He Kao did not intentionally want Lan Jiwan to break down; he merely hoped that Lan Jiwan would articulate the self-dialogues she had held within her heart all these years, to clarify her current state of mind.

A Tier Three Sorcerer's body has already compensated for various postnatal hidden dangers and can adapt to enhanced senses, cultivating a clear Primordial Spirit on this foundation, a state almost purely of consciousness.

What is pure consciousness? In layman's terms, it is the direct application on matter, like the Object Control Skill, which can manipulate objects through Divine Sense. The so-called "Shen" is the Primordial Spirit, and "Shi" refers to perception and method of action.

Ordinary people can influence matter, so much so that it becomes commonplace and not deemed miraculous, yet it is a hallmark of intelligent existence. For instance, a person can process a stone into a statue, bestowing it with a significance it originally did not possess.

Ordinary people achieve this through their hands and tools like chisels, while sorcerers can seemingly skip this step, completing the task directly with Divine Sense, possibly with the aid of some Applied Techniques.

However, almost pure consciousness is not true pure consciousness, as the Primordial Spirit must rely on the Furnace — the physical body, and the Power of Divine Sense must rely on the Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.

The so-called Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi is the Primordial Qi within a person, as an individual is essentially a microcosm. The so-called revival of Spiritual Qi refers to the cultivation process. Tier Three cultivation broadly involves refining Primordial Qi and tempering the Primordial Spirit.

Should a Tier Three cultivation wish to Break the Gate, it must confront the Heart Demon, either maintaining Fixed Thought unaffected or a peaceful heart unconfused, hence He Kao wants Lan Jiwan to face the once unsettled sentiments.

Yet Lan Jiwan didn't realize this; instead, she offered a lesson to He Kao.

To outsiders, now with no threat from Bitter Tea, it seems time for Lan Jiwan to reconcile with her parents, to reunite in harmony. If her parents see that she is no longer the rebellious girl and has returned to a normal life, their deep down, they would probably be willing too.

But this is merely the perspective of a community mediator.

In Lan Jiwan's experience, there was no talk of reforming former misdeeds; encountering Bitter Tea was her misfortune, but she never willingly sunk into depravity and was always striving to escape the abyss.

Disguising herself as a rebellious girl caused her parents to voluntarily sever ties with her. Although it seems a bit childish now, given her age, capability, experience, and situation at the time, it was the only correct choice she could make.

Could someone else have done better? She never did anything wrong, yet bore immense grievance alone. To whom should she apologize and repent?

This matter has transcended the understanding of the community mediator but not that of He Kao.

Actually, for sorcerers, many things about them surpass ordinary understanding and are hard to explain; facing this with a natural mindset is part of cultivation as well.

Using Lan Jiwan as an example, even if she apologized to her parents, claiming reform, as a Hidden Moth Sect Sorcerer, she could not live up to her parents' expectations and arrangements in the future. What then?

So her attitude is not the issue; since no evil was done, there's no basis for reforming wicked ways. Returning to a normal lifestyle and cultivation is the focus.

If her parents can accept her as she is in the future, that's the natural emotional expectation. Lan Jiwan's tears are not out of hatred for anyone but Bitter Tea; rather, she can finally stop being aggrieved.

If there is any unresolved intention, it is not Lan Jiwan's, but He Kao's own.

He Kao envied Lan Jiwan for having her parents around, believing her relationship with them should be in the way he hoped to see. This might be a compensatory psyche filling He Kao's regret.

He Kao somewhat realized his problem, so he said nothing, expressing concern through silence, allowing Lan Jiwan finally to express what she wanted to say all along.

But the "lesson" Lan Jiwan provided He Kao went beyond these aspects, offering an answer to a question.

Not long ago, He Kao asked Wei Luo a question: "As the saying goes, insight breeds obstacles; no one can see through all the fog of the world. What should they do?"

Lan Jiwan's experiences provided a very concrete answer.

Back then, Lan Jiwan, like Ye Liangcheng, was deceived by Bitter Tea, but during the process of carrying out so-called tasks, she gradually perceived something amiss and secretly investigated, seeing through the true face of Bitter Tea.

Upon realizing this, Lan Jiwan had been attempting to escape the abyss, yet she remained lost in the fog at the time. She did not know Bitter Tea's true identity, had never heard of the Huiming Shi Family, nor understood the existence of the Magic Sect.

Bitter Tea was eventually destroyed by the Hidden Moth Sect's Ancestral Hall, unrelated to her actions. Could this be considered her self-redemption?

The answer can be viewed from a different angle: had she chosen to collude like Feng Zilong and Gao Chenshu, she couldn't have achieved today's liberation.

Wei Luo once pointed out a problem in He Kao's cultivation — that his Fixed Realm was not deep enough, his Fixed Thought not pure enough, preventing him from attaining Tier Three Perfection.

What is the reason for this? Perhaps his thoughts are too meticulous, always filled with doubts and unease, not completely letting go to delve deeply into the Fixed Realm… But these are only symptoms.

Being unable to accept the world actually means unable to accept oneself within it. He believes he is not ready to face the world, but the truth is — no one is ever fully prepared.

Compared to He Kao, Lan Jiwan was genuinely wounded by the world, filled with inner unease and distrust, yet she never ceased introspecting, always caring about the kind of person she was.

Initially, He Kao was passively thrust into becoming the Hidden Moth; the miraculous abilities were a delight, but the identity also constantly posed danger. He both enjoyed and was uneasy, not understanding its full implications?

But upon seeing Lan Jiwan, He Kao suddenly understood that he still had doubts and reservations about the identity of Hidden Moth; he didn't yet possess the self-awareness to become Hidden Moth, and was merely enjoying the convenience brought by the Invisibility Ability.

In any case, He Kao was already Hidden Moth, but could he accept this version of himself? If he could, then there was only one thing to consider: the kind of Hidden Moth he would become, rather than being entangled in anything else.

This is the self he accepted, not the Hidden Moth described to him by Old Man Jiang and others; he is not a legend from a thousand years ago but the He Kao of today.

Leaving Nanhua, He Kao carried this mindset and sent an email to Ye Liangcheng, informing him that Lan Jiwan would look for him, then appeared at the Gu Mountain Secret Mansion.

This hall within the mountain's belly was his secret base, where all good things were collected. A shrine on one side of the hall was dedicated to Tan Xian's Walking Stick Painting.

Usually, this painting is rolled up and placed on the offering table; otherwise, under the gaze of Immortal Tan, he could not activate the Invisibility Ability.

Today, with thoughts stirred, He Kao came before the offering table, hung up the painting, lit a pair of White Jade Candles, and made three offerings of Awakening Incense to Immortal Tan.

He didn't place anything messy on the offering table, nor did he chant any scriptures; it was simply pure reverence for the ancestor. In the candlelight, the scroll of the painting showed Immortal Tan's expression as gentle, gazing at him with a subtle smile.

After lighting the Awakening Incense, He Kao sat in meditation within the hall, and when his body and mind reached tranquility, he continued cultivating the Fundamental Heart Method of the Hidden E Technique—Observing Me as Such.

An incense stick of Awakening Incense would burn for about two hours, while a White Jade Candle could burn for twelve hours. When He Kao left the Fixed Realm, the candlelight still illuminated the hall, but he slightly furrowed his brows.

Here, deep within the mountain, so deep that even bats are absent, the place remains at a constant temperature and humidity, shrouded in perpetual darkness and dead silence, with almost no disturbance, making it difficult to sense the vitality of heaven and earth.

For He Kao, a Hidden Moth Sect Tier Three Explorer, this was not a suitable place for cultivation; he chose it only because it was absolutely hidden and would be impossible for anyone to find.

He Kao knew he had chosen the wrong place and understood why he made such a choice. He stood up, bowed in the direction of Immortal Tan, and turned to leave the hall.

He didn't remove the painting or roll it up again, as doing so would be disrespectful to the ancestor. On usual exits from the hall, he simply walked a few more steps through the outer passage.

In the next moment, he appeared outside the Pugang Town farmers' market, amidst the canopy of a large Parasol Tree. He had crafted a seat with wooden boards at the fork of the branches there, also considering this place as one of his cultivation "Cave Mansions."

The so-called Cave Mansion need not literally entail digging a cave; it is simply any place that resembles a spiritual abode for peaceful sitting, in other words, a place for cultivation.

He Kao didn't just have three hideouts like a clever rabbit; he had five "Cave Mansions," including the canopy of the Parasol Tree, Gu Mountain Secret Mansion, his house in Guanliu District, apartment on Sesame Street, and the small family building back home.

For him, there was no concern for distance; he could appear at any of these places at any time.

He occasionally cultivated in the Parasol Tree canopy, recently focusing mainly on exercising the Divine Sense, but for truly deep Fixed Realm cultivation, it was mostly done in the Gu Mountain Secret Mansion.

In fact, the Parasol Tree canopy was the best place for cultivation; it was not only the Earth Qi Spirit core within a radius of several dozen miles but also had a mystical Array set up by Earth Master Gu Chun.

With such an exceptional Cave Mansion, why did He Kao still hide in the mountain's belly? Because he always felt uneasy, insecure, unable to completely let go of himself.

Within the canopy, although not many people could see him, it felt like being exposed to light of day. Surrounding the tree were the dense human residences of the town, which seemed to possibly have all kinds of disturbances and prying eyes amid the invisible tension.

Yet with the Array, he could, when necessary, operate it using the Mana left by Gu Chun, and what was he worried about before? Was it fear of not sitting steadily and then falling off the tree?

At midnight, He Kao sat in meditation among the canopy; distant streetlights shone through gaps in the leaves, with speckled points of light falling on his face. In the hot season, people were still enjoying the cooler night air in nearby open spaces.

When the wind blew, the leaves rustled, and there was also the faint sound of unknown voices under the tree. A few streets away, the night market barbecue was still running, with occasional cars passing on the nearby roads...

But He Kao completely opened his mind, entering a clearer Fixed Realm meditation; amidst the noise, he somehow better experienced true clarity until all the noise vanished.

For He Kao "abandoned" all sensory perception, only the Primordial Spirit Calm Brightness… though heaven, earth, and everything including himself clearly existed, He Kao achieved not perceiving them, which was also a form of Fixed Realm—the ultimate Fixed Realm attainable with Tier Three Cultivation.

It sounds simple but is truly unattainable when one cannot accomplish it! How to describe it? At that moment, he was like the brain in a vat with all data cables unplugged.

In a waking state, consciousness doesn't go blank; otherwise, it would mean losing consciousness, something unattainable below Tier Seven Cultivation. Yet in such a clear Fixed Realm, an intriguing phenomenon occurs.

If the Primordial Spirit Calm Brightness remains unmoved, many other things naturally arise.

Consciousness doesn't go blank; other things fill the void, and one sees many scenes, hears many sounds, like an intrusion of consciousness, all emerging within the illumination of the Primordial Spirit, as if they are genuine experiences.

This is the Illusion Realm and also the Demon Realm.

**

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