The recording ended, and the light on the screen went out again.
"What the hell? What a load of mystical nonsense," Silver Wolf muttered.
Chu Mu asked Tingyun:
"What's the Xianzhou authorities' take on this?"
"Bizarre." Tingyun's expression was impassive. "Abundance granted Xianzhou natives long life, but that longevity is like a plague, breeding the mara-struck condition. This man claimed he had cast off the blessing of Abundance while retaining his longevity. That's simply absurd."
She paused, then continued:
"Most of the Xianzhou's long-life species don't regret their longevity. What they regret is that they'll eventually become mara-struck. This man claimed he could solve that problem while preserving their longevity. It's practically a scam tailor-made for long-life species.
"So, as soon as the Xianzhou authorities discovered this recording, they contacted the Corporation to have it deleted.
"But a follow-up investigation was essential. The Xianzhou authorities wanted to find out who had been luring Xianzhou natives here all this time. So I was sent here as part of the advance party."
Hearing this, Chu Mu asked bluntly:
"If this information were true, wouldn't the Xianzhou authorities be tempted?"
"Of course they would." Tingyun sighed. "Even the generals couldn't agree. Some advocated a thorough investigation, some wanted to ignore it, and some wanted to destroy it outright. In the end, they settled on a compromise: send an advance team to investigate discreetly."
"But the investigation hasn't gone smoothly," Chu Mu said with a soft chuckle.
"No. That man said to come to the Sand Sea, but we couldn't find any trace of these people here." Tingyun swayed her tail slightly. "We couldn't even find the giant tree in the background. All we found were sinkholes and bands of savages."
She said dejectedly:
"The Sand Sea he described and the Sand Sea we