Like being slowly devoured by a swamp, Ru Tianqi felt his consciousness being gradually consumed, buried bit by bit. The "space" left for his consciousness grew smaller and smaller. He felt like he was trapped in a box that kept shrinking, squeezing him until there was no room left, threatening to crush him completely.

And he could only watch it happen, bit by bit.

The despair almost drove him mad... No, rather, most people wouldn't last forty minutes in such a situation, would they?

Just then, Ru Tianqi suddenly felt the oppressive sensation vanish. Then, countless burdens in his consciousness were lifted one by one, and the hands restraining his thoughts released their grip one by one. Finally, his thoughts began to function again.

"In ancient times, the Baoxi Clan devised the Eight Diagrams to communicate the virtue of the god, to understand the feelings of all things, and created the art of 'nine nines' to harmonize the transformations of the six lines. With the Yellow Emperor refining it and manifesting it, establishing the calendar and harmonizing the tones, the subtle energies of the two forms and four images became attainable..."

Though the doctrines of the Mathematics Scripture still echoed in his mind, they had weakened to a point where they no longer hindered his thinking. At least, to him, they became nothing more than a buzzing in his ears, not interfering with daily life.

At this moment, a whisper drifted into his consciousness: "As for this spell, you've experienced it yourself. Although it's incurable for those affected, it's something we can suppress and even reverse to some extent. Let me put it this way: if you listen obediently, I won't kill you. How about that?"

Ru Tianqi opened his eyes to find Wang Qi casually sitting on a cushion. On Wang Qi's right index finger was a ring Ru Tianqi had never seen, and in his left hand, he held a notebook, as if he were jotting something down.

Feeling Ru Tianqi's gaze on his notes, Wang Qi explained, "Oh, this. I was just testing a new spell on you, organizing the data. I firmly believe 'a short pencil is better than a long memory'..."

These words ignited a fury in Ru Tianqi, who leaped up in desperation to fight Wang Qi. But as soon as he attempted to channel power, a splitting headache struck him, and his thoughts became chaotic.

"Hmm, note that although corrupted data can be purged, the thoughts damaged by the Divine Plague Curse Technique will accumulate... or to put it another way, when purging self-replicating data, it inadvertently deletes the original thoughts of the taker?" Wang Qi quickly jotted down a line, then thought for a moment and held up three fingers towards Ru Tianqi: "How many?"

"You brat, this is outrageous!" Ru Tianqi leaped up again, ignoring his own condition, and lunged at Wang Qi with a posture suggesting mutual destruction. But now, his strength was a mere fraction of what it was, and he couldn't muster any sophisticated moves. Wang Qi easily dodged his attack and knocked him down once more.

"Hmm, your first response was 'outrageous,' meaning you still recognize the hand gesture as 'three' and understand it's a simple question. Your memory is relatively intact... Speaking of which, this part of your memory was probably there before entering the Dao, stored in the brain?" Wang Qi continued reasoning: "Well, I remember. According to research, even if the soul replaces the brain as the main thinking organ, the brain still retains a lot of 'memory.' The Divine Plague Curse Technique doesn't damage the brain, meaning this part remains..."

The principle of the Divine Plague Curse Technique is to utilize the Yin-Yang transformation within the soul to replicate the Yin-Yang transformation in a calculator, allowing some path rank in the calculator to act upon the soul. Therefore, the Divine Plague Curse Technique doesn't damage the brain.

However, after reaching the Golden Core Stage, the capability of the soul surpasses that of the brain, and a cultivator's thoughts primarily rely on the soul. If the Divine Plague Curse Technique completely washes away the soul's thoughts, the brain won't suffer physical harm but will become ineffective due to the soul's endless garbage information, unable to interpret external signals correctly or issue accurate commands.

Moreover, this "untouched by harm" isn't necessarily a good thing. Take Ru Tianqi, for instance. It is precisely because his brain is unharmed by the Divine Plague Curse Technique that he can still remain barely conscious, lucid enough to feel the torment of that garbage information, and sense himself gradually approaching death.

Wang Qi, while documenting his thoughts on this, explained to Ru Tianqi, then continued, "Yes, yes, it seems like this for now. Unless you disperse your own soul, you can't escape this technique's impact... And then, if I issue an order for your Divine Plague Curse Technique to self-replicate every three days, you could experience death slower by eighty-six thousand four hundred times compared to before. Considering your resistance to the Divine Plague Curse Technique as a Divine Separation Stage Cultivator, you might endure longer. However, the feeling of being consumed bit by bit will surely remain constant."

This statement made Ru Tianqi shiver down his spine. No matter how tremendous the physical torment, his mind wouldn't waver. But the mental torture targeted at self-awareness was truly terrifying.

No matter how strong-willed you are, "willpower," in the end, is just data in your mind. Once your self-awareness is eroded, terms like "tough" and "unyielding" can be dismantled in moments.

However, Ru Tianqi calmed down, asking in a low voice, "What on earth do you want..."

If this little villain threatens him, it implies he still holds some value to him.

As long as there's hope, he would never give up.

This is his Dao Heart, the will to seek life in the midst of death!

Wang Qi whispered, "By the way, let me inform you, I've installed a mechanism within your body. I will periodically issue you a command... I mean a spell, but if I die and my spell doesn't reach your Divine Plague Curse Technique, it will flay you at the speed of self-doubling every three days as I mentioned earlier."

Ru Tianqi shivered. His mind quickly strategized: "Find a chance to capture this brat... No, that's unwise. He's the only one who knows the cure for this curse, and capturing him doesn't guarantee he won't do something to me..."

"Capture him first and then pressure him into compliance? No, no, no... Or perhaps capture him and send a disciple to learn his spell? But this brat holds a high status with the Heterodox, and this spell might be a core spell of the Heterodox, not easily learned..."

"Besides, the Tai Chu Sword God Array may not be able to resist the Emperor's perception. If I help him, and the Emperor senses that I am sheltering a Modern Cultivator, I will surely be demoted in my cultivation...even pretending will not work!"

"Then, to go to the Emperor and report this little thief, asking the Emperor to expel this spell? Although the Emperor does not favor our Luochen Sword Palace, I am at least a Divine Separation Cultivator, which is rare among the True Law Immortal Gate. Even if the Emperor wants me to face the Heterodox Immortal Alliance outside Spirit Phoenix Island after this, I will accept it..."

At this moment, Wang Qi turned the pen in his hand and then thrust it forward seemingly casually. A faint sword qi shot out from Wang Qi's hard pen. This sword was not aimed at Ru Tianqi, so Ru Tianqi did not know what it was for. But soon, he widened his eyes.

That sword qi meandered like the Taiji Fish Line, bending in the air. With each change in arc, this sword qi would split into other sword qis. The split sword qis were also in the shape of a Taiji Fish Line and would further split into smaller sword qis. This sword qi infinitely split, eventually filling the entire quiet room.

Unable to control his emotions, Ru Tianqi shouted, "Is it you?"

This move was actually the one used by that mysterious "Outer Demon" during the confrontation with the Emperor!

Could it be that the mysterious outer demon, who even caused the Emperor some trouble, is actually this... this little Golden Core stage thief?

A Golden Core stage... can a Golden Core stage really contend against the Mahayana realm? Can it really contend against the banished immortal of the Mahayana realm?

Is this the level of the current heterodox in Shenzhou?

Wang Qi motioned for silence and then gestured towards the quiet room door with his mouth. Only then did Ru Tianqi notice that several footsteps were quickly approaching behind that door.

"Third Elder?" someone outside called loudly.

Ru Tianqi's Adam's apple moved, and a trace of anxiety and restlessness appeared in his heart.

——What to do...

——What should I do at this moment?

Due to the erosion of his soul, his cognitive abilities had diminished. Ru Tianqi, a dignified Divine Separation Stage cultivator, was actually drenched in cold sweat.

This was when the footsteps exactly reached the door: "Third Elder, what on earth happened to you?"

"What to do... what to do..." Ru Tianqi instinctively looked at Wang Qi, but Wang Qi was calmly organizing his notes, seemingly unconcerned with whatever Ru Tianqi planned to do. The person outside continued, "Third Elder? What happened in there? It's beyond my authority to..."

"Stop!" Ru Tianqi realized the person was about to break in and shouted in panic.

The person outside seemed familiar with Ru Tianqi and asked in confusion, "Third Elder, why does your tone..."

Ru Tianqi then got into character and tried to sound angry: "This old man... this old man is really furious... this little beast..."

"The cultivation technique mnemonic you were reciting just now, and that exclamation..."

"Has nothing to do with you." Ru Tianqi feigned anger, then his tone shifted to calm, acting as if suppressing anger: "Go tell the others that this old man encountered a small mishap while trying out a new method, the house is ruined, needs some renovation, and any issues should wait for a while."

"Yes." The cultivator outside hesitated momentarily, then said, "Third Elder, concerning Xia Li... you'd better not be too harsh. The rules of Luochen Sword Palace must not be broken..."

"Understood, save your chatter!" Ru Tianqi chuckled bitterly in his heart—he's lucky not to come and kill me!

After dismissing the Nascent Soul cultivator, Ru Tianqi looked at Wang Qi. At that moment, Wang Qi flicked the hairpin on his head and smiled, "Old man, it seems you were quite accurate."

"Sword Heart Sword Intent seeks life from death, so he must be the kind who doesn't want to die. Even a heroic act would be seeking life in death, using life as a threat naturally works." Zhen Chan's voice appeared in Ru Tianqi's consciousness: "However, you cannot do this when dealing with the Great Elder..."