Mei Sicheng, indeed, is not a simple person. As early as a thousand years ago, he had already started to suspect the Holy Emperor Venerable.

However, he realized the power and terror of the Holy Emperor Venerable. So, he chose to say nothing, kept everything to himself, and bore it all alone.

Because he knew that some things, as soon as spoken, would fail, and one's life would be forfeit.

If it weren't for this, even if Wang Qi had his life in his grasp, it wouldn't have been so easy to make him submit.

For him, his life was already under the threat of the Holy Emperor Venerable; now, turning to Wang Qi was merely exchanging one threat for another. In reality, his situation hadn't worsened.

Moreover, the power represented by Wang Qi seemed to have more potential than the Holy Emperor Venerable's ancient sects.

For two thousand years, Shenzhou Continent got stronger each year, but the overseas ancient sects, even if fusion-stage cultivators died off one by one, how could they compete?

The ancient method practitioners on Spirit Phoenix Island had no choice. But now, since Wang Qi offered him a grand illusion... Mei Sicheng had a choice and naturally wanted to become a Modern Cultivator—at least an Intermediate Skill Cultivator.

As long as things were as Wang Qi said, he could reverse the cultivation technique of high-order ancient method practitioners.

So, he also shared some of the information he had observed over the years with Wang Qi.

"There is indeed a problem with Spirit Phoenix Island," Mei Sicheng said.

For the past two thousand years, fusion-stage cultivators have died one by one, with few Nascent Souls advancing. However, occasionally, the Holy Emperor Venerable would perform an empowerment, creating one or two.

This news made Wang Qi exclaim in surprise—no wonder!

He alone had killed double-digit numbers of fusion-stage cultivators. Although not every cultivator from the Immortal Alliance was as adept at battle as he was... a primordial spirit stage cultivator killing eight or nine fusion-stage cultivators shouldn't be too difficult, right? After so many years, fusion-stage cultivators on Spirit Phoenix Island hadn't gone extinct? This was simply a miracle.

But if the Holy Emperor Venerable on this "main city" was still here... then it made sense!

But the strange part wasn't here.

The "pattern" of the Holy Emperor Venerable's empowerment was peculiar. Some sects had accomplished great feats but lost fusion-stage cultivators, and he didn't compensate them. Some sects received his inexplicable rewards and were empowered with two or three.

Most people thought this was the so-called "accompanying an emperor is like accompanying a tiger" or "divine will is hard to question."

However, Mei Sicheng vaguely discovered some patterns in this.

"The Holy Emperor Venerable is deliberately maintaining the 'composition' and 'distribution' of fusion-stage cultivators," Mei Sicheng coldly stated.

"What do you mean?" Wang Qi was puzzled. "'Composition'? 'Distribution'? What on earth are these?

Mei Sicheng smiled: "For example, Spirit Phoenix Island has thirty fusion-stage sword cultivators, and the Holy Emperor Venerable needs about twenty-three... then seven of these sword cultivators could die. When the eighth one dies, the Emperor takes action to create another fusion-stage sword cultivator!"

"Of course, this is just an analogy. It's not really like this. But, based on my observations, sword cultivators, alchemy cultivators, artifact cultivators, talisman cultivators, body refiners, or those of the gold element, water element, wood element, fire element, earth element, or something else. In any case, no matter how you categorize cultivators, you will find that there's a 'minimum number' for every 'kind' of cultivator."

"As long as the number of cultivators falls below this minimum number, the Emperor will take action!"

"That's interesting news." Wang Qi nodded. From what he knew, the Immortal Alliance had only started monitoring the ancient sects for a few hundred years. And in the past few hundred years, it's been a relatively dormant period for ancient sects, with few changes among fusion-stage cultivators, so the Immortal Alliance didn't know this pattern.

This is a major discovery!

However, as for what this discovery might mean, Wang Qi didn't know.

"Could it be that some spell arranged by the Holy Emperor Venerable requires strict control over the number and type of sacrifices?"

This thought flashed in his mind, and then Wang Qi asked him, "Are there any other discoveries?"

"Yes." Mei Sicheng's face turned somber: "Also, regarding integration-stage cultivators..."

Unlike the deliberate maintenance of the number of fusion-stage cultivators by the Holy Emperor Venerable, the attitude towards the number of integration-stage cultivators by the Holy Emperor Venerable is actually... "suppression"!

"In the same period, only one integration-stage sword cultivator can emerge. Similarly, Spirit Phoenix Island only needs one integration-stage talisman cultivator, one integration-stage alchemy cultivator, one integration-stage body refining cultivator..." A trace of hatred flashed in Mei Sicheng's eyes: "This is why I'm not satisfied with the Holy Emperor Venerable..."

The reason why these ancient method practitioners followed the Holy Emperor Venerable was nothing more than because the modern heretics abandoned ascension and longevity...

But the Holy Emperor Venerable is deliberately suppressing his subordinates' cultivation!

The Heterodox Path doesn't allow one to practice the Ancient Method, so at most one can't hope for Immortal Ascension.

But following the Holy Emperor Venerable, one might not even reach the Body Integration Realm! For someone like him who is about to reach Divine Separation Perfection, there's even a risk to life.

Knowing this earlier, they might as well have joined the Modern Heretics. Either way, without longevity, they might as well become a wealthy lord on the continent and live a carefree life!

At least the material conditions on the continent are countless times better than this Spirit Phoenix Island!

This is also one of the reasons he betrayed without hesitation!

"Maintaining the 'uniqueness' of each Unification Cultivator is probably a requirement within the Divine Tao Magic..." Wang Qi pondered, "But what's the reason for the Holy Emperor Venerable deliberately creating such division and resentment? The Divine Tao should align with the Innate Five Virtues, moving from chaos to order, from barbarism to civilization..."

This divisive situation is also very suspicious.

Wang Qi lowered his head, pondering for a moment. However, he ultimately didn't gain much inspiration. After all, there were too few clues.

Wang Qi asked, "Who else knows about this?"

"I guess... there are still a few smart people on Spirit Phoenix Island." Mei Sicheng pondered, "Those who can cultivate to the Divine Separation Stage or the Body Integration Stage are mostly not fools; someone is bound to figure it out. However, the folks at the Heavenly Book Tower and Sword Suspension Tower don't care. They are the core team of the Holy Emperor Venerable, and places in the Body Integration Stage are always reserved for them. The ones who truly care are only those like us who are top-level Divine Separation cultivators about to break through but lack that 'uniqueness' required to please the Emperor..."

Wang Qi frowned, "Those sects lacking so-called uniqueness..."

"You can't persuade them either. First, they don't have the Tai Chu Sword God Array, so anything said might be leaked. Secondly, they may not believe you," Mei Sicheng said with a bitter smile, "If you hadn't controlled me first and left me no choice... I wouldn't have believed you either."

Wang Qi raised an eyebrow, "You really have confidence in your Tai Chu Sword God Array..."

"Originally, I didn't. But with you here, I do," Mei Sicheng said candidly, "Your control over the Tai Chu Sword God Array is even stronger than mine. Plus, we've been discussing taboo topics for so long, and the Holy Emperor Venerable hasn't come to kill us, so it seems safe here. I'm afraid... the Tai Chu Sword God Array was tampered with by you from the start. The current sword array isn't the one I initially conceived."

Wang Qi chuckled, "Smart."

Mei Sicheng sighed and added, "Actually, Elder Lian Yichen also vaguely discovered something... The fact that Lian Xinjie and Lian Xingling brought you back indicates that Elder Lian is also in your hands, right?"

Wang Qi saw a trace of hope in the Great Elder's eyes. However, this wasn't hope for Lian Yichen's safety but rather hope to glean the Modern Immortal Path's attitude towards high-order Ancient Method Practitioners from the news that "Lian Yichen is safe."

Wang Qi nodded with a smile, "He's fine. As long as Lian Xinjie and Lian Xingling perform great deeds, he will receive the best treatment."

—Hmm, the best Qingshan Cliff medical treatment is absolutely at a laboratory level; I wasn't lying. Cases where someone is turned into a fool incapable of taking care of themselves by the Divine Plague Curse Technique are extremely rare and hold immense value for medical research!

—Even if those two Golden Core Period guys do nothing, Lian Yichen would receive such high-standard treatment!

Mei Sicheng's vigilance in his eyes relaxed. Although he found Wang Qi's attitude a bit odd, he could generally tell the young man wasn't lying.

Wang Qi extended his hand again, "By the way, apart from your fundamental cultivation method, all the parts you've interpreted and developed yourself, record them into the True Intent Inheritance and hand them over to me."

"You want to study our cultivation method?" Mei Sicheng was somewhat delighted, not thinking the other was coveting the Luochen Sword Palace's inheritance. He said, "If you want to study, I can personally guide you on the crucial points..."

Guidance from a Divine Separation Stage Cultivator is a rare opportunity for an ordinary Golden Core Stage Cultivator. However, Wang Qi straightened his face and said, "No need. I want to understand it in my own way!"

After leaving Mei Sicheng's little wine table, Wang Qi casually handed his True Intent Inheritance to Jarvis for analysis and simulation. One-quarter of the computing power of the newly refined calculator he had created was immediately allocated to establish a Cellular Automata model to analyze this cultivation technique.

Mi continuously sent the new data produced by Wang Qi back to the Shenzhou Continent and brought back various new achievements from the Shenzhou Continent.

The next day, Ru Tianqi brought Wang Qi the True Intent Inheritance of Zhao Xiangshen's cultivation method and Zhao Xiangshen's oath.

It's unknown what means he used. Although flipping through memories is like searching a database for Wang Qi now, he ultimately lacked the leisure for that.

At this point, all three Divine Separation Stage Elders fell under Wang Qi's control.

The current fourth elder of Luochen Sword Palace was no match for any one of the three great elders when fighting alone. On the third day, the three great elders captured the last Divine Separation Stage Cultivator of Luochen Sword Palace.

And with all Divine Separation Stage Cultivators under Wang Qi's control, what could the remaining Luochen Sword Palace disciples do?

Within seven days, the Sword Palace fell.