The dull sound woke Ai Changyuan from his dazed state.

The terrifying thought that swept the galaxy was still wreaking havoc inside him. He felt as if he was dispersing, his Primordial Spirit constantly enduring destruction. Imposing and minute erasures of Spiritual Power occurred intermittently within him.

"Serious… indeed…" Ai Changyuan felt he couldn't even lift his fingers. He opened his eyes and looked around. Lu Qianqian was sitting cross-legged in meditation, performing Circulation. Her cultivation method this time was cautious, diligently concealing all aura to avoid triggering any fluctuations of Spiritual Power.

There was an enemy.

Ai Changyuan quickly understood the situation that led Lu Qianqian to act this way.

The Vitality of those in the Primordial Spirit Stage was extremely strong; they themselves were a part of heaven and earth. If they completely released their bodies, they could incite terrifying natural phenomena on the Shenzhou Land. Ai Changyuan closed his eyes again, focusing his attention within himself. His consciousness sank into an illusory "nebula" that was the image of his own Primordial Spirit, his "Primordial Spirit True Form."

His cultivation was primarily based on Gravity, mixed with the original nebula's process of forming a constant star through gravity, which then evolved into boundless light and heat. Although it appeared that his cultivation method was the classical Ai Family method—light and gravity, the cornerstone of Yuanli Master—it was entirely new at its core.

This was one of the Immortal Alliance's secret projects; this low-grade Primordial Spirit Skill was the core of that plan, and nearly a hundred Primordial Spirit Cultivators had adopted this method over the decades.

The "nebula" gently rotated, drawing Spiritual Energy from the outside world. The vast river of Spiritual Power crossed the void directly into his body. The source of this "long river" was cosmic, deep within this constant star gravity field. Primordial Spirit Stage and below were simply not the same species; through their connection with heaven and earth, Ai Changguang could even create his own Spiritual Energy circulation.

Mysterious orbits following the generation of a constant star transformed Spiritual Energy with an incredible efficiency into Ai Changguang's own Mana. During this process, Ai Changyuan's Primordial Spirit vibrated violently. The aesthetic of the Dragon Clan, which had left an impression of a frozen galaxy, was still there. He swallowed a mouthful of reverse blood, and a sensation that was both warm and cool coursed throughout his body, his physical state visibly improving.

A strong vitality burst forth; he struggled to sit up. Then, he lightly tapped his fingertip on Lu Qianqian's forehead, transferring a strip of Mana from the level of Primordial Spirit into her body, circulating it to heal internal injuries and replenish her physical state. Although Ai Changyuan was still gravely injured, even a small fraction of the power from his body could restore Lu Qianqian to her strongest condition.

Lu Qianqian appeared deeply entranced in meditation. This was why Ai Changguang chose this method to awaken her. She blinked, saw Ai Changguang, and exclaimed with joy, "Brother Changguang, you're finally awake!"

"Miss Lu, what is the situation now?"

Lu Qianqian's face turned pale as she hurriedly said, "Outside, outside, there are Ancient Method Practitioners! They seem very powerful! Brother Changguang, Changyuan is in danger! You must save him!"

After hearing about the events from that day from Lu Qianqian, Ai Changguang also became anxious. His main purpose for coming here was to ensure his younger cousin wouldn't die. He stood up and said urgently, "You wait here, I'll check the situation!"

Lu Qianqian first nodded, but then hesitated, "But... Brother Changguang, you're still injured, aren't you?"

"Don't worry about my almost dying appearance. In this state, even if Nascent Soul Stage Ancient Method Practitioners attack me while I stand, they won't be able to do much harm."

But, it would be different if it was someone from the Divine Separation Stage...

Ai Changguang concealed the flicker of concern on his face well. He sensed that the Qi Mechanism of heaven and earth on the island was muddled, as if it had just been swept by some terrifying attack. This level of Spiritual Power was definitely an enemy from the Divine Separation Stage upward.

With each advancement in Cultivation, combat power increases exponentially. Because cultivation enhances the essence of life, the higher the level, the more powerful the techniques available.

In his current state, defeating someone from the Nascent Soul Stage was still possible, but facing someone from the Divine Separation Stage was a near-certain death.

"Hopefully luck is on my side this time…"

The cave Lu Qianqian found was not above the sea surface; its entrance was below sea level. Rapidly solidified magma, along with erosion, had formed this unique terrain. Ai Changguang operated his Mana to push away the seawater and walked out. He first swam carefully into the sea for a short distance, then used his Spirit Sense to scan the entire island.

Then, he was stunned.

A tower-shaped Magic Artifact floated mid-air, surrounded by a kaleidoscope of flowing colors. These colorful Curse Lights continuously surged towards the top of the tower. And from the base of the tower, multi-colored light continually jetted out, enveloping a person's Physical Body.

Although that colorful light strongly interfered with Spirit Sense, Ai Changyuan still felt it—the person suppressed under the tower was clearly a gravely injured Divine Separation Stage Cultivator.

And Ai Changyuan, Wang Qi, and several others were underneath that Spirit Tower, vehemently arguing about something.

"Holy… shit…" Ai Changguang inadvertently swallowed a mouthful of seawater.

______________________________________________

Ai Changguang quickly brought Lu Qianqian to Ai Changyuan's side. Seeing their figures from a distance, Wang Qi immediately sprang up and arrogantly shouted, "How about that? How about that? I said it, destroying that Divine Separation Stage Cultivator's Nascent Soul is all benefit and no harm. Look! We even found them!"

Wu Shiqin hummed, "Violation of the law..."

"Forget about violation of the law! At that time, he hadn't given up resistance, so I could use any means!"

Mao Zimiao's expression was conflicted. "It really shouldn't be, meow... But Xiao Qi... meow..."

Wu Shiqin pulled Mao Zimiao over and reproached, "How could you use a living person for that kind of experiment!"

"Was that an experiment! There were no control groups set, not a single rigorous process!" Wang Qi replied, "It was just a normal, ordinary attack! My attack's effect was just less humane!"

"Hah, truly worthy of being the 'Shame of Dao Seed,'" Ai Changyuan greeted his cousin while hugging Lu Qianqian, still finding time to take joy in disaster, "A Dao Seed Award winner who conducted live experiments on the Life Path..."

"Can you stop bringing that up in front of the Law Enforcement Officer!" Wang Qi angrily retorted, "My playing close to the line was already past!"

"You know you're playing with fire..." Wu Shiqin touched her forehead and gave up discussing the issue. "Just don't commit any offenses in front of me in the future... This time it's indeed forgivable... And after all, you did save us..."

Instead, Ai Changyuan egged on, "Junior Sister, where is your majesty in the law? Go after him!"

Ai Changguang was somewhat slow to react, "Um... can any of you tell me what actually happened..."

After pondering for a moment, Wang Qi replied, "To put it simply, Elder Ai and I wiped out all those Ancient Method monkeys."

"What?" Although he had guessed a bit, Ai Changguang couldn't help but exclaim in shock.

Lu Qianqian frowned, "Changyuan, weren't you not caught? Were you just joking with me?"

Ai Changyuan's expression was helpless, "Qianqian... although I usually do joke with you often, but this matter surely can't be fake, right? It was right after I got captured that I broke through, bloomed at the core, and took out my captors."

"How did you do that?" Recovering from his shock, Ai Changguang started to be concerned about these matters, "Also, what were you ultimately fighting over?"

"Using outer objects," Wang Qi succinctly explained.

Wang Qi and Ai Changyuan briefly described the characteristics of the Heart Demon Curse. After finishing, Wang Qi requested, "This matter is one of the secret projects of the Immortal Alliance. Although it's not classified top-secret, and it might even be promoted in a few years... but please don't talk recklessly about it."

Ai Changguang and Lu Qianqian nodded woodenly. However, by now, their glances towards Wang Qi were a bit awkward. Wang Qi just chuckled, unconcerned.

Lu Qianqian pressed on, "Senior Brother Wang, what exactly did you do in the end?"

Wang Qi was still prepared to just laugh it off. But Ai Changyuan said, "Come on, now that even Junior Sister Wu isn't planning to report this to the higher-ups, just tell us."

Wang Qi thought it over and decided it was true. Moreover, talking about his evil—or rather, fire-playing deeds—to Wu Shiqin gave him a special sense of achievement—discussing one's criminal plans with a police officer, how many times does that happen in a lifetime!

Thus, Wang Qi no longer held back, and directly said, "I am initiating a new revolution..."

Lu Qianqian and Mao Zimiao listened most attentively, and although Wu Shiqin's expression was somewhat reluctant, she also looked over. Ai Changguang's perspective differed from theirs, showing just a bit of curiosity, while Ai Changyuan had already guessed the gist.

Wang Qi was very satisfied with his audience's level of attention, so he went on to elaborate in detail.

His current cultivation technique actually consisted of three parts—Magic Foundation, which included the physical body, the substantive Magic Foundation, and the future Golden Core; Heavenly Calculation Spirit Rhinoceros, which is the Heavenly Calculation Power circulating within the Magic Foundation, recording the Divine Power he cultivated along the way in the form of genetic information. Additionally, there were 'outer objects', including calculators like Jarvis and the Heart Demon System, among others.

Wang Qi's Magic Foundation was the "hardware," while Heavenly Calculation was the "software" and "operating system." It communicated externally using data instead of substantive power, controlling everything. Even without the 'outer objects,' Wang Qi was already superior to most of his peers. But his system truly excelled at interfacing with outer objects.

Because, in reality, he had cultivated his physical body into a CPU, and shaped his cultivation into an operating system. Divine Skills were like various apps to him.

"And when I saw that Divine Separation Stage Cultivator trigger a new transformation with the Heart Demon Curse, it got me thinking."

"The higher the cultivation, the greater the correlation between the Mana System and the soul, the more able thoughts are to be reflected in the mana. At the Immortal level, a thread of mana also has computational power."

"So, could I complete this step early?"

"That is, allow mana to bear my thoughts." (To be continued. If you like this work, you're welcome to vote for it on Qidian (qidian.com), recommend it, and your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)