Chapter 319: Smarter Than We Think |
In the afternoon, Su Ming went to the main logistics warehouse.
As the Spiderweb was being deployed, his demand for Star Pattern Steel scrap surged dramatically.
This material was considered "chicken ribs" in formal artifact forging—tasteless to eat yet a pity to discard—but for Su Ming, who needed to produce a massive number of sensing nodes, it was an excellent conductor.
Just as he reached the warehouse entrance, he heard the sound of an argument coming from inside.
"On what grounds? Last time when Bing-7 came to collect, it was directly allocated. Why do we have to go through layers of approval when it's our turn?"
"That was a Special Approval slip from Elder Mo! If you have the ability, go find a Golden Core elder to get you a slip too!"
The plump steward in charge of the warehouse waved impatiently, shooing them away.
Su Ming paused his steps briefly, then walked in with a perfectly normal expression.
Seeing Su Ming enter, the impatience instantly vanished from the plump steward's face, replaced by a smile that crinkled his face like folds of cloth. He quickly walked around from behind the counter. "Aiya, Instructor Su! What brings you here? Here for those 'scraps' again? I've already set them aside for you, all piled up in the backyard. Shall I take you there now?"
Su Ming cupped his hands towards the plump steward. "Thank you for your trouble, Steward Liu."
Just as the two were about to head to the backyard, a voice tinged with a hint of laziness yet carrying a chill came from the stairwell on the second floor.
"If it is a matter approved by Elder Mo and tacitly permitted by the Pass Commander, then allocate the materials according to regulations. There's no need to be overly rigid about old precedents."
Su Ming stopped and looked up.
He saw Wu Miao standing by the railing on the second floor, dressed in a robe whiter than snow. He was still toying with that smooth, warm jade slip in his hand. His gaze swept over Su Ming as if brushing past an insignificant speck of dust.
The plump steward trembled all over in fright and hurriedly bowed. "Steward... Steward Wu, I understand. This lowly one will handle it right away."
Wu Miao didn't spare Su Ming a second glance. He turned and left, the hem of his robe stirring a slight breeze, not leaving a single extra word behind.
Throughout the entire process, the two men exchanged no communication whatsoever.
But Su Ming stood there, staring thoughtfully at the spot where Wu Miao had disappeared.
"This person is rather interesting."
Lin Yu's voice sounded uncharacteristically serious.
Su Ming withdrew his gaze and turned to follow the plump steward towards the backyard.
Wu Miao's silence was more deafening than any verbal praise.
It meant that the web Su Ming had woven had already grown so large that even this Golden Core steward, who had always looked down his nose at others, had no choice but to grudgingly acknowledge its value.
...
By the time he returned to the stone house, dusk was approaching.
On the table lay a pale golden jade slip. It was the official document sent by a special messenger from Elder Mo.
Su Ming took a deep breath, walked over, and touched the cool surface of the jade slip with his fingertip.
He extended his divine sense into it.
Lines of golden script appeared in his mind—the assessment results regarding his "merit in transmitting skills and teaching."
—Teaching is effective, results are significant. Hereby award a first-class military merit, totaling twenty thousand Military Merit points, to be archived immediately.
Twenty thousand points.
Su Ming felt his heart give a violent thump. That long-absent feeling of feverish excitement crawled up his spine to the crown of his head.
He quickly took out his identity token and pressed the jade slip against it.
*Hum.*
With a fluctuation of spiritual energy, the numbers on the token began to jump frantically.
The original forty-two thousand points, plus these twenty thousand, plus the over three thousand points from the "instruction usage fees" that had been trickling in from various defense zones these past few days, and the ongoing revenue share from the "standardized formation tools"...
Finally, the number settled at—sixty-five thousand, eight hundred and thirty points.
"Hah..."
Su Ming let out a long, heavy breath. He slumped against the stone chair as if drained, but his eyes shone with an alarming intensity.
Sixty-five thousand points.
That astronomical figure that once felt distant and unattainable, something he'd have to risk his life to fill, now lay quietly in the palm of his hand.
"Earth Vein Spirit Milk, that's enough," Su Ming murmured to himself, a slight tremor in his voice.
That was the hope for repairing his Dao foundation, the stepping stone to the great path of Foundation Establishment.
With it, plus the foundation of spiritual energy he had painstakingly tempered through months of bitter cultivation in the extreme cold lands, the time for Foundation Establishment seemed almost within reach.
"Congratulations, Su, you big spender."
Lin Yu's voice sounded, carrying a hint of teasing.
"Earth Vein Spirit Milk is a rare treasure of heaven and earth. Once unsealed, the spiritual energy fluctuations are enough to stir the earth qi within a ten-mile radius."
Su Ming frowned. "Moreover, repairing the Dao foundation isn't something achieved overnight. It requires an absolutely quiet and safe environment for secluded cultivation for at least half a month. This place... is clearly not suitable."
"Not just unsuitable, it would be suicidal," Lin Yu added. "Also, your Dao foundation was damaged innately. Just having the spirit milk isn't enough; it must be paired with a specific time and favorable geographical conditions. The killing aura here at Iron Wall Pass is too heavy, and the earth veins have been drained dry. Attempting Foundation Establishment here would have at least a fifty percent failure rate."
Su Ming fell silent.
Although the goal was now within sight, this final step was more perilous than the previous ninety-nine steps combined.
"It seems I need to make plans early."
Su Ming stood up and walked to the window.
Outside, the wind and snow grew fiercer. The swirling snowflakes shrouded the entire Iron Wall Pass in a vast, indistinct whiteness.
At that moment, he suddenly felt an extremely faint tremor transmitted through the ground beneath his feet.
The tremor was so slight that not even a ripple appeared in the tea on the table, as if it were just an illusion.
But Su Ming's expression changed instantly.
He immediately looked down at the "Wood Demon core" buried in the corner of the stone room.
*Thump. Thump. Thump.*
Su Ming quickly walked to the Sensing Plate, pressed both hands on its rim, and poured his divine sense into it like quicksilver, trying to capture the source of that tremor.
However, the tremor inexplicably vanished again.
The red light on the Sensing Plate went out, returning to a deathly, silent dark green.
"Disappeared?" Su Ming's brow furrowed tightly.
"No, not disappeared," Lin Yu said gravely. "It's lying low. Disciple, I have a feeling. That thing underground might be smarter than we imagined. Your net may be spread out, but that thing... seems to be learning how to bypass it."
Su Ming stood up, feeling a chill run down his spine.
He had originally thought that with sixty thousand Military Merit, the Spiderweb, and his connections, he had finally gained a firm foothold here at Iron Wall Pass.
But this sudden, bizarre tremor was like a bucket of ice water, thoroughly dousing him awake from the joy of his harvest.
The so-called sense of security, on this crisis-ridden battlefield, was forever just a temporary illusion.
"It seems I still need to prepare another backup plan. Tomorrow, I'll see if I can buy a high-grade 'Earth-Avoiding Shuttle' or 'Earth Escape Talisman' on the black market. Even if the price is high, I must secure one."
Su Ming turned to look at the Iron Wall Pass defense map hanging on the wall. His gaze passed over the densely packed defense zones and landed on the very edge of the map, on that area marked in black as "Extremely Dangerous."
If it truly came to a desperate situation, perhaps only by placing oneself in a fatal position could one seek a sliver of life.