Let them offer their loyalty!
Chapter 1006 - 485: Successfully Advance to Fifth Order! (10,000 Characters for Monthly Ticket)

Watching the region draw closer to him, Qiu Tu spread his arms wide, awaiting resonance with the region.

The region flew rapidly, and in no time, it arrived before Qiu Tu.

What initially appeared as nothing more than a biscuit-like fragment transformed into a gigantic, luminous wall as it approached Qiu Tu.

Qiu Tu placed his hand upon it.

The next second.

"Thump, thump, thump..."

Everything around Qiu Tu seemed to vanish, leaving only the sound of his own heartbeat echoing—"thump, thump, thump."

In a daze, he felt as though he had become the Xinjie Territory...

As though he had soared past the underground base, skimmed over Larilo's bathing creek, and brushed past the ancient tree that was Yiyi manifested...

He was the wind, the rain, the clouds, the sun.

He was... the Xinjie Territory!

The regional center dissolved during this process, directly merging into him. In that unseen dimension, he seemed to form a connection with the Xinjie Territory, with the leyline nodes of the Xinjie Territory...

The power of the region appeared to layer itself upon him, one level after another...

He gradually immersed himself in it...

...

Meanwhile.

As Qiu Tu ascended to become a Fifth-Order Calamity Being, all the cities of Dongye State were focused on him.

Eastern City, Parliament Building, Deputy Speaker's Office.

Unlike other bright offices of deputy speakers, the wide window here was covered with two thick curtains, blocking outside light completely.

Even though it was sunny outside, the inside remained shrouded in darkness.

The entire office lacked any lights other than the desk lamp. The lamp's light was dimmed so much it only illuminated a palm-sized spot on the wide desk.

And Yan Chen sat in the shadows behind that desk, his figure barely visible...

The atmosphere within the office was exceptionally still, as though the fall of a single needle would be audible.

Time trickled by in silence. Then, suddenly, the door of Yan Chen's office sounded with three knocks: "Knock, knock, knock."

Yan Chen's voice, raspy and dissonant, filtered through, "Come in."

The next second, the door was pushed open from outside, revealing a face as pure and angelic as sunlight.

It was none other than Yan Chen's daughter, Yanyan.

Entering the office, she closed the door behind her and softly called toward the shadows where Yan Chen sat, "Dad."

Yan Chen replied coolly, "When I'm working, address me by my position."

Yanyan's face faltered for a moment, tinged with sadness, but she nevertheless addressed him firmly, "Yes, Chairman Yan."

Yan Chen murmured an acknowledgment and asked, "What's the status?"

Yanyan answered, "Qiu Tu… Speaker Qiu has gone to Bright Moon City and entered the Bright Moon Area."

"Because he hasn't given approval, our people don't dare enter the Bright Moon Area for investigation."

"But… he should have already begun ascending."

At this, Yanyan hesitated before asking, "Chairman Yan… are you planning to deal with him like he dealt with you?"

The "like that" Yanyan referred to was clearly when Qiu Tu interrupted Yan Chen's ascension to Fourth Order, severing Yan Chen's Qi Yun.

But the shadowy Yan Chen went quiet for a moment upon hearing his daughter's words.

Then, from the darkness, he extended his wrinkled hand to retrieve a cigarette pack placed within the small circle of desk lamp light.

Slowly, he pulled out a cigarette from the pack and placed it between his lips.

"Scratch, scratch," came the sound of striking matches.

The next second, flames bloomed within the dim office.

Lighting the cigarette, Yan Chen gently shook the matchstick to extinguish the fire, and then slowly replied, "Interrupt him? Why interrupt him?"

He seemed to be asking a question, though it felt more like self-reflection. "Yanyan, when an enemy cannot be defeated..."

"There's no need to remain their enemy, wouldn't you agree?"

Yanyan blinked in surprise and asked, "Dad… are you saying you don't plan to oppose Qiu Tu?"

Yan Chen took a deep drag from the cigarette, exhaling two streams of smoke through his nostrils. Gazing off into the distance, he spoke, "When he was the Deputy Speaker and I was the Bureau Chief, I couldn't overcome him."

"Now he's Speaker and I'm Deputy Speaker. Do you think… I can prevail against him now?"

"Moreover, if you truly put yourself in his shoes, back when our positions were reversed, perhaps I'd have done everything I could to bring him down too."

"After all… at the time, we had indeed reached the point of mutual destruction."

"But now..."

Yan Chen chuckled faintly, shaking the matchbox with a casual "swish, swish" sound.

"I've kept my head down for months, watching Qiu Tu's imminent rise. Seizing the chance to balance the Sanctuary against him, exhausting my heart power and resources to push myself forward through self-nomination..."

"It wasn't… truly to continue fighting against him."

"At most, I'll feign opposition on the surface, to put on a show for those above."

"In private… he's my superior. Whatever he says, I'll do."

Upon hearing Yan Chen's words, disappointment flickered briefly in Yanyan's eyes, though she masked it expertly.

She remarked, "Speaker, your reasoning is sound. I had thought too simplistically just now."

From the shadows, Yan Chen extended a hand, waved dismissively, and said, "It's nothing. Leave now and continue keeping an eye on the situation."

As she turned away, Yan Chen added in his raspy tone, "This time, making you my secretary is simply to transition you and lend you some prestige."

"Be prepared; I may assign you a new position at any time."

"Understood, Speaker." Yanyan replied, her angelic face adorned with a smile of "sincerity."

As the door to the office closed, the room once again held only Yan Chen.

Half his face was cloaked in shadow, while the other half remained devoid of any expression...

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