Chapter 746: The Era Without Him
Hundreds of companies offering virtual reality experiences were active within the Federation, with thousands of people paying daily to experience the power belonging to cultivators.
Whether they were ordinary people simply curious about the cultivator world, or practitioners eager for a glimpse of higher realms, everyone was extremely enthusiastic about it.
Spend a bit of money, get a thrill.
Unfortunately, due to technical limitations, the higher the cultivation stage, the harder it was for computers to simulate; at the True Immortal level, the distortion was already quite severe.
However, since those who paid were unlikely to ever witness a True Immortal in action themselves, and information related to the Immortal stage was largely classified within the Federation, it wasn't hard to fool these spendthrifts.
Just crank up the destructive power and call it a day.
...
"Come, eat a good meal."
On the transfer spaceship, over a dozen prisoners, soon to be sent to the Execution Star, were staring at what might be their last meal in life.
Some were calm, silently shoveling rice like machines; others were weeping with deep regret, completely lacking appetite; and some, their hearts like dead ashes, closed their eyes, awaiting death.
"Sister Mila, I told you there's no point giving them such a good last meal, it's a complete waste, no one will eat it seriously."
"Consider it our final respect for these pawns about to be sacrificed," Mila said, watching the prisoners through the control room camera, not turning her head as she spoke to the air.
But the control room was empty, making it seem as if she were talking to herself.
"Once the mission's done, run quickly. The scent of the wind tells me that today is the 'Day of Blood,' and there will be at least six-figure casualties..."
"What about us?"
"Have you forgotten? A diviner cannot divine for themselves. Our Wind Elf's Wind Divination Art is ineffective on the diviner."
As she spoke, the silhouette of a nearly transparent female figure slowly began to emerge from the air.
Well-defined contours, as if being sketched out stroke by stroke by an artist.
An artificial life form, the Wind Elf Cela.
Aside from the elves designed by the Green Wizard King—or rather, their full designation, Wood Elves—humans had also created many other, even more peculiar life forms by referencing the Solar Star Spirits captured from the Sun.
Wind Elves, for instance, were transformed from certain highly disabled individuals who voluntarily chose to abandon their physical bodies and participate in human experiments.
The Federation indeed possessed extremely advanced medical technology, even capable of resurrecting the recently deceased with a certain probability, but the prices were generally prohibitively expensive.
"Can't you divine for me either?"
"No, our karma is too closely intertwined. We prosper together, and we suffer together."
...
"Anyway, listen to me: the faster you run, the better. Do you have any random teleportation talismans?"
"Don't even think about it. The Execution Star's flagship has undergone special modifications. Spatial spells, abilities, and items are unusable, and there are only two entry and exit points in total."
"What a headache," Cela said, as she indeed enlarged the outline of her head, making it look as if her head had suddenly swelled several times its size.
...
Inside the Execution Star.
"Reporting, Marshal, all deployments are complete."
"Good."
The middle-aged man, who had been standing with his hands clasped behind his back, gazing up at the starry sky like a stone statue, rarely allowed his taut expression to ease even slightly when he saw the frontline commander reporting the work progress via the holographic communicator.
"This battle is perilous; take this item for safekeeping." The middle-aged man produced a blue gelatinous mass, placed it before the military holographic communicator, and with a gentle push, the blue substance passed through the screen, appearing directly before the commander on the front lines.
"Thank you, Marshal!" Recognizing the origin of the blue substance, the young-looking commander excitedly thanked the Marshal behind the screen.
"To even give him the 'Profound Origin Heavy Water,' it seems you truly value this son." After the holographic communicator shut off, a man in a black cloak silently appeared beside the Federation Marshal.
"Guan Yu's performance is indeed excellent, and in a battle like this, even he would be at risk of sacrifice without the Profound Origin Heavy Water."
"Wouldn't it be simpler not to bring him to the battlefield at all? Wasting so many precious materials just to refine a single-use consumable."
"Everyone knows this is the dawn of a new era. Don't tell me you don't have descendants heading to the Execution Star."
"A new era, indeed. The vacant Qi Luck he left behind, I wonder how much of it we can seize."
As more and more people within the Federation ventured into the path of Ghost Immortals, they discovered through the unique Eye of Heavenly Fortune vision that a massive vortex of Qi Luck had appeared without warning as the fleet moved further and further away from the solar system.
After calculations by some professionals, they determined that it was ownerless Qi Luck left behind as Bai Mo's influence gradually dissipated.
He had truly relinquished his influence over the Federation, or rather, the Federation had truly stepped out of his shadow.
To mortals and even low-to-mid-tier cultivators, Qi Luck was an ethereal, elusive thing, but to True Immortals, especially those also cultivating the Ghost Path, Qi Luck could be genuinely perceived and utilized.
Bai Mo himself, furthermore, had revealed many ways to utilize Qi Luck during his exchanges with the Federation's True Immortals, including its most crucial function: reducing tribulations.
It had a certain effect on both the Dao-Merging Tribulation for advancing to the Five Tiers and the Reincarnation Tribulation for ascending to Immortality.
This was incredibly shocking news.
For decades, the words 'Heavenly Tribulation' had constantly lingered in every cultivator's heart; even after achieving Immortality, they still had to face endless Reincarnation Tribulations.
Now, this vast mass of Qi Luck, as the Federation fleet distanced itself from the Sun, implicitly meant Bai Mo had relinquished his sovereignty over it, naturally turning it into a highly coveted prize in the eyes of the True Immortals.
Of course, coveting Qi Luck was real, and it was also true that the contradictions could no longer be suppressed. Thus, this fated decisive battle, mutually understood by both sides, began by chance.
...
"An era without you, indeed," Yun Jie mused to Bai Mo in the coffee shop.
"External Qi Luck, in the end, is an abstract manifestation of influence over the world. Since I've decided to let go, it's yours now."
"Don't you need Qi Luck to weaken your Reincarnation Tribulation?"
"One's own Qi Luck cannot reduce one's own tribulations."
"It seems I'll have to cultivate the Ghost Immortal Path concurrently as well," Yun Jie said after a moment's thought.
True Immortals like him, who hadn't cultivated into Ghost Immortals, could only vaguely perceive the existence of Qi Luck with sufficiently strong spiritual perception, and they needed to cooperate with those specializing in the Ghost Immortal Path to refine this ownerless Qi Luck into tribulation-reducing substances.
Moreover, spiritual perception could only detect the Qi Luck of sufficiently powerful individuals; the minuscule amounts above mortals' heads were directly ignored.
"Heaven, Earth, Human, Divine, and Ghost — the Five Immortal Paths. If possible, try them all."
Yun Jie smiled, saying nothing more, but it was clear he already had some ideas.
PS: Almost forgot I had this book waiting for me to update...
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