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Chapter 191: Chapter 188: Return to the Capital
"When the demon body reaches the strength of a Demon King, the vitality and blood within can overflow and interact with reality. Demon Kings can use these powers much like cultivators wield True Qi and Sword Gang, capable of long-range attacks. But unlike the few dozen meters, or even just several meters of range for Sword Qi and Sword Gang, the forces within a Demon King can burst forth for hundreds, even thousands of meters, thereby threatening even Monarchs."
However, this statement is not absolute.
The Sword Qi released by Devas can also extend for hundreds of meters.
But compared to those who take the path of utilizing Heaven and Earth’s momentum, Demon Kings continue to refine their bodies, and the vitality and blood within are far more vast.
And moreover...
"The biggest difference between human Demon God Warriors and Demon Kings is in their demonic nature. Even if humans strengthen their bodies to the point of rivaling Demon Kings, the external vitality and blood are not as concentrated as Gang Qi, dissipating after several hundred meters, failing to threaten a Monarch. But when Demon Kings combine their vitality, blood, and demonic nature, their vitality becomes spirited, lingering long and with demonic nature that preys on one’s soul..."
Gu Jinlai sat astride the Mechanical Tyrannosaurus, leading his team towards the Star State Capital—Starlight City.
However in his heart, he was weighing the differences between upper-level demons, Demon Kings, Primordial Spirit Monarchs, and Devas Space.
After sorting out his thoughts, he vaguely sensed something.
The combination of Demon Spirits and Fierce Beasts created the Demon System.
Humans, even after embarking on the path of Demon God Warriors, still cannot contend with it.
At least, the Demon God Warriors, whose bodies are as powerful as Demon Kings, still cannot threaten a Monarch hundreds or thousands of meters away like a Demon King can.
The attacks of those Demon Kings contain both vitality-blood damage and the erosion of demonic nature, essentially stacking physical and spiritual attacks.
A Monarch may be able to shatter the vitality and blood force...
Or rather the Magic Power released by Demon Kings, but they will still be shaken in spirit by the erosion of demonic nature. Flying through the Qingming or sword controlling to kill would become sluggish.
During this opportunity, the Demon King can close the distance to the Monarch’s body.
Any Monarch, let alone a Deva, is almost certain to face death once a Demon King gets close.
"This is an attack method developed by Demon Kings specifically to target human cultivators. Yet even when human Demon God Warriors reach the stage of Demon Kings, because they lack sufficient demonic nature, their attacks of vitality and blood weaken and become powerless after spreading several hundred meters, unable to harm a Monarch, not to mention conducting a second round of spiritual attacks with demonic nature, to shake the core of a Monarch’s spirit."
What about those Demon God Warriors with strong demonic nature?
They lost control and went insane during the accumulation of demonic nature.
"Not only that, Demon Kings have a great advantage when dealing with Demon God Warriors—using their own demonic nature, they can draw out the deep-seated demonic nature within the Demon God Warriors. The Daqian Imperial Family once considered using demons to combat demons and trained a six-thousand-man army of Demon God Warriors. However, when a Demon King arrived, with a sky filled with Demon Flames, it directly led to the six thousand Demon God Warriors losing control and going mad, causing tremendous destruction amidst their frenzy and mutations."
Gu Jinlai had seen this record.
This was also why the Daqian Imperial Family subsequently prohibited civilians from training as Demon God Warriors.
The risks were too great.
Demon God Warriors could, at most, make themselves a little useful at the ordinary or Great Demon levels, but thinking they could solve the problem of demons with their help?
It was simply digging one’s own grave.
"The Demon System is a combination of Demon Spirits and Fierce Beasts, and for decades, Heavenly Masters have considered mimicking demons, refining Fierce Beast Essence Blood, complemented by the spiritual nature of Heavenly Masters, to carve out a lineage system. But the number of powerful entities among Fierce Beasts is too few, and many Heavenly Masters extremely resist, and find it difficult to accept, the abandonment of human form to become demons. This has led to the failure of this path before it even had a chance to develop..."
Gu Jinlai, having obtained the scriptures from the Great Sun Heavenly Sect, these secrets were no longer confidential to him.
The Heavenly Masters made numerous efforts to avoid being exterminated by demons.
Unfortunately...
The civilization behind the Demon Spirits seemed to have long nurtured a mature Demon System. The idea that the Demon System only had a hundred years of development was simply untenable.
It’s likely that the Demon Spirits only made minor adjustments to the Demon System to counter the Heavenly Master lineage, making themselves more resistant to Soul Secret Techniques.
It’s akin to a civilization with a complete industrial system modifying an originally more powerful tank to have better defense.
It’s not about changing the model of the tank but the difference in the depth of civilization.
For Heavenly Masters to create a new path to counter the Demon System, they would have to create it out of nothing, bridging the technological accumulation that took another civilization who knows how many years, in just decades—no easy task.
Rather than that, it would be better to develop the local Cultivator System vigorously.
Using the unique characteristics of the local civilization to expel the demons first.
"Speaking of which, the Ruins Beasts refined by Heavenly Masters, because they are not completely living beings, should not fear the erosion of demonic nature. Furthermore, if I could create the Xuan Nu Fighting Machine, the Cheng Ying Mecha... The fighting machine and mecha are inanimate objects, and if I control them remotely with True Spirit Possession, I shouldn’t have to worry about the influence of demonic nature..."
Gu Jinlai pondered.
After his consciousness dissipated for a moment, his attention was drawn back to the Eternal Furnace.
Eternal Furnace: Small Achievement → Great Achievement.
Derived trait: Eternal Immortal.
Gu Jinlai sensed this trait.
Although he had already realized the changes in himself during the nearly ten minutes of consistent operation by Qingguang, feeling as though he and the Eternal Furnace had merged into one,
when he precisely perceived this trait, he still took a deep breath.
Powerful.
Unbelievably powerful.
So powerful that it almost exceeded Gu Jinlai’s understanding.
When he uses himself as the energy source to overload the Eternal Furnace, he and the furnace merge, during this process, he can transform into a half flesh-and-blood, half energy...
Or rather a semi-spiritualized life form.
In this state, regardless of what kind of injuries he sustains, he will be able to recover quickly.
"It’s as if all of my conditions have been reset."
Gu Jinlai reflected on the path of the heart.
To put it precisely, it was a matter of returning to the furnace for rebirth.
Using oneself as the energy source, one would overdrive the Eternal Furnace, merging with it to be reconstituted and reorganized.
Isn’t this the very definition of returning to the furnace for rebirth?
All things have spirits!
In the understanding of a Heavenly Master, spirits, all things, and the world belong to a whole.
Humans are naturally included within.
So-called humans, fierce beasts, devils, flowers and trees, fish and insects, and even mountains and rivers, the sun and the stars, are merely different configurations of "spirit".
Just as adjusting the arrangement of elements can turn rock into diamond, the trait of eternal immortality is to revert one from the state of flesh and blood life back into the state of "spirit", and then rearrange it back into the state of flesh and blood life.
This reversion and reorganization naturally allow one to return to their optimal state.
Of course, since the activation of this furnace rebirth function requires the Eternal Furnace to run in overdrive, it greatly affects the stability of the Eternal Furnace, so each reorganization can only proceed after the Eternal Furnace has stabilized again.
Otherwise...
Once the Eternal Furnace becomes unbalanced, it would explode like a supernova, releasing a final dazzling glow and energy before vanishing from existence.
"Truly worthy of a Golden Legend Level Skill, its derived traits are powerful,"
Gu Jinlai sincerely expressed.
But then, something seemed to occur to him.
The Eternal Furnace, from entry-level to Small Achievement, required just over a dozen beams of Qingguang. But from Small Achievement to Mahayana...
Factoring in his previous energy consumption, the number of Qingguang spent was above sixty.
It had increased fivefold.
By this estimation, to cultivate to Perfection, would it not require two to three hundred beams?
"One beam of Qingguang is equivalent to saving me ten years of cultivation, two to three hundred beams... that’s two to three thousand years..."
This number reminded Gu Jinlai of the Virtual Creation Dragon Elephant Wisdom on Blue Star.
So...
A Golden Technique, is that a true Immortal Cultivation Method?
One that can attain the Immortal Dao?
"Refining God cultivators often live between one hundred fifty to two hundred years. At the Saint Stage, one forges an Undying Holy Body with heaven and earth as the furnace, remaining unspoiled and immortal for three hundred years. Beyond that, one seeks their own Dao, eventually refining the void and achieving unity, attaining the True Immortal Dao Fruit of the Longevity True Immortal Realm... Such individuals are said to be able to stay in the world for a thousand years."
This rumor flashed through Gu Jinlai’s mind.
So it’s said...
For a True Immortal who seeks longevity and attains the Dao Fruit to practice the Eternal Furnace, would it take three lifetimes to succeed?
Gu Jinlai looked up in the direction of the State Lord Mansion.
The State Lord Mansion, in a sense, still belonged to the orderly camp, and it was obvious that they couldn’t gather three hundred Qingguang.
Dragon Sparrow Manor...
Was also unable.
Suddenly, he shifted his gaze to the Western Purgatory Sect, the Netherworld Sect, and the Southern Cold Moon Sect.
He nodded.
However, priorities must be set.
"Let’s restore the order in Star State first," he said.
...
As Gu Jinlai led his army closer, despite only having five thousand men, along with many experts, the total number didn’t exceed five thousand five hundred, yet within Starlight City, panic permeated everyone’s hearts.
Those with the means, like the Jiang Family and the Xie Family, had already fled, planning to escape to the Imperial Capital while Tianhe North and South were accessible.
Whereas the less capable clans were as anxious as ants on a hot pot.
Qi Fenglei and Xue Yue worked tirelessly to marshal the troops in an attempt to stave off Gu Jinlai’s offensive, while also trying to get in touch with Dragon Sparrow Manor...
But, they received no response.
Instead, the Meteor Star Guard started to stoke fires amidst this turmoil, declaring Gu Jinlai’s glorious victories at Baihe City, where he had slain an Upper-level Demon Ape Commander and thousands of devils and tens of thousands of fierce beasts, while simultaneously publicizing Lingxiao City’s laws and regulations, alongside the almost egalitarian ideal before the law.
In such a climate, Xue Yue’s forces began to stir with restlessness, developing a sentiment that defecting to Lingxiao City didn’t seem like a bad idea.
Seeing that the trend was irreversible, even if Xue Yue and Qi Fenglei were reluctant, they had no choice but to hurriedly pack up, following the example of the Xie Family and the Jiang Family, and flee northward.
Regarding this, Xin Tianqi ultimately remembered the past kindness of State Governor Qi Zhongsheng and didn’t order his men to block them.
And so...
By the time Gu Jinlai truly arrived with Lu Zhanfeng, Gu Chaoyang, Gu Qingmei, and others at the gates, Starlight City had not offered any resistance.
Besides, Starlight City had no walls to speak of.
So, just like that, over five thousand people marched unobstructed into the heart of Starlight City, the capital of Star State.
