The night at Gazing Star Cliff was not deathly still, but filled with an extremely subtle, humming sound like a taut string.

That was the noise of the high-altitude Fierce Wind scraping against the dome of the mountain-protecting formation.

At the third quarter of the Zi hour, the originally clear moonlight was swallowed by thick clouds, only leaving a fuzzy, blurred halo at the edges of the cloud wisps, like old ink stains spreading on xuan paper. The cave dwelling was not lit by any eternal lamps, relying only on a few glowstones embedded in wall niches to emit a faint, cold light. This stretched Su Ming's cross-legged shadow long and slanted, casting it onto the rough stone wall, where it twisted slightly with the flicker of the candlelight.

Su Ming maintained his deduction gesture, his fingertip hovering in mid-air, refusing to descend.

On the greenstone desk before him lay three items: a Xuantian ring with a dull, simple, and unadorned hue; a square box made of spirit-sealing lead, its lid half-open, revealing the black egg inside covered in dark golden patterns; and a spread-out pile of miscellaneous objects—the jade slip containing Luo Feng's failed insights, the communication talisman Qin Yi left behind that carried a beastly scent, and the ice crystal that sealed Ling Shuang's sharp, cold sword intent.

"No good."

Su Ming slowly withdrew his finger, rubbing his slightly throbbing brow, his voice hoarse. "All the deduction paths, once they reach the 'Heart-Questioning' step, feel like crashing into a thick, sticky fog. Punishment Peak has added something to the formation this time. That variable, I can't calculate it."

If it were a conventional Heart-Questioning Formation, even an enhanced version targeting True Disciples, with his understanding of formation structures and Lin Yu's assistance, he could have already simulated seven or eight methods to pass.

But just now, no matter how he used the *Like Water Art* to simulate spiritual energy circuits, once he touched that core node, the spiritual energy would inexplicably dissipate. The feeling was like a blind man touching an elephant, but halfway through, the elephant in his hand suddenly turned into a swamp that devoured everything.

"Of course you can't calculate it."

In the Consciousness Sea, Lin Yu's voice sounded lazily, carrying a trace of long-seen-through clarity. "If even a little Qi Refining brat like you could figure it out, then Punishment Peak's 'special operations agency' of several thousand years might as well close up shop and switch to farming sweet potatoes."

"Master, you mean..."

"They've added a 'retrospective' type of formation at the formation core." Lin Yu's phantom sat cross-legged in the Consciousness Sea, seemingly holding a handful of nonexistent sunflower seeds to crack. "This thing doesn't follow logic; it follows cause and effect. They don't want to know if you'll betray them in the future. They want to know—who you were in the past, where your skills came from."

Su Ming's heart sank slightly.

This was his greatest weakness.

A farm boy from a mortal, spiritless land, yet within just two short years, proficient in the path of formations, even mastering lost ancient methods. This itself was a huge, gaping hole that couldn't be patched over with just the word "talent."

Su Ming's gaze fell on the Xuantian ring.

This ring was the starting point of all his opportunities, and also his biggest hidden danger at present.

"Ring, to wear or not?" Su Ming asked softly, his gaze shifting between the ring and his empty finger.

If it were before, encountering such an uncontrollable risk, his first instinct would absolutely be to hide it. Hide the ring deep within the earth veins, hide it in a corner no one could find, wash himself clean, and become a pure, extraordinarily talented "native."

But this time, intuition told him he couldn't hide it.

"Don't wear it." Lin Yu suddenly spoke, his tone carrying a hint of sarcasm. "You hide the ring, then walk in empty-handed. What will the Punishment Peak bunch think?"

Su Ming was slightly taken aback, then pondered, "They'll search my storage pouch thoroughly, ransack my cave dwelling. If they find nothing, they'll be even more suspicious."

"Exactly."

Lin Yu snapped his fingers. "A Qi Refining disciple, if he doesn't even have a decent secret on him, yet possesses a set of unreasonable skills. Then there's only one explanation—these skills are engraved in your mind, or even worse, your soul has already been swapped. At that point, they won't just 'question your heart'; they'll want to 'search your soul.'"

"On the contrary, if you wear it..."

Lin Yu's voice became somewhat low, exuding a cunning, shrewd wisdom. "That becomes an 'opportunity.'"

Su Ming's eyes flickered, his fingertip lightly touching the ring's cool surface. "Master means, actively expose it?"

"Not expose me, expose 'it.'"

Lin Yu corrected. "The cultivation world, who hasn't picked up a few pieces of junk? You come from a humble background, accidentally obtain a ring left by an ancient cultivator, inside is a remnant spirit on the verge of dissipating, who taught you a few survival skills. This story, though cliché, is... plausible."

"Punishment Peak prides itself on its status. They want an explanation, a logical chain that closes the loop. As long as there's this 'physical evidence,' they actually won't delve into those vague, intangible possibilities of soul possession. After all, to verify a suspicion by forcibly erasing the consciousness of a possibly soul-bound 'ancient treasure' would be too unsightly, and that old man Xuanheng wouldn't agree either."

Su Ming frowned. "But, what if they forcibly probe inside the ring..."

This was the most fatal part. Once Lin Yu, this "otherworldly soul," was exposed, the consequences would be worse than soul possession.

"Then we gamble!"

Lin Yu's voice suddenly rose, carrying a rare resoluteness and madness. "Gamble that the material level of this ring itself far exceeds their understanding! Gamble that they can't see through this shell!"

"When they probe, I'll turtle up into the ring's innermost sealed layer. I'll use my soul power to simulate a false impression on the surface layer: 'an ancient cultivator's remnant consciousness on the verge of dissipating due to the passage of time.' Show them a blurry, intermittent scene of imparting techniques. As long as they believe this surface illusion, they won't risk damaging the treasure by stubbornly probing the core."

"If we win the gamble, your 'ancient treasure opportunity' persona will be firmly established. Any novel formations you produce in the future will also have a source."

"If we lose..."

Lin Yu fell silent for a moment, then chuckled lightly. "The worst is just exposing me, your teacher. But exposing a 'remnant spirit' is still better than exposing your 'out-of-thin-air' knowledge. As long as I insist I'm an ancient cultivator from this world, at most they'll capture me to serve as a 'vessel spirit.' As long as I don't die, us master and disciple still have a chance to turn things around."

Su Ming's finger trembled slightly.

He understood.

His master was using his own life as a shield for him.

This feeling of being completely trusted, of having someone backing him up, made Su Ming's heart, which had gradually grown cold and hard in the cultivation world, feel a long-lost, searing warmth.

"Hiding in the shadows isn't necessarily safe."