As soon as Wang Qi spoke, everyone understood his meaning.

After all, if the words have reached this point and someone still doesn't understand, their intelligence might as well bid farewell to cultivation.

Zhen Chan furrowed his brow and said, "Are you saying that the Holy Emperor Venerable knocked down their cultivation, but it's not actually destroying their mana, rather... requisitioning their mana?"

Wang Qi nodded: "I have been perplexed. Since the ultimate goal of the Holy Emperor Venerable is to refine the entire Human Dao, then the stronger certain individuals within this Human Dao, the better—at least for him. Therefore, I couldn't understand why he would knock down the cultivation of his subordinates."

Zhen Chan nodded: "Indeed... if purely to restrict their breakthrough, there are several methods like sealing, imprisonment, forced labor, and so on."

Zhen Chan and Wang Qi did not shy away from discussing in front of the three Great Elders. The three from Luochen Sword Palace were alarmed by what they heard. Ru Tianqi and Zhao Xiangshen stopped their sword fight, while Mei Sicheng urgently asked: "This... Mr. Wang, what exactly does 'refining the Human Dao' mean?"

"Literally. You can interpret it as... the Holy Emperor Venerable wants to blood sacrifice all cultivators on Spirit Phoenix Island, in exchange for powerful cultivation." Wang Qi explained, "However, your mana, and even the strength within your essence blood, is insignificant to the Holy Emperor Venerable, and he doesn't regard the primitive method of blood sacrifice. What he desires is probably the eight thousand years of Shenzhou's civilization?"

"Why does he want to do this?"

Mei Sicheng's tone carried a hint of madness. He really hadn't anticipated such a scheme from the Holy Emperor Venerable.

Wang Qi glanced at him: "I say you... you don't really think the Holy Emperor Venerable is some kind of altruistic figure with interstellar spirit, willing to withstand the pressure from Shenzhou's heterodox and Dragon Clan all by himself, unconditionally supporting your assaults on the continent? Don't be foolish!"

Mei Sicheng fell silent. Indeed, the Holy Emperor Venerable's attitude in protecting the remnants of Ancient Method Practitioners over the past two thousand years is not much like the legendary Immortal who sees through worldly affairs and remains untainted by karma.

Yet, he hadn't expected the Holy Emperor Venerable to have such a scheme!

He quietly asked, "If the power of Human Dao from Spirit Phoenix Island is fully refined, what will happen to us cultivators?"

Wang Qi shook his head: "I don't know either. Perhaps the Holy Emperor Venerable just wants 'redundancy', maybe you'll only lose spirituality, wisdom, memory, and your body can still exist; or perhaps, you'll be deprived of most of civilization, reverting to the era of primitiveness... There are no recorded successful divine ascensions in Shenzhou, what I said is all speculation."

"Speculation..." Mei Sicheng shivered, whispering, "Speculation..."

At this moment, he genuinely considered defecting to Wang Qi's side.

Though Wang Qi might also want to take his life, at least Wang Qi has laid out his intentions clearly.

At least for Mei Sicheng and Ru Tianqi, Wang Qi upheld the principle of "informed consent" in human experiments.

Wang Qi continued pondering: "So, the 'knocking down cultivation' by the Holy Emperor Venerable is actually requisitioning their cultivation for his use... but what exactly for…"

Mei Sicheng exclaimed: "It's amazing that such a thing can be done!"

Wang Qi beckoned to Mei Sicheng, summoning a thread of mana stained by the Supreme Heart Demon Curse from his body: "How novel! If I can do it, why can't the Holy Emperor Venerable?"

Recently, in subduing the Nascent Soul cultivators from Sword Palace such as Jiang Yanan, Wang Qi had demonstrated similar abilities. He forcibly requisitioned the mana of those Nascent Soul Stage cultivators using the Divine Plague Curse Technique, then had the three elders subdue those Nascent Soul cultivators. After they swore allegiance and were implanted with Divine Plague Curse Technique through Ru Tianqi's ring, Wang Qi returned the "mana" to them.

Wang Qi used their mana to build the local network, which in essence is mana requisition.

Under the Divine Plague Curse Technique, their mana essentially ceased to fully belong to them. As long as Wang Qi was unwilling, they wouldn't even perceive any mana within themselves.

If the Holy Emperor Venerable possessed the same or similar technology, he could achieve similar feats.

In other words, if the Holy Emperor Venerable transformed a portion of the three Great Elders' mana into a form they didn't recognize, they would similarly believe their mana disappeared and they were knocked down to a lower cultivation level.

In reality, their mana still existed; only, they were unaware of it.

This explains the discrepancy between measured data and Mystic Net data.

The Heart Demon Curse affects not only the Great Elders themselves. All power within them was indiscriminately infected. As a result, even the forces they themselves were unaware of were revealed.

Yet they remained unaware of this point. Now when they act, they do so according to their "current cultivation level".

Wang Qi's calculations and modeling based on their cultivation technique showed the state "without those requisitioned forces", hence the discrepancies in the data among the Great Elders.

Wang Qi once again fell into thought: "What exactly is the Holy Emperor Venerable doing this for?"

"Ask yourself, kid." Zhen Chanzi chuckled, "Isn't this a method you often use? Put yourself in his place and think about what you would do."

Wang Qi lightly tapped his temple with his right index finger: "Yeah, didn't expect him to be a fellow in the same path, tsk... Let me think carefully about what I have done in the past..."

The three Great Elders looked at Wang Qi with some anticipation, hoping that this seemingly powerful "Mr. Wang" could expose Holy Emperor Venerable's conspiracy.

Wang Qi's expression suddenly changed, and he unconsciously stepped back two steps: "You three... for now, stay a bit further away from me."

Zhao Xiangshen's smiling face immediately stiffened. Mei Sicheng's expression darkened: "Mr. Wang, this..."

"If it were me... a Divine Separation Perfection cultivator with over half mana, two Mid-Stage Divine Separation cultivators with over thirty percent mana. If this power were unified using the Heart Demon Curse or Divine Plague Curse Technique, it could already form a fully functional Mystic Net. And the basic ability of this Mystic Net is to gather information through each terminal... each terminal is an informant..." Wang Qi explained in a low voice, regardless of whether the three Great Elders could understand.

Holy Emperor Venerable might not understand networks. However, when he set up the Divine Tao System, he would certainly grasp the basic properties of networks under the world's physical laws. That is exactly what Wang Qi did in Divine Capital using the Heart Demon Curse.

Even a Banished Immortal could not escape his erosion and surveillance.

The three Great Elders' expressions changed. Though they were unfamiliar with trendy terms like "network", they understood Wang Qi's general meaning.

Could it be they were merely informants for the Holy Emperor Venerable? That everything they did was under Holy Emperor Venerable's watch?

Panic and confusion arose spontaneously.

"Calm down!" Wang Qi suddenly shouted, "Are you not Divine Separation Stage Cultivators? Steady your spirits, eliminate distractions, hold the Essence and guard the Unity! Too intense emotional fluctuations or thoughts are obvious. Perhaps Holy Emperor Venerable wasn't paying attention here initially, but your unsteady minds could attract his attention."

The three Great Elders managed to cultivate to the Divine Separation Stage during the End of Law Era on their own. If it were the flourishing era of Immortal Dao when Spiritual Energy hadn't withered, they even had the potential for Unification and Mahayana.

The Great Elder quickly regulated his breathing, the Second Elder wielded the Primordial Spirit Wisdom Sword, and the Third Elder closed his eyes and meditated, promptly eliminating all negative thoughts.

Zhen Chanzi analyzed: "Actually, your hypothesis has significant doubts. If Holy Emperor Venerable could truly observe everything, then he should know you were that 'Mysterious Outer Demon' who fought him fiercely months ago. He might ignore or tolerate a Golden Core Stage cultivator, or use an already exposed Golden Core Stage spy. But he wouldn't allow a being capable of fighting him to exist."

The three Great Elders finally breathed a sigh of relief. Never before had their moods fluctuated so drastically.

Wang Qi gently nodded: "I understand... The Supreme Heart Demon Spell is the most mysterious Heart Demon Curse, formless, colorless, shapeless, hard to detect... It merely 'magnifies obsessions' rather than deepening them. Therefore, Holy Emperor Venerable hasn't noticed anything. If it were the Thousand Illusion Divine Spell or the Dao Heart Pure Yang Spell... they might be discovered upon contact!"

"The Heart Demon Curses I cast on Ancient Method Practitioners before, Dao Heart Pure Yang Spell, Thousand Illusion Divine Spell, Five Plague General Spell, Netherworld Fire Spell, Ruyi Thunder Spell... Holy Emperor Venerable may know them all. But this Supreme Heart Demon Spell, this unique Supreme Heart Demon Spell produced by the Immortal Alliance, he has never seen before!"

--In other words, Wang Qi is very likely not discovered.

In other words, Holy Emperor Venerable may not have the ability to monitor everything.

Perhaps he could possess such surveillance capabilities, but faced with the functionality of the Divine Country's world-wide monitoring, Wang Qi's previous ability to spy on Zhao Qingfeng seems somewhat redundant.

This is the shared "blind spot" between Wang Qi and Holy Emperor Venerable.

Now, Wang Qi is the first to realize the existence of this "loophole" and has gone on to rectify it.

This is the First Move.

In his combat with Holy Emperor Venerable, Wang Qi once again seized the First Move.

Meanwhile, the three Great Elders might even be physical terminals of Holy Emperor Venerable's Divine Country.

With this realization, Wang Qi viewed the three Great Elders differently.

Even though he harbors thoughts of the past right now, Wang Qi still suppressed the impulse. The most important task now is unraveling the truth behind Holy Emperor Venerable's mysterious Law Gate.

"If not surveillance... then what is it for..." Wang Qi pondered every possible scenario in his heart, then ruled them out one by one.

"Uncertain about the form of Holy Emperor Venerable's Divine Country's existence. Perhaps it's part of that Divine Country, or maybe, the mysterious Law Gate consuming a portion of their mana aims to transform them into important 'components' of the Divine Country... Perhaps it has nothing to do with the Divine Country at all, and Holy Emperor Venerable simply intends to refine mysterious elixirs or magic artifacts using these three."

At this moment, a spark of insight flashed in Wang Qi's mind: "Oh, right, Holy Emperor Venerable seems to widely impart martial arts and cultivation techniques. Could this be related to the mysterious Law Gate on the three Great Elders?"