NOVEL NEXT Chapter 284: A Third Order Saint
The moment Grey entered the secret realm, space shifted and pulled him directly into Xia Qingyue's inner space.
"I'm back." Grey announced his arrival with a relaxed smile.
"What did you do this time?" Xia Qingyue's soft voice reached him.
She was reclining comfortably, her posture lazy, her gaze distant. Only a few minutes had passed since Grey left, yet that brief silence had been enough for her thoughts to drift.
Memories stirred.
Thoughts she rarely allowed herself to revisit surfaced again, brought back by Grey's presence earlier. The recollections weighed heavily on her mind, pressing down with familiar discomfort.
Her past offered no comfort.
It only carried sorrow.
When left alone, her thoughts always returned there.
As Grey appeared once more, a new thought surfaced.
'If I ask him for help… will he do it?'
Xia Qingyue remained silent, her expression calm, her thoughts anything but.
Her enemies were not ordinary beings.
They stood above most existences in the universe, untouched by the passage of eras, their words treated as absolute law.
One of them was a saint.
The only saint of her era.
A saint could only be matched by another saint.
This truth was not enforced by the Heavenly Dao itself. It was a consequence of power.
Once a being fully awakened as a saint, their existence transcended conventional hierarchies. Sainthood itself possessed ranks.
The moment one fully awakened, they became a First Order Saint.
Her enemy stood far beyond that.
A Third Order Saint.
A First Order Saint bore two halos.
A Third Order Saint bore six.
Each halo represented deeper attunement to the Heavenly Dao, greater authority, and more terrifying saintly abilities.
A Six Halo Saint wielded powers that defied common logic.
Outmatching such an existence required overwhelming superiority in rank.
That was why saints were revered.
And feared.
Across all worlds.
There existed only one known way to effectively contend with a saint without higher rank.
A special physique tied to her lineage.
Yet across countless years, no one had ever awakened it.
Hope had long since faded.
Until she met Grey.
Another saint.
A being who carried the same acknowledgement of the heavens.
A being who, once strong enough, could stand against her enemy.
With Grey's capabilities, Xia Qingyue found herself unable to even imagine the heights he would eventually reach.
That uncertainty made her hesitate.
Should she really ask him for help?
What reason would he have to accept?
They were not close. From her observations, Grey was dense beyond words. He remained oblivious to the women around him and focused almost entirely on benefits, gains, and results.
Perhaps sentiment held little value to him.
And she possessed very little to offer.
Her techniques had already been exchanged for his promise to restore her to her peak. Beyond that, there was nothing left she could give.
Bitterness surfaced quietly.
Her only remaining hope lay with her disciple, who was currently undergoing a special transformation. Whether he would be capable of helping her in the future remained uncertain.
Only time would decide that.
Her thoughts broke apart when Grey suddenly spoke.
"I had an inspiration regarding the Nine Spirit Soul Search technique," he said casually. "After you mentioned the strain it places on the Mind Palace, I paid Eterna a visit to discuss it."
Xia Qingyue tilted her head slightly. "How would that AI help with something related to the mind?"
Grey shook his head.
"This wasn't about the mind."
Her gaze sharpened.
"I entered the Information Layer and created a personal server, similar to the one Eterna uses for Blue Star."
Xia Qingyue's pupils contracted.
"I already possessed a Cognitive Anchor," Grey continued. "Using it, I constructed a server within the Information Layer. Now, all data obtained through the Nine Spirit Soul Search technique routes directly into that server."
He smiled lightly.
"The server's storage capacity equals nearly a million Mind Palaces."
Silence filled the space.
"My Mind Palace remains stable regardless of continuous use," Grey went on. "I can store extracted memories, classify them, label them, isolate relevant fragments, and delete unnecessary data once its purpose has been fulfilled. All of it can be managed directly through my Mind Interface."
Xia Qingyue rose from her recliner.
Her expression had already lost its composure.
"You…" Her voice wavered. "What did you just say?"
Grey paused mid sentence.
"You can access… what?" Xia Qingyue stared at him. "The Information Layer? How did you enter it?"
"To answer that," Grey shrugged casually, "how else do you think I've been controlling this world's technology so effortlessly?"
From his perspective, the technology of this world had never been something capable of restraining him. After all, his previous displays of the Mind Interface should have already made that clear.
"I thought you simply possessed a special esper ability related to control," Xia Qingyue said slowly, her thoughts momentarily freezing.
The words echoed in her mind.
Information Layer.
She lifted her gaze toward him, her expression turning grave.
"You understand what that means, don't you?" she said. "Accessing the Information Layer carries enormous significance."
She took a breath and continued.
"The Information Layer is a hidden stratum that exists beyond dimensional frameworks. It functions as a library of infinite knowledge. Every existence leaves traces within it simply by existing."
Her voice grew heavier.
"Ordinarily, only powerful artificial intelligences that have crossed the transcendence threshold through the Law of Machinery can enter it freely. Eterna is one such existence. Another is the hidden race scattered throughout the vast cosmos."
She paused.
"The legendary Mechanical Race."
"They rarely reveal themselves, yet they possess innate compatibility with the Information Layer."
Xia Qingyue continued explaining, her tone steady.
"High level espers are said to gain partial access at advanced stages, but the information currents exert immense pressure on them. Their presence triggers resistance, restricting movement and perception."
"That is why the City Lord who attempted to link himself to the Information Layer through the Law of Machinery failed," she added. "The currents rejected his existence. Without an external opening or proper authority, entry remains unstable."
She looked directly at Grey.
"The same applies to humans as a whole."
Then her expression shifted.
"But you…"
Her words trailed off.
Bewilderment surfaced clearly in her eyes.
Grey's presence did not clash with the Information Layer.
Instead, it seemed to align with it to the point that he could even create a Cognitive Anchor.
And that realization unsettled her more than anything else she had witnessed so far.