The sight of Ian covered in pocket watches left Wang Mian completely numb. Just how many Forbidden Items did this guy have? Or were these watches just cheap knockoffs bought at wholesale prices?
Just as the sky-blotting pixelated arrows were about to rain down, with cold sweat pouring down Wang Mian's forehead and his muscles tensed to their absolute limit, the corners of Ian's mouth curled up. He gently waved his hand.
The arrows that filled the sky with the stench of death suddenly dissipated like a mirage, as if they had never existed.
"Scared you, didn't I?" Ian put away the pocket watches and dusted off his hands, though there was no dirt on them. "Just a joke."
The only sounds left on the training field were Wang Mian's heavy panting and the recruits groveling on the ground, completely terrified by the terrifying residual energy.
"You..." Wang Mian opened his mouth to speak, only to find his voice completely hoarse.
Inside the command center, Yuan Gang practically trembled as he picked up the communicator. His voice was hoarse and urgent as he announced over the camp's PA system, "This recruit test... is ending early! All recruits are to return to their dormitories immediately!"
His fingers slipped over the buttons several times before he managed to press them firmly. As the Chief Instructor, he had seen all kinds of genius recruits, but the two today completely exceeded the bounds of his comprehension.
Especially Ian. The terrifying power he casually displayed and just as casually withdrew made Yuan Gang wonder if he was dreaming.
He then immediately activated a memory-erasing Forbidden Item. An invisible, profound energy silently rippled outward with him at the center, instantly enveloping the entire training field.
A strange fluctuation permeated the air, causing everyone to feel slightly dizzy.
In the end, aside from Lin Qiye and Ian, the eyes of all the recruits and instructors turned vacant before regaining their clarity. However, all their abnormal memories—Ian displaying power beyond the norm, Wang Mian being utterly crushed, the barrier shattering—were completely erased. In their place was a vague memory of a "high-intensity combat training session."
"Huh, what were we just doing?" A recruit scratched his head, feeling a bit dazed.
"I think we were training? I feel so exhausted."
"Right, right. The Masked Squad's training intensity is seriously high."
Only Wang Mian, Tianping, Qiangwei, and Yuegui—due to their direct involvement in the battle against Ian and Lin Qiye, as well as their special status—retained some key fragments of their memories. However, their perception was similarly "corrected" by a higher-authority power, leading them to form a "reasonable" misjudgment of Ian's true strength.
In their minds, Ian was indeed very strong, but still within the realm of comprehension.
Wang Mian rubbed his temples. He felt like something important had just happened, but he couldn't recall exactly what it was. He looked at Ian; that intuitive sense of awe was still there, but the reason for it had become blurred.
"Ian, your strength has indeed surpassed the scope of a recruit." Wang Mian straightened his uniform, regaining his authoritative demeanor as captain. "I will report your performance truthfully to our superiors."
Wang Mian immediately reported the situation, emphasizing Ian's potential and recommending that the Night Watchman headquarters pay special attention to him. In his report, Ian was described as "a genius recruit with immense potential, exceptional combat skills, and suspected of possessing a special constitution."
Meanwhile, Yuan Gang, still trembling, reported the terrifying power he had witnessed from Ian, as well as Lin Qiye's overwhelming performance of easily crushing the Masked Squad elites while only at the Lamp Realm. He sent this to the highest command echelon of the Night Watchmen at top speed, using the most rigorous wording possible.
His report was filled with phrases like "unprecedented," "incomprehensible," and "potential on par with Humanity's Ceiling."
*'Is this report... a bit too exaggerated?'* Yuan Gang looked at what he had written, feeling a bit doubtful. But recalling the scene from earlier, he felt his wording still wasn't strong enough.
When the Night Watchman headquarters received this unbelievable report, the entire highest echelon was shaken.
The mention of strength "surpassing the Klein Realm" and even reaching the "Boundless Realm" directly alarmed several "Humanity's Ceilings"—the representatives of Great Xia's highest combat power—who were either in seclusion or handling urgent matters.
"Yuan Gang is usually very steady; he wouldn't make baseless claims." One Ceiling frowned as he read the report. "If he dares to write this, it means the situation is truly abnormal."
"A recruit possessing Boundless Realm strength? That sounds like a fairy tale."
"But what if it's true?"
The Fifth Commander-in-Chief, Ye Fan, personally stepped forward, gathering several Ceilings who were temporarily free, and rushed to Cangnan City. Their arrival did not alert anyone.
Inside the Cangnan City Night Watchman Base, Ian and Lin Qiye were invited into a conference room that had been reinforced with the highest clearance and protected by multiple restrictions.
Soon after, Ye Fan and the other Humanity's Ceilings arrived one after another. Their auras were as deep as the abyss, each one capable of intimidating an entire region. The conference room doors slowly closed, shutting out all outside prying and speculation.
Inside the conference room, there was no interrogation or serious confrontation as one might have imagined.
Instead, the several Humanity's Ceilings surrounded Ian, their eyes filled with curiosity and a thirst for knowledge.
"Kid, just what god are you the proxy for? Why is your Divine Realm so powerful?"
"Why is your cultivation speed so heaven-defying? Could it be that you also have one of those special constitutions without any bottlenecks?"
"And where did you get all those Forbidden Items? Our Night Watchman inventory doesn't even have as many as you do!"
They showed immense interest and confusion regarding Ian's strength, completely lacking the airs of high-level leaders.
Ian handled them with ease. "Well, it might just be natural talent. As for the Forbidden Items... I got lucky and picked them up."
"Picked them up?" The Ceilings looked at each other in dismay. That excuse was far too perfunctory.
Lin Qiye sat quietly beside Ian, watching him effortlessly handle the "interrogation" from Humanity's Ceilings.
He recalled the Sword of the Cosmos that Ian had casually pulled out in the Asylum for the Gods. An unprecedented sense of relief and relaxation welled up in his heart: *'There's probably no one in this world stronger than him.'*
He even started calculating: *'If there really is an enemy stronger than Ian... then I'll just lie down and give up. Unless someone like the Great God Pangu is living in the asylum, there won't be any chance to fight back anyway.'*
Thinking of this, the corners of Lin Qiye's mouth couldn't help but curl up. Having an invincible friend really felt quite nice.
No one knew exactly what happened inside the conference room, but when the doors opened again, the Humanity's Ceilings who walked out all wore unprecedentedly relaxed and satisfied smiles, as if a massive boulder had finally been lifted from their hearts.
"Commander-in-Chief, you seem to be in a very good mood," a subordinate asked carefully.
Ye Fan smiled without saying a word, merely waving his hand. "Just some good news."
Just a few hours later, the Great Xia Night Watchman Headquarters issued a shocking announcement to the entire world: Great Xia officially declared the birth of the sixth "Humanity's Ceiling" in the human world—bearing the title "Emperor One," Ian!
This news was like a massive boulder thrown into a calm lake, instantly setting off a massive uproar across the entire world.