strictlysupreme #266 - Core Circuit
#266 - Core Circuit
Indeed, it seems bad news outweighs the good.
The sixth Pillar-class Blade Beast near the D2 Integrated War Zone has reached 61% awakening. This can be seen as entering an upward curve towards complete awakening. Although the rate of increase has slowed down, the human world must prepare to fight against a Pillar-class Blade Beast after eighty years.
This matter is undoubtedly related to the Battle of Snow Mountain.
Wang Daochang leisurely finished his noodles, wiped his mouth with a handkerchief, and leaned back in his chair, sighing softly.
No matter how much bad news there is, it must be dealt with one by one.
The Daoist was also somewhat puzzled.
Although Old Sophie is dead, the core circuit has been completely preserved and is right by his side.
According to Five's theory, shouldn't there be no problem?
Wang Jixuan fully utilized his humble character of asking when he didn't understand, raised his hand to light the circle on the battle puppet's wrist, and placed Five's stone slab flat on the aisle.
Unfortunately, the Daoist called out many times, but the stone slab remained quiet and unresponsive.
Five must be asleep.
Wang Jixuan felt a very peaceful spiritual energy fluctuation.
"Eh? Whose soul-nourishing pill fell here?"
"Mine!"
Five directly emerged from the stone slab, then froze for a moment, glaring at Wang Jixuan with a tired and resentful expression, grumbling as she sat down in front of him.
She rested her chin in her hands, looking down, drowsy.
What's wrong?
Wang Jixuan asked, puzzled, "You're already done for?"
"Tired... My injuries are the most serious among the six of us... This time, to seal Old Sophie's power, I even used the original power of the core circuit..."
Five said weakly, then simply lay down on the table in front of her, her ear-length short hair gently falling.
The Daoist smiled, took out a dozen healing pills and essence-fortifying pills, and was about to hand them to Five to tease her, but unexpectedly, this fellow directly pounced, swallowing four or five pills in one gulp.
Hmm...
Her little face is quite soft, and the touch is not bad.
Wang Jixuan resisted the urge to rub it—mainly because he was afraid this fellow would turn hostile—and casually asked:
"I saw you display a different appearance when fighting Old Sophie. Is that your true form?"
With the pills entering her body, Five's spirit recovered a lot.
She chuckled and, while lying on the table, continued to say weakly, "What true form... That's what I normally look like..."
"Then why are you now..."
"This is a form for healing, which can greatly reduce spiritual energy consumption!"
"Oh!" Peony's forehead lit up with a small light bulb. "Small core standby, large core computing!"
Wang Jixuan didn't understand either, and went along with it, saying, "The sixth pillar is about to awaken."
"What!"
Five sat up with a start.
Wang Jixuan showed the news panel to Five. After Five looked at it, she frowned and thought for a while, then clicked her tongue softly and sighed slightly.
"Give me some feedback," Wang Jixuan said with a wry smile, "Don't just make expressions."
"I don't recognize the characters of your planet. Can you read it out? I only learned your language by listening to my spirit slaves talking."
Although Five said it calmly, her little face couldn't help but turn red, and she subconsciously turned her head to look at the porthole.
Peony suppressed her laughter and read out the first message.
"Oh, only sixty-one percent. That's not a big problem."
Five breathed a sigh of relief:
"I thought it had already awakened. This is in the awakening stage. It should be Gari'no trying to awaken it. As long as Old Sophie's core circuit is not damaged, the slumber restriction we set will not be broken.
"It's just struggling... However, it's also possible that they've found a new method to temporarily awaken and be active for a period of time."
Wang Jixuan looked at the bad news that followed and continued to ask:
"It also says here that the D2 border is in fierce battle. An Overlord-class Blade Beast has caused us a lot of trouble. This is a main force Blade Beast group..."
"Aren't the main force Blade Beast groups supposed to slumber with the Pillar-class? If they can be active, does that mean the twelve pillars will awaken soon?"
Five shook her head: "Normally speaking, there are still eight to ten years. Even if their slumber circuits are severely worn, there are still at least six Earth years... This main force Blade Beast group should also have been awakened by Gari'no."
Peony asked: "Can it be understood as them being somewhat enraged after their second fake interstellar gate was destroyed?"
"Almost. Blade Beasts are very vengeful."
Hearing this, Wang Jixuan breathed a slight sigh of relief.
That's fine.
As long as he has some time to cultivate, as long as he doesn't encounter any strange bottlenecks in the future, then he should be able to deal with these beasts.
Five yawned: "Do you have anything else to ask? If not, I'm going to sleep for a while. I'm really tired."
"Peony, make a bed for the Spirit Cultivator Master."
"Alright!"
"Hmph, I can't afford to use you people."
Five stared at the dark red flame surrounding Wang Jixuan's arm:
"I want to see if you can unlock this core circuit.
"I'm warning you, don't mess around. If you're not sure, wait for me to wake up and teach you how to do it. If you break it, the twelve pillars will be able to fully awaken in a few days!"
The Daoist raised his eyebrows: "Am I such a reckless person?"
Five dejectedly floated back to the stone slab.
Wang Jixuan and Peony could still hear her muttering:
"Really, all the benefits have been taken by you. I was thinking about trying to create a dual-core circuit... Are the core circuits blind? Isn't this recognizing a thief as a father? It's so annoying."
Wang Jixuan smiled, narrowing his eyes.
The reason why there is so much bad news on the panel is all due to that Overlord-class Blade Beast.
However, reinforcements from D5 and D4 have arrived one after another, and the half-human mecha team led by Ling Tong and Shen Hai have also played a key role. They withstood and severely damaged a King-class Blade Beast of a main force Blade Beast group, ensuring that the entire D2 battle line did not collapse.
Wang Jixuan dismissed the idea of going to support.
He needs to rest now.
—He can't handle all the enemies himself, or he'll be exhausted.
The last piece of bad news, in Wang Jixuan's opinion, was good news.
Because Meng Jin was seriously injured and the core elite of the Spirit Management Council's Tribunal suffered heavy casualties, the Six Elders were furious and jointly announced a "Spiritual Energy Crusade" against the D5 Integrated War Zone.
The so-called Spiritual Energy Crusade is not a formal declaration of war, but a call for all spirit energy users to boycott the D5 Integrated War Zone, for the spirit energy users in D5 to unite and revolt, and so on.
The D5 side did not respond to this level of threat in any way.
Fu Jian couldn't wait for the low-level spirit energy users of the various fortress Spirit Energy Homes to cause trouble. As long as one Spirit Energy Home caused trouble, Fu Jian could create a pure, spirit energy-free Integrated War Zone within a few hours.
Wang Jixuan curled his lips.
After returning, he would continue to strengthen the Mountain-Protecting Great Array, arranging both the Killing Array and the Entrapment Array.
The two pieces of good news, however, made Wang Jixuan feel very comfortable.
One piece of good news was that because the area where the fake interstellar gate was blown up this time was underground in human territory, unlike the last time it was in Blade Beast territory, the drones sent by D2 brought back a large batch of materials.
Approximately 35% of the gate was snatched back from the Blade Beasts' mouths.
These materials have already been sent back to their Fortress 76 in advance.
Wonderful.
The harvest this time can be said to be enormous!
The last piece of good news...
"A SS-level member of the Natural Faction wants to meet with me?"
Daoist Wang was instinctively wary.
Peony said: "It's Aunt's teacher. Aunt gave me the news, saying that she wants to meet with the Commander secretly to start a comprehensive cooperation."
"I naturally trust Aunt. Everyone has a life-or-death friendship."
Wang Jixuan crossed his arms and thought carefully, looking at his battle puppet.
The battle puppet needs a certain amount of time to re-cultivate a different soul before it can be used normally.
He certainly can't use his main body to meet a SS-level spirit energy user at close range. If he is schemed against, he will have nowhere to cry.
"Reply to Aunt, saying that I've been seriously injured and can't receive guests for the time being, and that I'll be able to meet in about seven or eight days."
"Okay, Commander."
The Daoist stretched and urged: "Tell them to come back if they have nothing to do. We should go home immediately if we don't have a combat mission. It's too dangerous outside."
"Eh... The squad wants to go to the front line to support. Should we apply for them?"
"Go ahead, tell them to take it easy, and, uh, be careful to protect my girlfriend."
The most ⊥ new ⊥ small ⊥ said ⊥ at ⊥ six ⊥ 9 ⊥ book ⊥ bar ⊥ first ⊥ hair!
"Okay."
Wang Jixuan's gaze shifted to the dark red flame circling around his arm.
Now, it's time to tinker with you.
...
The Buddhist Hall squad quickly rushed to the battlefield where the Overlord-class Blade Beast was located.
The fighter jet group escorting Wang Jixuan back to Fortress 76 was imposing, and there were no waves along the way.
That is, when Wang Jixuan was studying the flame, he accidentally activated something, and a huge fire ring suddenly unfolded in the sky tens of thousands of meters high, scaring the crew to almost eject and parachute.
Before the transport plane landed, Wang Jixuan had already made some progress.
The flame in his palm constantly changed shape, sometimes turning into a 'matchstick man' sitting cross-legged, sometimes forming a honeycomb-like pattern, showing hundreds of spiritual energy circuits above, and sometimes turning into a solidified flame sculpture, exuding a complex, mysterious, and obscure Dao rhythm.
'This core circuit is a bit interesting.'
The Daoist closed his palm, the core circuit disappeared, and then emerged from the back of his hand.
He actually already knew roughly how to make this thing 'recognize its master with blood'.
But Wang Jixuan also discovered at the same time.
If he were to use this core circuit, although he could transform into a new Spirit Cultivator, he would not immediately obtain the power of a peak Spirit Cultivator.
The birth of a new Spirit Cultivator requires a growth process and continuous integration with the core circuit.
Moreover, there's a high probability that my cultivation path will be affected.
The upper limit of a Spirit Cultivator is just that.
But the upper limit of Immortal Cultivation is ascension to Immortality!
How should I deal with this thing?
Wang Jixuan scratched his head, pondering. Even after returning to the workshop with Mudan and the mechanical maids, he still couldn't make up his mind.
He was now more inclined to cultivate a powerful fighter with this thing.
Wu Man, Lao Zheng, even Zheng De, Wei Na, and Commander Dongfang would do. Firstly, he trusted them, and secondly, their basic stance was on the side of humanity.
But first, he had to solve two problems.
One was how to prevent this thing from缠着 (chán zhe -缠着 means entangling, clinging, or pestering) him.
The second was to ensure that this thing would acknowledge its master according to his wishes.
All of this would have to wait until Number Five woke up, and then he could 'negotiate' with Number Five. Number Five definitely wanted to obtain this core circuit, but Daoist Priest didn't want to give it.
He wasn't idle either. Restoring the battle puppet's combat power was a matter of urgency.
Wang Jixuan had Mudan bring a pile of crystal cores, set up a Spirit Gathering Array, released the Dragon Python's alien soul from the battle puppet's body, and then crushed the crystal cores one by one.
The main body absorbed spiritual energy.
The alien soul hunted the remnant souls of Blade Beasts.
Gradually, the Dragon Python's alien soul changed from a 'small earthworm' to a 'large serpent'. The dragon's head had a bit more ferocity, the scales were clearer, and a faint golden light surged beneath the gray scales.
This alien soul had already been tainted with Buddhist nature.
Daoist Priest wasn't quite sure if this was a good thing.
He had heard of the dual cultivation of Buddhism and Daoism, and he had also heard of the coexistence of Daoism and Demonic practices, but he couldn't find any paths for the joint cultivation of Buddhism and Demonic practices in the classics, because Buddhist light and Demonic Qi neutralized each other. Buddhist light had a natural restraining effect on Demonic Qi, and the two were like '1' and '-1', which added up to zero.
Wang Jixuan's mind was very active, and he had already thought that perhaps he could reverse the Dragon Python's Heaven Devouring Art, turning it from a Demonic technique into a Buddhist Dharma.
But this was a huge project that required him to seclude himself for a long period of comprehension, and it was definitely not as simple as just changing the name, changing 'Heaven Devouring Art' to 'Heaven Mending Art'.
He could only grope forward.
Thus, after Mudan crushed hundreds of crystal cores, the Dragon Python's alien soul returned to its original size, and its strength recovered to about 10%.
The fleshy wings under the dragon's ribs had degenerated a bit, and the dragon's head had a bit more majesty.
Wang Jixuan controlled the alien soul to return to the battle puppet's body to rest.
The strong feeling of fatigue had already subsided.
The battle puppet's combat power had also recovered by about 10-20%.
At least it could move without hindrance.
Wang Jixuan looked at the dark red flame on his wrist and didn't dare to delay any further. He ordered Mudan to invite 'Treant Ancestor' Beta to graft spirit herbs, pluck hair, and start refining pills.
This time, the pill refinement had a minor explosion.
He refined over sixty Soul Nourishing Pills and twenty Foundation Strengthening Pills in one go, placed them on a plate, and put them in front of Number Five's stone slab.
A certain blonde loli rushed out smelling the aroma, her eyes shining, and she devoured them greedily. Her aura rose visibly.
In a trance, Wang Jixuan saw the tall, long-haired version of Number Five again. That cold and arrogant temperament was really a bit like a certain female cultivator who was crowned 'Fairy Maiden' in their Immortal Cultivation world's beauty rankings.
Daoist Wang had only seen that beautiful female cultivator a few times. Before he became a Sect Elder, they had been opponents in a Sect competition…
Well, the Fairy Maiden was beautiful, but she couldn't take a beating. She was beaten to tears in a few moves.
Let's do serious business, serious business.
"Are you feeling better?" Wang Jixuan raised his hand. "Let's work on this thing."
Number Five rolled her eyes: "What do you want to do with it?"
"I want to cultivate a new Spirit Cultivator that I can trust," Wang Jixuan said simply. "Don't dream of being a dual-core. It's too wasteful of resources."
Number Five snorted: "You won this thing, so it should be yours in principle. I won't break the rules."
"That's good."
"But it has already recognized you," Number Five pouted and shrugged. "Unless you die, it will choose another human to寄宿 (jì sù - lodge)."
Daoist Priest: …
"Is there no other way?"
"No, we don't have any experience in this area," Number Five said simply. "After all, everyone who gets a core circuit is eager to merge with it."
Wang Jixuan asked, "How should this thing be integrated?"
"Just swallow it."
"Swallow?" Wang Jixuan frowned at the flame.
"What are you hesitating about… Oh dear, I can hardly resist snatching it from you. I'll help you!"
Number Five suddenly attacked without warning, her movements so fast that only an afterimage remained. Her small hand struck Wang Jixuan's arm, sending the flame in Wang Jixuan's palm towards his mouth!
Daoist Priest's eyes widened as he dodged, violently tilting his head. The flame brushed past his ear and flew backwards.