The moment he stepped out of the The Seat of Divine Foresight, Bai Luan pulled out his phone to send Lingsha a message.
The instant the screen lit up, he saw a text from Stelle.
Stelle: Uncle, we followed Yanqing to the Artisanship Commission instead of the inn.
Hmph, at least he checked in; probably planning to call for backup the same way later.
He typed a reply to Stelle, then opened the chat with Lingsha.
Bai Luan: You there?
Bai Luan: Mind if I check the project status?
Lingsha: Never imagined I'd feel the client breathing down my neck—how refreshing.
Lingsha: You're on the Xianzhou?
Bai Luan: Yep.
Lingsha: [Location pin]
Lingsha: Come here, then. I happen to have a letter someone asked me to deliver to you.
Bai Luan: A letter? For me?
Bai Luan: Who's it from?
Lingsha: Remember that Xianzhou native you purged of Mara-Struck?
Lingsha: He left it for you.
Bai Luan: If he wanted to say something, why not tell me face-to-face?
Lingsha: It's complicated; let's talk when we meet.
Using his mech's stealth module and ignoring Xianzhou Luofu traffic laws, Bai Luan reached the pinned location in minutes.
He spotted Lingsha waiting without effort.
He dropped the camouflage, walked over, and greeted her.
"Sorry to trouble Miss Lingsha for waiting."
Lingsha looked at Bai Luan, who had popped up out of nowhere.
How does this guy appear like a ghost, right in front of me?
"A genius always makes a dramatic entrance. Had I not been here a while, I'd think you'd been lurking beside me the whole time."
Bai Luan chuckled at her remark.
"Who knows? Maybe I've been here all along."
"..."
The air froze; Bai Luan waved it off.
"Just kidding. I'm not so bored that I'd spy on people zoning out… well…"
Ever the meticulous scholar, he added,
"To be precise, I do watch people zone out, but not you."
"You came all this way just to crack jokes and confess your odd hobbies?"
"Of course not; that's a prank I reserve for Elation Pathstriders."
Lingsha felt a twinge of sympathy for any Fools summoned by Bai Luan only to hear bad jokes.
He cleared his throat and got back on topic.
"So, back to business.
It's been quite a while since I handed you that 'bullet'."
Have you—or the Alchemy Commission, or any Xianzhou researchers—made any headway on curing Mara-Struck?"
Lingsha sighed softly, her expression turning serious.
"Sadly, if the goal is to use the bullet's concept to eradicate Mara-Struck completely, we're still groping in fog—no decisive breakthrough yet."
She shifted tack:
"But we haven't gained nothing. Dissecting the bullet let us glimpse—and master—some principles beyond current Xianzhou alchemy and engineering."
Lingsha began detailing what they'd learned from the projectile.
Though concept-level extraction eluded them, they'd mastered much about extracting and storing abilities.
They'd even developed new weapons and medical devices based on those insights.
"We knew from the start that replicating your extraction gun's miraculous function was next to impossible."
Her tone was calm, without discouragement.
"So our aim has always been to use the bullet's principles as inspiration for alternatives we might achieve with our own tech and time."
For instance, could we apply these discoveries at birth to siphon part of the Blessing of Abundance from every Xianzhou native, lessening Mara-Struck and delaying its onset?"
Hmm… not a bad angle.
"However…"
Lingsha pivoted once more.
"Bound by ethics, immature technology, uncontrollable risks, and other realities, most proposals remain at the stage of theoretical deduction."
No one can say how many amber eras it will take before those ideas find a truly workable answer."
Perhaps, in the end, we will only have spent vast resources to prove a dead end—but there's nothing frightening about that."
Lingsha lifted her gaze, her voice calm yet resolute:
"Since Mara-Struck is the price of immortality, the key to unlocking those chains may also lie in the endless time and trial-and-error that immortality grants us."
"This humble one believes that one day we shall conquer this affliction and return to every Xianzhou citizen the right and dignity of a peaceful end."
"Time can indeed wear down many seemingly insurmountable barriers, and you happen to possess more than enough of it."
Bai Luan nodded in appraisal.
"It's a clever approach—switching tracks, playing to your strengths while avoiding your weaknesses. Instead of blindly trying to recreate a miracle, you leverage your greatest asset—time and accumulated knowledge—to seek a viable path."
"Hardly clever."
Lingsha shook her head slightly, arms folded, her tone tinged with self-mockery.
"We are merely a group of mortals with limited talent yet heavy responsibilities. After witnessing a true chasm, we have no choice but to adopt this clumsy, desperate strategy in hopes of a slim chance."
"If one could solve a problem that has plagued the Xianzhou for millennia as effortlessly as you seem to, who would bother to change their way of thinking?"
At this, Lingsha sighed.
"In the end, no one can foresee the future."
"All this humble one can do is carry this uncertainty and keep moving forward; it is still better than standing still."
"Even if this road proves a dead end, at least our descendants will be warned and spared from repeating our mistakes."
With that, Lingsha looked at Bai Luan with interest and asked:
"Having heard so much, what is your view? In your judgment, will we… ultimately succeed?"
"Rather than a definite yes or no, I prefer to be an observer of whether you can succeed."
"If your efforts move me, I won't mind lending a hand."
"In that case, "
Lingsha pressed, curiosity piqued,
"Why not offer help from the very start?"
"Because that would violate my principles."
Bai Luan answered without hesitation.
"I admit I'm willing to help at times, but my intervention depends on a clear rule: whether you possess the potential and likelihood to resolve the matter largely on your own."
He elaborated,
"If you demonstrate sufficient potential and drive, proving you can manage it yourselves, then at most I'll offer a small, thought-provoking nudge."
"Like the bullet I gave you—just a research clue."
"I prefer to see self-reliance, to see intelligent life rely on its own wisdom, perseverance, and unity to overcome its problems; that alone earns my respect. Otherwise…"
Bai Luan's tone dropped slightly.
"If the problem is one you are demonstrably unable to solve with current or foreseeable capabilities, and it concerns your very survival through no fault of your own… then, should I have the power, I will step in and remove the unsolvable part."
"I loathe seeing people—especially kind, hardworking ones—forced to wrestle with a question that has no answer; it's nothing short of torture."
"I see… I hadn't expected you to have such a code."
"Of course I need a code."
Bai Luan shrugged, his voice turning sharp.
'The world has no shortage of people who push their luck. I don't want to go anywhere only to have someone pop up, demanding I fix his problems, then accuse me of cold-heartedness if I refuse—that sort of moral blackmail. If that happened…"
"What would you do?"
Lingsha asked, intrigued.
Bai Luan flashed a brilliant, unclouded smile and said lightly,
"Beat the hell out of them."