The Experiment

Tung Lin yearned to experiment, to see what would happen if he simply mixed two ingredients without Bai Mo. He poured one solution into a separating funnel, and the other into a test tube. Then, he concentrated his Spiritual Power and began to open the stopcock, allowing the liquid to flow down.

As expected, when these two solutions met, no significant reaction occurred; at most, they dissolved into each other and slightly warmed up due to the acid being diluted. Nevertheless, Tung Lin continued the experiment, adding more solution until it was all gone.

Looking at the freshly mixed liquid, Tung Lin pondered deeply. Clearly, these ingredients, when added to Bai Mo, reacted like hungry tigers seeing prey, boiling violently, even exploding. Yet, mixing them together yielded no reaction at all. What if he tried adding Bai Mo now?

Suddenly, a flash of insight struck Tung Lin. He realized something: until now, he had always prepared Card Ink by adding each type of ingredient, or multiple distinct types, to Bai Mo simultaneously, but he had never mixed the ingredients first and then added them. Now that he had a pre-mixed solution, he would try it once to see what happened.

No sooner said than done, Tung Lin poured the solution in his hand into the separating funnel, then took a test tube and drew a measure of Bai Mo into it. Once everything was ready, he concentrated his spirit and opened the stopcock; a drop of the solution flowed down. This drop, upon falling into the Bai Mo, caused only a very slight fluctuation. Seeing this, Tung Lin intended to add more ingredients, but before he could, the drop of solution suddenly boiled violently, and Tung Lin's Spiritual Power, which was surrounding it, almost tore apart.

Persisting for more than ten seconds, Tung Lin still couldn't suppress the drop of solution. The two types of ingredients, coming into contact with Bai Mo simultaneously, caused unknown complex reactions, and the instability grew greater and greater. Tung Lin had no other choice but to activate his second He Xin Jing Shen, causing it to release another powerful surge of Spiritual Power, joining this tense "battlefield." The two surges of Spiritual Power met, and at their point of convergence, resonance immediately occurred, increasing their intensity slightly. Tung Lin's current Spiritual Power was at the early three-star level (an estimation, not a specific division), and the intensity of each core, though slightly weaker, also reached the standard three-star, so preparing two-star Card Ink should have been more than enough. Yet now, it showed a tendency to collapse, and even with the two surges of Spiritual Power resonating to reach nearly mid-three-star intensity, it still couldn't withstand it.

"Hmph, let's see how stubborn you can be," Tung Lin gritted his teeth, decisively activating his third He Xin Jing Shen. He truly hadn't expected this solution, equivalent to two-star Card Ink, to force him to use his full power.

The three surges of Spiritual Power resonating immediately increased the intensity at their convergence point to mid-three-star, but the instability of the solution did not stop there, continuously rising. As a result, Tung Lin still had to exert his utmost effort to barely contain it. All three He Xin Jing Shen gradually rotated to their extreme speed, Spiritual Power rapidly depleting, yet that drop of solution remained like a ferocious beast, growing stronger with each fight. Ultimately, Tung Lin had to admit defeat. He quickly grabbed the test tube, placed it in the Safebox, and closed the lid. After a second, the Safebox vibrated slightly, and the measuring tube beside it began to display rapidly increasing readings: 50, 100, 150, still not stopping, 300. The liquid level continued to rise, finally stopping when it reached the 500 mark.

The energy burst was 500 points! This was clearly not a high-energy Card Ink, yet it contained energy equivalent to half of Zi Jin Ink, a type of High-Energy Card Ink that had been fully developed. And that was just one drop; if more were added, then...

Tung Lin carefully recorded the entire process and results of the experiment. He had two predictions: first, this might be a new type of High-Energy Card Ink prepared from Lu Lian and Chi Huo Stone, but this possibility was very low because many people had tried preparing Card Ink from these two types before, and the resulting product was not High-Energy Card Ink. The second prediction was that it was due to the preparation method; perhaps mixing the ingredients first and then adding them to Bai Mo could yield Card Ink containing more energy? If this possibility were true, it would undoubtedly create a major revolution, raising the level of Card Ink by a long margin, even longer than when prepared using Tung Lin's Co-Adjustment method. However, to verify whether this prediction was correct, Tung Lin would have to wait for some time, when his strength was sufficient to cope, because this preparation method was too dangerous.

After finishing his notes, Tung Lin cleaned up his tools. He stretched and yawned widely, then rolled onto his bed and fell asleep, too tired to even brush his teeth.
Sleeping soundly, Tung Lin was unaware that night, while he was dreaming sweet dreams, a figure slipped out of the house.

**Du Xie Gang Headquarters, Thirty-second Floor**

This was where the Du Xie Gang equipped many devices for researching, improving, and crafting Cards. It possessed a rich, copyrighted Xie Mo Simulation Structure system, comprising various Structures for Cards from two to five stars, covering all types such as energy weapon condensation, body attribute enhancement, qi flow manipulation, long-range attack, and more. To develop such a system, the Du Xie Gang had spent a considerable amount of time and money, and the decisive factor, the person who researched all these things, was only a thirty-year-old young man currently standing in Card Crafting Room Number One, the most modern and fully equipped crafting room.

Doku Sasori, thirty years old this year, handsome and distinguished, a Grade Five Card Crafter, graduated from Shui Yin Academy – the largest Card Crafter training academy in the Jiuxing Alliance. Having worked for the Du Xie Gang for over five years, Doku Sasori had researched and crafted many Cards with an entirely new Xie Mo Simulation Structure system, contributing greatly to the development of this gang. Currently, his Spiritual Power was very close to Grade Six; he only needed an opportunity to break through and become a high-level Card Crafter. Not many people in this city knew Doku Sasori, but those who did clearly understood one thing: his status here was very high, and one should absolutely not be foolish enough to provoke one of the Si Shou if they didn't want disaster to befall them.

Yet at this moment, such an influential figure was gaping in astonishment, witnessing someone else crafting a Card. In front of Doku Sasori was a young man wearing a mask with strange, blood-red patterns, using a pen to draw on the Card before him.

Each stroke of the pen was decisive yet graceful, leaving delicate yet perfectly even ink lines on the Card, not a tenth of a millimeter wider or narrower. Occasionally, a very thin line connected two distant strokes, or a wider, winding line like a main river amidst countless intertwined tributaries and distributaries. Gradually, the Card seemed to be covered by a network, an exquisite pattern containing astonishing complexity. As a high-level Card Crafter, when a quarter of the Structure was drawn, Doku Sasori already recognized it as an entirely new type of Structure compared to anything he knew. And at this moment, he was utterly bewildered by its extreme complexity.

According to Doku Sasori's estimation, the Structure being drawn was at least five times more complex than the Structure on a normal five-star Card. He didn't understand its function, but with such complexity, its features certainly couldn't be ordinary. Doku Sasori was certain that the young man was far more skilled than him. Both were Grade Five Card Crafters, and he was about to break through to Grade Six, yet he couldn't comprehend the Structure the other person was drawing. If he couldn't even understand it, the disparity compared to creating it was truly immense.

Thinking of this, Doku Sasori couldn't help but feel dejected. On the other side, after drawing a large curved stroke, the young man made a final dot and lifted his pen. The entire Card seemed to awaken from a long sleep, a faint stream of light flowing through the Structure network, proving one thing: the Card had been successfully crafted.