41: Chapter 41 Seizing the Initiative, the Battle for the Spirit Spring

The moonlight still hung overhead, and the spring eye shimmered with fluorescence. Chen Wuwang stood on the high slope, motionless.

But his fingers had already moved—three light taps, not on the stone table, but on the hilt of the dagger at his waist. One, two, three. The rhythm was exactly the same as in the secret chamber just now. Only this time, it was not for thinking; it was an order.

A static hiss came through the earpiece, followed immediately by Chen Tiezhu's voice: "Monitoring Spirit Array redundant power supply activated, all seven nodes running at full load, data stream stable."

"Good," Chen Wuwang said in a low voice, "Now, enter the circle."

He lifted his foot and stepped off the high slope. His boot soles ground against the gravel, making a crisp sound.

Six clan soldiers behind him followed immediately, their footsteps kept extremely low, yet they walked with extreme steadiness.

Carrying portable Psionic Cannon rail boxes on their backs, they skillfully set up micro-rails within a ten-zhang radius of the spring eye, like weaving a net, circle after circle, silently bringing the entire area under control.

Chen Wuwang did not watch them operate; his gaze swept over the cracked patterns on the ground, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye flashing with blue light, locking onto the frequency of the Spiritual Qi fluctuations.

He squatted down and touched the ground with his fingertips. The soil was still warm, and the spring water gushed up, carrying a spiritual charm that did not belong to the East Wasteland.

"Not a natural spring," he murmured to himself, "It is 'awakened'."

In the earpiece, Chen Tiezhu's voice came again:

"Family Head, I have read the interference Spirit Array blueprints. The three sets of resonant frequencies are designed to be staggered, which can suppress over eighty percent of the leaking Spiritual Qi. But... this has to be embedded precisely into the gaps of the earth veins; being off by even half an inch could trigger a backlash."

"Are you afraid of an explosion?" Chen Wuwang stood up, his tone devoid of fluctuation.

"I am not afraid of an explosion," Chen Tiezhu paused, "I am afraid that after it explodes, you will still make me fix it."

The corners of Chen Wuwang's mouth twitched imperceptibly: "Rest assured, if it explodes this time, I will go down and weld it myself."

"That will not do," Chen Tiezhu's voice suddenly turned serious, "You are the Family Head, not a welder."

As the words fell, the three sets of interference Spirit Arrays had been quickly buried at the preset points by the clan soldiers.

Chen Wuwang raised his hand, the dagger unsheathed by half an inch, the tip pointing to the ground.

A Talisman rune flowed along the blade into the soil, instantly connecting with the rail network.

Hum—

A low-frequency vibration spread out. It was invisible to the naked eye, but in the vision of the Mechanical Prosthetic Eye, a circle of pale blue ripples slowly radiated out like water waves, yet silently distorted the perception of space.

The leaking Spiritual Qi was "folded" into the secondary oscillation layer. On the surface, the spring eye still gushed, but in reality, ninety-five percent of the aura had been obscured.

"Interference Spirit Array activated, frequency stable," the clan soldier reported.

"Order the Artifact Refining Workshop to enable fake data injection mode," Chen Wuwang commanded.

The next second, in a hidden rock crevice on the north ridge of the West Suburbs, a scout was pinching a Talisman, holding his breath. The image reflected on the Talisman made his pupils shrink—

In the image, at least thirty mechs were lined up on the perimeter of the spring eye, Psionic Cannon muzzles flashing with charge, several high-level Cultivator auras patrolling in the air, and there was even a phantom of an aerial command tower slowly rising, with Chen Wuwang's projection prominently displayed on the top of the tower!

"The Chen Family... arrived so early with so many?" The scout's throat bobbed, cold sweat rolling down.

What he did not know was that all of this was fake.

In the control room of the Artifact Refining Workshop, Chen Tiezhu stared at the main control screen, his fingers tapping rapidly on the virtual keyboard.

He pulled up three segments of mech footage: one was a patrol video recorded during the Zerg war, one was test footage from the flight testing grounds, and the last was simply a virtually generated data stream.

The three were edited together, overlaid with a Spiritual Qi fluctuation forgery algorithm, and then connected to the network via a Talisman board, projecting in real-time into the monitoring System's external signals.

"This trick is nasty," he muttered, "But it really works."

Meanwhile, on the southwest highland of the West Suburbs, Chen Xiaodao lay on the edge of the dense forest, a psionic telescope pressed against his eye socket.

He saw it clearly—in that rock crevice on the north ridge, there was movement.

"Family Head, there is an eye in the north," he lowered his voice.

"How many?"

"Currently one, but a corner of his clothing revealed a piece of blue-patterned cloth; it is the attire of a scout from the Zhao Clan of the Borderlands."

"Let them watch," Chen Wuwang's voice was calm, "Add some more material."

Chen Xiaodao grinned and pressed the communicator: "Beacon number three, light it up."

In an instant, on the east, south, and west sides of the spring eye, three psionic projections shot into the sky, turning into phantoms of crimson beacon towers, flames churning, illuminating the night sky red. At the top of each tower, a huge "Chen" character appeared, like a brand, carved into the Laws of heaven and earth.

"Lighting it is one thing, but it even comes with special effects?" Chen Xiaodao muttered, "The Family Head really wants to scare people away this time."

But he knew this was not scaring.

This was a declaration.

—This place already has an owner; whoever comes is an intruder.

On the north ridge, the Zhao Clan scout saw the beacons light up, his hand trembling, and the Talisman almost fell. He bit his lip hard and quickly took out a message jade Talisman, inputting a short message: "The Spirit Spring in the West Suburbs has been sealed off by the Chen Family with heavy troops, over thirty mechs, at least five high-level Cultivators, beacons as proof, suggest delaying action."

The jade Talisman flashed with light, and the message was sent.

Not just him.

In the withered forest to the west, on the cliff to the south, scouts from other small clans lurking in the dark also retreated one after another. Some were unwilling and took another look, only to have a scrolling list of mech serial numbers suddenly pop up in their telescopes, as if the System were automatically dispatching troops.

"Fuck!" one person cursed, "They even opened the database?!"

No one dared to stay any longer.

Within just half an incense stick of time, all peepers on the perimeter of the West Suburbs had withdrawn.

But what they did not know was that from beginning to end, Chen Wuwang had only brought seven people.

Including himself.

"They left?" Chen Wuwang asked.

"They left," Chen Xiaodao confirmed, "The last 'fly' has also flapped its wings and flown away."

"Transmit it back," Chen Wuwang said faintly, "Tell Tiezhu to turn off the fake data to save power."

"Huh?" Chen Xiaodao was stunned, "You are really calculating this?"

"Cultivation with technology, lesson one—do not waste energy."

While the two were talking, the clan soldiers had completed the final defense layout. Twelve micro-vibration sensors were buried deep within the fifty-zhang circle line, connected to the Artifact Refining Workshop's main console. Any creature stepping into the range would trigger a silent alarm.

The buzzer System was online, requiring no sound, feeding directly into the depths of Chen Wuwang's consciousness via neural impulses.

This was the true "inescapable net."

It did not rely on human waves, did not rely on brute force, but relied on information gaps, on layout, on making the enemies scare themselves.

Chen Wuwang turned and walked towards the solitary stone three zhang north of the spring eye. He flicked his sleeves and sat down, his cloak draping to the ground, hands placed on his knees, eyes closed.

Seemingly meditating, in reality, his Mechanical Prosthetic Eye was still scanning, and the earpiece in his ear continued to receive data streams.

His breathing was steady, but his right hand remained suspended beside the dagger hilt; as soon as the alarm sounded, he could draw his blade and rise in the next second.

The wind rose.

Grass leaves swayed slightly.

The spring water flowed calmly.

But beneath this silence was a giant net woven by technology and Spirit Arrays, just waiting for the prey to step in.

Chen Xiaodao jumped down from the high ground, walked to his side, and asked in a low voice: "What is next?"

"Wait," Chen Wuwang did not lift his eyelids, "Wait for them to go back and report, wait for them to hold meetings, wait for them to think there is an opportunity to exploit."

"And then?"

"And then," he finally opened his eyes, the scar on his right cheek gleaming with a cold color in the moonlight, "We teach them what is called 'the initiative'."

In the distance, the last wisp of the beacon projection slowly dissipated.

But the underground rail network was still running, the Talisman boards lying dormant, like a sleeping beast, waiting for the order to wake up.

Chen Xiaodao did not ask again, stepped back a few steps, and sat down against a tree. He took out some dry rations, took a bite, looked towards the spring eye, and suddenly laughed.

"In the past, to snatch a spirit field, you had to fight with blades," he muttered, "Now to snatch a spirit spring, you just need to move your fingers."

He looked up at Chen Wuwang's back; that figure was as motionless as a mountain, yet more reassuring than an army of thousands.

"A lunatic is a lunatic," he whispered, "But he is fucking reliable."

Moonlight spilled, the spring eye like a mirror.

Chen Wuwang sat on the stone, motionless.

Deep in his consciousness, the family rise system interface quietly refreshed—

[Today's heavenly secret instruction has been updated]

But he did not check it.

Now is not the time to look.

It is the time to wait.

Wait for the wind to rise.

Wait for the chess pieces to move.

Wait for those who think they can still get a share to crash headlong into the trap he has drawn.

He raised his left hand and gently stroked the Talisman carvings on the dagger hilt.

That was the Chen Family's ancestral motto: "He who strikes first lives, he who strikes second dies."

Simply put: "Strike first to gain the advantage!"

Tonight, he let everyone see clearly—

What is called the initiative.