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Chapter 140: Spiritual Realm
Chapter 140: Spiritual Realm
Before Ling Yufeng entered, Ji Xinghuo had already noticed this female alien. She was the type of beauty that would turn heads wherever she went, but her gaze was cold and her face devoid of a smile when she spoke, giving off the impression that she was unapproachable, like a black rose with thorns.
Her magnetic field intensity and etheric energy fluctuations were both very high, comparable to Tan Jichun, but she appeared to be much younger than him, probably around thirty-five years old.
To have reached the pinnacle of a super alien at her age was a testament to her strength and talent, placing her among the global elite.
However, she seemed to have ill intentions.
"Yes."
Ji Xinghuo narrowed his eyes and replied, "What advice does Swordmaster Ling have for me?"
For colleagues at the Sharp Sword Bureau who were neither superiors nor familiar with each other, it was customary to address each other as Swordmasters.
"I dare not presume to give advice." Ling Yufeng spoke in a nonchalant tone: "You are a foreigner in the Tower, and also the last one. This presents an opportunity to test my strength."
Ji Xinghuo was taken aback, "What do you mean?"
Tan Jichun quickly interjected, "Yufeng, don't be reckless. Xinghuo is under Director Zhou's special care. I asked you to train him, not to find him an opponent."
"I don't have any other intentions. I just want to test if I am also qualified to climb the Tower." Ignoring Tan Jichun, Ling Yufeng fixed her gaze on Ji Xinghuo, her chin tilting up slightly as she said arrogantly, "Swordmaster Ji, do you dare to spar with me?"
Her eyes were filled with confidence and a hint of wildness.
Ji Xinghuo understood her intentions.
Swordmasters of the Sharp Sword Bureau had to keep their identities confidential due to the sensitive nature of their work, which meant that even the strongest among them could not climb the Tower openly. While some didn't mind, others felt strongly about it.
Ji Xinghuo suddenly asked, "Section Chief Tan, is Swordmaster Ling really an ace of the Sharp Sword Bureau?"
A hint of anger flashed across Ling Yufeng's face.
"Of course." Tan Jichun replied earnestly, "Yufeng is a Shadow Dancer, specializing in infiltration and assassination, and she's also top-notch in frontal combat. She's an expert in firearms and proficient with all types of thermal weapons. Her marksmanship has reached the master level, and her combat power alone is equivalent to that of an entire Sword-wielding Squad."
So, she was a Shadow Dancer.
Ji Xinghuo was surprised. This advanced profession was a combination of Ranger and Shadow Blade, known for their agile and swift movements, expertise in both long-range shooting and close-quarters combat.
Rangers had a unique trait that set them apart from other professions—they were stronger on Earth than in the Star Realm!
The reason lay in firearms.
Since the opening of the Star Gate, Earth's technologies had advanced rapidly, and countries had developed numerous formidable thermal weapons with high accuracy, rapid firing rates, long ranges, and a variety of auxiliary accessories.
By replacing their bows and arrows with firearms, Rangers experienced a surge in power.
The lower the rank of the Ranger, the more their strength increased on Earth, and a suitable thermal weapon could enhance their lethality far beyond their actual rank.
Shadow Dancers possessed both stealth capabilities and the marksmanship of Rangers, making them the most fearsome assassins on Earth.
No wonder Ling Yufeng carried herself with such arrogance—she indeed had the qualifications to do so.
Ji Xinghuo's interest was piqued.
In recent days, he had been winning effortlessly against warriors on the martial arts platform, and the lack of challenge had left him somewhat bored.
Perhaps this Ling Yufeng could bring something different.
"How do you want to spar?" he asked.
Seeing that Ji Xinghuo had agreed, Ling Yufeng's eyes lit up slightly as she nodded, "I know you haven't used firearms before, so let's use bows and arrows, with no restrictions on psionic powers. The Combat Training Department has projection cabins, so we can simulate real combat in the spiritual realm, with life and death as the criterion for victory. Best two out of three."
"Alright." Ji Xinghuo readily agreed.
The two reached an agreement so quickly that Tan Jichun, who was standing beside them, didn't have time to stop them.
However, upon hearing that it would only be a virtual combat simulation, he breathed a sigh of relief and promptly reported the situation to Zhou Yishang.
Ji Xinghuo followed Ling Yufeng into the combat training room.
Here, there was a row of projection cabins that resembled the virtual login cabins but were several times larger in size, and there was a fundamental difference between the two.
The virtual login cabins provided access to a digital virtual world, where everything was composed of 0s and 1s. These digital signals were converted into neural signals that were input directly into the brain, tricking the senses into believing one had entered another world.
On the other hand, the projection cabins were based on etheric technology.
Their core component was a "spiritual realm stone," a rare and exotic object from the Star Realm.
Within the spiritual realm stone lay a "real" world, and to this day, scientists had not been able to decipher its composition or the principles behind it.
Using technology similar to that of the virtual login cabins, one could project their consciousness into the world within the spiritual realm stone. Inside, everyone would possess a body identical to their physical one, along with their stellar power, psionic abilities, and weapons and equipment, just as they were in the real world.
Injuries, pain, and even death could be experienced within the spiritual realm.
However, exiting the realm would leave one unharmed.
Death in the spiritual realm would cause some mental damage, requiring two to three days of rest to recover. Repeated deaths might even leave psychological scars.
The spiritual realm stone provided the best method for simulating real combat and greatly enhanced the strength of aliens.
Due to the rarity of spiritual realm stones, they could not be widely popularized.
Each use of the spiritual realm stone consumed "etheric crystals," without which the world within would dissipate.
At this moment, in the combat training room, there were Swordmasters engaged in a battle.
"First, choose your weapons and equipment."
Ling Yufeng walked into the adjacent armory and selected a recurve bow, along with several dozen arrows. She hung two swords of different lengths at her waist.
Ji Xinghuo's Invisible Sting was in his Dimensional Pouch, so of course, he couldn't take it out at this time.
Instead, he had brought Moyin with him.
He, too, went into the armory and chose a compound bow. It was a one-star superpower bow with a draw weight of about 180 kilograms, and its overall performance was comparable to the "Wolf Fang" series of the Green Wilderness Bow. Although it couldn't compare to the Invisible Sting, it would suffice for now. After a few test draws, he had a good grasp of the bow's performance.
Neither of them wore any armor, displaying great confidence in their abilities.
While Ji Xinghuo and Ling Yufeng were choosing their weapons and equipment, the Swordmasters from the Training Department received news of the upcoming spar and rushed over to watch the excitement.
They were all quite familiar with Ling Yufeng.
However, no one recognized Ji Xinghuo. His absence from duty for over a year had been kept highly confidential, and even within the Sharp Sword Bureau, very few people knew about it.
The Swordmasters waited quietly, without whispering amongst themselves, displaying their excellent discipline and manners.
At that moment, several people hurried into the combat training room.
"Director Zhou."
"Captain Min."
"Section Chief Tan."
The Swordmasters greeted each person in turn. In addition to these three, there were also several captains of the Sword-wielding Squad who had come to take a look at Ji Xinghuo.
Given their level, they naturally knew about Ji Xinghuo's situation.
Ji Xinghuo keenly sensed that among them, two individuals harbored a hint of hostility towards him, which he guessed was related to Yan Xiao.
However, with Zhou Yishang present, no one dared to act out.
Zhou Yishang looked at Ji Xinghuo and Ling Yufeng and said sternly, "This spar is just a spar. No matter the outcome, leave your emotions in the spiritual realm and do not bring them into reality, affecting the work of the Sharp Sword Bureau."
"Yes, Director Zhou," Ling Yufeng replied, her proud demeanor softening as she faced her superior.
Ji Xinghuo nodded in agreement.
Soon, the two Swordmasters who had been sparring earlier exited their projection cabins, startled to find so many people standing around.
The world within the Spiritual Realm Stone was fixed and unchanging, and each projection cabin accessed the same world.
One had to wait for the previous occupant to exit before they could use it.
"You may enter now," Zhou Yishang said.
Ji Xinghuo and Ling Yufeng, armed with their chosen weapons, lay down in the projection cabins.
A silver helmet-like headgear covered their heads, fitting snugly. As they heard the startup countdown in their ears, their vision changed abruptly when the countdown ended.
Ji Xinghuo found himself standing by a river, with forests on both sides that weren't particularly dense. The terrain varied, with flat land and mountains, but there were no signs of any wildlife.
He took a few steps and felt that everything was the same as in reality.
He could use his stellar power and psionic powers normally.
The various senses conveyed by his body were almost indistinguishable from reality; he could only detect the difference when he closed his eyes and focused his mind.
"It's still illusory!"
"But it's far more realistic than the virtual world created by digital signals."
"If the realism of the virtual world is 80%, then the spiritual realm's realism reaches 99%. The vast majority of people wouldn't be able to discern the difference from reality."
Ji Xinghuo marveled.
Scientists had long speculated that the Spiritual Realm Stones were artificial, but they were most likely not a product of the Star Realm nations. Instead, they were believed to originate from a highly advanced civilization in the Milky Way Galaxy, a sci-fi product of technology combined with ether!
Without needing to activate his interface, Ji Xinghuo could sense that the Myriad Phenomenon Star Pupils were equally effective within the spiritual realm.
His microscopic perception remained undiminished as well.
Looking into the distance, Ji Xinghuo immediately spotted the boundaries of this spiritual realm, which spanned an area of about ten square kilometers, slightly smaller than his magnetic field sensing range, allowing him to cover it entirely. Beyond the spiritual realm was nothingness.
He immediately located Ling Yufeng.
The distance between them was not far, only about six hundred meters.
Ling Yufeng had already entered stealth mode and was making her way through the forest from the other side, evidently having spotted him standing by the river as well.
Ji Xinghuo looked up at the sky.
The scenes within the spiritual realm were projected onto the screens in the combat training room, providing a bird's-eye view of the situation.
Every move he made was being clearly observed by the Swordmasters of the Sharp Sword Bureau.
"It's time to showcase my true archery skills," Ji Xinghuo thought.
Holding his compound bow, he walked into the forest, making no attempt to conceal his movements. Instead, he headed directly toward Ling Yufeng's location.
The distance between them quickly closed.
With over three hundred meters still separating them and a thicket of trees and bushes in between, they couldn't see each other's figures.
Nevertheless, Ji Xinghuo had already drawn his bow and released an arrow.
(End of Chapter)
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