Chapter 8: Revocation

In the distance, the roar of off-road vehicles and motorcycles grew louder. Within minutes, the idle personnel from the Action Division assembled in teams, geared up and ready to deploy—their training was impeccable.

But all these remedial measures felt utterly futile now. In a mere fraction of a second, flames had surged skyward once more, forcing back the Five Thunder Formation that had only just barely held them at bay.

Unleashing an Instinct without any preparatory buffer was an incredibly dangerous move. Combined with the already depleted Rampage Value from their earlier mission, Shi Zui had lost nearly all her strength.

Sweat beaded on her forehead, trickling silently into the sweat-soaked collar of her pitch-black uniform.

The physical toll of Instinct: Yinghuo was immense. She stood in place, fighting off the suffocating sense of enclosure, drawing in deep breaths of oxygen to rapidly restore her bodily functions.

With just one breath, the pallor on her face faded significantly.

She vaguely heard Xie Pingzhi calling out from nearby, though she couldn’t make out the words. But the subconscious honed from a thousand battles compelled her to look up instinctively—

Yinghuo. That all-too-familiar Yinghuo reignited right before her eyes. Only this time, its target was her.

Shi Zui made her decision in an instant. She reached out and gripped her sword hilt again. She knew better than anyone that her near-zero Rampage Value couldn’t sustain any Instinct, but she would never sit idly by and wait for death!

A flicker of deep blue passed through Xie Pingzhi’s eyes. She gritted her teeth but didn’t move—her scant Rampage Value was only enough for her to escape this scorched earth at high speed alone.

That helpless feeling again. No matter how many years passed, was she doomed to this fate?

The scorching breath of death loomed right before her. Xie Pingzhi was just steeling herself to make a choice when she felt the Will Ring on her left wrist blare an urgent alarm.

The display showed the exact same warning text as before:

“Rampage Value anomaly! Rampage Value anomaly! Rampage Value anomaly!”

She whipped her head around to look at the newcomer she’d been shielding behind her all this time.

Ye Jingqiu—the one unanimously rated S-rank by the Center Group.

It was hard for Ye Jingqiu to describe her current state.

The moment Shi Zui had unleashed Instinct: Yinghuo, a searing heat matching the flames coursed through her limbs, leaving a lingering warmth.

She wasn’t the type to stay quiet. Even as a total newbie, she had no intention of meekly hiding behind Xie Pingzhi in a crisis like this, content to let someone a few years her senior take care of everything.

She’d only stayed put earlier because of that deep black flame dancing at the tip of Shi Zui’s blade.

Profound, wondrous, otherworldly—like a gleaming gold coin or jewel, it irresistibly drew her in, this little dragon fresh from the shell, gradually eroding her sense of self until she was lost, drowning in the perilous blaze.

She heard her own frantic heartbeat and breaths. In the haze, something seemed to stir from endless slumber.

The same intent from her dream of the exotic beast surfaced. The world froze in place, colors draining to stark black and white. She felt herself plummeting back into that dream realm, where a voice whispered true secrets in her ear.

She heard it say: “Go…”

The murmur cut off abruptly. The sudden turn of events snapped her from the illusion!

Towering flames made Shi Zui’s figure seem ever smaller. An unknown impulse surged in Ye Jingqiu’s chest.

She shook off the daze in a flash. The world, paused like a held button, reopened its arms to her. The stalled information flooded her ears and mind. Ye Jingqiu regained control of her body, that same mastery from Waigaoqiao Port washing over her.

Copy Potion?

So, at its core, it was still a drawn weapon—a command still in effect.

No need, then, to counter it with equal force. She just needed to—

“Revocation.”

She said it.

The rising flames before Shi Zui stalled for a moment.

Ye Jingqiu’s eyes lit up. She seemed to grasp the meaning of Word Manifestation—words were merely the vessel for commands; the laws obeyed her intent.

And right now, she just wanted the copy to return where it belonged.

~~~

The engine roars cut off abruptly. Yan Zhao hurriedly released her hold around Loteria’s waist, leaped off the motorcycle, and dashed straight toward the “scene of the incident.”

“Tch,” Loteria glanced down at her empty holster, her tongue clicking against the roof of her mouth in mild regret. “Department Head Yan flips faces faster than anyone.”

Yan Zhao didn’t look back.

She wasn’t in the mood to bicker today. As acting department head, she’d only been in the position a month, and now this massive screw-up meant penalties she couldn’t dodge.

All Loteria’s fault. They’d agreed to just etch a few layers of the Five Thunder Array onto the alchemy container to test for additive power. But no, she had to get fancy and shove a Copy Potion in there too, just to see.

Well, great. Their half-month of dedicated work and two departments’ efforts on Five Thunder Array 1.0 had gone up in smoke—literally.

All experiments from the Technology Department and Alchemy and Dao Talisman Department followed strict approval processes, with fair allocation of sites and times. Something like a Talisman Bomb should’ve either boomed in the Sahara Desert or been tucked away in the northwest no-man’s-land.

Testing the new weapon at the Base this time was for full monitoring of elemental flows, to refine parameters next round with precise data. But Yan Zhao never imagined it’d spiral out of control—and the kicker? A Copy Potion that hadn’t worked in centuries actually succeeded.

A Daoist Five Thunder Array layered with Instinct: Yinghuo. She’d watched the distant thunderflame eruption from the Base, heart pounding in terror.

Good thing Team One’s reserves were on hand. Otherwise, this afternoon would’ve ended with Shi Zui in the hospital, Xie Pingzhi in the ICU—

Or worse, if Instinct: Tyrfing hadn’t kicked in in time, they’d all be in coffins, forcing the out-of-town Base Leader to come back and toll the Mourning Bell.

The thought quickened Yan Zhao’s steps. She was about to charge toward Ye Jingqiu when a shout rang out behind her.

Irritated, she glanced back—just in time to see Loteria swing off the bike, shaking out her long hair like a cascading waterfall.

The woman propped up the motorcycle and waved at her, her already sharp features growing even more striking in the slanting sunlight.

Loteria winked. “Wait for me, won’t you?”

Wait for her? Was she a three-year-old?

Infuriating!

Yan Zhao shot her a fierce glare and charged ahead without a backward glance.

The one on the receiving end of the glare didn’t seem upset at all. Everything was going just as planned. She merely watched Yan Zhao’s retreating back with a hum of laughter.

Just then, an Administrative Department staffer rushed over to provide backup manpower and witnessed the entire scene. Her face froze for a moment as a sense of foreboding welled up in her heart.

It was an open secret at the Base that Loteria, the head of the Dao Talisman Department, and Acting Minister Yan Zhao did not get along. Rumor had it the two had forged a blood feud even before joining the Base. The normally calm and efficient Minister Yan turned into a powder keg with a lit fuse the moment she crossed paths with Loteria.

The Administrative Department staffer, tasked with fostering Base cultural harmony, kept a close eye on their interactions. She dreaded that any spark might ignite the 257th Great Alchemy-Dao Talisman Schism War, piling even more frost on the already icy relations between the two sides.

Nervously, she turned to Loteria, weighing her words carefully before probing indirectly. “Professor, if I may ask—what’s going on between you two?”

Loteria remained utterly composed. “Flirting.”

The staffer: ???

Loteria let out a muffled chuckle at the woman’s dumbfounded expression, then straightened her face and headed toward the explosion site.

The remnants of the Five Thunder Bomb had already endured two rounds of devastation from Instinct: Mars. The tinned alchemy container had been repeatedly melted and reformed, now reduced to scattered shards on the ground, beyond any hope of salvage or reuse.

Loteria felt a twinge of regret. Funding had been tight lately, and every bit of material used was one less available.

Researchers from the Alchemy and Daoism Department were already combing the scene. Loteria scanned the area, satisfied that progress was smooth, before turning her attention back to Ye Jingqiu—one of Team One’s new recruits standing not far away.

She was a member of this year’s Base Center Group. Loteria had personally signed off on Xiao Qiu’s S-level rating application with her endorsement, utterly fascinated by the girl’s Instinct ability of word manifestation.

Even after viewing the footage in Aether’s report of Ye Jingqiu’s clash with the exotic beast, nothing matched the visceral impact of seeing it live.

To think… resolving it all really took just one sentence, two words. Simply saying “revoke”—

And the copy potion—a weapon worthy of A-rank elemental status—truly lost its power.

Loteria sighed softly to herself. Exotic beasts might scorn humans ignorant of Instincts, but did they truly comprehend the world?

Not even Bai Ze, the auspicious beast from Chinese legend said to know all things, could bend the entire world to its will.

Strolling leisurely toward them, she soon reached Team One’s new recruits.

In the distance, Xie Pingzhi was animatedly introducing their crisis-saving new friend, Classmate Xiao Qiu, to her Action Division colleagues. A month apart, and Xie still exuded her familiar air of endearing unreliability.

From her beaming expression, though, she clearly took a shine to “Classmate Xiao Qiu.”

Loteria slipped smoothly into the crowd, catching Ye Jingqiu’s eye during a lull in the Action Division chatter.

Ye Jingqiu noted Xie Pingzhi’s subtle chin lift, signaling familiarity with this far milder-looking colleague. She heard her say offhandedly, “Xiao Qiu, just call her Professor Luo.”

Professor Luo—who bore no actual relation to the Luo surname—offered a courteous self-introduction.

“Head of the Alchemy and Dao Talisman Department, Loteria.”

“Head?” Ye Jingqiu glanced up, pondering briefly before blurting out, “That Teacher Yan earlier… she seemed…”

Seemed to claim the same role for the Alchemy and Dao Talisman Department?

“Is that right? Well, that’s a long story,” Loteria said with an arched brow and a smile. “Back when the Base was founded, Alchemy and Dao Talismans operated as separate departments, rife with conflict. They merged later due to various circumstances, but the staff still clashed fiercely.”

Ye Jingqiu: Whoa, office politics!

Xie Pingzhi drawled lazily from nearby, “It’s nothing major, really. Just bickering over whether it’s the Alchemy and Dao Talisman Department or the Dao Talisman and Alchemy Department.”

Ye Jingqiu: Tsk, you all really don’t do anything the conventional way.

Helplessly, she asked, “So the argument ended with Alchemy winning?”

Loteria glanced at Yan Zhao, who was approaching side by side with Shi Zui, and spread her hands. “Hardly. It was a draw.”

“The compromise was to swap the department name and minister title every year. This year, with Alchemy leading the name, the Dao Talisman head serves as the nominal minister.”

Ye Jingqiu nodded in understanding. “And this year, it’s Teacher Yan’s turn.”

Loteria nodded solemnly. “Exactly. So she’s above me this year—and I’ll be above her next year.”

Ye Jingqiu: “?”

Had Professor Loteria just said what she thought she did?

Did that mean “above” in the straightforward boss-subordinate sense?

Yan Zhao arrived right on cue, having overheard only the tail end. “Above what, exactly?”

Loteria replied with perfect equanimity. “Debating which has the edge—Alchemy or Dao Talismans.”

Yan Zhao’s expression sharpened instantly. “What nonsense are you feeding the newbies now? Weren’t you the one preaching departmental unity and accelerating high-quality elemental weapon development?”

Ye Jingqiu mused that Professor Luo, for all her foreign roots and Daoist leanings, even dabbled in civil service exam rhetoric.

“Just promoting equality. No need to get worked up.”

Loteria turned to Ye Jingqiu with a serious tone. “Alchemy arose in twelfth-century Europe, while Daoist Dao Talisman arts date back to China’s Warring States era. Their materials and tools differ, but they lead to the same end. At their core, both are methods of wielding elements—no one superior to the other.”

She shrugged. “That’s why I can’t fathom certain extremists who set them at odds. Frankly, it strikes me as rather childish.”

Feeling the barb, Yan Zhao shot her a sidelong glare. “You wouldn’t get it—you lack the empathy.”

“No, no—I see it as perfectly rational.”

Ye Jingqiu nodded along like an eager pupil. “Mm-hmm.”

“Like your saying: the sea that receives a hundred rivers is great because it tolerates them all. No need to quibble.”

Ye Jingqiu: “Mm-hmm.”

“Take Chinese tofu pudding, for instance. Sweet or savory, it’s the same dish essentially.”

Ye Jingqiu: “Mm-hmm… Wait, what???”

No way!

Ye Jingqiu shot up her hand in fierce rebuttal, defending her final bastion of pride. “Professor Luo—tofu pudding can only be sweet!”