Nuclear-powered Sword Immortal
Chapter 860 - 711: Stability

Chapter 860: Chapter 711: Stability

Gu Jinlai listened to Pang Yuan’s description, unsure how to describe the technology tree of the current Immortal Xuanhuang Realm.

All that could be said was that everything had been forced upon them.

"The Hunter Squad you annihilated, with Captain Blade as a Level 8 Mechanic, the Vice-Captain and two others as Level 7 Mechanics, and the remaining members as Level 6 Mechanics."

Pang Yuan said.

"Level 6 and Level 8..."

Gu Jinlai was a bit surprised: "With their formation... I feel they could easily surround and kill a Nine Heavens Profound Immortal."

"Your feeling isn’t wrong; in fact, the number of Nine Heavens Profound Immortals who died at their hands exceeds the fingers of one hand."

Pang Yuan paused: "This even includes those Nine Heavens Profound Immortals who have adapted to the omnipresence of the Devouring Dao in this world."

"How are these Mechanic levels divided?"

Gu Jinlai asked.

"You’re familiar with the Nine Layers Heaven and Six Dao Realm broadly known in the Xuanhuang Great World, right?"

Pang Yuan glanced at him: "Due to the restrictions imposed by the Devouring Dao, people in this world had no choice but to delve deeper into the Divine Sense Ability, researching more efficient utilization methods. Theoretically, the Divine Sense strength of a Level 9 Mechanic is equivalent to the ninth layer of the Spiritual Realm, but due to efficiency, Divine Sense Secret Techniques, a Level 9 Mechanic’s combat abilities on the spiritual level fully rival those of a Human Realm Great Dao Golden Immortal."

"Level 9 Mechanic, Great Dao Golden Immortal..."

"Less than half an hour after you destroyed the Hunter Squad, the Heavenly Punishment Team descended. This team had three Level 9 Mechanics, and the number of Great Dao Golden Immortals they killed or captured similarly exceeded the fingers of one hand."

Pang Yuan said.

"What is this? Nine Heavens Profound Immortals turning the tables on Great Dao Golden Immortals?"

Gu Jinlai, although he had heard of some weaker Great Dao Golden Immortals possibly being besieged by Nine Heavens Profound Immortals, listening to Pang Yuan’s account...

This situation turned out to be the norm in the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm.

No!

The Great Dao Golden Immortals killed or captured by the Heavenly Punishment Team couldn’t all be extremely weak.

In other words, they were stronger than imagined.

They directly categorized the last three realms of the Nine Layers Heaven into levels one to nine.

Before reaching these levels, since they couldn’t even start the engines against the Devouring Dao’s power, they were categorized as apprentices.

As for their own Cultivation Realm...

"Times have changed."

Pang Yuan said: "A thousand years ago, during the old cultivation era, cultivators at least knew of the Void Immortal, True Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, and Profound Immortal terms. In the new era, the native creatures spawned from the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm over these millennia strengthen their physiques through the quenching and optimization of their Divine Sense on themselves, or through direct Starforce infusion and enhancement, completely unaware of what Heavenly Immortal or Profound Immortal means."

The base manager of the Immortal Shadow Association expressed some disdain: "True Immortal, Heavenly Immortal, they command no reverence; in their eyes, there’s only the distinction between Mechanics who can resist the Devouring Dao to initiate the reactor and those apprentices who can’t even start the reactor."

"Starting the reactor... a True Immortal level’s Spiritual Realm, just the First Layer Heaven is enough, right? At most the Second Layer Heaven?"

Gu Jinlai inquired.

Pang Yuan was silent for a moment, then said: "The strength of the Spiritual Realm is one thing; the refined application is another. In this world, the more Divine Sense Ability you invest, the greater the influence of the Devouring Dao... often, only Profound Immortals, at least with a Sixth Layer Heaven Spiritual Realm, can forcefully overpower the Devouring Dao’s pull with their Divine Sense output strength to initiate the reactor."

Gu Jinlai understood Pang Yuan’s meaning.

It’s like a resource depletion rate calculated as a percentage per second, with a fixed recovery rate per second.

A high resource doesn’t always mean something good.

"Once you adapt for a while, you’ll realize that our utilization of Divine Sense Power is far inferior to the native creatures of this world, just like how... they seem influenced by some mystical force, abandoning all other innate talents to focus entirely on the Divine Sense."

Pang Yuan said.

"Assimilation."

Gu Jinlai quickly realized it.

Then he thought of the Evil God and the creator.

Then he thought of Emperor Zhou Huang suspended above the Nine Heavens and...

The newly spawned beings of the Immortal Cave Heaven.

"A very precise description."

At this moment, a Divine Thought came from the front.

Unnoticed, the submarine-like apparatus had already stopped.

At a certain seabed base-like entrance, a middle-aged man was quietly waiting with three others.

Those three...

Each wearing Mecha over a dozen meters tall.

Clearly, they were Mechanics.

"Bi Yuan?"

Gu Jinlai identified him by the fluctuation of his Divine Thought.

The middle-aged man Bi Yuan nodded: "Welcome to your arrival."

He said, somewhat sighing: "Now Zhou Huang has completely fallen into the Demon Path and is almost indistinguishable from that Evil God. He uses unknown means to twist the spiritual nature of beings, altering the innate talents of the newly spawned beings in this world... it’s like the Evil God nurturing Evil Spirits, raising one Mechanic after another... facing the increasing numbers of Mechanics besieging us, we desperately need new comrades like the Ancient Sacred God to join."

"Mechanic? Can a low-level mechanic be useful on high-level battlefields? Even a Level 9 Mechanic against those Great Dao Golden Immortals, who have adapted to the rules of this world and are skilled in combat, can be of use?"

Gu Jinlai asked.

"One or two are useless, but what about ten, twenty, a hundred, or two hundred?"

Bi Yuan said, "Moreover, once that Great Dao Golden Immortal makes a move, he must consume power. This consumption not only includes the power needed to eliminate the mechanic, but also the power required to resist the Devouring Dao. Great Dao Golden Immortals are not Immortal Golden Immortals; their power is not infinite. Once the power is exhausted, they either die in battle or are captured and subdued. There is no other choice."

"Devouring Dao..."

Gu Jinlai took a deep breath.

Therefore, all the issues pivot back to the initial key point—the Devouring Dao.

"We don’t lack strong fighters, what we lack is a sufficient number of strong fighters!"

Bi Yuan pinpointed the critical issue they are currently facing.

"Is there no one who can resist the influence of the Devouring Dao?"

Gu Jinlai asked.

But he quickly realized he had asked a meaningless question.

If someone could indeed resist the Devouring Dao, these resistance forces wouldn’t be hunted down like rats, hiding everywhere.

"The Devouring Dao doesn’t come from Emperor Zhou Huang’s power but from an older period than the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns. So, when we want to confront the Devouring Dao from the level of Great Dao, it’s almost tantamount to facing the ancient beings at the level of the Three Emperors and Five Sovereigns. Success is nearly impossible."

Bi Yuan said, "According to the conclusion reached by the Association Masters, our only method is to start from the level of Divine Sense. The Devouring Dao isn’t Zhou Huang’s power. If our Spiritual Realm is higher than his, we might be able to seize control of the Devouring Dao from him, fundamentally solving the problem."

"Spiritual Realm..."

Gu Jinlai mused, "Ten thousand years ago, this Human Emperor’s Spiritual Realm..."

"Beyond the Ninth Rank!"

Bi Yuan emphasized heavily.

Finally, he seemed to feel that Gu Jinlai was unaccustomed to this way of description and explained, "The beings of the new era believe that the so-called Six Dao is outdated, so ’rank’ directly represents the Golden Immortal Six Paths, with ranks one to three corresponding to the Human Realm accordingly."

He further explained, "Here, Human Dao Realm refers to the new era’s Human Dao Realm. If it’s the Human Realm from the old methods era... it can only correspond to Levels 10, 11, and 12 of mechanics."

Gu Jinlai, not a native product of the feudal era, quickly understood this description.

"Zhou Huang’s Spiritual Realm exceeds the Ninth Rank... that is the Divine Dao within the Six Dao, and it is the ultimate in the technique of utilizing Divine Sense Ability, also mastering many Divine Sense Secret Techniques within the Divine Dao Realm."

Gu Jinlai said, glancing at Bi Yuan, "How many ranks has the Spiritual Realm of the strongest among you reached?"

Bi Yuan shook his head, "It’s not that I cannot place absolute trust in you, but this information is not something a Vice President of the Immortal Shadow Association like me can know. All I know is that our Association Master belongs to the Third Rank."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

He didn’t insist.

As Bi Yuan had said, they don’t lack strong fighters.

What they lack is a sufficient number of strong fighters.

Perhaps they have a Tenth Rank Golden Immortal among them, but even with a Tenth Rank Golden Immortal, it’s still not enough to take back control of the Devouring Dao from Zhou Huang.

First...

They can’t break through the defense constructed by Star Gods and Star Lords.

Second...

To regain the Devouring Dao authority originally belonging to Zhou Huang, the Spiritual Realm must at least surpass that of Zhou Huang.

Which means the equivalent of the Mid Stage of Divine Dao at the Eleventh Rank, Peak of Divine Dao at the Twelfth Rank, or even the Thirteenth Rank...

Surpassing the Divine Dao by one great realm, reaching the Eternal Life Dao.

"Zhou Huang hasn’t left the Great Sun Stars for over a hundred years. According to the guess of the Association Master, he might have fallen into Demon Path which caused a backlash, so for now, we don’t need to worry about him. What we really need to be cautious about are those Great Dao Golden Immortals behind the Star Lords, as well as the Star Gods and Elders..."

Bi Yuan seemed worried about scaring people away, shifting attention to the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, adding, "However, not every Star God is necessarily extremely powerful, it’s just that they happen to have the Great Dao which the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty lacks, so they are considered Star Gods, and more than half of the Star Gods have no ill will towards us."

Gu Jinlai pondered, and after a while, he decided to proceed in his own way.

Just like when he first entered the Holy Dynasty.

Moreover, compared to when he first entered the Holy Dynasty, he is starting from a much higher position now.

Ten thousand Martial Kings cannot defeat a Supreme Void Immortal.

Yet the mightiest Supreme Golden Immortal may not withstand the joint force of a hundred ordinary Golden Immortals.

"I want some Spiritual Techniques of this world."

Gu Jinlai said, emphasizing, "The higher the rank, the better."

"Alright, for any new member who joins, we will offer a copy of the Spiritual Technique to quickly remove the marks from the old method era. However, this cultivation skill can only reach the Third Rank Spirit."

Bi Yuan said, directly taking out a prepared Jade Scroll, "As for other more precious knowledge, such as higher-grade Spiritual Techniques, crafting matching mecha, and Divine Sense Secret Techniques, they require equivalent exchange."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

This was similar to the time when he first entered the Holy Dynasty.

Compared to having nothing when he first entered the Holy Dynasty, at this moment he at least has over two thousand strands of Qingguang as reserves.