It was clear that the middle-aged woman had used some means to interfere with his perception, rather than actually setting up an array.
Just then, an official Cultivator passed by at the alley entrance but did not notice this side.
That was close. I'm not an authorized user yet. If law enforcement had found out, it would have been very troublesome!
Liang Xiao secretly breathed a sigh of relief, then tried his best to act as if nothing had happened, calmly walked out of the alley, and returned to the highway.
"Gurgle, gurgle…"
His stomach began to rumble in protest.
He frowned slightly. The continuous consumption of True Qi, coupled with the Special Golden Elixir's automatic refining of essence into Qi, made him even hungrier than before—far hungrier than he had ever been.
My current battery life is a huge problem; if I consume too much energy, I might starve to death.
However, since his Dantian could store items, perhaps it was possible to carry some food with him.
What an undeserved disaster! Someone actually has their eyes on my Dantian-perforation recovery problem…
Liang Xiao was somewhat annoyed because his Dantian had not truly recovered; the True Qi that appeared in his Dantian would still dissipate.
It was just that the dissipation rate was a bit slower.
Perhaps it was the miraculous baptism from before that incidentally repaired some parts.
The reason he was able to possess True Qi at all was entirely due to the Special Golden Elixir Method.
"Given my past experiences, while most people would probably automatically assume that my constitution has undergone some kind of positive mutation, there are always those who harbor wishful thinking…"
Looks like I'll have to be more careful from now on.
Liang Xiao started running again, quickly heading toward the school.
His Dantian was truly amazing; even with a corpse inside, he couldn't feel its weight at all.
It was just that having a corpse inside him was… unsettling.
This woman was a Qi Refining Level 3 expert. Does she have any valuable items on her?
Liang Xiao scanned the middle-aged woman's corpse with his mind and found that apart from a very high-end mobile phone, she had nothing else on her body.
Is all the money in the account?
He cursed his bad luck. This was the downside of the digital-currency era—even if you wanted to kill or rob someone, you wouldn't know how unless you had the person's account password.
Money is one thing, but this woman doesn't even have a single magical artifact? That's incredibly poor.
Fortunately, that phone looked high-end; he could find an opportunity to sell it and exchange it for Cultivation resources.
However, it was best to wait until things calmed down before making any decisions. After all, what if this woman had some kind of background?
If he could, he even considered selling the corpse—since the corpses of Cultivators should be worth some money.
However, to avoid being recognized and causing trouble, he suppressed this thought.
Before long, he entered the school and went to the cafeteria.
"Liang Xiao is here…" The cafeteria auntie greeted him very warmly—a completely different attitude from before.
"Liang Xiao is here!"
"Good morning, Liang Xiao…"
Many students and even subject teachers who came here for breakfast greeted him with smiles.
Liang Xiao responded to each greeting with a polite smile, feeling a mix of emotions.
A famous person once said this in his past life:
Once you have power, everyone around you will immediately become a good person.
This statement applied even in this world.
Throughout Changlin High School, he only knew that the principal was a Cultivator; almost all the other teachers were ordinary people.
Therefore, he was now considered one of the top figures in this school.
However, among the proctors for the college entrance examination, there were quite a few Cultivators, who must have come from other cities.
After breakfast, he waited patiently, and when the time came, he entered the examination room.
The morning exam went very smoothly, and Liang Xiao felt confident that he might get a perfect score.
It would be about the same in the afternoon.
However, a small incident occurred halfway through the afternoon exam.
When Liang Xiao checked the exam paper for the second time, he suddenly felt that the True Energy of the middle-aged woman's corpse, which had been stored in his Dantian, was actually dissipating.
This is…
He glanced out the window without making a sound. Seeing that the proctor with Cultivation had not entered the examination room, he then diverted a sliver of his energy to sense the middle-aged woman's corpse in his Dantian.
It seemed that because the master was dead, the True Energy—no longer bound by will—had begun to dissipate.
Because of the perforation in her Dantian, the True Energy that had escaped from the middle-aged woman's body continued to leak and fade away.
This is not good. If a proctor with Cultivation discovers this, they might notice something strange about me…
Liang Xiao's heart skipped a beat. Besides, letting it dissipate is such a waste. This True Energy… can I refine it?
Without hesitation, he immediately began to practice the Refining Essence-into-Qi technique.
With almost no difficulty, the dissipating True Energy was drawn back by the Special Golden Elixir.
The True Energy that originally belonged to the middle-aged woman was assimilated and filtered by the array that formed the Special Golden Core, and then transformed into a purer True Energy that appeared inside the Golden Core.
Although at least half of the quantity was wasted during the filtration process, it was still much faster than refining food.
Does this count as leveling up by defeating monsters?
Liang Xiao was pleasantly surprised. There was actually such a benefit?
He had previously felt uneasy about having a corpse inside his Dantian.
Now, that feeling of unease completely disappeared—and he even wished he could fill his Dantian with a few more corpses.
I wonder if the corpse inside my Dantian will decompose? That's indeed a problem. There's no way to deal with it right now, so I can only leave it inside my Dantian for now.
Suppressing this thought, he focused on refining the True Energy emanating from the middle-aged woman's corpse.
As a result, the amount of True Qi within the Special Golden Elixir increased rapidly.
Five strands, eight strands, ten strands, twenty strands, thirty strands…
When the middle-aged woman's corpse stopped dissipating True Energy, the amount of True Qi within his Special Golden Core had reached sixty-three strands.
This corpse… smells so good!
Liang Xiao was in high spirits. Seeing that it was not yet time to hand in the paper, he used the remaining time to begin weaving the second layer of the Golden Core.
He had already tried it yesterday. Perhaps because of the binding force of the array diagram that formed the Special Golden Core in the first layer, the already-woven part would not dissipate.
However, since a completely new layer had not yet been formed, it would not increase his strength.
Finally, when the time came to hand in the paper, one-tenth of the second layer of the Golden Core had been woven.
If I were to collect nine more corpses at the third level of Qi Refining, perhaps I could weave a complete second-level Golden Core…
The thought had barely crossed Liang Xiao's mind when he immediately suppressed it.
This idea was unacceptable—and refining the True Energy that escapes from a corpse was ultimately somewhat unsettling.
Therefore, it was best to avoid doing this unless absolutely necessary.
After the proctor collected the exam papers and retrieved his phone, Liang Xiao left the classroom.
After meeting up with Wu Jun, the two strode toward the cafeteria.
Meanwhile, behind him, Tan Weifeng walked out of the teaching building amidst the flattery of a group of classmates, secretly feeling smug.
"Without Liang Xiao, plus my cultivation points, becoming the top scorer in Changlin City's college entrance examination is practically a certainty!"
Just as this thought flashed through his mind, he suddenly saw Liang Xiao walking with Wu Jun ahead.
What happened? Why is he still alive?
Tan Weifeng's expression changed, and he hurriedly pushed aside the students blocking his way, quickly walking toward the school gate.
As he walked, he took out his phone, found a name called 'Senior Wu,' and pressed the dial button.