On the mountainside of Mount Amphis, Julius, barefoot, stepped onto the suspension bridge.
"Whoosh... whoosh..."
Beneath the suspension bridge was an unfathomable dark abyss, and on both sides, bone-chilling winds constantly swept through.
"Creak..."
Julius's expression was resolute. No matter how much the suspension bridge swayed, he remained as firm and upright as a pine tree.
After a long time, Julius crossed the swaying suspension bridge and arrived at the other side of the canyon. Standing before a dilapidated temple, Julius bowed respectfully.
"Guru."
He called out softly, his tone peaceful and natural.
There was no response from inside the temple. Julius was not disheartened; such things were very common.
He had been cultivating there for a long time, and the monk, seeing his sincere desire for cultivation, casually gave him some pointers.
Since then, Julius had called the monk his guru, treating him with the respect of a disciple. Whether the guru was in the temple or not, he would always bow when he returned.
This guru rarely stayed in the temple, often traveling around, and would only return after three or four months.
"Creak~"
Pushing the door open, Julius did not see any trace of the guru. The temple was empty, with two wooden beds. On one of the beds lay his own backpack, along with his own tea table and tea set.
Julius walked to the window and looked out at the vast snow-capped mountains.
Even after seeing it many times, Julius's heart was still filled with awe.
Looking down from here, one could take in the endless, majestic, and continuous snow-capped mountains at a glance.
It could be described as a unique and breathtaking view.
"Time to go down the mountain."
After admiring the scenery of the great snow mountains, Julius put on his mountaineering backpack and left the temple.
He hiked all the way down the mountain to the small town below.
"Rustle..."
Julius walked on the small path in the town, which was covered with a thin layer of snow, making a subtle sound.
This small town was called Carno Town, a town where the local Carno people gathered. The houses here had a very strong Carno ethnic style.
He found a local hotel, took off his clothes, and comfortably soaked in a bathtub filled with hot water.
On the edge of the bathtub was a shelf board, on which lay a glass of Anchorage's specialty white wine, a laptop, and a satellite phone.
As the owner of a publicly listed company in the Kakin Empire, Julius had many decisions to make.
This laptop could access the international internet via satellite connection and was always carried with him when he went out for cultivation.
Additionally, he brought a solar charger. In a place like Mount Amphis, where there was no electricity, solar energy was the only way to charge devices.
He opened his laptop, and following his usual habit, checked his email. The first thing, naturally, was to process emails sent by his company.
Then, there were some emails from family and friends.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Julius discovered an unfamiliar email appearing on the screen without any warning.
"Test?"
Julius briefly scanned the email's subject line, chuckled softly, and without even clicking it, directly deleted it.
It was just spam, in Julius's opinion.
"Beep..."
At this moment, the satellite phone next to the laptop suddenly rang. Julius picked up the phone and pressed the answer button.
Very few people knew this phone number. Besides his family and high-ranking company executives, even his friends didn't know it.
And all these people knew that he came here to cultivate at this time every year. Calling him at this time indicated that something important must have happened.
"What's the matter?"
The call connected, and Julius asked directly.
"Mr. Julius, your direct deletion of my email was quite rude."
The voice on the satellite phone was very young, but Julius always felt something strange about it, as if it wasn't the caller's own voice.
"You're the sender of that email?"
Julius instantly reacted. He had just deleted that email, and the other party immediately contacted him. Such a method was not something an ordinary person could possess.
However, asking him to participate in some kind of test for no reason was simply ridiculous.
Did he, Julius, need any test to prove himself?
"Excuse me, although I don't know your intentions, I have no interest in participating..."
"Mr. Julius, haven't you always been pursuing the integration of human potential and mind?"
Before Julius could finish speaking, he was interrupted by the person on the other end of the phone, and what the other party said caught his attention.
"What do you mean?"
"You go to Mount Amphis for cultivation every year for the last three months. Now, ten years have passed, don't you want to know the answer?"
"Transpersonal psychology. If you come to Pegrose, perhaps you can find the answer."
Julius's heart jolted. In the world, no one had ever claimed to find answers in transpersonal psychology research, not even a complete system existed.
Yet, this person on the phone claimed that he could find the answer there.
"What's your purpose?"
Julius was very calm. After many years of cultivation, he already possessed a peaceful state of mind like nature itself, and extraordinary emotional control.
"You pass the test first."
"If you pass the test, you'll get the answer you want."
Just as Julius was about to speak, the other party hung up the phone with a "beep," giving him no chance to press further.
"Splash..."
Julius abruptly rose from the bathtub, splashing a little water. He picked up his laptop, stepped out of the tub, and dried his body.
Sitting on the balcony, Julius was dressed in a pure white bathrobe, completely unfazed by the low outdoor temperature. He opened the email that had suddenly appeared in his inbox.
At the same time, Yorknew City, Republic of Edyme.
In an outdoor cafe, a blonde girl was tapping furiously on her keyboard, her expression one of intoxication and happiness.
"Leila..."
The person next to the girl looked at her entranced expression, calling out worriedly as if she were neurotic, but received no response.
"Adi!"
Suddenly, the girl named Leila stood up from her chair, closed her laptop, and put it into her backpack.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
Her companion and best friend looked up at her, her face filled with confusion.
"I'm leaving."
Leila looked down at her best friend.
"Leaving?"
Her best friend still looked blank, unsure why she suddenly said such a thing.
"Hmm, I'm going to Pegrose."
Leila nodded seriously, looking up at the clear sky.
"There are top-tier masters of all kinds from around the world there. I want to meet them."
"Moreover, there's someone there who surpasses me in computer technology. My skills are nothing compared to his."
Leila flashed an extremely excited smile, then bent down and gently kissed her best friend on the forehead.
"Adi, I hope we can meet again someday."
Her best friend, hearing this, immediately realized she was serious and quickly stood up. But Leila had already turned and left.
"Leila!"
"Wait, you're joking with me, right?"
She chased after her, trying to stop Leila, but the other party walked with firm steps and a resolute expression.
Mingbo Republic, Dauae Plateau.
The Dauae Plateau is located in the northern part of the Mingbo Republic, bordering the Duqi Republic and the Bartochia Republic.
It is also known as the Dauae Steppe.
In the early morning, when the Morna River, originating from Mount Regildo, reached here and encountered the cold ground air, a large amount of white mist rose from the warm river surface.
The white mist clung to the river and the ground, forming a rare spectacle of clouds and water.
And in Kampel Town, in the western part of Dauae, it is a town where the Kampel people gather. In the Kampel language, Dauae means "where yaks like to be."
Sunlight poured freely onto the lush green land, and around the shimmering river were yaks grazing on the prairie.
A middle-aged man wearing a Kampel dream dance hat lay on the grassland, his left leg resting on his right, crossing his legs. He looked at the clear sky, a blade of grass in his mouth, his eyes half-closed.
After a long silence, the corners of his mouth slowly curled upwards.
"Pegrose?"
"It's worth a visit."
He had been to that country once with his family, but it left no deep impression on him, because it was too vast and sparsely populated, and most of the land was flat, which he disliked.
"However..."
Amed casually closed the laptop beside him. This trip might bring him unexpected surprises.
Amed had grown tired of the monotonous life in the military. He had retired early from the army and returned to his hometown to live a boring retirement life prematurely.
But life in his hometown was too boring. After staying for a long time, he felt like he was rusting. He was considering going out for a walk when, unexpectedly, interesting things came looking for him.
His eyes glimmered with light, the light of joy.
He wasn't doing it for money; he was simply doing it for the fun of it.
Amed pressed his right hand against his dream-dance hat, slowly rose, picked up his laptop, and walked towards Kampel Town.
"Go, to Pegrose."
Amed looked up. In his eyes, the long-extinguished flame was burning fiercely.
Ozuma Federation, Stripp City.
This was the Ozuma Federation's most famous international metropolis, and also one of the world's top ten famous cities.
Alvin, a man of thirty-five, was in the prime of his life.
At this moment, he was walking on the streets of Stripp Financial Center, his face filled with desolation and disappointment. He paused, taking one last look at the place he had fought for ten years.
From now on, he might never return.
Stripp Financial Center. The people here appeared glamorous on the surface, seemingly a noble place envied by everyone.
But only those who lived there knew that this place, in reality, was a place that devoured people without spitting out bones.
Once you made a mistake, you wouldn't even get a chance to regret it.
Here, countless people experienced joys and sorrows every day.
In the past, he mercilessly mocked those who left this place as failures, thinking they were unworthy of sympathy, just failures eliminated by society.
He never expected that one day, he himself would become one of them.
How ridiculous.
"Heheheh..."
Alvin lowered his head, letting out a low chuckle, mocking himself in his heart.
Carrying his briefcase, he swayed unsteadily, then crashed into the glass curtain wall of a skyscraper beside him.
"Beep..."
Just as his left hand pressed against the glass curtain wall and he regained his balance, his phone in his pocket rang.
Alvin pulled out his phone, looked at the unfamiliar number on the screen, his face hesitant.
Who could it be?
Were they those people he had once mercilessly stepped on, now taking the opportunity to mock him?
Heh heh, let them laugh if they want.
Alvin's expression became calm, and he answered the phone.
"Mr. Alvin..."
One minute later, Alvin put down his phone, looked at the unfamiliar number on the screen, his face filled with surprise.
Immediately afterward, Alvin gritted his teeth and looked towards the west, tightly gripping his phone, a light shining in his eyes.
Destination, Pegrose!
The northernmost part of the Chimera Continent, the Rodrize Federation.
"Boom!"
Drizzling rain fell from the sky, and a startling peal of thunder ripped through the night.
"Clatter clatter clatter..."
In such a torrential rain, a burly young man was running wildly down the street.
Behind him, a uniformed police officer was following closely, holding a flashlight and running quickly after him.
"Eric!"
"Stop right there!"
The two, one chasing and one fleeing, soon arrived at a dark alley. At the end of the alley was a wire mesh gate.
"Eric, why did you do that!?"
The uniformed police officer looked at the young man who had stopped in the dark alley. The other party was an excellent cadet who had graduated from the police academy with him.
Now, he had entered the police station as a rising star, with a bright future ahead.
But this, his once best companion, had become a shadow hidden in the darkness.
"Leon, you won't understand."
Eric's voice was heavy and hoarse, echoing in the dark alley, and soon swallowed by the pattering rain.
"Eric, no matter the reason, you shouldn't have done that!"
Leon took out handcuffs from his body and slowly walked towards Eric. The flashlight in his hand shone on the burly back in the shadows.
"Surrender yourself, I'll help you."
"Thud!"
Suddenly, Eric's footsteps moved. Leon instinctively stopped. He knew the wire mesh gate ahead wouldn't stop him.
"Leon, you are always so naive and adorable, like a child in an ivory tower."
"You are truly too naive. Having grown up in the light, you simply cannot see the true nature of this world."
Eric turned sideways, half his face towards Leon, one eye fixed on him, radiating a chilling glow.
"Leon, one day, you will see."
"In this world, kindness cannot contend with evil. Only by becoming more evil than evil can you stop the filth."
"Only by becoming more violent than violence can you stop violence."
"What do you want to do?"
"Eric!"
Leon's eyes were filled with shock.
He didn't understand why his once good friend, an excellent cadet from the police academy, would say such things.
"Everything is born from darkness, and returns to darkness."
"If you want to gain true power, you must experience darkness, and traverse through despair and pain."
Leon looked at Eric, who had turned back and was facing away from him again. His voice was hoarse, heavy, and faintly carried a hint of madness.
He seemed to see a darkness enveloping his friend.
"Leon, I'm abandoning my humanity!"
After saying this, Eric sprinted, stepped on the right wall, kicked off forcefully, and easily leaped over the wire mesh gate.
"Wait, Eric!"
Leon chased after him, clinging to the wire mesh gate, only able to watch from afar as Eric's figure gradually disappeared into the night.
Finally, Leon let out a desperate cry.
"Eric~!!!"
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