Exploring Immortality Cultivation-Chapter 1018 - 102: After the Silver-Winged Assassin Instance
Wu Qi's spirit extended outward, anchored in "Nihility." His mind seemed to be an indescribable, unspeakable existence within the void, not relying on a specific physical body but arising on its own.
He felt as if some entity had formed a connection with him, yet seemed not to have.
According to the "Xuanjun Seven Chapters Sutra," this is sensing the presence of the "Outer Saint" from the void.
Reaching this step, the "Xuanjun Seven Chapters Sutra" is considered to have been introduced.
"Cultivating the 'Xuanjun Seven Chapters Sutra' in the instance world was indeed the right choice!"
The Outer Saint inherently exists, and everything in the universe is said to be born from it. According to "Xuanzi," the source of the Outer Saint is the "core" of the cosmos, known as Absolute Saint Abandoning Wisdom.
However, this metaphysical existence described as the Dao is beyond the reach of mortals. To achieve that state, it cannot be accomplished by conventional cultivation techniques.
And the pinnacle of the "Xuanjun Seven Chapters Sutra," known as the Seal of the True One Descending Sacred Might, can only touch the "wisdom" of the Outer Saint, and make contact with the "Prostrate Chaos."
His spirit became increasingly clear and his breathing gradually turned long and peaceful.
Suddenly, the grand, magnificent, and mysterious voice of the Reincarnation Realm Master resonated in his mind.
"Target task 'Luo Yi' deceased, slayer 'Fan Zhongxing,' reward three thousand Reincarnation Points."
"Task complete, each member of the Reincarnation Team is rewarded with one thousand Reincarnation Points. Return immediately."
At that moment, he finally sensed the peculiar vibrations around him, and felt that direction and distance were in complete chaos.
"Spatial transmission, huh..." Wu Qi did not know that this was merely the result of the Divine Plague Curse Technique disrupting the signal transmission of his vestibular organs, causing a temporary imbalance. Inside, he was fervently wondering whether he could learn spatial techniques from this mysterious "transmission."
This was a technique only reachable at the Divine Separation Stage!
Then, Wu Qi opened his eyes, and as expected, found himself back in the Reincarnation Realm.
The incarnation of the Reincarnation Realm Master—the giant, dazzling sphere of light—still floated there amidst the misty and dreamy light fog, unchanged from the last visit.
Fan Zhongxing joyfully greeted his teammates who appeared simultaneously: "You're all here... no one died!"
This time, their task was the heterodox instance world "Silver-Winged Assassin," a world of overt and covert struggles involving Heterodox Cultivators and their creations "Mechanical Men."
Due to the "unbounded power of the Reincarnation Realm Master," the heterodox cultivators in the instance selectively ignored their identity as True Law Practitioners. Additionally, Fan Zhongxing and Wu Qi were pleasantly surprised to discover that the Reincarnation Realm Master had even fabricated their status in this "instance world" for them, affording them many conveniences.
Such as free cultivation techniques.
The Ruyi Daoist School excels in the Ruyi Hundred Transformations Qi, but Fan Zhongxing himself has always enjoyed all kinds of wondrous spells. Wu Qi had already decided to make the "Xuanjun Seven Chapters Sutra" his main study, a sacred method of seeking sagehood, and was equally open to various heterodox methods. Thus, they took the opportunity to collect many heterodox cultivation techniques and spells.
Unfortunately, the truly profound heterodox cultivation techniques were all paid, much to Wu Qi's silent complaints.
In the end, to secure a truly powerful heterodox cultivation technique, Wu Qi teamed up with Fan Zhongxing and Xiao Jizong to secretly infiltrate a core area of the heterodox and steal a mysterious technique called "Virtual and Real Two-Phase Other Chapter."
This action seemed to have stirred a hornet's nest. They were suspected of being undercover agents sent by the Mechanical Men, and hunted by the secret constables, the "Silver-Winged Assassins." Coincidentally, their task from the Reincarnation Realm Master was to kill the Mechanical Men leaders Luo Yi, Luo Er, and Luo San, which led them to face pursuit from both the Silver-Winged Assassins and the Mechanical Men for a long time.
The Mechanical Men seemed mechanical, but every move was built upon massive calculations, aligning with the heterodox True Law. Each move was flawlessly perfect without any flaws. Every Mechanical Man's move was identical, and if one learned a trick, all other Mechanical Men would comprehend the exact same Absolute Skill in a short time.
Truly terrifying enemies.
On the other hand, the Silver-Winged Assassins all come from the Wanfa Sect, specializing in the Heavenly Collection Scattering Hand. Every move is ethereal, each strike extremely simple, yet the overall fist technique seems to encompass all techniques in the world.
If the fist technique of the Mechanical Men is "perfect" with wondrous finesse, then the "Silver-Winged Assassins" embody "freedom" with improvisational, Heavenly Horse unfettered style.
For these Ancient Method Practitioners, whether Silver-Winged Assassins or Mechanical Men, they were formidable enemies. Disciples of the Wuji Sky Sect, like Lu Longcheng, could not rival the same-level Silver-Winged Assassins and Mechanical Men in the instance world. Fortunately, the level of that "Silver-Winged Assassin World" was somewhat below that of Shenzhou, making cultivation difficult, with heterodox's middle forces being Foundation Establishment Stage instead of the Golden Core and Primordial Spirit Stage prevalent in Shenzhou. This gave them some room for maneuvering.
In the end, they had to act separately to evade the Silver-Winged Assassins' Heaven and Earth Net-like encirclement.
Xiao Jizong bowed to Fan Zhongxing, sincerely. If not for Fan Zhongxing completing the task, the team would have faced heavy punishment. Even the proud ones like Lu Longcheng and Chen Taihuan had to express admiration: "Tell us, Brother Fan, how did you defeat 'Luo Yi'?"
In their group during the mission, they never actually encountered the top brass of the Mechanical Men!
Fan Zhongxing said, "It's nothing really. I just intentionally let the Silver-Winged Assassins lock onto me and then led them around while being tailed."
Chen Taihuan quickly grasped the key point, "I see... you deliberately wanted to attract the Mechanical Men's attention?"
Fan Zhongxing nodded, "Indeed. I pretended to be a Mechanical Man, infiltrated among them, and then met their leader Luo Yi. I risked a treasure from my body and managed to kill Luo Yi—who was a renegade Puppet Judge, not very strong in combat ability."
Lu Longcheng admired, "Impressive, truly impressive. Ordinary Mechanical Men could kill us, yet you managed to escape from among them unscathed..."
Xiao Jizong earnestly said, "Brother Fan truly has great courage! To dare infiltrate them like that!"
But Wu Qi asked in puzzlement, "Brother Fan, how exactly did you do it? How did they not find out?"
Fan Zhongxing chuckled, "Actually, it's quite simple. When the Reincarnation Realm Master let us enter that instance world, we were told the background story: 'Puppet rebellion,' 'Wanfa Sect's purge,' 'Birth of Puppet Judges.' This background included an interesting point. A Mechanical Man must perfectly simulate the temperaments of the Human Clan, and even ordinary humans can't tell the difference. They have to train Silver-Winged Assassins specifically to hunt Mechanical Men."
"In other words, the Mechanical Men are just mimicking humans perfectly. Abilities that ordinary humans don't have, the Mechanical Men don't have either. And ordinary people don't have the ability to identify Mechanical Men. This means the Mechanical Men can't identify other Mechanical Men and humans either. They only know they are Mechanical Men because they were told so, just like some know certain people are Mechanical Men—nothing more. If the ordinary Mechanical Men could identify others, then the heterodox Immortal Dao would have no reason to create Puppet Judges."
The group found this explanation a bit convoluted and couldn't help but respect Fan Zhongxing even more.
——Yet another protagonist-like figure from a drama...
Watching Fan Zhongxing speak eloquently, Wu Qi couldn't help but think.
In terms of origins, the Ruyi Daoist School where Fan Zhongxing came from had only one aged Divine Separation Cultivator who achieved the Dao before the "great retreat," which was not as prestigious as Luochen Sword Palace, Wuji Sky Sect, Thunder
Night Sect, or Unrivaled Sword Sect. Yet here, in this Reincarnation World, Fan Zhongxing seemed to have a protagonist's aura!
——Brother Fan, you've become the target I want to surpass in the short run...
Wu Qi secretly resolved.
Fan Zhongxing, naturally at the center of the group, casually asked Wu Qi, "Junior Brother Wu, you must have at least three thousand Reincarnation Points by now. Have you decided what to exchange them for?"
"I want to exchange them for some time to go train in the world where Luoyan City is!" Wu Qi replied with determination.
In the exchange list provided by the Reincarnation Realm Master, there was naturally the option to "enter previously experienced instance worlds for cultivation." Entering would consume a point each day.
Three thousand Reincarnation Points can't even be exchanged for ten years. For a Golden Core Cultivator, ten years might not even be enough for a single retreat.
He couldn't afford the second volume of the "Xuan Jun's Seven Chapters Secret Manual" yet. And now, he didn't need any special resources, so he chose "time."
What he lacked most now was "time" to switch cultivation methods.
But the Silver-Winged Assassin world was far too dangerous, not nearly as safe as the Luoyan City world, where the highest combat power was only at the Nascent Soul Stage.
........................
Wang Qi, lurking in the shadows, nodded slightly, expressing satisfaction with these individuals' choices. Simultaneously, he swiped his hand in the air and secretly retrieved a few advanced talismans that Fan Zhongxing "used" in the instance, indicating that these were "gone" and consumed.
These Ancient Method Practitioners didn't know that the "Silver-Winged Assassin" instance wasn't added just out of Wang Qi's whim. In fact, before it became an instance in Wang Qi's "Reincarnation World," this "instance" was a "key project" of the Immortal Alliance, a massive game running within the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm.
Just like on Earth, where a best-selling novel naturally leads to IP sales, web games, mobile games, comics, merchandise, and online dramas to make money, the same behavior existed here in Shenzhou. Due to Wang Qi's public lectures, "incompleteness" once became the hottest theme in Shenzhou, and the "Silver-Winged Assassins," a Mirage Game that was both math-laden and groundbreaking, caught on and spread throughout Shenzhou on this momentum.
Nowadays in Shenzhou, if someone hasn't watched "Silver-Winged Assassins" or doesn't understand the mysteries of "self-reference," it's almost like they aren't fit to be called a Cultivator.
And the "Silver-Winged Assassins Virtual Combat Arena" was launched under these premises. Many Wanfa Sect cultivators honed their combat skills within it.
Because the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm currently only supported combat for cultivators below the Golden Core Stage, the users of this were mainly Foundation Establishment Cultivators. This is why Wang Qi set that instance relatively low-level.
It wasn't just to accommodate Golden Core Ancient Method Practitioners, but because the participants simply had that level of capability.
And for the Mechanical Men's moves AI, they had the friendly cameo from Jarvis, with computational support provided by the Ten Thousand Immortals Illusion Realm.
