Pokémon: Sandstorm Sovereign

Chapter 502 503: The Hidden Crisis in the Pokémon Egg

National Highway 219, Border Defense Post.

When Basalt and An Ning landed, Major Liu Qi was waiting anxiously. Beside him stood a man whose body was as straight as a javelin, with slightly graying temples.

"Chief, Director, Basalt and Team Leader An are back."

A soldier ran in from outside, saluting and reporting.

Hearing this, Liu Qi quickly looked at the man, "Zhang Qianjun," the highest leader of their Tibet Border Defense Post. At the same time, he was also a Pokémon Master!

"Let's go, take a look!"

Zhang Qianjun turned around, his face full of fortitude, but his expression wasn't very good.

"An Ning, only the two of you came back?"

Liu Qi's tone trembled slightly. Although he had realized the problem, he was still somewhat unwilling to accept it.

"Director!"

An Ning choked up and told the truth of what happened.

"Candle formation? Cofagrigus? Sacrificing with blood essence and souls?"

When learning the situation, Liu Qi also gasped. This kind of behavior could no longer be described as cruel.

"Then how did you escape from the Lich Old Man?" Liu Qi was extremely puzzled. The Lich Old Man could wipe out a border defense squad alone; he was definitely a Gym Leader-level trainer. But now...

"Director, Basalt saved me!"

Liu Qi and Zhang Qianjun looked at each other and said slowly, "Gym Leader-level?"

"Yeah!" An Ning nodded.

"Really Gym Leader-level?"

Liu Qi and Zhang Qianjun both gasped. Because during the time Basalt went to find An Ning, they had already found Basalt's complete information. A 21-year-old Gym Leader-level trainer? Simply unimaginable.

Even Zhang Qianjun was extremely surprised, saying, "In the past, it was already a gratifying thing for Huaxia to have a Gym Leader-level genius appear before graduating from university, like that kid from the Wu family last year. But now..."

Zhang Qianjun looked at Basalt with burning eyes. Basalt's achievement couldn't be said to be unprecedented in Huaxia history, but it definitely counted as one of the few. Such a person, as long as he didn't die prematurely, would definitely have huge achievements in the future.

After the shock, Liu Qi looked at Zhang Qianjun and asked curiously, "Chief, can you tell the background of that Lich Old Man?"

As a Pokémon Master, the information Zhang Qianjun knew was obviously much more than Liu Qi.

"It's the Spiritual Nether Cult!"

Zhang Qianjun's voice was low, carrying anger.

"Spiritual Nether Cult? What is that? An evil cult?"

Everyone looked up curiously.

"That's right, it is an evil cult. The Indian Alliance is a loose alliance; the differences between various princely states are huge. Ethnicity, beliefs, language, and writing are all different, difficult to integrate. Especially the issue of faith; there are nearly a hundred legal religions in India alone, and illegal religions take the opportunity to pass off fish eyes as pearls, surviving in the cracks."

Zhang Qianjun looked into the distance and explained, "The Spiritual Nether Cult is one of them. Using meditation methods to improve the reaction ability of trainers and sacrifice techniques to sacrifice living people to improve Pokémon potential; it is an out-and-out harmful evil cult."

"However, the caste system is deeply rooted in the Indian Alliance, and class solidification is very serious. The Spiritual Nether Cult preaches that man can conquer nature, giving those low-caste poor people with no hope a chance of life. Many people were bewitched and eventually became accomplices."

"Plus, their meditation methods and sacrifice methods are indeed amazing in the early stage, so there are many believers, and their power is no small matter. Crucially, the leader of the Spiritual Nether Cult is also a Pokémon Master and is cautious by nature. The World Police set traps to catch him several times, but he slipped away. As long as this guy doesn't die, the Spiritual Nether Cult is destined not to be eradicated!"

Zhang Qianjun sighed. He had read relevant information and knew that the Pokémon cultivated by the Spiritual Nether Cult leader using sacrifice methods had extraordinary combat power. This was an extremely terrible opponent!

Beep beep beep!

Just then, Zhang Qianjun's communicator rang.

He picked it up and listened for a while, then snorted immediately: "Does the Indian Alliance have the nerve to blame us? Their Spiritual Nether Cult killed several of our soldiers and trainers; this matter is not over! You reply to them, if they are not convinced, let 'Rajilit' come to the border and wait for me. I, Zhang Qianjun, will accompany him to the end!"

Zhang Qianjun was extremely angry.

After the anger, Zhang Qianjun gave Liu Qi a look. The latter understood and quickly took An Ning down to rest. As for Basalt, he was unexpectedly left behind. Basalt was obviously a bit at a loss.

After an unknown amount of time, Zhang Qianjun slowly asked, "How do you plan to deal with that Pokémon egg?"

"General Zhang, I want to try hatching and cultivating it."

Basalt didn't hide it and confessed, "Because I feel that although the early cultivation method of this Pokémon egg was disgraceful, the life inside is innocent. We shouldn't be harsh and rashly kill it."

"What you said makes sense! But..."

Zhang Qianjun changed the topic, shaking his head and saying, "But Pokémon cultivated using the evil sacrifice method of the Spiritual Nether Cult, while having outstanding abilities, often have extremely heavy killing intent. If not careful, they might even turn against and devour their masters."

"These are side effects brought by absorbing blood essence and souls. The memory fragments of those sacrificed people will merge into the Pokémon's consciousness, like a Pokémon version of split personality. Are you... mentally prepared?"

"This..."

Basalt widened his eyes. Split personality, he could barely tolerate. But turning against and devouring the master, how could he tolerate this?

"It seems I can only kill that Pokémon egg!"

Basalt sighed, secretly making up his mind.

Seeing Basalt persuaded by him, Zhang Qianjun nodded with satisfaction and said, "If there is no baptism from the purifying holy object Sacred Ash (Spring of Life), nor the influence of Xerneas's life energy... the best way is to destroy it, lest it commits sins in the future and causes disaster."

"Huh???"

Basalt had originally made up his mind to kill that Pokémon egg. But Zhang Qianjun's last few sentences directly made Basalt unable to hold it. Basalt had reason to suspect whether Zhang Qianjun had seen something in him? Because the two things he mentioned happened to be what he had!

Basalt secretly sized up Zhang Qianjun several times but didn't see any clues, and his heart settled back into his stomach.

It seemed it really was just a coincidence!

After giving instructions and warnings, Zhang Qianjun left.

The conflict between Huaxia and India triggered by this incident was inevitable. The Huaxia side believed that the Spiritual Nether Cult killed Huaxia soldiers and trainers and must bear responsibility. After a war of words, neither side could convince the other.

Thus, both sides began to deploy troops to the border and started a confrontation. According to news reports, this border conflict eventually triggered Elite Four-level trainers to take action before slowly calming down.

As for who won and who lost, the news didn't report it. Everyone only knew that after this incident, Huaxia built fortresses directly in the disputed area and connected a branch from National Highway 219 straight to the disputed area. The Indian Alliance didn't dare to make a sound, only issuing protest statements from time to time.

However, these things had nothing to do with Basalt anymore. Because Basalt had already returned to Taizhou with the retired Teacher An. With all main Pokémon wiped out, Teacher An had to retire.

Upon learning the news, Mi Junhua (Coach Mi) was both surprised and happy. Surprised naturally worrying about An Ning's experience; happy that this way, the two could meet often.

Jiangnan Province, Taizhou.

"Coach Mi, I'm handing Teacher An over to you."

Basalt winked at Mi Junhua. The opportunity is given to you; don't be useless!

"Basalt, leave An Ning to me. Just put your heart in your stomach!" Mi Junhua nodded.

Watching the receding figures of Teacher An and Mi Junhua, Basalt felt that Teacher An probably couldn't escape Coach Mi's grasp this time.

"In a few months, maybe we can drink wedding wine."

Basalt smiled, rode Bronzong again, and rushed to Shanghai. He had to hurry to Viridian Forest!