"You want to rise higher?" If the spectacle doctor still could not grasp his meaning now, he really would have water in his brain. But from the perspective of one in authority, he did not mind Xue Jianming having such thoughts; the man genuinely had the value of focused cultivation.

"Of course. If my superiors would cultivate me generously, I would go through fire and water without a thought for my own life," Xue Jianming said hurriedly.

"Very well. As it happens, the central headquarters has a focused cultivation program. So long as you perform well, I can recommend you upward and guarantee your strength will advance by leaps and bounds!" the spectacle doctor promised on the spot.

"Truly? Thank you, my superior!" Xue Jianming was overjoyed.

After a torrent of gratitude, Xue Jianming finally departed, looking back at every step. The spectacle doctor gave a meaningful chuckle: "Ambition, connections, and ability too—say what you will, this one is real material."

"I can't help feeling this fellow isn't all that reliable," Big Feng said, coming closer. He had heard the whole exchange from start to finish, and had taken in every detail of Bing Wushuang's and Xue Jianming's performances.

"You're overthinking it. With the poison gas hanging over him, he wouldn't dare harbor disloyal thoughts. Besides, his ambition is a good thing—it's precisely because he's ambitious that he needs our center's strength all the more." The spectacle doctor shot him a glance, thinking to himself, you traitor, eating our bread and siding with outsiders, and you have the nerve to say that—you really can put on a show.

Big Feng frowned and said nothing further, though inwardly he was still anxious about how to contact Wei Zhao. He knew Wei Zhao was certainly somewhere in the Transit Archipelago, but he could not go out and move about on his own. He had no chance even to send word.

"By the way, these people all went to the Cangwu Sect on North Island, one after another. We'll have to be on our guard about that," the spectacle doctor muttered.

"How do we guard against it?" Big Feng asked.

"That's not your concern. I have my ways." The spectacle doctor brushed him off. The first person he had to guard against now was Big Feng himself. Matters out in the open could be let through to Big Feng, but other matters could not be discussed at length.

Several days later, Bing Wushuang was summoned out for a physical examination as usual, and like the others, nothing was found amiss. But at the very last moment, his expression suddenly shifted.

Another man might not have sensed it, but his perception far exceeded ordinary men's—otherwise he could never have cultivated the Ruthless Ice Force. He clearly felt that something had been implanted in his body, exceedingly minute, but beyond any doubt.

He did not know what it was, but he understood at once: this must be high-tech equipment the center used to monitor him in secret. Otherwise there would be no need for such secrecy.

Bing Wushuang dared not be careless. As the leading martial uncle of the Snow Sword Sect, he too had to join the other disciples in mining, and Wei Zhao had told him before that if anything came up in the future, they should use the mining as cover to communicate.

Sure enough, he did see Wei Zhao while mining, though the two did not draw too close. Even when they reached a secluded spot, they did not use the chance to catch their breath and speak, but instead exchanged a few hand signals.

Strange as these gestures were, Wei Zhao understood them quickly: something had been implanted in Bing Wushuang's body, very likely a monitoring device such as a listening bug.

"This is somewhat troublesome," Wei Zhao thought, frowning inwardly. If even Bing Wushuang had such a thing on him, it was not hard to imagine the others carried the same. That being so, it was no longer realistic to keep moving against Jing Taiyang and his people. These center folk were truly wary!

Wei Zhao dared not be negligent. This was no small problem. They were fortunate Bing Wushuang was alert enough to notice; had it been someone like Qin Yuanming, he might not have detected it at all—indeed, these people might already have given themselves away.

It was a crisis that had come out of nowhere. Yet it was not enough to throw Wei Zhao into a panic; to him, after all, this was merely a small scene, nothing beside the storms he had weathered on Cloud Terrace Island in the past.

"Don't be nervous. Since the center is being so careful, let's give them that much face and lie low for now." Wei Zhao's voice suddenly sounded in Bing Wushuang's mind, though his lips had not moved at all.

Bing Wushuang was startled, then understood: Wei Zhao was using the technique of condensing sound with true qi. Ordinary people might not know it, but he was, after all, a Golden Core expert who had seen much and heard much in the Tai Gu Minor Jianghu—he knew the technique, though he rarely used it.

"Won't condensing sound with true qi be detected?" Bing Wushuang replied the same way. He knew the technique, but of the mundane world's technological means he understood nothing, and he did not know whether it could evade them.

"Of course not. You don't understand the principle of listening devices—they detect sound waves, but they cannot detect true qi fluctuations. The center may be formidable, but it cannot manage that, because technology and cultivation are two things that never intersect. Truly merging technology with cultivation is not a matter of a few years or a few decades. Perhaps in the distant future it may be possible, but not now." As Wei Zhao passed this along, he could not help thinking of Han Jingyi. If anyone had merged technology with cultivation, that girl had surely left everyone else behind—when all was said and done, you could search the whole world and not find a second automatic pill-refining artifact.

Wei Zhao spoke simply and clearly, but Bing Wushuang did not quite follow. He did not understand the mundane world's technology, and so he could only stand in awe of what he could not grasp.

"All right, I understand. So what comes next is to watch and wait?" Bing Wushuang asked.

"Correct. Watch and wait for now. If anything happens, I will let you know." Wei Zhao nodded. Besides Bing Wushuang, he would also have to find a chance to warn Qin Yuanming, Yao Long, Jing Yueming, and the others, all by condensing sound with true qi. He kept in contact with each of these people on a separate line—after all, a little caution never hurt.

Returning from the undersea spirit jade mine, the first thing Wei Zhao did was seek out Lin Dongfang. He smiled bitterly. "I've just had word: the center has begun installing listening devices on Bing Wushuang and the others. It seems that summoning all these people to our little island, one after another, has put them on their guard. You needn't busy yourself any further, Elder—Jing Taiyang and his lot are off the table for now."

"Heh. Expected. Entirely normal," Lin Dongfang said with a laugh.

"Normal?" Wei Zhao was taken aback. This was not what he had expected. Had he known the center's vigilance was so high, he would not have acted so boldly—at the very least he would have waited a while longer before moving to turn Bing Wushuang. (To be continued.)