When system cheat becomes rampant!

Xiang Beifei was stunned for a long time upon hearing this question.

Because this question... was quite ambiguous, for a brief instant, he even considered the possibility—was Elder Luo asking about his identity?

Ye Changfeng, standing beside him, was also baffled as he looked at Elder Luo, thinking that the elder might have developed senile dementia.

Why suddenly ask, "Are you Xiang Beifei?" like that.

If this lad isn't Xiang Beifei, could he possibly be called Mo Beifei?

Or could he be possessed by the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage?

Ye Changfeng adjusted his glasses, and the Longyuan Sword floated out again. He made a point of having the Longyuan Sword scan Xiang Beifei once more—

Seriously and earnestly.

Nothing was detected.

Well, then that's settled.

It must indeed be Xiang Beifei himself.

—Because nothing was apparent, that's precisely why it was evident.

It was the same feeling he had when he first met Xiang Beifei.

Ye Changfeng adjusted his glasses and reminded, "He should indeed be the real Xiang Beifei. You certainly can't misjudge, can you?"

He had always believed that Xiang Beifei possessed the ability to shield himself from others' prying eyes. It was highly likely that SR Awakener Xiang Tianxing was protecting him. As an SR Sword Cultivator himself, it was only natural to be unable to spy on him.

Only then did Elder Luo realize there was ambiguity in his words and said, "I didn't mean that. I'm asking, were you headed north when you left the ancient forest?"

"Oh, going north."

Only then did Ye Changfeng realize his misunderstanding, and he coughed awkwardly. However, he quickly turned to look at Xiang Beifei with surprise.

Xiang Beifei came back to his senses, looking at Elder Luo with confusion.

Elder Luo actually knew about this?

He thought back to that inexplicable call, which seemed like it was guiding him. At that time, the leaves of the trees all turned in one direction, and deep within him, he sensed the character "north."

Xiang Beifei inquired, "Have you, Elder, visited the ancient forest?"

Elder Luo shook his head: "No."

"Then how come..."

"You first answer my question, are you heading north?" pressed Elder Luo urgently.

Xiang Beifei hesitated, then nodded: "Yes."

They had been running for a long time with no way to leave, but just by heading north for a while, less than ten minutes, they were out.

The path to the north was the correct one.

"Indeed!"

Elder Luo seemed to recall something and let out a slight sigh.

"What on earth is going on? Do you, Elder, know something?" Xiang Beifei had always been clueless about what that voice meant.

"Talking about this matter would be a long story," Elder Luo said.

He looked at Xiang Beifei with a complex gaze.

After a while, he began to speak slowly, "When you named that tree creature 'Youmeng,' I suddenly realized what this desolate beast truly signifies."

"What does it signify?" Xiang Beifei asked, puzzled.

"The first one to mention the 'Youmeng' desolate beast was not you, but your father, Xiang Tianxing."

"Him?"

Xiang Beifei was somewhat surprised.

In Elder Luo's hand, a rather unimpressive stone appeared, no larger than half a finger, pitted and looking as if it had been eroded by something, shattered in many places.

"Pioneers, when carrying out missions in the wilderness, always record their movements, like a black box, so that if something happens, it is easier for others to search for them."

Elder Luo looked at the stone in his hand and said with a complicated expression, "This is a very special black box, known as the Pioneer Stone."

The limitation on black boxes is significant. In the outer domain's desolate lands, starting from the third danger zone, one cannot use system items as black boxes, because system items are time-limited, and over time, their effects diminish and are easily sniffed out by powerful desolate beasts.

Nor can one use electronic devices because some desolate beasts can control magnetic fields, like the Silent Centipede we encountered last time, which can use spiritual power to create magnetic fields that are indistinguishable from real ones to deal with people, and naturally can also detect electronic devices.

But Pioneer Stone is a very special kind of stone, created by scientists in the alliance. You only need to hold the stone, and you can turn your thoughts into subtle traces left on the stone, which desolate beasts cannot detect because it does not belong to system items and has no fluctuations.

"When your father went missing, I personally searched the area for a full two months. I didn't find the person, but fortunately, everything he knew was taught by me. I knew how he would conceal things by using the terrain—or perhaps, knowing that I understood him and would come searching, he used the method I taught to hide the Pioneer Stone."

Everything Xiang Tianxing knew about surviving in the outer domain's desolate lands was taught by Elder Luo, so Elder Luo was very clear about how to use the terrain to hide clues at critical moments. Master and disciple had a tacit understanding.

"Unfortunately, when I found the cave, the Pioneer Stone had been corroded by a powerful desolate beast, broken in half, and I was only able to salvage this small part."

Elder Luo gently rolled the Pioneer Stone in his palm, and several disjointed lines of text appeared, fuzzy as if condensed from gas.

"The Pioneer Stone can imprint the thoughts present in the user's mind at the time, which means whatever he wanted to leave behind is expressed directly in the text he acknowledged. I have imprinted all the thoughts, which are in this notebook, but many parts are missing, including the mention of the term 'Youmeng'."

He then took out a notebook, turned to a certain page, and handed it to Xiang Beifei.

Xiang Beifei took the notebook, which was very new, a most ordinary notebook, filled with text imprinted from the Pioneer Stone, even the handwriting belonged to Xiang Tianxing, not Elder Luo.

[The Youmeng creatures are quite peculiar; I don't even want to classify them as desolate beasts because they have their own way of living, although fate has been somewhat rough on them...]

[It is very difficult to communicate with the Youmeng, but I think I have succeeded...]

[...The west seems to be the chains of their fate, binding them here...]

[The Youmeng told me where to find the answers I seek, but I must first leave the forest; they said to just fly all the way north. It's magical because that's the name of my son, Xiang Beifei, taken by his grandfather...]

...

The damage to the Pioneer Stone was severe, with many pits on it, and the imprinted text was disjointed, unable to be read continuously. Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

However, the remaining thoughts were still clearly expressible in text.

"Are you sure these words are his?" Xiang Beifei looked at Elder Luo with surprise.

"Yes, the Pioneer Stone is very rare, kind of like a very convenient form of text recording. Whatever you think in your mind will be left behind, and then presented in words. The 'Youmeng' you chose, and his 'Youmeng,' are the same."

"Just like father and son," Elder Luo sighed lightly again.

If it weren't for Xiang Beifei thinking of naming the Tree People 'Youmeng,' he would not even have connected the Tree People of the Withered Forest with the 'Youmeng' mentioned on Xiang Tianxing's Pioneer Stone.

Xiang Beifei looked at the words and fell silent.

"I've been researching these words for many years, trying to figure out what that boy was investigating, but it's no use. The Pioneer Stone is too badly damaged; a lot of key information is missing, and I'm not even clear about what he meant by Youmeng, without much description, until you just now named that Treeperson, I realized this point."

Xiang Beifei asked, "Whether the Youmeng of the Withered Forest or the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage, they are desolate beasts from the domain... Does Elder Luo mean that my dad had encountered these Youmeng before?"

"No evidence," Elder Luo cautioned Xiang Beifei.

He had not given the imprinted notebook to Xiang Beifei previously because he was still young and was concerned he might rush into the outer domain's desolate lands in search of his father.

Xiang Beifei said, "But I remember reading that the Pioneer Stone has a very strong hardness, difficult to damage, and desolate beasts of God Refining strength would not be able to harm it, which means this desolate beast must be at least—"

He stopped there, his brow slightly furrowed.

Elder Luo and Ye Changfeng exchanged glances, clearly having considered this issue before.