Bang!
Lu Li's finger twitched slightly.
A faint, muffled sound came from his hand.
A few sparks burst out before Ma Liu's terrified eyes.
The next second.
A .50-caliber bullet shot out at 430 meters per second.
Fast. Unbelievably fast.
Ma Liu had never seen a hidden weapon so fast in his life-or was it a Law Artifact?
If it was a Law Artifact, why was there no spiritual fluctuation?
He didn't know.
There was no time to think about those details.
He only wanted to gather all the spiritual power in his body to shield himself.
But at 430 meters per second, or 1,548 kilometers per hour, the bullet was too fast for his meridians to react.
The spiritual light had yet to flicker.
His perfectly good head was smashed open.
Several pieces of skull burst outward and embedded themselves in the mine wall.
Red and white splattered across the floor and wall.
The stench of blood was overpowering.
Thud!
The mangled, bloody corpse fell heavily.
It landed with a muffled sound.
A headshot from a .50-caliber Desert Eagle at a distance of seven or eight meters was bound to leave a gruesome scene.
But this was the only way Lu Li could end the fight before his opponent could even form a hand seal.
"He's dead!"
"So this is a Qi Refinement cultivator? A Third Layer of Qi Refining cultivator, shot head-on-just like killing a chicken!"
Lu Li's heart pounded wildly. It was his first time killing someone with a firearm.
The enormous recoil left his arm numb.
For a moment there, he'd even had the illusion that the muzzle was going to flip all the way back.
Clearly, there was no time to dwell on it now.
His reason swiftly returned in full force.
Lu Li swept his eyes over the scene and stepped forward.
He took out the jade pendant, and with a surge of spiritual power, stored Ma Liu's corpse inside.
He didn't miss the skull fragments embedded in the mine wall, or the bloody pulp.
He cleaned it all up.
After repeatedly confirming that no traces of tissue remained, he flashed into a secluded mine shaft and plopped down on the ground.
"Phew!"
"That was close. I was almost exposed!"
"If Ma Liu had turned and run after seeing me just now..."
"The consequences would have been unthinkable!"
He took several heavy breaths.
Lu Li's fingers trembled uncontrollably.
Suppressing the pounding in his chest, he circulated spiritual power through the meridians in his hand before finally calming down.
But the lingering fear in his heart hadn't diminished in the slightest.
"If I hadn't reacted quickly, I'd really have been finished today."
"Fortunately, I handled the situation fairly cleanly."
"A menial servant died, with no witnesses or other evidence, and not even a corpse left behind. Investigating it would be as hard as ascending to heaven, wouldn't it?"
Having calmed down, Lu Li carefully analyzed the situation.
The death of a menial servant was no great matter.
Besides, strictly speaking, this was a "disappearance."
The Azure Pool Sect couldn't possibly expend a great deal of effort investigating the disappearance of one menial servant.
At most, they would search and question everyone in turn, then drop the matter when nothing came of it.
Still, what happened with Ma Liu had served as a warning to Lu Li.
"My situation isn't like a novel or a storybook."
"It's not some system panel that only I can see..."
"When using this jade pendant, I have to be careful, careful, and more careful!"
"Seven days-no! I must never contact Great Xia so frequently again."
"Every contact means taking another risk."
"If nothing important comes up, I can contact them once every few dozen days, or even every few months!"
"At least that's how it has to be for now. Once I enter the outer sect and have my own cave abode, things will be better."
Lu Li took a deep breath and made his decision.
His position was lowly, and his surroundings were chaotic.
They were completely unsuited to frequent contact with Great Xia.
For now, he would contact them as little as possible.
Turning the matter over in his mind, Lu Li carefully inspected himself from head to toe once more.
Only after confirming that no blood, hair, or anything of the sort had splashed onto him did he relax.
He also wrote a note briefly explaining the situation and sent it back to Blue Star.
Then he carefully began mining spirit ore.
Two days passed in the blink of an eye.
When Bai Sheng's voice rang out.
The menial servants filed out.
Lu Li was among them.
They each handed over their spirit ore and passed the Law Artifact's inspection.
Bai Sheng's gaze suddenly sharpened.
"Why is one person missing?"
"I remember there were eighty-seven when you went down into the mine."
"Why are there only eighty-six now?"
Bai Sheng swept his gaze over them, his voice cold.
"Each room, check your members and see who's missing."
The menial servants exchanged glances. After half an incense stick's time, they identified the missing person.
"Reporting to Senior Brother, Ma Liu hasn't come out yet."
A menial servant gave the name.
Bai Sheng's gaze turned icy.
Facing the mine entrance, he circulated his spiritual power and bellowed, "Ma Liu! If you're not out of the mine in ten breaths, you die!"
"Ma Liu! If you're not out in ten breaths..."
"Ma Liu..."
The rolling echoes rang through the mine.
They swept through like the wind, but no one answered.
Bai Sheng's expression grew even uglier.
He immediately put away his flying sword and entered the mine...
After half an incense stick's time, Bai Sheng emerged from the mine looking even more grim.
Without a word, he mounted his flying sword and departed the menial servants' quarters as a streak of light.
"He's gone."
"Looks like I managed to keep it hidden."
At the back of the crowd, watching Bai Sheng's departing figure.
Lu Li quietly breathed a sigh of relief.
Today had truly been perilous for him; one careless move and he would have been beyond redemption.
From now on, he had to be careful, careful, and more careful.
He had to keep the meaning of the Dao of Staying Low in mind at all times...
Fortunately, he had escaped danger unscathed, and it had made him even more vigilant.
Lu Li had made up his mind.
For the next six months, he would do nothing beyond secretly mining and cultivating.
Meanwhile, over on Blue Star.
The Bureau 749 underground base had never been so busy.
Countless researchers worked out formulas day and night without sleep.
All kinds of machinery and instruments were being assembled piece by piece.
Everyone worked without a word, pushing themselves and putting in overtime to get the work done.
"How's the progress today?"
In a corridor above the base, Li Yuanchao looked down at the bustling scene below and asked without turning around.
There was a trace of tension in his voice.
After receiving Lu Li's note, Group 749.
Realized that Lu Li's current situation was far more dangerous than he had described.
For that reason, the entire Group 749 had thrown its full efforts into cultivation research.
So they could help Lu Li escape danger as soon as possible.
"Director Li, we're still pushing the work forward."
A soldier dressed like a clerk reported in a low voice from behind Li Yuanchao.
Hearing the answer, Li Yuanchao's upright frame trembled slightly.
His tone grew more urgent and stern!
"Tell the research team to pick up the pace!"
"Comrade Lu Li is in a very dangerous situation right now. We need to speed up our research!"