Him and their stars.

Chapter 2154 The Emperor's Body

Yu Lian followed his gaze and saw that the wisp of smoke was still drifting in the dark red sky, twisting into dozens of hideous and terrifying ghostly figures. They were intertwined, fighting to the death, transforming into a bizarre and cruel scene in the sky.

This anomaly seems to be the essential evolution of this world.

Yu Lian lowered his head again and looked at the mangled corpses. They were indeed the bodies of the emperor in his youth, now turning into blood and merging into the gray wasteland.

They are indeed physical entities, but they decompose and decay a hundred or a thousand times faster.

“This place truly possesses all the functions of the Conflict Realm, but it is by no means merely an extension of psychic energy and spirit.” Yu Lian looked at his hands, clearly sensing the texture of his body. His spiritual sense penetrated through his cells, capturing the reality of this world.

He was certain that his current body was not an illusion—if he couldn't even be sure of that, he, a demigod, wouldn't even be worthy of sitting at the same table as the saints.

Of course, it might be somewhere between the reality of the material world and the spiritualization of the virtual world.

"Is this more like the result of a psionicist interfering with the illusory realm?"

Lan Jiufeng nodded approvingly, pointed to the seemingly boundless wasteland filled with tombstones of swords, and said in a calm voice: "This place is neither real nor illusory, but a prison where conflicting domains and broken dimensions intertwine. It's like how I stabilized a floating island and established a training ground in the illusory realm."

Yu Lian thought to himself, "Is that a Taoist temple? It's clearly just a large villa for vacationing."

Lan Jiufeng was naturally very proud: "The same methods, in my hands, become a place of spiritual beauty and tranquility, but in the hands of the emperor, they become an expanded arena of conflict. This is the manifestation of one's character!" Lan Jiufeng said proudly again.

"Are you not going to mention the issue of scale at all?"

"This... this is just a technical issue." Lan Jiufeng waved his hand, showing no embarrassment whatsoever, and continued, "After I was drawn into this place by that spatial singularity, I sensed something. The Emperor Nayi, through the concepts of 'strife' and 'conquest,' was able to step onto the side of truth. This is an extension of mental imagery and a manifestation of power. Of course, this place is a dark domain between matter and the void, where rules are chaotic and spacetime is paradoxical. Fragments of subspace attach themselves to his powerful 'domain of strife,' forming this unique battlefield."

Yu Lian looked at the gray earth that stretched to the horizon and the outlines of the giant swords that filled the sky, and he did feel a sense of vast oppression.

If the domain of the Duke of Sadoulan was a deep pool, then the Emperor's was a true ocean.

Lan Jiufeng paused, his gaze following Yu Lian's, sweeping over the remains of the "young emperors." These severed limbs had long since completed their decomposition and dissolution, disappearing into the gray wasteland and becoming part of the cycle of this world.

Yu Lian could faintly smell a trace of blood and decay, but it dissipated into the shadows of the dark red sky a hundred or a thousand times faster.

Lan Jiufeng's tone remained proud: "As for what your uncle and I killed in the Dragon Palace, it was undoubtedly his physical body, which he had truly forged over two hundred years. However, Emperor Yi's life form was no longer just that. Your uncle's 'body' and Emperor Yi's indestructible golden body perished together, while I shattered his physical body. But his soul and spirit were not merely dependent on his physical body."

Upon hearing this, Yu Lian frowned slightly. He lightly kicked the gray ground beneath his feet, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly realized: "I understand. This materialized conflict domain can also be considered his body for now?"

Lan Jiufeng once again adopted a "you're teachable" expression: "Although his singularity has the suspicion of being a sneak attack, it is indeed the highest level of spatial manipulation, a divine skill that connects matter and the void, capable of driving us away. But what's the point of that?"

Indeed, if it were an ordinary psionicist, being thrown into the Void Realm would be a sure kill. But for people like Lan Jiufeng and Yu Lian, who seem to be able to return to the Void Realm level nine as if they were just running a normal dungeon, it would at most be a large-scale "Exile Spell".

Since it's the emperor's trump card, it certainly can't be something so superficial.

“Those distorted spatial currents and mental attacks are the first round. If we can’t withstand them, we will be annihilated and transformed into part of the aether,” Yu Lian said.

Lan Jiufeng nodded: "I almost died here."

"And this conflict-ridden plane is the emperor's stomach, right?" Yu Lian continued, glancing at the spot where the "young emperor's" severed limbs had disappeared: "Those things are stomach acid?"

“I know you’re using a metaphor, but why is it so devoid of any aesthetic appeal?” Lan Jiufeng said. “Shouldn’t you at least say it’s white blood cells?”

What kind of aesthetic appeal do these white blood cells have?
"So, if Master killed the real 'young emperor,' what exactly are these bankrupt versions of the 'young emperor'? Did they feel their domain was too vast and needed some embellishment, so they used their own cells to create a bunch of figurines?"

Lan Jiufeng chuckled and took a puff of his pipe: "Cloning."

Yu Lian's eyes sharpened, and he instantly thought of his beloved friend No. 1, who had already gone to the Spirit of the Universe.

That person has been gone for so many years, but why are those memories of death attacking me again?

Then the master added, "I used to think that the body of a psychic could not be replicated. Even if someone is missing an arm or a leg and has to be treated in a petri dish, they need to stay as conscious as possible and use their psychic energy to nurture the newly grown limbs."

Yu Lian nodded slightly.

He recalled his past life, when Shamaen cut off his hand and he was hunted across the universe. After barely escaping, he spent more than half a year in a gene therapy pod, during which he had to remain conscious for most of the time. This was to allow his spirit to adapt to the slowly growing limbs and to enable all the split cells and spiritual energy to resonate in advance, so as not to affect his strength and physical resilience too much.

That was truly a painful experience!
From this perspective, a severely injured psychic must suffer more than an ordinary person to recover.

The lost memories sent a chill down Yu Lian's spine. He then heard Lan Jiufeng speak, "However, after learning about the existence of this damn Primarch Project, I had to revise my judgment. Those things might just be 'byproducts' of the Primarch Project."

Yu Lian recalled the scene Xia Li had witnessed when she entered the spatial rift: countless young emperors immersed in nutrient solution. At first glance, it looked like a particularly anti-civilizational bio-battery jungle.

However, this is an outdated technology. Compared with various new energy technologies, the power generation efficiency of bio-batteries, while not particularly fast, efficient, or cost-effective, is barely better than nothing.

However, it seems quite reasonable to interpret the emperor in that jungle as a product of the "Primitive Project".

Yu Lian said, "Using it as a blueprint, theoretically, we can mass-produce psychic users with extremely high potential. Of course, the cost-effectiveness is also negligible."

Yu Lian felt it was too cheesy to even think about the scene of ten thousand Eli emperors charging with heraldic machines and light spears, and couldn't help but shudder.

Lan Jiufeng said, "Emperor Yi would not use his own body as cannon fodder. Supreme power comes from strength, but also from mystery. If his clones are killed ten times in public, his rule will be a joke."

That's natural. People outside who witnessed this wouldn't think that one of the emperor's corrupted clones was missing, but rather that the emperor had been killed again.

Even that big, yellow-skinned guy had to make sure he looked different when he was working on the Primarch. Probably to avoid these awkward situations.

“Then it is very likely that it will be used as a backup to carry its soul,” Yu Lian said.

Lan Jiufeng said, "However, cloning is easy. These bodies are just empty shells. They may inherit some of the fighting instincts and psionic talents, but they lack the will and wisdom accumulated over two hundred years. In the end, they are just puppets of some creatures."

Yu Lian replied thoughtfully, "A mere shell? You can't even sense a trace of the soul?"

"Yes, but very weak." The master said thoughtfully, "It's more like a puppet controlled by thought. Right, back in the War of Independence, I killed a guy called Hundred Machines Somen. His special skill was to control a hundred Emblem Machines with his mind. If you weren't careful, you'd think you were being attacked by a large group of Star Knights."

I do know this person. Yu Lian thought.

Although he was an ancient person from the last century, he was still featured in textbooks. He was a master designer of heraldic machines, as well as an expert in the spiritual realm. He also left behind important esoteric texts such as "Spirit and Body" and "Desire and Body".

Yes, although the titles may sound a bit unconventional, they are actually very serious spiritual classics.

The most important part of this is the theory of mental separation among high-level psychics.

"I only realized after I killed him that he wasn't remotely controlling the mecha with his mind, but rather that he had separated a part of his soul and placed it on top of it. Even though it was just an empty shell of a mecha, it could display skills and abilities comparable to a full-fledged knight in a short period of time."

Yu Lian judged, "Speaking of which, those beggar versions of Emperor Yi just now were not just puppets; their skills were above average."

Lan Jiufeng admitted, "Indeed, there were only fifteen people just now, and I was already in a tough fight. If there were five or six more, I might not be able to handle them."

At this point, the master and apprentice exchanged a glance and simultaneously said "Oh," both of them clearly seeing a realization in each other's eyes.

“This area of ​​conflict is his body,” Yu Lian said.

“Those cloned Emperor I also have his body,” Lan Jiufeng said.

“That bio-battery jungle is also part of his body. They’re not generating electricity, they’re providing psionic energy,” Yu Lian pondered.

"The dimensional lord you mentioned, clad in armor, is also his body. He has dispersed his soul, yet through so many bodies, he is achieving immortality," Lan Jiufeng speculated as well.

Although the latter two are guesses, both of them felt that the logic made sense.

"Can a ninth-ring psychic really do this?"

"I do not know."

"You're also a ninth-ring graduate!"

"Even so, I am just an ordinary Asura, born only for battle."

Lan Jiufeng fell into deep thought: "I used to think that they could be summoned here in batches as the guards of this area to wear down my physical strength, but now I think it's probably not such a superficial reason."

Yu Lian nodded: "In short, we should find a chance to escape, or try to destroy this area, which will definitely deal a huge blow to the emperor."

Lan Jiufeng nodded: "That's true."

"..."

"..."

"Master, don't you have any more constructive teachings?"

"My disciple, I am also waiting for more constructive suggestions!"