Helping each other with countless me.

Chapter 572 Tracks
Inside an old apartment building in Youzhou City.

Li Zhongren slowly opened his eyes, a deep, dark light flashing in them, as if countless stars were born and died, only to return to silence.

He has thoroughly analyzed the profound meaning of the "Corrosion of Marrow Poison Classic" and even deduced it to a level far beyond the imagination of its creator.

What limited him was never understanding, but rather the physical vessel he possessed, which was still weak and just beginning his spiritual practice.

This is like a top scientist who can design and understand all the principles of nuclear fusion, but can only try to make a "safe" miniature bomb with the matches and firecracker materials at hand. There is too much knowledge, but the carrier is too rudimentary.

"The poison manual is a cage, and the poison power is a beast."

He muttered to himself, his fingertips unconsciously tracing an elusive path in the air, a tiny ripple spreading out in space before quickly subsiding.

"If a beast becomes too strong, disaster will occur when the cage breaks. One must find a balance that can protect oneself without alarming the world."

With a slight thought, he raised his right hand and stared at his fingertips.

A faint, almost invisible aura of darkness slowly emerged, not ostentatious, but carrying a chilling, deathly stillness that seemed capable of extinguishing all life.

He carefully extracted the newly refined karmic poison spirit from his meridians, and according to the construction method of the "Marrow-Corroding Poison Scripture," he used his supreme control to restrain and compress it to the extreme.

This process is incredibly meticulous, far surpassing any micro-sculpture art; it's as if one is using a needle to carve the pinnacle of human technology—the central chip processing area.
His soul power is like the most precise instrument, monitoring every change in the flow of energy.

If there is even the slightest mistake, even a tiny fraction of this toxic power leaking out would be enough to plunge all the living beings in this apartment building into nightmares and cause their souls to decay.

A moment later, the wisp of dark energy at his fingertips completely subsided, and finally condensed into a stable "poison core" the size of a grain of rice, as black as ink, with a smooth surface, yet seemingly capable of devouring all light, deep within his dantian, next to the slowly rotating nebula spiritual power.

"The miniature karma bomb is complete."

Li Zhongren sensed the terrifying energy contained within the poisonous core, energy that was forcibly restrained.

"Theoretical calculations may be correct, but practice is the sole criterion for testing truth."

"burst"

Li Zhongren detonated the bomb without hesitation. For him, who had absolute control, the so-called "experimental risk" was almost non-existent; he needed the most direct data.

There was no earth-shattering noise, only a very faint "pop" sound, like a bubble bursting, that echoed inside his body.

The rice-grain-sized poison core vanished instantly, replaced by a fist-sized, thick, inky, churning karmic poison mist.

The moment the poisonous fog appeared, the light in the room dimmed, the air seemed to freeze, and a chill from the depths of the soul spread. A potted green ivy on the corner of the table withered, turned black, and eventually turned to ashes at a visible speed.

However, this cloud of poisonous mist, which was enough to be unbearable for even late-stage Qi Refining cultivators and Foundation Establishment cultivators, was firmly bound to the small area in Li Zhongren's palm by an invisible force field. No matter how it struggled left and right, it could not spread even a little bit.

"Its power is as expected; it is extremely corrosive to the souls of living beings and comes with a potent decay effect."

Li Zhongren analyzed the situation calmly, as if observing a chemical reaction in a test tube.

"The diffusion mode is natural diffusion, which has slightly poor stability and is not very effective in actual combat. It would be better to add some pressure indicators."

A few seconds later, the experimental data collection was completed.

"Disperse."

He slightly clenched his fingers, and the struggling black poisonous mist was crushed as if by an invisible giant hand. It instantly rolled back and was completely swallowed, decomposed, and restored to the most basic weak spiritual energy by the suction force generated by his palm, and absorbed back into his body.

It was as if nothing had ever happened.

Apart from
An extremely stubborn and indescribable stench began to permeate the small room.

That taste.
How to put it? It's a bit like durian stewed with canned herring.
Li Zhongren twitched his nose expressionlessly, and a rare, extremely subtle emotion called "disdain" flashed across his eternally unchanging, deep-set eyes.

"The residual scent after the purification of karmic impurities? It's more distinctive than I expected."

He waved and opened the window. A gust of wind blew in, carrying the smell out of his room and slowly spreading throughout the neighborhood.
After a few minutes.
The deathly silence of the night sky was shattered.

"Holy crap! What's that smell?!"

"Ugh... whose toilet exploded?!"

"Are you crazy?! Are you going to eat stewed shit this late at night?!"

"Damn it! Who's the scoundrel who did this?! I'm about to throw up my dinner!"

"Close the windows! Close the windows now! It's a biological weapon!"

Shouts, retching sounds, and the banging of windows slamming echoed throughout the once peaceful old community, instantly turning it into an uproar.

Li Zhongren stood silently by the window, listening to the "public outrage" he had provoked, and touched his chin expressionlessly.

"It seems that next time we conduct a similar experiment, we need to add an 'odor neutralization' procedure."

He calmly concluded, then gently closed the window, shutting out the chorus of curses and the stench that would go down in history.

The experiment was a success, and the data was perfect.

As for how the neighbors feel?
That is not within the scope of consideration for countless cycles of reincarnation.

After all, nothing really happened, right?
Dividing line

Inside a secluded lounge at the Rose Nightclub.

The atmosphere was solemn.

Zhang Yunze (sword cultivator), the head of the Second Field Operations Division, Qin Keqing (illusion cultivator), the head of the Third Field Operations Division, and Lou Shenghua (body cultivator), the head of the Fifth Field Operations Division, sat around, their expressions not very good.

"Qi Refining Level 4: Drawing upon the spiritual energy of heaven and earth."

Lou Shenghua muttered in a gruff voice, rubbing his face with his large, fan-like hands.

"Damn it, how are we supposed to catch this kind of monster? The acting director's words are clearly just a way to pin the credit on that woman, Liu Ruyan!"

Zhang Yunze's eyes were sinister, like a coiled venomous snake, as he coldly spoke.

"Arrest? You go? If it were you and me who were there last night, the show currently trending on the Spirit Network wouldn't be a duel, but our funeral."

His tone was sarcastic.

"This was never intended as a task for us."

Qin Keqing played with her newly done nails, which were inlaid with spirit crystals, and giggled.

"Hey, brothers, it doesn't matter who's the bureau chief. The key is..."

Her smile faded, revealing a hint of greed and worry.

"With Liu Ruyan taking over, can we still do those 'side jobs' we have? The former director once said something to her, and what happened? He ended up in jail..."

One sentence struck a nerve with the three of them.

The reason they were able to gain a foothold in Youzhou City and amass great wealth is because of shady chains of interests behind the scenes.

People like Liu Ruyan make them feel extremely insecure.

"Are we just going to stand by and watch her go up there?"

Lou Shenghua refused to accept this.

"if not?"

Zhang Yunze retorted, his tone tinged with helplessness and frustration.

"What can we do if we're weaker and less resourceful than our opponents?"

Just then, the door to the lounge was silently pushed open, and a figure shrouded in a black robe appeared quietly.

Zhang Yunze and Lou Shenghua instantly became alert, secretly channeling their spiritual energy, and shouted sternly.

"Who?!"

Only Qin Keqing remained smiling, even throwing a flirtatious wink.

"Don't be nervous, brothers. This gentleman is a friend I invited."

The man in black exuded a profound aura, like a black hole, swallowing up the surrounding light and sound.

He did not reveal his specific cultivation level, but the invisible aura he exuded made Zhang Yunze and Lou Shenghua feel breathless, and alarm bells rang in their hearts.

"Who are you?"

Zhang Yunze asked in a deep voice, his hand already on the hilt of the sword at his waist.

The man in black let out a low, hoarse laugh, ignoring Zhang Yunze's guard, and walked straight to the head seat to sit down.

"Who I am is not important. What is important is that none of us want Liu Ruyan to sit in that position, right?"

Lou Shenghua frowned.

"What do you mean?"

“If Liu Ruyan comes to power, your good days will be over. She can’t tolerate any nonsense.”

The man in black spoke slowly.

"And me? I don't want my small businesses to be watched by an overly 'shrewd and capable' bureau chief."

Qin Keqing added at the opportune moment, her voice full of allure. "This gentleman can provide us with...help that we can't refuse."

"What help?"

Zhang Yunze remained vigilant.

"a chance."

The man in black spoke in a cold voice.

"An opportunity to make Liu Ruyan disappear and perfectly frame that 'Starlight Man'."

"Assassinate Liu Ruyan?!"

Lou Shenghua gasped.

"This risk is too great!"

"risk?"

The man in black chuckled.

"What business is risk-free? Is waiting to be purged by Liu Ruyan not a risk? Think about the businesses you own, think about your status. How much will Liu Ruyan leave you?"

He paused, then raised the stakes, his voice full of seduction.

"After this is done, I can not only guarantee your existing interests, but also give you more. The new director will be chosen from among the three of you. At that time, you will be in charge of setting the rules for Youzhou City."

Zhang Yunze's eyes flickered, his heart filled with intense struggle.

Lou Shenghua, on the other hand, was breathing heavily, clearly swayed by the promise of "more benefits."

Qin Keqing added fuel to the fire from the sidelines.

"The Starlight Man is powerful and acts mysteriously. It makes perfect sense that he killed Director Liu. All we need to do is 'coincidentally' discover the scene, then 'avenge' the director and do our best to hunt down the culprit. Who would suspect us?"

long silence.

Zhang Yunze took a deep breath, slowly loosened his grip on the sword hilt, and a ruthless glint flashed in his eyes.

"...What are the specific plans?"

Lou Shenghua licked his lips and nodded emphatically.

"Done!"

A triumphant smile curled at the corner of the man's mouth beneath his hood.
-
Dividing line

Abandoned factory area, former battlefield.

Mei Ling'er, holding a selfie stick, smiled charmingly as she described the traces of last night's battle to her viewers in the live stream.

She seemed to be riding the wave of popularity by doing a live stream, her every move alluring and seductive, attracting a constant stream of comments and donations.

However, behind her sweet smile, the core secret technique of the Hehuan Sect—"Divine Mind Path"—is quietly in operation.

Since the "reform of spiritual practice and law enforcement" and the advent of the new era, the traditional practice of dual cultivation, which relies on physical intimacy to absorb the essence of others, has long been rejected by the mainstream of the Hehuan Sect because of its low efficiency, many hidden dangers, and being regarded as "self-degradation".

Today, the Hehuan Sect is following a path that is more in line with the times, more covert, and more efficient—the Divine Thought Path.

This method does not draw upon the physical essence and energy, but rather draws upon the "mind and spirit" of all beings.

Its principles are profound, bearing a striking resemblance to ancient incense-based religious practices, yet it is better suited to the modern psychic network. Utilizing the ubiquitous psychic internet, disciples of the Hehuan Sect can remotely absorb the attention, emotional fluctuations, and especially strong emotions such as admiration, infatuation, and excitement, as well as subtle spiritual energy from viewers through live streams, videos, and even text interactions.

These scattered "spiritual" powers, though insignificant individually, accumulate like grains of sand forming a tower, and converge like streams forming a river. For the disciples of the Hehuan Sect who cultivate the path of spiritual thought, these are the most superior resources.

They can be refined into pure "divine power," which can be used to increase one's cultivation and temper one's soul, as well as to cast all sorts of strange and unpredictable spiritual spells, such as bewitching, illusion, and even... tracking.

At this moment, the enthusiasm, fascination, curiosity, and excitement of tens of thousands of viewers in Meiling'er's live broadcast room are transforming into an invisible yet vast "divine torrent," transcending space and continuously converging on her.

She felt her mind was clear and her consciousness was sharper and stronger than ever before.

"Send gifts, everyone! This will motivate Ling'er to lead you all to explore the mysterious scene!"

She spoke in a sweet voice, but in reality, she was drawing more and stronger emotional energy into herself.

Feeling that her divine power had accumulated enough, a faint, almost imperceptible pink light flashed in Mei Ling'er's eyes.

Her fingertips subtly made a secret hand gesture from an angle out of the camera's view.

"Divine Sense Tracking: Tracing the Source!"

She thought silently in her mind.

In an instant, her perceived world changed.

Sight and hearing begin to fade, replaced by an "information quagmire" composed of countless colorful, ever-flowing threads of emotion and fragmented ideas.

This is an extraordinary perception enhanced by divine thought.

She could see the lingering fear and curiosity among the onlookers, as well as the deep "ravines" left by Liu Ruyan's sharp and domineering black flame blade intent, which seemed capable of cutting through space.

She carefully manipulated her divine sense, as if controlling countless tiny tentacles, meticulously searching and filtering through this chaotic "information swamp".

The Hehuan Sect's tracking techniques are highly sensitive to the "traces" left by powerful individuals.

True powerhouses, especially those with powerful souls, almost never leave behind fragments of their own souls, as that would be tantamount to exposing their vital points.

To directly touch the soul of a master?

That would be tantamount to courting death.

Truly skilled trackers never seek the "soul" itself, but rather the "marks" it inevitably leaves on the real and spiritual levels as it passes by—like a heavy carriage leaving deep ruts as it travels through muddy land.

Finally, at the edge of the explosion's epicenter, she spotted a very peculiar, almost vanishing "tire track."

Unlike any known energy property, it is more like a solidified, faintly glowing "starlight trail," radiating a transcendent, ancient, and seemingly otherworldly indifference.
That was the trace left by the Starlight Man when his unimaginably vast soul power naturally overwhelmed the barrier between reality and the spirit world. It was proof of the power's passage, not the power itself.

Found it! The perfect tire tracks!

Mei Ling'er was overjoyed, but she maintained her sweet live-streaming expression.

This is infinitely safer and infinitely more ingenious than directly finding the fragments of the soul!
Without making a sound, she activated the secret technique, using her own divine power as a guide, and like imprinting an inscription, carefully imprinted and sealed the shape, aura, and all the subtle features of this "starlight rut" into a special jade talisman that had been prepared beforehand.

After doing all this, she let out a long sigh of relief, feeling a huge drain on her spiritual power, but also a great sense of accomplishment.

She continued to interact with the live stream, acting as if she were just an ordinary streamer revisiting a familiar place and trying to ride the wave of popularity, without anything unusual happening to her.

With this "tire track", she was confident that she could find the "star person".

The night was dark.

Mei Ling'er set up a small altar in her secret residence.

The jade talisman floating in the center contains the precious rubbing of the "starlight wheel track".

She took a deep breath, sat cross-legged, and fully activated the secret technique of the Hehuan Sect. Her powerful divine sense surged forth again, like the finest probe, carefully probing the imprint in the jade talisman, trying to analyze its essence, deduce its origin, and locate the "carriage" that left the tracks.

However, just as her consciousness became completely absorbed in those "wheel tracks"...
She felt as if her consciousness had been ejected from her body and thrown into a boundless, cold expanse of space!

All around her was darkness, except for a colossal star directly in front of her, radiating an aura of antiquity, desolation, and majesty, which filled her entire "field of vision"!
Before that star, she felt as insignificant as a speck of dust, her thoughts frozen.

All secret arts, all schemes, all allure—all lose their meaning before this vast expanse of stars.

Her self-awareness began to blur and dissipate, as if she were about to be assimilated by this starry sky.

Just then, the enormous star seemed to "notice" this insignificant speck of dust.

A detached thought swept across.

Mei Ling'er's soul was about to disintegrate, just like a book was about to be violently opened and every page was torn off.

Fortunately, that thought didn't do that.

He glanced at her, then made some minor changes, wrote a few words, and closed the book.
Then, it receded like the tide.

Mei Ling'er opened her eyes, seemingly having forgotten everything. She only remembered finding the mysterious star-like person.
Li Zhongren, far away in his apartment, slowly opened his eyes.

"The Joyous Union Sect? The Path of Divine Sense? Interesting."

He whispered to himself.

"Following? Is it one of those three section chiefs' men? Are they trying to use someone else to do their dirty work, or are they just using someone else to do their dirty work?"

He instantly pieced together part of the story. The female section chief named Liu Ruyan seemed to be in a delicate situation.

“I am not an evil practitioner, I have no need to take the blame for others, and I have no interest in getting involved in this kind of power struggle.”

Li Zhongren pondered for a moment.

"However, perhaps... we can make a deal with her."

(End of this chapter)