Chapter 76

Chapter 76: Test

The more experiences he had, the more Zhou Luo realized the importance of strength.

Initially, relying on the long lifespan granted by the system, he thought he could simply lay low until the day of becoming an immortal.

Now, it seemed some things weren’t just attainable through desire.

In this cruel world of cultivation, he could only proceed as if treading on thin ice with each step, exhausting his mind to confront these dangers.

Thinking of this, Zhou Luo grew intensely eager to leave his family. He wanted to find a suitable place to live, build his own long-life families, and lay low until the very end.

Of course, that wasn’t possible yet. Only when he had sufficient capital could he speak of such things.

As for building long-life families, Zhou Luo thought again of the spiritual vein beneath him. If possible, this might be a good location.

It was just a pity; the road ahead was long, and who knew what unforeseen changes might occur midway?

While he was deep in thought, a knock sounded on his door.

He stood up and opened it, encountering that familiar face once more.

Lin Shi, his head bald, held a lunchbox, looked at him and chuckled, "I heard you brewed the antidote."

"It was just luck. Where did you go?" Zhou Luo asked, letting him enter.

According to Lin Shi, he had been sent out to investigate a nearby area. Because the journey was quite far, the sound transmission talisman, only suitable for short distances, naturally didn’t work.

Then he brought up yesterday’s interrogation by Lin Xuanfeng, confidently stating that the other hadn’t detected his lie.

Naturally, Zhou Luo didn’t mention that Lin Xuanfeng had actually seen through it.

Now it seemed that sending Lin Shi away was to avoid alerting the snake – they wanted to see what Zhou Luo was up to.

That was why they had followed him all the way to Lin Xianlong’s residence.

Lin Shi’s arrival, at least, let Zhou Luo confirm one thing.

That the poisoning incident was likely in the past. Now, the important thing was to prevent the main family from knowing he had uncovered the secret of the spiritual mine.

"By the way, I heard you… caused the death of a formation master? What exactly happened?" Lin Shi picked up Little White [Bai] and sat facing him, asking.

"Sigh, I didn’t want that. It was all an accident," Zhou Luo sighed, a pained expression on his face.

Lin Shi also shook his head, "If the family finds out about this matter, you’ll probably be punished."

"It’s serious?" Zhou Luo pretended to panic, asking.

"Unknown."

Lin Shi shook his head. Then he lowered his voice and asked, "Do you know what I discovered on this trip?"

"What?" Zhou Luo put down his bowl, puzzled.

"A new cave." Lin Shi’s expression became somewhat excited.

"A cave?"

Zhou Luo hesitated, setting his bowl down, wondering if it might be another entrance to the second level.

"Yeah! Standing there, I sensed incredibly abundant spiritual energy. It was practically as thick as in the core area of the family’s spiritual vein!" Lin Shi’s voice was full of excitement.

Hearing these words, Zhou Luo’s heart tightened.

Could it be the second entrance leading to the fourth level?

"Back then, I was going to go in to investigate, but I was stopped by the captain, who said this was a forbidden area." As he said this, Lin Shi looked regretful.

After saying this, he looked at Zhou Luo and asked, "Where do you think that cave leads?"

Zhou Luo shrugged: "How should I know? Perhaps it was built by the Lu Family earlier."

"That could be possible. How great it would be if I could cultivate there."

Lin Shi was daydreaming about it. Suddenly, he put down Little White, got up, and moved his chair next to Zhou Luo.

Seeing this, Zhou Luo slightly frowned.

Only then did he hear Lin Shi whisper softly in his ear, "Shall we go together? You think of a way. I can cover for you."

Hearing this, waves stirred inside Zhou Luo’s heart.

If he could truly cultivate near the spiritual vein, it would be extremely good for cultivation.

Honestly, Zhou Luo felt a bit tempted.

Anyway, he had the Disguise Symbol. At that time, disguising himself as a different guard was not impossible.

Wait no.

Why did he think I must have a way?

At that moment, Zhou Luo suddenly woke up to the situation.

He turned his head to look at Lin Shi beside him; the other was also looking at him.

"So, what do you think?" Lin Shi was still waiting for his answer.

Zhou Luo did not answer; he was frantically pondering the questions in his mind.

If the main family already knew that he was the one behind the poisoning, then they must know that he disguised himself as Lin Shi.

Lin Shi probably didn’t know this.

But he suddenly suggested those things, as if he knew that Zhou Luo had a Disguise Symbol and could leave.

In an instant, a terrifying guess arose in Zhou Luo’s mind.

Lin Shi was testing him.

If Zhou Luo truly knew the secret of the fourth level, he would definitely be eager to go check it out.

Zhou Luo felt a chill run down his back; his heart trembled even more.

The main family’s test had begun.

He tried hard to calm down inside and replied motionlessly, "I don’t think it’s necessary. Cultivating here should be no different from there, and I have to make pills every day."

"Fair enough, let’s forget about it." Lin Shi seemed to accept his words and retreated back.

Afterwards, Lin Shi asked Zhou Luo a few more questions. Although they were all everyday matters, Zhou Luo, who was now alert, felt that every word the other said was like a test.

The dinner ended in this highly tense mood. After Lin Shi left, Zhou Luo breathed a long sigh of relief.

He didn’t know whether his guess was correct.

But he knew that once the main family confirmed he knew the secret, he would certainly die.

He dared not gamble on it.

After leaving the room, Lin Shi, holding a wooden box, did not choose to leave. Instead, he went to the room opposite.

Inside the room, Lin Xuanfeng was sitting quietly there.

"Elder Jiu." Lin Shi bowed respectfully and told him in every detail about what had just happened.

After hearing, Lin Xuanfeng said, "Off you go." Lin Shi received the order and left.

Lin Xuanfeng looked toward the doorway. His sharp, hawk-like eyes seemed able to pierce through any obstacle and land on the figure in the opposite room.

Indeed, this was indeed a test he had arranged.

At the moment, it couldn’t be said whether the test had succeeded or failed, because he hadn’t gotten the answer he wanted.

Could it be that Zhou Luo truly didn’t know the secret of the spiritual mine?

A thoughtful expression appeared on Lin Xuanfeng’s gloomy face; then he got up and departed.

He would hand this matter over to Elder Si next. He himself had to return to the family to arrange other things.

The next morning, the four of them finally refined the needed antidote.

After the people of the second layer took it, all of them recovered, unsurprisingly.

With the poisoning incident resolved, Lin Xuanfeng and his group were also departing, and Lin Xianlong’s corpse went with them.

Though the poisoning matter had ended, behind it, there were more things awaiting those big shots to wrangle over.

It was unknown what earth-shattering waves the family would stir up when learning that a top-level first-level formation master had died.

Upon learning that Lin Xuanfeng and others had left, Zhou Luo did not relax his vigilance.

Especially Lin Shi’s behavior the night before—the more he thought about it, the more odd it seemed.

He had previously thought the other was different from the rest of the main family, but now it seemed he had misjudged.

When it came to interests, everyone was the same.