GA: Chapter 227 – The Alteration of Destiny's Trajectory; A Future Never Recorded in the Book of Fate
In other words, after the previous Spiritual Qi tide, Earth was about to undergo another baptism of Spiritual Qi.
Although this baptism of Spiritual Qi was not the third Spiritual Qi tide, but rather a Spiritual Qi feedback—its volume and purity incomparable to a true tide—it was still an enormous opportunity for all civilizations on Earth.
However, such an opportunity naturally bred equivalent danger.
No one had anticipated this happening. Not even Bai Xuan.
The second Spiritual Qi tide occurred because Earth could no longer bear such a massive flow of Spiritual Qi, but he had never expected that diverting it would forge a feedback loop from other worlds.
"There was never a scene like this in the Book of Fate," Bai Xuan said flatly, flipping through the Book of Fate in his hands as he looked up at the surging Spiritual Qi beyond Earth.
"This is a scenario that should not have appeared in the original future."
The original future recorded in the Book of Fate had already dissipated, replaced by records beginning from this very moment of Spiritual Qi feedback.
With a casual toss, he threw the Book of Fate into the air, where it dissolved into a streak of light and vanished into the void.
"In the original trajectory, the third Spiritual Qi tide would usher in a grand era of a hundred schools of thought contending. This Spiritual Qi feedback might just accelerate the prelude to that era."
"An unknown future... that is what makes it worth anticipating."
Deep within the boundless ocean.
ROAR! ROAR! ROAR!
Violent roars echoed like the bellows of an ancient behemoth. The Spiritual Qi in the ocean was drawn in by a massive suction force, forming a deep vortex that surged toward a gargantuan beast.
Pure, majestic Spiritual Qi was continuously absorbed into its body. A single moment of carelessness, and it would be blown apart by the sheer volume of energy.
Amidst the terrifying roars, a massive swarm of mutant sea beasts converged on its location.
Their evolutionary instincts screamed at them: as long as they devoured this creature, they would reap unimaginable benefits.
They swarmed over it, completely covering the oceanic behemoth's body. Sharp teeth ground continuously, tearing through its defenses to drink the boundless blood vitality and energy within.
The spreading scent of blood drew in even more mutant sea beasts from the surrounding waters.
ROAR!!!
The agonizing pain tearing through its surface and its insides caused the behemoth to writhe violently. Finally, with a heaven-shaking roar, a terrifying repulsive force erupted from its body, blasting the mutant sea beasts covering it away in all directions.
Cold golden pupils locked onto the swarm of mutant sea beasts. A flicker of azure light flashed.
The next second.
A massive volume of blood saturated that entire stretch of ocean.
Meanwhile.
Click-clack, click-clack...
A colossal mutant killer whale lay coiled in the deep sea.
Surrounding its body was a darkness as deep as a black hole. The churning Spiritual Qi, and even the mutant sea beasts greedy for its flesh, were all ruthlessly swallowed by this black hole without exception.
Nourished by this energy, its body began to expand continuously outward.
In this Spiritual Qi feedback, it was undergoing yet another metamorphosis.
The ocean was currently a forbidden zone for humanity. Occupying the largest area of the Earth, it nurtured an endless myriad of lifeforms; beneath such terrifying numbers, it was only natural that many unimaginable monsters were born.
Fortunately, compared to the land, the ocean was their true home ground.
They held no interest in anything on land.
Thus, aside from a few stray mutant sea beasts, the vast majority remained entrenched in their own domains, devoid of any desire to step onto the shore.
Meanwhile, the land was similarly plunged into chaos due to the Spiritual Qi feedback.
Countless mutant beasts and plants assumed their most comfortable postures, absorbing the pure, dense Spiritual Qi from the air.
Some felt their bodies reach saturation and stopped absorbing. However, a portion continuously pushed their physical limits, attempting to use this purest of Spiritual Qi—a purity normally only born from a true tide—to force a bloodline evolution.
Only a Spiritual Qi tide could bring forth the purest Spiritual Qi; the ambient Spiritual Qi left on Earth afterward was far less pure than at the very beginning.
This Spiritual Qi feedback carried the purest Spiritual Qi from the revivals of those other worlds. It was an opportunity no living creature could pass up.
Ding—
"Abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuation detected. Suspected arrival of the third Spiritual Qi tide."
"Abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuation detected. Suspected arrival of the third Spiritual Qi tide."
"Abnormal Spiritual Qi fluctuation detected. Suspected arrival of the third Spiritual Qi tide."
"..."
Spiritual Qi alarms blared in the Spiritual Qi Bureaus across every city.
"The third Spiritual Qi tide has arrived?"
"Are you kidding me?! How long has it even been?!"
A staff member cursed, quickly adjusting the machinery to monitor the Spiritual Qi status.
After about three minutes, someone finally spoke with hesitation:
"It doesn't seem to be the third Spiritual Qi tide. Analyzing the data from the first and second tides, the volume of Spiritual Qi should increase each time. But this time, while it's more than the first tide, it falls far short of the second."
"Whether this is the third tide or not, gather the data immediately!"
"And put everyone on high alert. We must prevent another beast tide."
"Yes, sir!"
Lighthouse.
This once supremely powerful nation was currently still lost in a carnival of "freedom."
"God has sprinkled the dew of evolution upon the earth. Every one of us is a beneficiary."
"Circulate your abilities. Do not waste God's grace."
A man dressed in black robes looked down at the crowd below him and spoke flatly.
And these people revered his commands with eyes full of worship, admiration, and absolute loyalty.
They did not actually believe in God.
During the countless monster invasions, neither angels nor God had come to save them.
The only one who had saved them was the man standing before them.
To put it another way.
To them right now, this man before them was their god. He was their Lord.
Meanwhile, atop the tallest building in a city, countless figures wearing uniform white-and-gold attire gazed down at the ground below.
"This is not the mana anomaly we predicted."
A figure said flatly. The gentle breeze shifted, revealing his scarlet eyes.
"Reality is far more real than conjecture."
The figure beside him spoke with equal calm.
"Whether it is or isn't, it doesn't matter."
"Just as no one ever imagined the world would become what it is today. What ability do we, who are merely favored by the world, have to guess the world's thoughts?"
"It is the best of times, and it is the worst of times."
"Countless people will rise because of this opportunity, and countless people will fall."
Behind him, a pair of pure white, holy wings rested like the most pristine treasure in the world, threads of golden texture shimmering beneath a soft glow.
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GA: Chapter 228 – What Will You Fight Them With? Your Head?
"The nation in the East has already seized the initiative in this opportunity. Their ideology, philosophy, and culture predetermine that they are fundamentally different from us."
"While our nation has plunged into true 'freedom,' they continue to maintain their previous order. One has to admire that."
Scarlet eyes gazed out over the nation before him, a slight smirk playing at the corners of his mouth.
"But this is a new era. Old things ought to be discarded."
"Using evolutionary theory to establish a new civilization more suited to this era is the most correct philosophy."
"In the future, a war between us and the East is inevitable."
"And we will win."
This was his confidence in his own strength and that of his teammates. Unfortunately, the others did not share his sentiment.
"Keep your feet on the ground. Don't daydream."
Soft wings fluttered slightly as pale golden pupils cast a sidelong glance at the man beside him.
"I just said that country seized the absolute maximum initiative in this opportunity. The four powerhouses they put forward to maintain order all possess talent no less than ours, and likely even greater strength."
"The White Emperor, the Dragon Emperor, the Ice Emperor, the Flame Emperor."
"We've all seen the videos circulating in Huaxia."
"The White Emperor is the most mysterious. There are only two videos of him actually fighting. He occasionally appears in other footage, and though he doesn't strike, his status in Huaxia is undeniable."
"The Dragon Emperor's ability is tied to the Eastern Divine Dragon. The dragon is Huaxia's totem; from this alone, his ability is not inferior to mine."
"There's no concrete information on that armor of his yet. There are only rumors that it's something from a tokusatsu show turning fantasy into reality, but that has zero credibility. It's likely Huaxia-developed technology built specifically around Spiritual Qi and the Dragon Emperor's ability to amplify his power."
"The Ice Emperor and Flame Emperor have also demonstrated their terrifying strength in footage."
"Forget the future—if we fought them right now, the only possible outcome is getting slaughtered. Even escaping wouldn't be easy. And you want to win?"
"What will you fight them with? Your head?"
Against the four strongest espers out of 1.4 billion people—even with his Angel ability, he only felt he could fight the Dragon Emperor to a draw. What right did this guy have to claim they would win in the future?
Their faction wasn't weak, certainly, but it depended on who they were comparing themselves to.
Comparing themselves to an entire nation?
He must have brain damage.
No matter how strong a faction was, it depended on how many highly talented espers it could absorb. But those people were arrogant by nature; why wouldn't they just form their own factions? Why would they join them?
And even if they did join, who would be the leader?
"Let's stop talking about meaningless things."
"We came to this city because an esper demonstrated value worth absorbing."
This was the reason they were here.
As long as it was possible, they would not let any genius slip away.
"Gravity manipulation. An extremely terrifying ability."
"When he first awakened, he couldn't control his power, suddenly amplifying gravity within a hundred-meter radius. Countless people died as a result."
"It's brutal, but his talent is equally undeniable."
Even among all abilities, gravity ranked near the very top. Whether for combat or support, its value was astronomically high.
Furthermore, the fact that he displayed such immense lethal force right upon awakening proved his talent was the highest even among them.
Not inferior to this Angel.
"But before that, shouldn't we kill those mutant beasts currently undergoing metamorphosis?"
"If we leave them here, won't they cause even greater damage to this city?"
One of the figures, who had remained silent until now, suddenly asked.
"With energy fluctuations that massive, even if we wanted to kill them, the price we'd pay would be exorbitant."
"It's not worth it."
"Understood."
He did not speak again.
Using Huaxia's sequence terminology, the mutant beasts he mentioned were all at the First Sequence level. Their current faction possessed only one First Sequence, three Second Sequence talents, and six Third Sequence talents.
Those numbers were already terrifying, considering they were just a single faction.
But trying to deal with a First Sequence mutant creature with that lineup was utterly impossible.
This Angel with First Sequence talent didn't have a nation providing him with resources, let alone treasures like the Five Elements Armor or Devil Fruits. Add to that the time spent building his own faction, and the time he actually spent cultivating wasn't that much.
At least, nowhere near as much as Huo Yu and the others.
While they also had missions to handle, that was only in the beginning when there were too many mutant beasts inside the cities and not enough manpower, forcing them to waste their time. But once things stabilized, that was no longer a concern.
Unless it was a mandatory mission, they managed their own time.
Moreover, they had the state providing cultivation resources; they never had to worry about finding heavenly materials or earthly treasures.
While this Angel's current strength far surpassed a Second Sequence, he was still somewhat weaker than a standard First Sequence.
Even if they ganged up on a First Sequence mutant creature, the opponent would likely just waste a minute swatting the Second and Third Sequences to death before resuming a one-on-one fight.
While certain death wasn't guaranteed, fleeing in panic was the most probable outcome.
To risk that just to save some irrelevant people? Not worth it.
"Humanity currently holds the technological advantage. We still don't need to fear any mutant creature."
"But as the mana grows denser, the mutant creatures will only get stronger. The day will come when we completely lose our advantage."
"Let's find him quickly, and then focus on our cultivation."
With a sigh, the figures slowly vanished.
Meanwhile, in Yun City, Huaxia.
"According to information from the Imperial Capital's General Spiritual Qi Bureau, this Spiritual Qi anomaly is not a Spiritual Qi tide."
"The specific cause is still under analysis."
"But even so, we cannot afford to be lax. Keep a close eye on the biological status within the city, and the situation of the mutant beasts outside the walls."
"Tell them to stay sharp. The moment anything seems off, sound the alarm immediately."
The director of the Yun City Spiritual Qi Bureau sat in his chair, his face fraught with exhaustion.
Sitting in this position meant there were simply too many things to handle. He was only forty-five this year, but he looked fifty-five.
Spiritual Qi did have the effect of prolonging life and promoting longevity; as long as one absorbed enough, returning to youth wasn't difficult.
But his talent was garbage.
His rate of rejuvenation was far outpaced by his rate of aging.
"Our Yun City might be a small city, but we've produced plenty of famous figures in the past. Even a few emperors."
"Our fortune shouldn't be that bad."
"Yet Ning City produced a First Sequence like Ning Guang, while our Yun City only has a few Second Sequences to hold the fort."
He shook his head in mild frustration.
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