Chapter 643: Tomorrow at Chen Hour, Meet the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Tree!

Su Ming nodded slightly, his mind completely at ease as he continued to immerse himself in the circulation cycle of spiritual energy through his body.

As the night deepened, spiritual energy within the tree hollow gathered like drifting mist.

Su Ming's cultivation had reached its most profound state. His Golden Core rotated slowly within his Dantian, radiating a complete, deep blue glow.

Suddenly.

Lin Yu, who floated suspended in midair, had the luster on the surface of his soul body abruptly stall. Then, his originally condensed soul form began to flicker violently, like a candle struggling against the wind!

"Stop!"

Lin Yu's voice detonated within Su Ming's Consciousness Sea. This time, there was no trace of teasing, only barely concealed urgency and terror. "Shut down the formation now! A terrifying divine sense is approaching!"

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat.

In the same breath as Lin Yu's warning, an unfathomably vast divine sense descended upon the tree hollow without warning, as effortlessly as a spring breeze brushing across a lake's surface.

This divine sense carried no violent hostility. It was gentle, like a beam of morning sunlight. But it bore with it an overwhelming, irresistible authority of heaven and earth.

Before it, the exquisite life essence coat covering Su Ming's body might as well have been a sheet of thin paper soaked through by rain, pierced in an instant. His aura-hiding array, isolation barriers, even the protection of his lifebound formation plate—all were rendered utterly useless before this divine sense!

"It's Elder Woodheart!" Lin Yu transmitted urgently through the Consciousness Sea, his voice pressed to a whisper. "This pressure is at least above the human Spirit Transformation realm! Even stronger than Hao Yuan's cultivation! Steady your mind, don't make any unnecessary movements. If he wanted to kill you, a single thought would be enough!"

Su Ming showed not the slightest trace of panic. His left hand swept across his front, and the Minor Void Spirit Attraction Formation, less than a foot square, was smoothed flat in an instant. The Void Stone and Soul Stabilizing Sand were tucked away into his storage pouch. The entire sequence flowed like water, without stirring a single ripple of spiritual energy fluctuation.

Then, he rose to his full height and smoothed down his gray-green Daoist robe.

He turned, facing the tree hollow wall—the direction of the Banyan's very deepest core—folded his hands over his chest, and bowed deeply.

That gentle yet immense divine sense slowly swept across Su Ming's body.

Su Ming felt as though he had been completely seen through by a pair of profound eyes that had been watching since antiquity.

The divine sense probed unhindered into his Dantian, observing the slowly rotating Golden Core. It brushed over his Dao foundation, which had been torn apart and reforged, now covered in Kintsugi cracks. It even traveled upward, touching the edge of his Consciousness Sea, perceiving the hidden thread of soul power linking him to Lin Yu.

Beneath those eyes, every single one of his disguises lay naked and exposed.

Cold sweat instantly soaked through Su Ming's back.

But he gritted his teeth, spine held ramrod straight, breathing betraying not the slightest disorder. He was like a reef weathering the crash of waves—outwardly unmoving, allowing himself to be scrutinized.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

A full three breaths passed within that suffocating pressure, each one stretching like three long, bitter winters.

Finally, that divine sense halted at the edge of Su Ming's Consciousness Sea, choosing not to force its way inside.

For any cultivator, forcibly searching another's soul was the greatest taboo imaginable—it meant a fight to the death. Elder Woodheart stopping at this point showed that he indeed harbored no pure malice.

The divine sense retreated slowly, like an ebbing tide.

Just as Su Ming was about to release his breath.

A resonance carrying endless vicissitudes of time spoke directly within Su Ming's mind.

It was not any kind of language, but a more primordial means of thought-to-thought communication.

"Tomorrow at Chen hour, this old one has questions for you."

That voice carried a trace of faint curiosity. It was like an ancient tree that had stood rooted for ten thousand years, encountering for the first time a strange, never-before-seen vine coiling around its trunk, and giving rise to that pure, simple curiosity.

There was no hostility. But neither, by any means, was there trust.

Su Ming maintained his bowed posture, responding with the most reverent thought he could muster: "This junior obeys."

Only after that ancient presence had completely vanished from the tree hollow did Su Ming slowly straighten up.

His legs felt slightly weak. He retreated two steps and sank down onto the sleeping mat.

Light flickered across the surface of the Xuantian ring. Lin Yu's soul body re-materialized. On his illusory old face was a rare expression of solemnity and lingering fear.

"That was close..." Lin Yu let out a long breath, his soul body's glow wavering unsteadily. "In that instant just now, even hiding in the deepest recesses of the ring didn't feel safe enough."

Su Ming wiped the cold sweat from his brow, picked up the long-cold teacup, and gulped down a mouthful, forcibly steadying his pounding heart.

"Master, he saw through my Golden Core. He saw through my Dao foundation. He even sensed your existence." Su Ming's gaze was deep and profound, fixed intently on the tea leaves settled at the bottom of the cup.

"But he didn't force his way in." Lin Yu snorted coldly. "That means that although he holds great suspicion about your origins, this alien ant still has enough worth for him to bother conversing with. Otherwise, in that instant just now, your Consciousness Sea would already be paste."

Su Ming nodded, setting down the teacup. His eyes turned cold and clear once more.

"Tomorrow at Chen hour. That will be the true life-or-death threshold." Su Ming clasped his hands together. "Master, we must conduct an analysis. Tomorrow's response cannot afford the slightest misstep."

Lin Yu sat down cross-legged in midair, his expression grave. "Good. The usual rules."

Su Ming raised one finger. "Elder Woodheart knows I am a human formation cultivator. He knows I possess advanced formation repair techniques. Just now, he also learned my true cultivation level, knows my Dao foundation was once severely damaged, and may suspect that a powerful soul body resides beside me."

Lin Yu picked up the thread, his illusory finger tapping in the air. "What he doesn't know is that you absorbed Qingyan's memories and grasped the core truths of their spirit race's internal conflict."

"That is the key to our winning move." Su Ming's eyes burned like torches. "Before such a mighty being, any clumsy lie will be seen through in an instant. Laying all cards on the table means handing the blade to the enemy. Stubborn resistance means courting death."

Su Ming took a deep breath and laid out his final strategy. "The half-confession approach."

"Half-confession?" Lin Yu stroked his chin.

"Correct." Su Ming analyzed with crystal clarity. "When we meet tomorrow, the core narrative must be built on the foundation of a lost formation master seeking refuge in this danger-filled spirit realm. We show value, but we never expose our trump cards."

Lin Yu nodded slightly, his voice low. "What exactly do we say?"

"Regarding my origins." A flicker of cunning passed through Su Ming's eyes. "I'll say I entered an ancient ruin in the human realm and was swept into this place by a broken spatial rift. That is also the truth. He won't be able to find a flaw in it."

Lin Yu paced back and forth in the air, his soul body flickering. "And what about my existence? He genuinely sensed my soul power!"

"That's even easier." A smile curled at the corner of Su Ming's mouth. "You are a remnant soul I happened to obtain from a soul-vesting magical implement, who once imparted formation knowledge to me. In this alien world, you are the only elder I can rely on. This not only explains where my formation heritage comes from, it adds a layer of credibility to my image as someone simply struggling to survive."

Lin Yu stopped pacing, pondered for a moment, and finally let out a low scoff. "Three parts truth, seven parts deception. Confess the unimportant truths openly, and keep the most lethal cards tightly hidden. You've cultivated this Way of Survival right down to your very bones, you little brat."

"Beneath the gaze of a mighty being, only by maintaining this state of mind can one preserve a thread of survival." Su Ming tucked both hands into his sleeves, his expression returning to that unreadable calm, still as an ancient well.

"First calculation: my true nature is exposed. Second calculation: I still hold value. Third calculation: advance and retreat with measure." Su Ming gazed at the faint green light outside the window, his voice low and resolute. "Tomorrow at Chen hour, I'll go meet this Woodheart elder who has lived ten thousand years."

Ying let out a soft "cheep" from above the door frame, as if answering her master's resolve.

The night remained deep, but within Su Ming's heart, a path had already been laid—step by careful step—toward survival on this treacherous chessboard.