"Top-Tier False Spirit Root"

"What about his mother?" Little Xu asked, puzzled.

How did this turn up an unexpected lead? But wasn't this heading in the wrong direction?

"His mother's records are classified."

"?"

Little Xu paused. Since the records were classified, there was no need to dwell on which department had classified them.

Either way, it wasn't something their Demon-Suppressing Bureau could look into.

"But I followed that lead and found something really strange." At this point, the demon-suppressing guard wore an odd expression.

"What?"

"Her mother's pension isn't issued by the human resources and social security department."

"Not the social security department... then which department?"

"The Wild Yao Protection Center at Pine Peak Blessed Land."

"??"

Little Xu was completely disheveled in the wind.

Meanwhile, as the demon-suppressing guard surnamed Xu went further and further astray in his investigation,

Hu Mang also decided to come clean to his mother.

He had no choice. Though he could keep it from her a little longer to spare her the worry, what if a hospital examination turned something up and he needed major surgery? Wouldn't his mother still have to sign the papers?

Besides, in the melodramatic period dramas his mother loved, hiding crucial information like this usually led to some stunt that made your intelligence clench.

So, after Hu Mang went home and got the blood pressure medication he had picked up from the pharmacy ready, he told his mother with a sincere expression that his foundation might be damaged for life, beyond recovery, and that he could only become a Qi Training good-for-nothing.

"What!!??"

Mama Hu's eyes suddenly rolled back. She didn't faint, but in an instant, the human color drained from her irises, leaving them the murky, dull yellow unique to yao.

At the same time, crimson fur burst out all over her body, every hair standing on end. Her flesh and muscles abruptly changed, twisting and transforming at a speed visible to the naked eye into the humanoid yao body of a red-skinned fox yao. Yao Qi churned around her, and her vicious features were laid bare.

In just a few breaths, a hunched, savage red yao somewhere between human and fox had taken Mama Hu's place.

"Mom, summer's already here. Why are you still wearing fur? Change back. I'm getting hot just looking at you."

Hu Mang grumbled.

But Mama Hu wouldn't listen to a word. Before Hu Mang's eyes could focus, the old fox had pounced on him. Pain shot through his wrist as red hairs pierced his skin like needles.

The next moment, Hu Mang's eyes rolled back too, revealing murky yellow pupils that were almost identical to hers, just a little lighter in color.

Likewise, though red fur didn't burst out all over his body, red lines spread from his wrist up his arm. They covered his exposed neck and ankles too, looking like streaks of blood.

Yao Qi from the same source began to rage.

Mama Hu's voice changed too, growing hoarse and vicious.

"How did you hide it? Even I didn't notice."

"When I went overseas, there was an accident. I practiced a bit of a Devil Cultivation Method that could circulate Qi and Blood and used it to cover things up."

"What Devil Cultivation Method?"

"Blood-Piercing Essence-Reversal Art, an overseas demonic path inheritance. I accidentally practiced it to the second level," Hu Mang answered honestly.

"Bang!!"

Mama Hu's crimson tail swept fiercely from the television to the glass table, shattering them all. Shards of glass flew across the floor, leaving the living room a mess.

Hu Mang knew perfectly well that his mother was not angry because he had secretly learned a Devil Cultivation Method.

What angered her was the severe damage to his foundation.

What angered her even more was that his foundation had been severely damaged because of that "immortal's hidden legacy"-she was the one who had sent him there!

So Hu Mang wasn't worried in the least that his mother would take her anger out on him.

He was more worried that she would make herself collapse from anger.

This was a textbook case of a mother screwing her son over.

If not for this, honestly, at Foundation Establishment Perfection, he probably would have needed another dozen years or so of preparation before attempting a breakthrough to Golden Core.

And now look at him. He was starting over from zero.

Hu Mang did want to offer her a few words of comfort, but when he thought of his status as the "victim," he figured that if he said anything more, his mother's state of mind would explode.

Mama Hu's eyes were already blood-red.

"Mom, calm down first. With my condition, it's not like there's absolutely no chance of a full recovery. Medicine is so advanced these days. They can heal a shattered Golden Core and mend a damaged Nascent Soul. Anyway, anything's possible."

"Take some time to process it on your own. Someone's invited me out for tea, so I'll tell you more when I get back tonight."

"When I get back, we can look into treatment together."

Seeing that she looked ready to kill, Hu Mang worried that if he said the wrong thing, his mother might erupt and start killing—not him, but the neighbors around them, slaughtering them all in a burst of yao savagery.

That would do terrible things to their neighborly relations.

So he carefully stroked the "old fox's" back, then just as carefully slipped out of the house, not even daring to make a sound as he closed the door.

Only after he went downstairs did Hu Mang wipe away his sweat.

Good grief, that was terrifying. I'm the victim here, okay?

Time to scram.

Qingfeng Teahouse

It was a teahouse with a very rustic, old-fashioned interior.

When Hu Mang arrived, he found that the bespectacled young man had already been waiting a long time.

"Hello, hello. I've already booked a private room," Wang Zeyu said, a little ill at ease.

"...All right."

After the two sat down, Hu Mang surveyed their surroundings before turning his gaze to the "programming ape" across from him. He studied him for a moment, then looked at his face, which was clearly several years younger than his own, and said in surprise,

"Looks like the rumors are true. People who program the Spirit Network really are impressive: an electronic Golden Core in three years, an information Nascent Soul in five. You only graduated recently, right? And you're already about to break through?"

"Friend, is this legendary third Spiritual Qi revolution really that awesome?"

As someone who had once reached Foundation Establishment Perfection, Hu Mang naturally recognized the field of Spiritual Qi around him, harmonious and self-consistent. His accumulation seemed even deeper than Hu Mang's own had been.

How old was he? Just over twenty?

"If I'd known, I would've switched majors back in school. But could someone like me with dual earth and wood Spirit Roots have gotten into your Talisman Programming Department?"

Hu Mang asked curiously.

Once the subject turned to his own field, Wang Zeyu stopped being nervous and grew talkative.

"Our major doesn't require any particular Spirit Root attribute. No matter what kind of Acquired Spirit Root you have, it has to be refined in the Spirit Network to evolve into a Digital Spirit Root. People outside also call ours Virtual Spirit Roots, or False Spirit Roots."

"Are False Spirit Roots that impressive now?" Hu Mang looked shocked. "Spirit Roots can even be refined?! Then does that make yours an Innate Spirit Root?"

Wang Zeyu quickly waved his hands.

"No, no, no. The 'innate' and 'acquired' you're talking about are old terminology. These days we call them Physical Body Spirit Roots and Divine Sense Spirit Roots. Yours is a Physical Body Spirit Root, while mine is a Divine Sense Spirit Root."

"Then are there any requirements for following your cultivation path?"

Wang Zeyu thought for a moment.

"You need strong basic Divine Sense, the ability to break down talisman code, proficiency in mathematics and science, a stable soul... I don't think there's much else."

"You people are amazing. You only graduated recently, and you've already reached Foundation Establishment Perfection."

Wang Zeyu was very modest.

"I was just lucky. A major sect took me in as soon as I graduated. There are actually some smaller outsourcing sects where the benefits and cultivation advancement are only so-so."

"Which academy did you go to?"

"Southern Capital Academy."

"I went to Southern Capital Academy too. I majored in Spiritual Construction Engineering!"

This time it was Wang Zeyu's turn to be surprised.

"Bro, what class were you in?"

"Class of '21."

"I'm class of '25. You're my senior brother!"

"You flatter me. Going by cultivation, I should be calling you senior brother."

Wang Zeyu hurriedly waved his hands and said sheepishly, "You're too kind, senior brother. This is modern society. How can we rank seniority by cultivation?"

Hu Mang smiled and quickly changed the subject.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony, junior brother. There's something I've always been curious about. What exactly is this 'Spirit Network programming' of yours? Can an information network really connect with spiritual power?"

Wang Zeyu pondered for a moment, then casually drew a talisman on the tabletop with his finger. He infused it with spiritual power, and the talisman shone, drawing in the surrounding Spiritual Qi visibly.

"This is the most basic Spirit-Guiding Talisman. It consists of three parts: the talisman head, core, and foot. The head is 'divine authorization,' the core is 'injected instructions,' and the foot represents 'execution, range, duration, and closure.' When the three are combined, they can draw in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi for all manner of Law Techniques. Programming works on the same principle..."

"The Dao Code we write today is actually a breakdown of Ancient Dao Art Script, and it likewise contains all kinds of 'changes in Heaven and Earth Spiritual Qi.'"

"Ancient talismans were like using assembly Dao Code to access 'Spiritual Qi registers' directly: programmed once, released once. Modern talisman methods, meanwhile, can introduce higher-level, safer 'frameworks' and 'libraries'..."

"Senior brother, put simply, what we do is have hundreds or thousands of people create one top-tier grand talisman together. As long as you're connected to the Spirit Network, this 'talisman' can be used an unlimited number of times, and its range covers the entire Spirit Network. Of course, if too many people access it at once, the 'talisman hardware' will crash, so it also needs to be redrawn."

"My sect assignment is to handle communication between the Spirit Network and this 'super talisman,' making sure the 'talisman' can be activated smoothly. In ancient times, this was called 'consecrating a talisman,' also known as 'awakening its power.'"

Hu Mang only half understood, but he basically grasped why the third Spiritual Qi revolution was called the Spirit Network revolution.

And why cultivators who followed this path produced so many Golden Cores and Nascent Souls.

Just like the "great blessed land infrastructure era" thirty years ago, this was a world-changing transformation!

The only difference was that one was on the "physical body level," while the other was on the "mental level."

One look at Hu Mang's expression told Wang Zeyu that he was still somewhat baffled. After thinking for a moment, he took out a pure white phone and pushed it over.

"Senior brother, you can try this."

"What is it?"

"It's the newly released Spirit Pivot No. 1."

Hu Mang froze.

"A new phone brand?"

Wang Zeyu thought for a moment, then explained,

"You can think of it as a phone that lets you access the internet with your spiritual thoughts."