Chapter 400: Chapter 281: Turbulent Changes: The Scramble Erupts in Jun City (Middle)

Elsewhere, in Donghua Country.

The intelligence on the Hidden Realm that Yi Beidou and his team acquired from the God-Sealing Alliance was relayed back to Donghua, immediately sending shockwaves through the top echelons of power.

The Five Divine Sealing Veins. The Seven Great Secret Organizations.

Even many high-ranking officials were only now, for the first time, getting a clear picture of the Hidden Realm’s power structure. For the first time, they were learning what terrifying undercurrents lay hidden beneath the veneer of the mortal world.

The number of Secret Organizations in the Hidden Realm totaled a staggering twelve. And this figure only included the large organizations with long histories and deep foundations, not the smaller ones.

If each organization had ten Ancient Ones, that meant the twelve Secret Organizations had over one hundred and twenty Ancient Ones. And that was just a conservative estimate.

Furthermore, these secret powers had been operating for many years, making them a terrifying force truly capable of subverting the entire world.

Then there was the term mentioned in the intelligence, one that had never appeared before.

Sleepers.

Beings whose power surpassed even that of the Ancient Ones. Terrifying lifeforms who could achieve a form of longevity by sealing themselves—lofty existences that defied all conventional understanding.

Many high-ranking officials already had intelligence on the Ancient Ones. Some had even suffered attacks from suspected Ancient Ones on more than one occasion, so they knew full well what these beings were capable of.

As for lifeforms that surpassed even the Ancient Ones... what in the world could possibly stop them?

If they wanted to kill someone, even a figure like the Red Dust Emperor would likely be found dead within days.

The Special Security Bureau, the Military Department, and the entire security apparatus were thrown into a panic. They urgently convened meetings to discuss security upgrades and defense protocols in preparation for potential attacks by the Sleepers.

After lengthy discussions, however, they could only arrive at one conclusion.

There was no way to defend against an attack from such a being, short of a "Burning Jade and Stone Together" strategy.

Even hiding in an underground bunker wouldn’t be safe.

Even in a place like that, one would still need human contact. Supplies would need to be delivered, and communication with the outside world would be necessary. This was the greatest vulnerability.

The only solution was to position terrifying weapons around key personnel—weapons capable of obliterating a radius of ten, or even dozens, of kilometers. If the key individual was attacked and harmed, the weapons would be detonated immediately, ensuring mutual destruction.

Only such a deterrent would make those beings hesitate.

Other than that, the only way to counter them would be with an expert of the same caliber.

But right now, in the entire Mortal World, who could confidently claim to be able to stop a Sleeper?

That night, many people lay awake, unable to sleep.

The next day, a convoy of military trucks draped in camouflage tarps rolled into the Great Inner. They were loaded with humanity’s most powerful weapons.

The director of the Special Security Bureau, Zhao Ping, looked utterly exhausted. He had once been a master of Soul Capturing and Soul Stealing, but he now appeared to have lost a significant amount of weight.

In the past year, ever since Yi Beidou’s emergence, the course of world events seemed to have accelerated. There wasn’t a single moment he could relax; he was constantly on edge. ’I should just retire early and be done with all this,’ he thought.

It was foreseeable that in the coming years, perhaps even the next decade, the pressure on him would only continue to grow.

"Any progress on studying the deployment method for the Sensing Array, from the Array Map that was sent back from the Mediterranean Sea?"

Zhao Ping gulped down a mouthful of strong tea, forcing himself to stay awake as he spoke to his secretary.

"We just received word from the coast. A Saint Realm expert has entered the Foggy Area to find the exploration team, but communication is impossible in there. It will likely be some time before we hear anything."

The secretary replied softly.

Neither Yi Beidou nor his team were proficient with arrays, and the intelligence from the God-Sealing Alliance hadn’t included the specific deployment method for the Sensing Array. Therefore, they had to rely on the nation’s own array masters to help reverse-engineer it.

Unfortunately, these experts were not on the mainland at the moment, but out at sea.

This all stemmed from the Jade Pendant and the information about Penglai Immortal Mountain that Yi Beidou had provided a short while ago.

The Special Security Bureau had taken that intelligence very seriously. Wei Cheng and Wang Chen had followed the Jade Pendant’s guidance on a preliminary expedition to the Immortal Mountain. When they finally passed through numerous obstacles and laid eyes on the mountain, they couldn’t help but feel profoundly awestruck.

Upon his return, Wei Cheng worked tirelessly to gather many of the nation’s top experts to study the matter. He quickly organized an exploration and research team to prepare for a large-scale landing on the island and conduct a comprehensive survey of Penglai Immortal Mountain.

This group included several veteran masters who specialized in arrays.

The exploration and research team had already entered the Immortal Mountain’s Foggy Area, so contacting them would take some time.

「At the same time.」

East Sea, in a stretch of international waters.

Just outside a Foggy Area, the Donghua Fleet was on patrol, securing the surrounding waters. They were even equipped with strategic-grade weapons, ready to launch a devastating strike at a moment’s notice.

Meanwhile, inside the Foggy Area, a modified warship struggled to navigate through a violent storm.

"Steady the ship! Avoid the vortex up ahead!!"

"It’s no use! The storm is too strong! This is a completely unnatural, supernatural weather phenomenon!! If this keeps up, the ship will be torn apart, and we’ll all die!!"

"Stow the defeatist talk! We have to protect the precision instruments in the hold! They can’t be damaged, no matter what!!"

"..."

The crew scrambled about frantically. Even with their advance preparations, they had never expected the storm within the Foggy Area to be this terrifying.

Even humanity’s most advanced maritime technology was struggling against the awesome, terrifying power of nature.