No one spoke for several seconds after the Hollow Vein envoy finished speaking.
"The core is searching for the missing component."
The fragment inside Lin Xuan pulsed again.
Harder.
Not painful.
But impossible to ignore.
Xu Liang immediately noticed the shift.
"It's reacting."
Lin Xuan nodded slowly.
"Yes."
Instructor Han's expression grew serious.
"That means the system is actively scanning."
Yan Rui crossed his arms.
"Which confirms the second phase has begun."
Senior Qiao looked at the Hollow Vein cultivator.
"You planned this."
The man answered calmly.
"We initiated the activation."
Xu Liang's voice turned colder.
"But you didn't have the fragment."
"No."
"Yet you activated the system anyway."
"Yes."
Yan Rui laughed quietly.
"That's bold."
The envoy replied without emotion.
"Calculated."
Instructor Han crouched and placed another sensing plate on the stone floor.
The device lit up instantly.
But the pattern it displayed was different from before.
The formation lines beneath the corridor were bright now.
Energy was moving faster.
Much faster.
Instructor Han inhaled slowly.
"The circulation speed just doubled."
Xu Liang frowned.
"From the core?"
"Yes."
Yan Rui looked toward the darkness ahead.
"That means the convergence point is almost fully online."
Senior Qiao spoke firmly.
"Then we move now."
The Hollow Vein envoy did not block them.
He simply stepped slightly to the side of the corridor.
"You may continue."
Xu Liang didn't lower his guard.
"You're letting us pass."
The man nodded.
"Yes."
"Why?"
"Because the system already detected him."
His gaze shifted toward Lin Xuan again.
"Wherever he goes inside the network… the core will know."
Yan Rui muttered quietly,
"That's not comforting."
The group began moving again.
Slowly.
Carefully.
The Hollow Vein envoy remained behind them.
Not attacking.
Not interfering.
Just watching.
Lin Xuan felt the fragment pulse with every step.
The signal ahead was stronger now.
Much stronger.
Not just a vibration.
A pull.
Xu Liang spoke quietly while walking.
"Describe the sensation."
Lin Xuan thought for a moment.
"It feels like… something is aligning."
Instructor Han nodded slowly.
"That makes sense."
Yan Rui added,
"The fragment is part of the system."
Senior Qiao said nothing.
But his expression had become much more serious.
The corridor finally began to widen again after nearly another hour of walking.
The stone walls opened into a massive underground chamber.
Even before they fully stepped inside—
They saw it.
At the center of the chamber stood an enormous circular structure carved directly into the stone floor.
Dozens of formation lines radiated outward from it.
All glowing faintly.
All connected to the network they had been following.
Instructor Han froze.
"…The convergence point."
Yan Rui exhaled slowly.
"Looks like we found it."
Xu Liang scanned the chamber.
No guards.
No traps.
Just the massive ancient structure quietly circulating energy.
But Lin Xuan felt something else.
The fragment inside him pulsed violently now.
Stronger than ever before.
Because the moment they entered the chamber—
The entire formation reacted.
Lines of light across the convergence circle suddenly brightened.
Instructor Han's sensing plate lit up so intensely it almost cracked.
Yan Rui's eyes widened slightly.
"Well."
Senior Qiao's voice turned sharp.
"Status."
Instructor Han answered quickly.
"The core just locked onto a target."
Xu Liang didn't need to ask who.
Because every glowing line in the convergence structure had already shifted direction.
All of them—
Pointing toward Lin Xuan.