GA: Chapter 126: May Your Martial Fortune Be Glorious!
The civilians at this moment had no idea what had happened.
Information from Haicheng was locked down at the first opportunity.
Things were different now from before — people simply couldn't withstand a blow this severe. Until Haicheng was completely liberated and every last invading sea creature suppressed, news from the city would not be allowed to spread.
"Heaven granted us the spiritual revival — and yet it has taken so many lives in return."
"Is this truly the era we wanted?"
Deep within the capital, an elderly man in a Zhongshan suit gazed into the distance and let out a quiet sigh.
By the natural progression of history, the breakthroughs of technology might very well have pushed the once-peaceful Earth back toward war — but that would have been a distant future concern. The spiritual revival was happening now.
Its arrival had accelerated human evolution and driven technology in entirely new directions.
Countless people had gained from it.
But at the same time, it had taken countless lives, destabilized nations, and shattered a peace that had been so hard to achieve.
He couldn't call the spiritual revival a tragedy — he understood well enough that spiritual energy had brought this planet, and humanity, incalculable benefits. But neither could he call it a good thing, because the price they had paid was immense.
And the price would continue to be paid into the future.
"Cough, cough, cough—"
As if stirred by the weight of his thoughts, the old man began to cough.
A soft green light fell over him. The coughing gradually settled, and the tension in his body eased.
"Changsheng — thank you for the trouble."
The old man spoke to the young man standing behind him, whose face still carried the unfinished look of adolescence.
"This is what I should be doing."
Chen Changsheng said it with quiet seriousness.
The ability he'd awakened wasn't powerful by any conventional measure — he had essentially no combat capability to speak of.
But that ability was, at this moment, the strongest support-type ability in existence. Something countless people could only dream of possessing.
[Longevity]
He could live dozens of times longer than an ordinary human, and as his cultivation continued to advance, that lifespan would only grow longer still.
If the ability only worked on himself, it would be of limited use — something people envied but nothing more.
The crucial detail was that his ability could be shared.
He could transfer portions of his own lifespan to others.
The elderly man before him would have succumbed to illness a month ago if not for Chen Changsheng's ability — but sustained by that power, he had lived until now.
If it were possible, Chen Changsheng would have given him a century of lifespan outright. He knew the old man's identity, and he knew how much this man had given to Huaxia over the course of his life.
But the old man had refused.
Extended life had a way of subtly reshaping how a person thought — awakening greed and ambition they hadn't known they carried. And the higher one climbed, the more those tendencies swelled.
With the constraint of mortality still in place, he could dedicate himself wholeheartedly to Huaxia's people and accept what little lifespan he received with a clear conscience. But without that constraint — he genuinely didn't know what he might become.
The dragon slayer eventually becomes the dragon.
He had no desire to become the thing he despised. Still less to betray the country he had devoted his life to.
"Building a new era is never easy."
"It was true in the past. It's true now. And it will be true in the future."
He shook his head slowly. His clouded eyes seemed to be looking at something distant — a memory, perhaps — but in the end, only another quiet sigh escaped him.
Across every city, Spiritual Energy Bureaus were mobilizing their ability users.
Tianhai, Hangzhou, the capital, Gusu...
The threat facing Haicheng was more terrifying than anything the second spiritual tide had brought. Even with first-tier powerhouses like Qin Tian, Huo Yu, and Chen Bing already racing to the scene, unease remained.
That enormous shadow in the deep ocean. The catastrophic attack it had released so casually.
No matter how much confidence they had in those individuals, they couldn't convince themselves that any of them were stronger than it.
They had even mentally prepared themselves for the possibility that it would take all three — Qin Tian, Huo Yu, and Chen Bing combined — just to match it.
And if that were true, if those three together could only hold their own against something that was merely above average within the ocean...
Then they would have no choice but to accept a deeply uncomfortable reality.
Humanity's finest ability users were, in the context of the ocean, middling at best.
Of course no one wanted that to be true. But they couldn't avoid thinking through the possibility.
There were times when the phrase just in case was genuinely insufferable — because it forced you to account for an enormous range of scenarios, the vast majority of which would never come to pass.
"May your martial fortune be glorious!"
In cities across Huaxia, instructors spoke those words in voices gone hoarse, watching the warriors they had trained prepare to depart.
They were instructors — but what they could teach was limited to combat techniques and battlefield experience. Their own talents, when it came to spiritual ability, were nothing exceptional.
If they could, they would have gone alongside them without a second thought. But they couldn't.
Not only did they still have more warriors to train — their abilities were simply too weak. They couldn't fight as ability users. And as ordinary soldiers, Haicheng had no shortage of those. Their presence would serve no purpose.
Living — that was how they could contribute the most.
"Yes, sir!"
Every Spiritual Energy Bureau member roared back in unison.
The Bureau had been established during the first spiritual tide, and many had joined for the compensation. But after the second tide, those who didn't belong had left. The ones who remained — and the ones who had joined since — all understood what this place truly meant.
Joining the Spiritual Energy Bureau was an honor. But it also meant carrying a far greater chance of dying.
Since the second spiritual revival, many brothers had already fallen around them — some protecting civilians, some covering their comrades, some taken by surprise by mutated beasts, some by—
In the past, they had survived.
This time, they might not.
But that didn't matter.
Dying to protect the people. Dying to defend Huaxia.
For them, that was glory.
The idioms born from the long river of history — there were some that no man could truly resist.
Sealing the wolf mountain. First to plant the banner. Bravest of ten thousand. Name recorded in history. Honor brought to family and ancestors. Peerless servant of the nation. Pillar of the state. Name written on the golden register. Might that shook all of Huaxia. Mandate received from heaven, long may it last...
In this battle — they could claim every one of those honors. Bringing glory to their families. Their might shaking Huaxia. Their names written into history for all time.
Even if they died — even if they met their ancestors in the world below — they could say with their heads held high:
"Ancestors — your descendant made something of himself."
"We brought no shame to this family's name."
And if they lived — if they came home to see their parents again — they could grin wide and say:
"Mom, Dad — your kid turned out to be a hero after all."
...
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