"It's just a possibility," Shen Qionglin shrugged, his interest piqued as he asked, "It seems your trip was very exciting, did you manage to find any good stuff? I can help you research it for free."

"Yes, let me think about how to tell you."

Director Chen had already reassembled the stone plate.

Although it was emitting light, the light was coming from the plate itself and had not been unified.

Wang Jixuan probed with his Spiritual Sense and quickly noticed something different.

The stone plate from Spirit Cultivator No.4 no longer had that concealed vastness about it.

This wall felt dead.

Wang Jixuan came to this conclusion.

Mu Dan said, "Sir, if there's nothing else here, I'll go and tidy up your residence, you might need to rest later."

Wang Jixuan said, "Hmm, go ahead, have Xiao Huating wait for me in the studio."

"Yes, sir."

Mu Dan took off the helmet of the Invisible Armor, her golden hair cascading down, and even some fine sweat was simulated on the artificial skin, the detail was quite impressive.

She whispered to Shen Qionglin, "Just a heads up, the stuff the chief brought back might get you very excited."

Excited?

Shen Qionglin smiled noncommittally, "He himself is already exciting enough for me—I mean in terms of scientific research."

However, after Wang Jixuan had ordered the Maid Group to move down the stone plate of Spirit Cultivator No.5 and handed over the materials they got from the secret base to Shen Qionglin, Shen Qionglin did indeed become very excited.

Specifically, she:

Kept reaching up to push back glasses that had already been taken off, began to speak very quickly, her thoughts became very active, and she kept circling around the stone plate of No.5.

"Huh? You actually got another one! Are these like cabbages?"

"A small matter," Master Wang, who had already removed his armor, couldn't help but laugh, "Your research material will certainly not be lacking in the future."

Shen Qionglin turned and quickly rushed to the operation console in the corner, shouting, "I'm going to check their Ascension experiment materials, this is what I've been looking for!"

Wang Jixuan didn't know quite what to say for a moment.

The source of the Ascension experiment [the Spirit Cultivator] was right there, yet she was focusing on those Ascension skills mutilated by the first three Spirit Cultivators...

Missing the forest for the trees, so to speak.

The stone plate of Spirit Cultivator No.5 radiated golden light, and that crisp female voice appeared again:

"No. 4 actually escaped."

"Escaped? What do you mean?"

"He moved out of his subspace," the voice of No.5 was tinged with hesitation, "Generally speaking, a Spirit Cultivator would not abandon their subspace unless absolutely necessary, as it's equivalent to our homelands, also housing our private treasures."

Her stone plate projected a beam of golden light onto the stone plate of No. 4.

The two stone plates seemed to have established some sort of connection.

Soon, No. 4's stone plate was reactivated, a milky halo extended outwards, covering several tens of square feet, and the illusion of waves washing ashore reappeared.

The white beach, the waves continually lapping at the shore, the distant clouds, the twin moons in the sky, all of these still existed.

Only, the spire had vanished into thin air.

The area where the spire used to be was still streaked with wisps of black air, which were remnants of Demonic Qi that No. 4 couldn't dispel.

As Wang Jixuan understood it currently:

The Core Circuit is a Spirit Cultivator's Cultivation Technique; the Spiritual Energy Circuit is a Spirit Cultivator's Spell.

No. 4 didn't have the Spiritual Energy Circuit to dispel Demonic Qi, whereas other Spirit Cultivators might have it.

Overall, this was actually a limitation of the Spirit Cultivation Civilization.

"Is there a way to locate him?" Daoist Wang asked.

"Can't pinpoint his location unless he contacts me actively," No.5 said indifferently, "But you know, I have some scores to settle with him."

Wang Jixuan was puzzled, "What exactly is the grudge between you two?"

"Well, let's see."

The voice of No.5 carried a hint of emotion, which was sarcasm:

"Old things like him have always tried to suppress the rise of us newcomers," he said. "While they themselves are intoxicated with the glow of the core circuit, presumptuously expecting us to be as unambitious as they are.

"Yet, they don't understand technology and don't bother to learn it, just occupying high positions in our social system and bossing us around.

"Otherwise, why do you think the Blade Beasts went out of control?

"Before the Blade Beasts malfunctioned, several of us newcomers had already warned them. Galino could switch nodes within the Blade Beast's neural network. Unless all Blade Beasts were wiped out and reproduced, we couldn't ensure a stable cycle for them. But the old fogies at the meeting thought, as our civilization's creations, Blade Beasts couldn't possibly have more power than us, so they symbolically killed a few Galinos.

Brought to you by MV6LEMPY6R.

"Then, the disaster happened."

Wang Jixuan took the opportunity to ask, "What kind of mining do you have the Blade Beasts do on different planets?"

"I'm not fully informed because I don't have much authority in our civilization," he admitted.

Spirit Cultivator No.5 put it simply.

"Blade Beasts are instruments of war, charged with plundering all the resources we need.

"Beyond that, there are the Crystal Cores themselves.

"I'm not sure since when, but our home planet began to universally use Crystal Cores as an energy source, and the spiritual energy in our atmosphere has been diminishing. The only source of Crystal Cores are the Blade Beasts.

"As long as you spread Blade Beasts out, they can replicate themselves. Essentially, Blade Beasts are Crystal Core factories... Actually, it's fine to tell you, but I have no proof. This is just my speculation.

"At that time, our top leaders were probably using Blade Beasts to harvest souls, souls of all living beings, to break through the barriers of space and time, to enter the realm of gods and become true gods. How exactly that's achieved, I haven't paid attention to as it's not the path I chose."

Wang Jixuan: ...

In the end, they too were seeking Ascension.

But it was an Ascension on the wrong path.

"Where could No. 4 possibly go?"

Wang Jixuan stroked his chin, deep in thought, when suddenly cheers from Shen Qionglin's team members could be heard, clearly having made a good find.

Daoist didn't care about that.

Spirit Cultivator No. 5 suggested proactively, "If you really want to know, I can get in touch with those three. Besides turning to them, Old Sophie doesn't seem to have any other options."

Wang Jixuan said, "Didn't he say he's buddies with No. 6?"

"No. 6? According to your numbering, No. 6 is Yama."

Spirit Cultivator No.5 was noticeably taken aback.

"No. 6's spire has already collapsed. Her core circuit has already begun the cycle of reincarnation. She had a slight disagreement with us and then decided to self-destruct, releasing the core circuit. Old Sophie and Yama aren't close at all.

"Yama said she had discovered where the treasures of this planet were hidden. Now the problem is we can't get close, we can only let the core circuit find them itself."

"Not so," said Wang Jixuan with distaste. "Is No. 4 lying about all this too?"

Zheng Shiduo exclaimed, "To not utter a single truth, that really takes some skill!"

"Forget it, let's not think about it anymore. Speculation is useless. Let's deal with problems as they come."

Wang Jixuan sighed lightly.

"Slipping away in the guise of a cicada's cast-off shell, this guy must have also paid a heavy price. Truly an old charlatan... Let's rest for now; there's a meeting in the studio tonight."

Spirit Cultivator No.5 asked, "Are you sure I shouldn't ask them?"

Zheng Shiduo replied, "Those three are hostile to us; they probably won't tell us."

"That's true. Old Sophie probably won't dare to go to them. His meager possessions would be directly devoured."

Spirit Cultivator No.5 muttered to himself, then yawned as his golden light retracted.

"Take me to your studio too; this place reeks of Old Sophie's stench, and I don't want to be stored here... Take care of my Spirit Slave as well. That's all the orders for now."

Wang Jixuan clapped Zheng Shiduo on the shoulder, "It's up to you now, the astute Captain Zheng. Take good care of our esteemed guest."

"Ah? Me? Alright then, I'll do my best."

Zheng Shiduo couldn't help but ponder whether Wang had some intent behind this arrangement, whether he should employ some of his unique skills.

Meanwhile...

In a dark space...

A spire was forcibly embedded into a hard layer of rock, from within which a voice incessantly murmured.

"Where can I go... where can I go... Damn it! They actually failed to kill that devil; he's coming back... Hahaha... Die, all of you bastards, just die! Die!"

Wisps of black qi slowly spread outward from the spire.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.