The breakthrough process was easier than Xia Li had imagined, and more wondrous and mysterious.

  Xia Li was still savoring the feeling of swimming through the Dirac Sea. At that moment, he'd felt omnipotent, as if he'd entered another material dimension and become the only consciousness within it.

  Become the only "god" within.

  Everything, all of it, was as he wished!

  "Be careful not to lose yourself in the Dirac Sea."

  Seeing Xia Li still in a half-dreaming, half-waking state, Cang knew Xia Li must be reminiscing about the feeling of traversing the Dirac Sea.

  The Dirac Sea, the Sea of Consciousness—also what the ancient cultivation tradition called the "Great Void."

  Wandering the Great Void was extremely dangerous. One careless moment and you could lose yourself completely within it, becoming one of its elements.

  Thus, dying during breakthrough due to wandering the Great Void was called "merging with the Dao."

  "That feeling was indeed too wonderful... indescribably wonderful."

  "Which is why you must be more careful. Now let's not waste time—you're about to exceed your time limit. Unless you want to add more time?"

  "No more, no more! I'm leaving right now!"

  How could Xia Li dare add time? The Heavenly Dao Computer's usage fees were truly astronomical—worthy of the name "Heavenly Dao."

  The Heavenly Dao has a price. What price?

  A heavenly price, naturally!

  In just under half an hour, the cost of a two-bedroom apartment in the upper district had been burned through—and this was just Foundation Establishment.

  After standing, Xia Li bowed to Cang, then quickly departed. Cang also dissolved into spots of light.

  Walking out of the Qian Passage and re-entering the lobby, Xia Li keenly sensed that many gazes seemed to linger on him.

  It was his sixth sense—spiritual intuition!

  No wonder they said high-level cultivators were terrifying. Once cultivation reached a certain realm, even just thinking about someone in your mind could make them sense it.

  Xia Li couldn't do that yet, of course, but he could already perceive gazes.

  Without lingering, Xia Li lowered his head, pulled up his hood, and left directly. How could he not know what those people were thinking?

  He'd achieved Heaven-path Foundation Establishment.

  That meant if they captured him, they could find ways to extract his opportunities and create another Heaven-path Foundation Establishment cultivator.

  Whatever good things he'd refined, they could find ways to extract—or even refine him directly.

  But just as he stepped out of the lobby.

  Xia Li was blocked by a young man wearing a luxurious coat, surrounded by dozens of bodyguards.

  "Friend, I have a business proposition I'd like to discuss with you. How about it?"

  "Sorry, I'm not interested."

  Xia Li lowered his voice, deliberately making it hoarse.

  "The spirit treasures on you—I'll offer three times market price."

  The young man was very confident in his offer. Xia Li didn't respond, just walked around him to leave.

  "Friend, I hope you think this through. Selling now is still a normal transaction—you'll receive spirit stones. But later..."

  The other party began threatening directly.

  Earth's spiritual energy was severely insufficient, leading to a lack of spirit treasures. Combined with everyone being able to cultivate, the competition for spirit treasures was extremely fierce.

  Xia Li could achieve Heaven-path Foundation Establishment, meaning he must have a top-ten Qi Refining spirit treasure on him. And Xia Li had come alone—clearly not someone from a major faction.

  If this wasn't a fat sheep, if this wasn't an opportunity, what was?

  "Heh, as if the spirit stones would stay warm in my hands."

  Xia Li sneered disdainfully. On Earth, ordinary people weren't in much danger—those with opportunities were often the most endangered.

  Because behind that fortunate person were countless hungry wolves coveting them!

  In the lower district, a single spirit stone was often enough to bring death. In the upper district, they wouldn't kill over a few spirit stones, but high-quality spirit treasures were a different matter.

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  "No, no, no. You could sell to me at one-tenth market price. That way, I'll guarantee your safety."

  The coat-wearing young man finally revealed his true purpose—this was barely different from robbery.

  "Then either get lost, or make your move."

  Xia Li couldn't be bothered with more words. He slightly raised his head, telling the other party to either clear the path or attack.

  "I will."

  The young man in the coat stepped aside. Making a move in front of city hall was impossible, but there would be plenty of opportunities elsewhere.

  "Also, because of your lack of cooperation, when I find your family..."

  The young man began threatening Xia Li. Hearing this, Xia Li almost laughed in anger.

  "If you can find them—if you can find even one living family member of mine, I'll give you the spirit treasures for free."

  With that, Xia Li strode away, leaving the young man with a strange expression as he pondered Xia Li's words.

  "Tch... didn't expect him to be an orphan."

  This made the young man feel it would be troublesome. Two types of people were hard to deal with: those with backing.

  And those who didn't even have family—complete orphans with no background whatsoever.

  Push the second type too far, and they'd truly do anything, with no concerns except revenge.

  "Young Master Li, what do we do? Still keep watching?"

  "Of course! Just make sure we can kill him. That guy's eyes gave me considerable pressure. He probably succeeded at Heaven-path Foundation Establishment, so don't send Golden Core cultivators to their deaths. Don't even send Nascent Soul—I'll directly ask my father to handle it."

  When he moved against people, he always used at least two major realms higher. And his father was at Soul Transformation.

  Against ordinary people, he'd send Foundation Establishment. Against Qi Refining, he'd call Nascent Soul. The goal was absolute certainty.

  Meanwhile.

  On the streets, quite a few people were secretly observing Xia Li. His argument with the young man in front of city hall had attracted considerable attention.

  Xia Li now truly felt the pressure. On a whim, he searched online for how to handle his situation.

  The search results were alarming.

  Many lucky lower-class people, even when they obtained good things, didn't dare use them. They all sold as quickly as possible and then moved to a different city.

  Though he was disguised, whether he could shake off those greedy wolves next would depend on his abilities.

  On Earth, Heaven-path Foundation Establishment wasn't troubled by lightning tribulation, but it still had its tribulations.

  This was the true "tribulation" of his Heaven-path Foundation Establishment.

  The Tribulation of Human Malice.

  What to do? How to escape?

  Xia Li thought for a moment, then directly accessed the Heavenly Dao Network and began selecting divine abilities.

  He'd achieved Heaven-path Foundation Establishment. The Heavenly Dao Computer had inscribed a divine ability slot on his dantian, allowing him to use divine abilities early.

  Logging into the Hidden Wing internal network.

  Xia Li immediately checked what divine abilities were available. Hidden Wing might not excel at other things, but ambushes, assassinations, sabotage, and escape were their specialties.

  Soon, Xia Li found the divine ability he needed.

  Realm Fusion.

  It could isolate one's aura and create a scene indistinguishable from the surrounding environment to conceal one's body.

  Unless someone directly touched him, even passing right by him, they wouldn't notice anything unusual. It was Hidden Wing's signature move—a special divine ability exclusive to the organization.

  Compared to hiding methods like entering phase space or subspace, this type of technique was better for catching enemies off guard, preventing opponents from using spatial scanners to find people. The key was being counter-intuitive.

  Nowadays, the vast majority of concealment techniques and divine abilities focused on spatial methods. Hidden Wing went against the grain, directly using a back-to-basics chameleon approach.