65: Upgraded again

The undercurrents in Qinglan City surged for three days under the cover of night before settling into an eerie calm.

Li Chongshan was "invited" by the Heavenly Supervision Department for questioning. Although he wasn't immediately imprisoned, his residence was placed under secret surveillance, and his power was temporarily frozen.

Sikong Xuan was overwhelmed, busy interrogating the survivors from the grasslands and tracking down the remnants of the Evil Cultivators. The Hundred Treasures Pavilion remained aloof as ever; Elder Zhou lived in seclusion, and Green Feather had not yet returned.

Inside the secret chamber of the Nest, Lin Mo had just finished refining the last drop of Foundation Establishment Stage Yao Beast Essence Blood.

The surging power of blood and qi coursed through his body, greedily absorbed and transformed by his already inhuman Physical Body.

The pale gold True Essence within his Meridians became more condensed, and the rotation of the hidden acupoints' nebula seemed to quicken slightly.

After days of absorbing kong yun stone Spiritual Qi, refining Essence Blood, and integrating the massive feedback from the Death Warriors, his cultivation was naturally approaching a certain limit.

Just as he finished his exercise and focused his mind to organize his gains—

The System interface deep in his mind flickered.

Immediately following that, a line of emotionless, fluctuating text was projected directly into his consciousness:

[Detected that the host's life energy level has broken through the current world's mundane-martial arts threshold and has come into contact with and initially absorbed transcendent-spiritual nature energy. Upgrade conditions met.]

[System upgrading... 10%... 50%... 100%]

The progress bar flashed by.

[Upgrade complete.]

[New functional modules unlocked:]

1. [Death Warrior Resurrection Protocol (Elementary)]

Deceased Death Warriors will be resurrected 24 hours later within the host's exclusive mental space, retaining all memories, skills, and strength from before their death.

Resurrection consumes nothing. Cooldown: 24 hours after an individual Death Warrior's death.

Note: The resurrection process requires the host to provide a trace amount of Mental Energy for anchoring. Current daily resurrection limit: 10 individuals.

2. [Host Perception Extension]

The host can instantly switch their primary consciousness to any single Death Warrior within their Mental Energy perception range (current radius: one li), observing and perceiving from their first-person perspective.

Basic sensory information such as the Death Warrior's vision, hearing, and touch can be received synchronously.

Note: Perception clarity and duration are affected by the host's current Mental Energy strength and distance. Links beyond the range must be maintained via the "Voice Network."

3. [Death Warrior Voice Network]

Establishes a real-time mental communication network between the host and all living Death Warriors, ignoring physical distance.

Clear verbal information and simple preset signals can be transmitted, such as: Alarm, Assemble, Retreat.

4. [Resource Scanning and Basic Analysis]

Can scan items directly touched by the host or through the host's perception for basic energy attributes, material composition, and potential risks.

Provides a brief analysis report.

Note: Scanning precision and depth are limited by the System version and the host's Realm. Unable to analyze items of excessively high levels... The influx of information was processed and digested in an instant.

A sharp light flashed in Lin Mo's eyes. The System, his greatest reliance, had finally upgraded again.

Resurrection, perspective switching, real-time communication, and resource scanning—these four new functions directly increased the value and utility of the Death Warriors by several orders of magnitude!

The Death Warriors had transformed from "precious but expendable elites" into "infinitely renewable strategic assets."

His command and control capabilities shifted from relying on prior planning and Death Warrior autonomy to "near-omniscient real-time micromanagement."

Intelligence transmission and resource identification also gained powerful assistance.

He immediately began testing.

With a thought, a concise list appeared in his consciousness, showing the identification numbers and basic status (healthy, lightly injured, general direction of location) of all living Death Warriors.

He locked onto [Number Two], who was currently lying in ambush and monitoring a location outside the city.

[Perception Extension: Activate]

Instantly, Lin Mo's primary perspective switched.

He saw what [Number Two] saw: a hillside overgrown with wild grass, the blurred silhouette of Qinglan City in the distance, and sparse stars in the night sky.

He heard the rustling of the night wind blowing through the grass and felt the cold sensation of lying prone on the ground.

The clarity was acceptable, though there was a slight sense of detachment, as if watching through a very thin layer of frosted glass, and his Mental Energy was slowly being consumed.

He maintained it for about ten breaths before withdrawing.

Next, through the "link" with [Number Two] he had just perceived, he tried to activate the [Death Warrior Voice Network].

"[Number Two], testing communication. Report your situation," Lin Mo issued the command in his consciousness.

Almost instantly, [Number Two]'s steady voice rang out directly in his mind: "Reporting to Young Master, everything is normal here. The city lights are as usual; no suspicious personnel or energy fluctuations have been detected approaching."

Perfect.

Lin Mo then picked up the jade bottle next to him that had previously contained the Yao Beast Essence Blood.

[Resource Scan]

Brief information immediately surfaced in his consciousness:

[Item]: Empty Jade Bottle (Minor Flaw)

[Material]: Ordinary white jade, mixed with a trace of low-quality spiritual jade powder.

[Residual Energy]: Faint Yao Beast blood and qi aura (Early Stage Foundation Establishment, Fire Attribute), 97% dissipated.

[Risk]: None.

[Value Assessment]: Inferior container, no utility value.]

Useful. This was enough to quickly identify most items, avoiding oversights or accidentally touching something dangerous.

Finally, he looked at the explanation for "Resurrection" on the System interface. Currently, none of his Death Warriors were deceased; those who had died in battle previously could not be resurrected.

But the existence of this function would completely change future operational models. Sacrifice would no longer be an unacceptable price, as long as the strategic objective was achieved.

"[Number Four]," Lin Mo directly called the Death Warrior leader who was coordinating research at another stronghold through the voice network.

"Young Master," [Number Four]'s response came immediately.

"The new functions have been tested; I will synchronize the information with you shortly. Adjust the subsequent plans:"

"One: For all high-risk exploration and reconnaissance missions, the priority of Death Warriors is increased. More aggressive strategies are permitted, provided that intelligence acquisition or objective completion is ensured."

"Two: Utilize Perception Extension and the Voice Network to optimize the intelligence transmission chain and command efficiency. You are responsible for formulating new contact and action plans."

"Three: Accelerate the optimization of the Simplified Cultivation Technique. I need to see a testable version as soon as possible. The Resource Scanning function will assist you in identifying Materials."

"Four: At the Island Experimental Site, add extreme testing projects on top of the existing isolation. Utilize the resurrection function to attempt higher-risk energy contact experiments. This will be led by One Three Six and Number One Hundred Forty, with you supervising."

"Understood," [Number Four]'s reply was devoid of emotion as he quickly processed the information.

"The new plan will be drafted within four hours. The optimization progress of the Simplified Cultivation Technique is currently at 7.2%; a preliminary version is expected to be available in three days."

Ending the communication, Lin Mo felt the surging power within him and the brand-new System interface in his mind.

His Realm was steadily rising due to the Essence Blood and accumulation, and the System unlocked more powerful functions because of his Breakthrough in Realm. A virtuous cycle had formed.

He looked at the cold stone walls of the secret chamber, his gaze seemingly piercing through the barriers to see Qinglan City, the distant Sects, and the Chaos beyond the void rift.

He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness into cultivation, while simultaneously splitting off a thread to silently connect with the over one hundred Death Warriors scattered about through the newly born "Voice Network." Like a spider at the center of its web, he quietly sensed every minute vibration of each thread, waiting for the next opportunity to make a move.