After easily killing the mastermind and obtaining the Spectral Crystal Lotus, Xia Li truly felt like he was dreaming.
Mainly because the acquisition had been too easy, giving him a sense of unreality.
How was this different from finding a lottery ticket on the street and winning the jackpot?
Moreover...
The key point was that while the Spectral Crystal Lotus was only ranked third in this world, it could rank first on Earth.
On Earth, the Spectral Crystal Lotus was called the Quantum Lotus.
The main function of transforming divine sense into divine thought was actually secondary in Earth's cultivation tradition. The crucial thing was that it could open the most mysterious Dirac Sea.
Also known as the sea of consciousness.
Once the sea of consciousness was opened, it provided a massive boost to the Heaven Chip, allowing it to perform far beyond its normal capabilities.
In plain terms: permanent overclocking.
Ordinary people using Heaven Chips needed to idle at reduced frequency during normal operation, otherwise their brains couldn't handle it. Excessive data would damage neurons.
Overclocking was a measure only used in emergencies, and using it too long would cause permanent brain damage.
But after opening the sea of consciousness, overclocking could be maintained constantly. And in critical moments, what could be deployed was no longer ordinary overclocking.
It was extreme overclocking.
In this state, the human brain's computational speed would reach a terrifying level.
"Now the problem is how to get this stuff out..."
After leaving the cave, Xia Li immediately found a spot with dense shrubbery and sat under a tree to rest. Refining treasures inside the secret realm was too risky.
The refining process would release obvious auras, and more importantly, he couldn't be disturbed during refinement.
As for taking them out, he couldn't rule out the Cloud Mountain Sect having some detection method at the entrance.
No...
Thinking about it this way, he definitely couldn't refine them. If they detected it from inside his body, he'd die even worse.
Therefore...
It was time to contact his insider!
Xia Li immediately took out the transmission jade slip the Liu family had given him and contacted the Liu family member in the Cloud Mountain Sect.
"Hello, Fellow Daoist. I'm Xia Li. Has anything happened in the Cloud Mountain Sect recently? Any unusual movements, especially related to the Autumn Mountain Secret Realm?"
After sending the message, a short while later, the other party replied:
"No unusual movements for now. I'm Liu Jingfeng, an unremarkable outer sect disciple. But I have connections. Let me investigate."
"By the way, the code phrase is 'light at the end of the tunnel.' If I contact you again without using the code phrase, it means I've been compromised."
After the transmission ended, a long silence followed.
Xia Li simply sat in place, taking pills and cultivating with spirit stones. The matter of Song Yu's death could be big or small.
The key was her status in the Cloud Mountain Sect.
Thinking of this, Xia Li proactively contacted Liu Jingfeng again.
"Hello, Fellow Daoist."
"Light at the end of the tunnel. I'm here. Still investigating."
"I'm not rushing you. I want to ask if you know Song Yu?"
"Senior Sister Song? She's the granddaughter of the Second Elder. Why?"
"She was killed. I'm a witness."
"What?"
Liu Jingfeng was stunned. The transmission fell silent. After a good while, he continued:
"My respected Brother Xia, the person you mentioned... that wouldn't happen to be yourself, would it?"
Liu Jingfeng had already sensed something. If someone else had killed her, Xia Li as a witness would have immediately contacted Cloud Mountain Sect people to report it, not bypassed them to contact him.
"It wasn't me, but I might be suspected. After all, I was indeed hiding nearby. I just want to leave the secret realm safely."
Facing Liu Jingfeng, Xia Li didn't dare tell him everything. No one could guarantee Liu Jingfeng's loyalty.
"Did you record it with a recording stone?"
"No."
"Then while you can't prove your innocence, theoretically they shouldn't suspect you either."
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"Blood aura contamination is a concern."
Xia Li continued making things up, refusing to admit he'd killed Song Yu.
"Alright... having a direction is enough. I'll go investigate."
The transmission fell silent again.
Until two hours later.
Liu Jingfeng proactively contacted Xia Li.
"Light at the end of the tunnel. The Second Elder isn't at the sect. He left urgently for the Autumn Mountain Secret Realm not long ago."
Liu Jingfeng's intelligence made Xia Li's heart go cold.
He'd come after all!
"What's the Second Elder's cultivation level?"
"Nascent Soul."
Hearing "Nascent Soul," even without Liu Jingfeng specifying which stage, even a half-step pseudo-Nascent Soul could scatter Xia Li's ashes.
This made Xia Li genuinely anxious. What made it worse was that his only source of information was Liu Jingfeng. What if Liu Jingfeng was playing him?
"Do you know the methods for tracking killers?"
"Nothing more than blood aura detection, soul searching, and storage ring inspection. Possibly all three."
"I understand."
Xia Li ended the transmission, now having a rough idea of how to leave.
Even if Liu Jingfeng betrayed him, he'd never admitted to killing Song Yu throughout. And Liu Jingfeng had never seen him.
They only had the special one-to-one transmission jade slips for contact. Unlike regular transmission jade slips, these didn't leave aura traces for identification.
This meant he didn't need to worry about Liu Jingfeng testifying against him. The Liu family was quite reliable—they'd even anticipated their own people's potential betrayal.
"Begin full-body self-check. Focus on detecting blood aura."
"Read memory."
Xia Li immediately used the Heaven Chip to read his own memories. Once decoded by the Heaven Chip, memories became like movies he could revisit and experience firsthand at any time.
Find the memory of encountering Song Yu...
Find the memory of exploring the cave...
Find any memory that might expose him...
Then cut it out directly!
Then use the Heaven Chip to generate false memories to connect the gaps.
As long as his body wasn't contaminated with blood aura and his memories contained nothing suspicious, most of his suspicion would be cleared.
"Replace current technique slot with Sealing Technique."
Xia Li continued his preparations. The Sealing Technique was a method to prevent spiritual energy leakage. On Earth, its main purpose was to prevent spirit treasures from leaking energy during storage.
As for its secondary purpose...
That was hiding the aura of spirit treasures.
The Thousand Refinements Art he cultivated produced thread-like spiritual energy, which naturally enhanced techniques requiring precise spiritual control.
Xia Li directly applied seals to the mysterious ring and Song Yu's storage ring. The Spectral Crystal Lotus was also placed in Song Yu's storage ring.
And one layer wasn't enough.
Xia Li added three layers of seals—the maximum he could currently apply.
If he hadn't been cultivating the Thousand Refinements Art, he probably could only have applied two layers.
Finally...
"Can three layers of sealing hide from a Nascent Soul cultivator?"
Xia Li asked the Heaven Chip, which had standard data on realm strengths in its database.
〖83% probability of success〗
The Heaven Chip calculated a decent success rate—80% chance of success.
But for Xia Li, this still wasn't enough. It was still dangerous!
"How can I add another layer of sealing?"
〖Activate brain overclocking. Convert all mental power to computing power〗
"Overclock. Begin computing power conversion!"
With the Heaven Chip's assistance, Xia Li endured the headache and forcibly added another layer of sealing to the mysterious ring and Song Yu's storage ring.
Now there were four layers of sealing in total!
〖Sealing complete. Current probability of detection by standard-strength Nascent Soul: approximately 3%〗
A 3% detection probability meant a 97% chance of not being detected—success rate surging above 90%!
