Under One Person, Engage in Black Technology

Chapter 200 Learning Has No End
The small device that Liu Ke took out was not something else, but a [Neural Inhibitor] that he had drawn from the [Myriad Realms] system before coming to Biyou Village.

That is, that engineering 'trinket' from World of Warcraft, a technological gadget whose inventor claims can 'defend' against the mental attacks of the Old Gods.

Of course, what Liu Ke just handed to Lao Ma was not the original item, but a version he had modified by drawing inferences from similar cases, which can be considered an enhanced version in terms of quality and efficiency.

The reason he chose to do this is actually very simple.

Liu, who paid special attention to Ma Xianhong, had felt early on that something was wrong with Ma Xianhong's illness, especially...

The timing of the other person's illness always gives the impression that it was triggered by exposure to specific 'language' content.

In other words, Liu Ke believes that Lao Ma's illness is essentially due to him being subjected to some kind of "spiritual magic" or "curse".

Based on this suspicion, Liu Ke took out the item specifically designed to defend against mental interference. Although this thing was useless against curse-type spells, if what made Ma Xianhong 'fall ill' was indeed a mental spell, then it might be able to help Old Ma block it.

but……

After Ma Xianhong received the device, Liu Ke observed it closely. He found that Ma Xianhong did not show any special reaction, and the [Neural Inhibitor] device itself remained calm, showing no signs of being triggered.

Liu Ke pondered for a moment, then said, "Old Ma, this thing... is a self-defense device that I researched. Consider it a gift to you. You should carry it with you at all times."

"However, it's... rather special, and the defenses it provides are quite 'targeted,' so hopefully you... won't need to use it."

Ma Xianhong finally managed to recover, though he was drenched in cold sweat, he could still move with difficulty. He took the thing Liu Ke threw to him without hesitation, glanced at it briefly, sighed, and put it into his pocket.

Not long after, Bi Yuan, the "barefoot doctor" of Biyou Village, rushed over. He first glanced at Ma Xianhong's face, and then examined his tongue and took his pulse.

While Master Bi was taking Village Chief Ma's pulse, Liu Ke watched the whole time. As a Chinese, he had a special affection for traditional Chinese medicine, especially for these extraordinary old doctors, whom he held in high regard and with great curiosity and trust.

He had heard before that when Zhang Chulan and Feng Baobao caused a ruckus at the World Society, Xiong Ba's (Feng Zhenghao) son, Feng Xingtong, had summoned a renowned traditional Chinese medicine doctor, Ling Lai, to treat Feng Baobao. This also shows, from another perspective, that 'traditional Chinese medicine' is indeed useful in the world of supernatural beings.

After two or three minutes of consultation, a stiff and awkward expression visibly appeared on Old Master Bi's face. But after a moment's thought, he raised his hand and flicked his fingers, sending three flying needles to pierce three points on Village Chief Ma's chest, the top of his head, and the lower back of his neck.

After Bi Yuan applied his Qi to the needles, and the golden needles vibrated rapidly for a while, Village Chief Ma began to gag. After gagging for quite some time, Ma Xianhong's skin began to regain its color.

Seeing that the Tribulation-Crossing Ghost Needles had taken effect, Bi Yuan leaned over and put the three needles into his cloth bag. As he did so, he said, "Master, you..."

But halfway through his sentence, Mr. Bi hesitated, glancing at Liu Ke beside him before stopping.

But after a few breaths, he still spoke up to advise, "Master, you'd better... go back and rest for a while."

After saying this, Master Bi waved his hand, summoning several strong young men who had followed him, and ordered them to place the stretcher on the ground. Judging from this, it seemed that as long as Old Ma nodded in agreement, these young men would lift him onto the stretcher.

Ma Xianhong glanced at the stretcher first, then waved his hand to stop the 'stretcher trauma rescue' team from their formation. He then asked, "Mr. Bi, I understand what you mean. I think... I do have a problem, but it shouldn't be anything too urgent, right?"

After hearing this, Bi Yuan took a deep breath and then frowned as he replied, "Indeed, there is no need to rush, but we should not underestimate it either."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong nodded and said, "Understood. You can take these young men back first. I still have some things to discuss with Brother Liu."

Upon hearing this, Bi Yuan knew that his village chief still had important matters to discuss. He merely raised an eyebrow and said nothing more. After exchanging a few words with everyone, he led them away.

Seeing Bi Yuan leave, Liu Ke, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up, saying, "Actually, there's no need to rush to answer... Your situation is indeed a bit special. Think about it, and we can talk about it again in a few days. As the saying goes, good things come to those who wait."

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong first nodded, then took a deep breath and said, "That's true. I also think you probably wouldn't mind if I gave you an answer in a few days."

"So, normally speaking, I should get out of this conversation as soon as possible and go back to rest."

Upon hearing this, Liu Ke felt something was amiss, so he blinked and asked, "Then... why are you still here now?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Xianhong's eyes twitched uncontrollably, and veins bulged. He laughed with a hint of difficulty, saying, "Hehehe... what I just said was indeed a more reasonable choice—after all, I feel like even thinking hurts right now."

"And that was exactly what 'I' originally planned... to go back and rest as soon as possible. This choice seemed normal at first glance."

"The strange thing is... I don't like procrastination, and I... shouldn't have such a seemingly reasonable thought of delaying."

As he spoke, Ma Xianhong's body energy began to circulate slowly, as if he were about to complete a full cycle of Qi circulation.

As he circulated his Qi, Ma Xianhong gritted his teeth and continued, "Whether it's you or Master Bi, you didn't dare to tell the truth just now to save face for me, right?"

"But if you, as bystanders, can all perceive that there is something wrong with my 'symptoms,' how could I not notice it myself?"

"Mental illness, neurosis? Ha? My previous behavior was similar to those two things, but I've been building this Biyou Village for almost two years now, and I've never experienced anything like this before."

"I feel more like I'm under a spell than sick."

"Especially... when I realized I wanted to try 'talking' with you again, the fragmented thoughts of 'stopping' and 'resting' kept popping into my head! It was all too obvious!"

When Lao Ma said those words, he broke out in a cold sweat. His stubbornness made it seem as if he was determined to find out the truth behind the strange situation that was plaguing him.

Fortunately, although his description and manner of speaking were too stream-of-consciousness, Liu Ke still managed to understand what he meant—Ma Xianhong himself felt that his 'illness' just now was not right, and he was screening it by circulating qi.

Unlike conventional Qi circulation methods, the [Divine Refinement] technique allows one to refine the internal organs and the entire body as if they were objects, thus providing better self-control. After observing Old Ma's Qi circulation route, Liu Ke nodded to him. If the source of the previous 'situation' was indeed Old Ma, then his method of investigation should theoretically be able to uncover the truth.

Since Old Ma was determined to investigate him thoroughly, Liu Ke naturally had nothing to say. He then used his prosthetic eye to scan the other party and carefully observed him, which could be considered as protecting him.

However, after five or six minutes, even Liu Ke, an outsider, could see that Lao Ma's "self-examination and self-correction" had largely failed.

At least, judging from the current situation where Ma Xianhong's Qi circulation is gradually stopping and his face is beginning to flash with a ferocious expression, this is indeed the case.

Therefore, after thinking for a moment, Liu Ke spoke up directly, giving a warning: "Old Ma, you're not in good shape today. If you don't understand something, just put it aside for now. If there's a hint, you can study it later. There's no need to force yourself to work on it today."

After hearing Liu Ke's words, Ma Xianhong tried again for a while, and then gradually stopped circulating his qi, letting the sweat drip from his head.

A moment of silence fell over the room...

------

Although Liu Ke and Ma Xianhong had communicated quite a bit before, and had many heart-to-heart talks, this was the first time they had been able to have such a long and heartfelt conversation.

Tonight, they first talked about Chen Duo, then chatted about Zhao Guizhen, and then turned the conversation to Lao Ma's 'career'—transforming superhumans.

Finally, Liu followed up on the conversation and brought up the topic of recruitment, getting straight to the point.

Unfortunately, this recruitment event by Boss Zhipin was ultimately ruined by Lao Ma's sudden and unusual changes.

The current situation isn't complicated. Ma Xianhong wanted to use the method of internal energy observation to examine himself to see if there was something wrong with him that caused him to have what could be described as 'fragmented' thinking, but the result...

This was bad news, so Old Ma stopped.

"Something's not right...something's very wrong. I have a feeling that if I look any further up, something really bad is going to happen."

After taking another breath, Ma Xianhong covered his head and muttered to himself.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ke frowned and asked, "Where...where did your Qi journey take you? What do you mean by 'up'?"

After catching his breath a few more times, Ma Xianhong replied, "It's about looking at both the internal and external aspects. Starting from your feet and following the Ren and Du meridians, the lower elixir is unimpeded, and the middle elixir is the same..."

"Only the upper elixir... or rather, the brain."

"It's like there's an extra piece of Qi there."

Liu Ke was no longer the same naive man he once was; he had studied some basic theories about supernatural beings. So he asked, "...Stopping in time was indeed the right thing to do. Otherwise, if you had tried to force your way in, you would have suffered a mental breakdown."

Now that Liu Ke knew that Ma Xianhong's attempt was 'dangerous,' he dared not let Ma Xianhong continue his reckless actions. He was afraid that the assistant candidate he had painstakingly recruited would become a fool.

Seeing that Lao Ma did not refute, Liu Ke breathed a sigh of relief and advised, "The three elixirs are miraculous and difficult to circumvent, and you have already found the problem. If it doesn't work the first time, try a few more times, and you will definitely gain something. So, as I said before, there is no need to be too anxious."

At this point, fearing that Ma Xianhong would get stuck on the issue, Liu Ke abruptly changed the subject, saying, "It's not too late, let's change the topic one last time. I still really need the answer to this question."

After hearing this, Ma Xianhong, though still confined by the nameless Qi in his mind, still said directly, "Speak freely. If I know, I will tell you."

Seeing that the other party nodded, Liu Ke said, "Don't worry, I'm not stupid. I won't ask you things that are inconvenient to say or things that you can't possibly know at all."

"Actually, it's nothing. I just wanted to ask you about the [Divine Machine Hundred Refinements] again. Some things are definitely not as fast as 'going to the West' by working behind closed doors."

……

Indeed, what Liu Ke wanted to ask was naturally related to [Divine Craftsmanship].

It's worth mentioning that the questions he wanted to ask weren't just hastily put together to distract Lao Ma, but rather the key issues he encountered during his more than ten days of practicing the [Divine Refinement] technique.

Although Liu Ke himself views the [Divine Machine Hundred Refinements] more as a temporary enhancement, a means of combat, and a body-refining technique, it is certainly beneficial to learn more about the knowledge accumulated by predecessors.

For example, in terms of the speed of [refining], Liu Ke is currently definitely not as fast as Ma Xianhong. This is partly due to the compatibility of skills, but also due to the influence of experience and thinking.

After exchanging ideas with Lao Ma for about half an hour, his refining speed immediately increased significantly.

In addition, there is also a targeted enhancement for items.

Previously, Liu Ke could only simply enhance the materials used to manufacture items, a process commonly known as 'material stacking'. However, he lacked the ability to enhance or specialize the way items were used.

For example, his refining of the greyhound allows it to break through the limitations of the materials it uses and change their form, thus making its operation more smooth and efficient.

However, he couldn't, like Ma Xianhong, directly forge Feng Baobao's kitchen knife into a low-end version of the 'Immortal-Slaying Flying Knife'. Similarly, Liu's attempt to enhance the Greyhound could only result in a 'Greyhound +1' at most, not a Celestial Hound.

However, after asking around, Liu Ke also figured out a bit of the trick. Compared to simply enhancing and amplifying the original values, he could now add 'attributes' to ordinary things using the corresponding techniques of [Divine Refinement].

For example... now if he wants to project a flying sword, a toy used for cosplay, he no longer needs to build a miniature thruster and anti-gravity device into it; instead, he can directly create a real 'flying' sword.

(End of this chapter)