether it was Douyin, Kuaishou, Bilibili, A site, or even foreign video platforms like TikTok, YouTube, and so on, all had related uploads. In the Tencent chat platform, short videos made into GIFs were being frantically forwarded by silly netizens in various groups.

Everyone was surprised or jokingly asked if someone was undergoing a tribulation—after all, the sudden appearance and disappearance of the thunderclouds really looked like a thunder tribulation being broken up... You know, many people confidently said that they saw seven-colored lightning and Qingyu (green jade) lightning shaped like dragons in the thunderclouds.

"I think maybe there really are ascetic cultivators undergoing tribulation..." Some netizens obviously believed it, but at the same time, some people began to forcibly explain that everything was science, listing a bunch of data about terrain, environment, and wind direction, and finally unilaterally declaring that this kind of thundercloud was common, normal, and not worth being surprised about, acting like 'I'm the only one awake while everyone else is drunk.'

"Pah!"

When Su Zhou saw this message, he almost couldn't help himself from spitting out abuse: 'Your dad personally experienced it, and I was there! If this thunder is really reasonable, then your whole family will definitely face price increases when they go out to buy groceries!'

But in the end, he restrained himself... restrained my ass! Anger surged, Su Zhou directly used both thumbs to tap frantically on the phone's virtual keyboard, sweeping through various forums and video websites like a storm with saturation level abuse, until all the posts were blocked and deleted by the authorities. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief, venting the pressure in his heart.

"Ah, that's really refreshing."

Turning off his phone, Su Zhou stretched—although his waist didn't ache, and it was likely that it would never ache again, he still had the habit: "These people don't know shit! I never lie, I'm telling the truth, why don't they believe me?"

"Yes, I never lie either."

At the same time, a subtle voice chuckled softly in the boy's ear: "Not many people believe me either... It's really strange, isn't it?"