Chapter 54 – Competition

Chi Qiong often spent time with the Crimson Chi, who had once been entwined by the Phoenix Feather and gained a smidgen of spiritual energy. Coupled with its fortunate encounter, it had cultivated inside the Azure Dragon’s stomach and obtained a hint of dragon’s breath.

A trace of spiritual energy and a wisp of dragon’s breath, enough to alter species, plus the Crimson Chi’s diligent cultivation, had brought its strength infinitely close to that of a divine beast.

Most importantly, since the Crimson Chi had swallowed Yun Xiguang’s spirit bond root, it could now unleash its power without restraint and was capable of absolutely protecting Bai Ze.

The Crimson Chi could now freeze not just human blood, but the bodily fluids of any living creature. Even if it wasn’t red blood, it could still freeze it.

If it wanted to, it could instantly freeze all the ants within Bai Ze’s body.

The reason it hadn’t done so immediately was because the queen ant was still connected to all the ants, able to transmit energy through pheromones. If they didn’t eliminate the Weaver Ants’ main body, and the ants were driven to desperation, they might control the ants to harm Bai Ze’s body recklessly and cause more harm than good to Bai Ze.

The Crimson Chi stayed there just in case. If an accident occurred, it could intervene and buy time for everyone.

To save Bai Ze, they needed to tackle the main body.

The Crimson Chi quickly hid in Bai Ze’s fur. Aside from the sharp-eyed Golden-Winged Little Peng, no one saw the bubble-encased Crimson Chi.

And the Golden-Winged Little Peng, now Chi Qiong’s loyal mount number 2, no longer cared about their Spiritbond Master at all and would never inform Li Zheng and the others.

Not only that, when the Golden-Winged Little Peng spotted the Crimson Chi, it spread its wings slightly, blocking Zhang Jiancha’s line of sight to ensure that Zhang Jiancha’s spirit beast couldn’t see the Crimson Chi.

Yun Xiguang glanced at the Golden-Winged Little Peng, thinking that although Little Peng was temperamental and had a bad mouth, its heart was still good. As long as Little Peng didn’t always sneak peeks while they were sleeping, he could certainly spare a room at home for Little Peng to play in.

With the Azure Dragon’s protection, everyone felt much safer. Time was pressing, and Zhang Jiancha immediately led everyone to Luo Ju’s residence.

The sanatorium was the size of a villa complex. Due to the large number of rooms and the few staff members, each staff member had their own living quarters.

The cleaning staff came only once every morning, not needing to reside permanently in the sanatorium. A few standard rooms were arranged for them in the administrative area.

Chefs like Luo Ju, responsible for three meals a day, had to stay there unless they were on shift changes, so a villa was allocated for him to live in temporarily.

His small villa was located at the very edge of the villa complex. To avoid alarming the enemy, everyone hid in the scenic forest twenty meters away from the villa.

Zhang Jiancha summoned Xiang San. His eyes turned red, his ears became pointed, and his teeth grew sharp, protruding from his mouth.

Behind him sprouted a pair of huge bat wings. As the bat wings gently flapped, invisible ultrasonic waves surrounded Luo Ju’s residence from all directions.

Yun Xiguang knew that Zhang Jiancha was executing a move, but unless he was watching Zhang Jiancha, he couldn’t feel the existence of the ultrasonic waves. He could only see Zhang Jiancha fluttering his bat wings and looking serious.

This move was called “Silent Whisper,” a fitting skill for intelligence and inspection departments.

The coverage of “Silent Whisper” was vast, encompassing the entire sanatorium, and this wasn’t even Zhang Jiancha’s full power. If Zhang Jiancha exerted himself fully, he could control the movements in the entire Dongcheng District of Jing City.

If Zhang Jiancha could become an Earth-grade Spiritbond Master, he could control the entire Jing City.

If he were a Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master, then his range of control would be the entire nation.

Unfortunately, Xiang San’s potential was limited, and Zhang Jiancha’s strongest attainable rank was Grade A, which was already his limit.

At this moment, the existence of those nine strands of spiritual energy was crucial.

Those nine strands of spiritual energy gave too many Spiritbond Masters hope for growth. Spiritbond Masters like Ji Xuan and Zhang Jiancha, with remarkable talents, became Grade A Spiritbond Masters within a few years after becoming Spiritbond Masters, but due to their spirit beasts’ potential, they were stuck there, having hit their ceilings.

If they could obtain one of those nine strands of spiritual energy, allowing their own spirit beasts to undergo a change, they could advance further.

Even someone like Zhang Jiancha, with a pure and noble background, hoped to get hold of a strand of spiritual energy, even if it was just a touch. Who knew, it might help them break through their ceilings.

Yun Xiguang believed that Zhang Jiancha wouldn’t do anything against conscience, but Zhang Jiancha wouldn’t hand over the spiritual energy to him. Zhang Jiancha would definitely seize the spiritual energy and deliver it to the state, effectively utilizing the power within to enhance the abilities of the staff at the Special Affairs Bureau and the Lingxi Division.

This would benefit the country and the people, but Yun Xiguang couldn’t let such a thing happen.

The Phoenix Feather carried the rules of the Heavenly Law. Anyone who touched the Phoenix Feather would be bound by these rules, their soul altered, leading them down the path of destruction.

Only by returning the Phoenix Feather to its rightful owner would the world find peace, and Chi Qiong would regain his strength.

Yun Xiguang didn’t mind competing with Zhang Jiancha. He had the assistance of the Golden-Winged Little Peng and the Azure Dragon, and if necessary, he could turn Xiang San to his side. Zhang Jiancha couldn’t outmatch him.

But Yun Xiguang didn’t want to reveal his identity. He had only discovered four Phoenix Feathers, with five still missing. It was difficult for him alone to find the other five Phoenix Feathers.

The best course of action was to remain in the Special Affairs Bureau, using his status as the Azure Dragon and a Grade A Spiritbond Master to participate in some anomalous cases. Only then would it be possible to come into contact with the other Phoenix Feathers.

For this reason, Yun Xiguang could only secretly seize the Phoenix Feather.

Zhang Jiancha had keen insight, making it not an easy task to smuggle the Phoenix Feather under his nose.

Fortunately, if he hadn’t guessed wrong, this time the enemy wasn’t just Luo Ju.

Thinking of this, Yun Xiguang casually stroked Chi Qiong perched on his shoulder.

Chi Qiong, originally half-asleep, chirped contentedly when stroked by Yun Xiguang, but his voice was very soft, barely louder than a breath, specifically for Yun Xiguang’s ears.

Yun Xiguang found the chirp melodious and pleasant, easing his tense mood significantly. He whispered, “Any sign?”

“Chirp? Chirp!” Chi Qiong responded to Yun Xiguang in tone.

The little spirit bird hadn’t sensed the whereabouts of the Phoenix Feather.

They were almost at Luo Ju’s residence, yet still hadn’t sensed the Phoenix Feather’s whereabouts. This proved that the Phoenix Feather wasn’t in the sanatorium at all!

But if the queen ant strayed too far away, the Weaver Ants in Bai Ze’s body wouldn’t just continue to erode Bai Ze’s body; they’d have trouble surviving themselves.

They acted based on the pheromones transmitted by the queen ant and lived relying on these pheromones. If they were too far from the queen ant, they surely wouldn’t survive for long.

And the queen ant had become a spirit beast due to the Phoenix Feather; it couldn’t be separated from the Phoenix Feather for too long.

If all these speculations were correct, the Phoenix Feather must be in the sanatorium, yet it wasn’t there.

Then why?

Zhang Jiancha didn’t know that the little spirit bird could detect the whereabouts of the spiritual energy, so he was still searching confidently. At the same time, Zhang Jiancha wasn’t aware of the reason behind White Tiger’s meowing.

White Tiger meowed for the first time when it sensed the presence of the Phoenix Venerable. Back then, when Chi Qiong encountered the bookworm possessing the first Phoenix Feather, it had displayed its power for the first time. White Tiger felt this power and began meowing to curry favor with the Phoenix Venerable.

Since then, White Tiger remembered the power of the Phoenix Feather.

It would treat this power as Chi Qiong, meowing involuntarily every time it sensed this power.

According to Zhao Yu, White Tiger meowed when he visited Hai Ruobo.

Due to Chi Qiong’s situation being shielded by the Heavenly Laws, White Tiger couldn’t explain the situation to Zhao Yu, and Zhao Yu didn’t understand why White Tiger was imitating a cat.

But Yun Xiguang understood. White Tiger meowed because it sensed the power of the Phoenix Feather.

This coincided with the appearance of Hai Ruobo, so Hai Ruobo must have something to do with the Phoenix Feather!

Hai Ruobo moving into the sanatorium, the change in food flavor from sweet to salty, and Bai Ze being attacked by ants — all three events happened almost simultaneously.

Yun Xiguang had ample evidence to suspect that Hai Ruobo was closely related to the fourth Phoenix Feather.

He hadn’t used the Phoenix Feather, but he was undoubtedly an accomplice to the Weaver Ants!

Hai Ruobo’s “Illusory Reality” could make the impossible possible.

He could use “Illusory Reality” to create a fake villa to replace the original villa where Luo Ju lived, and this false villa could ignore time and space to connect with the main body.

The main body of the Weaver Ants could be hidden in the real villa, connected to the “Illusory Reality” created by Hai Ruobo. Yun Xiguang had walked through the passage between illusion and reality before, and this passage had no sense of distance. Even if the real main body of the Weaver Ants was ten thousand miles away, it could ignore distance and release pheromones through the spatial passage of “Illusory Reality” and control the Weaver Ants remotely.

Even if Hai Ruobo had already left the villa complex, the “Illusory Reality” space he left behind could persist for a long time, just like in the confidential archive room.

The power of The Mirage was terrifying.

Yun Xiguang believed that with The Mirage’s spatial power, Hai Ruobo should have long become a Heaven-grade Spiritbond Master, yet until now, he remained only an Earth-grade Spiritbond Master, a truly perplexing situation.

Putting aside Hai Ruobo’s strength for the moment, speaking only of the current situation.

If the main body of the Weaver Ants was truly elsewhere, then Luo Ju shouldn’t be the true ant nest; he was just an ordinary person under control.

If Yun Xiguang hadn’t guessed wrong, the real truth should be that on March 29th, Hai Ruobo moved into the sanatorium, exerted spatial power to relocate Luo Ju’s villa, and constructed a false villa.

This couldn’t be hidden from the owner of the space, so Hai Ruobo colluded with the main body of the Weaver Ants to parasitize Luo Ju’s body and control him.

After being controlled, Luo Ju lost his original personality, with the Weaver Ants taking control of his body. Naturally, if someone told him to cook a certain flavor, he would strive to make that flavor.

The main body of the Weaver Ants was hiding somewhere afar and using the “Illusory Reality” channel within the villa to manipulate Luo Ju from a distance. Through Luo Ju, this puppet, they assisted the Weaver Ants in devouring Bai Ze.

Also because the main body wasn’t here, Bai Ze hadn’t died immediately, but had lasted for two months.

If the main body were here, Bai Ze might not have survived a month before Yun Xiguang and the others arrived.

With Hai Ruobo’s “Illusory Reality,” Yun Xiguang even suspected that the information Zhang Jiancha obtained using “Silent Whisper” might not be real, but rather an illusory reality fabricated by The Mirage.

They would find it difficult to locate the main body of the Weaver Ants.

But precisely because of the existence of this “Illusory Reality,” Yun Xiguang believed that he could cross the channel of illusory reality under Zhang Jiancha’s nose and retrieve the Phoenix Feather in advance.

Because of this intention, Yun Xiguang didn’t tell Zhang Jiancha that Hai Ruobo might be a suspect.

Hai Ruobo and the main body of the Weaver Ants were competing with them, and Yun Xiguang was also competing with Zhang Jiancha.

Three parties were vying; no one knew who would end up laughing last.