Volume One, Chapter 104: Deploying Forces

Wang Chang knelt on the ground. His armor had been battered to tatters, yet it was still repairing itself.

The sealed relic, Cloud Dream Marsh, was still exerting its proper effect.

Jiang Chen could not help but marvel. A truly excellent sealed relic could indeed cause a tremendous surge in combat power.

After all that, Jiang Chen had only shattered the armor; he still had not completely killed him.

Wang Chang turned to look at Jiang Chen. “I told you. I am invincible. No one can kill me.”

Jiang Chen rolled up his sleeves. “Fine. I’ll let you be invincible.”

Whoosh—

One sonic boom after another rang out, yet this was not the sound of Jiang Chen charging forward. It was the sound of his fists. Every strike he threw dragged a chain of thunderous cracks behind it.

On Earth, Jiang Chen did not dare use his full strength. If he did, the world itself might collapse. But he did not mind injuring himself in order to force his power down to its limit.

A piece of meat, beaten continuously millions upon millions of times, would eventually become thoroughly cooked. Jiang Chen used the same method. Every punch landed in exactly the same spot on Wang Chang. He did not aim to break the armor; he targeted one point alone, striking again and again until it burst.

Wang Chang began to counterattack as well. He was not merely taking the blows in silence. Though he could not compare with Jiang Chen in skill or technique, as long as he could endure punishment, he could still win. So what if the other man was stronger? If he could not break through Wang Chang’s defenses, then once his strength was exhausted, he would die all the same.

The two men’s fists collided in wild, unpatterned exchanges. Wang Chang’s blows tried to land on Jiang Chen’s face, but whenever an attack came, Jiang Chen always managed to evade it with the ease of pure battle instinct.

“Not enough, not enough. Far, far from enough. Come on, hit me again!” Wang Chang hurled out punch after empty punch, his expression gradually turning mad.

Jiang Chen smiled as he stepped back. The two of them almost simultaneously threw a punch at the same moment.

To be fair, Jiang Chen’s hand had gone numb too. He could no longer count how many times he had struck Wang Chang. He only knew that it was enough. More than enough.

Wang Chang’s chest had turned a fiery red and was still faintly glowing. Sweat dripped down onto it, only to be instantly vaporized by the searing heat.

Jiang Chen said, “That’s enough.”

Wang Chang rose to his feet. “What do you mean? You won? I’m perfectly fine.”

Jiang Chen walked up to him. Wang Chang did not retaliate. Jiang Chen lightly touched the blistering heat of his chest with a single finger.

With a dull boom, Wang Chang’s chest could not withstand even that tiny pressure and exploded on the spot.

His chest cavity was empty, as though everything inside had been completely melted by that scorching force.

Wang Chang looked at Jiang Chen in helpless despair. “Why... I’m already this strong. Why still can’t I beat you? What are you, exactly?”

“I’m... just an ordinary person,” Jiang Chen said.

Wang Chang was still unwilling to accept it. He manifested the sealed relic, Cloud Dream Marsh, in his hand. Its radiant brilliance was something Jiang Chen was seeing this closely for the first time.

“Thanks,” Jiang Chen said as he snatched Cloud Dream Marsh away. “A parting gift before you die.”

Once Cloud Dream Marsh was freed from Wang Chang’s control, all of Wang Chang’s resentment could do nothing but collapse with tears in his eyes.

His body turned to ash and scattered into the air. Jiang Chen played with Cloud Dream Marsh in his hand, but he did not actively try to control it.

This sealed relic was powerful. If the people of the 509 Institute learned of it, they would definitely demand that he hand it over.

So Jiang Chen would not give them this sealed relic.

The 509 Institute was not short of people who could use sealed relics, but this one was absurdly powerful. He had to keep it by his side; it would surely prove useful in the future.

Besides, he had played a part in saving Qing City, and a crucial one at that. Keeping this sealed relic for himself was entirely reasonable.

More importantly, as long as he did not bring it up on his own, even if the 509 Institute became suspicious, they would not immediately launch an investigation into him.

Having made up his mind, Jiang Chen put the sealed relic away.

Soon after, with Wang Chang no longer controlling it, the relic completely lost its former power. The fog began to dissipate above Qing City. With gusts of wind sweeping through, the mist had almost entirely cleared.

Jiang Chen lifted the formation, and the Ten Thousand Forms Array vanished into thin air.

The crisis directed at Qing City was finally resolved, and Cloud Dream Marsh began releasing the fortune it had swallowed.

One golden fleck after another drifted into the buildings.

The stolen good fortune had already returned to the bodies of Qing City’s people, and the fog had dispersed as well.

Jiang Chen let out a sigh. Just as he was about to put the relic away, he noticed that within Cloud Dream Marsh, several characters seemed to be faintly drifting in the mist.

But these characters were more like fragments of radicals and strokes, floating in the air and occasionally overlapping.

The more Jiang Chen looked, the more familiar they seemed. He lifted Cloud Dream Marsh and held it level with his eyes.

Soon, the drifting fragments began to merge.

They assembled into two characters.

And those two characters made a cold sweat break out across Jiang Chen’s forehead.

Within the mist of Cloud Dream Marsh, two characters had formed. Though the vision lasted only an instant, Jiang Chen saw them clearly.

Because he had spent eight years searching for those two characters. For a full eight years, he had fought for them every single day.

And today, at last, he had found a trace.

“Jiang Wan... little sister, I think I know how to find you.”

The two characters, Jiang Wan, floating within Cloud Dream Marsh, vanished once more, breaking apart into strokes that scattered back into the relic.

Jiang Chen sat weakly by the roadside.

There were clues to Jiang Wan inside Cloud Dream Marsh. That meant as long as he found the person who had given Cloud Dream Marsh to Wang Chang, he should be able to uncover traces of his younger sister.

For eight years, even while carrying out missions overseas, Jiang Chen had never forgotten her. He had always, at every moment, been searching for his sister’s trail.

And yet there had still been no lead.

This clue was the only thing he could seize. It had to be the key to finding her.

So Cloud Dream Marsh could not be handed over to the 509 Institute.

After collecting himself, Gao Shang arrived on a bicycle and found Jiang Chen.

The streets had returned to their original state, but the damage done to them could not be restored by Jiang Chen. Even if Cloud Dream Marsh could repair things, once the fog dispersed, that restoration would be lost as well. These matters would still have to wait until the people of the 509 Institute found the time to deal with them.

After a short while, Gao Shang arrived, followed by Luo Ying. Lin Mo and Li Changsheng also came.

Gao Shang asked, “What exactly happened? Why did I suddenly lose consciousness while walking down the street?”

Luo Ying nodded in agreement. “Same for me. I don’t know why. Does anyone know what happened before I lost consciousness?”

Lin Mo and Li Changsheng exchanged a glance but said nothing. Their eyes turned to Jiang Chen.

Now that he had a clue, Jiang Chen had also pulled himself out of despair.

With a clue, there was hope for everything. And since he still had not found his sister, this was not the time for sorrow.

“Gao Shang, Luo Ying, handle the underground powers between the two of you. I’ll come check in the day after tomorrow. Lin Mo, you and Li Changsheng go. Since you’ve already made your choice, keep walking the path you want to follow.”

After finishing his arrangements, Jiang Chen turned and walked away alone.

On a distant tower, a slender woman stood at the top.

“It’s time,” the woman murmured, and disappeared from the tower.