33: A woman who cannot be priced

Inside the Immortal Cave, Spiritual Qi permeated the air.

Lu Yuan picked up a Spirit Stone with his fingertips; it felt cool and smooth.

This was the compensation Wang Wealthy had just delivered, a full thirty thousand Low-Grade Spirit Stones, piled in a corner, emitting an alluring shimmer.

A perfect hedge.

Using an almost cost-free insurance, he leveraged a rare treasure that a Prodigy was determined to obtain, transferring its equivalent value, down to the last penny, into his own hands.

And what he paid was merely a tiny bit of Karma value.

This kind of bloodless victory, the pleasure of subtly manipulating the destinies of others, deepened the smile on Lu Yuan's lips.

He enjoyed this feeling.

A sense of absolute control, viewing all things in heaven and earth as a chessboard, quantifying all uncertainties into cold numbers.

However, at this very moment of his greatest pleasure...

Buzz!

The ancient golden light screen in his mind, which had always been unchanging, flickered violently without warning, forcibly displaying a line of blood-red characters.

【WARNING: UNPARSEABLE Karma PROBE IS APPROACHING!】

The curve of Lu Yuan's lips froze.

His spiritual power instantly stagnated.

A bone-chilling coldness climbed up his spine, and his scalp tingled.

Unparseable?

This was the first time the Great Dao Options Exchange had issued such an out-of-control warning since its activation.

Without the slightest hesitation, his Divine Thought stirred, and the several sets of stealth Formations already laid out inside and outside the Immortal Cave were activated to their maximum.

Layers of spiritual light enveloped the entire Immortal Cave, isolating all sound, light, and spiritual fluctuations.

But it was useless.

That probing force had no substance, yet it was omnipresent.

It ignored all physical Restrictions.

The layers of Formations were rendered ineffective.

An invisible force penetrated everything, landing on him.

Cold.

Bone-chilling.

His Divine Soul was combed through inch by inch by this force; all his secrets had nowhere to hide.

And it was at this moment that a clear, emotionless female voice directly sounded deep within his Divine Soul.

“Your methods are very interesting.”

“Come out and meet me.”

He couldn't escape.

This thought flashed through Lu Yuan's mind.

He forcefully calmed his erratic breathing, suppressing the instinctive fear deep within his heart.

The more dangerous it was, the calmer he needed to be.

He tidied his robes, removed all Formations, and calmly walked out of the Immortal Cave.

The moonlight, like water, quietly spilled onto the open space outside the Immortal Cave.

A woman wearing a white veil and a plain white palace dress stood silently under the moon.

She stood there, her figure blending seamlessly with the night.

His Divine Sense swept over, finding nothing there.

Lu Yuan's first reaction was to activate the Exchange to analyze the other party.

This was his Foundation for survival, his confidence in facing all unknowns.

However, when his gaze locked onto her, the light screen in his mind flickered madly again.

A series of unidentifiable garbled codes flashed by, and in the end, only a chaotic grayness remained, along with four cold characters.

【HEAVENLY SECRETS SHIELDED】.

Lu Yuan's last shred of hope was also shattered.

This was the first time in his world that he had encountered an existence that could not be “priced.”

“No need to waste your effort.”

The white-clad woman seemed to have noticed his actions, her voice still clear and cold.

“If not for my 'Sky-Shrouding Cloth,' which can sense abnormal fluctuations in Karma, I probably wouldn't have found you either.”

She slowly spoke, revealing a fact that made Lu Yuan's scalp tingle.

“The Karma chain regarding the damage to the dragon saliva jade in Danyang City was artificially twisted.”

“The alarm that should have triggered didn't sound, the witnesses who should have appeared just happened to leave, and even Ye Chen's own Luck was briefly obscured by a layer of mist.”

Behind the veil, those eyes seemed to see through his every secret.

“The source of all these 'coincidences' points to you.”

Lu Yuan remained silent, his mind racing, assessing the current situation.

The fact that the other party could find him and shield the Exchange's probe meant her strength was at least at the Late Golden Core Stage, or even higher.

Most importantly, she didn't seem to have any immediate intention of attacking.

Curiosity.

From the depths of her clear, cold eyes, Lu Yuan read inquiry, an extreme curiosity.

This might be his only chance.

Indeed, the white-clad woman showed no hostility; she merely calmly stated a proposition.

“I am very curious how you accomplished it.”

“I will not delve into your secrets, but I am very interested in your method of ‘stirring Karma.’”

Her tone shifted, offering a condition Lu Yuan couldn't refuse.

“I can help you conceal this heavenly secret, preventing the one behind Ye Chen from deducing that you were the one who acted.”

“In return...”

A hint of playfulness entered her voice.

“Next time you make a move against Ye Chen, I want to be there watching.”

Before Lu Yuan could answer, she seemed to murmur to herself, her voice so soft it was almost inaudible.

“Perhaps... your strange power is my only hope of finding the nine revolutions soul returning grass and healing this Dao injury.”