What the hell is the "kill line" when you're in America?

Chapter 233 Deep Stripping

A lapis lazuli pillar of light shot up from the center of the fragment, piercing through the cavern, and the energy converged along the six main veins. The mountain trembled rhythmically, once every three seconds.

Li Ang squatted at the edge of the magic circle, the glow on the back of his hand flickering with the pulse.

He did not step into the magic circle.

The pulsation frequency of the fire seed in his dantian rose to thirty-five times per minute, and the bluish-gold hue at the edge of the black flame intensified. The two energies collided within his body.

He closed his eyes.

The cultivation path of "Immortal Techniques Without Presence" unfolded clearly in his mind. "Using the body as a furnace to refine the false into the true"—these eight words now held a completely new meaning. The energy of the fragments was not spiritual energy, yet it shared the same origin as the fire seed in his dantian. The magic array was responding to him, the fragments were summoning him—this was no coincidence.

He opened his eyes and stood up.

At the center of the magic circle, the portion of the fragment exposed above the rock layer had grown larger, and the patterns on the black stone surface writhed in the light. The six probes emitted a continuous low-frequency hum, the pitch of which was gradually rising.

Twenty minutes. Price said that the fragment would be fully activated in twenty minutes, at which point the kill threshold within a three-mile radius would be reset to zero.

His men are four miles away and safe. But once the magic circle at the foot of the mountain is activated, will the energy field exist permanently?

Was it a slow dissipation? Price didn't say, and the league's documents didn't mention it either.

Li Ang took out his notebook from his tactical pouch and flipped to the page with the photo of the stone containing the Doctor's hard drive. The stone's texture in the photo was almost identical to the array pattern beneath his feet. However, the texture in the photo was static, while the one before him was dynamic.

He shoved the notebook back in; his mind was made up.

He stepped into the magic circle.

A lapis lazuli light instantly engulfed his calves, its energy density far exceeding the initial burst. The fire seed in his dantian exploded, black flames colliding with the lapis lazuli energy within his meridians. A sharp pain shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head; he gritted his teeth.

But this time, he did not back down.

He poured all his spiritual energy into his dantian, focusing all his efforts on guiding the fire seed, driving the black flames to envelop and devour the surging lapis lazuli energy.

The speed at which "Immortal Techniques Without Presence" operated suddenly increased.

The reserves deep within the dantian began to climb: 10.92, 10.97, 11.03.

The lapis lazuli energy was being devoured at an increasingly rapid pace, and a vortex of light formed beneath his feet on the surface of the magic array. The energy was no longer flowing solely towards the central fragment; a portion was being retained by his dantian.

He took the second step.

A wave of heat hit me. My dantian reserves jumped to 11.45.

third step.

11.89.

The fragment was just three meters away. All the patterns on the surface of the black stone lit up, and every line was rapidly expanding.

Li Ang stopped in his tracks.

He sensed a change.

The pulsation frequency of the fragment suddenly became completely synchronized with the fire seed in his dantian.

In that instant of synchronization, a stream of information rushed from the fragments into his mental sea.

The information was not text or images, but a primal instinct.

He saw it.

An endless wasteland stretched out before us, where neither sun nor moon could be seen, save for seven colossal bands of light that stretched across the sky. These bands were of different colors: red,...

Orange, dark green, gray-blue, pure white, deep purple, and jet black. These seven colors correspond to the seven primal emotions: joy, anger, sorrow, fear, love, hate, and desire.

Beneath the band of light, countless fissures cracked open in the desolate land, each leading to the abyss below. The thick fog rising from these fissures was essentially of the same origin as the black flames in his dantian.

This is the origin of the saying "immortal magic has no proof".

The information flow stopped after three seconds, and the image vanished. Li Ang's mental energy was repelled back into his body, and his consciousness was momentarily dazed. He knelt on one knee on the magic circle, his left hand supporting him on the ground, while his right hand still gripped the stock of his M4.

He was breathing heavily, and his heart was beating at 140 beats per minute.

The dantian's reserves are fixed at 12.31.

The fragments resumed their previous rhythm, no longer in sync with him. But the information from those three seconds was deeply etched into his mind.

He stood up.

The magic array continued to charge. The buzzing of the six probes grew increasingly sharp, and loose rocks began to fall from the cave walls.

Li Ang withdrew from the magic array and returned to its edge. The moment his boots left the array patterns, the vortex beneath his feet dissipated, and the energy returned to its original flow.

He pressed the button on his headphones.

"Rich".

"Yes. It'll be almost thirty minutes. I was just about to contact you."

"Time has been extended. I need at least another fifteen minutes."

"Has Price come out from the east side?"

"Not sure. He took a crevice I haven't explored. Send Tommy to drive around to the east side of the mountain to check, find the trail, just follow, don't make contact."

"clear."

Li Ang cut off communications.

He did not step into the magic circle again. He needed time to process the three seconds of information transmitted by the fragment, but there were more pressing matters at hand.

The charging continues. According to Price, once the fragment is activated, the kill zone within three miles will drop to zero. He cannot stop this process; removing the probe would cause an energy backflow with unpredictable consequences.

But he can do something else.

He can channel his dantian energy into the magic array before the fragment is activated, thus interfering with the direction of energy charging.

This idea originated from the information flow transmitted from the fragments. Each of the seven bands of light on that wasteland was connected to the black mist within the fissure in the earth. The bands of light represented rules, and the mist represented energy; the two coexisted.

The magic array relies on the energy radiated by the fragments for its power, and his dantian fire seed shares the same origin as the fragments. If he injects enough dantian energy before the power is fully charged, he can change the flow of energy.

He wants to rewrite the activation result.

The three-mile kill line being reduced to zero was far too dangerous. He didn't know if there were any other lives in this area besides himself and Richie's people, what the standard for zeroing was, or whether the fragments, once activated, would "remember" Price's so-called "last contact."

If it is Price who is remembered, all the plans will have come to naught.

Li Ang squatted down and placed his hands on the array patterns at the edge of the magic circle.

A bluish-gold light enveloped his palm.

He began to inject energy from his dantian into the magic array in reverse.

Black flames seeped from the palm, advancing towards the center along the array patterns, creating interlaced black and gold light marks on the surface of the patterns.

The reserves in the dantian have begun to decline: 12.31, 11.87, 11.24.

The energy injection accelerated, and the magic circle rapidly absorbed the flames he poured in.

10.55.

His mental energy was greatly depleted, and his perception range shrank to a hundred meters.

9.78.

The cave trembled more violently, and loose rocks rained down from above.

8.91.

Finally, a trace of black was mixed into the lapis lazuli patterns on the surface of the fragment.

The magic circle absorbed his energy.

7.43.

Li Ang kept his mental energy at a minimum, just enough to sense the energy flow within the magic array. The energy field around the fragment was being permeated by his black flames, its percentage climbing from zero: three percent, five percent, eight percent.

6.02.

His reserves plummeted below six, and he felt weak in all four limbs—a sign that his dantian was depleted.

But he can't stop.

His energy now accounts for 12% of the main circuitry of the magic array. The black patterns on the surface of the fragment are clearly visible.

5.51. 5.03.

His dantian reserves dropped below five, and his body swayed as he changed from a kneeling to a sitting position, his hands never leaving the array patterns.

When the reserves dropped to 4.88, the fragments' pulsations changed again.

It stopped synchronizing with the probe and instead synchronized with the black flames emanating from his palm.

The fragment chose him.

At that moment, the energy charging direction of the magic array reversed. The six main energy channels no longer simply converged on the fragment, but instead formed a dual-core loop with Li Ang as the secondary node. Energy flowed out of the fragment, passed through the array patterns to his palm, was partially absorbed by the fire seed in his dantian, and then flowed back to the fragment.

He became part of the magic circle.

A line of text pops up at the bottom of the system panel.

[Resonance detected in foundational fragments; magic array is being recalibrated; fragment activation process interrupted]

[Should we forcibly take over the energy replenishment of the magic array using the dantian as a medium? Cost: Dantian reserves will be depleted below the safety threshold (current reserves: 4.88, safety threshold: 2.50)]

Li Ang's lips moved.

"take over."

Instantly, his dantian reserves began to plummet: 4.50, 4.12, 3.77, 3.21.

The lapis lazuli light on the surface of the magic circle quickly faded, replaced by a blackish-gold hue. The buzzing of the six probes abruptly changed tone, from sharp to deep. The pillar of light in the center of the fragment swayed twice, its color shifting from lapis lazuli to a mixture of blackish-gold.

2.89.

His vision began to blur.

2.61.

My limbs are numb.

2.52.

The system displayed a warning: [Your dantian is approaching a safe threshold; immediate cessation is recommended.]

Li Ang did not stop, and pushed the last wisp of flame into the magic circle.

2.49.

The light from the magic circle suddenly went out.

The cave was plunged into deathly darkness.

Three seconds later, a new, faint, dark golden light appeared on the surface of the fragment, illuminating only half a meter around it. Simultaneously, the six probes lost their luster and reverted to ordinary metal rods.

The magic circle stopped operating.

Charging was interrupted, and the activation process was overwritten.

The fragment did not complete the "standard activation" that Price had expected, nor did it release the kill radius reset within a three-mile radius. It entered a new state: silence, not death. Dark golden light pulsated at an extremely slow frequency.

Li Ang's hands slid off the array patterns, and he fell backward onto the rocky ground.

The world spun around him. His dantian felt empty and on the verge of bursting; the fire seed shrank to the size of a grain of rice, barely managing to stay afloat. His reserves were 2.49, and his mental perception range had plummeted to within thirty meters. He barely had the strength to lift his hand to press the earpiece.

But he still had one more thing to do.

Price hadn't gone far.

His mental energy searched within a thirty-meter radius, but detected no signal. But his intuition told him that Price couldn't have truly left. That man had invested everything in the fragments; he couldn't possibly remain indifferent after the magic circle stopped.

Li Ang forced himself to turn over, propping himself up on his elbows. He stared at the new patterns on the fused surface of the fragments, then recalled the images from the three-second information stream.

Seven bands of light, seven emotions, and the black mist beneath the wasteland.

This is a remnant of an ancient magic array from the cultivation world, older than any sect. It existed before the concept of "spiritual energy" even existed in the heavens and earth.

The most primitive power structure.

The essence of the killing line is the shadow of the rules projected onto each living being by these seven light bands.

The seven families of the Founders Alliance each occupy a node in a band of light. For three hundred years, they have been activating fragments to reset the killing line, essentially adjusting the projection angle of the light bands to ensure the shadows fall in a position advantageous to themselves.

But Dr. Alexei Vinogradov discovered another way. Without activation, only analysis. Without adjusting the projection, directly reading the information from the light band itself.

Li Ang now understands the doctor's path.

I also understood my own path.

His "immortal magic without substance," which refines the seven emotions and six desires into fuel, is essentially extracting energy from the projection of the light band. And the fragments are the only entrance to the light band itself.

He had just forcibly interrupted the activation with his dantian energy, at the cost of nearly depleting his reserves. But the gain was that the fragment remembered him, not Price.

The dark golden pulsation was proof. The frequency of the fragment perfectly matched the frequency of the fire seed in his dantian.

He leaned his head against the rock wall, took three breaths, and reached out to press the button on his earphones.

"Rich".

The rustling sound lasted for five seconds, longer than before.

"Yes." Richie's voice was tense. "The mountain shook twice just now, and we almost rushed in."

"It's over," Li Ang said softly. "Send someone in. I can't walk anymore."

Richie didn't ask any further questions.

Two minutes.

Communication was cut off, and the cave returned to silence. Only the dark golden light of the fragments pulsed slowly in the darkness.

Li Ang closed his eyes.

Price's affair isn't over yet. That man took the military notebook, which contained all his records of operating the probes on-site. He'll definitely come back for more.

But not today.

Today, the fragment chose him.

Footsteps echoed from the depths of the passage, growing louder as they approached. A beam of flashlight swept into the cavern, illuminating the dim patterns on the surface of the magic array.

Richie appeared at the fire door. He scanned the cavern, his gaze lingering on the debris for half a second, before quickly running to Li Ang and crouching down beside him.

"Boss."

Help me up.

Richie draped Leon's left arm over his shoulder, while Carl supported his waist from the other side, and together they pulled him up from the ground. Leon's legs could barely bear the weight, so most of his weight was on Richie.

"What is that?" Richie's gaze fell on the fragments again.

I'll tell you later.

"Where's Price?"

"He got away. But he didn't get what he wanted. The stuff is in my waist bag. Hard drive, documents. I can't lose any of it."

"clear."

The three moved slowly toward the entrance of the passage. As they passed the edge of the magic circle, Li Ang looked down for one last time.

Dark gold fragments were embedded in the rock strata, their faint light flickering. The runes of the magic circle had completely faded, and the six probes stood alone at the nodes, devoid of any luster.