Colorful light swirled around Xiang Shen’s body. He let out a cold snort, as if still wanting to argue.

However, Xi Shen, with his thousand eyes and thousand feet, stopped him and directly asked, “What does this have to do with the Research Department?”

Fu Ji calmly replied, “The Research Department is an influential institution that manages various immortal path research projects at the University of Ten Thousand Laws.

Research on the Soul Transformation Method is naturally included in its purview.

And Feng Yuhan, as the head of the Research Department, is also the primary person responsible for the Soul Transformation Method project. Do you think he’s crucial or not?

In some respects, he’s even more crucial than Ciji. He can interfere with the project’s funding and personnel management, and he previously imposed a lockdown on the lab.”

“At the same time, he’s much easier to deal with than Ciji. Whether you simply want to control him, force him to join the Demonic Cult, or convert him into one of your followers, it will be far simpler than dealing with Ciji or Tianzhang.”

Especially with the Spirit Realm held captive by you, as an administrative official, he lacks True Lord Tianzhang’s acute reactions and has lost many of his usual blessings. This is precisely when he’s at his weakest.

Hearing Fu Ji’s words, the three evil gods secretly engaged in another rapid exchange.

“What he said makes sense. Administrative personnel indeed know more than test subjects and are easier to deal with than Ciji or Tianzhang.”

“This guy telling us so much information for free probably means he wants to use us against Feng Yuhan.”

“So what if he’s using us? As long as there are benefits, mutual utilization is normal, isn’t it?”

Just then, Fu Ji spoke again, “Are you done discussing?”

He suddenly stood up, pressed his hands heavily on the round table, and looked up at the three tall figures before him, saying coldly, “Feng Yuhan is yours to deal with. I can give him to you as a welcoming gift.”

“But the University of Ten Thousand Laws is my territory. You’ve had enough fun; it’s time to leave, isn’t it?”

Colorful light surged around Xiang Shen’s body as he said to Fu Ji without yielding, “Hmph? What if we don’t want to?”

“Then don’t blame me…” Fu Ji snorted coldly, “I’ll directly report everything here to the righteous gods and expose your connection with the Demonic Cult.”

“Hmph, many of your followers brought communication tools with them, didn’t they? The righteous gods should also be very interested in the technology.”

In an instant, Zhang Yu felt the murderous intent in the air, and the three gigantic figures seemed ready to press forward at any moment.

After a long while.

The thousand-eyed, thousand-footed Xi Shen chuckled faintly, “God of Fortune, we owe you a favor this time. But before this, we truly didn’t know that the University of Ten Thousand Laws already had such an experienced presence as you.”

Fu Ji waved his hand and turned to leave, saying, “Get out of here quickly.”

“In the future, if anything concerns the University of Ten Thousand Laws, come directly to me to discuss it. Don’t cause trouble like you did today.”

“If you mess up my important plans, you’ll regret it.”

In the eyes of the three gods, Fu Ji had now clearly become an expert on matters concerning the University of Ten Thousand Laws.

Xi Shen asked, “How do we find you?”

Fu Ji calmly replied, “Don’t you know how to use the summoning function of this meeting room?”

Looking at the silent gods, Fu Ji smiled faintly and, with a light tap of his finger, sent an encrypted address to them.

“If you have something, send the message through the Dark Spirit Realm.”

After saying all this, Fu Ji’s figure vanished into the Dark Spirit Realm.

Looking in the direction where Fu Ji disappeared, Xi Shen’s thousand hands all twisted as he asked, “How is it? Have you found his origins?”

Xiang Shen, standing nearby, his body’s colorful light contracting, said, “I contacted some, and the evil gods on the second layer don’t know him. This guy, with his strength and strategic mind, might be from a higher level. That makes investigating troublesome and requires more time.”

Another evil god said, “He hides very well; I couldn’t track him.”

Xi Shen said calmly, “Then let’s proceed according to what we just discussed.”

“Our next plans will probably have to take him into account.”

University of Ten Thousand Laws, within the university town.

Zhang Yu suddenly came back to his senses, feeling his consciousness return from the Dark Spirit Realm to the real world.

Meanwhile, Fu Ji let out a great sigh of relief, thinking to himself, “Damn, these three guys have been frantically trying to trace my origins through the Dark Spirit Realm. If I kept wasting time with them, there’s a real risk of them finding me out.”

Zhang Yu spoke to Fu Ji in his mind, “Why did you leave so quickly? Shouldn’t you have taken the opportunity to gather more information from them?”

Fu Ji calmly replied, “No rush. Let the wind blow a little longer.”

“Once they’ve finished their actions here and confirmed the information I provided, our next exchange will naturally be smoother.”

“Heh heh, with this Dark Spirit Realm meeting room, we now have a safe channel to communicate with the evil gods. In the future, we can exchange information with them and even find ways to exchange resources. Those guys should have a lot of good stuff.”

Zhang Yu and Fu Ji’s exchange was completed in an instant, and then he looked at the people in front of him.

Zhang Yu noticed that not much time seemed to have passed, even though he and Fu Ji had just spent a considerable amount of time communicating with the evil gods in the Dark Spirit Realm.

Fu Ji said, “The Dark Spirit Realm operates very quickly. Once inside, it’s all high-speed information exchange, so even talking for a long time there feels like only an instant in the outside world.”

At the same time, Zhang Yu felt that the atmosphere was a bit strange, and with a little thought, he understood why.

Although they had just collectively defeated a Demonic Cult Golden Core cultivator and avoided the crisis of being killed or forced into the Demonic Cult, during that battle, everyone had, to some extent, exposed secrets related to infringement, law-breaking, and even criminal activities.

Now that the battle was over and the most tense atmosphere had passed, those who had come back to their senses felt, to varying degrees, a sense of unease.

What if they were discovered?

What if they were exposed?

How much compensation would they have to pay?

Worry, tension, fear, and dread—all of these were instinctive reactions, long suppressed by the myriad rules and regulations of Kunxu.

Zhang Yu, feeling all this, deeply understood the reactions of the crowd, because even he, half a Kunxu native, felt waves of lingering fear in his heart at that moment.

But he knew that at this moment, someone had to speak up, and everyone had to keep the secret together.

“Everyone,” Zhang Yu said, looking at the crowd. “No one else knows about what happened today, except for the seven of us.”

“Before this, we might have come from different places and earned different amounts of money. But from now on, if we die, we die together; if we go bankrupt, we go bankrupt together. As long as I, Zhang Yu, am here, I will never let you down in the future.”

Listening to Zhang Yu’s words, everyone nodded slightly and involuntarily.

Unconsciously, Zhang Yu, who had just charged forward fearlessly and taken the lead in resisting the Demonic Cult Golden Core cultivator, had already gained their natural trust.

Seeing the trusting gazes of the crowd, Zhang Yu slightly relaxed and said to Ying Xin, “Ying Xin, you and Shi Yunxiang clean up the battlefield together. Don’t leave any traces of our battle here.”

“Huai Yu, please check the location of the body again and confirm no clues are left behind.”

“Xing Han, go see if Old Mo is awake, and put his hand artifact back on for him.”

“Qing Xuan, Mu Lan, please help me reattach my arm.”

With Zhang Yu’s arrangements, everyone suppressed their unease and began to systematically deal with the situation, their mood gradually calming down.

While cleaning up the battlefield and looking at his companions working alongside him, a strange feeling suddenly flashed through Shi Yunxiang’s heart.

This was the first time since his birth that he had committed a serious crime with others, fought a death match against a formidable enemy together, and then mutually trusted each other to handle the aftermath.

This unprecedented feeling not only filled Shi Yunxiang’s heart but also permeated the heart of everyone present.

“Joy? Exhilaration? Satisfaction? Excitement?” Ying Xin couldn’t find a specific description. She only felt a wonderful sensation welling up in her heart when Zhang Yu entrusted the illicit tasks to her, and she continued to sabotage the infrastructure alongside Shi Yunxiang.

Shi Huaiyu meticulously checked every corner where the body had been, a feeling surging in her heart that she could not betray Zhang Yu’s trust, nor the trust of her companions.

Even though she was working as if on unpaid overtime, she didn’t feel the slightest fatigue. Instead, waves of excitement surged through her spirit.

Fu Ji observed these scenes and thought to himself: “These guys committed crimes together, fought death matches at the risk of bankruptcy, and now, holding each other’s secrets with Zhang Yu as their backbone, they’ve gradually become a close-knit group.”

“And at least now, in the early stages of the group’s formation, they very much enjoyed the feeling of being part of this group.”

“This Zhang Yu… he might be very good at establishing a demonic cult.”

As Zhang Yu led the others in cleaning up the battlefield and destroying the evidence.

The university town was also undergoing rapid changes.

Inside and outside the data center, the Feathered Ascendant Child suppressed the Spirit Realm with one hand and with the other, resisted the siege of countless talisman students, teachers, and righteous gods from the University of Ten Thousand Laws.

On the outskirts of the university town, streaks of bright light flickered across the sky, as the Unemployed Old Man obstructed external reinforcements.

At the same time, large numbers of Demonic Cult followers rushed towards the 666th floor of the university town and the Research Department offices, initiating fierce conflicts.

After the conflicts at these two locations concluded, the Unemployed Old Man and the Feathered Ascendant Child led their people to withdraw.

Besides this, a large number of Demonic Cult followers from outside the campus also voluntarily withdrew from the university town.

As for the cultists within the University of Ten Thousand Laws who had joined the Demonic Cult, they naturally remained in the school, becoming future ‘nails’ for the Demonic Cult embedded within the University of Ten Thousand Laws.

As for those cultists who had watched the Demonic Cult’s materials and voluntarily joined, some were still plundering and fighting everywhere, while others sensed the change in the situation and, after a brief frenzy of looting, wisely retreated early.

There were also some who, though inclined towards the Demonic Cult, only watched everything with cold detachment from beginning to end.

The cultivators of the University of Ten Thousand Laws also began to repair the Spirit Realm.

But as the Demonic Cult gradually withdrew, in a place not on any important battlefield and not receiving any attention from the higher-ups—

A Demonic Cultist, while retreating, punched out a fiery qi blast towards the medicine field.

“Die, rich people! Burn all your medicine fields!”

Just as sparks flickered in the medicine field, a shower of rain already extinguished the flames.

Immediately afterwards, a terrifying pressure descended from the sky.

An invisible giant hand appeared in everyone’s sight.

Whether inside or outside the university town, within or outside the Spirit Realm, everyone saw this giant hand at that moment.

As the giant hand descended, the Spirit Realm network was instantly restored, and the righteous gods all returned to their positions.

All retreating external Demonic Cultists had their bodies and souls separated in an instant.

The university town instantly returned to normal, and all order was restored, as if the chaos from moments before had been merely a dream.

But looking at the scattered limbs on the ground and the swathes of destroyed infrastructure, countless people knew in their hearts that some things were now different from before.