Xia Li was quite apprehensive right now.

  He didn't know if the Third Elder was secretly warning him or genuinely wanted to help.

  If the other party had scolded him outright, calling him a toad lusting after swan meat, he might have actually found it more reasonable—and could use it to shake off Lin Ge.

  But the Third Elder's benevolent demeanor made him uneasy instead.

  "Grandfather, I'm not bothering him at all—we're having a normal conversation!"

  Lin Ge patted her chest in a gesture of assurance, but the Third Elder's expression remained skeptical.

  Without a word, he carefully examined Xia Li again, releasing soul-force to probe him.

  This was indeed quite impolite, but Xia Li didn't yet have the standing to make him observe courtesies. In his eyes, seniors forcibly probing juniors was perfectly natural.

  However...

  "You've got some tricks, young man."

  His probing had failed to work. His soul-force had been twisted by some peculiar power. As a Void Refining cultivator, he couldn't probe a mere Foundation Establishment junior!

  Though he hadn't specifically studied probing techniques, relying on cultivation realm alone, there was actually a Foundation Establishment junior he couldn't probe!

  So he directly stepped forward and placed his hand on Xia Li's shoulder—only then could he examine Xia Li's depths.

  After detecting the internal spiritual artifacts within Xia Li's body...

  He fell silent.

  He also somewhat understood why Lin Ge was fixated on Xia Li.

  "Young man, don't blame me for probing your secrets. My granddaughter is this close to you, so naturally I'm curious. Have you ever heard of Zhiyuan City?"

  "Huh?"

  Xia Li was instantly stunned.

  【Zhiyuan City, approximately 3,500 kilometers from Linguang City, controlled by Corporate Union, global GDP ranking: 32nd】

  Heaven Chip provided Xia Li with basic information about Zhiyuan City, making Xia Li's expression change dramatically.

  Why would the Third Elder before him know about an Earth city?

  "Heh heh, no need to panic. Shall we chat?"

  The Third Elder took in Xia Li's shocked expression completely.

  "Alright!"

  Xia Li couldn't be bothered with comprehending Dao arts in the Strange Grounds anymore—why the Third Elder knew these things was more important.

  Could it be... the Third Elder was from Earth?

  But wasn't the Lin Family a clan from this world?

  "Grandfather, what's going on with you two?"

  Lin Ge was confused. Why did her grandfather seem to have something to say to Xia Li!

  And moreover, something that needed to be hidden from her!

  "Xiao Ge, I'll tell you when the time is right. Wait here obediently!"

  The Third Elder's tone became very serious. Lin Ge didn't dare ask more upon hearing this and could only nod obediently.

  Then.

  The Third Elder waved his sleeve. Xia Li felt the world spin before his eyes, and the next instant he appeared directly above the clouds.

  The Third Elder stood before him, solemnly taking out a box from his storage ring.

  Then...

  He slowly opened it.

  Inside the box were a Spirit Core and a Heaven Chip!!

  "This... this is!!"

  "So you do recognize these things. These are relics of Xiao Ge's mother. Her mother was also a very mysterious person who said she came from a very distant place."

  "So then... did you also come from the same place as her mother? Some merchant association power called Zhiyuan City?"

  The Third Elder obviously didn't understand the concept of Zhiyuan City. After all, cities in this world were generally just called "cities," not "city-markets."

  With "city" as a suffix, the Third Elder assumed it was some merchant association marketplace power.

  "More or less."

  "That's good then. I won't say more—your marketplace's artifact refining Dao does have some merit. However, it's ultimately just a minor path. True strength must come from oneself, not external objects."

  "Your teachings are wise!"

  Xia Li immediately adopted a humble accepting demeanor. He'd already gathered from the Third Elder's words that the Third Elder didn't know about Earth, and didn't even know the Heaven Chip's wonders.

  If he knew the Heaven Chip's capabilities, he wouldn't have called it a minor path.

  "Mm. Then take these things. Consider them her mother's memorial effects—bring them back to her homeland for burial."

  "What happened to her mother?"

  "I don't know the details either. I only remember that one day, my son returned barely alive, holding a blood-soaked Xiao Ge in his arms..."

  "My son told me her mother was dead... and told me not to investigate."

  "Not long after, my son died from his wounds, leaving only this old man behind. All that remains is my poor granddaughter—she can't even remember what happened before."

  "She's familiar with you, probably because the rhythm of the artifacts operating within your body is similar to her mother's."

  Speaking of this, the Third Elder sighed repeatedly. He'd actually quite liked his daughter-in-law—a person with great foresight, very likeable.

  She often proposed various refreshing concepts that gave even his increasingly rigid thinking some new ideas.

  Unfortunately, good people don't live long...

  Even now, he still didn't know why his son and daughter-in-law had died.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  "Are these all her relics?"

  "Yes, that's all. I once tried to find her homeland through these relics, but after all these years there's been no news. I never expected to meet someone from her homeland today."

  "I might be able to try investigating the secret of their deaths."

  Xia Li took the box and retrieved the Heaven Chip.

  The activity logs and related data stored within the Heaven Chip could directly let Xia Li understand what had happened in the past.

  【Masterless Heaven Chip detected】

  【Model: Sword Inquiry Form IV, Manufacturer: Shushan Sword Sect, Produced: 2510】

  【Accessing unencrypted data...】

  【Access successful. Original owner did not set post-death data wipe. Original owner enabled Data Tombstone function】

  Data Tombstone—after a Heaven Chip owner's death, the Heaven Chip would record its master's life trajectory in its final moments. This was a function one could choose whether to enable.

  People fear death, but they fear even more that after death, no one will know, no one will remember.

  Therefore, as long as one wasn't an evil villain with secrets they feared others knowing, they would enable Data Tombstone.

  Including Xia Li—if he were unfortunate enough to face death someday, perhaps he too would choose to leave his Data Tombstone before dying, leaving proof that he had existed in this world.

  【Play final words?】

  Heaven Chip asked Xia Li if he wanted to hear Lin Ge's mother's last words.

  【Play】

  【Bzzt... bzzt bzzt...】

  Electronic interference noise came through.

  【Sword Sect ruins... phase transition... spatial instability... I... sole survivor... teleportation array damaged...】

  【I'm not lost... this might be the new life I wanted... pastoral idyll...】

  【I don't want to be the Sword Sect's weapon anymore】

  The fragmented voice told Xia Li why she had come. Combined with the activity logs and video records preserved in the Heaven Chip, her life was reconstructed in this moment.

  Beneath Shushan Sword Sect lay ruins containing a teleportation array leading here. Shushan Sword Sect had assembled an exploration team to investigate.

  Unfortunately, they encountered spatial collapse during transmission. Of the exploration team, only she survived. Because the teleportation array was damaged, though she couldn't return, people from Earth couldn't come through either.

  She took this opportunity to escape the Sword Sect's control.

  While enjoying her new life, she met Lin Ge's father, fell in love, and had a daughter.

  Unfortunately, good times didn't last. Because she performed too brilliantly—top-tier in alchemy, artifact refining, array formation, and talisman crafting—she was placed on Heaven Alliance's Prodigy List. Heaven Alliance gave her two choices.

  Join or die.

  And joining required letting Heaven Alliance's people implant soul-control measures. To prevent Earth's information from leaking to this world, she could only choose to resist.

  Between family and homeland.

  She chose homeland—that homeland that had betrayed her, treated her as a weapon.

  Earth had only experienced Spirit Qi Resurgence for five hundred years. Even if it could fight this world, it would be a pyrrhic victory.

  But in the end, to let Lin Ge and her father escape, she didn't hesitate to reveal her Mech-Corpse form.

  The other party's Heaven Chip explained what a Mech-Corpse was.

  When Xia Li asked his own Heaven Chip, it responded that there was no related data in its database!

  It was a forbidden modification that completely treated people as expendables, transforming them into biological weapons. Mech-Corpse modification didn't even belong to cybernetic implantation—it was gene-level biochemical technology.

  The appearance became terrifying, like a mechanical monster. The spine elongated with organs dragging on the ground, blade-wings unfurling from the back, flesh falling away to reveal a steel body, the face no longer human but a cold mechanical visage.

  It was called Mech-Corpse because survival rate after revealing this state was zero—like a living steel skeleton. But in Mech-Corpse state, one could slay Soul Transformation cultivators while only at Golden Core.

  In the end, Lin Ge's mother died in battle in Mech-Corpse state, right before Lin Ge and her father's eyes.

  Hard to imagine...

  What psychological trauma a little girl would suffer watching her mother transform into a mechanical monster to slaughter enemies.

  At the very end.

  Only half an iron skeleton remained, long since having lost human form. She used her sharp blade-finger to gently wipe away her daughter's tears, then...

  Told the daughter's father to delete this memory, to forget her as a mother.

  "Ah... so that's how it was."

  After viewing this past, Xia Li let out a deep sigh.

  Such a fine Shushan Sword Sect.

  Such a fine Heaven Alliance!!

  Shushan Sword Sect was secretly using Mech-Corpse modifications.

  Even more terrifying was that this seemed to be something ordinary people weren't allowed to know—the dark side of technology.

  He wondered: if he dared to naively investigate this matter after returning, would he be secretly eliminated?

  As for Heaven Alliance...

  No need to mention them. They'd already been placed on Xia Li's internal nuclear-strike list.