Exploring Immortality Cultivation
Chapter 429 - 182: Soul Steel, Golden Wolf, Guardian

Mazes are a kind of game, and any game invented by humans is essentially about probability and game theory. By exhaustively listing possibilities and arranging them according to their probabilities, one can derive an optimal strategy for each move... Theoretically, powerful computers could crack any game through brute force.

Probability Theory was originally conceived by the mathematician Euler from gambling. By the twentieth century, there had been more than one occasion where mathematicians specializing in Probability Theory had won so much in casinos that Las Vegas had to ban them from games like Blackjack and Texas Hold'em.

In the face of pure mathematics, so-called realms, intuition, and even Go strategies are nothing but packed approximate algorithms.

And a good algorithm can help a person directly avoid unfavorable options.

Wang Qi, a specialist in the field of Probability Theory, had the aid of a top-level personal calculator, the Seeking Dao Jade, and soon found the best route. On this path, he still had to face several forks in the road. But that was just a matter of dealing with a few stone demons.

A few hours later, Wang Qi reached the main road.

Unlike the dead end where Wang Qi had been, this tunnel leading to the exit was uneven and filled with claw marks and sword scars. Wang Qi gently touched the marks and realized that they were left quite recently.

"They fought a big battle with the guardians." Zhen Chan shared Wang Qi's tactile sensations and concluded, "Be cautious. They killed you, feared that someone from the Modern Immortal Path would come looking, felt pressured by time, hence they tried splitting their forces to see if they could find a side door to break through quickly. Be careful not to run into anyone scouting."

Wang Qi nodded and walked lightly, sticking close to the wall. Ten minutes later, he came across something blocking his path. Zhen Chan asked, "Is there some kind of monster in the middle of this tunnel? My Spiritual Sense is being disrupted! Run!"

"Don't worry, there's no monster," Wang Qi said, looking at a heap of broken golden metal in front of him. "Nor is it something those Ancient Method Practitioners created. However, I do know why you 'can't see' this pile of stuff."

The broken golden metal was full of minute fissures, which seemed to burn from within, emitting a faint red light. When Wang Qi reached out his hand, he found the metal pieces were extremely hot. This was a force Wang Qi was very familiar with—the World-Purifying Evil Power of the Hongyuan Sect!

This was the work of Priest Li!

Just as Wang Qi was about to pick up a piece of the metal, Zhen Chan suddenly shouted, "Don't touch it!"

"What's the matter, old man?" Wang Qi withdrew his hand and looked puzzled at the ring.

Zhen Chan asked, "You mentioned these are shards of metal scattered on the ground, are they golden in color, similar in hue to actual gold?"

Wang Qi nodded, "Yes, that's right."

"This is Soul Steel, forged by the Demon Clan, a mix of countless souls with the essence of metals. It's a rare and valuable material for most cultivators, and even more so for demon cultivators and ghost cultivators, regarded as a priceless treasure."

Wang Qi tapped the metal fragment with the hilt of his sword: "It doesn't seem very strong though?"

"The power of these guardians has been weakening over the years, probably due to lack of maintenance," Zhen Chan sighed. "Sixty thousand years ago, a guardian possessed the strength of the Body Integration Realm, forty thousand years ago the discovered guardians only had the power of the Divine Separation Stage, in my time, the guardians we encountered in relics were at the Nascent Soul Stage, are they now reduced to Golden Core Stage combat power?"

Wang Qi was shocked: "You've got to be kidding... The peak of the Demon Clan civilization was a million years ago! How powerful must these beings have been back then?"

"As the cultivator perishes, so too does the path, perhaps these are suffering the same fate, approaching the end of their operational lifespan and suddenly declining."

"This 'about to arrive' has been 'soon' for eighty thousand years..."

Zhen Chan emphasized, "If you don't have soul-related cultivation protecting your body, you must not touch this Soul Steel. Ordinary people will be burned upon contact. Moreover, if it's not refined, Soul Steel is extremely heavy and difficult to collect—probably because it has been contaminated by that Divine Power, no one has collected it."

Wang Qi was someone who didn't believe in curses. He protected his hands with Holy Light and gently grasped a small piece of Soul Steel.

"Eh?" Surprisingly, Wang Qi easily lifted the Soul Steel. However, as a consequence, the Holy Light in his body flowed like water into the small piece of Soul Steel.

"This thing is not meant to be 'refined.' Since it has been infused with a large amount of souls as materials, it always exists between living and non-living entities... It's absorbing Negative Entropy Power based on its biological instincts, sucking in my Holy Light!"

"Buzz..." Wang Qi suddenly felt a dizzy spell. The million-year-old Demon Soul within the Soul Steel actually began to reverse flow. Wang Qi quickly threw away the Soul Steel, then grabbed a stone and transferred the Soul Steel and a ball of Holy Light into the stone. The newly born Stone Demon, like a wild beast, let out a roar and lunged at Wang Qi!

Wang Qi forcefully shattered the Stone Demon, saying, "This thing is really dangerous."

......................................................

The main entrance to the ruins was a wide and narrow road that led directly to the Demon Clan Temple. This road had countless side paths leading to various corridors, and within these corridors were numerous dead ends, with only two leading to the two side gates.

This was one of the religious beliefs of the Demon Clan, the Path to God is a clear path of Heavenly Communication, side paths also offer opportunities for enlightenment but are fraught with endless dangers.

At a certain point along this divine road, a thick blue barrier divided the road into two halves. Ancient Method Practitioners were blocked on one side, while the temple was on the other. The Ancient Method Practitioners set up several arrays under the barrier, and countless dark red mists surged out from them, attacking the blue barrier, contaminating and assimilating it. The blue barrier continuously crumbled, beginning to look unstable.

Suddenly, a wolf howl emanated from inside the barrier, and several giant wolves composed of golden metal burst out from the restriction, each possessing the strength of the Golden Core Stage!

The Ancient Golden Cores each used their skills, barely managing to repel these guardians. Just as Zhai Difeng was about to catch his breath, he heard Priest Li scream, "This is not what we agreed on! Mr. Zhai, you said that the Ancient Demons would not arrange guardians on this evil path, right?"

"This place was occupied by a predecessor tens of thousands of years ago, a person from the Middle Ages, easily altering the restrictions here."

Priest Li took a deep breath, "If it weren't for you, imbecile, insisting on sending people to try the side gates, we might have already entered."

Zhai Difeng took two deep breaths, "Priest Li, I am the coordinator of this operation."

Priest Li scoffed, "Don't forget who gave you this opportunity, allowing you to come here, gather Immortal Treasures, and receive the legacy!"

Zhai Difeng forced a smile, "If it wasn't for the great god Hongyuan, we wouldn't likely accomplish what Luofu Xuanqing Palace hasn't in ten thousand years, to find the other parts of that set of Immortal Artifacts. But here, you need to listen to me, as even Heavenly Master Cheng agreed."

Priest Li snorted coldly, "Three days at most, the restriction will unravel itself. Before that, make sure you guard well and don't let the guardians disturb me. Remember, the Immortal Artifacts and the legacy here are bestowed by the great god Hongyuan!"

No one noticed, all of this conversation was overheard by a little Stone Demon at their feet. Such small demons were as insignificant to Cultivators as flies were to mortals. Especially here in the ruins of the Demon Clan, having such small demons was not rare; to pay attention to each one would be endlessly annoying.

Of course, this was also because the demonic aura of this stone was too natural, not like it was manually enlightened.

Deep in the corridor, Wang Qi stroked his chin, asking Zhen Chan, "They'll have it in their hands in three days then..."

(To be continued. If you enjoy this work, please consider supporting it by voting for it on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to continue reading.)

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