With the world's spiritual energy growing denser, it's not just the Immortal-Dao cultivators who benefit—ordinary citizens and martial artists do too.
This season is usually when smog is at its worst. In many of the Yanhuang Republic's major cities, the air is shrouded in haze all day long, especially in those heavy industrial hubs. People go out wearing masks, and lung disease rates keep climbing.
But in just ten short days—
The smog in major cities has thinned by a third. Even the withered grass and trees in the city are showing signs of spring in midwinter, and the dead trees on the outskirts are sprouting new buds and leaves ahead of schedule.
With the vegetation thriving, they release a huge amount of oxygen, so naturally the air becomes fresher too.
According to Ian Song's estimates, in at most three months, all the major cities in Yanhuang will say goodbye to smoggy days.
As for martial artists, many who'd been stuck at a bottleneck for years suddenly found their barriers loosening these past few days. Quite a few have made breakthroughs in just this short period.
The impact was felt most strongly in the Dragon Guard Directorate.
The Directorate's members come from three sources: first, those converted from the War God Squad—like the four current vice-ministers, Vaughn Jin, Samuel Wang, Jason Zhou, and Logan Long, who were all deputy commanders in the squad.
The second group are heirs from the major families of Yanhuang. Since the Directorate is the country's main force against the Immortal-Dao sects, even a fool knows the state pours resources into cultivating them, so every family tries to cram as many of their disciples in as possible.
The third group comes from elite soldiers in the military.
Of these three groups, those converted from the War God Squad are the strongest, the family heirs come next, and the military elites are the weakest.
But even the weakest members are at peak Post-Natal. Any one of them could go out and dominate the martial world, since martial artists are so rare these days. To ordinary fighters, Innate experts are already legendary, almost out of reach.
Inside the Directorate, Ian Song set up a Spirit-Gathering Array.
Even so, before Ian Song crossed over to the Immortal-Dao world, only two or three members had managed to break through to Innate.
But in these ten days, twenty-eight peak Post-Natal martial artists have advanced to Innate. Thirty-seven more are still at peak Post-Natal, but most of them can sense they'll break through soon.
And it wasn't just the Post-Natal fighters—several Innate members also advanced to higher realms in these ten days.
On this particular day—
Samuel Wang, Vaughn Jin, and Jason Zhou were drinking tea and chatting in the Directorate's lounge.
With Ian Song, the official minister, barely involved in daily affairs, the Directorate relied on them for management. Lately, with so many breakthroughs among their subordinates, they were in high spirits.
"By the way, Old Long has been in seclusion for two days now. Do you think he'll make it this time?"
Jason Zhou took a sip of tea and said.
"Hard to say!"
Vaughn Jin shook his head. Unlike the three of them, Logan Long comes from the Long Family, one of the Ten Great Families. From childhood, he had far more resources and built a much deeper martial foundation.
So after the world's recent changes, his solid foundation paid off. He was the first to sense a breakthrough opportunity and went into seclusion two days ago to push for Innate Eighth Layer.
If he manages to break through to Innate Ninth Layer, he'll be one of the top martial artists around, on par with the heads of the Ten Great Families.
"With his foundation, the odds are pretty good!" Samuel Wang said, a little envious.
Just then, someone suddenly pushed open the tea room door and walked in. Glancing around, he grinned, "Hey, you three are all here!"
As he spoke, Logan Long walked over, picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup, and took a satisfied sip.
"Well? Did you succeed?"
The other three weren't nearly as relaxed as him—they stared at him, visibly tense.
"Take a guess," Logan Long replied with a playful grin.
Logan Long smiled mischievously.
"No need to guess—look at that smug face, he definitely broke through!" Samuel Wang snorted.
Seeing Logan's undeniable expression, Vaughn Jin and Jason Zhou were almost certain he'd reached Innate Ninth Layer. "Congrats! You beat us to it!"
"Heh, just lucky!" Logan Long said, pretending to be humble.
"Yeah, right!" Samuel Wang scoffed.
"You owe us a treat!" Jason Zhou laughed.
"No problem, you pick the place. But first, I've got to head back to the Long Family!" Logan Long stood up. With another Innate Ninth Layer expert in the clan, their influence and bargaining power would rise, and they'd get a bigger slice of the pie.
As a member of the Long Family, Logan naturally had to think of the clan. After his breakthrough, he called the patriarch right away.
When the Long Family patriarch heard the news, he immediately called a meeting of the senior members, waiting for Logan Long to return and discuss important matters.
After Logan Long left, word of his breakthrough quickly reached the inner circle.
The Head of State and the nine Cabinet Elders were all delighted.
In just over a month, another Innate Ninth Layer expert had emerged—clearly, founding the Dragon Guard Directorate was the right move.
As for Ian Song, the Director of the Dragon Guard Directorate, he soon heard the news too.
He wasn't surprised at all. The Directorate members had cultivated the "Foundation Nurturing Sutra" he taught them, and with the Spirit-Gathering Array he'd set up, plus the recent changes in the world, Logan Long's breakthrough to Innate Ninth Layer wouldn't be the last. Samuel Wang and the others should be able to follow soon.
Though Innate Ninth Layer is nothing special in his eyes, he still decided to call Logan Long to congratulate him.
But after several attempts, Logan's phone was busy—clearly many people were calling to congratulate him. So Ian just sent a congratulatory text message instead.
Five minutes after Ian sent the message, Logan Long called him back.
Although Logan Long was riding high after his breakthrough, he still showed plenty of respect and awe toward Ian Song—after all, Ian had left a deep impression during his spar with the Immortal-Dao experts.
Even after reaching Innate Ninth Layer, Logan Long knew he was no match for Ian Song.
After a brief chat, Ian Song hung up and went back to planning his company's expansion.
With Zhao Xin overseeing the deli business, Ian didn't need to worry about it. Instead, he started thinking about when and how to enter the pharmaceutical and entertainment industries.
In the blink of an eye, two days passed.
News of Logan Long's breakthrough had spread throughout the Ten Great Families, and the Long Family was preparing a celebratory banquet. Ian Song was invited as well.
In the past, Ian Song would've had no interest in attending such a banquet. But now, as he aimed to become a public figure, leveraging the influence of the Ten Great Families would make things much easier.
So he decided to attend, but when it came to choosing who to bring along, he found himself at a loss.
Maybe he should bring everyone?
But he quickly dismissed the idea—bringing over a dozen stunning beauties at once would be far too ostentatious.