ccnovels #389 - The Taoist priest is not motivated
#389 - The Taoist priest is not motivated
Half a month passed in a flash.
Wang Jixuan had been in seclusion in the main hall for over twenty days.
Anyone could see that Wang Jixuan's current state was off; he exuded a sense of listlessness, and even the breakthrough to the Dao realm, which had been so significant before, didn't seem to energize him at all.
He was the backbone of the entire team, so it would be false to say that the others weren't worried.
During this time, only Ling Tong had entered the hall a few times to talk to Wang Jixuan, who calmly conversed with her, seemingly without any issues.
However, each time Ling Tong went in and came out, her concern for Wang Jixuan deepened.
Not to mention the others.
While Wang Jixuan was in seclusion in the hall, the others weren't idle.
The business at hand still needed to be done.
Shen Qionglin thrived here; her brain, developed through the God's Domain Project, displayed exceptional comprehension and insight, as well as humility and emotional intelligence that she had never shown outside.
She had the ancient remnant spirit, He Ruli, wrapped around her finger, obtaining various technologies with ease.
He Ruli was also quite interested in Shen Qionglin.
Shen Qionglin's ability to replicate awakening circuits and improve infusion techniques on her own indicated a strange affinity for the ancient technology of the Yina civilization.
Unfortunately, He Ruli didn't give Shen Qionglin too many core secrets.
Mu Dan was also absorbing the scientific aspects of Yina civilization technology here.
The biggest bottleneck in the human world right now was 'materials,' and He Ruli had no interest in sharing these technologies.
Or rather, He Ruli was no longer able to isolate such technologies.
Everything in the Yina civilization had already merged with spiritual energy.
Mu Dan wandered around, analyzing, scanning, and incidentally pocketing bits and pieces into her storage treasures.
He Ruli turned a blind eye to this and didn't do much about it.
As for the others, they also gained a lot.
He Ruli probably wanted to win people's hearts, so she opened a laboratory on the edge of the City Above the Clouds, allowing the 'spirit slaves' to take a tour, giving these spirit practitioners a batch of powerful spiritual energy circuits while also helping them improve the quantity and quality of the spiritual energy in their bodies.
The upgrading of spirit slaves was a purely disgraceful matter in the Yina civilization's system.
As for spirit practitioners like Nielda Tamon and Amina, He Ruli was stingy and didn't open up the same opportunities.
—Upgrading spirit practitioners wasn't called upgrading, but transformation, transforming them into true inheritors of the Yina civilization.
With Gao Huating's existence, Amina and Nielda Tamon couldn't gain He Ruli's favor.
The two spirit practitioners were well aware of this and didn't feel that there was anything wrong with it.
Nielda Tamon didn't think he was any worse than any expert;
Amina was more often secretly worried about Wang Jixuan.
If there was anyone who gained the most, it was naturally Gao Huating.
During this time, He Ruli constantly summoned her to participate in various rituals;
As long as Gao Huating lay down on some stone beds or sacrificial platforms, various kinds of spiritual energy would surge around, and spiritual energy clusters would begin to form in her body.
This wasn't the core circuit of a spirit practitioner, but it was better than the core circuit of a spirit practitioner.
This seemed to be a simulation of Wang Jixuan's immortal cultivation method, but the person involved didn't need to comprehend anything, only wait for the infusion.
In just over half a month, Gao Huating already had the mana of a Core Formation stage cultivator.
However, He Ruli wasn't satisfied with this result, constantly admonishing Gao Huating to be more focused. Gao Huating happily agreed each time, but every time she lay on the altar platform or stone bed, she would unconsciously become distracted.
She was completely unable to calm down.
He Ruli later stopped persuading her.
The spiritual energy in the City Above the Clouds was almost inexhaustible, so it didn't matter if Gao Huating was infused with more, since she was the only seedling of the entire Yina civilization anyway.
The City Above the Clouds also gained a long-lost liveliness due to the arrival of this small group of humans and humanoids.
The human world was also steadily advancing various plans.
With Amina's assistance, Mu Dan had already shared several ancient technologies. Fu Jian had urgently mobilized dozens of research institutes to form a research center to collaborate on scientific research.
The dozen or so autonomous mechanical fortresses that humans were building in the areas where the Blade Beasts had retreated were being completed at an astonishing rate.
The design concept of these autonomous mechanical fortresses was 'completely autonomous'.
These fortresses took the autonomous mechanical production workshop as the core, supplemented by the five major sectors of maintenance center, collection center, combat center, design center, and energy center, and could independently complete the design and production of autonomous machinery, and continuously transform the resources in the earth into autonomous machinery that could replace humans in fighting the Blade Beasts.
This was the prototype of Fu Jian's doomsday plan.
Faced with the pressure of the Blade Beasts, Fu Jian didn't dare to place all his bets on Wang Jixuan and the spirit cultivation civilization, and had already begun to promote this plan.
The large area that Wang Jixuan had previously seized back after entering demonization had become the best incubator for this plan.
Although the first batch only had a dozen or so autonomous machines;
But as long as the entire process was verified, Fu Jian would open up permissions, and the autonomous mechanical fortresses could be replicated infinitely, until the resources of the entire surface were hollowed out.
Just like the cancer cells of the earth.
If there was no Wang Jixuan, Fu Jian would most likely have been forced by the six elders of the Spirit Energy Capital to press the button, take away one or two of the six elders, and then his self-awareness would collapse, triggering the doomsday plan.
Everything was for the continuation of human civilization on this star field;
And if human civilization went extinct, then this star field would be meaningless to Fu Jian.
On the Spirit Energy Capital side, they had also been actively preparing for war recently.
Spirit practitioner Sabina directly took over the jurisdiction of the Spirit Energy Capital, and the six elders temporarily ceased their activities;
As a result, the original operating order of the Spirit Energy Capital was disrupted, and the city fell into a large-scale famine, relying solely on the human military for blood transfusions.
Times were different from the past, the human military reorganized the War Alliance, and the voice of the Spirit Energy Capital had fallen to a low point.
The supplies that the Spirit Energy Capital could obtain had also reached a historical low.
Whether it was a spirit practitioner or an ordinary human, when survival became a problem, they would inevitably make a fuss.
Many areas of the Spirit Energy Capital had begun to riot;
Sabina was not good at managing these things, but she was still a bit humane, or perhaps she was afraid of Wang Jixuan, afraid that Wang Jixuan would trouble her, so she sent a large number of spirit practitioners to help solve the food problem.
The civilians of the Spirit Energy Capital were barely able to survive.
The chaos in the lower city of the human fortress had begun to appear in every corner of this city.
However, compared to the Spirit Energy Capital, which was in a full-scale famine, the real human hell was still the scavenger camp.
The Spirit Energy Capital was capturing materials;
The Blade Beasts and that shadowy force were capturing pseudo-spirit slaves;
The scavenger camps on the fringes of human society had fallen into a sea of fire.
The human military had begun to conduct large-scale defenses, but they still couldn't stop the high-flying spirit practitioners and the small groups of Blade Beasts that were tunneling and ambushing.
In troubled times, survival was not easy.
The residents of the various fortresses had entered a rare bottleneck period.
Without the continuous overtime work of the past, life had become relaxed and peaceful, and many people even felt that life was a bit boring, always wanting to go to the surface to see and wander around.
Wang Jixuan had completely ignored these things during this time.
He had already had a significant impact on all forces on Earth;
Humans believed in him, Blade Beasts feared him, spirit cultivators were wary of him, and the force hiding in the dark and accelerating its rise had to take him seriously.
And at this moment, he…
"Ah, might as well just die."
Wang Jixuan, who had been sitting cross-legged, suddenly lay down, staring blankly at the top of the hall, uttering such words.
As if he had lost all strength and means.
That 'Stone of the Past' was quietly placed under the Dao character, without any movement.
Wang Jixuan slowly sighed.
Boring;
Everything was boring;
His whole person had suddenly lost the direction of advancement.
Wang Jixuan had also seen the images left in the Stone of the Past by the second life.
He had basically determined that his second life had already maximized everything he could, and he couldn't imagine a situation more maximized than a Mahayana stage cultivator who had cultivated for six thousand years.
Even then, he had failed to ascend to immortality, so he didn't need to work hard in this life.
Wang Jixuan lay on the cold floor, but the floor was providing him with heat.
For no other reason than his heart was even colder.
He wanted to cheer himself up, but now, he just wanted to lie down.
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A hundred years of bitter cultivation, a thousand years of struggle, a flower in a mirror, the moon in the water, all are empty illusions.
Wang Jixuan suddenly wanted to cry;
But now, he was even more tearless.
At the entrance of the main hall, Red Serpent and Deep Sea, the couple who were on duty here today, looked at each other, their eyes full of worry.
Deep Sea asked, "Wife, what should we do?"
"It seems like the teacher has suffered a blow, and it's quite serious."
Red Serpent stroked her chin and carefully considered:
"If you ask me, at this time, we should invite my master's wife over, put on some sexy lingerie, and dance a hot dance."
Deep Sea blinked, suddenly weakly supporting his forehead, swaying as if he was about to faint, and shouting, "Oh, I've suffered a serious psychological blow."
Red Serpent's pretty face darkened, and she kicked the guy away.
"Speak properly! The teacher is the key to the survival of the human race!"
Deep Sea apologized repeatedly and quickly tried to think of a solution.
Not far away, Amina and Gao Huating came together, both dressed in long skirts, the former in light black elegance, and the latter in pale gold nobility.
"Why is the commander lying down?" Gao Huating didn't hide her worry, "Is he injured? Shouldn't we go in and take a look?"
The Red Snake hurriedly said, "This place is enveloped by the teacher's magical power, like a barrier."
Aemina tilted her head slightly and whispered, "I'm not good at comforting people. How do you humans usually encourage warriors in this situation?"
Deep Sea smiled and said, "I think you underestimate Teacher Wang. Men can handle pressure and adjust themselves, so don't worry too much."
Gao Huating asked, "Can't we do something?"
"Where's Ling Tong?" Red Snake asked.
Aemina said, "She went back to the surface to join the battle. There are still many affairs there, and besides, she's not good at comforting others either."
"Give Teacher Wang some time," Deep Sea said, turning to look inside the hall.
Deep Sea said seriously, "I think everyone is worrying too much. What kind of person is Teacher Wang? There's no one like him in heaven or on earth."
Aemina asked, "What exactly did he see inside that stone?"
Gao Huating leaned against the door frame with a worried expression and whispered, "Maybe it was some bad situation."
Wang Jixuan, inside the hall, suddenly spoke, "Don't worry about me, just let me be quiet for a few days."
The few people outside the door exchanged glances and didn't say anything more, continuing to take shifts guarding the place.
Another three or four days passed like this.
In these past few days, Wang Jixuan was either sitting in a daze or lying down sleeping. Two strands of white hair had appeared at his temples, and his whole person had become disheveled.
As the saying goes, appearance reflects the heart, and this was the best portrayal of his current state of mind.
Moreover, Wang Jixuan's decadent mood seemed to have no end in sight and was trending towards sinking deeper and deeper.
Zheng Shiduo decisively stood up.
He prepared a few dishes, two pots of wine, and went to the entrance of the hall with a smile, calling out inside:
"Brother Wang! How about we have a drink? I've been a little troubled lately and wanted to discuss something with you!"
Wang Jixuan, who was lost in thought, waved his hand, and a crack opened in the barrier.
Zheng Shiduo gave a wink to the crowd standing in the distance, picked up the tray, and trotted inside.
He brought a small stool, arranged the wine and dishes, and Zheng Shiduo began to talk about the recent situation on the surface.
Wang Jixuan was uninterested, eating a bite here and there.
Old Zheng took the opportunity to ask, "Brother Wang, you don't seem to be in good spirits. What's wrong? Did you argue with Sister Ling Tong?"
"Huh? How could we two argue?"
Wang Jixuan took a sip of wine, his whole person still listless.
He whispered, "I know you're worried, but this worry is completely unnecessary. It's not like I'm going to commit suicide."
Zheng Shiduo choked on his wine, lowered his head and coughed a few times, staring at Wang Jixuan with red eyes.
He hadn't mentioned suicide or anything like that.
Brother Wang took the initiative to say that he wouldn't commit suicide, which meant he had actually considered the idea!
This, this is not allowed!
"No, what's going on?" Zheng Shiduo was really anxious, "Brother Wang, don't keep things bottled up in your heart. We've been through life and death together. Tell me about it."
"One effort, then decline, and finally exhaustion."
Wang Jixuan sighed, pouring wine and drinking, but he had no interest in even touching the chopsticks.
He clicked his tongue, "Why is this so urgent… Why? Did I do something wrong? Or is it that I'm just not destined for immortality?"
Zheng Shiduo blinked, "Is it about cultivating immortality?"
"The Three Realms Wanderer is my second life," Wang Jixuan smiled bitterly, "I did everything, a hundred times more perfectly than I am now, but it was still wrong. I still couldn't get through the Heavenly Tribulation."
Zheng Shiduo scratched his head and asked, "Did something unexpected happen during the tribulation?"
"I don't know," Wang Jixuan shook his head, "The Stone of the Past can only see what it has seen, the scenes that resonate with it. It shouldn't be that something unexpected happened during the tribulation. I saw the situation after the remnant soul returned… It's just that the hard power isn't enough, but the hard power has already reached its limit. Some super-limited methods will definitely be used during the tribulation, but I still won't be able to get through it."
Wang Jixuan picked up his wine glass and drank it all in one gulp, "I probably have no chance in this life."
Zheng Shiduo almost blurted out, saying, 'Then just come back in the next life.'
He rubbed his nose and muttered softly, "I really don't know how to persuade you about this, but Brother Wang, I believe in you. You can bring miracles to others, and you can definitely create miracles for yourself."
Wang Jixuan sang faintly, "Brave youth…"
Rumble rumble.
The earth suddenly trembled.
Immediately following, was a shout that echoed back and forth inside Cloud City.
"Great guardians of the ancient civilization, let's talk."
Wang Jixuan was jolted awake, his eyes bursting with two beams of light, completely different from the previous moment.