Chapter 432: Invitation

‘At this thought, a plan began to form in Lin Hui’s mind.’

‘Now, back to the matter at hand… this Yan Qiushi…’

He wasn’t about to believe her so easily. He would need a small test.

Besides, he hadn’t mentioned any names or locations when he questioned her. He also had currents of air swirling around him, concealing his face and figure.

‘If she could see through all that, then I guess it would just be my time to die. There’d be no escaping it.’

“You understand,” Lin Hui spoke again. “We are complete strangers. To establish a basic level of trust between us, I need you to prove your sincerity.”

“What… what kind of proof?” Yan Qiushi trembled slightly, a vague sense of unease creeping over her.

“If everything you just said is true, then I need you to sincerely join a small, temporary organization of mine. After you join, not only will you suffer no losses, but you will also receive some special, additional protection. However…”

Lin Hui’s tone shifted.

“However, if there is any falsehood in what you’ve told me, joining my little organization will automatically detect your dishonesty. The final result… will be that I’ll have to…”

“Wait! I’ll join! I’ll join!” Yan Qiushi immediately shouted back via voice transmission.

This was a little trick Lin Hui had devised. By temporarily modifying the disciple detection mechanism of Qingfei Mountain and combining it with some basic psychology, he could test if the other party was telling the truth.

If she had a clear conscience, she could join without any worries and receive the Protective Seal Technique for her Heart and Spirit that he would bestow upon her.

But if she had lied, hearing Lin Hui emphasize that joining would get her lies detected and result in her death would inevitably fill her with anxiety.

Once that anxiety appeared, her resolve to join Qingfei Mountain would waver. Thus, her heart would no longer be sincere.

Lin Hui, in turn, would receive feedback that she was unable to join.

This would prove she had been lying earlier.

Fortunately, Yan Qiushi joined Qingfei Mountain without a hitch, becoming a temporary, unofficial member.

Once Lin Hui confirmed he could bestow the Seal Technique to protect her Heart and Spirit, he felt slightly more at ease and let her go.

With his mind at rest, his true body opened a gateway and returned to the Heart Source Demon Palace.

“Wait!”

He had just forgotten one thing. They were on a meteorite tens of millions of kilometers from Red Pattern Star.

And Yan Qiushi’s strength and speed were far inferior to his. If she wanted to get back…

“Wait a minute, how am I supposed to get home!?” By the time Yan Qiushi realized this, the figure before her had completely vanished.

She was left all alone, sitting on the meteorite’s surface, staring into the dark and profound starry sky, wanting to cry but having no tears to shed.

Although she could see the distant location of Red Pattern Star, flying all the way there…

*

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*

Outside the Heart Source Demon Palace, Lin Hui strolled past mountains of cargo containers, entering the palace through a gap between them.

These were all resources he had plundered, many of which were various alloys and materials he intended to use to forge new weapons for himself after he learned artifact refinement.

His master, Qimei, had mentioned that he was also skilled in artifact refinement and could teach him when he had time.

So Lin Hui had taken it to heart.

His previous Ruyi had been made from the armor of a Stellar Battleship, but among the materials here, there were more than ten tons of similar stuff alone. The entire area around the Demon Palace was now dotted with small mountains of containers shrouded in purple mist.

The area within a roughly fifty-meter radius of the Demon Palace was completely covered by a formation. Otherwise, these containers wouldn’t last long in the Sea of Consciousness.

Entering the Demon Palace, Lin Hui sat cross-legged to regulate his breath and recalled his recent confrontation, organizing his gains.

‘The Mixed Race… this gray-area group might bring me a pleasant surprise. I can look for a chance to contact them in the future.’

‘Yan Qiushi and the fake Ding Luo—both could serve as entry points into the Endless Divine Domain.’

‘After careful calculation, I can tentatively try using Yan Qiushi first to see how to get in.’

‘Then, I’ll use the fake Ding Luo to create a disguised identity and enter the Deep Domain as an ordinary person. Once I’ve confirmed the coordinates and entry method are correct, I’ll make my final move.’

‘If I’m worried, I can find a few more similar channels for repeated cross-verification.’

‘After confirming the method of entry, the next thing is the required combat power.’

“I get the feeling you’re thinking about something very unethical,” Fusheng, who had been observing him for a long time, suddenly remarked.

“You jest, Senior. The things I do have always been upright and honorable deeds of kindness,” Lin Hui retorted.

“So, seeing as you’re so kind, when can you let an old man like me find his release a little sooner?” Fusheng pressed his advantage.

“You were sealed by the previous Demon Emperor. This junior doesn’t have the strength to break your seal yet, so…” Lin Hui said apologetically.

He wasn’t lying. In fact, even though he now controlled the Demon Palace, he still couldn’t even tell where the seal on Fusheng was.

This showed that there was still an immense gap between him and the previous Demon Emperor.

“Alright. In that case, I can only hope you get stronger quickly,” Fusheng said, resigned.

“Speaking of which…” Lin Hui looked at Fusheng as a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. “I wonder if Senior has ever seen a kind of golden aura left behind by a person… in the world whose coordinates you gave me…”

On a sudden whim, he recounted the matter of the little girl, Lin Yuexiu, and the golden aura she had left behind.

Fusheng had lived for so long and was the one who provided the coordinates to that world; he might know something about this.

“That… I think I do have some impression of it.” Sure enough, as soon as Lin Hui mentioned it, Fusheng’s memory was jogged.

“A golden aura, the Endless Divine Race… I haven’t heard of the Endless Divine Race. They must be a power that arrived after I left. But for a person to leave behind a golden aura that dissipates over time… that’s very likely the Power of Existence.”

“The Power of Existence?”

“Correct. The Power of Existence is the very foundation of life itself. The essence of life is all for a single word: survival. Whether it’s the instinct for self-preservation or for procreation, it’s all so that life itself can survive better and longer in this world. The stronger the Power of Existence, the stronger the desire to survive and procreate,” Fusheng explained quickly.

“I can understand survival, but procreation?” Lin Hui had a faint guess.

“It’s just as you think. Procreation is when the countless cells in your body, in their own autonomous desire to live, urge you to create the next generation to pass on their information. They aren’t trying to survive for your sake, not to keep you alive, but for life itself to continue existing. The form of that existence is unimportant to them,” Fusheng explained.

“…That feels a little cruel for some reason,” Lin Hui said.

“This is just part of the cycle. Without it, life would be an extremely fragile existence in the face of a cruel natural universe,” Fusheng said. “Returning to our topic, the Power of Existence. If you want to obtain it, there are a few methods. One is to do as your master does: direct slaughter and consumption. But you need a specific Cultivation Technique or Dharma Gate to extract it.”

“I won’t do that. What are the other methods?” Lin Hui flatly refused.

“The other method is what you did: obtaining it through nurturing and waiting. The Power of Existence itself will naturally dissipate and deplete. Nothing in this world lasts forever without loss; that’s a natural law. So you just need to wait quietly by the side to acquire it.”

“Of course, there is one other way that doesn’t involve taking it from living beings. Among all things, there is a class of individual entities that possess an unparalleled Power of Existence. If you can seize one, you can reap a massive one-time harvest.” Fusheng thought for a moment. “These kinds of items often have a fixed characteristic: they have an extremely huge influence. Their very existence brings about massive changes to the status quo. So they are very easy to identify.”

“I see… Thank you for your guidance, Senior.” Lin Hui gave Fusheng a sincere bow.

“I will teach you a Dharma Gate for identifying the Power of Existence. Listen carefully.” Fusheng’s skull swayed as he recited a Heart Method incantation in a rhythmic tone.

Lin Hui carefully committed it to memory. The Dharma Gate was simple; it just adjusted how his Heart and Spirit perceived things, like tuning a radio to a different frequency. He tried it a few times and successfully learned it.

When he activated it, everything before his eyes instantly changed.

“The color of the Power of Existence is gold. The richer the gold, the stronger the existence,” Fusheng reminded him.

Lin Hui nodded and looked around. The walls of the Heart Source Demon Palace were completely black, without the slightest trace of gold.

Clearly, this place had no Power of Existence.

He then looked at Fusheng.

Fusheng was also pitch-black, just a black skeleton.

Then he looked at himself.

There was some golden light on his own body, but it was very, very faint.

“So-called existence is actually a relative concept. The more connections you have with all things, the more Power of Existence you have. The fewer connections, the less Power of Existence you have, naturally,” Fusheng’s voice came again.

Lin Hui nodded, rose, and took his leave.

Obtaining the Dharma Gate for the Power of Existence was a great help to him. Now, identifying the items needed for the Blood Seal would be much more convenient.

Next up was to visit his master, Qimei, and finalize his plans to enter the Endless Divine Domain.

*

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*

「The periphery of the Wind Calamity—the Jiuxiao Sect.」

It had been some time, and Qimei looked more… well-rounded than before. It seemed he had been in a good mood lately.

When Lin Hui saw him, the old man was playing chess with Lady Hei Yin. Beside them, a young boy and girl trembled as they stood ready to pour tea.

It was obvious they had likely been snatched for the occasion.

“Disciple Lin Hui pays his respects to Master.” Lin Hui formally bowed to Qimei as a disciple, then bowed to Lady Hei Yin as a junior.

“Greetings, Lady Hei Yin.”

“More troubles?” Qimei smiled. “Still, with you running around and visiting every now and then, it feels like the whole Jiuxiao Sect is a bit livelier. It’s nice.”

He and Hei Yin were both solitary figures. Otherwise, they wouldn’t always be spending their time drinking, having tea, and playing chess together.

“I’m sure Master finds it amusing, but this disciple does have some ideas.” Lin Hui immediately explained his plan to infiltrate the Endless Divine Domain to acquire the resources he needed, asking for his master’s opinion.

“So, you’ve chosen this… Endless Divine Domain as your target? Are you sure it has something beneficial for you?” Qimei casually placed a game piece, seeming rather unconcerned about a matter Lin Hui considered very important.

“There is a high probability, but I can’t be certain,” Lin Hui replied.

“Then why go to all this trouble? Just go and confirm it first, no?” Qimei laughed. “Or is there some other reason?”

Lin Hui was speechless. After a moment of silence, he finally explained the situation with his older sister from this life.

He hadn’t mentioned it at first because he was worried his master, Qimei, might have his own ideas about the matter.