20 Global Evolution
After bringing Liu Fengyu back to the command center, Wang Lian called for a doctor. After examining Liu Fengyu for a while, the doctor concluded that he was only temporarily unconscious and there was nothing serious. The doctor then instructed a few soldiers to assist in using tweezers to remove the pine needles from Liu Fengyu's body.
As they extracted one pine needle, everyone broke out in a cold sweat. The needle was about five to six centimeters long and had pierced at least three centimeters deep into Liu Fengyu's body. With each removal, a small blood hole remained, and there were fifty to sixty needles embedded in one side of his body. Although they hadn't struck any vital organs, the sensation of being transformed into a human hedgehog was unimaginable.
Cong Xia picked up a pine needle and sighed, "It has more than doubled in length since the beginning."
"When did it start?"
"The second day of the earthquake. We had passed by that tree. It wasn't as big at the time, but it had already begun attacking people. The pine needles were only as long as fingernails back then."
Zhao Qian stroked his chin. "This tree grows incredibly fast. Nothing dares to approach within its range of attack. How can this person be so bold and still alive?"
Another person chimed in, "Could the disappearance of the giant pine tree be related to this celebrity?"
"We'll find out once he regains consciousness."
"With so many pine needles embedded in his body, it must be excruciatingly painful."
Cong Xia asked, "Doctor, when will he wake up?"
"It's hard to say. We can't even determine the cause of his unconsciousness."
Wang Lian said, "Let's wait. Comrade Cheng, most of the communication stations across the country have been abandoned for various reasons. It's also difficult for us to establish contact with Beijing. Communication resources are now as scarce as food. I don't have the authority to grant you access. We'll have to wait for the commander to return. For now, rest in the command center. Xiao Liu, please arrange a dormitory for them and provide some food."
Providing basic food was already considered a luxury at this point. Cong Xia couldn't help but salivate at the thought of eating something normal. Xiao Liu led them to a small office that had been converted into a dormitory. Inside, there were two military beds. He handed them two vacuum-sealed bread rolls and two bottles of water. "I'll inform you if there's any news."
After Xiao Liu left, the two men sat on the beds and began nibbling on the bread. They weren't very hungry since they had just eaten cockroach meat, but Cong Xia savored every small bite of the buttery-scented bread. It felt like the most delicious thing in the world. If it weren't for the need to open the packaging and the inability to preserve it, he would have saved it for tomorrow.
After finishing their bread, Cong Xia and Cheng Tianbi sat cross-legged on the beds. Cheng Tianbi closed his eyes and breathed steadily.
Cong Xia knew that he was cultivating. He could see with his own eyes a gentle breeze swirling around Cheng Tianbi's body, gently rustling his hair and clothes.
Cong Xia didn't dare to disturb him. Although he was curious about Cheng Tianbi's conversation with Captain Wang, he knew that asking would be in vain. So he decided to lie down on the bed as well, clutching the ancient jade in his hand, and once again entered the void.
The luminous Sanskrit wall reappeared before him. Cong Xia attempted to find what had puzzled him all along—what exactly was attributeless energy?
The ancient jade had mentioned that attributeless energy, like the five elemental energies, could be obtained and enhanced through personal cultivation. Although attributeless energy was distinct from the five elemental energies, it was closely related to them. This explanation was quite cryptic, and after struggling to understand it for a while, Cong Xia grasped the concept. It was like comparing colored pigments to transparent pigments—attributeless energy could freely complement the quality of the five elemental energies. In other words, attributeless energy could be used as if it were one of the five elemental energies, as long as one mastered the technique.
This sounded remarkable. If he mastered the five elemental energies, did that mean he could manipulate wind like Cheng Tianbi?
The amount of information preserved in the ancient jade was immense. Merely understanding this part had already taken him hours. Furthermore, despite the automatic translation of the text into modern language in his mind, it still remained convoluted and peculiar. Cong Xia needed a significant amount of time to piece together the context and fully comprehend it. Sometimes when he grew tired of a particular section, he would skip ahead and read a few lines.
Gradually, he noticed that the latter half of the Sanskrit wall repeatedly mentioned a term: "Yuan Consciousness."
What was Yuan Consciousness?
Cong Xia quickly scanned through it, realizing that much of the content was directed at and hostile towards Yuan Consciousness.
Cong Xia felt completely bewildered. He hadn't even fully grasped attributeless energy, so he didn't dare to delve into understanding "Yuan Consciousness."
In any case, his greatest achievement this time was understanding the vital information about the interconnectedness of attributeless energy and the five elemental energies. However, it seemed that this usage was one-way—the attributeless energy could be used as one of the five elemental energies, but the reverse wasn't possible. Although it was also possible that Cong Xia hadn't reached that part of the content, he already felt exhausted and couldn't continue reading.
He opened his eyes, leaving the void. As he stood up, he noticed that Cheng Tianbi was still in a cross-legged position. The gentle breeze surrounding him gradually gained a faint color—a very light shade of green. It looked as if Cheng Tianbi was enveloped in a transparent mist of pale green. Cong Xia stared at Cheng Tianbi in astonishment. Could this be wood energy?
He didn't dare to make a sound, afraid of disturbing Cheng Tianbi, so he just stared, captivated by his presence. Cheng Tianbi seemed like a beautiful and powerful elf from legends, radiating the sacred light of life throughout his entire being.
Energy could be obtained through cultivation. According to the voice of that elderly person, Cong Xia was the inheritor of the ancient jade. However, why didn't he possess an energy core for cultivation?
Was the energy core something only Evolutionaries had? If he didn't evolve, he wouldn't have an energy core. And without an energy core, he couldn't cultivate attributeless energy. Wasn't this contradictory?
What did that old senior mean? It couldn't be that they had mistaken the person, right?
He sighed, unable to find an answer at the moment, so he decided to stop thinking about it for now. He took out pen and paper and wrote down today's discoveries, paying extra attention to the cultivation methods, hoping they would be helpful to Cheng Tianbi.
Unbeknownst to him, night had fallen, and Cheng Tianbi remained motionless, sitting there for five or six hours. Cong Xia had already become exhausted and fallen asleep, slumped on the bed. It was only then that Cheng Tianbi opened his eyes.
He took a sip of water and walked over to Cong Xia's bedside, staring at his peaceful sleeping face, lost in thought.
He noticed several sheets of paper on the table, containing the information Cong Xia had recorded about the ancient jade. He picked them up and glanced at them. Cong Xia woke up, still groggy, and looked at Cheng Tianbi. "Are you... feeling better?"
"Mmm. Any new discoveries?"
"Yes." Cong Xia sat up and shared the information he had gained that day with Cheng Tianbi.
After listening, Cheng Tianbi placed his hand on Cong Xia's forehead.
Cong Xia froze, not daring to move.
Cheng Tianbi's palm was dry and warm, providing a sense of comfort.
"I can't sense it." After a moment, Cheng Tianbi withdrew his hand.
"What do you mean?"
"These past few days, I've started to perceive the energy fluctuations around me. Do you remember that person with the mutated hair we saw today? His energy fluctuations were completely different from those of ordinary people. He was stronger than everyone around him, including Zhao Qian and Liu Fengyu—they were all special energy entities."
"Are you saying they were Evolvers?"
"It seems so because based on my perception of energy, they were completely distinct from ordinary humans. But I couldn't sense anything from you. I couldn't even feel it by directly touching you, which proved that you were no different from an ordinary person."
Cong Xia sighed, "I also knew that I hadn't evolved, so I couldn't understand. If I hadn't evolved and didn't have an energy core, how could I cultivate like you?"
"Perhaps your role in helping others is more important than your own cultivation," Cheng Tianbi said.
Cong Xia blinked. "Are you saying..."
"In the past few days, I cultivated using the ancient jade's method, and my energy was slowly increasing. If it hadn't been for you being able to read the information from the ancient jade, no one would have known about these things. Your possession of the ancient jade is very significant."
Cong Xia's eyes lit up. "Are you saying I helped you!"
"Yes."
Cong Xia jumped off the bed. "That's great! Now I can help you too. Don't worry, I will do everything in my power to assist you. What I wanted most was to see you become stronger and stronger. That way, both of us could survive." Cong Xia looked at the jade in his hand and exclaimed, "It's truly a treasure."
"That's right. So first, you need to keep it safe. Second, until we understood the origin and intentions of this jade, we must not let anyone else know," Cheng Tianbi said sternly.
Cong Xia nodded, his eyes clear. "Don't worry, I understand the stakes."
If one or two Evolvers could make the military desperately want it, he didn't know what they would do to him and the jade if they found out about its existence.
After all, he might be the only person capable of reading the information from the ancient jade. Until he was certain, he didn't want to be manipulated by others.
Cheng Tianbi stretched his body, looking somewhat tired.
"You should take a rest. There's nothing to do here except sleep."
Cheng Tianbi shook his head. "I was really curious about the Great Pine Tree. Let's go and see if Liu Fengyu had woken up."
"Okay."
The two of them left the office and headed upstairs.
"You mentioned earlier that Liu Fengyu also had energy fluctuations different from ordinary people. What type of Evolver could he be?"
"I don't know, but he should be different from me. Right now, I could only vaguely sense that kind of energy fluctuation, but I couldn't determine its strength or type. The only thing I could tell was that the hair-mutated Evolver and Liu Fengyu had energies different from mine."
"So, they might be Evolvers with other types of energy. This was a good opportunity for us to learn about Evolvers. We must ask Liu Fengyu thoroughly."
After they reached the upper floor, they noticed that Liu Fengyu's room was being guarded by soldiers. As soon as they approached, the guards intercepted them.
Cong Xia inquired, "Is the person inside awake?"
"Not yet. Captain Wang said he would notify you when he wakes up."
After a moment of hesitation, the two of them decided to leave.
Once they had walked a distance, Cheng Tianbi remarked, "My perception ability has improved."
"Really? How did it improve?"
"His energy was red."
"Red?"
"Mine was green, his was red."
"What about the hairy person?"
"I don't know. We need to see him again to find out."
Cong Xia muttered to himself, "Green, red. If green represents wood energy, does red represent fire energy? But it could also be metal energy..."
"What exactly is it? We'll find out once he wakes up."
The two of them stayed in the command center for four days. During this time, they didn't venture outside, and no one came to look for them. They had access to food and drink, and they didn't want to expose themselves to the increasing dangers outside. Instead, they dedicated all their available time to their mission.
Cheng Tianbi tirelessly worked on enhancing his energy. Based on their analysis and conclusions, the most effective method for purifying the energy core and increasing energy accumulation was to continuously absorb the free wood energy present in the world and circulate it within Cheng Tianbi's body. Each circulation allowed the absorbed energy to undergo purification within the energy core, eliminating impurities and leaving behind pure wood energy. Although the process of energy accumulation and purification was incredibly slow, Cheng Tianbi could sense his progress every day, and it brought him great excitement.
However, according to the information provided by the ancient jade, he was still far from achieving the first stage of energy core purification, known as the Energy Storage Core. To reach the Energy Storage Core, he needed to completely fill the energy core with wood energy. Only when the accumulation of wood energy reached the critical point of the energy core's current capacity could the energy core be further purified, progressing to the second stage known as the Fusion Core. The current capacity of the energy core was already massive, to the extent that Cheng Tianbi couldn't fathom how much wood energy would be required to fill it, given his current abilities.
It was like pouring water into a tank. At the beginning, they had no idea how much water was needed to fill the tank. They only knew that the amount of water they poured in was insignificant compared to the total volume of the tank. It was only when the water reached a certain volume that they could determine the size of the tank and how much more water was needed to fill it. Cheng Tianbi's current energy accumulation had barely surpassed the bottom of the tank.
However, even so, he was now capable of self-preservation in the apocalypse. Cheng Tianbi couldn't imagine how large the "tank" of the Energy Storage Core truly was. And when he ascended to the second stage, the Fusion Core, or even the third stage, the Pure Energy Core, or even the seventh stage, the Divine Energy Core, would this "tank" be able to contain the vastness of an entire ocean?
At that time, would his energy be able to unleash hurricanes that would make the heavens tremble?
Just the thought of all this excitement not only invigorated Cheng Tianbi but also caused Cong Xia to tremble with excitement.
Every time they speculated about the ultimate evolution of humanity based on the information from the ancient jade, they were deeply shaken by the scenarios they envisioned.
20 Global Evolution
After bringing Liu Fengyu back to the command center, Wang Lian called for a doctor. After examining Liu Fengyu for a while, the doctor concluded that he was only temporarily unconscious and there was nothing serious. The doctor then instructed a few soldiers to assist in using tweezers to remove the pine needles from Liu Fengyu's body.
As they extracted one pine needle, everyone broke out in a cold sweat. The needle was about five to six centimeters long and had pierced at least three centimeters deep into Liu Fengyu's body. With each removal, a small blood hole remained, and there were fifty to sixty needles embedded in one side of his body. Although they hadn't struck any vital organs, the sensation of being transformed into a human hedgehog was unimaginable.
Cong Xia picked up a pine needle and sighed, "It has more than doubled in length since the beginning."
"When did it start?"
"The second day of the earthquake. We had passed by that tree. It wasn't as big at the time, but it had already begun attacking people. The pine needles were only as long as fingernails back then."
Zhao Qian stroked his chin. "This tree grows incredibly fast. Nothing dares to approach within its range of attack. How can this person be so bold and still alive?"
Another person chimed in, "Could the disappearance of the giant pine tree be related to this celebrity?"
"We'll find out once he regains consciousness."
"With so many pine needles embedded in his body, it must be excruciatingly painful."
Cong Xia asked, "Doctor, when will he wake up?"
"It's hard to say. We can't even determine the cause of his unconsciousness."
Wang Lian said, "Let's wait. Comrade Cheng, most of the communication stations across the country have been abandoned for various reasons. It's also difficult for us to establish contact with Beijing. Communication resources are now as scarce as food. I don't have the authority to grant you access. We'll have to wait for the commander to return. For now, rest in the command center. Xiao Liu, please arrange a dormitory for them and provide some food."
Providing basic food was already considered a luxury at this point. Cong Xia couldn't help but salivate at the thought of eating something normal. Xiao Liu led them to a small office that had been converted into a dormitory. Inside, there were two military beds. He handed them two vacuum-sealed bread rolls and two bottles of water. "I'll inform you if there's any news."
After Xiao Liu left, the two men sat on the beds and began nibbling on the bread. They weren't very hungry since they had just eaten cockroach meat, but Cong Xia savored every small bite of the buttery-scented bread. It felt like the most delicious thing in the world. If it weren't for the need to open the packaging and the inability to preserve it, he would have saved it for tomorrow.
After finishing their bread, Cong Xia and Cheng Tianbi sat cross-legged on the beds. Cheng Tianbi closed his eyes and breathed steadily.
Cong Xia knew that he was cultivating. He could see with his own eyes a gentle breeze swirling around Cheng Tianbi's body, gently rustling his hair and clothes.
Cong Xia didn't dare to disturb him. Although he was curious about Cheng Tianbi's conversation with Captain Wang, he knew that asking would be in vain. So he decided to lie down on the bed as well, clutching the ancient jade in his hand, and once again entered the void.
The luminous Sanskrit wall reappeared before him. Cong Xia attempted to find what had puzzled him all along—what exactly was attributeless energy?
The ancient jade had mentioned that attributeless energy, like the five elemental energies, could be obtained and enhanced through personal cultivation. Although attributeless energy was distinct from the five elemental energies, it was closely related to them. This explanation was quite cryptic, and after struggling to understand it for a while, Cong Xia grasped the concept. It was like comparing colored pigments to transparent pigments—attributeless energy could freely complement the quality of the five elemental energies. In other words, attributeless energy could be used as if it were one of the five elemental energies, as long as one mastered the technique.
This sounded remarkable. If he mastered the five elemental energies, did that mean he could manipulate wind like Cheng Tianbi?
The amount of information preserved in the ancient jade was immense. Merely understanding this part had already taken him hours. Furthermore, despite the automatic translation of the text into modern language in his mind, it still remained convoluted and peculiar. Cong Xia needed a significant amount of time to piece together the context and fully comprehend it. Sometimes when he grew tired of a particular section, he would skip ahead and read a few lines.
Gradually, he noticed that the latter half of the Sanskrit wall repeatedly mentioned a term: "Yuan Consciousness."
What was Yuan Consciousness?
Cong Xia quickly scanned through it, realizing that much of the content was directed at and hostile towards Yuan Consciousness.
Cong Xia felt completely bewildered. He hadn't even fully grasped attributeless energy, so he didn't dare to delve into understanding "Yuan Consciousness."
In any case, his greatest achievement this time was understanding the vital information about the interconnectedness of attributeless energy and the five elemental energies. However, it seemed that this usage was one-way—the attributeless energy could be used as one of the five elemental energies, but the reverse wasn't possible. Although it was also possible that Cong Xia hadn't reached that part of the content, he already felt exhausted and couldn't continue reading.
He opened his eyes, leaving the void. As he stood up, he noticed that Cheng Tianbi was still in a cross-legged position. The gentle breeze surrounding him gradually gained a faint color—a very light shade of green. It looked as if Cheng Tianbi was enveloped in a transparent mist of pale green. Cong Xia stared at Cheng Tianbi in astonishment. Could this be wood energy?
He didn't dare to make a sound, afraid of disturbing Cheng Tianbi, so he just stared, captivated by his presence. Cheng Tianbi seemed like a beautiful and powerful elf from legends, radiating the sacred light of life throughout his entire being.
Energy could be obtained through cultivation. According to the voice of that elderly person, Cong Xia was the inheritor of the ancient jade. However, why didn't he possess an energy core for cultivation?
Was the energy core something only Evolutionaries had? If he didn't evolve, he wouldn't have an energy core. And without an energy core, he couldn't cultivate attributeless energy. Wasn't this contradictory?
What did that old senior mean? It couldn't be that they had mistaken the person, right?
He sighed, unable to find an answer at the moment, so he decided to stop thinking about it for now. He took out pen and paper and wrote down today's discoveries, paying extra attention to the cultivation methods, hoping they would be helpful to Cheng Tianbi.
Unbeknownst to him, night had fallen, and Cheng Tianbi remained motionless, sitting there for five or six hours. Cong Xia had already become exhausted and fallen asleep, slumped on the bed. It was only then that Cheng Tianbi opened his eyes.
He took a sip of water and walked over to Cong Xia's bedside, staring at his peaceful sleeping face, lost in thought.
He noticed several sheets of paper on the table, containing the information Cong Xia had recorded about the ancient jade. He picked them up and glanced at them. Cong Xia woke up, still groggy, and looked at Cheng Tianbi. "Are you... feeling better?"
"Mmm. Any new discoveries?"
"Yes." Cong Xia sat up and shared the information he had gained that day with Cheng Tianbi.
After listening, Cheng Tianbi placed his hand on Cong Xia's forehead.
Cong Xia froze, not daring to move.
Cheng Tianbi's palm was dry and warm, providing a sense of comfort.
"I can't sense it." After a moment, Cheng Tianbi withdrew his hand.
"What do you mean?"
"These past few days, I've started to perceive the energy fluctuations around me. Do you remember that person with the mutated hair we saw today? His energy fluctuations were completely different from those of ordinary people. He was stronger than everyone around him, including Zhao Qian and Liu Fengyu—they were all special energy entities."
"Are you saying they were Evolvers?"
"It seems so because based on my perception of energy, they were completely distinct from ordinary humans. But I couldn't sense anything from you. I couldn't even feel it by directly touching you, which proved that you were no different from an ordinary person."
Cong Xia sighed, "I also knew that I hadn't evolved, so I couldn't understand. If I hadn't evolved and didn't have an energy core, how could I cultivate like you?"
"Perhaps your role in helping others is more important than your own cultivation," Cheng Tianbi said.
Cong Xia blinked. "Are you saying..."
"In the past few days, I cultivated using the ancient jade's method, and my energy was slowly increasing. If it hadn't been for you being able to read the information from the ancient jade, no one would have known about these things. Your possession of the ancient jade is very significant."
Cong Xia's eyes lit up. "Are you saying I helped you!"
"Yes."
Cong Xia jumped off the bed. "That's great! Now I can help you too. Don't worry, I will do everything in my power to assist you. What I wanted most was to see you become stronger and stronger. That way, both of us could survive." Cong Xia looked at the jade in his hand and exclaimed, "It's truly a treasure."
"That's right. So first, you need to keep it safe. Second, until we understood the origin and intentions of this jade, we must not let anyone else know," Cheng Tianbi said sternly.
Cong Xia nodded, his eyes clear. "Don't worry, I understand the stakes."
If one or two Evolvers could make the military desperately want it, he didn't know what they would do to him and the jade if they found out about its existence.
After all, he might be the only person capable of reading the information from the ancient jade. Until he was certain, he didn't want to be manipulated by others.
Cheng Tianbi stretched his body, looking somewhat tired.
"You should take a rest. There's nothing to do here except sleep."
Cheng Tianbi shook his head. "I was really curious about the Great Pine Tree. Let's go and see if Liu Fengyu had woken up."
"Okay."
The two of them left the office and headed upstairs.
"You mentioned earlier that Liu Fengyu also had energy fluctuations different from ordinary people. What type of Evolver could he be?"
"I don't know, but he should be different from me. Right now, I could only vaguely sense that kind of energy fluctuation, but I couldn't determine its strength or type. The only thing I could tell was that the hair-mutated Evolver and Liu Fengyu had energies different from mine."
"So, they might be Evolvers with other types of energy. This was a good opportunity for us to learn about Evolvers. We must ask Liu Fengyu thoroughly."
After they reached the upper floor, they noticed that Liu Fengyu's room was being guarded by soldiers. As soon as they approached, the guards intercepted them.
Cong Xia inquired, "Is the person inside awake?"
"Not yet. Captain Wang said he would notify you when he wakes up."
After a moment of hesitation, the two of them decided to leave.
Once they had walked a distance, Cheng Tianbi remarked, "My perception ability has improved."
"Really? How did it improve?"
"His energy was red."
"Red?"
"Mine was green, his was red."
"What about the hairy person?"
"I don't know. We need to see him again to find out."
Cong Xia muttered to himself, "Green, red. If green represents wood energy, does red represent fire energy? But it could also be metal energy..."
"What exactly is it? We'll find out once he wakes up."
The two of them stayed in the command center for four days. During this time, they didn't venture outside, and no one came to look for them. They had access to food and drink, and they didn't want to expose themselves to the increasing dangers outside. Instead, they dedicated all their available time to their mission.
Cheng Tianbi tirelessly worked on enhancing his energy. Based on their analysis and conclusions, the most effective method for purifying the energy core and increasing energy accumulation was to continuously absorb the free wood energy present in the world and circulate it within Cheng Tianbi's body. Each circulation allowed the absorbed energy to undergo purification within the energy core, eliminating impurities and leaving behind pure wood energy. Although the process of energy accumulation and purification was incredibly slow, Cheng Tianbi could sense his progress every day, and it brought him great excitement.
However, according to the information provided by the ancient jade, he was still far from achieving the first stage of energy core purification, known as the Energy Storage Core. To reach the Energy Storage Core, he needed to completely fill the energy core with wood energy. Only when the accumulation of wood energy reached the critical point of the energy core's current capacity could the energy core be further purified, progressing to the second stage known as the Fusion Core. The current capacity of the energy core was already massive, to the extent that Cheng Tianbi couldn't fathom how much wood energy would be required to fill it, given his current abilities.
It was like pouring water into a tank. At the beginning, they had no idea how much water was needed to fill the tank. They only knew that the amount of water they poured in was insignificant compared to the total volume of the tank. It was only when the water reached a certain volume that they could determine the size of the tank and how much more water was needed to fill it. Cheng Tianbi's current energy accumulation had barely surpassed the bottom of the tank.
However, even so, he was now capable of self-preservation in the apocalypse. Cheng Tianbi couldn't imagine how large the "tank" of the Energy Storage Core truly was. And when he ascended to the second stage, the Fusion Core, or even the third stage, the Pure Energy Core, or even the seventh stage, the Divine Energy Core, would this "tank" be able to contain the vastness of an entire ocean?
At that time, would his energy be able to unleash hurricanes that would make the heavens tremble?
Just the thought of all this excitement not only invigorated Cheng Tianbi but also caused Cong Xia to tremble with excitement.
Every time they speculated about the ultimate evolution of humanity based on the information from the ancient jade, they were deeply shaken by the scenarios they envisioned.
