The upper district was indeed bustling—crowded everywhere you went.

  This increased the difficulty of Xia Li's escape. After all, rushing frantically through orderly streets would only attract more attention.

  So Xia Li could only seek out corners to try to shake his pursuers. Unfortunately, he could still feel gazes on him.

  Meaning he hadn't escaped surveillance.

  And besides watching for people, he had to watch for the ubiquitous cameras. The upper district had a true Skynet—any crime would be exposed.

  They wouldn't make a move in the upper district, but if they followed him to the lower district, what awaited him would certainly be a killing blow.

  And even if he stayed in the upper district, they could always find some ridiculous excuse to legitimately take him away.

  That's how it was with powerful factions. They'd find any excuse to take you for "investigation," always able to get you somewhere isolated. Resist, and even better—they'd execute you on the spot.

  Suddenly...

  After turning a corner, perhaps because his pursuers' attention had relaxed, none of the passersby were looking at Xia Li.

  The instant Xia Li felt the gazes disappear, he immediately used the divine ability Realm Fusion.

  Divine abilities, as the superior form of techniques, possessed wondrous powers but also had many restrictions.

  For example, Realm Fusion's restriction was that it could only be activated when no one was paying attention!

  Otherwise, it would fail.

  The instant Realm Fusion activated.

  Xia Li stood still in place. Passersby walked past him from front and back. Even when he happened to block someone's path, they would unconsciously go around him.

  Seeing this, Xia Li was quite amazed by the divine ability's wonder. Worthy of a divine ability priced at one thousand spirit stones.

  Divine abilities were different from cultivation methods and techniques—none were free and public. Even the lowest-grade divine abilities required at least one hundred spirit stones to unlock access.

  One that could sell for a thousand spirit stones, and was exclusive to Hidden Wing's internal network, naturally had its unique qualities.

  This wasn't just blending into the environment—it even altered others' cognition, erasing his form from observers' perspectives. It was practically a ghost wall illusion.

  No wonder it could only be activated when no one was paying attention. This divine ability involved the observer effect.

  Meaning he had to be continuously observed to be locked onto—otherwise, his "information" would be directly lost.

  "How wondrous..."

  "Hey!!"

  Xia Li tried shouting in front of a passerby, but they showed no reaction.

  〖Warning: Please do not increase your influence level, or the divine ability will fail.〗

  The Heaven Chip immediately warned Xia Li not to mess around. Though the divine ability was wondrous, causing obvious effects on others would make them realize something existed.

  And then observe him, perceive him.

  Then the divine ability would fail.

  After roughly figuring out Realm Fusion's characteristics, Xia Li began moving toward the street edge at a very slow pace. He also quickly spotted his pursuers.

  There were several!

  When those people noticed his figure suddenly disappear, they couldn't help but stand in place looking around. Some chose to quicken their pace toward the next intersection.

  Among them, one person's actions were clearly different—a composed middle-aged man who was actually observing the passersby's reactions.

  This instantly gave Xia Li the feeling of being seen through. He immediately activated the anti-detection field.

  〖Divine thought probe detected. Counter-detection successful. Counter-analysis successful. Target is at Soul Transformation.〗

  The Heaven Chip immediately reported the data it had collected. The Defense Chapter of Divine Sense Hacking could not only block others' probes but also reverse-analyze the opponent's information—quite useful.

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  But the fact that he was being tracked by a Soul Transformation cultivator still made Xia Li want to curse.

  Was there no martial virtue at all?

  Sending a Soul Transformation cultivator against a mere Foundation Establishment? Were they even playing fair? At least send some Foundation Establishment sandbags for him!

  No wonder lower-level cultivators hid their opportunities with all their might, not daring to show themselves. These upper-class people were really too much.

  Fortunately, he'd not only achieved Heaven-path Foundation Establishment but also chosen the Pseudo-Core as his reward, allowing him to bring out some of the divine ability's wonder.

  Otherwise, relying solely on Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could at most achieve optical invisibility. Making others lose cognition of him would be somewhat difficult.

  Just like that, Xia Li moved toward the corner at a snail's pace, not even daring to block anyone's path, afraid their detour behavior would be noticed.

  The other party was specifically observing passersby—they must have realized something, knowing that to find him, they had to use third-party perspectives.

  Since they couldn't directly perceive him, they'd perceive him through others.

  Fighting on Earth really was mentally exhausting!

  Good thing he'd been a tech geek back in the day, familiar with many sci-fi concepts from that era. Otherwise, he really would have fallen behind the times and been beaten.

  After finally reaching a corner, Xia Li continued creeping at a turtle's pace in broad daylight.

  Then...

  After turning a corner, he finally dared to slightly quicken his pace to leave, while contacting Ke Xiao for help.

  "Sis Ke, save me!"

  "I'm being tracked by a Soul Transformation cultivator. I succeeded at Heaven-path Foundation Establishment and got a divine ability slot. I'm barely hiding with the Realm Fusion divine ability right now. How do I get back?"

  Travel between the upper and lower districts was only allowed via the large elevators. Other methods weren't permitted—otherwise, countless automated anti-aircraft guns would swat you like a fly.

  Before long...

  Ke Xiao responded. She'd gotten quite a few benefits from Xia Li, and had just received two thousand spirit stones. At this point, she'd agree to be Xia Li's dedicated intelligence officer.

  "As expected. You're pretty smart, knowing to use Realm Fusion. I thought you'd get some phase movement divine ability and stupidly try to force your way through space."

  "So is there a way?!"

  "Of course there's a way. It just requires some arrangements. Remember to reimburse me when you get back."

  "Fine, fine, full reimbursement!"

  "Wait a moment..."

  Ke Xiao told Xia Li to wait. Xia Li knew this couldn't be rushed, so he could only squat in the corner and wait.

  More than ten minutes later, Ke Xiao contacted Xia Li.

  "Go to this address. Once inside, find box B5-12-3 and climb in. You'll be back by tonight at the earliest."

  "Got it!"

  Xia Li immediately headed toward the coordinates Ke Xiao sent. Maintaining the divine ability consumed a lot of spiritual energy. Along the way, Xia Li kept taking pills and squeezing spirit stones to forcibly replenish, not daring to release the divine ability.

  An hour later.

  Xia Li arrived at the destination—an unmanned warehouse. The warehouse was full of robots working. Robots' cognitive processes were different from living people, so Xia Li had to additionally use Divine Sense Hacking to make those robots act as if they hadn't seen him.

  After finding the target box according to Ke Xiao's number, Xia Li climbed in without a word.

  "I've entered the target."

  Once safe, Xia Li reported to Ke Xiao and released the divine ability, but continued maintaining the anti-detection field.

  Being hunted by a Soul Transformation cultivator meant Xia Li had to be extremely careful.

  "Just wait from here on."