Chapter 648: That's the perfect camouflage for Taoist practitioners.

Su Ming's breathing paused slightly.

"If it were merely drawing life force, that would be one thing." Lin Yu sneered coldly. "These madmen are also frantically searching for ways to exploit the World Gate coordinates. Qingyan tricked Yan Wuji into building the World Gate back then precisely to leave themselves an escape route. They want to release the calamity while simultaneously finding a way out of this realm, redirecting this entire mess, even the calamity itself, straight into the human realm!"

Su Ming rapidly ran through red-versus-blue military simulations in his Consciousness Sea.

"Dark Current Sect is the red force, we are the blue force." Su Ming analyzed calmly. "The red force thinks they control the entire board, but they don't know that the Qiming jade token, which records the most precise return coordinates, is right now in my storage pouch. They're still blindly draining life force to search for clues, while we've already grasped the final destination."

"This is a lethal Information Gap. As long as I don't expose the jade token, they'll continue bumping around the outskirts like headless flies. This is our winning move." Su Ming concluded with absolute certainty.

Lin Yu shot him an appreciative glance and tapped the jade slip again with his finger. "Finally, the third category of information: the location and structure of the Abandoned Lands' seals."

"According to the vague remaining images in Qingyan's memory, these three seals are arranged in the pattern of the Three Powers: Heaven, Earth, and Humanity. Each seal's formation type is completely different from the others. As for the nature of that calamity..." Lin Yu's expression darkened. "Qingyan's memories contain only an endless darkness. Even a single glance makes one feel as though their soul might be sucked in." Lin Yu tossed the inscribed jade slip to Su Ming and instructed, "Keep this safe. It's our trump card for surviving in the spirit realm."

Su Ming took the jade slip and tucked it close to his body.

Just then.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Three extremely soft knocks broke the silence within the tree hollow.

Su Ming's eyes turned icy cold. His right hand formed two fingers like a sword blade and slashed sharply downward.

"Crack!"

The four Void Stones, already covered in hairline fractures, instantly shattered into powder. The crack surging with Void spiritual energy closed silently under the soothing caress of his gentle, water-like spiritual energy. The residual spiritual energy fluctuations were tightly wrapped by several layers of water curtains and pressed deep into the ground.

Lin Yu deftly transformed into a wisp of faint light and slipped back into the Xuantian ring, completely concealing his aura.

Three breaths later, the tree hollow showed no abnormalities whatsoever except for a faint trace of lingering moisture.

Shadow perched on the windowsill, grooming her feathers with her beak as if nothing had happened at all.

Su Ming rose to his full height, walked to the door, and pulled open the wooden door.

Standing outside was Ye Qing, his face alight with excitement. In his hands, he held a tray woven from some unknown vine, upon which rested two fist-sized fruits that radiated a gentle white glow.

"Su Ming! Hope I didn't disturb your cultivation?" Ye Qing craned his neck to peek inside, the soft green tendrils atop his head twitching merrily.

"Brother Ye is too kind. Please, come in." Su Ming stepped aside, a warm smile spreading across his face. It was the most perfect protective coloring for a cultivator of the Way of Survival.

Ye Qing strode in and placed the tray on the ironwood table. "Elder Woodheart specially instructed the logistics department to allocate these to you. They're called Primal Spirit Fruits. Apparently, humans can draw spiritual energy from them. Want to try one?"

Shadow on the windowsill had already lost all patience. Seeing the glowing fruit, she spread her wings and flew over, landing on the ironwood table, lowering her head to peck at it.

"No manners." Su Ming scolded in appearance only, but in truth, he let Shadow's sharp beak crack open the skin of one fruit.

A fragrant, sweet, and juicy aroma instantly filled the air.

Su Ming picked up the other Primal Spirit Fruit. Rather than putting it into his mouth immediately, he carefully scanned its internal structure with the Observation of the Minute technique. Only after confirming that no tracking-type laws of life were hidden within did he take a gentle bite.

The flesh melted on his tongue, sweet and refreshing.

Su Ming closed his eyes and cycled the Like Water Art. In his "Perceiving the Minutest Detail" vision, he clearly saw that the gentle vitality essence contained within the fruit, upon entering his stomach, was not rejected by the spirit realm's laws as it normally would be. Instead, it underwent a slow process of "digestion and transformation," gradually being converted, strand by strand, into faint pure spiritual energy!

"This thing..." Su Ming was secretly astonished.

"It's like the fasting pills those human realm cultivators chew." Lin Yu remarked from within the ring. "The replenishment conversion rate is abysmally slow. Eating ten of these wouldn't match the Void spiritual energy you just absorbed. But its advantage lies in stability and longevity. It won't trigger spiritual energy backlash. These spirit races have found you some decent rations, at least."

Su Ming slowly opened his eyes and cupped his hands toward Ye Qing. "Please convey my gratitude to the elder for his kindness. This fruit is full of vitality and greatly beneficial to this junior."

Ye Qing waved his hand dismissively, wearing an expression that clearly said "Don't worry, I've got this handled." Then, he lowered his voice, his tone turning mysterious.

"Actually, delivering the fruit was just a side errand this time." Ye Qing leaned in two steps closer, his gaze burning intently at Su Ming. "Elder Genxu asked me to pass along a message."

Su Ming understood in his heart but showed nothing on his face. "Oh? What guidance does Elder Genxu have?"

"He... has formally submitted a proposal to the Council of Elders!" Ye Qing said excitedly in a hushed whisper, careful that the wooden stone outside the door might overhear. "He's proposed hiring you as a guest Formation Master for our Greenwood Court!"

Su Ming's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Brother Ye." Su Ming looked at Ye Qing, his tone turning serious. "I am deeply honored by Elder Genxu's high regard. However, I must ask: what exactly would this guest Formation Master be responsible for? And what authority would I have within the Court?"

This was a confrontation where every detail had to be nailed down openly on the table.

Ye Qing had clearly received Genxu's instructions before coming, and he answered smoothly without hesitation. "Don't worry! The Council of Elders has basically already given their tacit approval. Your primary duty would be solely responsible for the daily maintenance and hidden danger inspection of the Root Vein Defense Formations on the outskirts. You won't need to fight on the front lines!"

"As for authority..." Ye Qing cast an envious glance at Su Ming. "Any materials related to formation repairs, you can directly requisition from the storehouse at the Woodheart Pavilion. Furthermore, aside from the core restricted areas, over ninety percent of the Court's archive tree hollows containing stored collections will be open to you!"

Su Ming felt greatly relieved.

This was exactly the outcome he had hoped for. Borrowing the hen to lay eggs, using the spirit races' resources to compensate for his own cognitive shortcomings regarding this alien realm's laws. Moreover, he might even have a chance to repay the favor he owed the Tianji Pavilion.

"Since the Council of Elders places such trust in me, refusing any further would simply be ungrateful." Su Ming smiled faintly, clasped his hands together, and gave a distant bow toward the direction outside the door. "I accept this position as guest Formation Master."

Ye Qing was overjoyed and slapped Su Ming's shoulder heartily. "Excellent! I knew you were a straightforward man! You rest up now. Tomorrow morning, Elder Genxu will personally take you around to familiarize yourself with the formation nodes on the outskirts."

With that, Ye Qing practically bounced out of the tree hollow.