Chapter 352: National Hack, Terrifying Beyond Imagination!
Although Ma Ning wasn't aware of the psychological fluctuations inside Yang Bolin's mind that could rival a grand drama on BTV,
From the expressions and earlier words of the other party, it was easy to judge.
This Chief Shopkeeper of the Purple Treasure Pavilion, at this moment, is likely in a state akin to being unexpectedly surprised.
This is actually normal.
After all, Ma Ning's words had a great impact.
These words thrown into the local setting would be akin to someone in early '64, when the rabbits were diligently crafting great projects, suddenly popping up and saying, "Rabbit thieves, I can help you solve the issue of ignition and detonation, would you like a transaction?"
The shock would surely outweigh the surprise.
And the rabbits knew that a cultivator from the Yang Family was about to breakthrough to Nascent Soul Stage, which, in fact, had some connection to Yang Bolin.
In the recent past,
Gu Junming's team, while managing the Taihe Building, never forgot about gathering intelligence.
The sources of such intelligence mainly came from two aspects:
One was the recording devices in private rooms.
The second was the miniature cameras in some other places in the city.
Due to his love for stinky tofu and his attachment to Taoshu Commerce Association,
Yang Bolin gave considerable face to the Taihe Building, holding many internal and external events of the Purple Treasure Pavilion there.
Coupled with the extremely high quality of the food at Taihe Building,
it led to many private gatherings of subordinates regularly taking place at Taihe Building.
And when people drink and dine, their mouths often slip, discussing some business secrets or rumors.
Therefore, during the recent past, Taihe Building collected quite a lot of language samples.
Of course.
These language samples initially didn't reveal much, because the range of topics was too broad.
They included almost every type of event from all over the world.
The more serious ones involved industry trends or city prices, while the less serious ones included all sorts of friendships.
Thus, initially, the rabbits could only extract some relatively important regional information to enrich the intelligence database.
Real turning points emerged during the trade of demon beast materials.
At that time, Ma Ning admitted that the Xiaolianzi Mountain beast tide was orchestrated by Taoshu Commerce Association, and Yang Bolin's reaction was quite unexpected:
He genuinely didn't know it was done by the rabbits.
This is quite intriguing.
One must understand.
The rabbits initially predicted that two to three months after the Xiaolianzi beast tide was annihilated, the leaders represented by Yang Bolin in Ziqiong City would realize it was the handiwork of Taoshu Commerce Association.
And likely send spies to Chixian City to gather intelligence.
Because the traces left by gunpowder were too evident.
Those who've never encountered it might not figure it out, but someone like Yang Bolin, who dealt with such things frequently, would 100% recognize traces of ammunition at the scene.
So the rabbits made a series of preparatory measures, just waiting for the spies to come.
Yet, now they found out that not only had no spies come, but Yang Bolin hadn't even deduced it was the work of Taoshu Commerce Association?
Keep in mind.
Although there weren't explicit territorial divisions among the seven cities of the Southern Domain, some implicit 'lines' were acknowledged by all.
The area where Xiaolianzi Mountain was located clearly belonged to the jurisdiction of Ziqiong City.
As the saying goes, 'One does not allow others to snore beside one's bed.'
With a beast tide housing multiple early-stage third-order demon beasts annihilated, it would theoretically arouse Ziqiong City's attention.
Yet all Yang Bolin knew was that the Xiaolianzi Mountain beast tide was annihilated, without delving into what power achieved such a feat...
This either means he is incompetent, or it suggests...
There's another matter occupying his mind!
And to be something that could make Yang Bolin overlook a third-order beast tide, frankly speaking, is rare.
The Xiaolianzi Mountain beast tide included seven third-order demon beasts, two of which were even close to mid third-order.
So a force capable of annihilating such a beast tide would need at least three mid Core Formation Realm cultivators.
Therefore, it can be judged.
The matter diverting Yang Bolin's attention must involve at least late-stage Core Formation, or perhaps...
Something higher!
With a rough direction in mind, the command center began re-sorting through the intelligence from Taihe Building.
With the assistance of supercomputers,
The analysis team, five days ago, discovered a category frequently mentioned during unofficial conversations among subordinates:
High-level fire attribute materials.
Simultaneously,
A camera outside the Purple Treasure Pavilion showed a person who periodically frequented the place, appearing rushed.
The camera also repeatedly showed changes in the position of this person's Spatial Bag before and after entry.
And this person turned out to be an elder from Yang Mansion!
The frequency of one or two trips within a Damo Day suggested it wasn't for account checking, and if it was to notify Yang Bolin of an urgent matter, it wouldn't happen at such regular intervals.
So, if nothing unexpected happened...
This person is likely regularly transporting certain items!
Having locked onto these two pieces of information, the command center began analyzing the uses of the high-level fire attribute materials.
Fire attribute materials don't have many uses; in the Damo Realm, they're mostly used to forge aggressive weapons or breakthrough elixirs.
Additionally, one particular detail is.....
Fire attribute arrays relatively suppress Thunder Tribulation!
Between mid-stage Core Formation and late-stage (i.e., transitioning from the sixth to seventh level), there are no Thunder Tribulations.
Only when advancing from the ninth layer of Core Formation to the Nascent Soul Stage, do cultivators encounter extremely challenging Thunder Tribulations.
Eventually, the think tank reached a conclusion:
The Yang Family is most likely preparing resources for a significant figure to attempt a breakthrough from Core Formation to coagulate a Nascent Soul!
This is actually quite reasonable.
Although the strongest publicly known figure in the Yang Family is an Eighth-Layer Core Formation cultivator, without a Perfection of Core Formation Cultivator present,
Such news is like a nascent writer claiming to be a newcomer writing a new book, believing only the surface truth.
A family heritage spanning over a thousand years surely has hidden resources, right?
Initially, the rabbits even suspected the Yang Family had more than one person about to breakthrough Core Formation.
Following this line of thought, the command center proceeded to screen through the Yang Family's genealogy.
Unlike the Wei and Mo families,
The Yang Family's thousand-year legacy meant many matters concerning its family members were public knowledge.
Some have even been written into the family's educational curriculum like textbook content.
Rather than ancestors, they are revered as great figures.
Just as locals with the surname Lin often claim descent from Bi Gan, the respect far surpasses the sense of blood relation.
Therefore, without much effort, the rabbits gathered plenty of intelligence on various Yang family ancestors.
After screening,
The command center finally narrowed it down to three potential Yang family ancestors, among which included Yang Zhengchu.
Coincidentally enough,
The manner of Yang Zhengchu's downfall was rather similar to Mo Shaonan's previously -
An unexpected beast tide ambush, and on the surface, everything seemed normal.
But under the rabbits' targeted screening, Yang Zhengchu became a key suspect.
Not because the rabbits found any specific traces, the location of Yang Zhengchu's 'fall' was quite far from Ziqiong City, and happened over a hundred years ago.
Finding traces would indeed be astonishing.
What drew the rabbits' attention was his singular Spiritual Root qualification, an absolute main character-level aptitude!
If anyone in the Yang Family were most likely to ascend to Nascent Soul, it surely would be Yang Zhengchu.
As for the Thunder Tribulation aspect, the rabbits indeed had some ideas.
Therefore, after a series of detailed discussions, a daring plan emerged.
Executing this plan — uncovering this hidden mission — naturally fell to Ma Ning.
Truth be told.
This mission was far from easy, with potential life-threatening risks.
Yet Ma Ning still chose to undertake this heavy baton — he gambled, wagered that Yang Bolin would not dare to touch him.
And what gave him the confidence to stake himself was the Taoshu Commerce Association behind him, or rather, the nation.
Just as Yang Bolin was suspiciously eyeing Ma Ning, a sound of something cutting through the air suddenly came from a distance.
Yang Wanli had arrived.
And judging by his trajectory, Yang Wanli seemed to be more than just a First-Layer Core Formation Realm...
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