I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

On the last day of the holiday, Lin Ye was woken up by his phone vibrating.

The curtains weren't fully drawn, and a sliver of morning light squeezed in through the gap, landing at the foot of the bed. The room was a mess; takeout containers, medicine bottles, and two empty water bottles were piled on the table. One of Lu Zhixia's black high heels was by the door, and the other had been kicked under the sofa sometime during the night.

Lin Ye reached for his phone and first touched a smooth section of calf.

Lu Zhixia closed her eyes and pulled her legs further into the blanket.

"What time is it?"

"9:20."

"You're checking out at 12 o'clock."

"We've already renewed the lease twice, so one more renewal is fine too."

"The holiday can't be extended again."

Her voice was still a little hoarse, her hair that had been loose last night was spread on the pillow, and the sapphire between her collarbones was half covered by the corner of the blanket.

During their three-day holiday, the two of them barely left the hotel.

I order takeout when I'm hungry, and sleep when I'm tired. Occasionally I go downstairs for a meal, but I come back after a short while.

Lin Ye's chest injury hadn't fully healed, and although Lu Zhixia kept telling him to behave, she was the one who was most disobedient when the door was closed.

By the morning of the third day, the lingering fear from Black Locust Ridge had finally subsided.

Lin Ye sat up. The chest brace had been removed, leaving only a bruise that hadn't completely faded.

Lu Zhixia reached out and pressed the edge.

"Does it hurt?"

"fine."

"They said it was alright."

Lin Ye looked at her for two seconds and then changed his mind: "It will hurt if you press too hard."

Lu Zhixia then stopped.

She got out of bed to pick up her clothes, and halfway through putting them on, she suddenly turned around.

"When are you leaving?"

"After taking a shower."

"I'm asking about the next mission."

Lin Ye remained silent for a moment.

"have no idea."

Lu Zhixia paused for a moment while buttoning her shirt, then continued.

Tell me before you leave.

"Say it when you can."

"Tell me when you get back."

Lin Ye nodded.

When leaving the hotel, Lu Zhixia went home first.

Before the car door closed, she looked at Lin Ye through the car window for a while.

"Don't say 'it's nothing' anymore."

"Okay, I've got it."

After the car drove away, Lin Ye stood there for a few seconds, then turned around and hailed a taxi to the Seventh Division.

I haven't been back for three days, and the Seventh Division is still the same as before.

The elevator lights were blindingly white, and people carrying storage boxes hurried past in the corridor. The air was always filled with the smell of disinfectant and metal.

Lin Ye did not go back to the dormitory first, nor did he go to the second group training area.

He went directly to Cheng Fang.

Cheng Fang was reviewing the operation at Black Locust Ridge when he saw Cheng Fang enter. His gaze first fell on Cheng Fang's chest.

"How are you? Is your injury getting any better?"

"I feel much better and can train normally."

"What you feel doesn't count; what the doctor says counts."

"Then let's skip training for now."

Lin Ye pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I want to see the spirits in the Book of Souls."

Cheng Fang stopped flipping through the report.

"What's the reason?"

"It said before that it could give me cultivation techniques."

"It wanted your body before."

"Therefore, I do not accept the master's seal, nor do I allow it to touch my consciousness."

Lin Ye pushed a piece of paper covered with writing over to him.

The list above includes the trading of cultivation techniques, risk isolation, simulation verification, and conditions for terminating cultivation.

Cheng Fang glanced at him twice, then looked up at him.

"When was it written?"

"During holidays."

"You still have time?"

Lin Ye coughed.

There's always time to rest.

Cheng Fang didn't ask any further questions and turned the paper to the second page.

"You want to be the first test subject?"

"My body can no longer rely on spiritual artifacts to consume excess spiritual energy. The Black Locust Ridge was just a temporary solution. If I absorb even more next time, there might not be anything left for me to use."

"The research team will handle it."

"The research group is dealing with the techniques."

Lin Ye looked at him.

"But my body is mine."

The office fell silent.

Cheng Fang leaned back in his chair.

Lin Ye wouldn't have said that a few months ago. Back then, he had just joined the Seventh Division, and he would complain for ages about any extra task on his training schedule. When he went on missions, all he thought about was how to come back alive.

The person is still the same, and his posture isn't much more upright, but his eyes have become much more determined. He is no longer the Lin Ye who waits for others to make decisions for him.

"Zhou Heng hasn't completed all the verifications yet."

"We can start talking."

"And then what?"

"I'll try."

Cheng Fang stared at him for a few seconds, then picked up the internal phone on the table.

Half an hour later, Lin Ye stood outside the B5 isolation room.

The Wanling Scripture was placed on a double-layered storage platform, and the cracks on the box had been temporarily reinforced. In three days, the research team had completed the basic structural modeling, only lacking the most crucial operating route in the hands of the spirit.

Zhou Heng and two researchers waited in the observation glass, while Cheng Fang stood behind Lin Ye.

The isolation door closed.

The spirit's voice immediately reached Lin Ye's ears.

"Oh, you've finally decided to come and visit an old man like me?"

"I'm on vacation for the next few days."

"I thought you'd been drained dry by women."

Lin Ye remained expressionless.

"You old codger who's been locked up in a box, yet you're surprisingly well-informed."

"I don't have that kind of supernatural ability, it's just a guess."

"Then you should have guessed my conditions."

The spirit chuckled.

"You want to learn the martial arts techniques, and you dare to negotiate with me?"

"You need things too, don't you?"

Lin Ye walked to the sealing platform, but didn't get too close.

"Stable spiritual energy, repair materials, and modern knowledge. You need seven things, more urgently than I need cultivation techniques."

The box remained silent for a while.

"You've gotten bolder in just a few days."

"I almost died several times, so I've improved a bit."

"I can give you the cultivation technique."

The spirit's tone slowed down.

"But I won't touch your consciousness, so I can only describe it verbally. You modern people can't even recognize all the meridians. If you misunderstand a word and die from practicing, don't blame me."

Lin Ye raised his hand and tapped on the glass storage cover.

"Let's start with the basics."

"I need to increase my spiritual energy supply twice a day."

"The first verification went smoothly, let's try again."

"Repair materials"

"Distribute them in batches according to the value of the practice methods."

"I want to see the knowledge of this era."

"Abridged version"

The spirit sneered.

"You're really good at bargaining; it's a shame you're not in business."

"I was poor before, I'm used to it."

After several rounds of tugging, the spirit of the artifact finally recited the first incantation and the path of the scripture.

Zhou Heng recorded the information simultaneously from outside.

An hour later, the model was completed.

The cultivation method is called "The Return of All Spirits to the Origin". The first stage has only one purpose: to stabilize the meridians and allow spiritual energy to form a stable channel in the body.

The model ran three times in succession, and a very small fluctuation appeared at the junction of the chest and abdomen each time. Lin Ye heard a short, sluggish sound through the glass, like water hitting a stone.

"here."

He pointed to the screen.

Zhou Heng zoomed in on the local data and finally found that anomaly that would almost be automatically ignored by the system.

The problem isn't with the pathways, but with the flow of spiritual energy. The operating parameters left from when spiritual energy was abundant in ancient times are not entirely suitable for the concentrations we have now, which are still in a recovery phase.

The research team increased the flow rate and simulated again.

The noise disappeared.

For the first time, the spirit did not utter a sarcastic remark.

Zhou Heng finished checking the data.

"Theoretically, we can conduct the first low-intensity test, but it would be best to observe for another three days."

Lin Ye had already taken off his coat.

"I'll do it."

Cheng Fang frowned.

"What I just said was that we should talk first."

"We've finished talking."

Lin Ye sat on the training platform and attached the monitoring patches one by one to his chest and arms.

"The next step is to try it out."

"You can wait three days."

"The spiritual energy within me is uneven."

He looked up at Cheng Fang.

"I don't want to wait for others to decide when I can become stronger anymore."

Zhou Heng looked at Cheng Fang.

A few seconds later, Cheng Fang raised his hand and closed the second door to the isolation area.

"Turn on all aborted devices."

"Stop immediately if the warning level is exceeded."

Lin Ye closed his eyes and adjusted his breathing according to the revised mantra.

He drew out the first wisp of spiritual energy from his chest.

At first it was slow, seeping down along a path never before trodden.

The next second, the spiritual energy that had been dormant in his body for a long time awakened at the same time.

The curve on the monitoring screen suddenly spiked upwards.

The alarm blared instantly throughout the quarantine zone.

Zhou Heng's expression changed drastically.

"Abort!"

Lin Ye's forehead veins bulged, and he pressed his hands firmly against his knees.

The spiritual energy had already rushed into the first meridian, and the pain felt like a red-hot wire being forced through the body.

He didn't stop.

Amidst the piercing alarm, a faint voice emerged from the depths of the chaos.

That newly born path is making its own voice heard.

Lin Ye gritted his teeth.

"Don't stop."

"I've found the way."