Chapter 689: Chapter 688: Old Hu, Are You Satisfied?
"Hmm, Foundation Establishment." Seeing Hu Lizhong looking at him in astonishment, Yang Fei smiled and nodded, saying, "Do you know about Foundation Establishment?"
Hu Lizhong nodded and then shook his head: "I’ve only heard of such a Cultivation realm, but I don’t quite understand it. Brother Yang, does the Foundation Establishment Realm truly exist in this world?"
Yang Fei said, "It does."
"It does...?" Hu Lizhong was stunned, muttering under his breath, wondering if Yang Fei had self-proclaimed his status in the Foundation Establishment?
After thinking for a moment, Yang Fei said uncertainly, "Before being tempered by the power of thunder and lightning this time, I thought I had completed the Foundation Establishment, but after the ordeal of the thunder and lightning, I realized what I considered to be a Complete Foundation Establishment wasn’t complete. So, I’m still not quite clear about what state my Foundation Establishment Realm actually is in."
Hu Lizhong was dumbfounded.
Could it really be like this?
Yang Fei continued, "I have also spent time in the Hidden Sect World, where the highest Cultivation realm, they say, is the Divine Travel Realm. But in comparison to the realms described by the Taoist Cultivation, the divisions in the Hidden Sect are quite vague."
Hu Lizhong silently nodded and said, "Yes. If we’re serious, it seems that anything before the Innate Realm is just considered low-level Martial Arts Cultivation, dealing with muscles, bones, and skin, the body. It’s only after crossing into the Innate Realm that one truly steps into a field of Cultivation. I think the Innate Realm is the threshold that divides the ordinary from the true Cultivation. Only after the Innate Realm does one truly step into Cultivation."
Yang Fei pondered and replied, "Perhaps you’re right. Only after the Innate Realm can one discern the mysteries of the Heaven and Earth Power and even control it to some extent. This ability is quite different from Martial Cultivators."
Hu Lizhong sighed, "Ultimately, it still comes down to the decline of Cultivation. We are in the Dharma Decline Era; true Cultivation of immortality has long departed from this world. For our generation, pursuing the path of immortality is as difficult as reaching the heavens."
"Hahaha."
Seeing the look of contemplation on Hu Lizhong’s face, Yang Fei couldn’t help but burst into laughter, "Old Hu, you still think about immortality?
Feeling a bit embarrassed by Yang Fei’s laughter, Hu Lizhong coughed and said, "I am of an age beyond confusion, yet due to practicing Martial Arts, my body has always been in good shape, and honestly, I don’t hold much desire for everlasting life. That was just a figure of speech about immortality."
Yang Fei laughed, "Right, considering the average lifespan of around seventy or eighty years for ordinary people, we haven’t even fully understood or lived through our most basic human life; what use is immortality? True immortality sounds terrifying. Without the rich experiences of life, immortality is just being a walking corpse, an endless loneliness and emptiness."
With a smile, Hu Lizhong responded, "Indeed. I didn’t expect someone as young as you to see it so clearly. Honestly, if I had my way, I would prefer to just enjoy a simple and stable life with my wife and kids by a warm bed."
By the end, his expression revealed a deep worry: "With this massive change, I don’t know how my family is doing."
Yang Fei also snapped back to reality, speaking seriously, "Old Hu, what exactly is going on?"
Hu Lizhong shook his head and said, "I don’t know either. We’ve been together all this time, and just today something suddenly happened. But while you were healing, I thought a lot and feel that this might be very serious. It was the Central Battle Zone taking action against us."
Yang Fei said solemnly, "I’m not very familiar with the powers of Divine Continent. I thought the Qin Family could maintain control over the situation; I didn’t expect such a conflict. Old Hu, is the Chu Family that powerful?"
After a brief contemplation, Hu Lizhong replied, "Of the Five Regions, the Chu Family could at most influence one, and even according to Divine Continent’s regulations, they can’t wholly mobilize an entire battle zone without a joint decree from above."
Yang Fei’s eyes narrowed as he asked, "So you mean, the higher-ups also support the Chu Family?"
With a bitter smile, Hu Lizhong shook his head and said, "I don’t know. But based on the current situation, the fact that the Chu Family chose to start a war highlights many issues."
Yang Fei felt incredibly frustrated and shouted, "Damn it, when they targeted the Zhang Family previously, everyone was fine, right? The Qin Family didn’t blatantly abuse their power, so why the sudden shift against the Qin Family?"
With a bitter expression, Hu Lizhong indicated that he was out of his depth regarding this level of conflict.
Logically, these kinds of struggles are usually bloodless; it shouldn’t actually lead to war, but this time it was completely different... wait a minute...
Suddenly, Hu Lizhong thought of something and said to Yang Fei, "Could it be because of the Hidden Sect?"
"The Hidden Sect?"
A spark flashed in Yang Fei’s eyes; right, how could he have forgotten about this world’s forces?
If not for the intervention of the Hidden Sect, given the original circumstances of Divine Continent, the Chu Family, even if they dared to challenge the Qin Family, wouldn’t have taken direct action.
This time, the direct action must be connected to the Hidden Sect.
Yang Fei had just recalled his discovery after his recent arrival at Yunwu Mountain’s Base.
He had detected that an expert had tampered with the Array at Yunwu Mountain, and even though he was overconfident at the time, so much so that he believed he could easily reverse any changes within the Array, he had been mistaken.
He hadn’t expected Zhuge Cang to be so masterful in Array techniques, even going so far as to alter the Array into the Five Elements Thousand Mechanism Formation, a domain specific to Zhuge Cang.
"Brother Yang, what should we do now?" Hu Lizhong asked Yang Fei.
He was somewhat at a loss.
No one knew what the situation outside had turned into.
Were the members of the Military Department at Yunwu Mountain’s Base now labeled as traitors?
Once they went out, would he still be a Major General of the Military Department, or would he be a national criminal?
Hu Lizhong felt like crying.
Dammit, how did it come to this?
He was even regretting joining the Military Department at that moment.
No, joining the Military Department wasn’t wrong; he had been promoted and had gained high special privileges. The problem lied with Minister Qin.
After Qin Yanyang took command of the Military Department, it was labeled as belonging to the Qin family, which was why it was targeted.
Sigh...
Hu Lizhong sighed silently in his heart, feeling somewhat wronged.
Yang Fei, unaware of Hu Lizhong’s inner thoughts, listened to his query about what to do next and after pondering for a moment, he asked, "Didn’t my wife tell you something?"
Hu Lizhong shook his head: "She just told me to take you away and figure out how to contact you once we’re outside."
Yang Fei asked, "How long has it been since the incident occurred?"
"Over six hours."
"They must have all escaped, right?"
"Yes, they broke out long ago," said Hu Lizhong.
Yang Fei looked at him incredulously; Hu Lizhong explained, "It’s based on the combat situation at the time, the Military Department is full of elite experts, and although the enemy was numerous, it would be difficult to encircle and kill these elites."
Yang Fei nodded silently; in the terrain of Shennongjia mountainous areas, breaking out was indeed not difficult for the elites of the Military Department.
"Brother Yang, what do we do next?" Hu Lizhong asked again.
Upon hearing this, Yang Fei’s eyes sparkled, he turned to look in the direction of Yunwu Mountain and slowly said, "Old Hu, we’ve built this experimental base with so much effort, are you willing to just let someone else take it over like this?"
Hu Lizhong’s heart thumped wildly, startled he said, "Brother Yang, what are you thinking of doing?"
Yang Fei turned to look into his eyes: "Old Hu, I’m just asking you, are you willing?"
Hu Lizhong’s heart pounded uncontrollably, instinctively wanting to refuse, yet for some reason, his blood boiled and his long-lost passion filled his entire body.
"Yes... it’s pretty disgraceful."
Yang Fei patted his shoulder, "If you’re not content, then let’s do something about it. I, Yang Fei, have never been schemed against like this. Those old bastards from the Zhuge family, the things I leave behind are not for them to enjoy!"