Chapter 284: There's an Immortal Behind the Ancient Immortal Gate!

Heavenly Origin Consortium Eleventh City branch, top-floor office area.

On the holographic communications screen, the manager's half-mechanical face was delivering a report.

He spoke quickly, but his wording was extremely careful, afraid to miss any detail.

"... In summary, the interior of this substance shows no known artificial compression traces, crystal interfaces, or residual array patterns. After three calibrations, its energy purity was confirmed as rank 4 or higher, and it is in a natural crystalline state. According to comparison with the historical crystal database, its characteristics closely match the 'natural spirit stone' used by immortals before the Purification of the World Agreement."

After the manager finished speaking, the opposite side of the screen fell silent for three seconds.

Lin Si set down his wine cup.

He didn't rush to speak, but instead called up the scan data the manager had just sent and examined it again.

Rank 4 natural spirit stone—these six characters, taken individually, are nothing special. But combined, their nature changes completely.

Natural spirit stone.

This thing disappeared after the Purification of the World Agreement; even the private vaults of the four great consortiums' ancestors might not have a complete piece.

Yet a scavenger from the slums clutches half a piece in his hand.

Lin Si's fingers tapped lightly on the desktop twice.

"Who is this A Qi, and where does he come from?"

"A slum orphan, no surname, no neural interface, no cybernetic modification records."

The manager's answer was watertight,

"But according to our black-market informants, this person suddenly rose half a month ago: first, Tie Tu helped him become sect leader of the Ancient Immortal Gate, then Tie Tu swept the East and North districts with overwhelming force, unifying the underground black market in just a few days."

But according to feedback from our informants in the black market, this person suddenly rose half a month ago: first, Iron Butcher helped him become the leader of the Ancient Immortal Gate; then, Iron Butcher, with overwhelming force, swept through the east and north districts, unifying the underground black market in just a few days.

"No. His rank-4 energy gathering engine has been confirmed destroyed, yet his body runs a completely unknown energy circulation system. Our probes cannot identify its underlying logic."

Lin Si stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window.

Below, the slum lay a hazy gray in the night, the neon signs' halos blurred by acid rain.

His gaze swept past the dense shanty areas and landed on the direction of the distant, pitch-black landfill.

A scavenger suddenly possessed a natural spirit stone.

A black-market boss suddenly gained an unknown power surpassing the crystal system.

These two events occurred simultaneously on a new organization called the 'Ancient Immortal Gate'.

These two things happened simultaneously within a new organization called the Ancient Immortal Gate.

He had worked forty years as a regional officer for the Heavenly Origin Consortium, climbing from the lowest mine supervisor to the actual ruler of Eleventh City, having seen too many lower-class tricks—smuggling, armed fights, black-on-black violence—over and over, just a few tactics.

He worked for forty years as a regional overseer in the Tian Yuan Financial Consortium, climbing from the lowest-level mine supervisor to the actual ruler of Eleven City, having seen too many tricks of the lower classes—smuggling, armed fights, black-on-black theft—over and over, it's nothing but those few tactics.

The appearance of natural spirit stone has only one explanation—this A Qi, or someone behind him, controls a spirit stone vein.

The appearance of natural spirit stones has only one explanation—A Qi, or the person behind him, controls a spirit stone vein.

The spirit stones in abandoned veins were drained by the spirit gathering matrix three thousand years ago; they could not retain this purity.

A vein capable of producing rank-4 natural spirit stone has only one possibility—it lies in a blind spot not covered by the spirit gathering matrix, untouched by mining for three thousand years.

A vein capable of producing fourth-tier natural spirit stones has only one possibility—it lies in a blind spot not covered by the Spirit Gathering Matrix, having never been mined in three thousand years.

An untapped natural spirit stone mine.

The value of such a thing can no longer be measured in credit points. The reason the four great consortiums' spirit gathering matrices can monopolize global spirit energy is that their core logic is—aside from us, there is no second source of spirit energy.

But if a natural spirit stone vein exists, it means—someone can bypass the consortiums and directly obtain spirit energy.

This is more serious than rebellion!

Rebellion merely swaps out a set of administrators, but the existence of a vein could undermine the very foundation of the monopoly system.

Rebellion merely changes the managers, but the existence of the vein could shake the foundations of the entire monopoly system.

Whether it's Tie Tu or that scavenger…

the person behind them is the key!

"Manager."

"Here."

"Where is the base of the Ancient Immortal Gate?"

"The abandoned air-raid shelter in the East District of the underground black market; the coordinates have been marked."

"Good." Lin Si turned, walked to the hidden compartment behind his desk, and pressed the fingerprint scanner.

The hidden compartment opened, revealing three sixth-rank spirit energy crystals arranged neatly, emitting a faint blue glow, and a fist-sized communication prism.

Sixth-rank crystals—he is the only one in Eleventh City qualified to use them.

Lin Si picked up the communication prism and connected to three other channels.

The four managers of Eleventh City each belong to one of the four great consortiums; normally they each handle their own affairs, never interfering.

But when it comes to matters of this magnitude—an unknown spirit energy source—no one dares to monopolize it or conceal it.

Three holographic images lit up in succession.

The Diamond Consortium's manager, Tie Mian, a silent giant whose body is ninety-five percent cybernetic.

The Starlight Consortium's manager, Su Wan, a woman who looks barely twenty but has actually lived three hundred years, bewitching in appearance.

The Return to the Abyss Consortium's manager, Chen Jiuyuan, a frail old man leaning on a snake staff.

"Natural spirit stone."

Lin Si got straight to the point, sharing the scan data,

"Rank 4, no artificial traces. It appeared in the hands of a new organization in the underground black market called the Ancient Immortal Gate."

"Fourth-tier, no artificial traces. It appeared in the hands of a new organization called the Ancient Immortal Gate in the underground black market."

Tie Mian was the first to break the silence; his mechanical mind had already worked it out: "A vein?"

Tie Mian took the lead in breaking, his mechanical brain had already analyzed: "Ore vein?"

Most likely.

Su Wan's hologram tilted its head, the finger coated in dark red nail polish lightly tracing over her lips:

There's also a possibility it was given by someone else.

So we need to investigate.

Lin Si's tone left no room for negotiation: "I plan to strike tonight, take the Ancient Immortal Sect in one sweep, capture alive that A Qi and Tie Tu, pry open their mouths to ask for the vein location."

"Others?" Chen Jiuyuan's hand gripping the snake staff tightened slightly, the wrinkles on his withered face bunching up, his cloudy old eyes suddenly sharpening: "You mean..."

Su Wan didn't answer directly, but projected a set of data onto the public channel.

"His internal energy circulation system doesn't belong to any known crystal lattice. It doesn't even belong to any generation of pattern logic developed by the Four Great Conglomerates over the past three thousand years."

She paused for a moment, the finger with dark red nail polish lightly tapping her lips.

"It's pure. No mechanical medium, no crystal transfer, spiritual qi directly circulates autonomously in the carbon-based meridians."

The conference channel fell into a deeper silence than before.

Iron Face's high-speed operating mechanical brain was the first to reach a conclusion, the synthetic voice low and slow uttering a few words: "Ancient era... cultivation system."

"Impossible." Lin Si instinctively refuted,

"After the Purification Agreement, all traditional cultivators were exterminated. This is the historical conclusion recorded in the Four Great Conglomerates' core database."

"History is written by the victors."

Chen Jiuyuan's snake staff tapped lightly on the floor, emitting a muffled knock,

"In the Purification War three thousand years ago, the pioneers of the Four Great Conglomerates indeed exterminated ninety-nine percent of the ancient immortals. But who dares to pat their chest and guarantee no slip-throughs? Those truly peak existences—did they really all die beneath the Dharma-nullifying psionic bomb?"

The old man's words were like an ice needle, piercing the spines of everyone present.

Lin Si's fingers gripping the communication prism turned slightly white.

He had indeed considered this possibility.

But this possibility was too terrifying, terrifying to the point that his subconscious kept refusing to accept it.

The appearance of natural spirit stones.

Tie Tu's internal pure spiritual energy circulation, detached from the crystal lattice.

An unmodified impoverished teenager suddenly possessed extraordinary power.

These three things strung together point to only one conclusion—

Behind the Ancient Immortal Sect could stand an ancient immortal who survived before the Purification Agreement!