Vol 2 Chapter 29: Imposters
In the residential district, fifteen-year-old ordinary resident Bi Lingyan felt sothing was off about his roommate.
"Why have you beco two-eyed, one-mouthed, and two-handed?"
Across from him, his roommate looked puzzled instead: "Aren't humans supposed to have two eyes, one mouth, and two hands?"
His facial features were properly arranged in their correct positions, his limbs and internal organs showed no abnormalities - he looked completely human.
Bi Lingyan nodded: "Yes, but you're different."
"You usually have eight eyes on your head for better panoramic vision, six hands on your body to practice special martial techniques, and besides the mouth on your head, you also have one on your stomach for eating large mouthfuls."
The roommate exclaid in shock: "That doesn't sound human at all! Are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Bi Lingyan insisted: "That's what humans are like. You're the one who's not human!"
How long had it been since the definition of humanity was updated? Even the most old-fashioned should have adapted to the new definition by now.
As he spoke, Bi Lingyan's human face suddenly transford, revealing a needle-like slender beak that shot forward abruptly, stabbing toward his roommate's neck.
This lightning-fast attack almost caught the roommate off guard. He barely managed to avoid the vital spot, but a bloody gash opened on his neck, crimson blood gushing out.
Seeing that strange red blood, Bi Lingyan's two hearts pounded in terror. He scread: "Help! There's a monster that replaced my roommate!"
He clearly rembered - horseshoe crab blood was blue.
The next instant, the ceiling, floor, and walls were all shattered.
People with pincer-like giant arms, others with four compound eyes on their faces, hairy apes covering their entire bodies - they all attacked at full force, working in perfect coordination to restrain the roommate.
The roommate looked at the surrounding people, completely bewildered.
What was happening?
Why were humans like this? Had he gone mad, or had the world gone mad?
He could feel the trendous power within his body - he could easily kill all these people around him.
But suddenly, his mind went completely blank.
Monts later, he understood.
The roommate reminded them: "Friends, this restraint isn't sufficient. My body can transform, and my vitality is quite tenacious. My head is the only vital point throughout my entire body."
"You'd better incinerate the other parts of my body and use spiritual energy instead of physical strength to restrain . Otherwise, not only could I break free easily, but I might even counterattack and kill you."
The others remained unmoved, making him rather helpless: "Fine, I can't attack you right now anyway, so consider this a friendly reminder. I'll just wait for the teacher to co take away."
...
"Imposters - that's what they call themselves."
"They are monsters that imitate humans, naturally harbor malice toward humanity, and can ntally influence others to conceal their identities. When enough people believe in them, they can completely replace others."
"Normally, they try their best to disguise themselves, sotis not even aware of their own imposter nature."
"Only when alone with soone or when their true identity is discovered do they rember the power they possess and violently attack to kill."
"Their strength is equivalent to senior students who have just begun nurturing their Spiritual Apertures. At most, they can only replace people of this strength level and are completely incapable of harming cultivators who have begun cultivating their internal Secret Realms. However, only top-tier cultivators who have achieved communion with heaven and earth can detect their true forms."
"Currently, it remains uncertain whether there exist individuals with greater power."
Mo Wen's eyebrows furrowed tightly: "Infiltration-type enemies, appearing out of nowhere even in residential districts."
"How did you discover them?"
The responsible official smiled bitterly: "So were discovered by cultivators practicing unorthodox thods, so by Demon Race cultivators, and others were ntally impacted by grand arrays during their violent killing sprees, then brainwashed and reported themselves. Follow-up investigation work is still ongoing."
Even though he had long known about the power of the Great Matrix of Universal Kindness and Spiritual Tracing, seeing these monsters who treated killing as instinct being brainwashed still made his heart tremble with fear, awakening so dread toward the array's might.
Looking at the fearful official, even though Mo Wen knew what he truly feared, he showed no intention of suspending the array: "I understand. You may withdraw."
In so ways, this could be considered good news.
Monsters had infiltrated, but compared to the scenario where the grand arrays were breached by Heavenly Demons and everyone could potentially go mad, this was just a minor issue.
But this also ant the defenses weren't strong enough yet. New spatial protections needed to be established to prevent foreign entities from directly appearing in residential areas.
Also, it was ti to prepare the "seed vault."
Mutated toxic blood, ntal suggestions - most confird enemies' influences were bounded by the "internal Secret Realm" threshold. Only those who reached this line could beco completely immune to such harm and avoid easily becoming tools of the enemy.
The dynasty hadn't reached the point where it needed to use the weak as cannon fodder yet.
Mo Wen issued a ntal command: "Total war is about to begin. No corner can be considered safe."
"All underage cultivators who haven't begun cultivating internal Secret Realms, prepare to enter the preservation zone."
"I confirm that the enemy possesses powerful infiltration capabilities, and stronger Heavenly Demons are about to descend. Your cultivation levels are insufficient to guarantee your safety and cannot influence the battle situation."
"Until the battle situation stabilizes and enters a prolonged phase, you don't need to step onto the battlefield - you only need to accept protection."
Children who had prepared for a potential war that might erupt soday listened blankly to the Divine Martial Emperor's command.
Not being killed was certainly a good thing, but for those who had received thorough education and were prepared to sacrifice themselves for their country, being denied the right to step onto the battlefield, unable to fight to the end, felt more like a disgrace - a denial of all their efforts up to this point.
But this was the Emperor's command, and they had prepared for this possibility during nurous ergency evacuations.
Besides, it wasn't all bad.
Their civilization was powerful enough and progressing rapidly every mont.
Perhaps soon, great cultivators would develop technology allowing them to continue cultivating during hibernation. They might awaken to face the enemy at full strength, or maybe new collective technologies would be developed allowing them to contribute their power even while dormant.
They knew their numbers, knew the routes. Without officials' guidance, they orderly entered the preservation zone.
One young cultivator after another, confird healthy and normal through inspections, flew into their respective pods. As the liquid filled the containers, they fell into deep slumber.
Ten million cultivators ford a giant wall; hundreds of giant walls ford a grand array; several grand arrays protected thirty-five billion young cultivators, safeguarding the next generation of civilization.
A ten-kiloter cube seed so insignificant compared to those otherworld refugees who had turned into invaders and been exterminated, and compared to other invaders who would be erased in the future.
But they would endure for a long ti.
One billion cultivators who had already begun cultivating internal Secret Realms were using new technologies to further militarize transformations throughout the dynasty.
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