PCJ – Chapter 691 The Entrance Is Exposed

As night fell, several shadowy figures slipped into the water near the Xiyun Reservoir, swimming like fish toward the entrance of the Xiyun Secret Realm. These figures wore full-body wetsuits and carried oxygen tanks on their backs. Their graceful movements in the water made it clear that they were professional divers.

They weren’t just well-equipped in terms of diving gear — they also carried a special type of detection equipment capable of sensing changes in the surrounding magnetic field.

As they neared the entrance to the Xiyun Secret Realm, the magnetic field began to fluctuate violently. Since the secret realm existed in a different spatial dimension than Earth, the interface between them naturally caused magnetic disturbances. Using this method to locate the secret realm was indeed quite clever. The divers circled around the entrance several times, successfully marking its coordinates. They seemed quite familiar with the concept of secret realms — otherwise, they wouldn’t have conducted their search so skillfully and located the entrance so quickly.

When these divers climbed back ashore and removed their wetsuits, their true identities were revealed — among the five of them, only one was Chinese; the rest were foreigners. The Chinese man was named Jia Xuekai, who in past years had provided news leads online to foreign media outlets, gradually becoming an intelligence agent for overseas forces. Later, he traveled to the United States and underwent professional espionage training, gaining extensive experience in intelligence work. For this exploration of the Xiyun Secret Realm, he served as the guide for these foreign operatives.

Jia Xuekai turned to one of the Americans and said, “Harding, the target has been found. My task is complete.”

“Jia, listen to me. After this mission, you’ll definitely be exposed. So once everything is done, you can immigrate to the United States and become a U.S. citizen. But before that, we still have more to do. You must help me — and help yourself. If we succeed, you’ll have enough money to live the rest of your life in America without a care in the world,” Harding said.

Jia Xuekai’s expression grew complicated. When he had first been drawn into the intelligence world, it was merely to make some quick money. He never expected to get in so deep. Deep down, he didn’t want to betray his homeland — he didn’t want to become a traitor. He had always known this day would come, but now that it had, he found himself filled with unexpected regret.

“There’s no turning back now…” Jia Xuekai murmured with a sigh.

Chadlow patted Jia Xuekai on the shoulder and said, “Jia, don’t overthink it. Every man for himself — that’s just how the world works.”

Jia Xuekai forced a weak smile. “You’re right, Chadlow. Just tell me what you need me to do. I’ll do my best.”

There was no moon that night, and the sky was pitch black. But despite the darkness, the night was far from peaceful. Just around that little valley near the Xiyun Reservoir, multiple forces were hiding in secret.

Not far from where Jia Xuekai and the other divers had surfaced, a few people were hidden in a patch of tall grass. One of them would’ve been instantly recognized by Zhang Jiaohua — he was Xu Falin.

“President Xu, looks like those spies have found the Meishan Sect’s stronghold. Should we lend them a hand?” asked Cao Minghai, a member beside Xu Falin.

“You’re being nosy like a dog chasing mice. Just focus on what’s within your duties. No one thanks you for meddling in others’ business. You think the Meishan Sect needs our help?” Xu Falin replied, clearly annoyed.

“But isn’t it wrong to just stand by? We’re all Chinese, after all — we can’t just let those foreigners take advantage of us,” Cao Minghai argued. He wasn’t afraid of offending Xu Falin — the so-called Association of Special Ability Users was just a loosely organized group, with little real authority over its members. Even though Xu Falin was a vice president, his power was limited — certainly not enough to decide life or death.

“I never said we should let the foreigners take advantage,” Xu Falin replied coldly. “The Meishan Sect isn’t some minor sect. They know how to handle their own matters. If we interfere recklessly, we might ruin their plans. Do you really think they need help dealing with a few spies?”

Xu Falin was merely trying to come up with a dignified excuse to keep out of it — but what he didn’t know was, by sheer coincidence, he had guessed the truth.

How could a few foreign spies wander around the entrance of the Xiyun Secret Realm without alerting the cultivators guarding it? In truth, they had already been discovered. Zhang Jiaohua simply didn’t want them taken down yet. Within the cultivation world, the entrance to the Xiyun Secret Realm wasn’t exactly a secret. For those special ability users from the U.S., finding it wasn’t too difficult. So Zhang Jiaohua decided to let them go for now — hoping to follow the trail and find the bigger threat behind them.

Xu Falin thought his team had remained hidden well, but in fact, the cultivators of the Xiyun Secret Realm had already noticed their presence too — they simply couldn’t be bothered to act.

“Master, if we could guess that the Americans would send people, then they’ve definitely considered it too. They might not make direct contact with these spies. Even if they do, they can use the internet to stay in touch — they won’t necessarily meet face to face,” warned Wei Chenguang.

Zhang Jiaohua nodded. “We never expected to get any valuable intel from these people. If those from the U.S. dare to come, the Meishan Sect will make sure they never leave.”

“What about the spies?” Wei Chenguang asked.

“Let’s see how much more we can get from them. Once they’ve passed on the message, we strike,” Zhang Jiaohua said.

“Understood,” Wei Chenguang responded and went to make preparations.

Jia Xuekai and Harding returned to Beijing and immediately sent out the information they had gathered through secure online channels. They had originally expected to assist the incoming U.S. agents, but instead, the orders they received were to lay low again and wipe all traces of the operation.

Jia Xuekai had thought this would be his ticket to immigrate to the U.S. and finally escape his paranoid, fearful life. But now, it seemed he had to keep going. He felt a deep sense of unease, an ominous feeling that something bad was coming. So he decided to go home for a visit.

Jia Xuekai’s home was in a residential complex in Beijing. Over the years, he had made a considerable amount of money by selling intelligence and had purchased a new apartment of over 100 square meters. His family had no idea what he really did — even his wife and child thought he was a photojournalist, since he did occasionally submit photos to media outlets.

Restless and anxious, Jia Xuekai longed to get home and be with his wife and child. His wife was beautiful, and their child adorable. But in order to keep a low profile, he rarely interacted with anyone outside the home. His neighbors didn’t even know much about his job, family, or income.

As he drove toward the entrance of his residential complex, two men suddenly opened his car doors and jumped in. Jia Xuekai’s heart went cold. He instinctively reached for the door to flee, but the man in the front passenger seat spoke: “Do you want your wife and kid to see your cold, lifeless corpse?”

The moment they mentioned his family, Jia Xuekai collapsed in fear — completely paralyzed.