643: Chapter 643 Tomorrow at Chenshi (7-9 AM), we'll meet that ancient tree!

Su Ming nodded slightly, completely setting his mind at ease, and continued to immerse himself in the circulation of Spiritual Qi.

The night deepened, and the Spiritual Qi within the tree hollow swirled like mist.

Su Ming's cultivation had reached its deepest state; the Golden Core in his Dantian rotated slowly, emitting a halo of deep blue light at Perfection.

Suddenly.

Lin Yu, who was floating in mid-air, saw the luster on the surface of his soul body suddenly stall. Immediately after, that originally solid soul body actually flickered violently like a candle in the wind!

"Stop!"

Lin Yu's voice exploded within Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness. This time, there was no teasing, only unconcealable urgency and shock. "Quickly, retract the Formation! A terrifying Divine Sense is coming!"

Su Ming's heart skipped a beat.

At the very same instant as Lin Yu's warning, a Divine Sense so vast it could not be described in words descended upon this tree hollow without warning, like a spring breeze brushing across the surface of a lake.

This Divine Sense held no violent hostility; it was as gentle as a ray of morning sunlight. Yet, it carried a power of heaven and earth that was irresistible and brooked no defiance.

Before it, the exquisite Life-Essence Cloak on Su Ming's body was like a thin sheet of paper soaked in rain, instantly pierced through. The Breath Concealment Formation, the isolation barrier, and even the protection of his natal formation plate were rendered useless in the face of this Divine Sense!

"It is Elder Mu Xin!" Lin Yu transmitted urgently within the Sea of Consciousness, his voice extremely low. "This kind of pressure is at least at the Human Race's Soul Transformation Stage! It is even stronger than Supreme Elder Hao Yuan's cultivation! Steady your mind, do not make any unnecessary movements. If he wants to kill you, a single thought is enough!"

Su Ming did not panic in the slightest. His left hand wiped sharply in front of him, and the Lesser Void Spirit Guiding Formation, less than a foot square, was completely erased in an instant. The void meditation stone and Soul-Fixing Sand were stored into his Storage Pouch. The entire movement was smooth and flowing, without stirring up the slightest ripple of Spiritual Qi.

Following this, he rose to his full height and straightened his azure-gray dao robe.

He turned around, facing the wall of the tree hollow—that is, the direction of the deepest part of the Light Banyan's main body—crossed his hands, pressed them against his chest, and bowed deeply.

That gentle and vast Divine Sense slowly swept over Su Ming's body.

Su Ming felt as if he had been completely seen through by a pair of deep eyes that had watched over the world since ancient times.

The Divine Sense probed into his Dantian without obstruction, observing the slowly rotating Golden Core; it brushed past his dao foundation, which had once been torn and reshaped, covered in the cracks of Kintsugi; and it even traveled upward, reaching the edge of his Sea of Consciousness, sensing the subtle connection of Soul Power between him and Lin Yu.

Under these eyes, all of his disguises had nowhere to hide.

Cold sweat instantly soaked Su Ming's back.

But he gritted his teeth, kept his back straight, and his breathing remained steady without the slightest disorder. He was like a reef enduring the pounding of ocean waves, outwardly motionless, allowing the other party to examine him.

One breath.

Two breaths.

Three breaths.

A full three breaths of time, in this suffocating pressure, felt as if three long winters had passed.

Finally, the Divine Sense stopped at the edge of Su Ming's Sea of Consciousness, choosing not to force its way inside.

For any Cultivator, forcibly searching the soul is the greatest taboo, meaning an unending feud. Elder Mu Xin stopping at this step indicated that he truly did not harbor pure malice.

The Divine Sense slowly receded like the tide.

Just as Su Ming was about to heave a sigh of relief.

An echo, carrying endless vicissitudes of time, resonated directly within Su Ming's mind.

That was not any spoken language, but a more primitive way of communicating through the transmission of intent.

"Tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon, this old man has words to ask you."

The voice carried a hint of extremely faint curiosity. It was like a ten-thousand-year-old tree that had taken root, feeling the pure curiosity that arises when it sees for the first time a strange vine it has never encountered before winding around its trunk.

There was no hostility, but it absolutely did not mean trust.

Su Ming maintained his bowed posture and responded in his mind with the most respectful intent: "This Junior will comply."

Not until that ancient aura had completely disappeared from the tree hollow did Su Ming slowly straighten up.

His legs were slightly weak; he took two steps back and collapsed onto the sleeping couch.

The surface of the xuantian ring flashed with light, and Lin Yu's soul body re-condensed. On his illusory old face, there was a rare trace of gravity and lingering fear.

"That was close..." Lin Yu let out a long breath, the luster of his soul body flickering unsteadily. "Just a moment ago, I didn't even feel safe hiding in the deepest part of the ring."

Su Ming wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, picked up the tea that had long since gone cold, and took a gulp, forcing his wildly beating heart to calm down.

"Master, he saw through my Golden Core, saw through my dao foundation, and even sensed your existence." Su Ming's gaze was deep as he stared fixedly at the tea leaves at the bottom of the cup.

"But he did not force his way in." Lin Yu snorted coldly. "This shows that although he harbors great doubts about your origins, you, this little ant of a different race, still possess some fortuitous opportunity worth his communication. Otherwise, just now, your Sea of Consciousness would already be a mess of mush."

Su Ming nodded, put down the teacup, and his eyes became cold and clear once again.

"Tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon. This is the true life-or-death hurdle." Su Ming clasped his hands together. "Master, we must conduct a deduction. Tomorrow's response cannot tolerate the slightest mistake."

Lin Yu sat cross-legged in mid-air, his expression solemn: "Good. The old rules."

Su Ming held up a finger. "Elder Mu Xin knows I am a Human Race Formation Cultivator and that I understand profound Formation repair techniques. Just now, he also learned of my true cultivation, knows my dao foundation has suffered severe damage, and furthermore, likely knows there is a powerful soul body beside me."

Lin Yu continued, his illusory finger tapping in the air. "He does not know you absorbed Qing Yan's memories and grasped the core truth of their Spirit Race civil war."

"This is the key to our winning move." Su Ming's gaze was like a torch. "In front of such a powerful being, any clumsy lie will be instantly seen through. Confessing everything is equivalent to handing a knife to someone else; resisting stubbornly is equivalent to seeking one's own death."

Su Ming took a deep breath and proposed the final strategy: "The strategy of half-confession."

"Half-confession?" Lin Yu stroked his chin.

"Yes." Su Ming analyzed clearly. "When we meet tomorrow, the core narrative must be established on the keynote of a lost Formation Master seeking shelter in this perilous Spirit Realm. We must demonstrate value, but absolutely never expose our trump cards."

Lin Yu nodded slightly, his tone low. "How specifically do we say it?"

"Regarding my origins." A flash of cunning crossed Su Ming's eyes. "Just say that I entered an ancient ruin in the Human Realm and was swept into this place by a broken spatial rift. This is also a fact; he will not be able to see any flaws."

Lin Yu paced back and forth in the air, his soul body flickering slightly. "Then what about my existence? He truly and clearly sensed my Soul Power!"

"That is even easier to handle." A curve appeared at the corner of Su Ming's mouth. "You are a remnant soul from a soul-lodging Magical Artifact I obtained by chance, who once taught me Formation knowledge. In this strange world, you are the only Elder I can rely on. This not only explains where my Formation Legacy comes from, but also adds a layer of rationality to my image of surviving by being cautious."

Lin Yu stopped pacing, pondered for a moment, and finally let out a low scoff. "Three parts truth, seven parts falsehood. Confess the insignificant truths, and keep the most fatal trump cards tightly covered. Your Way of Cautious Survival, you brat, has truly been cultivated into your very bones."

"Under the gaze of a powerful being, only by maintaining this state of mind can one retain a glimmer of survival." Su Ming tucked his hands into his sleeves, his face returning to a calm as still as an ancient well.

"First calculation: my background is exposed; second calculation: my value remains; third calculation: my advance and retreat are measured." Su Ming looked at the faint green light outside the window, his voice low and firm. "Tomorrow at the Hour of the Dragon, I shall go and meet this ten-thousand-year-old Elder Mu Xin."

Ying chirped softly above the doorframe, seemingly responding to its Master's determination.

The night remained deep, but in Su Ming's heart, a path of survival, step-by-step and cautious in this treacherous game of chess, had already been paved.