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Chapter 377: Chapter 374 Great Sky Lord
A small military workshop outside Qiushan Mountain.
Gu Jinlai, Zhou Yi, and Zhang Lihuo ceased their work.
In front of them, the Cheng Ying Mecha appeared as good as new, without a sign of damage.
At least, on the surface.
"We have repaired everything that needed fixing; further improvements can only be done through co-spirit integration,"
Zhang Lihuo said.
Gu Jinlai nodded in agreement.
He had the deepest understanding of the technological intricacies contained within the Cheng Ying Mecha and could carry out more detailed repairs, but the time required and the benefits compared to co-spirit integration would fall far short.
Therefore, it wasn’t worth wasting more time.
"The devils of the Three Thousand Marshes have not yet detected anything amiss, or perhaps, even if they have, the sudden loss of three Devil Emperors and twelve Devil Kings has been a heavy blow. The remaining Devil Kings are too frightened to gamble their lives on a mere possibility. They are nearly completely withdrawn from Southern Mu State by now, so we still have enough time,"
Zhou Yi said with a slight sigh of relief.
"Once the devils retreat from the Three Thousand Marshes, Mu State can be considered thoroughly reclaimed."
Zhang Lihuo added, casting a glance at Gu Jinlai, "Next, we just need to take back Yan State to fully integrate the Fifteen States of Tiannan under the rule of Lingxiao Palace."
"Yan State..."
Gu Jinlai murmured the name.
Yan State, like Mu State, was divided into four regions: East, South, West, and North, totaling eight states.
Furthermore, the two Great States shared a number of similarities. 𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝙤𝒎
Vast lands, sparse population.
The vastness was because, over a hundred years ago, these two regions were respectively under the jurisdiction of the Infinite Sacred Land and Jialou Divine Mountain, which were two of the top forces.
The sparse population was due to the earth-shattering calamities brought about by the Daqian Dynasty’s assaults on the two regions.
In addition, to secure control over these regions, the Daqian Dynasty deliberately encouraged the resettlement of citizens from these two states to its heartland, resulting in these regions having an area equivalent to five or six, or even seven or eight states of the Daqian, but their populations were even less than some of the smaller Central States.
"Although the four great Yan States are chaotic and governed by dozens of tribes, those tribal leaders are at the level of Divinity Transformation Great Cultivators at best. With only two or three Primordial Spirit True Monarchs per state and no more than a dozen in total across the four states, they are no match for the current strength of our Lingxiao Palace,"
Zhang Lihuo said with a smile, "We have defeated the devils of Mu State and the Three Thousand Marshes, so it’s likely that the tribes of Yan State will surrender as soon as our armies arrive."
"The Four Great Mu States, the Four Great Yan States, together with Red State, White State, Yellow State, Star State, Blue State, Jiangzhou State, and Eastern Sea Li State, constitute the Fifteen States of Tiannan. In its heyday, the population was three hundred million, and even though Mu State suffered a disaster, if we count the hidden households, the population of Tiannan is estimated to still be over four hundred million,"
Gu Jinlai calculated the number briefly.
Such a vast population...
It exerts a huge attraction on the devils.
You must understand that before the Cangshan Mountain Holy Land was conquered, the total population under its jurisdiction was only two to three hundred million at most.
The Xuanji Sect, where Zhou Yi is from, with an Earthly True Immortal in charge, has a population of just six hundred million.
From this perspective, unless there is someone in the Qiantian World like Master Wushi, who has obtained divine weapons and whose combat power is among the top even among Earthly True Immortals, the Qiantian World, with a registered population of nine hundred million and an actual population certainly exceeding one billion, could not possibly defend itself with only a few Saints. Especially when the Saints are at odds with each other and internal strife is endless.
Zhang Lihuo noticed the solemnity in Gu Jinlai’s expression.
He couldn’t help but ask, "Is there still no update on the cooperation with Emperor Qian?"
Gu Jinlai shook his head, "The Daqian Dynasty is not solely ruled by Jiang Tianji; this cooperation involves more than two thousand materials needed for forging Holy Bodies, which simply cannot be forcefully transported through the Heaven and Earth Qiankun Map like the two hundred pieces of Immortal Essence Gold ten days ago. The human and material resources involved..."
Zhang Lihuo had once considered allying with the Imperial Family and was quite familiar with this type of situation.
Besides the forces loyal to Emperor Qian Jiang Tianji, local powers and the noble families of the dynasty were not to be underestimated either.
Among the six Guardian Ministers left by the previous six emperors, aside from the Great General Li Xingdou, the rest—Wang Yizhi, Zhang Hanhai, Long Yuantu, Qianhua Mountain, and Zhao Riyue—all represented local powers.
Even if Emperor Qian fully trusted Gu Jinlai and was willing to hand over more than two thousand materials for forging Holy Bodies, it would inevitably face opposition from local powers and noble families.
"Humans, always overthink things,"
Zhang Lihuo sighed.
Zhou Yi thought of the Xuanji Sect...
The Xuanji Sect had been no different in its time.
And not just the Xuanji Sect, but all of the Twelve Domains were no exception.
Internal chaos drained a great deal of energy.
If everyone could truly unite and push in the same direction, perhaps...
"Civil strife is inherently human nature,"
Zhou Yi said, "Even a thousand years ago, those who were hailed as incarnations of wisdom and eternal truth—the creators—destroyed a great situation through internal disputes, didn’t they?"
After the fall of the Xuanji Sect, Yun Ling hoped to find the Holy Land representing humanity’s hope, while Hong Ye was dedicated to returning to Qiantian.
At the time, Zhou Yi actually leaned more towards finding the location of the Holy Land. If they could find the legendary Immortal Country, which stood alongside the Holy Land, Gods Mountain, Sea God Temple, and Netherworld, that would be ideal.
Unfortunately...
A thousand years ago, the Immortal Country sought refuge from the oppression of the creators, its location unknown.
The Holy Land...
It was an ideal nation formed by those who had failed amongst the twelve domains.
If the prime of the twelve domains could not withstand the devil army, how could the Holy Land, established by the top cultivators who retreated from the battlegrounds of the twelve domains, possibly ensure the undying flame of human civilization?
It would be a pity if, upon their true arrival at the Holy Land, they found that this place was simply a trap covertly controlled by the devils, specially constructed to ensnare those humans who harbored unresolved grievances.
Purposed to ensnare them all at once.
"Idle talk is of no benefit, let’s focus on studying the Balance Holy Scripture and the Book of Nature instead."
Gu Jinlai suggested.
Though he felt that the path of the creator might have certain flaws, he had no intention of switching allegiances.
He planned to attempt to completely perfect the Creator system that was somewhat flawed.
Compared to others, he had the greatest advantage.
The Qingguang harvested by Qing Lian.
With these Qingguangs, knowledge that would take ordinary people eight to ten years to fully grasp could be mastered by him in an instant.
Although to fully comprehend and apply it in practice there were minor restrictions such as hand-brain coordination, but...
Once the theory was perfected, the practice would merely be a matter of time.
In the following time, Gu Jinlai, along with Zhou Yi and Zhang Lihuo, continuously exchanged and contemplated the two great creator inheritances.
Specifically, it was Zhou Yi who guided the two in their cultivation from Heavenly Monarch to creator.
Of course, Gu Jinlai had thoroughly grasped the Grand Sun Nine Refinement Visualization Method, and with the additional knowledge supplemented by the Qingguang, he had an incredibly solid theoretical foundation. Sometimes his insights also provided Zhou Yi with new realizations.
In such constant exchanges, Gu Jinlai’s understanding of the path ahead for the Heavenly Master Path became increasingly clear.
After cultivators reached the Self-Holding Pill stage with Perfect Essence, Qi, and Spirit, and with their True Body flawless, they could then nurture their spirit, condense their Divine Thought, as well as practice Qi Refining and Divinity Transformation, refining their Divine Sense.
This refers to Spiritual Sense.
The phase from Heavenly Master to Great Heavenly Master is essentially the accumulation of Spiritual Sense, characterized by touching upon spirituality.
Spirituality is the foundation for cultivating the True Spirit.
Once the True Spirit is condensed, it is tantamount to entering the realm of Heavenly Monarch, and what follows is the continuous growth of the True Spirit until it undergoes crystalization, and the crystallized True Spirit comes into contact with the Spirit Realm.
This process must be gradual.
Otherwise, if the True Spirit that has not undergone crystalization rashly enters the Spirit Realm, it will be washed away by the omnipresent spirituality and information of the Spirit Realm, losing its self and eventually becoming a part of the Spirit Realm.
As for the Great Heavenly Monarch, it denotes a state.
Where the intensity of the True Spirit and the accumulation of Spiritual Sense have reached unascendable heights, even the Soul Secret Techniques have achieved a state of Perfection.
At this level, even when facing a Spirit Venerable, they could retreat unharmed.
For their very state is already perfect, and even a powerful Spirit Venerable would find it difficult to find a way to devour their spirituality.
One thousand six hundred years ago, there was no stage called Great Heavenly Monarch. Once they touched upon the True Spirit Realm, Heavenly Monarchs would scramble to prepare for becoming a creator.
It was a Purple Peak Immortal, a residing True Immortal who, crushed by a forbidden Ruin Beast, began to doubt his life and lost balance in his mentality, abandoned the great prospects of residing for a millennium to convert to the Heavenly Master Path. Upon reaching the third step of Heavenly Monarch, based on the complete understanding of the True Immortal Dao Fruit and Primordial Chaos, he conceived the stage of the Great Heavenly Monarch.
Although the Purple Peak True Immortal eventually fell on the path to becoming a creator, by reverse deducing the Heavenly Master Lineage and the cultivator lineage through his understanding, he further perfected the True Immortal Dao Fruit, Primordial Chaos, and even conjectured the theories of Primordial Chaos Qi and Life Singularities, further perfecting the residing True Immortal system.
Since then, the Earthly True Immortals and the Proving Dao True Immortals, while having strong resistance to Soul Secret Techniques, also barely gained the ability to combat Demon Spirits.
They boldly confronted Demon Spirits with their immaculate, indigestible "Dao" and forced the Demon Spirits to burst.
Although facing Ruin Beasts and Spirit Venerables with strong "digestive abilities," they remained helpless, they could easily handle Catastrophic-level Demon Spirits and large Demon Spirits.
This was one of the reasons the Heavenly Master Civilization had its most glorious era, where cultivators never completely vanished and were still able to establish top-tier powers like Immortal Country.
The three Heavenly Monarchs studied the Balance Holy Scripture and Book of Nature, striving to logically arrange the path from Heavenly Monarch to Great Heavenly Monarch to creator.
Three days before the access to Qiushan Mountain would open, Gu Junxiu suddenly approached Gu Jinlai.
"Patriarch, they have sent over the technology related to the ’Laser Cannon’ and ’Repulsion Shield’ you requested."
"They’ve sent it?"
Gu Jinlai, engrossed in his research, was slightly taken aback.
"Yes, they have. However, it seems they have made some inquiries, asking if there were any issues with the Mystic Bird Fighting Machine Electromagnetic Cannon? From the looks of it, they mean..."
"They want the technology for the electromagnetic cannon?"
Gu Jinlai was somewhat surprised.
This time, the responsible person was quite tactful.
Considering he wanted to understand detailed information about controlled nuclear fusion operations from Blue Star, he didn’t think too much of it and said, "I’ll go over there."
Immediately, he went to the observatory outside the rift, took out the prepared technology related to the electromagnetic cannon, and transmitted it over.
At the same time, he voiced his request.
After handling this, he directed Gu Junxiu to wait for a response while he continued his study of the two great creator inheritances with Zhou Yi and Zhang Lihuo.
