122: A storm is brewing and rumors are spreading.

Wen Youyi and the other two returned once again to their stronghold deep within the desolate forest.

Compared to when they left, the three of them carried a newfound sense of calm and gravity.

It was not just an improvement in their cultivation, but a deepening of their knowledge and convictions.

The spirit net had already recovered, and that omnipresent feeling of restraint and the faint sensation of being watched descended once more.

But this time, there was no longer the oppression they felt before; instead, they possessed the clarity of "knowing oneself and the enemy."

"Boss, what are we doing next? Just staying hunkered down?" Zhao Iron Pillar asked as he wiped down his weathered heavy sword.

Although he was used to hiding and dodging, having just experienced a spectacular Web Break operation and a feast of knowledge, he felt restless being cooped up in the cave all day.

Wen Youyi did not answer immediately; he was organizing and digesting what he had gained from his exchange with the Purifiers.

Those concepts regarding the "rule interference field" were like a bright lamp lit in his mind, providing new solutions to many technical problems that had previously been vague.

"Hunkering down is necessary, but we cannot just sit idle."

Wen Youyi raised his head, his eyes flashing with thought.

"The web weaver has suffered such a great loss; it will never let this go. The upcoming investigation will surely be unprecedentedly strict. We must be more careful, but at the same time... we cannot remain completely passive."

"Youyi, what do you mean?" Senior Brother Zhang asked curiously, pushing up his glasses.

"Information warfare."

Wen Youyi spat out the three words.

"The Purifiers were right; the truth itself is a weapon. The news that Senior Brother Li and the others spread is only the first step—like a pebble thrown into the ocean, the ripples are limited. We need to turn these ripples into waves."

He looked at Senior Brother Zhang: "Senior Brother, that 'wide-area communication talisman' you improved—the little gadget that can drift with the wind like a dandelion Seed and record simple information—can it be optimized further? For example, making it more concealed, increasing its transmission range, and making the recorded information harder to erase easily?"

Senior Brother Zhang's eyes lit up. "We can try! By combining the shielding techniques we just learned with our understanding of energy structures, we should be able to make even more concealed and 'sticky' 'Information Seeds'!"

"Good! I leave this task to you!"

Wen Youyi then looked at Zhao Iron Pillar.

"Iron Pillar, while you are responsible for keeping watch and hunting, pay more attention to the birds and beasts in the desolate forest, especially those birds with a wide migration range. See if you can find a way to let them 'unintentionally' carry some simplified messages, carved onto animal skin or special wood chips, to more distant places."

Zhao Iron Pillar scratched his head. "Let birds help us deliver letters? I'm good at that! I guarantee I'll get it done without anyone knowing!"

Wen Youyi nodded.

He knew these methods were primitive and inefficient, but after the spirit net monitoring was restored, this approach—which did not rely on Spiritual Qi and appeared randomly natural—might actually be safer and harder to trace back to the source.

He did not want to cause a huge uproar in the Cultivation world; rather, he wanted to plant Seeds of doubt in the hearts of countless Cultivators and Mortals.

When the doubt accumulates to a certain point, a quantitative change will lead to a qualitative change, and perhaps then they can tear open a corner of the "cradle" lie.

Just as Wen Youyi and the other two began their "information guerrilla war," the outside world was, as they had expected, surging with wind and clouds.

Inside the Qingxuan Sect, the atmosphere was unprecedentedly tense.

The Discipline Hall, in conjunction with several Elders, launched a carpet-style internal investigation; any Disciple with abnormal behavior or whose cultivation improved too quickly was subjected to severe interrogation.

Elder Jin Yan from the Five Elements Courtyard was jumping around, trying to pin the Lijian Valley incident and the recent turmoil on Wen Youyi and the Mutual Aid Society.

Unfortunately, there was no evidence, and with the suppression from Elder Xuan Shi, he did not succeed for the time being.

What alarmed the high-level officials even more was that a strange "rumor" began to spread quietly among some low-level Disciples and Loose Cultivators.

"Have you heard? The Opportunity at the Dragon Fall Abyss is problematic; if you use it, you'll go crazy!"

"That's not all! I heard the Spiritual Qi we Cultivate with isn't clean; it has things mixed into it!"

"Stop spouting nonsense! What about the 'spirit net'? I heard it cut out for a moment a few days ago?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down! Do you have a death wish?"

These rumors were like sparks on a wild plain; seemingly weak, yet impossible to extinguish.

Their origins were unknown, and their truth was hard to distinguish, but they precisely struck at the faint unease and confusion in the hearts of many low-level Cultivators.

The high-level officials of the Qingxuan Sect tried to refute and suppress the rumors, but it only made them look more like they were trying to cover something up.

The storm was brewing.

Wen Youyi was hiding deep in the desolate forest.

Through occasional contact with the "Seed" group outside via "Star Language," as well as sporadic intelligence passed on one-way by Ying, he roughly pieced together the situation in the outside world.

His "information guerrilla war" had taken effect, or at least, partially taken effect.

But this was not enough.

He knew that the "web weaver" and its agents in the human world (such as those in the upper echelons of the major Sects who were aware or controlled) would never sit idly by while the "rumors" spread.

A more violent storm was brewing.

And he, before the storm completely descended, had to find the feasible path to the true "ark"—the independent "world bubble" based on the star core—that could achieve "disconnection."

This required more knowledge, deeper comprehension, and perhaps... a little bit of luck.

He stroked the complete starry-colored star core crystal in his bosom, feeling the vast and ancient fluctuations within it, his gaze firm.

The road was still long, but he had already seen the direction.

(End of Chapter)