Hysteria

After leaving the side residence, Lu Li ran a long way. Even after seeing no one pursuing him, he still did not feel safe, so he ran for another quarter of an hour, weaving through the city until he was nearly exhausted.

He panted heavily, his furtive eyes darting back from time to time.

"Did I shake them off?"

A cold wind blew in from the silent alley mouth, making Lu Li shudder. His heart seemed to plunge into an icy abyss, and he was about to flee again.

"Stop running. They didn't catch up."

"Huff, huff, huff... Don't you lie to me."

"What would this old woman gain by lying to you? Settle down already."

Lu Li looked around suspiciously. Over the course of this day, he had kept feeling something strange—no matter where he went, it seemed as though someone knew him.

First, the Artificer Association's handyman had specifically asked for his name. Then there had been Azure Sun Hall's pursuers, shouting that they wanted to capture him. And then there was that young lady called Mo Shuhan, who had actually addressed him as Senior Heartless.

Lu Li even suspected that he had been doxxed.

In a world where artificer arts were so highly developed, something like doxxing did not seem entirely impossible.

"Could this be some kind of trick?"

"In your master's view, they aren't tricking you at all. There's probably really someone named Heartless. If they call her Senior, her cultivation and status must be rather high. They just happened to mistake you for her."

"Impossible. How could there be such a coincidence? You're saying there just happens to be a woman who looks more or less like me?"

Lu Li asked in return, but the moment the words left his mouth, he froze.

A woman who resembled him...

Could it be Lu Ling?

Impossible. How could there be such a coincidence in this world? Besides, according to the scenes in his dreams, that girl Lu Ling had long since had her soul extracted and refined, made into the spirit of the Gold Spirit Core. Later, because her divine soul advanced, she had been transplanted into a Second-Rank Spirit Core.

If someone used that Second-Rank Spirit Core to refine an artificer puppet, then logically speaking, the puppet's appearance should not resemble Lu Ling's either.

"Maybe it really is your little sister."

"What nonsense are you talking about? How do you know any of this?"

"Heh heh heh, this old woman knows plenty. Those sleep-talking words of yours at night—did you really think this old woman was deaf?"

"Hiss—"

Lu Li sucked in a sharp breath. Thinking back on the dreams of the past few days, he should not have said anything embarrassing, right?

If this old hag had only learned it through his sleep talk, Lu Li would not have been quite so frightened. But if this old hag could truly read his thoughts directly, then he would never know peace in sleep or food.

For an old monster whose cultivation was far above his own, things like soul-searching should not be difficult if she harbored malicious intentions. She had better truly not know, rather than understanding perfectly well while pretending to be confused.

"Your little sister is most likely still alive. More precisely, her soul should still exist."

"How can you be so certain?"

"That Mo Family girl said she saw you a year ago. The Gold Spirit Core inside your body was once used by your sister, and its production date was three years ago. Count the timing—it more or less lines up."

Lu Li neither agreed nor disagreed.

He had originally planned to visit White Moon Palace, if only to find out where his sister was. Now, his objective had become even clearer. Perhaps it was connected to this Senior Heartless they spoke of.

Senior...

What sort of person could be called Senior? Without question, in the world of cultivation, enemies a level below were called rats, friends a level below were called little friends; enemies of equal cultivation were called dog thieves, friends of equal cultivation were called fellow Daoists; and anyone with higher cultivation, good or bad, had to be collectively addressed as Senior.

Yet no matter what, Lu Li could not connect the sickly, frail little sister in his memories—the little girl who used to cry, "Big Brother has always been the big brother I admire most"—with this so-called Senior.

Three years were enough to change many things.

Over these three years, he had tasted all the bitterness of the human world. He had stolen lessons outside the academy, frittered away his youthful years in a stamping workshop, and sold his energy and labor cheaply.

But what about Lu Ling? What had she experienced over these three years? Lu Li did not know.

These past days, he had dreamed countless dreams. They turned over and over, cycling again and again, and without exception, every one ended at the moment Lu Ling's soul was extracted and refined. Everything afterward was beyond his knowledge.

"Also, let me mention this in passing: you dreaming all day long isn't a good thing. In our cultivator terms, this is actually a kind of delirium. Well, cultivators with a high degree of mechanical modification all have some symptoms in this regard, but yours are far too severe."

"None of your business!"

"You won't listen to an old person's advice. Irritability, suspicion, excessive dreaming, excessive delusions, a drastic change in temperament... these are all symptoms of delirium. So many cultivators have become unable to recognize even their own kin because of this, betraying their masters and destroying their ancestors, abandoned by all, and ultimately falling into the demonic path."

"Y-you-you're talking nonsense! How has my temperament changed? I've always held fast to my original heart."

"See? Getting worked up again. When I first picked you up, you weren't like this. Think carefully—do you really dare say you haven't changed at all?"

Elder Duan's voice was tinged with mockery. Lu Li's chest rose and fell violently. As he carefully considered everything that had happened in the past and compared it to what he did now, he seemed to genuinely notice a few subtle differences.

No, this was not the time to think about such things. His most urgent task was to deal with the upcoming examination—such as finding a few past exam questions to work on first.

Thus, Lu Li asked someone for directions and headed toward the city center.

It was now the hour of Xu. Maple Fragrance City's night had only just begun.

The lanterns of roadside shops lit the streets as brightly as day. Flocks of Wood Crows flew back and forth, chattering endlessly as they peddled all kinds of services to pedestrians. People seemed long accustomed to this, chatting with their friends about amusing things from the day as though they saw nothing at all.

Although the food, clothing, shelter, and travel of ordinary people in this world were not much different from those of ancient times in his previous life, the saying "work at sunrise and rest at sunset" seemed rather unsuitable here.

Just as the workshops' production lines never stopped at night, the clamor on the bluestone streets continued deep into the latter half of the night. No mortal in this world could stay awake forever, but there were always people still awake.

Lu Li went in and out of one bookshop after another, and two or three Wood Crows swarmed around him, bombarding his forehead with their cries.

"Breaking news, breaking news! The winners of this Double Seal assessment may have the chance to be directly selected into White Moon Palace."

"Complete collection of clamp-and-weld diagrams from every past assessment, with all the pitfalls revealed!"

"No tuition until you reach Third Grade, no rest until you become a puppet artificer! For the Double Seal exam, choose Maple Fragrance Academy."

"So annoying."

If he hadn't known he would have to pay for any he broke, Lu Li truly wanted to activate the Qi-Combining Cauldron and shoot every one of those Wood Crows out of the sky.

He had merely picked up a few jade slips containing past exam questions for a look. The Wood Crows saw that, and those things immediately started pushing academy ads at him.

The worst part was that if he ignored the Wood Crows, they would flock after him in a swarm, refusing to leave until they had been cursed at a couple of times. The immortal who designed these things was simply a genius.

Lu Li was just about to open a jade slip and look through its contents when a piercing bird cry suddenly rang out.

"You still dare to take the exam naked? Utterly foolish!

"You think you can pass clampwork and welding just by fumbling around on your own? Wishful thinking!

"If cramming for two or three days at the last minute could get you through, then heaven's justice would truly be intolerable!

"There's no time left! At this hour, why are you still studying by yourself?"

The Wood Crow chattered on without pause. Lu Li knew perfectly well that it was deliberately trying to make him anxious, yet after hearing all that, his little pink fists still clenched tight.