"All right, then—I'll tell you everything I saw and heard at Central Headquarters this past month, so we don't miss any intelligence that might be useful to you, Chief," Brother Dafeng said after a moment's thought.

"Go ahead." Wei Zhao agreed. Central Headquarters had always been an exceedingly mysterious place to him. Especially after he discovered that the Center's reach could extend even to Cloud Terrace Island, he had grown all the more eager to probe its reality himself—only, he had made but a small attempt on Cloud Terrace Island, and even that had been merely the Central Merchants' Guild. The result: he had been seized and nearly turned into a human specimen.

And in the secular world, he did not even know where Central Headquarters was, leaving him no place to start. Now, through Brother Dafeng, this insider, he could learn a thing or two—a stroke of fortune beyond his wildest dreams.

Brother Dafeng could not wait, and immediately recounted every single thing that had happened after he arrived at Central Headquarters, great and small alike. When he finished, Wei Zhao was silent for a long while. Just as Brother Dafeng had been when he first went to Central Headquarters, Wei Zhao too had harbored many assumptions about the place—yet never once had he imagined it would actually be a research base.

Then again, surprising as this was, it made perfect sense upon closer reflection. If Central Headquarters had not possessed formidable research capabilities, Kang Jingming would never have been equipped with that full array of super-tech gear.

By Wei Zhao's reckoning, even their means of connecting Cloud Terrace Island with the secular world was very likely not a traditional teleportation array, but an entirely new passage fusing top-tier technology. Otherwise, those endless streams of tech products from the Central Merchants' Guild would be impossible to explain—after all, a traditional teleportation array could not transport high-tech products. Even if a successful transfer were made, they could not arrive intact, much less be sold, and certainly not in such enormous quantities.

"Good. Very good. Thank you for your hard work. What you've told me is very important to me," Wei Zhao said with feeling.

"What are you saying, Chief? This is my duty to begin with—what hard work is there to speak of? So long as it's of use to you, that's enough. It's only a pity that, as an outer-circle member, I've been able to learn only these petty details, and never had the chance to touch the true core secrets. Ah…" Brother Dafeng could not help but sigh.

"No—you've done very well. Given your current position, it would actually be abnormal for you to rashly reach for core secrets. Never mind that Central Headquarters would not let you touch them; if they ever did let you, that is when you should be on your guard—it might well be a trap. Safety first. There will be time enough later," Wei Zhao consoled him.

Indeed, the two pieces of intelligence he most wanted had eluded Brother Dafeng: first, the exact address of the secular world's Central Headquarters; and second, the precise means by which that Headquarters connected with Cloud Terrace Island. These two were what he most urgently wished to know. Unfortunately, they were the core of cores, not so easily pried out.

Moreover, though the matters Brother Dafeng had related sounded like petty details, taken together they were enough for Wei Zhao to form a most vivid impression of the secular world's Central Headquarters—and that was of great importance.

"Yes, I'll do as you say, Chief. By the way—what should I do next?" Brother Dafeng asked. How Dr. Glasses and those Foundation Establishment experts would act next depended entirely on what he reported back.

"The Antiquity Project? Heh. The Center truly lives up to its name—no small ambition. Very well, since they've come all this way, we shouldn't let the trip go to waste. Take them to have a look. It'll do you the favor of earning some merit along the way," Wei Zhao said after a moment's thought.

From the very name of the Antiquity Project, he could already vaguely guess that these people of the secular world's Central Headquarters were by no means simply after a batch of Foundation Establishment experts. It was very likely that, just as with Cloud Terrace Island, they meant to seize the chance to extend their reach into the Antiquity Minor Jianghu. Once there is one, there will be a second—such a thing was far from impossible.

"That… where am I supposed to take them?" Brother Dafeng was utterly baffled. His knowledge of the Antiquity Alliance came purely from Wei Zhao's own account; many things Wei Zhao had never mentioned were naturally unknown to him, and his understanding was even far less detailed and complete than Central Headquarters'.

After all, with Central Headquarters' intelligence network, once they set their minds to it, they could pinpoint one by one even those Antiquity Alliance experts scattered across the secular world—something not even the Mystery Investigation Bureau could accomplish. And as for the situation at the gathering place of the Antiquity Alliance experts, even Central Headquarters knew nothing at all, let alone him.

"There's a teleportation array in the back courtyard of the mountain gate. It can send you to the way station between the secular world and the Antiquity Minor Jianghu—a cluster of islands at sea. Since these Antiquity Alliance experts aren't at the mountain gate, they've most likely all been summoned to the islands for secluded cultivation," Wei Zhao prompted.

In truth, when he had first come out, those brought to the way station for secluded cultivation were only the prospective disciples newly recruited from the secular world; the other Antiquity Alliance trainees were still concentrated at the outer mountain gate. It was only because Xin Yi'an had repeatedly and strictly ordered them not to stir up trouble in the secular world that, over time, these people gradually lost their inclination to wander about there. Rather than stay outside wasting time, they might as well go cultivate on the way-station islands—the spiritual qi there was a rare find even in the Antiquity Minor Jianghu.

Wei Zhao could even guess their deeper motive. After all, Leng Leng had once said that upon concluding this secular-world training, they would immediately enter the Antiquity Trial—that was the true main event. Most of these Antiquity Alliance disciples were surely hoping to conserve their strength early and be ready to show their prowess when the time came.

"The way station? Is it all right to reveal that to Central Headquarters' people?" Brother Dafeng hesitated.

"It's fine. Just take them there and see what they're really up to." Wei Zhao showed not the slightest worry. With Xin Yi'an, an expert of the early Gold Core stage, holding the field, a mere dozen or so Foundation Establishment experts from Central Headquarters could hardly stir up any trouble—and moreover, Old Man Wei was there now as well, which made it even less of a concern. Wei Zhao had great confidence in his strength.

Unlike Ergoudan, Lin Dongfang did need to drink a few sips of spirit spring water at irregular intervals, but the spring water's hold on him was far less constraining; a month or so away from West Star Mountain was no problem at all. Otherwise, Wei Zhao would never have proposed that he go stay at the way station for a while.

"Well, all right then. I'll take them to have a look," Brother Dafeng nodded. (To be continued.)