pjbooks Chapter 123 I'll Wait for You
Chapter 123 I'll Wait for You
News of Kahn's arrival spread across the globe within an hour. Not through news, not through radio—but the moment Kahn turned and stepped into the rift, and the ice flowers fell again, every networked screen in the world was simultaneously hijacked. From the giant screen in Times Square, New York, to the palm-sized cash register screen in a convenience store in Jiangzhou, from the holographic projection platform of the Awakened Headquarters of the Dragon Kingdom to the portable terminals in the tents of peacekeeping forces in Africa, every screen displayed the same image: Kahn standing outside the main gate of Qingyun Academy, hands behind his back, his amber pupils piercing through the lenses, through the signals, and through billions of eyes watching him.
"Three months. I'll wait for you."
The image froze on the moment Kahn turned and stepped into the rift. Then, the instant the screen returned to normal, the world's communication networks simultaneously collapsed. It wasn't an attack; the sudden influx of information exceeded the limits of human internet infrastructure. Weibo servers crashed within 0.3 seconds, WeChat message sending delays increased from milliseconds to minutes, and even the military-grade encrypted communications of the Dragon Kingdom's Awakened General Administration experienced signal interruptions lasting for over ten seconds.
When communication networks began to gradually recover three minutes after the crash, the first trending topic on global social media was just three words: "three months".
No prefix, no suffix, no extra explanation. Everyone knows what these three words mean.
Jiang Chen sheathed the Primordial Sword in his palm and turned around. Wang Kai and Shen Qingxue had already rushed out of the underground training ground. The pale gold sword embroidered on the cuff of Wang Kai's Qi-training uniform was now mostly soaked with black snow water and clung to his arm. He ran up to Jiang Chen, panting heavily, and opened his mouth as if to say something, but in the end he only clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white.
"Brother Chen, what level can I break through to in three months?"
"Peak Foundation Establishment." Jiang Chen's voice was calm, as if he were stating a math problem. "At your current pace, three months is just enough for you to reach the threshold of the peak Foundation Establishment. If the Spirit Gathering Array can be completed on time, reaching the Golden Core stage is not impossible."
Wang Kai paused for a moment, then nodded vigorously. He didn't ask, "Can a peak Foundation Establishment cultivator fight an Apostle?" or "Is a Golden Core cultivator good enough to participate in that final battle?" He simply turned and walked towards the training ground deep within the factory, his steps faster than when he arrived, his shoulders and back straighter than ever before. He knew that three months later, he wouldn't be the one standing on the hundredth floor of the First Apostle's Hall, but he would definitely be among those standing behind Brother Chen.
Shen Qingxue walked up to Jiang Chen, a few fragments of black ice flowers still clinging to her long, silvery-white hair. She slowly removed the fragments, as if using the gesture to gather her thoughts, then looked up, her icy-blue eyes meeting Jiang Chen's directly.
"Where are the limits of body cultivation?"
"There are no limits." Jiang Chen looked at her. "There was once a body cultivator in the cultivation world who didn't rely on spiritual roots or cultivate true essence, but only tempered his physical body. He once shattered a star with a single punch."
"What level can I reach in three months?"
"If you can complete the Fire Refining Flesh and Lightning Forging Tendons, your punch can pierce through the defense of an S-rank Apostle." Jiang Chen paused for a moment. "Not three months. Two months will be enough."
Shen Qingxue didn't ask any more questions. She turned and walked towards the testing area, stopping after a few steps without looking back: "This time, I won't block your way. I'll block the academy."
Jiang Chen watched her figure disappear behind the iron gate of the testing area, a slight smile playing on his lips. He turned and walked towards the dilapidated dispatch room on the second floor of the factory, pushed open the door, and saw the half-empty cup of cold coffee still on the windowsill. He picked up the cup, took a sip, and then picked up the still-vibrating cell phone on the table.
Su Ze had forty-seven missed calls. Chu Tianxiong had fifty-two. Chen Beiyuan had nine—at this point in time, the nine missed calls were the most significant, because Old Chen never dialed consecutively; before each call, he would repeatedly confirm the information to see if what he wanted to say was worth taking up Jiang Chen's time.
Jiang Chen dialed Chen Beiyuan's number. The phone was answered after less than half a ring.
"Jiang Chen, Kahn's declaration of war was broadcast globally. Now the whole world is asking the same question—is three months enough?"
"That's enough to build the academy. The coverage area of the Spirit Gathering Array can be expanded from 3,000 mu to 10,000 mu, and the enrollment quota for the first batch of students can be increased from 500 to 1,500. Wang Kai's cultivation progress is faster than I expected, and Shen Qingxue's body cultivation can also enter the second stage ahead of schedule. Three months later, I won't be the only one behind me."
"Not enough." Chen Beiyuan's voice was old and steady. "What you just said is all that you can do alone. But this battle is not your personal battle. Kahn said that awakened humans can participate in defense, and cultivators can also go to the battlefield. This means that before you go to the First Apostle's Hall to face him, awakened humans and cultivators around the world must first withstand the continuous onslaught of the Ice Flower Storm. A new city every three days, sixty-three cities in rotation—this is not your battle alone, it is a battle for human civilization. You need help, and the help this battle needs is not just the few people you personally trained."
Jiang Chen was silent for a moment, then said, "Just say what you want to say."
"The ancient seal script rubbings that the Dragon Kingdom's highest academy brought back from the Kunlun ruins were deciphered for the first time last night," Chen Beiyuan said in a deep voice. "The deciphered content is not a cultivation technique or an array, but a star map. The star map is marked with twelve coordinates, the first of which is the mountain peak where you discovered the remains of the Primordial Immortal Emperor."
"What about the other eleven coordinates?"
"Distributed all over the world. One of the coordinates is located at the bottom of the East African Rift Valley, where the energy fluctuations have been increasing for the past three days, and are highly similar to the energy readings of the remnants of the Zhou Tian Star Array you found in the Kunlun Ruins." Chen Beiyuan paused for a moment, lowering his voice even further, "Jiang Chen, the Primordial Immortal Emperor did not come alone 30,000 years ago. In addition to his mark, there are the marks of eleven other Immortal Emperors on that star map. If the other eleven coordinates also contain fragments of the Demon Ancestor's primordial spirit, there may also be the Dao Fruit inheritances of Immortal Emperors there—or even more ancient immortal swords."
"Arrange a private jet. Go to East Africa first." Jiang Chen put down his coffee cup and stood up from his chair. "Call Ye Wuhen. If there are any swords there, someone needs to pull them out."
Meanwhile, in the Void Temple of the Apostle Realm.
The screen repeatedly played the scene of Kahn declaring war on Jiang Chen outside the main gate of Qingyun Academy. On the circular throne, the remaining nine apostles silently watched as their first apostle said "I'll wait for you" to a seventeen-year-old human boy.