DLWAV CH126

“Mr. Zhang.”

“Old Brother Zhang.”

“Ruize.”

Seeing Ao Ruize return, they all immediately stood up.

Ao Ruize came to his senses and walked over at once. “My apologies for keeping you waiting.”

As he spoke, he took out his keys and unlocked the door.

“Please, come in.”

Deputy Director Li and the others immediately stepped inside.

And the very next second they crossed the threshold, they froze in place.

Because a rich surge of spiritual energy practically hit them in the face.

They could guarantee that even the spiritual energy throughout the Special Affairs Division headquarters—which was covered in spirit-gathering formations and spanned over two hundred mu—couldn’t compare to the density in this small, four-bedroom apartment in an old building.

But that wasn’t the main point. The main point was—

First, look at the windowsill in the living room. There sat a goji berry plant that had already developed spiritual consciousness. Judging by the aura pulsing around it, its spiritual nature couldn’t be matched by even one percent of the Da Hong Pao mother tree on Mount Wuyi.

Then look at the cabinets all around: paperweights comparable to supreme-grade magical treasures, a Shoushan stone beast-knob seal and a Vajrasattva statue with momentum no weaker than high-grade magical treasures, and countless mid-grade magical treasures casually placed in the cubbies—bronze swords, a bronze galloping horse stepping on a swallow, double-bodied pottery jars, crowns…

Then look under their feet—

Deputy Director Li moved his right foot aside and saw beneath the shoe cabinet a seal being used as a shim. The brilliant radiance emanating from that seal told them it too was a mid-grade magical treasure.

Deputy Director Li and the others, whose combined possessions amounted to only one supreme-grade magical treasure and five mid-grade magical treasures: “…”

They finally understood exactly how Granny Liu felt entering the Grand View Garden, how country folk felt seeing the city for the first time.

Who could have imagined that treasures they cherished like life itself were, to Ao Ruize, merely objects for propping up table legs—

Most importantly, one could easily imagine that Ao Ruize’s strength was far deeper than they had assumed.

Ao Ruize: “Have a seat.”

Saying this, he found several cups and poured water for each of them.

Probably already numb, when they saw the dozen or so cups practically radiating the word “spirituality,” on the verge of evolving into low-grade magical treasures on their own, Deputy Director Li and the others actually felt a strange sense of: Aren’t they just a dozen low-grade magical treasures? What’s so strange about that?

They hurriedly stood up and accepted the cups from Ao Ruize. “Thank you, Mr. Zhang.”

Only then did Ao Ruize say: “So, what brings you gentlemen here?”

Deputy Director Li immediately set down his cup and said with a serious expression: “We’ve come today primarily to invite Mr. Zhang to join us in resisting the vampire invasion.”

He promptly explained all the difficulties the nation currently faced.

If before, when speaking of these matters, they couldn’t help but show worry and resentment, now when bringing it up again, they were filled with excitement.

Because although they didn’t know how Ao Ruize had reached heights that they themselves… no, that all of them combined might never reach in their lifetimes, in less than six years; and although they didn’t understand why someone so powerful would choose to live in seclusion in this dilapidated urban village—

They only knew that with Ao Ruize being this formidable, with his help, they might actually be able to defeat those vampires in this great battle.

“When the nation faces disaster, this Zhang will naturally not stand idly by.”

Ao Ruize simply said.

Most importantly, for him now, this matter was no longer anything major.

The little milk bun asked with great interest: “Do we fly directly to Europe, chop off that whatever Prince Brujah’s head, split it in two, hang half on the EU headquarters flagpole and half on the Beijing Central Plaza flagpole?”

“Or do we wait until that whatever Prince Brujah conquers all the other countries, then chop off his head and all the collaborators’ heads, and hang them on the Beijing Central Plaza flagpole?”

“That would be wonderful.”

Deputy Director Li immediately said: “Actually, we’ve already thought of a way to deal with those vampires.”

“When we surrounded and suppressed Zongzheng Ge before, didn’t we capture quite a few of his subordinates?”

“Through interrogating them, we learned that the Imperial Seal we lost was stolen by them.”

“They stole the Imperial Seal in order to resurrect Prince Brujah.”

“Which means, Prince Brujah’s current body is largely composed of the dragon qi from the Imperial Seal—”

“As long as we can suppress the dragon qi in his body, we can greatly reduce his strength.”

“Our people are already rushing to the border provinces.”

That was the birthplace of the former Qing Dynasty, and where the Qing dragon veins lay. Although the Qing Dynasty had fallen, because it wasn’t too distant in time, the dragon qi within hadn’t completely dissipated.

Moreover, the Imperial Seal stolen by Zongzheng Ge was the “Seal of the Great Qing Receiving the Mandate” from the Qing Dynasty’s twenty-five imperial seals.

“Beyond that, we’ve also requisitioned a batch of objects formerly used by Qing emperors.”

“The dragon qi from the Qing dragon veins plus the residual dragon qi in those antiques should be sufficient to suppress the dragon qi within Prince Brujah.”

“Then we’ll all swarm him at once—”

Deputy Director Li was tremendously excited: “We’ll definitely make them come but never return.”

Hearing this, Ao Ruize raised an eyebrow.

He asked: “From what you’ve said, am I correct in understanding that the dragon qi your people can currently extract from those items is only enough to suppress the dragon qi within Prince Brujah’s body?”

“What if the dragon qi in your hands were increased ten- or twenty-fold?”

The young man sitting beside Deputy Director Li almost blurted out: “Then why would we need to go around recruiting people? We’d just wait for those fluttering moths to deliver themselves to our door. We could even let them finish their threatening speeches first, then blast them straight to see God—no, to see their ancestor Cain.”

Little milk bun: “…”

It had originally thought this mission was already quite simple, since Ao Ruize had so easily cultivated a golden core.

But it never imagined this mission could get even simpler.

Because—

The little milk bun directly pulled out a jade seal from its small storage room.

One corner of the jade seal was damaged, repaired with gold.

Deputy Director Li and the others also reacted.

They shot to their feet, eyes widening enormously: “Could it be—could it be that Mr. Zhang possesses a treasure with even denser dragon qi than the Qing Dynasty’s Imperial Seal?”

No, wait—

For dynasties before the Manchu Qing, because they were too distant from modern times, even if imperial seals had been preserved, the dragon qi upon them had mostly dissipated.

But there was one exception—

The true Imperial Seal!

The one made by Qin Shi Huang from the He Shi Bi jade, bearing the eight characters “Received from Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity”!!!

Legend had it that at the end of the Western Han, the consort kin Wang Mang usurped power.

At that time, the Imperial Seal was kept by the Empress Dowager. When Wang Mang demanded it, she angrily threw it to the ground, chipping one corner. Later, Wang Mang had craftsmen repair it with gold.

Afterward, the Imperial Seal changed hands many times, eventually reaching the Tang imperial house.

During the reign of the last emperor of Later Tang, the “Son Emperor” Shi Jingtang led Khitan troops to attack Luoyang. Later Tang could not resist. The last emperor Li Congke burned himself and his entire clan at Xuanwu Tower, and the Imperial Seal was lost from that point.

Precisely because of this, the imperial seals of later dynasties were all self-made. And to weaken the authority of the Imperial Seal—to avoid their rule being affected if it were stolen—they often made several or even dozens of seals. Thus the dragon qi contained in these seals was naturally much less.

But the true Imperial Seal was different. After all, that single seal represented half of Chinese history. So even after a thousand years, the dragon qi within must be far greater than ordinary seals.

Ao Ruize didn’t play coy and directly took out that seal.

Deputy Director Li and the others’ eyes grew even wider.

“It’s real, it really is—”

They immediately spotted the corner repaired with gold.

So if this wasn’t the legendary Imperial Seal, what could it be?

Deputy Director Li fumbled to receive the seal.

The others hurriedly crowded around.

Deputy Director Li turned the seal over.

The next second, the expressions on their faces froze completely.

Because what was carved on that seal was not “Received from Heaven, Long Life and Eternal Prosperity” at all.

Rather—The Seal of the Supreme Emperor of Great Yang.

Deputy Director Li and the others: “…”

Sun Jianhong and the others: “…”

Great Yang?

Which dynasty was that?

No, wait.

More accurately, did such a dynasty even exist in Chinese history?

But that still wasn’t the main point.

The main point was, beside the words “The Seal of the Supreme Emperor of Great Yang,” there was also a line of smaller characters—

Sun Jianhong squinted to read: “For Tourist Use Only—”

Sun Jianhong: “…”

Deputy Director Li and the others: “…”

They suspected Ao Ruize was making fun of them, and they had evidence!!!

Little milk bun: “…”

This seal was precisely Ao Ruize’s private seal from his previous world.

If this seal hadn’t been accidentally chipped by a eunuch in charge of safekeeping, would it have been brought along for collection?

It saw the seal was missing a corner, so it imitated Wang Mang and repaired it with gold. What was wrong with that?

At the same time, in this world the Manchu Qing had been extinct for centuries, but in that world, Great Yang had already successfully conquered Europe and the Americas, steadily advancing toward unifying the world. So wasn’t it perfectly normal for the dragon qi contained in this seal to be ten- or twenty-fold that of the seals left by the former Qing?

Right at this moment, Deputy Director Li and the others also noticed the almost tangible dragon qi contained within that seal.

Deputy Director Li and the others: “…”

Deputy Director Li and the others: “……”

Deputy Director Li and the others: “………”

It was absolutely absurd!

But—since the dragon qi inside was real, what more was there to say?

In that instant, only one thought remained in their minds—

Fluttering moths, your father has brought the treasure your grandfather gave him, and he’s come to give you compulsory education!!!