Citing exhaustion from the interrogation and jet lag, Gao Jian politely declined the arrangements to return home that night and chose to stay at a nearby hotel instead.
He still hadn't figured out how to face his biological grandfather, whom he barely knew.
Officer Liu was in no hurry either. He booked the suite next door and settled in.
After their investigation into Gao Jian concluded, the State Security Bureau staff thoughtfully returned his repaired phone and laptop, even charging both to full beforehand.
Those two devices probably had no privacy left to speak of, but Gao Jian didn't mind.
His work laptop and phone were both squeaky clean. The laptop mostly contained work documents, and its most risqué pictures were probably the anthropomorphized girls based on the Long March carrier rocket series, which he had generated with AI himself.
Apart from government apps like Study the Nation, his phone only had WeChat, that essential social app. Its sole entertainment app was Plants vs. Zombies. He didn't even have Douyin.
Like their owner, both devices led lives free of worldly desires.
Still, Gao Jian was in no hurry to contact the outside world.
He swept the hotel with his Divine Sense. After ensuring there were no bugs or surveillance devices, he flicked his palm slightly. A blue-green paper talisman appeared and attached itself to the wall, and a pale blue-green formation barrier swiftly enveloped his room.
Gao Jian sat cross-legged, closed his eyes, and entered meditation.
The unmistakable aura of Early Foundation Establishment slowly emerged. Pure spiritual power flowed gently through the meridians in his body, circulating again and again.
Half an hour later, Gao Jian opened his eyes.
One grand circulation had ended, but his Early Foundation Establishment cultivation hadn't increased in the slightest.
Just as I thought.
"I still need spiritual energy. Without it, cultivation is nothing but empty talk."
Gao Jian sighed softly, drew back the curtains, and looked up at the bright moon.
The radiant moon hung overhead, outshining the stars.
He wasn't sure whether he was imagining it, but Gao Jian felt that the moon had grown a little brighter. Then, without warning, he saw an auspicious Buddhist symbol flash and disappear.
Though small, the symbol was clear to him. It was unmistakably the auspicious ocean-cloud mark, also known as the auspicious swastika, one of the thirty-two marks of the Buddha in the Buddhist cultivation tradition. It represented the convergence of auspiciousness and myriad virtues.
He hurriedly channeled his Divine Sense into his eyes and looked again. Unfortunately, there was nothing there this time.
Gao Jian couldn't help clenching his fists.
"What the hell is going on? Are there cultivators on the Taiyin Star or not? If there are, what are those old bald donkeys playing at?"
Every single flash catches me completely unprepared. The moon did nothing while I was in space these past two days, but now that I'm back on Earth, it's flashing again. Is it deliberately trying to lure me in?
After another careful examination, the moon still showed no response. Reluctantly, Gao Jian withdrew his gaze and closed the curtains again.
Looking at the pristine white bed, Gao Jian reached down to his waist. The remaining Immortal Cultivation supplies in his Storage Bag instantly covered the bed.
One low-grade spirit artifact, several low-grade magical artifacts, and assorted pills, talismans, Jade Slips, and formation disks.
His only spirit artifact was, of course, Gao Jian's bonded spirit artifact, the [Ten-Thousand-Year Green Bamboo Sword].
This sword was Gao Jian's most precious possession. Spirit artifacts were generally standard equipment for Golden Core cultivators, but they were exceedingly rare for Foundation Establishment cultivators.
The Green Bamboo Sword lay on the bed, curling a corner of the quilt around itself. The white fabric half concealed it, leaving a little of its lush green, naked blade spine exposed. Its tip tilted gently upward as it rested on the edge of the bed, trembling and swaying nonstop.
But Gao Jian didn't look at it. He was studying his other cultivation supplies.
The "Robert" incident had given Gao Jian a powerful sense of danger. With enemies lurking in the shadows, he had to reassess this world.
This was his first systematic inventory of his possessions since transmigrating.
Gao Jian also needed to use this opportunity to reevaluate his combat capabilities.
First came the combat items.
[Hundred-Soul Banner] (high-grade magical artifact)
He had seized this banner from a Foundation Establishment Unorthodox Cultivator and left it gathering dust ever since. Gao Jian had never considered refining it, nor did he intend to in the future. It was purely for collecting, admiring, and decoration.
If Gao Jian's guess was correct, the Hundred-Soul Banner contained at least a hundred sinister souls and vicious ghosts. He had no idea how that Foundation Establishment Unorthodox Cultivator had gathered so many. In any case, while that cultivator was fighting another Foundation Establishment demonic cultivator, Gao Jian had ambushed them amid the chaos, killed both, and walked away with a windfall.
Afraid of ghosts, Gao Jian had never dared unfurl the Hundred-Soul Banner to take a look.
[Thunderfire Fan] (high-grade magical artifact)
A conventional offensive treasure, it was a purple-and-red feather fan wreathed in lightning and blazing fire. When powered with spiritual energy, a single sweep could instantly unleash fire dragons and lightning serpents. Its considerable power was enough to pierce tank armor.
He had redeemed sect contribution points for the Thunderfire Fan. Before the Green Bamboo Sword was forged, this fan had been Gao Jian's main offensive treasure. It would serve him perfectly well through late Foundation Establishment, and could even remain useful in Golden Core.
Those two unlucky Unorthodox Cultivators had been fanned to death with it.
[Thousand-Sun Gilded Needle] (mid-grade magical artifact)
A slender golden needle shimmering with sunlight, it offered unparalleled single-target piercing damage and specialized in penetrating armor.
Gao Jian had tested it back home. Driving the gilded needle at full power with his Early Foundation Establishment cultivation, he could pierce a hundred meters of mountain rock, though its damage was confined to a very small area. This, too, was a reward redeemed with sect contribution points.
[Black Jade Twin Cones] (mid-grade magical artifact)
Two slender, diamond-shaped black jade cones, one left and one right, with razor-sharp tips. Controlled by mental power, they moved as naturally as his own limbs, essentially acting as two homing missiles without explosive warheads that struck enemies through kinetic impact alone. Senior Sister Song from his sect had given them to him to settle a debt when she couldn't repay the spirit stones she owed. She had said she would redeem them once she had the money.
Unfortunately, Gao Jian had brought them along when he transmigrated, so Senior Sister Song probably wouldn't be getting them back. The twin cones had another drawback: he had to use both hands simultaneously to control the corresponding left and right jade cones. Mixing them up would cause a backlash of spiritual power.
Gao Jian's sense of direction was terrible, and he often couldn't tell left from right. Afraid of mixing them up, he had never used them.
[Evergreen Sword] (low-grade magical artifact)
A dark blue-green longsword seven feet long, it was his sect's standard-issue sword.
It was also Gao Jian's first sword. It had no special features or attribute bonuses, but conducted spiritual power fairly well and could release blue-green sword energy. The standard primary weapon for Qi Refining cultivators, its blade was harder than diamond and stronger than tungsten alloy.
Before obtaining the [Ten-Thousand-Year Green Bamboo Sword], Gao Jian had always used it against his enemies. He generally stood on it when flying by sword, and it also served as his backup sword.
When necessary, Gao Jian could wield this sword alongside the [Ten-Thousand-Year Green Bamboo Sword] to fight in a dual-sword style.
[Azure-Light Tortoise Shell Shield] (low-grade magical artifact) (damaged)
His only defensive magical artifact, it had been crafted from the shell of a Hundred-Year Tortoise Monster and could withstand ordinary attacks from Early Foundation Establishment cultivators.
But earlier, the SLS rocket's core-stage main engines had blasted it. Four high-temperature plasma exhaust streams, each exceeding ten thousand degrees, had struck the hastily activated Azure-Light Tortoise Shell Shield simultaneously, shattering the entire shield on the spot.
Sitting on the bed with the Tortoise Shell Shield's fragments in his hands, Gao Jian spent half an hour carefully trying to piece them together.
But no matter what he did, they wouldn't fit.
Gao Jian pressed his lips together and ordered a bottle of heavy-duty glue on his phone. Then he used the Evergreen Sword to scrape away the shield's scorched, carbonized surface. Once the delivery rider brought the glue, he applied it along the broken edges and pieced the Tortoise Shell Shield back together.
This will have to do for now.
Before you continue