I Don't Agree to the Terms
Chapter 318 - 185: Recognizing Calamity, the Invisible Shackles

From Yun Yu’s words, he deduced that the entire Xuanji Realm had been stagnant for an unknown number of years, as if it had been locked by some existence.

This lock is suspected to be related to the closure of the ascension pathway years ago, that’s correct, ascension is no longer possible now.

The specific reason is currently unclear, anyway, Yun Yu doesn’t know, or perhaps knows but it’s not appropriate to tell Gu Shanhai, so after some beating around the bush, Gu Shanhai skipped over this matter.

"The people and things you requested have arrived, what do you plan to do next?" Yun Yu looked at Gu Shanhai and asked.

Gu Shanhai had asked Yun Yu for ten people, one in the Purple Mansion Stage and nine in the Spirit Origin Stage, among which one of the Spirit Origin Stage was suffering from the torment of an Inner Tribulation Demon.

He did want those in the Qi Refinement Realm, it’s just that those in the Qi Refinement Realm do not undergo tribulation.

"As of now, this senior, he’s at a stalemate with the Inner Tribulation Demon, and seems to be showing signs of decline. If my expectations are correct, there’s a seventy percent chance he will lose."

"So, we need to lend him a hand, for instance, by turning the Heart Demon into the Purple Mansion Stage; then how could this Heart Demon pose a threat to this senior."

"Or, let the eight Spirit Origin Stage seniors join the battlefield, have the nine Spirit Origin Stage seniors gang up on a Purple Mansion Stage Heart Demon, then the odds of victory are undoubtedly high."

When those ten people heard Gu Shanhai’s words, none of them spoke up to dispute or question the fact that Gu Shanhai was merely in the Qi Refinement Realm. For them, if it succeeded, that was good, and if it did not, there was no change, so why deliberately provoke others.

"And now, what I need to do is to craft an artifact, one that can realize these things successfully." Gu Shanhai picked up the materials, and seriously began to hammer and forge.

Inside the main hall, everyone was staring with wide eyes; watching Gu Shanhai not only using both hands but also using the jade belt formed from Yin and Yang energies to craft, they could not understand what Gu Shanhai was doing, primarily because there were no mana fluctuations in Gu Shanhai’s crafting process.

Moreover, this also deviated from their understanding of artifacts.

What had stagnated along with the Xuanji Realm wasn’t just development, but it seemed also the cultivators’ perceptions; otherwise, how could they possibly still be stuck in such a level of productivity and societal structure after such a long time.

Not to mention anything else, Yun Yu’s mind in terms of evolutionary progress was definitely much stronger than Gu Shanhai’s. However, now it seemed as if they were only increasing values and not logic, computation, and other various abilities.

Like telekinesis, which clearly had reached the level where it could interfere with molecules and atoms, yet they insisted on using telekinesis to hit people, which seemed somewhat off.

That was the situation with the world’s cultivators. Their strength had increased, but their methods were still as primitive as using great force to throw bricks. Gu Shanhai didn’t deny that this approach was thrilling, as he too followed this path, but there was something wrong with it in terms of the whole world’s development.

As time passed, after spending nearly three days, Gu Shanhai finally finished crafting the device.

"Thank you for waiting, seniors." Gu Shanhai wiped the sweat from his forehead after the adjustments, as everyone had watched him for three days.

Three days for cultivators were, in fact, just a fleeting moment, even for the Spirit Origin Stage cultivator entangled with the Heart Demon.

Cultivators had become beings of longevity; for them, the span of time was naturally being stretched longer and longer.

The Qi Refinement Realm increased lifespan by a hundred years, the Foundation Establishment Stage added three hundred years, and the Purple Mansion Stage had a lifespan of a thousand years. This was essentially a predatory system of seizing the creation of heaven and earth; since they had plundered it, their lifespans naturally increased greatly.

"Come, this Purple Mansion Stage senior, please enter this cabin here, and you may encounter a phantom of the Heart Demon. Don’t worry, though, it’s just an illusion of the opponent," Gu Shanhai told the Purple Mansion Stage cultivator.

The person nodded, didn’t ask anything further, and directly sat inside the equipment cabin on the left.

Afterwards, Gu Shanhai arranged for the Spirit Origin Stage cultivator afflicted with the Inner Tribulation Demon to enter the equipment cabin in the middle and told him to remember the aura of these nine disciples and not to intercept them.

After handling this, he arranged for the remaining eight Spirit Origin Stage cultivators to go to the equipment cabin on the right and instructed them not to resist the tug from the machine.

With all personnel in place, the device was activated.

Yun Yu, Ji Cheng, and even the Supreme Elder were all invigorated and then watched Gu Shanhai’s actions.

"The basic principle is to weaken, enhance, and gang up. Weaken the Heart Demon, enhance oneself, and then through the gang-up of many disciples, I believe, Sect Leader, that you should be able to see the battle within this senior afflicted by the Heart Demon," Gu Shanhai explained as he spoke.

"I have seen it, the Heart Demon indeed has a problem, being misled into thinking it’s in the Purple Mansion Stage. Even without the help of the eight disciples, he would be able to kill the Heart Demon by himself."

With the Sect Leader’s endorsement, it meant the machine was successful.

At least, the Spirit Origin Stage cultivators didn’t have to worry about the Heart Demon as an internal tribulation anymore.

"Besides the Inner Tribulation Demon, can other internal tribulations be dealt with at the same time? And can this be used for those above the Spirit Origin Stage?" Yun Yu asked again.

"I’m not sure, I haven’t tried, Sect Leader, as you know... I just reached the Qi Refinement Realm three days ago..." Gu Shanhai said wryly, as this was beyond his field of knowledge. After all, his real strength was only around the Spirit Origin Stage, and he didn’t know about higher levels.

Yun Yu was initially stunned and then burst into laughter, "My mistake, your talent is just too incredible. I took you for a Peeping Dao Stage Supreme Elder."