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Chapter 384: Chapter 381 Surrender
The spiritual essence extracted from the fall of demon spirits is the highest quality Primordial Spirit Pill.
As long as the spiritual essence is sufficient, any Spiritual Artifact can be refined.
The reason why the civilization of the Heavenly Masters was so powerful a thousand years ago, capable of creating awe-inspiring objects such as Space Cities, Floating Islands, and Star Gates, was because they had suppressed the Demon Realm and used it as their hunting ground, freely transforming demon spirits into spiritual essence for the use in turning Co-spirits into Spiritual Artifacts.
Currently, Gu Jinlai, by refining demon soul crystals into demon refining pearls, has maximized the roles of Demon God Warriors and Heavenly Masters.
Mass production of Spiritual Artifacts...
Is by no means an empty promise.
"Demon spirits as an energy source... are quite useful."
This thought suddenly emerged in Gu Jinlai’s mind.
But then, he shook his head.
Demon spirits are still humanity’s greatest enemy.
Whether it be the lineage of the Heavenly Masters, cultivators, or Demon God Warriors, it is the same.
The Heavenly Masters developed various Spiritual Artifacts and Treasures to counter demon spirits, but demon spirits did not stop advancing.
The Demon System is their most forceful counterattack targeted at the Heavenly Masters.
If transported back a thousand years, a Demon Emperor transformed from a Spirit Venerable could certainly annihilate a creator face-to-face.
Even if the creator was protected by Ruins Beasts and Heavenly Dragons.
It is known that the strength of creators lies in their perception of danger after their True Spirits have transformed into Spirit Realm Lives and the Ruins Beasts and Heavenly Dragons they refined.
Through the perspective of the True Spirit Realm, their vision could reach anywhere, and unless there was another creator of the same realm to cover for them, no other methods could hide any secrets from them.
Using this crisis insight, creators could easily evade dangers posed by Earthly True Immortals and True Immortals, avoiding encounters with them.
Then, by controlling Ruins Beasts, they could capture them...
Even the True Immortals who have achieved the Dao Fruit and unified with Primordial Chaos could only watch helplessly as their souls are gradually peeled and torn apart by Ruins Beasts, heading towards death.
But demons are different.
After demon spirits transform into demons, they specifically evolve one ability.
That is the ability to perceive Heavenly Masters.
Powerful demons can even "smell" the aura of True Spirits from hundreds of miles away, let alone real Spirit Realm Lives.
They can easily locate the true bodies of creators, destroy their physical forms, and without a body, creators transformed into Spirit Realm Lives lose the basics of the Material World, their coordinates, and ultimately can only wander lost in the Spirit Realm and perish within it.
Zhou Yi, Zhang Lihuo, and Gu Jinlai discussed in detail the specific refinement and improvement of the demon refining pearls and then distributed some tasks to Zhang Yukan, Si Tianyan, and others.
The three of them then went to another room.
Zhou Yi took out a set of materials and said, "Palace Master, these are the sixteen most valuable Soul Secret Techniques we’ve compiled from the Balance Holy Scripture and Book of Nature. Of these sixteen techniques, three are from our Xuanji Sect, one from the Daqian Royal Family, and the remaining twelve from Master Wushi."
"Soul Secret Techniques."
Gu Jinlai looked at these sixteen techniques.
The Great Sky Lord is the Perfect Level state of a Heavenly Monarch.
This state encompasses not just the True Spirit and Spiritual Sense, but also Soul Secret Techniques.
It’s like a cultivator who needs perfect comprehension of their realm, their True Qi needs to reach the peak, and they also need to master various sword techniques and Secret Techniques.
Naturally, cultivators can rely on Dao Artifacts and Spiritual Artifacts, while Heavenly Monarchs...
Before the advent of Divine Weapons, basically had no instruments to use.
"Soul Secret Techniques generally involve four main categories: attack, defense, domain, and support, but the categories intermingle with each other. For example, the Eternal Heavenly Curse you control, Palace Master, belongs to a purely offensive Soul Secret Technique, while Great Sun Eternal Radiance can be classified as both offense and domain..."
Zhou Yi continued, pointing at the sixteen Soul Secret Techniques, "As a Perfect Level being, the Great Sky Lord has no weaknesses, so it’s best to choose one technique from each of the four categories of attack, defense, domain, and support, and master them to the extreme."
"All four categories need to be cultivated?"
Gu Jinlai was somewhat surprised.
"Yes, the so-called perfection includes mastering the True Spirit, Spiritual Sense, and Soul Secret Techniques, but there is another form of perfection, that is the spirit."
Zhou Yi said, "When everything you have reaches the extreme, the spirit enters a special state..."
"To put it simply, it’s a state of mind that feels ’I am now invincible in the world’?"
Gu Jinlai pondered.
Zhou Yi was startled by Gu Jinlai’s analogy, then nodded in agreement, "Yes, that’s the mindset. This confidence and edge will grow to a sense of invincibility and similarly inspire high morale. If an army that has never been defeated faces another with similar equipment and numbers, the ultimate victor will undoubtedly be the former."
Gu Jinlai nodded.
His gaze settled on the sixteen Soul Secret Techniques.
Soul Secret Techniques actually have certain requirements for the core of Visualization.
Matching Soul Secret Techniques provide the greatest power.
In terms of attack, Gu Jinlai had no intention of switching. The Eternal Heavenly Curse was enough.
Domain is yet to be decided.
As for defense and support...
After a moment, Gu Jinlai’s gaze landed on a technique called Wall of Nihility and another called Burning Heart.
The Wall of Nihility constructs a zone around the True Spirit where no spiritual essence exists, like a wall blocking other people’s Soul Secret Techniques from utilizing spiritual essence to attack his True Spirit.
Burning Heart is of the support category.
Or one could say the technique category.
This secret technique could stimulate the True Spirit state, making the True Spirit enter a boiling state, an explosive state.
Such an activation state was similar to forcibly burning the True Spirit as was done in the past, and the cost was almost the same—it would damage the True Spirit, yet it was clearly more efficient than burning the True Spirit.
If Gu Jinlai had mastered this secret technique before entering the Demon Realm, he wouldn’t have needed the ten Eternal Heavenly Curses to kill that Spirit Venerable.
"Let’s start with these two secret techniques, but I also plan to look at other secret techniques as a reference,"
Gu Jinlai said.
Zhou Yi nodded.
Each Great Sky Lord’s practice of secret techniques was systematic, and what kind of secret techniques to cultivate could naturally only be decided by himself.
The advice of ordinary people could only serve as a reference.
"In fact, Venerable Daoist Elder doesn’t need to be in such a hurry to establish the core secret technique that he needs to cultivate,"
Zhang Lihuo, who had pondered for a moment, still advised, "Firstly, the growth of Venerable Daoist Elder’s True Spirit and Spiritual Sense has not yet reached its zenith, and secondly, Venerable Daoist Elder, don’t forget the inheritance of the Aries Star Palace. That inheritance, preserved by the Aries Star Palace’s Artifact Spirit, is much more complete than any inheritance we have."
"The inheritance of the Aries Star Palace?"
Zhou Yi was taken aback.
Zhang Lihuo and Zhou Yi briefly explained.
Upon hearing Zhang Lihuo’s explanation, Zhou Yi couldn’t help but gasp, "I’ve also heard of the inheritance of the Aries Star Palace. It’s said that the Heavenly Dragon Wood carried it wandering around the world, but for a thousand years, not a single person has been recognized by the Aries Star Palace. Now... for the Palace Master to stay in Qiantian, the Aries Star Palace is actually willing... For a thousand years, very few have had such treatment!"
He had long known that Gu Jinlai had amazing potential in the Path of the Heavenly Master, but he never imagined that his potential would reach such an extent.
"Palace Master, Heavenly Lord Zhang is right. If you can obtain the inheritance of the Aries Star Palace, there’s really no need to rush the issue of Soul Secret Techniques,"
Zhou Yi showed some genuine admiration, "The Aries Star Lord... he is the head of the twelve great Star Lords of the Holy Land and the main reason he became the leader of the twelve Star Lords is due to his mentorship of disciples. In that era a thousand years ago, he could have been revered as the teacher of all under heaven."
"I will first comprehend these two secret techniques to accumulate experience. If I can really obtain the Aries Star Lord’s inheritance, and there are Soul Secret Techniques more suitable for me, then it won’t be too late to switch,"
Gu Jinlai said.
He didn’t need years or decades to study Soul Secret Techniques as other Heavenly Masters did.
Once initiated, it was merely a matter of how much Qingguang one had.
Speaking of Qingguang...
Gu Jinlai "looked" at it for a moment.
Lately, the increase of Qingguang had been very slow.
He had another technique waiting for him to cultivate, the Chaos True Demon Body.
This technique, which he had acquired from the Sect Hierarch of the Demon God Sect Ying Wuqing and had been initiated, was...
Light purple in color.
Based on his experience, Gu Jinlai estimated that it would probably require twenty to thirty strands of Qingguang.
And now...
With peace along Tianhe south of the river, songs and dances flourishing, his monthly Qingguang income had dwindled to just three or four strands.
There was no helping it; the requirements for Karma were too high.
Without engaging in large-scale slaughter, it was impossible to amass Karma to such an extent.
And now, in the lands south of Tianhe, even if there were occasional conflicts, they were only aimed at the parties involved. Incidents like the past where people would be exterminated down to the last member of a household were almost non-existent.
"During this period, bring over the other Cultivation Techniques related to the Path of the Demon God for me to comprehend as a foundation. In three months... let’s reclaim Yan State,"
Gu Jinlai made a plan in his mind.
He figured that conquering Yan State would bring him a good amount of Qingguang.
As he mused, the voice of Gu Qingmei came from outside, "Patriarch, news has arrived from Star Lord Xin. The well-known major factions of Yan State have sent a joint envoy team that has already crossed the Black and White Sand Sea and entered Red State territory. It seems they wish to submit a plea of allegiance, to discuss joining our Lingxiao Palace."
At this statement, Gu Jinlai, who had been pondering on recuperating for a while before waging war on Yan State, suddenly froze in place.
"Enter,"
He called out.
Gu Qingmei quickly entered.
In her hand was a rather large Thousand-mile Light and Shadow Mirror.
In the mirror, Xin Tianqi was already waiting there.
"Palace Master."
"Yan State wants to surrender?"
"Yes, the thirty-six tribes of Yan State have formed an envoy team and are heading to Starlight City. Their advanced personnel have already contacted us, expressing hopes to discuss the details of joining Lingxiao Palace. Furthermore, the Primordial Spirit Monarchs and Divinity Transformation Cultivators from the thirty-six tribes are also willing to join Lingxiao Palace and become one of us,"
Xin Tianqi summarized briefly.
"Do they understand the order system within Lingxiao Palace?"
"They do."
Xin Tianqi nodded, "They are willing to follow the equal order system promoted by Lingxiao Palace."
After speaking, he smiled and said, "In fact, I’m not at all surprised by the decision of the thirty-six tribes of Yan State. Any sensible person, upon learning that we defeated an invading army from the Three Thousand Marshes, including three Demon Demon Emperors and dozens of Demon Demon Kings, should know that standing against our Lingxiao Palace is a dead end."
Hearing this, Gu Jinlai didn’t know whether to feel relieved or regretful.
"Regardless of whether they surrender, Lingxiao Palace must conduct a round of judgement on Yan State. Initially, this judgment was to wait for three months, but now... I will organize a team, lead personally by me, bring along Lu Zhanxian and other Primordial Spirit Monarchs, plus ten thousand Demon God Guards to station in Yan State. If they wish to surrender, they will also have to wait until after we complete the judgement,"
Gu Jinlai spoke, then turned to Gu Qingmei, "Go assemble the personnel, move ahead of schedule, so as not to let some extremely wicked people receive wind of this and leave early."
