“Sys, what happened to him?”
When faced with unexpected situations from the cultivation world, Lin Xiao habitually asked the system for its opinion first.
【The host is now a Nascent Soul cultivator. Why not try examining him yourself?】
“Isn’t asking you faster and more convenient?”
【Friendly reminder: The host has reached the Nascent Soul stage. To ensure that the host gains a firm grasp of his own cultivation and abilities, please practice more and avoid relying too heavily on the system’s functions.】
“Fine. You’re right.”
Lin Xiao put away the sackcloth and the basket of food on the ground. He then first confirmed that He Yi had actually fallen unconscious rather than simply fallen asleep, and that there were no signs of poisoning or anything similar.
The basic physical examination revealed no problems, so the next step was to inspect his sea of consciousness and Golden Core.
These basic diagnostic methods were things Lin Xiao had picked up through constant exposure to Senior Liao and Sun Yigao.
Since He Yi had suddenly lost consciousness, the first thing Lin Xiao thought of was that something might be wrong with his mind. Thus, he decided to start with the sea of consciousness.
As this was his first time examining an unconscious and defenseless Golden Core cultivator, Lin Xiao proceeded very carefully. He did not want to accidentally turn the man into an idiot and create trouble for himself.
He first separated a tiny strand of divine sense from his own and cautiously sent it into He Yi’s sea of consciousness.
Who would have thought that the moment his divine sense touched He Yi’s, a tremendous resistance would instantly surge from the point of contact? The force was so great that it immediately sent Lin Xiao’s divine sense flying out.
Clearly, some expert had used a portion of their own divine sense to protect He Yi’s sea of consciousness, preventing anyone else from invading it.
Seeing this, Lin Xiao withdrew his strand of divine sense and spread his hands toward the system.
“See? He has protection.”
Lin Xiao had actually expected something like this. After all, He Yi was clearly a prodigy. Even if he was not well-liked among the disciples beneath the Fu Sect, he surely had some powerful figure backing him and ensuring his safety.
The life-saving measures on this man were undoubtedly countless.
How could a mere Nascent Soul cultivator like Lin Xiao casually investigate him?
Besides, during the Talisman Masters’ Convention, Lin Xiao vaguely remembered hearing a rumor or two that the person backing He Yi was none other than the Sect Master of the Fu Sect, the foremost sect in the Northern and Southern Spirit Realms. He had not cared enough to verify it at the time, so he had no idea whether it was true.
Regardless, there was no doubt that He Yi had powerful support.
Judging by the force of that attack just now, the other party’s cultivation was at least beyond the Void Refinement stage.
Although Lin Xiao had never personally come into contact with a Divine Transformation cultivator, both the system and Senior Liao had previously assessed him. Thanks to the augmentation of primordial energy and the high grade of his cultivation method, with his current strength, he could hold his own even against an ordinary Divine Transformation cultivator.
Yet the other party had managed to repel his divine sense with nothing more than a strand left inside He Yi’s sea of consciousness to protect him. Clearly, that person’s strength was far beyond his own.
“Having a powerful backer really is great!” Lin Xiao could not help sighing.
The system: …
【Host, whether the examination succeeded is not important. What matters is that you become accustomed to using your own abilities. This is a common method used by cultivators.】
“Okay, I understand. Don’t worry. I’ll try to remember next time.”
Lin Xiao readily agreed.
Although the system had no heart to put at ease, it also said nothing more.
Lin Xiao waited for a while. When he saw that the system still had not responded, he reminded it aloud:
“Sys, your turn.”
The system: …So much for trying to remember next time.
【According to the order of examination, after checking the host’s divine sense, the next step should be to examine the Golden Core.】
Hearing this, Lin Xiao was uncharacteristically at a loss for words.
But he had only just promised the system that he would try.
And the system was right. He really did need to develop some of the habits common to cultivators.
Thus, Lin Xiao could only mutter under his breath, “The sea of consciousness is protected. Would the Golden Core really be left unguarded?” as he obediently stepped forward and sent his primordial energy toward He Yi’s Golden Core.
Unexpectedly, this time he encountered no resistance at all!
“Huh?” Lin Xiao was rather surprised.
“How can that be?”
While expressing his astonishment, he quickly swept through the interior of He Yi’s Golden Core.
The system ignored him.
But Lin Xiao soon figured it out himself.
“Could it be that the protection around his Golden Core uses spiritual power, which has no effect on my yuan power?”
The system still ignored him.
However, Lin Xiao had a way to verify his theory.
After sweeping through the Golden Core once, he carefully examined it again.
He found nothing unusual. The only strange thing was that there was actually an extremely tiny pearl inside He Yi’s Golden Core.
The pearl was small and pure white, as though it had only just been born. It seemed unfamiliar with everything around it inside the Golden Core.
Whenever Lin Xiao gently touched it with his yuan power, it trembled as if it were so fragile that it might shatter at any moment.
Yet after trembling, it seemed to enjoy Lin Xiao’s yuan power. It nestled softly against it, displaying an extraordinary affinity.
Being compatible with yuan power probably meant that it was not something bad. Lin Xiao carefully sensed what exactly the pearl was, only to discover that it seemed spiritual yet not spiritual, like yuan power yet not yuan power—as if it existed somewhere between the two.
Aside from that, everything in He Yi’s Golden Core was perfectly normal.
Lin Xiao therefore withdrew.
To confirm his earlier speculation, he then switched to spiritual energy and tried probing He Yi’s Golden Core again.
As expected, his spiritual power was stopped outside the Golden Core almost immediately. It could not touch even the slightest part of it.
Tsk. Why did he suddenly feel as though his yuan power could do whatever it wanted to spiritual-power cultivators?
It felt rather strange.
When He Yi opened his eyes again, he found himself staring at an unfamiliar bed canopy overhead. His expression was still somewhat dazed.
He felt as though he had spent an incredibly long time—an extremely long time—in a completely different place.
It took him quite a while to remember that he had previously been watching the scenery of Clear Water Village from a hill with Lin Xiao.
Yet somehow, that seemed like something that had happened a very long time ago.
But when he thought about it carefully, he realized that it should not have been that long.
He counted on his fingers and calculated that only three days had passed since then.
He had actually fallen unconscious in an unfamiliar place and slept for three days without the slightest precaution…
He sat up and looked around. He discovered that he was still in Clear Water Village.
This was a guest room in the village’s inn.
He Yi walked to the window and looked at the bright daylight outside. The streets were filled with bustling crowds. He lowered his eyes and stood there for a long while, lost in thought.
The first thing he did after waking was to examine himself thoroughly.
No one had attacked him from behind.
But…he had discovered some changes within his body.
It was not merely the pale, lustrous pearl inside his Golden Core.
The first thing he noticed was that his sea of consciousness had changed.
Ever since He Yi’s sea of consciousness had first opened, most of it had been a blur. Within that haziness was a distinct image of a spirit talisman, its entire form transparent and spiritual energy flowing throughout it.
But now, it had undergone a complete transformation.
He still remembered the teachings of his elders from when his sea of consciousness had first opened after he established his Foundation.
At the Foundation Establishment stage, when the sea of consciousness first opened, an indistinct image would appear within the chaos.
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
Cheng's father told him he was getting remarried—to a wealthy woman. Cao Cheng realized his time had finally come: he was about to become a second-generation rich kid. Sure, it might be a watered-down version, but hey, at least he'd have status now, right? The wealthy woman also had four daughters!! Which meant, starting today, Cao Cheng gained four stunning older sisters?? But that wasn't even the whole story... "My name is Cao Cheng—'Cheng' as in 'honest, smooth-talking gentleman'!"
