Chapter 1279: Chapter 1279: Epiphany (Major Chapter Requesting Monthly Tickets)
Central Earth · Nandu
He Ao walked alone along the sowhat deserted riverside, the slightly chilly wind blowing against his cheeks.
Li Cheng’s words still echoed in his ears.
He could understand Li Cheng’s hints and could clearly perceive that Li Cheng was indeed explaining his last wishes.
Li Cheng truly wanted him to take on the burden of the Research Institute.
And his response was straightforward, ‘Isn’t it a bit too early to discuss this, Director?’
When everything was undecided, Li Cheng arranging his affairs always gave He Ao a feeling that Li Cheng was making a symbolic gesture.
However, in the end, Li Cheng neither continued this topic nor made He Ao promise anything but instead smiled and saw him off from the courtyard.
Perhaps he wasn’t really arranging his affairs, just testing He Ao’s attitude.
But as for what he really thought, only he would know.
But for He Ao, he hoped Li Cheng would live.
For Li Cheng to live and ascend as an angel would be a good thing, both for him and for the Main World.
Of course, he could understand Li Cheng’s mindset of preparing for defeat before victory but observed that if Li Cheng really arranged everything, he might choose to give up when that critical mont required his struggle.
Sotis, people live, especially at the border between life and death, just by holding on to a mont of Qi, they can pull through.
He Ao gently rested his fingers on the stone railing of the riverside path, quietly gazing at the wide expanse of the river not far away.
In his line of sight, a towering bridge spanned across this vast river, connecting one bank to the other, linking the skyscrapers along both sides of the river.
Cars rged into a stream across the bridge, constantly connecting the two sides of the riverbank.
Below the bridge, ships gently floated along the quiet river.
Among these ships, there were both passenger ships and freighters.
Nandu has always been a transportation hub of Central Earth, located by the river, with both land and sea transport being very developed.
He Ao had read many descriptions of Nandu in books, but this was his first ti coming to Nandu.
To be precise, during the first eighteen years of his life, he hardly ever left Xidu, and most of his travels outside Xidu were during the past few months after joining the Research Institute.
Originally, after saying goodbye to Li Cheng, he had intended for ‘Hao Yi’ to take him straight back to the Western Lands, but he figured since he was already here, he might as well explore a bit.
Strictly speaking, even though he had never been to Nandu, he had acquaintances here.
For example, Lin Chichi’s family was in Nandu. Of course, Lin Chichi was now overwheld with work in the Western Lands and certainly couldn’t be in Nandu.
Besides Lin Chichi, He Ao also had other acquaintances.
For instance, Yuan Guo, a researcher who had gone through life and death with him during the Navigator incident, was responsible for a small city near Nandu.
And Ye Yun, the head of the Nandu Research Institute, had also intersected with He Ao during the Navigator incident, although he hadn’t actually boarded the Navigator and was impersonated to deceive He Ao.
Even though he had several ‘acquaintances,’ it was unlikely for He Ao to et any of them.
There’s no need to ntion Lin Chichi.
After the Navigator incident, Yuan Guo’s relationship with He Ao had shifted to rely liking each other’s posts on social dia. She had ssaged He Ao, inviting him to visit Nandu, but he had been so busy that he could only reply, “Next ti for sure.”
He had basically lost contact with Ye Yun. Based on He Ao’s information, Ye Yun was a typical workaholic, rarely even posting on social dia.
Their last interaction was after the Navigator incident, where Ye Yun, having read the incident report, ssaged He Ao with a simple ‘impressive.’
He Ao withdrew his hand from the railing and gazed forward toward a certain area across the river.
According to his information, the Nandu branch of the Research Institute should be nearby.
He retracted his gaze, massaged his brow, and slowly proceeded along the riverside path.
After calculating full circle, it seed like there was no one he could et.
He resud his walk, and after who knows how long, he seed to enter a bustling area.
More people were laughing and playing around him, appearing to be about eighteen or nineteen years old, chatting and crossing the streets, moving in small groups.
He Ao quietly observed the ‘young people’ before him.
People from Nandu indeed had subtle differences compared to Xidu, whether in appearance, walking posture, or expressions when speaking.
Distinct geographical environnts have given rise to different cultural histories in the two places, affecting all who live there.
At such monts, He Ao understood the aning of the saying, ‘different lands foster different peoples.’
He also realized the imnse size of this country.
So vast that within the sa nation, people from different regions could have completely different characters and cultures, yet they could all communicate using the sa language and share certain common thoughts and ideas.
The crowd around him was getting denser, carrying a faint, noisy laughter.
Watching the small groups pass by, He Ao realized he indeed had walked into a bustling area.
He had seldom wandered so aimlessly before.
Before he turned eighteen, he was either earning money or on the way to earn money or studying, rarely having ti to himself.
Sotis, he allowed himself a break, releasing the tension, but this break usually only ant sleeping in on weekends.
He rarely had such ample ti to wander so naturally.
Now, preparations for Li Cheng’s expedition to the relics weren’t yet complete, and the connection to the Trapped Destiny Plate was not fully stable.
While other matters were urgent, none were urgent enough that they demanded imdiate action. Whether it was the governance of the Western Lands or the affairs of the K Church, everything had begun to settle and rely required oversight.
Of course, this ‘wandering’ wasn’t entirely aimless.
At least in Martial Arts Training, pushing oneself without rest is not beneficial.
This was the insight he gained when he broke through to the B-level.
Integrate with nature, experience nature.
Allowing his heart to quiet down would actually aid in his Martial Arts Training.
The myriad forms of life, the chirping birds and insects, are all part of nature.
He Ao looked up, observing the increasingly bustling streets, his restless thoughts gradually calming.
Although he ca with a purpose, he wasn’t overly attached to it.
In his current stage of Martial Arts Training, he often experienced intuitive insights.
For instance, experiencing nature for the sake of experiencing nature would only entrench oneself into a cycle of obsession, leading to counterproductive results.
This thing sounds very idealistic, very taphysical. In fact, He Ao himself thinks it’s quite taphysical, but in martial arts, this taphysical stuff seems to be quite effective.
He gazes at the crowd before him, imrsing his thoughts into perception.
The ability from Super mory allows him to perceive the simple thoughts on the surface of surrounding people. Although he can’t clearly hear the people’s specific thoughts without placing a marker, he can sense the inclination of their thoughts.
Pedestrians co and go, carrying various different thoughts.
So are hungry, so greedy, so excited, so weary, so longing, so envious, and so with sincere admiration in their hearts.
Countless thoughts mixed with simple laughter wind into a ball in He Ao’s mind.
This complex and chaotic flow of thoughts is indeed botherso, even though He Ao is already accustod to this kind of perception, he naturally wants to withdraw from ‘listening’ to these chaotic thoughts.
Previously, he used to do this, treating these thoughts as noise, and over ti, naturally ignoring them.
But this ti, instead of throwing these ‘noises’ into the dead corner of his mind, he tried to ‘listen’ to the surrounding sounds as his body moved forward.
Wind rises, voices sound, birds descend, and the sun shines.
Gradually, He Ao realized that he could not only hear the thoughts of ‘people’, but seemingly also the ‘thoughts’ of all living things around him.
Sparrows on the treetops, stray cats in the cracks; they actually have their own ‘thoughts’, but amidst the ocean ford by human thoughts, their thoughts seem exceptionally light and simple.
Just one or two simple ‘syllables’, or a small insignificant ‘fluctuation’.
Yet these simple thoughts, rging into the sea of thoughts, create completely different syllables.
A gentle breeze blows through the treetops, making a rustling sound.
It seems as if the wind and trees are whispering silently.
He Ao walks slowly along the riverbank.
He quietly listens to this noisy sound and thoughts, feeling as if he has walked into a boiling sea.
This seawater churns his thoughts and influences his thinking. After a brief hesitation, he did not resist or detach but instead willingly embraced this sea.
Ultimately, his thoughts and soul completely lted, thoroughly blending into this vast sea of thoughts.
In a trance, this boiling ocean slowly revealed changes in his ‘perception’.
The originally chaotic and seemingly ruleless thoughts began to show so invisible rhythm.
They jostle together noisily, rge into nature, disturb nature, and beco nature.
This clamor is, in essence, a part of nature.
At this mont, He Ao felt that his body was thoroughly integrated into the surrounding crowd, blended with the wind from the river, the sunlight, insects, fish, birds, and beasts.
The previously smooth energy circuit started to run quickly at so unknown ti, dense energy gushed from the jade pendant on his chest, layer by layer, into his body.
Then, these energy circuits began to diffuse, flowing along so ‘channels’ that did not originally exist within the circuit.
He Ao naturally lifted his hand, moving through the crowd, altering his actions.
These were part of the movents he had just acquired from the cultivation thod, allowing so of his energy circuits to misalign and ‘connect’.
However, He Ao himself was unaware of this. He only felt that he seed completely fused with the sea of thoughts around him, naturally driving his body to make so movents.
Dense energy circuits ran through his body, flowing through many channels that would not normally pass, reaching every corner of his body.
The energy seed to accelerate, yet appeared unchanged, just their distribution beca more dense, their ‘flow’ finer.
These fine energies slowly surged into He Ao’s body along the energy circuits, soaking into his body.
In the past, energy circuits soaked the body like stuffing cotton into gaps—possible but sowhat rough.
Now the energy circuits were like streams soaking the earth, step by step filling all the ‘flesh’ along previously unsoaked gaps.
As ti ticked away, He Ao’s body wandered aimlessly through the city.
The surrounding human voices were sotis boiling, sotis desolate.
The crowd ca and went by the young man, but very few ‘noticed’ this ‘peculiar’ behavior of the young man.
He moved his steps slowly forward, as naturally as if he were part of the scene, like the willow brushing by the riverbank, the water flowing below, making no difference.
He didn’t know how long it had been before He Ao’s movents gradually stopped.
The slightly chilly river wind blew over his face, causing a slight tremor in his body.
He lifted his head, looking at the roadside lights already ignited, seeing the setting sun almost entirely swallowed by the skyscrapers in the distance.
He glanced at the surrounding environnt.
Old streets had already lit up dazzling neon signs, the crowd bustled along this street, a place he had never been to before.
He picked up his phone, turning off the low battery alert, opening the map software.
The location showed that he was now near a university town on the north side of Nandu, approaching the edge of the city.
While Li Cheng’s courtyard was on the south side of Nandu.
Unknowingly, he had traveled from south to north, crossing the entire city.
He put down his phone, looking at the surrounding shops again.
This seed to be a snack street, with small and large shops scattered along the old street, and simple stalls set before the shops.
The sounds of cheerful sales pitches echoed continuously.
Young figures traversed the streets, selecting among the dazzling array of delicacies.
The air was filled with the sizzling heat of roasting lamb, the spicy aroma of boiling hot pots, and the rich fragrance of noodles mixed with sauces.
“Hey handso, want so fried noodles?”
The vendor at the street corner saw He Ao also standing at the street corner. He stood under the flashing lights, guarding his small tricycle with a glass cabinet, smiling and pitching at He Ao, “Exclusive fried noodles, tasty!”
He Ao looked at the noodles placed inside the glass cabinet and slowly walked over, smiling, “One bowl of fried noodles, with extra spicy.”
“Alright,”
The vendor opened the gas stove backed by a propane tank, ignited the blazing fire, heated the pan with oil and ingredients, added side dishes, and stirred up flas and aroma, then dumped noodles from a disposable container into the pan, eliciting a surging fla, “Hey handso, wait two to three minutes, it’ll be ready soon,”
His arm swiftly stirred, constantly adding various seasonings into the pot, “Let tell you, my cooking skills have been around for years, everyone who tried it says it’s good, those handso guys and beautiful won, many are regulars.”
“Mm.”
He Ao watched the iron pot stirred before him, smiled, and nodded.
The evening wind blew through his hair strands, brushed over the old streets and alleys, and the faces of passersby.
His gaze shifted, looking at the personal attributes panel.
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