Successfully Returned

Li Xingyao's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately summoned ten Tyrant Zombies to protect himself. From the darkness, three figures slowly emerged, the leader being a pale-faced, tall, thin man holding a peculiar composite bow.

"Hand over what you've got, and I'll make your death easier," the tall, thin man said coldly, his eyes glancing at Li Xingyao's backpack every now and then.

Li Xingyao's heart sank. These people had clearly come for the Star Core, and their ability to track them here so silently meant they were not to be underestimated. They had obviously come in pursuit of the Flame Warrior, and their ability to find this place so quietly meant they were not to be underestimated.

"I don't understand what you're talking about." Li Xingyao stalled for time, secretly preparing a spell.

The tall, thin man sneered, "Stop playing dumb. What Ling Fengxing stole is on you. We followed the energy traces all the way here, which actually saved us a lot of trouble." He continued, "Stop pretending. Ling Fengxing's things are definitely on you. The fact that we found this place already says a lot; there's no need to play dumb anymore."

Li Xingyao noticed the subtlety of the three men's positioning—a semi-encirclement that blocked all his possible escape routes.

These people are highly trained and work in perfect harmony; they are definitely professionals.

"I don't know anything about Ling Fengxing. I'm just an ordinary adventurer." Li Xingyao said while secretly releasing his soul power to sense the surrounding environment. He breathed a slight sigh of relief when he found that there were only three people on the other side.

"I don't know anything about Lingfengxing. I was just passing by and thought I'd come in to see if there were any rare medicinal herbs." As Li Xingyao spoke, he secretly released his star energy to sense the surrounding environment. After discovering that there were only three people on the other side, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

The tall, thin man was clearly losing patience: "Take him down, but be careful not to damage the goods." He continued, "Kill him, but be careful not to damage the goods."

The two men beside him immediately sprang into action. One, wielding two swords, charged forward with lightning speed; the other drew his bow and prepared to kill Li Xingyao.

Li Xingyao dared not be careless and immediately ordered the Tyrant Zombie to engage in battle. At the same time, he raised his hand and fired a string of death arrows, aiming directly at the archer who was preparing to shoot.

The dual-wielding warrior moved with agility, easily dodging the arrows of death, and engaged the Tyrant Zombies in battle. In the flashes of his blade, he actually cleaved a Tyrant Zombie in two.

Li Xingyao's pupils contracted—this warrior was at least a high-level professional!

The archer dodged directly, but continued firing arrows in quick succession, whistling towards Li Xingyao.

Li Xingyao immediately erected a bone shield and simultaneously attempted to utilize his newly acquired telekinetic abilities. To his surprise, the trajectories of the incoming ice spikes subtly shifted under his mental influence, with most grazing past him. To his surprise, the trajectories of the incoming arrows also slightly shifted under his telekinetic influence, with most grazing past him.

"Huh?" the archer exclaimed in surprise, clearly not expecting his attack to be so easily neutralized.

The tall, thin man narrowed his eyes: "Interesting..."

He raised the composite bow in his hand, aimed at Li Xingyao, and the runes on the bow lit up one by one.

Li Xingyao felt a strong sense of crisis and immediately summoned the Bone Dragon.

With a "whoosh," the arrow left the bowstring, but strangely struck a huge gray-white dragon midway through its flight.

The tall, thin man's expression finally changed: "This is... a bone dragon? Impossible!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the opponent was shocked, Li Xingyao ordered the bone dragon to attack directly, and a white dragon breath shot out from the bone dragon's mouth.

The dragon's breath expanded suddenly after leaving the dragon's mouth, completely engulfing the cave in front of them. Without any cries or screams, the three people silently disappeared under Flamel's attack.

Looking at the situation before him, Li Xingyao was both surprised and somewhat taken for granted. Seeing those few people who were not easy to deal with just now being annihilated by a single dragon breath, Li Xingyao felt that his previous decision was absolutely correct.

After sending the skeleton swordsman out of the cave first and finding no other enemies lying in ambush, Li Xingyao followed closely behind.

Before me lay an unfamiliar valley, moonlight filtering through the trees, creating a serene and mysterious atmosphere. Before me was still that same valley, moonlight filtering through the trees, tranquil and mysterious.

Li Xingyao dared not linger, choosing a direction and moving quickly. He needed to leave this area as soon as possible, find a safe place, and plan his next move. Since the fire warrior and these three had managed to find this place, it was no longer safe; someone else must know about it.

The value of a transcendental star core is extremely precious, but it also brings immense danger. Ling Fengxing's previous experience serves as a cautionary tale, and now, this danger has shifted to Li Xingyao.

Li Xingyao glanced back at the cave, a determined look in his eyes. Now that he had obtained this opportunity, he was determined to seize it. Not only was the Super Star Core valuable, but the telekinetic skill was also perfectly suited to him.

Under the moonlight, Li Xingyao's figure quickly disappeared into the depths of the dense forest, leaving only a string of shallow footprints, which were soon scattered by the night wind, as if no one had ever passed by.

Saying goodbye to that mountain range, Li Xingyao's state of mind on the return journey was completely different from when he arrived. The armored all-terrain vehicle sped across the wasteland, with the unchanging barren yellow and desolate landscape outside the window, while his inner world was surging with the power he had gained.

The journey was surprisingly peaceful; the anticipated pursuit or interception did not occur. This rare tranquility allowed him to fully immerse himself in exploring and adapting to his new abilities.

"Telekinesis..."

He murmured the word, his fingertips tracing a light line through the air. No incantation was needed, no complex stellar energy circuits were constructed, and there was no need for deliberate guidance—with just a thought, the water bottle on the passenger seat floated up and steadily flew to him.

With another thought, the kettle tilted quietly, the lid unscrewed, and a stream of clear, cool water precisely flowed into his mouth. The whole process was as smooth as flowing water, as if an invisible hand extending from his body was operating with effortless skill.

"Is this a rule-based skill?" Li Xingyao's eyes gleamed with excitement and amazement. This was unlike any spell he had ever mastered before. The Arrow of Death required the gathering of death energy, summoning the undead required communicating with the undead realm to construct a channel, and even the Bone Shield required a specific way of circulating star energy.

"Psychokinesis" is more like an instinct, a direct interference of thought in the real world, an almost passive ability—as long as he wants it, as long as his spirit is strong enough, he can control everything.

Li Xingyao kept experimenting, and the items and parts inside the car fluttered around like nimble butterflies; he even tried to use his mental power to slightly affect the vehicle's trajectory, reducing energy consumption and bumps.

He quickly figured out the pattern. Driving telekinesis primarily consumes mental energy, while star energy acts more like a catalyst providing basic energy and amplification; the ratio of mental energy to star energy consumption is roughly 4:1. This might be a huge burden for other professions, but for Li Xingyao, a necromancer with a mental attribute as high as 3.5 (each point of star energy = 3.5 mental energy), this was practically a skill tailor-made for him!

His immense spiritual power, which had been passively tempered by the Myriad Soul Banner and far surpassed that of his peers, finally found a luxurious outlet and a way to utilize it.

He felt an unprecedented joy, as if he had received a new toy. Li Xingyao couldn't help but recall his past life, in that era of information overload, where fantasies and discussions about "telekinesis," "object manipulation," and "superpowers" abounded, and all sorts of imaginative settings and applications fascinated him.

Now, his fantasies have become reality. The wonderful ideas that once danced on the screen and in words can finally be put into practice and verified by him. This sense of satisfaction from his dream coming true has eased the tension and fatigue of the past few days, making this journey home the most relaxing and "beautiful" time he has ever experienced since he started his journey.

Several days later, the low but sturdy outline of the outpost finally appeared on the horizon. As the all-terrain vehicle slowly drove into the outpost's energy barrier range, the moment the personal terminal automatically connected to the federal network, a rapid and continuous barrage of message notifications rang out like a sudden downpour, instantly shattering the original tranquility inside the vehicle.

Li Xingyao frowned slightly, skillfully driving the vehicle into the designated parking area and turning off the engine. He had been almost completely isolated from the world these past few days, and a question arose in his mind: Who would send him so many messages? A strange premonition quietly welled up in his heart, preventing him from getting out of the car immediately.

He gently tapped the message interface, and the number of unread messages kept jumping, which was astonishing.

The first thing that catches the eye is Lin Wei's message, which was posted two days ago.

Her tone remained unchanged, but the content was exactly what Li Xingyao had expected: "Xingyao, the investigation has yielded preliminary results. The three teams have complex backgrounds; most members are registered adventurers, but they belong to different teams and are currently on hiatus. Their gathering lacks documentation, and their motives are unclear, as if they suddenly received a notification and formed a temporary group. The investigation is currently at a standstill, and the source is difficult to trace."

Li Xingyao looked at the message and understood. He knew their motive, of course; they wanted to go to that cave to get what was inside. But as the ultimate beneficiary, he couldn't, and wouldn't, reveal everything to Lin Wei, and could only silently keep these secrets to himself.