Chapter 168: Spiritual Imprint

Chapter 168: Spiritual Imprint

Though eager to test his hypothesis, Zhou Yun first headed to the inpatient department to treat Kui Niu.

Kui Niu had forcefully used his psychic abilities, which indeed led to a loss of control. Zhou Yun administered a few acupuncture needles, and the chaotic energy within Kui Niu immediately calmed down. Kui Niu let out a long sigh, his face pale, and said softly, "You’re amazing, Dr. Zhou."

Zhou Yun smiled, "Don’t mention it. My services don’t come cheap."

Kui Niu couldn’t help but laugh, "Sorry for the mess at the hospital this time. I’ve already spoken to the staff, and we will compensate for the damaged equipment."

As Zhou Yun continued to insert the needles, he said, "I’ll have them make a list. Looks like you’re loaded. Did you get something so valuable that someone would chase you all the way from the north?"

Kui Niu was startled, "How did you know they came from the north?"

Zhou Yun replied, "The city defense team searched their stuff and checked their IDs. They probably tailed you here and don’t know much about Guixu City. During the interrogation, they remained silent, but according to the hotel staff where they stayed, they all had northern accents and arrived in Guixu City right after you, following your route."

Kui Niu exchanged glances with Zhu Long and Qing Luan beside him, their expressions turning serious.

Zhou Yun smiled, "If it’s something difficult to handle, why not let us appraise it? Like some research findings or important materials... Selling it off early might keep you safe."

According to Su Jiaoning, the north’s a mess. They left Angry Dragon Base, hit the Northern Base, and flew to Guixu City. When Angry Dragon Base fell, they just happened to be at the city lord’s mansion. Then the Angry Dragon City Lord vanished, and they got chased as soon as they hit Guixu. They must’ve grabbed something big, probably tied to the Angry Dragon City Lord’s disappearance.

Kui Niu looked confused and thought for a moment, "Dr. Zhou, we did take some materials on crystal core implants, but these are just for our own treatment. Other valuables and crystal cores—we doubt they’d chase us this far for that."

Zhou Yun nodded, focusing on the acupuncture. After the needles were in, he waited, then asked Kui Niu, "Are you left-handed?"

Kui Niu was surprised. Qing Luan laughed beside him, "Kui Niu’s not a lefty; he wields a knife right-handed."

Kui Niu, however, said, "Actually, I was born left-handed but got trained to use my right hand. But with psychic powers, my left hand feels smoother, stronger. But after the crystal core was put back, I lost that edge and couldn’t use it right." He looked at Zhou Yun expectantly, "Could it be that my crystal core is incompatible because I’m left-handed?"

Zhou Yun nodded, "That’s the speculation. In traditional medicine, it’s said that the left is yin and the right is yang. After your psychic powers awakened, you might’ve subconsciously favored your left hand, messing with the crystal core. When they put your crystal core back, it probably didn’t fit right, causing major side effects."

After Kui Niu’s crystal core was transplanted out and then back in, it became incompatible, leading to an overload of psychic abilities. This wasn’t just due to the difficulty in matching the energy of the psychic abilities but also the difference in subconscious training methods.

Zhou Yun got the idea from Kui Niu’s case.

Why does the same crystal core work fine when moved from plants or animals to humans, but cause problems when swapped between humans?

What is it that is unique to humanity? Is it the elusive "soul"? The "mental power" often depicted in literature, movies, and games? The Taoist concept of "the original spirit" where "internal thoughts do not arise, external thoughts do not enter, and one is self-governing"? Or the Buddhist "Alaya consciousness" that stores all seeds and gives rise to all phenomena?

Last night, he thought hard, checked old texts, and came up with a bold idea.

A crystal core is an energy aggregate. If one could deliberately imprint this unique "soul imprint," "spiritual imprint," or some other "original spirit imprint" on the crystal core, making the crystal core energy operable only within one’s own body, wouldn’t that achieve crystal core binding?

Combining his own experience in studying psychic abilities, he felt this idea might work. But since he had dual-system psychic abilities, the method suitable for him was too complex. He needed to come up with a convenient method that could be easily used by the general public.

Kui Niu’s eyes lit up, "We have a complete set of post-implant medical adjustment materials, but we couldn’t understand them. Yesterday, I had a teammate go back to get them to give to you, Dr. Zhou, but then the incident happened last night."

He took a document bag from Qing Luan and handed it to Zhou Yun, "Inside are some printed materials and a portable hard drive with the data we copied from his computer. I forced them to implant it back for me, but I don’t know if they did anything to it."

Zhou Yun took it, and Kui Niu added, "There might be something in here that the other party wants. Now that I’m giving it to you, Dr. Zhou, it might bring you trouble."

Zhou Yun smiled, "It’s fine. Crystal core implant materials are actually not very valuable." He had seen piles of them copied from the Dark Valley in his previous life.

The special aspect of Kui Niu’s case was that his own crystal core became incompatible after being removed and then returned.

From a surgical perspective, there should be nothing new.

He removed the needles from Kui Niu, finished the treatment, took the document bag back, connected the hard drive, and quickly scanned through the materials.

The data was clearly a direct copy of the hard drive's contents from someone else's computer. He skimmed through it and found nothing of significant importance. He didn't consider such research data valuable enough to warrant someone coming all this way specifically for it.

He had it sent over to Zhu Zhuan's side, letting the experts review it.

With the hospital matters settled, the captured individuals still needed to be interrogated. Zhou Yun returned to Yunding Mountain Villa, took a shower, and got some rest.

When he woke up after a deep sleep, he found it was already dark. He was being held by someone, and Guan Yuanfeng had returned at some point and also gone to bed, likely having been up all night handling the emergency. He hadn't stirred at all, probably because he was too trusting and relaxed with him subconsciously.

He found it amusing, turned around, and reached for the alarm clock on the bedside table to check the time. Guan Yuanfeng tightened his grip around his waist: "Sleep a little more. You were fighting again last night." His voice was still heavy with sleep.

Zhou Yun turned around to hug him, his hand caressing his lips, chin, and moving downward: "I heard from Qin Sheng that it wasn't peaceful by the dam last night. Some people were captured?"

Guan Yuanfeng, with his eyes closed, appeared to enjoy it, slightly lifting his chin to let Zhou Yun tease him, only mumbling in reply: "Yeah, a few earth and water psychics took on the task. The water volume shouldn't have been this high initially. It had been raining upstream for a week, but the water flow was still abnormal. Fortunately, we have water conservancy experts here who timely noticed the abnormal flood peak water level. We followed it upstream and found signs of deliberate damage to the dam."

"We set a trap and apprehended them. They're being interrogated now, and we even borrowed Zhao Yi to take their pulses."

Zhou Yun whispered: "This method is malicious. If it were a smaller base, it would be hard to defend against. The entire city could be flooded and destroyed."

Guan Yuanfeng said: "Don't worry. Our city's defenses have installed crystal core shields. If there really is a flood, we can organize earth and water psychics to divert the floodwaters, which isn't too difficult. Luo Shouchang has experience in this. Moreover, your cactus wall has some water absorption and storage capacity. Overall, this method is only suitable for targeting small bases. They've probably done this many times before."

Zhou Yun sighed in his heart: "In the apocalypse, although there are natural disasters, human abilities are also constantly evolving—but why would they do this?"

Guan Yuanfeng said: "Of course, for profit. The rise of Guixu City has caught many people's eyes. Testing the waters or causing trouble is possible. These are minor incidents. Major official bases have experienced poisoning, plague, arson, and more."

Zhou Yun remembered his medicine: "Today, I had someone deliver the medication. Did everyone take it?"

Guan Yuanfeng smiled: "They did... Don't start a fire. There's still work tonight. Where are you touching?"

Zhou Yun's hand rested on his lower abdomen, with a serious expression: "I'm just examining your crystal core. What are you thinking, General Guan?"

Guan Yuanfeng opened his eyes: "Dr. Zhou's skills are divine, saving people in distress." He felt Zhou Yun's wood psychic abilities gently probing, actually checking the crystal core, and chuckled: "Is it about the crystal core binding?"

Zhou Yun said: "Yes, you should have used the breathing method I taught you at the time, and practiced it since. But now your dual-core is still very different from mine."

Guan Yuanfeng helplessly watched him kneel on his legs, seriously pressing on his lower abdomen, yet ignoring other areas: "What's different?"

Zhou Yun pondered for a while: "I've made an appointment with the Taoist priest. I read 'Practical Internal Alchemy' and some ancient medical books last night and found some similarities. I'm thinking of using talismans to solidify a certain formation, which would directly imprint this spiritual mark on the crystal core."

Guan Yuanfeng: "..." What is he talking about? How did we get here?

Zhou Yun seriously explained: "In layman's terms, it's similar to the principle of quantum entanglement. Entangled quantum particles, when one is manipulated, instantly affect the other, thus being closely related and unique..."

"We use energy frequency resonance to mutually match the formation and the crystal core, forming an invisible protective barrier... Only when it matches the specific spiritual mark frequency can it resonate and interact with the energy crystal core."

He got out of bed: "I'll see when the Taoist priest is available, and also check with the teacher to verify this."

Guan Yuanfeng: "..."