Forty Millenniums of Cultivation

Jin Xinyue felt like she was trapped in her master’s mind with no way of escape.

“However,” Li Yao said, “although I couldn’t read anything from your father’s face, it doesn’t mean that I could not read his mind!”

Jin Xinyue found it hard to believe. “Read the mind of a demon emperor who was dozens of kilometers away and on the other side of a light beam?”

For a moment, Jin Xinyue was of a mind to lunge forward and cling to her master’s thigh, exclaiming and begging him to teach her such an incredible technique.

Li Yao grinned. “Do you still remember the beginning of our conversation?

“I said that I knew my advantages very clearly. What I’ve always been best at are simply fighting and refining. In the field of persuasion, your father would be hanging me up and whipping me mercilessly.

“On the other hand, in terms of the arts of refining and magical equipment, it would be your father who is hanged up and whipped, right?

“When I was back in the Flying Star Sector, I saw a piece of marvelous magical equipment named the Truth Cabinet, which was a military polygraph left by the Star Ocean Imperium.

“As a fan of magical equipment, naturally, there was no way that I would let go of such an ultimate treasure. After I became the best warrior of the six tribes of Iron Plateau, I specially dedicated part of my time to the most profound research on the Truth Cabinet.

“Although it is impossible for me to produce such a piece of precise magical equipment, I can still copy a few rune arrays from it, duplicate a few functions, and make a counterfeit.

“Did you think that it was a simple ‘point-to-point communicator for miners’ that I’d inserted into the ‘Star Spot Red Fire Oyster’ and delivered to the commander-in-chief’s residence?”

Jin Xinyue could not help but bulge her eyes and open her mouth.

Li Yao’s eyes were narrowed into the shape of two fish hooks. “On the surface, it was just a ‘point-to-point communicator for miners’ that I threw together from the debris of a lot of magical equipment. In order to assemble the debris of different types, I added a lot of messy units to connect them.

“However, a few inconspicuous rune arrays hidden in the units endowed the magical equipment with a special function—to monitor the heartbeat and the flow of blood nearby and send the data back in the form of spiritual waves.

“Therefore, it is much more than a point-to-point communicator for miners; it is also a ‘polygraph’!

“Everybody has a comfort zone.

“When your father was talking face to face through the light beam, he knew that I could see him clearly, and he also knew that experts of our levels were definitely adept at reading the micro-expressions. Therefore, he must’ve been managing his facial muscles precisely in case what was on his mind was exposed on his face.

“However, as you said just now, the remote communication at a distance of dozens of kilometers gave him an illusionary sense of safety. He couldn’t have realized that I could sense his heartbeat and flow of blood on the other side of the light beam!

“From the very beginning, I pretended to be a hotblooded, bombastic dumbass. He was taking the initiative in our conversation all the time, and he lambasted me hard on my groundless theories.

“The more he lambasted, the more at ease he became. Eventually, he inevitably felt that ‘Vulture Li Yao is just so-so’!

“On the other hand, at the last moment of our conversation, I threw out Eye of Blood Demon toward him, pretending that I had lost control over my emotions and burst into fury.

“You see, after hearing Eye of Blood Demon, your father did not change his facial expression at all. Even the enlargement and constriction of his pupils were still normal.

“However, his heart was beating 11% faster, and the speed of his blood flow was 7% higher!

“Although he adjusted his heartbeat and flow of blood in only 0.4 seconds and regained his cool, it was already enough for me!

“Think about it. If the Red Tide Plan is truly unrelated to the Eye of Blood Demon, when your father heard Eye of Blood Demon, he should’ve been confused or simply neglected the words outright, right?

“The acceleration of his heartbeat and flow of blood is only indicative of one thing—I found out his biggest secret!”

Jin Xinyue listened attentively and gave no rebuttal.

“You were quite right. Your father’s face was like a frozen lake where there were no ripples whatsoever.

“However, no matter how frozen a lake appears to be, it is impossible for all the water in the bottom of lake to be frozen. There are always undercurrents flowing by.

“Therefore, I made thorough preparations and even snuck into Heavenly Path City at great risk in order to have a dialogue with your father not because I was trying to convince him but because I wanted to listen to his heartbeat. Nothing more.”

Jin Xinyue was deep in thought, remaining silent.

After a long time, she was suddenly back to herself from the trance. The sharp brilliance in her eyes condensed again. “Master, I have two questions.

“Firstly, how could you be so sure that the hidden ‘tell-tale rune arrays’ would not be discovered?”

“Because they were refined by me,” Li Yao replied. “Perhaps, if all the experts of refining in the Blood Demon Sector were gathered, and they spent a day and a night studying my work, it would’ve been possible for them to see the flaws in it. But since your father only had a few hours and he could not inform too many subordinates of the issue, there is no way that he could find it out.”

The answer that was barely an answer rendered Jin Xinyue speechless. She extended another finger and asked, “Secondly, right now, it’s great that you have guessed everything right, but what if your speculation was wrong?

“If my father gave no response at all after you said Eye of Blood Demon and there was absolutely no change in his micro-expression, heartbeat, or flow of blood, what would you do?

“You wouldn’t have given up, would you?”

Li Yao shook his head and said solemnly, “I certainly would not have given up easily.

“Do you remember the crystal bombs we installed at the ‘transfer station’?”

Jin Xinyue nodded. “I do. They were detonated to fake our death.”

Li Yao’s eyes turned into fish hooks again. “Faking our death was only one of their purposes.

“The crystal bombs had another usage that was much more important.

“When I crafted the batch of crystal bombs, I added a special ingredient to them, which was the powder I produced based on Dragon Wet Grass, Ice Silkworm Dew, and more than thirty other materials according to an ancient prescription.

“The powder is highly sticky. It will not be washed away easily when it is stuck to the surface of an object.

“Although it is invisible and odorless and will not emit any waves under normal circumstances, one will be able to notice it at a fairly long distance as long as one is wearing special glasses. Therefore, it is safe to say that the powder is designed for tracing.

“Similar powder is often utilized in the vaults of the banks in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Flying Star Sector. If you spray the powder on the precious Heavenly Materials and Earthly Treasures and marrow crystals, you won’t worry about any robber growing interested in them.”

Jin Xinyue frowned and said, “There is such powder in the Blood Demon Sector, too. Also, it is much more advanced here than in the Heaven’s Origin Sector. We know very clearly the formulas of such powder in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the corresponding examination methods.”

Li Yao smiled. “Of course, the powder I produced was not the powder you can buy on the streets of the Heaven’s Origin Sector. It was based on an ancient prescription that has been lost for a long time. Also, three materials that do not exist in the Heaven’s Origin Sector and the Blood Demon Sector were added to the powder, which made it much more inconspicuous than normal powder. It is unlikely to have been discovered.

“This was my plan from the beginning.

“With our identities and our sabotages over the past month, we were essentially the most wanted criminals of the Blood Demon Sector. If you father intended to capture us, he certainly would have sent the best experts. Possibly, several demon emperors, the elite troops, and a few devilish warships would surround us!

“Those demon emperors, elite troops, and devilish warships would certainly be joining the ultimate war according to the Red Tide Plan, if my guess was correct.

“After all, once the Red Tide Plan was activated, it would be make or break for the Blood Demon Sector. There was no need to reserve strength. One more warrior means a higher likelihood of demolishing the capital city of the Star Glory Federation.

“Then, those demon emperors, elite troops, and devilish warships were bound to go to the final rendezvous point together with your father.

“As long as they were contaminated by the tracing powder, we would be able to find where the real elite troops of the coalition army of demons gathered by tracking them!”

Jin Xinyue thought hard for a moment. “However, how were you so certain that those demon emperors would not wash off the powder during their shower?”

“My crystal bombs were specifically designed to spread the powder as far away as possible when they exploded,” Li Yao explained. “All the demons, their weapons, and their devilish warships were contaminated!

“Let’s say that all the demon emperors have mysophobia ¹ and take three showers every day, to the point that they are essentially shedding their skin every few hours. It is not like that they will wash their weapons multiple times a day, right?

“Alright. Suppose that they have sanitized both themselves and their weapons both inside and outside, or they have returned their weapons to their Cosmos Rings and will not use them again, are the devilish warships that are contaminated by the powder going to be cleaned so easily?

“There are only several days to go before the Red Tide Plan is to be activated. In such a short amount of time, only regular maintenance can be performed on the devilish warships. It there any reason for them to clean the shells of the devilish warships completely?

“Therefore, as long as we were not too unlucky, there would be at least one demon emperor, one weapon, or one devilish warship that was contaminated by the tracing powder, right?

“Let me conclude what we now know.

“After sneaking into Heavenly Path City, we have confirmed the activation date of the Red Tide Plan, pried into the distribution of the armies of Heavenly Path City, confirmed that the Red Tide Plan is related to the Eye of Blood Demon through your father’s heartbeat, sprayed tracing powder upon many demon emperors and heavy devilish warships, and faked the scene of our death, misleading all the demon emperors into thinking that we killed ourselves in the explosion!

“Although the persuasion failed, we have achieved the five aims of my plan. Is there any problem when I said that we have come home with loads of trophies?”