# 1365
Chapter 1366: 「Heroic Spirits」
Island.
On the other side.
On a desolate mountain, a delicate young man in snow-white clothes with a bulky pair of headphones around his neck silently gazed at the national fortune golden dragon rising into the sky in the distance, his black messy hair fluttering in the wind.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, he slightly turned his head to look behind him,
A tall woman in a lamb fleece hoodie was walking over from a distance with a smile, standing by his side.
"Why are you here too?"
"Of course I'm afraid you'd be bored alone, so I came to keep you company~" The woman patted his shoulder vigorously.
Tang Yusheng glanced at her helplessly. "Wang Qing, I'm your senior and superior, can't you use such a weird nickname for me... It's awkward."
"I think it's pretty good." Wang Qing said boldly. She paused, then continued,
"But this time, I'm not entirely here to see you... After all, I'm also curious about what Lin Qiye, as described by Marquis, actually looks like."
Tang Yusheng turned his head, gazing at the national fortune golden dragon rising into the sky in the distance,
"Uncle Li has summoned the national fortune... Isn't the commotion a bit too big?"
"That's normal." Wang Qing said leisurely,
"After all, without doing this, it would be hard to explain our existence.
Who could have thought that within Great Xia's dormant national fortune, there were also a group of old antiques who should have passed away long ago?"
Tang Yusheng remained silent. He simply rubbed the bulky headphones around his neck with his hand. After a long while, he sighed...
...
Staring at the national fortune golden dragon surging forward, Lin Qiye and the others were shocked, eyes wide open.
"Great Xia's national fortune?!" Lin Qiye had sensed the existence of national fortune when rescuing Anta County in the fog, but it was like a grain of rice compared to this towering golden dragon rising into the sky.
He never expected to witness Great Xia's prosperous and magnificent national fortune with his own eyes, in such a way, in such a place!
The national fortune golden dragon pierced through the ground above their heads and vanished from sight, but everyone could sense its existence. It was like a burning torch on a winter day—even through the thick ceiling of the air-raid shelter, everyone could feel that blazing warmth and grandeur.
"Dragon eye..." An Qingyu seemed to have thought of something and quickly spread out the nautical chart in her hands.
"What did you say?" Cao Yuan hadn't quite heard.
"This Island should be the starting point of Great Xia's dragon veins!
Look, if you connect these several dragon veins, this Island's position is precisely the dragon eye submerged beneath the sea!"
An Qingyu traced the outline of Great Xia's map on the ground, marking and connecting the positions of the several dragon veins, extending them constantly. The island where they were located on the nautical chart was at the convergence point where all the dragon veins submerged into the sea. From a distance, it looked like an eye embedded in the ocean.
Cao Yuan and Jiang Er were stunned by this connected dragon diagram, mouths slightly open. Baili Pangpang, standing behind the group, blinked but said nothing.
The national fortune golden dragon circled in the air for half a loop, then dove back into the Island. Wisps of fortune dissipated and disappeared into the earth, as if they had never existed.
Lin Qiye came to his senses and looked at Li Kengqiang, who was smiling but not speaking, confused:
"What... exactly is going on?"
Li Kengqiang thought for a moment. "Do you know how many special squads Great Xia has?"
"Five." Lin Qiye answered immediately. "Our 005th special squad [Nightfall], the destroyed 004th squad [Mask], the 003rd [Phoenix], the 002nd [Medium], and... the 001st squad."
Lin Qiye recalled Li Kengqiang's earlier words and seemed to understand something, speaking with disbelief:
"So, the 'Heroic Spirits' you mentioned just now..."
"That's right. We are Great Xia's 001st special squad, [Heroic Spirits]." Li Kengqiang said leisurely.
"Heroic Spirits..." An Qingyu kept repeating these two words, as if contemplating.
"The [Heroic Spirits] squad is composed of the heroic spirits of Night Watch supreme commanders throughout history.
I, Li Kengqiang, am Great Xia Night Watch's second supreme commander, and also a member of the [Heroic Spirits] squad." Li Kengqiang stretched out his hand and pointed at the ground beneath their feet. "Our function is to guard Great Xia's national fortune!"
"Guard the national fortune...?"
These simple four words, at this moment, to Lin Qiye and the others, seemed to contain boundless power, striking their hearts and minds.
Earlier, Lin Qiye had heard that Great Xia's national fortune was being guarded by someone, but he never imagined that the ones guarding Great Xia's national fortune were the extremely mysterious 001st special squad that had never appeared in the world—[Heroic Spirits].
"But didn't you all die in battle?" An Qingyu asked, puzzled. "Why can you still retain heroic spirits?"
"Long ago, someone created a secret technique. When on the verge of death, one could refine bone and blood into vessels, merge the body into weapons, and with the aid of some special methods and objects, create a spirit-vessel to collect the resolve within the soul—that is, the so-called 'heroic spirits.'" Li Kengqiang's voice was completely calm.
"But this spirit-vessel can only maintain the existence of 'heroic spirits' for ten minutes. The only way to allow heroic spirits to persist is to place the spirit-vessel into a massive flow of national fortune, using the power of national fortune to nurture the heroic spirits and keep them from perishing.
National fortune nurtures heroic spirits; heroic spirits guard national fortune.
The two are mutually dependent. This is the purpose of the [Heroic Spirits] squad's existence."
After hearing Li Kengqiang's description, Lin Qiye and the others stood frozen in place, unable to回过神来 for a long while.
Refine bone and blood into vessels, merge the body into weapons?
Although Li Kengqiang spoke of it so casually, Lin Qiye and the others couldn't imagine what price one would have to pay to achieve this.
So, this young man dressed in clothing from the 1980s... was the genuine Commander Li Kengqiang?!
"Junior Lin Qiye, greets Commander Li!" Lin Qiye stepped back half a step, put away the [Endless King] beneath his feet, and bowed with a solemn expression. "I was unaware of the situation before and was disrespectful. I sincerely apologize!"
"Hehe, no need to be so serious. Actually, we just wanted to see what was special about the legendary Lin Qiye." Li Kengqiang slapped his shoulder boisterously. "You're a good kid. I have high hopes for you."
The other members of the [Nightfall] squad also bowed one by one.
"Commander Li..."
"Hey, don't call me Commander. I've been dead for so long... Now Great Xia Night Watch only has one supreme commander, and that's Zuo Qing. Understand?
As for you all, just call me Brother Gun."
"Brother Keng?" Lin Qiye's expression was somewhat odd. The name sounded strange any way he said it.
"Not Keng as in my name, but Gun as in the sound of shooting." Li Kengqiang slightly lowered his frog-eye sunglasses, smiling. "In our era, there weren't many educated people. Not many could write 'kengqiang' (forceful). Back then, the brothers from the Huaihai waterfront gang all called me Brother Gun directly—simple and cool... You should do the same."