Journey of the Fate Destroying Emperor

Chapter 1376  Progress

Du Cong led the team, followed by Wang Wei next to him and Jia Ping behind. They stood before a black energy shield that seemed to hide what was inside.

"I didn't know you had a flair for the dramatic, Du Cong," Wang Wei responded.

"This is such a monumental creation so I couldn't help myself," Du Cong chuckled. "Lord, you didn't peek inside, did you?"

"Get to the point, Du Cong, I'm in a hurry, and no, I didn't peek," Wang Wei said.

"Alright," Du Cong said as he motioned for someone to reveal what was inside. The black energy shield dissipated, and Wang Wei saw a black armor shining with magic lights. He could tell this was not ordinary armor but one similar to exoskeleton suits with its own power source.

"A power armor?" Wang Wei asked.

"Power Armor? That's an interesting way to call it," Du Cong commented. "We call it the Rune Mechanical Armor, but that is not why we call you here. Lord, haven't you detected the level of this armor?"

"Hmm? A Tier 5 armor?" Wang Wei asked with shining light. "You've broken the restrictions on your civilization?"

"That's right," Du Cong nodded. "About 50 years ago, someone accidentally built a Tier 5 Power Source that broke the limit of our records. After contacting Lord Jia Ping, we deduced that there might be hope for us to break our limit and tried — this is the result."

"Good, good," Wang Wei repeated. "Have you tested it out in battle?"

"Of course." Du Cong ordered his people, and a well-built woman walked to the armor and put it on. Then, Jia Ping waved his hand to summon a prisoner with cultivation on par with the Divine Body Realm. The prisoner was promised freedom if he won this battle, so the latter fought for his life. The final result was a tie, which was understandable, given that this armor was the first generation.

"Not bad, not bad," Wang Wei once again praised. "Can you manufacture these armors in large quantities?"

"We are currently in the process of reducing the difficulty of the manufacturing process," Du Cong said. Another advantage the upper-dimension mortals have over their counterparts is their vast number. As such, even if only a small number of their population can condense their spiritual power and use the power of runes, there are still a large number of them. Due to this large population, Du Cong was confident of increasing the refining speed of these armors.

"However, we can only build a large number of them with the help of cultivators."

"Du Cong suggested that we capture more cultivators and control them before forcing them into factories to build these weapons," Jia Ping added.

"That's not a bad suggestion, but there are some risks."

"We can be extra careful on how to select these prisoners," Du Cong added, trying to persuade him.

"I have a better way," Wang Wei said. "You can refine these cultivators' souls into a Spiritual Power Energy Source. Your civilization should accelerate its speed of improvement with an endless source of spiritual power."

Du Cong's eyes lit up. Spiritual Power was the key to their civilization. It's why mortals can use runes and control the energies in ores, the environment, and other things. So, it's obvious how such an artifact would drastically benefit them.

"Your idea is excellent, lord, but I don't think we have the technology to refine something like that."

"I'll have my people refine it for you, and you can study it and try to reverse engineer it," Wang Wei explained. The spiritual powers of mortals and cultivators differ, so this artifact will require specialized attunement to ensure they can use it.

"Thank you, Lord, your glory has blessed us again."

Wang Wei did not pay attention to this level of flattery: "Have you already started thinking about Tier 6 Armor? Maybe even Tier 7?"

"I have already shared the design with the other leaders and bases," Du Cong said. Wang Wei did not want these leaders and different mortal civilization bases to be isolated, so he encouraged them to use the Void Illusion Realm to share knowledge and advances.

"After discussing with the others, we already have a prototype blueprint of a Tier 6 armor, but we are clueless about the next tier," Du Cong replied.

"You're stuck at the power of law, right?"

"That's right. I don't think this is a power that mortals can control."

Wang Wei did not believe these words. He knew that even technology civilizations could evolve to the point of controlling the [Power of Law]. The Rune Civilization is a combination of technology and cultivation, and the fact that they can build a Tier 5 armor proves that someone was blocking their path upward, but now, this limitation has been removed.

"Under normal circumstances, that would be true," Wang Wei replied. "With access to cultivators' souls, you can meet the requirement to access and even control laws. You don't need to worry about the effect of laws on your bodies, so that removes another obstacle, leaving only the influence of laws on the mind."

Not everyone can control the Power of Law. Cultivators must have a good enough mental state to prevent themselves from being assimilated by its power. Most mortals cannot reach this level, but it's not impossible.

"You need to start developing methods to train willpower and the mental state," Wang Wei suggested. Unlike the mortals on Earth, these people have a long lifespan, meaning their state of mind can still reach the level of controlling laws. "Will that work?" Du Cong asked, his eyes shining with hope and desire.

"It should. Plus, I'll leave my people preaching to you about the law — that should accelerate things."

"Great," Du Cong said with a smile that showed all his teeth.

"Lord, have you forgotten the lock?" Jia Ping suddenly said. "It's possible that the act of mortals understanding the law is interpreted as 'cultivating" or 'increasing strength,' thus activating its effect."

Du Cong's smile was gone, and he swiftly said: "Aren't you exaggerating a little? We have acquired a great deal of knowledge and 'increased our strength,' but nothing has happened to us."

"That's probably because Heavenly Dao has been protecting you," Jia Ping responded. "However, once your civilization reaches the level of law, this will be another matter. Whether you wish or not, his gaze will be directed at you."

Du Cong was quiet, not hiding his unwillingness in his facial expression. "We don't know that for sure."

"Do you want to take the risk?"

"I —"

"Jia Ping is right," Wang Wei finally spoke. "We cannot take the risk." n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"So, this is it? Our limit will always be Tier 6?"

Wang Wei glanced at him. Du Cong was obviously an ambitious man. Rather, he wanted his people to have the power to control their destiny. In the latter's mind, he probably wants his mortal civilization to be on par with cultivators. Wang Wei would not burst his bubble. According to his analysis, the minimum limit for mortals is Tier 9.

Once they start to acquire the power of Tier 10 or above, even if it's the weakest [Immortal Path], no one will allow it. All cultivators who previously supported them will stop; by then, Grand Dao will also interfere. Although Mortal Civilization involves the power of cultivators, many of his cores originated from Earth's science and technology, and Grand Dao will not allow its further expansion.

"Not necessarily."

"Lord, you have a way?" Du Cong asked.

'Artificial Intelligence,' Wang Wei thought, but he did not say these words out loud. "Simple: you construct a soul powerful enough to control laws. The next step is to strip it of its emotions and change its memory capabilities into the ability to store knowledge or data. "The third step is to modify its intelligence. Use runes that involve spirit, wisdom, and calculation to allow that soul to process a large amount of information and accomplish tasks beyond the norms.

"Once that is accomplished, you can leave the task of wielding the law to that soul."

"This method is feasible," Jia Ping commented. "In the current world's situation, building powerful weapons is allowed, and this soul falls under that category."

"Yes, it's definitely feasible," Du Cong said, almost yelling.

"Hold your excitement and think about the downside of this approach," Wang Wei said, his words acting as if he had dunk a bucket of cold water on Du Cong's head.

"This soul, or this lifeform, will be vastly more powerful than everyone in your civilization, and it will be the core of your development," Wang Wei explained. "Can you imagine how catastrophic it will be if something goes wrong with it?"

"It's easy for such a soul constantly involved in the power of law to regain its normal intelligence and emotion," Jia Ping analyzed. He could think of many ways for these mortals to restrict that soul, but Jia Ping knew they were only stopgap measures. The crux of the issue is that these mortals control power beyond their limits. As long as this fact holds true, there will always be the danger of that soul going out of control.

"I understand this, but what choices do we have?" Du Cong said in a low voice.

"Alright, no need to start feeling sorry for yourself about something that hasn't happened yet," Wang Wei said. "Focus on pushing your people to Tier 6 before thinking about the power of law."

"I understand, Lord," Du Cong nodded. He agreed with these words, but that also did not stop him from starting to prepare for the future. While Wang Wei and Jia Ping left to talk privately, Du Cong entered the Void Illusion Realm to prepare for the future.