You, a living person, are telling me I've served in the underworld for ten years?

If even the gatekeepers are this capable, the situation inside must be even more complex.

Finally, it was Chen Yang's turn.

A burly man in a jacket at the door scrutinized him from head to toe like a scanner, his gaze sharp as a knife, his tone icy.

"Register! Your name, age, home address, and phone number must be accurate! Go to the next room for the test!"

Next to it was a small cubicle. Inside, there were no complicated instruments, only a machine resembling a punching power tester, but with strange patterns engraved on its surface, and an old man sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, meditating, his face withered, wearing a gray long robe. The old man didn't even lift his eyelids, and a dry, hoarse voice rang out.

"Circulate your entire body's energy and strike the spirit-testing stake once with all your might."

Chen Yang understood perfectly.

This "spirit-testing stake" is clearly a basic magical artifact used to test the strength of one's blood and qi and the fluctuations of one's true qi.

He secretly activated the advanced breath-concealing technique in "The True Explanation of Daoist Origin" with all his might. His pure chaotic Dao essence, which was enough to shock everyone, was locked deep in his dantian. His body surface even simulated the illusion of weak aura, blocked meridians, and unstable blood and qi after forced cultivation.

puff!
He punched the center of the spirit-testing stake, where the array's eye was inscribed. The sound was muffled, and the light patterns on the stake flickered only weakly and intermittently for a few dim points, even weaker than those of the young men ahead of him who were clearly practicing improperly and whose auras were chaotic.

"Ok?"

The other burly man in charge of registration at the entrance glanced at the reaction record of the spirit-testing stake, his brows furrowed almost imperceptibly, and then suspiciously scanned Chen Yang's thin, seemingly malnourished frame, his tone carrying contempt and a hint of something strange.

"Can't even get close to the threshold of the Body Refinement stage... and your Qi and blood are so weak, how can you be considered to have spiritual energy?"

He seemed to think that such trash shouldn't be wasted time.

The gray-robed old man, who had been resting with his eyes closed, finally opened his eyelids a crack. His cloudy eyes glanced at Chen Yang without any emotion, his gaze seemingly knowing everything yet also indifferent to everything. Then he closed his eyes again, and a dry voice rang out.

"Barely met the minimum admission requirements for the outer 'security team,' signed in, and went to the right-hand passage number one to wait for the assembly in the backyard."

The tone was as if dealing with something utterly insignificant.

The burly man smirked, quickly tapped a tablet a few times, and handed it to Chen Yang.

"Press your fingerprint! Name! Don't wander around inside!"

Chen Yang obediently pressed his fingerprint under the alias he had just given up, and even showed a relieved and slightly excited smile on his face.

"Thank you!"

He opened a soundproof iron door in the passageway on the right and went inside. After passing through a short, dimly lit corridor, he pushed open another door, and suddenly found himself in a fairly large, leveled concrete backyard.

A line of seven or eight people had already formed against the wall in the backyard, each with obvious excitement and a sense of superiority from being chosen, as well as fantasies of future success.

Chen Yang walked over without making a sound and silently stood at the end of the line.

The people in the courtyard were clearly chatting with each other.

A rather robust young man, around twenty years old, with a buzz cut, rubbed his hands together and smiled at a slightly overweight boy next to him.

"Hey bro, with that physique of yours... you're going to the 'security team' too, right? Maybe we'll even be assigned to the same unit! I heard that if you train well in the security team and perform exceptionally well, you'll have a chance to transfer to the 'inner circle' or be recommended to the Special Administration Bureau!"

The chubby boy nodded repeatedly, his tone filled with barely suppressed smugness.

"Exactly! My uncle knows a junior manager here, and he said that although the security team has a low starting point, the training intensity is high and progress is fast!"
After a year or two of hard work, once you've built a solid foundation, you can use the 'Hidden Dragon's' internal recommendation to get a temporary position at one of the local security checkpoints under the Special Administration Bureau. That's a secure job! No worse than those arrogant sects!

Chen Yang made a subtle "Eh" sound, perfectly conveying a sense of surprise and confusion, and then tentatively asked a shy-looking young man wearing glasses in the front row.

"Brother... I heard you guys want to join the Special Administration Bureau or some sect, why not just take the exam? It seems... it seems like you don't necessarily have to come to this training, right?"

His voice wasn't loud, but it was just enough for the people around him to hear it.

Sure enough, the burly man with a buzz cut next to him chuckled and glanced at Chen Yang with the air of someone who had been there before.

"Little guy, you're obviously a complete novice! Do you know how difficult it is to get into those places? Without expert guidance, without resources, all you have to do is practice your rudimentary skills on your own, and those snobbish selection criteria? Keep dreaming!"

The chubby boy got excited and added.

"Exactly! Take the local special operations reserve under the Special Administration Bureau for example. Their physical fitness test and true qi standard have to reach the mid-stage of Body Refinement! Not to mention those with connections are scrambling to get in! For people like us who have no background and whose natural talent isn't particularly outstanding, if we just practice blindly, when will we ever reach the mid-stage of Body Refinement?"

But things are different here at 'Hidden Dragon'! Once you're in the security team, you get systematic and formal training! Their master craftsmen are truly skilled! They even have special internal elixirs called 'Nourishing Pills' to help us build a solid foundation and strengthen our bones and marrow! It makes all the difference!
This is the right way to pave the way for us 'potential stars'!

A tall, thin young man next to him also came over and whispered mysteriously.

"My second aunt's husband's neighbor's son was selected by 'Hidden Dragon' to work in the security team last year."

One year! Just one year! A few days ago, I received a letter from home saying that I've broken through to the mid-stage of Body Refinement! Moreover, they have a deep partnership with some training camp of the Southern Branch of the Special Administration Bureau! They're a designated recommendation unit!
Once we've survived the basic training and reached the assessment threshold, we won't have to run around asking for favors anymore. 'Hidden Dragon' will take care of pulling strings and getting us officially hired!
These are legitimate contract workers! Aren't they much better than those who rely on violence and bloodshed for cultivation?

“Deep cooperation…targeted recommendations…” Chen Yang silently pondered these chilling words.

The mountain wind, carrying moisture, blew through the broken window frames of the old factory buildings, making the cheap posters printed with "Hidden Dragon Talent Transfer Program - Cultivators Directly Reach the Heavenly Path" rustle.

Standing before a group of excited young people whose eyes gleamed with burning desire, Chen Yang felt only a chilling disappointment welling up inside him.

He just used the most blunt words to tear off the mask of Baicaoshenghui Pharmaceutical Company, this "hidden dragon company".

"They're lying to you! The so-called Heavenly Alliance test slots are a trap! Once you're in the security team and inner sect, your cultivation talent and even your life essence will be extracted and plundered. Your fate will be to become a corpse on the laboratory table in the pharmaceutical factory!"

He was met with faces filled with disdain and impatience.

"Ha, where did this greenhorn come from? He can't even get selected himself, so he tries to ruin other people's opportunities?"

"Exactly! Qianlong Company is a legitimate large enterprise with official backing! Would they really fool small fry like us?"

"You're obviously here to poach our talent! Are you from some rival faction? Brothers, keep an eye on him! Don't let him get away!"

The crowd stirred, and several men with shifty eyes and bodies that were noticeably stronger and more muscular than the other applicants quietly moved and blocked the factory entrance and several side passages.

These are the "protectors" and thugs mixed in with the victims.

Looking at these young people who were about to embark on a dead end but remained obstinate, Chen Yang felt an indescribable sense of sorrow and powerlessness weigh heavily on him.

A deep weariness flashed across his disguised, ordinary face, and his voice deepened.

"I'll say it one last time. I'm from the Qingwei Sect. If you turn back now and go to the Qingwei Sect, out of consideration for the fact that you've been deceived, not only will we not charge you any fees, but we'll also give you a real opportunity for assessment, and even recommend you for entry into the core of the sect for cultivation!"

These words were like a drop of water falling into boiling oil, unleashing even greater malice.

"Bah! Qingwei Sect? I've never even heard of it! It must be some run-down little temple in some remote, desolate place!"

"Recommend? Don't be ridiculous! I only believe that Qianlong Company can take me to the top!"

"Why waste words with him! Arrest him and hand him over to the company!"

This kind of person is definitely a hostile element!

Some of the most enthusiastically incited young people even clamored to take out their phones and call the police.

"Report! You've disrupted public order and defamed legitimate businesses. Let the police arrest you!"

The encirclement was completely closed, and the thugs who were actually mixed in with the "victims" revealed their ferocious faces. The triangular-eyed man in the lead drew a specially made bone short blade, the blade of which shimmered with a dim fluorescence, clearly not made of ordinary iron.

"Kid, you've chosen the wrong place to cause trouble! Take him down!"

Before he could finish speaking, figures flashed! Seven or eight fierce thugs, some with menacing punches, others with chilling blades, pounced on Chen Yang at the same time, blocking all his escape routes.

Judging from their well-coordinated movements and sudden bursts of speed and power, they far surpass ordinary thugs, clearly indicating that they have undergone special training and may even have been injected with the most basic enhancement drugs.

However, Chen Yang didn't even blink.

Without channeling any spiritual energy, his figure flickered like a ghost among the oncoming figures. His right leg, like a steel whip, swept out with a slight whistling sound!

"Crack!"

"Pfft!"

"boom!"

A series of dull cracking sounds, impacts, and screams suddenly erupted. One of the three thugs at the front was struck in the chest by a whip kick, his ribs caved in, and he flew backward; another tried to block, but his arm bone snapped at a bizarre right angle; and yet another was grabbed by Chen Yang and his shoulder joint was crushed, and he was thrown several meters away like a broken sack, crashing into a rusty iron frame.

This fighting style, which completely transcends the limits of mortals, instantly stunned the remaining people.

But the man with the triangular eyes clearly didn't believe it and roared fiercely.

"This is a tough one! Brothers, get your weapons!"

The remaining thugs, no longer concerned about the many applicants still in the factory, drew their weapons from their waists or backs.

There were brass knuckles gleaming with a cold metallic sheen, scimitars with serrated edges, and even miniature crossbow bolts that shimmered with a faint emerald green light!

"Genetic weapons?"

Chen Yang's eyes narrowed, and his heart grew even colder.

The crossbow bolt was fired first, three green beams tearing through the air, aiming straight for his vitals! Chen Yang neither dodged nor yielded. Just as the green beams were about to hit him, his body inexplicably left an extremely small afterimage in place, while his real body had already shifted half a foot to the side.

He reached out and grabbed two of the crossbow bolts, then with a strange flick of his wrist, the two poisoned bolts shot back at an even more violent speed!

"Pfft! Pfft!"

The two crossbowmen didn't even see the trajectory before the bolts were deeply embedded in their throats, and dark green blood gushed out!

"Damn it! Inject it! Go for it!"

Seeing the situation was turning bad, Triangle suddenly pulled out a metal syringe about the size of a thumb, filled with dark red liquid, from his pocket and plunged it into his own neck! The same syringe appeared in the hands of the other thugs, who roared and did not hesitate to inject the strange liquid into their flesh.

A heart-stopping change happened in an instant!
The recipient's eyes instantly filled with bloodshot veins, the veins beneath his skin throbbed violently like writhing earthworms, and his previously not-so-muscular muscles bulged, tearing his clothes. His strength and speed surged dramatically to a visible degree!

One of the thugs closest to Chen Yang punched him with a shrill sound that tore through the air, instantly slamming into Chen Yang's face! The speed was so fast that the wind pressure it generated even blew the stray hairs on Chen Yang's forehead.

"Humph!"

Chen Yang snorted coldly, finally getting serious.

He still didn't use any spiritual power, relying solely on his incomparably strong physical body and terrifying reflexes to strike first despite being the one to attack! His right hand, fingers spread like a dragon's claw, precisely caught the opponent's incoming fist, and then—

"Tear it!"

Like tearing open a piece of rotten leather!

The injected man's entire right arm, which had been swollen and strengthened, was torn off his body by Chen Yang using pure brute force! Dark red and black blood, carrying a hot and fishy smell, splattered all over the ground like a fountain!
The severed arm was still twitching in his hand.

Chen Yang held it high, his cold gaze sweeping across the entire room, his voice carrying a soul-stirring power.

"Look carefully!"
This power!
This filthy blood! It's a 'gene serum' made from nutrients extracted from people like you!
This is the power they promised you! The price is your lives!

Inside the factory, apart from the beast-like growls of the thugs under the influence of drugs, there was a deathly silence.

Those young applicants who had just been shouting that they didn't believe it and that they would call the police were now ashen-faced. Looking at the severed limbs and splattered blood on the ground, and at the thugs' ferocious and inhuman state after being injected, their stomachs churned. Fear finally overcame their greed.

However, after a brief silence, a sharp voice, laced with fear and a last vestige of frenzy, pierced the stillness.

"It's fake! It's all fake! You're a devil! You're using evil magic to deceive us! Qianlong Company is innocent! Call the police! Call the police now to arrest this murderer!"

There are still people who firmly believe this!
The last bit of warmth in Chen Yang's eyes vanished completely.

"Stubborn to the end!"

He moved; this time, his figure transformed into an invisible wind.

Wherever it passed, only the crackling sounds of bones shattering and flesh splattering remained.

Those thugs injected with the drug were like paper toys in his eyes.

Every punch and kick carried the force of a thunderbolt! The Soul-Splitting Iron Fork appeared in his hand at some unknown time; its black tip drew a deadly arc, and with each flash, a string of eerie blood droplets flew up! (End of Chapter)