Reverse flow of the Yellow Springs

After learning the specific details of this operation, Li Yelai understood.

It's no wonder the Zhou family of Nancheng didn't want the authorities to know, especially for a family with spiritual energy.

It is not a good thing for the disciples of the clan to be distorted and deformed, so it should not be publicized.

In such cases, the family usually handles the cleanup internally, while publicly stating that the person died a heroic death. Their human identity and dignity are preserved, and their family is comforted.

The young man from the collateral branch of the family was seen conversing with a mysterious powerful figure. Coupled with the bizarre rate at which his spiritual energy was increasing—even faster than that of Li Yelai, the chosen one of the Blood Gods—this was indeed unusual.

More than three months, from the initial stage of the Five Senses to the twelve steps of the Five Senses?
This is too exaggerated, it's almost like a doll's psychic talent.

It should be noted that Li Yelai, as the chosen one of the Blood God, can enhance his spiritual energy by sacrificing the heads of powerful individuals.

This is also why the chosen ones' strength increases so rapidly; as long as they prepare enough sacrifices and ensure they don't turn into Chaos Eggs, they can improve quickly.

This allowed Li Yelai to pass through the Five Senses stage more quickly, but it still took him more than four months.

He experienced the Nine-Headed Serpent in the Dead Sea, the Chosen Burning Howl in the Second Border City, participated in the Heavenly Palace Battlefield, and sacrificed the heads of powerful figures.

Finally, he advanced to the sixth awakening at Wanlong Lake, even after consuming the Holy Wood Mandome to enhance his spiritual energy.

His speed is already terrifying; this guy is even faster than Li Yelai. Defeating an opponent and advancing a step—that's just too awesome!

It would be outrageous if the Zhou family didn't investigate him.

Judging from the Zhou family's statement...

At the time, there was no direct evidence to suggest that he had distorted the truth.

If one believes it is controllable and is willing to fight for humanity, neither the family nor the giant city will care about his secret.

He will still be a key figure in the family's development program, and may even be recommended to the government.

This kind of talent is the envy of every team captain. Captains including Li Yelai and Yang Chen would probably all be vying for this teammate.

If he has the right mindset, he might just be the next champion!
However, the young man named Zhou Ding realized the Zhou family's intentions and took the initiative to defeat several powerful members of the family, also taking away the forbidden item.
This point is actually more abstract and more embarrassing!
A forbidden item, left in a garbage dump, ignored by everyone?
Instead, Zhou Ding discovered them first and took them away. Of course, it's possible that they were discovered beforehand, which might also be one of Zhou Ding's secrets.
In short, this is incredibly embarrassing. A supposedly powerful psychic family failed to discover the forbidden item.

No wonder the Zhou family didn't want to inform the authorities. They didn't want to become a laughingstock among other families.

"How did you manage to overlook a forbidden item?" a psychic asked with a smile.

Seemingly noticing the strange looks from the crowd, the masked powerhouse sighed, "Don't look at me like that, friends. Some of those electronic scraps come from the Asgard Battlefield, from the glorious behemoth sunk by the Ninth Champion. Others come from the 58th Calamity Mist, spare parts from a giant robot called the 'Silent Titan'."

"The government also has these parts. We're studying them, but we haven't figured anything out yet, so we're just leaving them piled up for now."

"Who knew that would be a taboo item?"

The masked expert was extremely disappointed. This forbidden artifact, capable of instantly paralyzing the Zhou family's defense system, was incredibly powerful. It was a pity he hadn't paid attention to it when he had it.
"So, you're not alerting the authorities because you want to secretly contain that forbidden object, or perhaps you believe that Zhou Ding can still be saved?" a female psychic said.

“That’s right. We naturally can’t keep this forbidden item. I know some of you may be from the government, and the government will not allow us to possess this dangerous item. But this can become a merit for our family members.”

"As for Zhou Ding, if such talent makes him an enemy, we should naturally eliminate him. But if he is still willing to fight for humanity," the masked expert paused, "then the next champion might be surnamed Zhou!"

The detective forced a smile and turned to say, "You've got quite the ambition. But Zhou Ding has already caused you harm, hasn't he?"

"It's just a matter of making choices; none of this is irreversible."

"I understand what you mean. You want to communicate with Zhou Ding, or you're unwilling to give up on such a genius." The intermediary sighed, "But Zhou Ding is already at the peak of the fifth sense level. With his talent, if he were to reach the sixth sense level..."

“Don’t worry, he hasn’t advanced to the sixth level of enlightenment yet. It seems he needs to fulfill certain conditions, such as defeating a powerful figure, in order to strengthen his spiritual energy. He was injured while we were chasing him and is unable to fulfill the conditions,” the masked expert said.

"So how did you find him?"

"It was somewhat of an accident. While my people were hunting down illegal psychics, they stumbled upon an abandoned area in the underground network tunnels that seemed to be inhabited. Through divination and other means, they confirmed that it was Zhou Ding. He was hiding in the underground network tunnels."

Soon, the group arrived at a garbage disposal station on the outskirts of the southern city.

Here, an old man stands.

He was clad in armor, his sharp gaze sweeping over the crowd, exuding an imposing aura without anger.

"Master Zhou Yuan," the detective and the other two intermediaries whispered a reminder.

The only sixth-awareness expert in the Zhou family, and also the previous patriarch.

He should have been enjoying his retirement within his family, awaiting the call of the great city, and spending his old years on the battlefield.

However, the family was facing a talent shortage, and when a genius finally emerged, problems arose. Therefore, they had no choice but to have him personally oversee the situation.

Although the psionic family may have some ulterior motives, they are ultimately willing to fight for humanity.

The crowd silently clasped their hands in a gesture of respect to the old man.

"Please excuse my rudeness, everyone. If he really advances to the sixth level of enlightenment, I will personally take action." Zhou Yuan also clasped his hands in a fist salute. Although his body was old, his aura was extremely strong.

His talent limited him to the sixth level of perception. But years of hard work and research allowed him to reach the pinnacle of his combat prowess.

Zhou Yuan's gaze fell on the masked expert: "No need to hide. Since we've invited them, let them show their true faces."

The masked person hesitated for a moment before removing the mask.

He was a young man around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

"Gentlemen, I am Zhou Hao. Thank you for coming to our aid."

Then, Zhou Yuan's gaze swept over everyone: "In order not to provoke Zhou Ding, I will follow you at a distance. Considering that Zhou Ding has already reached the fifth level of enlightenment, those of you below the fifth level of enlightenment should stay outside."

Everyone nodded, and the detective and the other two middlemen were allowed to stay.

The middleman warned his companion, "If things don't look good, evacuate immediately, otherwise your family will probably tear me apart."

"Understood." The female psychic nodded.

Another middleman also warned his companion, "Better safe than sorry."

His companion nodded.

As for the detective, after much deliberation, he was too embarrassed to tell a champion to be careful when facing the Five Senses.

He could only say, "Take it easy, bro."

“No problem.” Li Yelai nodded.

The four then entered the waste treatment plant and the dried-up drainage outlet.

After some time, Zhou Yuan also joined in.

Unbeknownst to anyone, a disused surveillance camera was silently operating at the drain where they were standing.

In order to avoid the inspiration of psionicists, the surveillance footage was delayed by more than ten seconds.

Meanwhile, in the underground network of tunnels, a shelter that had not yet been activated was in complete disarray.

Various mechanical parts, and even everyday garbage, were piled up into small mountains inside the shelter.

Among them, you can even see some Iron Guard armor that has not yet been fully assembled.

These were all obtained by Zhou Ding by hacking into the military warehouse using forbidden items, or by stealing them from certain caravans.

Zhou Ding was awakened by the alarm.

He climbed up from a car sofa, opened his eyes, and looked to the side at the floating mechanical Rubik's Cube.

"What's wrong?" Zhou Ding grabbed a piece of meat, threw it into his mouth, and asked casually.

At that moment, a disassembled car stereo emitted a mechanical female voice: "There are intruders, five of them." "Five? That shouldn't be the authorities. It's more like my family has discovered me?" The young man frowned: "Switch the camera to this."

Soon, several computer screens a few steps away lit up, displaying several different images.

These images come from abandoned surveillance cameras inside pipes.

Or it could be a dashcam mounted on a work vehicle parked in the network lane.

Even some of the phone cameras that fell in.

Now, under the power of the forbidden object, the core of the machine god, the images they captured are presented to Zhou Ding.

Zhou Ding frowned as he looked at the screen, and his expression changed when he saw the last old man.

"Old Patriarch, I never expected that even someone as important as you would go to such lengths for me." Zhou Ding seemed somewhat moved. "It's truly an honor."

“But unfortunately, old patriarch, I am no longer the person I once was,” Zhou Ding said quietly.

He had felt utterly desperate; his talent was clearly so immense. He had advanced to the fourth awakening at such a young age and received countless praises and high expectations from his family.

In response to this expectation, he worked hard to advance his abilities. However, he was stuck at the fourth level of perception and unable to reach the fifth level.

He still can't get over the disappointed and regretful looks from his people.

However, his repeated efforts only led to despair.
Until that force appeared.

He was on the verge of twisting during his third ascension to the Fifth Awakening, but a force smoothed out the dangerous twist—a powerful being from the Void Realm.

She was a beautiful girl wearing a purple feather cloak.

As the purple wings unfurled, the volatile power of the illusory realm was suppressed, and he successfully advanced to the fifth level of perception.

He instinctively resisted the power of that being, after all, it came from the Void Realm, but the other party's gifts were extremely generous.

After that, his eyes were able to see things that others could not perceive.

Or rather, the data!

For example, one's perceived level of danger from another person, one's chances of winning against that person, or even one's level of liking for them.
The emergence of this data changed his life.

This is a more acute and intuitive hint than inspiration.

Therefore, he escaped danger many times and even won the favor of girls.

If that were all, he wouldn't be able to relax.

But this power, that being, guided him to the abandoned forbidden object, the core of the Machine God!
It is a powerful forbidden object that can revive almost any machine or soul and turn it into one's own.

This allowed Zhou Ding to glimpse the family's secrets and even enter the family's treasure vault unnoticed.

This put him in a dilemma, making him hesitate about whether to tell his family about this power.

But soon, that being whispered in his ear and showed him even greater gifts. This made him abandon the idea completely.

That being projects the rewards for defeating different powerful individuals into his field of vision.

You can obtain real rewards by killing or defeating those strong individuals.

It could be some kind of blessing, or simply a significant boost in strength.

The rewards for killing are better.

So, after sparring with the strongest members of his family, he joined the hunt for illegal psychics. He even ventured into forbidden zones.

And through the data he could see and the forbidden items, he achieved victory time and time again!
This kill reward doesn't mind if he uses external forces.

Even when facing an enemy with a very low chance of victory, he can increase his chances of winning through various schemes and the aid of forbidden items.

Even if he is still no match for the enemy, he can escape from a predicament by assessing the level of danger.

These data provide the most direct evidence of the strategies he devised.

This allowed him to improve at an extremely fast pace. He had barely reached the fifth level of awareness, but he was rapidly approaching the sixth level.

A sixth-level psychic. Whether in a giant city or in the wilderness, he is a powerful figure of great importance!
By then, even if he reveals this power, his family will approve and assist him, right?
However, his good fortune didn't last long, as he suddenly noticed a sharp drop in public opinion towards him.

He also glimpsed the family's preparations for his actions through the core of the machine god.

This made him extremely angry and sad. So, he chose to strike first and severely injured several powerful members of the family, and then fled here with the forbidden item.

Even after escaping here, his family still did not give up the pursuit.

"As expected, they discovered this power within me. Those people are hired psionicists, aren't they? I knew it. You intended to seize this power for yourselves. That's why you didn't inform the authorities," Zhou Ding gritted his teeth. "Even the old patriarch came; they really think highly of me!"

A flicker of struggle crossed his eyes, but it ultimately turned into indifference.

"Fine, since you're here, don't blame me for being ruthless."

His eyes gleamed with a ghostly light as a flood of data poured into them through the screen.

He stayed in the giant city only to earn those rewards.

Compared to the wilderness, the giant city has a greater number of psionicists, and the effects of the Mech Core are also stronger.

If he finds an opportunity to defeat or even kill him, it won't be long before he can advance to the sixth level of awakening!

With the help of the Machine God Core, he would be very difficult to detect or discover.

Now, isn't the goal here?

The old patriarch Zhou Yuan is a sixth-level expert, and even with external force, he would be difficult to defeat.

But the others are worth trying.

"Lord Ziyu, could you tell me about their rewards?"

The next second, a gentle voice echoed in his mind.

'Your distant cousin, Zhou Hao. Medium risk level, 72% chance of winning.'

'That female psychic, medium danger level, 70% probability.'

The curly-haired man walking at the front is of medium danger level, 79%.

Their reward for defeating them is a psionic enhancement. The reward for killing them is an additional blessing.

“Not bad, a rare blessing and reward.” Zhou Ding paused and asked, “Where is Old Master Zhou Yuan?”

'High danger level, 22% chance of winning, reward for defeating the enemy is a blessing and psionic enhancement, enough to allow you to reach the thirteenth floor. You will also receive a great blessing.'

"A blessing." Zhou Ding's eyes flashed. Zi Yu had once said that if he could use a scheme to kill a high-level spiritualist, he would be able to achieve his goal.

The rewards would allow him to rise to a high position, even have the opportunity to be ranked alongside her. This greatly tempted him.
And the last one.

His Excellency Ziyu paused, a rare occurrence, seemingly quite surprised.

Then, laughter rang out again: 'If you can kill him, or at least defeat him, you will become the most dazzling powerhouse.'

"Could he be a genius from some powerful family? Could he be a member of the Ma family's Red Robe clan?" Zhou Ding was extremely surprised: "If I defeat him, can he be on par with you?"

Ziyu couldn't answer, but saw that the odds of winning were only 0.01%.

If I can kill him, I estimate my status will surpass hers!
Forget being on par with her, she's good enough to be her father! (End of Chapter)