Chapter 292: Scapegoat, Church of the Dead
"Calamity Secret Realm?"
"Yes, the area pulled in from the north should belong to the Calamity Secret Realm. I heard the Spirit Master intends to go rescue people."
"It's a unique secret realm, only with pure technological civilization, constantly at war, without any martial arts...."
In the Martial Arts Hall, the elder who had officially transcended furrowed his brow slightly as someone reported to him the recently emerged Abyss Secret Realm.
The Black Tide had been temporarily repelled, but an area close to the high wall was pulled into the Abyss.
"Are you sure there's no martial arts inheritance in this secret realm?"
The elder squinted his eyes slightly, looking a bit surprised.
"Not completely absent, but it can basically be ignored."
"Martial arts there are merely the most basic forms of physical exercise, with very few even reaching the Bone Training stage."
The person in front explained again, and the elder mused thoughtfully.
The two continued to discuss for a few more sentences, finally.
Bang!
The image shattered, and Chen Feng stood dazed on the spot.
The Calamity Secret Realm, he had seen similar words in the diary of the Spirit-control Talent, Wang Yu.
At that time, Wang Yu was still hesitating whether to go to the Snake Spirit Secret Realm to use the Holy Sword from the Holy City to enhance Alonco's power, or to agree to Storm Queen Sherry's request to go to the Realm of the Dead again.
Ultimately, the Black Tide disaster broke out; although it was repelled, an area was pulled into the so-called Land of Calamity.
He chose to go to this place to rescue those who were pulled in.
"Calamity Secret Realm...."
"Perhaps, this is the Evil God's Land behind the Calamity Church?"
The thought flashed through his mind, and Chen Feng remembered that in the evil god documents collected by Cao Tong, there were over a hundred churches.
However, only the three strongest churches were noteworthy, with the others being negligible.
And coincidentally, the Calamity Church was one of the strongest, alongside the Snake Spirit Church and the Church of the Dead.
After pondering for a moment, he shook his head and decided not to delve deeper.
He did not possess the Power of Disaster, and even if he did, he wasn't planning to venture into this unknown secret realm for now.
Bang!!!
Just then, with a muffled explosion, the Stone Wings of the Holy Shield Giant trembled, signifying that other Sixth Order creatures had surrounded and attacked, with a terrifying onslaught.
Without further delay, the Daylight on Chen Feng's body shone again, and he quickly clenched the Steel Bones Broadsword.
"It's time to counterattack."
Boom!!!
....
He opened his eyes and got out of bed. Although a brief nap helped, the divine light in Chen Feng's eyes was still somewhat dim.
In the Dream Realm, several Sixth Order creatures appeared, and he clearly saw countless Black Tide creatures gushing from the breach in the high wall.
After several battles, he was almost about to collapse.
Ultimately, he only managed to rush into the Martial Arts Hall, retrieve another Extreme Martial, and was then forced to exit the dream.
[Extreme Martial: 4]
The panel hovered in front of him, and Chen Feng felt a little regretful.
"Just a little more."
The Martial Arts Hall had one more Extreme Martial and a dozen or so Breakthroughs left.
If he could absorb them all, he should be able to achieve Sunfall Great Success.
"Above Sunfall is the Extreme Fighting Two Layers."
"One Layer of Extreme Land, One Layer of Fighting Heaven... but further cultivation requires reaching the transcendence level first."
The key techniques and principles of the Extreme Fighting Level flashed through his mind, making Chen Feng feel that this dream was his greatest gain yet.
Not only did he gather all the techniques of the Extreme Fighting Fist, but he also discerned the specific path to transcendence.
"Seek intent, legend, resonance."
He summarized these three steps for himself as the critical steps to continue the journey beyond limits.
To some extent, finding one's infinite will is the beginning of surpassing limits.
For a moment, Chen Feng couldn't help but think of Yang Wudi.
The last time they met in Suluo, Yang had already touched the threshold of the Sixth Order.
He had always thought Yang was merely of the Extreme Realm, but now that he knew the three steps to transcendence, he had a different perspective.
Based on fragments of recollections from the dream, even among martial artists in the world of Qinggang City, very few could achieve the Sixth Order purely by their own limits.
This is a natural human limit; the disparity between Sixth and Fifth Orders is too vast, hard to bridge.
Furthermore, recalling Yang Wudi's especially powerful and unique Ultimate Intent during past combats.
He suspected that Yang might have already taken a critical half-step and discovered his unlimited will then.
Thereby, allowing his Ultimate Intent to sublimate and reach the Sixth Order.
"Truly unmatched by the Southern Martial Arts World, the only Extreme Realm birthed in the past century."
Chen Feng marveled, acknowledging that Yang had charted a certain path by himself, truly a hero among men.
Besides, he also thought of Liu Duanyun, and the videos and messages Chen Yun had sent him last time.
The academy exchange at the Red Capital, with that mysterious fog that could transform into flames and gales akin to Power.
This Northern Martial Leader, the leader of the Holy Sect, what was the so-called martial arts path discovered by him?
As his thoughts rambled, Chen Feng finally looked at his phone.
Zhou Wuren still hadn't responded.
He suspected Zhou might have some contact, possibly even started closed-door cultivation; otherwise, there shouldn't have been no message for several days.
Buzz Buzz!
Suddenly, before he could ponder further.
His phone vibrated as someone else sent a notification.
With a focused gaze, Chen Feng then shook his head.
....
Several hours later
Nanjiang City Union Building.
"I never expected Councilman Xu would get into trouble."
"Yes, who could have foreseen it."
"Such an untimely death."
In the meeting room, a murmur of discussions quietly arose.
Some council members were present, feigning sighs.
Others were absent, leaving empty seats on either side of the oval wooden table.
Chen Feng silently watched all this, the seat not far from his side was empty, Lin Hao was not present.
"Mr. Chu, may I ask what the real reason is?"
"Councilman Xu wasn't a member of Jade Biotechnology, how could he suddenly be confirmed dead?"
An uninformed councilman asked, and Chen Feng also looked towards Chu Shihong, who was seated at the main seat, wearing a dark wool coat.
Xu Heng's death could not be concealed, the news he received earlier was sent by the other party, requesting to discuss follow-up at the union.
"It has been confirmed that Councilman Xu and his security encountered misfortune in the suburbs."
"The initial speculation now is that it should be related to the Church of the Dead."
The tone was heavy, Chu Shihong appeared sorrowful.
Many people's gazes sharpened upon hearing the words, not because they cared about his feigned sorrow, but because they were surprised by the content of his announcement.
Even Chen Feng, who was in the know, was somewhat stunned.
The Church of the Dead?
Although he knew Lin Hao had means to obscure key points, to remove himself from the open.
However, the fact that this matter could be linked to the Church of the Dead, and even acknowledged by the City Association, was somewhat unexpected for him.
"The Church of the Dead? How could they appear in the suburbs?"
"Right, wasn't Councilman Xu protected by Fifth Rank security, even if it were the Church of the Dead, they couldn't make him encounter misfortune so easily, could they?"
Someone was in disbelief, and some even glanced at Lin Hao's empty seat, as well as the puzzled expression of Chen Feng.
Although the crucial evidence on the scene had been destroyed, and due to magnetic field interference, no images were transmitted back.
However, for some super-large groups, the conflict between Lin Hao and Xu Heng was not a secret.
Consequently, Chen Feng was also suspected by some.
"Near the scene of the accident, we found members of the Church of the Dead, as well as an eliminated hideout."
"Although it's unclear how they achieved it, it seems the two are undoubtedly related, and we cannot rule out the possibility of a Walking Level presence."
Chu Shihong explained seriously, while instructing his assistant to provide images from the scene.
Chen Feng looked accordingly, seeing it was an underground warehouse about a kilometer from the incident site.
There were traces of an explosion and a lot of the Church of the Dead members' corpse remains.
He was a bit surprised, because he could see the extreme realism in the contents, not seeming like a disguise.
"After extensive investigations, we discovered that Councilman Xu's security had a crossfire conflict with a branch of the Church of the Dead."
"I personally think Councilman Xu might have been retaliated against because of this."
"After all, a person from the Church at the Walking Level could also contend with Fifth Rank security..."
Zhang Songta, seated not far from Chen Feng's left, was in the first seat of this row, closest to Chu Shihong 's main seat.
His square face was full of seriousness and earnestness, speaking with a solemn, calm deduction.
Chen Feng suspected he had been smoothed over by Lin Hao.
"Councilman Chen, what do you think?"
Zhang Songta suddenly asked, with a smile on his face.
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
Chen Feng nodded and said, while other council members, deep in thought, did not refute further.
The insiders saw the underlying issues and didn't want to get involved further.
Representatives from several super-large groups, like Sky Shield Heavy Industry, were silent and watched Chen Feng and others' echoing interplay the whole time.
Those uninformed also felt that Zhang Songta's analysis seemed somewhat reasonable, and for a while, no one questioned its authenticity.
"In that case, the Church of the Evil God's inspection mission needs to be expedited."
"First it was the Snake Spirit Sect in Luo River, and now the Church of the Dead in Nanjiang, it's truly overwhelming....."
Li Chengdong's elder, Li Pinghai, said seriously, while Chu Shihong nodded in agreement.
"I have already contacted the military; they have stationed camps in the New City area and will cooperate with our inspection actions going forward."
"I'll have to trouble Old Li to pay more attention to this matter."
Li Pinghai, with a military background, had considerable energy in terms of connections, making him very suitable to coordinate.
"No problem."
The two exchanged a few words briefly, quickly setting the plan for subsequent inspections in Nanjiang.
As the meeting was about to conclude, someone couldn't help but ask a question.
"Councilman Xu's matter....."
"After the meeting, I will contact the media to announce the matter."
Chu Shihong sighed and stated the arrangement.
The matter was thoroughly settled; no one spoke up to refute.
"Additionally, since Councilman Xu passed away, there is a vacancy in the council position."
"If anyone has a nominee recommendation, feel free to inform me in advance so that we can discuss it at the next meeting..."
Everyone nodded, as some individuals began to have other plans.
Chen Feng looked at the empty seat without expression, until finally, a familiar call echoed again.
"Councilman Chen, please stay behind."
Chu Shihong spoke again; the others, already used to it, all smiled and said goodbye.
In a moment, Chen Feng followed into the adjacent waiting room, where the aroma of the tea slowly wafted from the tea table in front.
The room door was tightly closed, with only the two of them inside.
"The matter regarding Councilman Xu, you didn't interfere, did you?"
Chu Shihong no longer had any sighs or sorrow on his face; instead, he asked in a low, serious voice.
"He was too weak."
Chen Feng replied calmly, neither denying nor admitting.
Chu Shihong was slightly stunned, then smiled helplessly, but did not bring up the matter again.
"What do you think about the Church of the Dead?"
He changed the subject, and Chen Feng thought for a moment.
He was full of doubts about this matter during the meeting.
These churches seldom showed up in Chi Country before, yet now they were appearing one after another, which seemed suspicious no matter how you looked at it.
Besides, Luo River had just exterminated the Snake Spirit Sect not long ago, and he discovered there seemed to be another mastermind behind it.
"I feel there's something strange."
"Maybe it's somewhat related to the Snake Spirit Sect of Luo River."