Read Novel Full Chapter 878 - Rescue mission (01)
Chapter 878: 878 - Rescue mission (01)
Qingyi emerged from the spatial rift in a remote, sunny region of the Celestial Orthodox Martial Alliance.
The Alliance’s territory was vast. The central island alone rivaled the size of planet Earth.
Although cultivators inhabited much of this land, countless mortals still lived scattered throughout, especially the families of disciples without origins who had been taken in by the Alliance.
This was precisely one such region, where mortals lived side by side with low-level cultivators.
Looking down at his own unremarkable appearance and the plain clothes he now wore, Qingyi let out a heavy sigh.
It felt strange to no longer feel the soft caress of the silk battle robes Meilin had crafted with such care and skill, only to be wrapped once more in the coarse fabric of ordinary mortals.
Stranger still was seeing himself as a plain man. Not exactly ugly, but far from the kind of face that would catch any woman’s eye.
"Ah... back to mediocrity." He shook his head and ran his fingers across his face, making sure the mask was firmly in place.
It was an almost perfect disguise.
Not even a Celestial Emperor would see through it, unless he took the time and patience to observe him up close.
Under normal circumstances, such a precaution would have been unnecessary. But these were far from normal times... the demonic and orthodox worlds were at war.
Spies had infiltrated every corner of the Martial Alliance. Qingyi’s departure from the territory would attract immediate attention, triggering a swift reaction from the demons, whose agents had received specific orders to keep watch on him.
The entire plan could collapse if a single scrap of information slipped into the wrong hands.
Qingyi scanned his surroundings.
He stood in the backyard of an ordinary peasant’s house, currently empty.
As he stepped inside, a light cloud of dust swirled around his feet, and the stagnant air carried the distinctive smell of long-abandoned rooms.
A thin layer of grime coated the furniture. Clearly, the place hadn’t been tended to in many days.
Next to the master bedroom, a suitcase leaned against the wall.
Qingyi walked over, lifted it with his right hand, and without wasting a moment, left the house.
Outside, he found himself on a cobblestone street in a small but prosperous village.
Without drawing any attention to himself, he made his way through the crowd and soon reached a rapid-transit train station.
The train car was practically empty, except for a single old man with an ordinary face and a friendly expression.
He was a cultivator at the Foundation Establishment Realm, somewhere around ninety or a hundred years old.
How long had it been since Qingyi had seen someone so frail?
He honestly couldn’t say.
Sitting down in the seat opposite the old man, Qingyi settled in as the train began gliding along the tracks with a slight jolt.
That region was sparsely populated, so public transportation rarely carried many passengers. Only when the trains approached the major cities did the cars start to fill up.
"Heading to the capital, young friend?" The old man broke the silence, studying him with calm, friendly eyes.
"Yes," Qingyi replied casually. "A cousin of mine hooked me up with a job opportunity as a warehouse manager at Zhang Industries. I’m going to take the position."
He had already memorized his entire cover story and delivered it with the same excitement as a young country boy about to venture into the big city.
"Oh!..." The old man’s eyes sparkled.
Zhang Industries was one of the wealthiest corporations in the entire central region, run by a Celestial Emperor himself.
Working there, even in the most humble positions, was a source of pride among young people and a tremendous symbol of social status.
A stock manager was a low- to mid-level role, but the salary—though insignificant to a powerful cultivator—represented a veritable fortune for a mortal family.
"Ugh... what a shame my granddaughter’s already married! If it weren’t for that, I’d give her hand to you right now, young man, hahahaha!" The old man let out a thunderous laugh, slapping his own thigh.
In his youth, he himself had tried to get into Zhang Industries. He hadn’t even managed to pass the first of the ten tests required for the lowest-level position.
Qingyi just chuckled awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck with a shy gesture.
For the rest of the trip, the two of them kept chatting casually, one topic drifting into another.
About two hours later, the old man reached his stop and said goodbye with a friendly wave. Another thirty minutes passed, and it was Qingyi’s turn.
By then, the train had already pulled into the central district of Golden Core City, one of the region’s largest metropolises, and the car was completely packed.
Qingyi stood, stepped off the train, and crossed the station’s enormous hallway until he reached the city’s commercial district.
Tens of thousands of people—mortals and cultivators alike—filled the streets in a sea of voices, hurried footsteps, and mingling aromas.
Ignoring the crowd entirely, he headed straight for the main spaceship terminal.
He presented his ticket, passed through security without incident, and boarded a small civilian transport spaceship.
Taking his seat, he waited patiently until the ship lifted off, cutting through the skies toward the cosmos.
"Young Master Qingyi... our ground scouts have confirmed there are no signs of spies, and we are not being followed. Should we activate stealth mode and begin approaching demonic territory?" a voice whispered beside him.
Turning his head, Qingyi saw a young man in his twenties or thirties, just like him, also perfectly camouflaged.
Every single person aboard that spacecraft was an agent, prepared to follow him to the death.
"Yes." Qingyi nodded without hesitation.
The moment the ship left the Alliance’s vicinity, its structure began to reconfigure, accelerating to a speed no civilian vessel could even dream of matching.
It was the fastest ship in the entire central region.
With it, they would be in demonic territory in under twenty hours.