Ten thousand I am across the heavens

After successfully devouring a Rank 8 cultivator from the Northern Plains, Lan Nuo's last weakness was also addressed in this battle: energy. Initially, he could only rely on the energy reserves his eldest son had accumulated for him—the initial capital gained from selling all his Immortal Gu. Tens of thousands of Immortal Essence Stones sound like a lot, but in reality, they couldn't withstand the drain. In such a war of attrition and siege, he would be completely exhausted after only a few hours.

This energy shortage was only alleviated after he began consuming large amounts of his eldest son's flesh and blood, completing the construction of his internal golden core. By continuously consuming the flesh and blood of his eldest son on the battlefield as fuel, his energy reserves were remarkably strong, at least in this region.

However, overall, in a war of attrition, it doesn't have the same depth of experience as a typical eighth-tier powerhouse. After all, those powerhouses may have accumulated over a century. While access to liquid funds is limited, when it comes to unleashing their most prized reserves, their hidden trump cards are terrifyingly numerous.

At this level, if it really comes down to risking everything, who couldn't come up with tens of millions of immortal essence stones? Although this would bankrupt them all, when it comes to matters of life and death, this level of loss is something they'd have to accept, even if it meant holding their noses.

As the one who sparked a revolution across the entire continent, Lanno naturally knew just how profound the reserves of a true Eighth Rank expert were. He had arrested and tried more than one Eighth Rank expert, and several of them had even been involved in the transformation process. So much so that even before the Shanhe Republic had cultivated its own Eighth Rank experts, it already possessed a considerable understanding of this level.

The energy shortage problem has been largely resolved. The trapped immortals, far from escaping, don't even know where they're trapped. They even initially thought they were caught in a deadly trap, hesitant to act for fear of triggering a fatal snare. They survive entirely thanks to their blood ties, sharing damage.

Putting everything else aside, after he distributed the damage, the refining system inside the Golden Core was truly helpless against him for the time being. There were more than ten powerful individuals present. Some were direct descendants of the Giant Sun, while others were invited by him to assist in the battle. In short, as long as the resources provided were sufficient, even those who had reached the eighth level of cultivation, or even those who were not human, could be invited to serve him.

It's no exaggeration to say that the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable ranks among the top 10 in terms of sheer power across the entire continent. Hiring such a group of henchmen and entrusting them with certain risks would be a no-brainer. Due to their bloodline connection, the damage is distributed to less than 1/10. Even with the highest refining efficiency and over 90% damage reduction, there's really not much that can be done against a genuine eighth-rank expert; at best, one can only trap them.

But this also made him the perfect energy source for the Golden Elixir, an energy source that could never be completely burned away.

With the energy core in hand, Lanno no longer needs to be as cautious as before. Before unleashing his killing move, he still needs to use his Golden Path killing move, Void Creation, to control metal and other substances to construct a huge machine, which serves as a lever to manipulate the power of nature to achieve a high-multiplier attack effect.

In fact, the battlefield is now littered with a large number of unidentified artifacts, many of which are already obsolete. But many more are still functioning, altering the natural environment of the battlefield.

Most of the people present had a limited understanding of natural science. Even if they recognized that those huge metal machines played different roles on the battlefield, they couldn't distinguish which one was the key.

Judging from their appearance alone, it's indeed difficult to discern the purpose of those defensive towers standing on the ground. Not every defensive tower looks the same, but precisely because they are all different, it's impossible to identify the unique one. To find the unique one, these buildings must at least share some common features.

They also attempted to destroy these structures on a large scale, but with little success. This was because the cost of constructing these creations using the Golden Path's deadly techniques was too low. The fundamental worldview of this world is that all things are composed of Dao traces. And the Gu worms are tools that utilize these Dao traces. This is why they possess such ever-changing abilities.

Among these myriad abilities is the creation of tangible matter. For example, the wine sac and rice sac Gu worms can produce wine and rice with near-limited efficiency, completely violating the law of conservation of mass, while consuming true essence. Furthermore, these two types of Gu worms typically have very low regeneration rates and consume minimal amounts of matter to generate.

This shows that consuming true essence to construct physical matter does not involve much consumption. However, most of the time, the weapons and armor constructed are not very useful in actual combat, and the cumbersome armor may even hinder combat.

Therefore, those who choose this type of Gu worm are basically only used for support, utilizing their ability to create matter to handle logistics. They are also able to secure a place in human society in this world.

At the level of immortals, as long as one's brain has sufficient processing power and one happens to cultivate the corresponding school of thought, constructing a palace or even a complex of palaces with a mere gesture is not difficult.

On the contrary, the internal details of the design are more troublesome for immortals of the Metal, Wood, and Earth schools of creation. This is because their thinking speed has not been significantly enhanced, nor has their analytical and multi-faceted abilities been improved. The ability to think in multiple directions is basically unique to the Wisdom path, and very few people in this world can successfully cultivate both paths.

Most people who do this find it difficult to break through their cultivation levels because the two different schools of Gu worms conflict with each other. If the Dao traces of different schools are not sorted out like the cultivators of the Mountain and River Republic, and placed in different areas of the body to be responsible for different functional modules, but are instead cultivated in a relatively rough manner like in the original cultivation system, then the Dao traces of different schools may even conflict with each other and restrain each other. It is very likely that not only will there be no amplification effect, but the power will also be reduced due to mutual restraint.

While there isn't exactly a conflict between the Path of Wisdom and the various schools of creation, there's absolutely no overlap either. Most powerful practitioners of the Path of Wisdom, if they must cultivate another path, will choose the Path of Soul, which has the highest compatibility with them.

Therefore, his method of forcefully erecting defensive towers in the ground was unprecedented in history. While powerful figures of the Construction School could create such magnificent architectural wonders with a mere gesture, instantly raising skyscrapers, their intellect was insufficient to handle the details. More often, they might simply erect a massive earthen wall for defense, or construct enormous metal blades, leaving the enemy nowhere to hide with swords hundreds of meters long.

Lenno inherited a portion of his eldest son's powerful soul. His foundation in computational ability was already strong. Unlocking his genetic potential further unleashed this power. Even ordinary people, after unlocking their genetic potential, can exhibit near-photographic memory. They can even learn a completely new language in a short period.

One can imagine the immense computational power that could be achieved with the eldest son's powerful soul and sophisticated mind, coupled with the assistance of his Wisdom Path killing move. This was before he acquired the Wisdom Gu; back then, to ensure the true functional hub he created wasn't destroyed, he had to create numerous decoy targets. After all, those facilities capable of manipulating natural forces a thousandfold were extremely sophisticated. An outsider might not be able to distinguish between truly useful equipment and mere decoration, much like a primitive person couldn't tell the difference between a dead phone and a phone model.

However, for the makers, the complexity of these two things is obviously worlds apart. Therefore, those huge metal creations before this were basically nine fakes and only one real.

But now his computing power is more than enough. Burning away a year's lifespan every minute brings him a hundredfold or even a thousandfold increase in computing power. Even disregarding any boost in inspiration, the sheer increase in computing power is enough to give every building a true function.

With the assistance of these buildings, he would essentially possess the ability to control electromagnetism, temperature, light and shadow, and various types of mechanical waves, as well as the ability to control gravity and inertia, and to interfere with spacetime and destiny within a certain range.

The implications of this are countless. For example, the ability to control mechanical waves combined with the ability to control electromagnetism can create illusionary abilities. By directly controlling electrical signals carrying thoughts, one can interrupt perception and create illusions, demonstrating the effects of mental abilities.

These and similar functions make him extremely versatile on the battlefield. Previously, these facilities couldn't all be activated due to insufficient energy. Now, all facilities are operating at full power. Even if one is damaged, a new one will immediately replace it.

This immediately made the numerous Rank 8 experts who were besieging him feel extremely troubled. Lan Nuo's current strength was still far from that of a Venerable, but it already far surpassed theirs. This was only because he hadn't completely completed the Rank 7 Heavenly Calamity, and his Immortal Aperture hadn't undergone its transformation.

The will of Heaven has shifted from wanting to quickly eliminate him to deliberately prolonging the process, compressing the power of the natural disasters and tribulations to their limit, and infinitely extending the duration of the tribulation, all to delay his advancement.

If he really advances to the seventh level, in his current state, if the Giant Sun Immortal Venerable doesn't take it seriously, no one can stop him.

Fortunately, the attackers held onto their last breath, allowing them to continue their resistance and stubbornly stall for time, even while being on the defensive.

Everyone knows about the Wisdom Gu. There are very few people in the world who don't know this legend. Even children in remote villages have heard of it from their ancestors and know that using this Gu worm requires paying the price of one's lifespan.

They weren't entirely clear on the exact percentage they had to pay. But at least one thing was certain: the lifespan they sacrificed was absolutely terrifying; otherwise, they wouldn't have ended up in the Eighty-Eight Corners True Yang Tower as part of its legacy.

Logically, all they need to do now is wait. Wait until the opponent's lifespan can't hold on any longer, until they voluntarily give up using the Wisdom Gu and their strength declines back to normal, or until the opponent forcibly exhausts their own lifespan, causing a comprehensive decline in their physical attributes and other strengths. Either way, it means the opponent's defeat is inevitable.

The Giant Sun Immortal Venerable thought the same way, so even though his descendants were at a disadvantage, he wasn't worried. He simply provided routine assistance, ensuring that no one else would be swallowed up due to carelessness. Then he just waited for his opponent to collapse on its own.

"It's been almost an hour, and there's still no obvious sign of aging. It seems that this temporarily created body's lifespan was calculated from the moment it was created. If that's the case, it's understandable that it doesn't look too old after 60 years. Besides, appearance and aura can be faked. This guy is cunning and his methods are completely different from ours. If he really is faking his aging, we might not be able to tell."

The immortals' hearts began to pound. The opponent had clearly been using the Wisdom Gu all along; even those close to him could feel their inspiration heightening and their lifespans decreasing. This meant the Wisdom Gu was indeed in their hands, and this guy was truly willing to use it.

However, everyone waited. Holding on for an hour wasn't necessarily impossible. While bodily functions decline somewhat at sixty, for a cultivator, this decline wouldn't be too significant. Theoretically, one could offset a considerable degree of the negative effects with their cultivation. But at 120 years old or even older, the enhancement that cultivation could provide would be quite limited.

They were simply stalling for time, and so was Lanno. A teleportation technique that traverses the five realms isn't easy to construct. Ding Xian You can easily traverse the five realms because this Gu worm is a top-tier teleportation-type immortal Gu. Even so, its use is limited. A sixth-rank Ding Xian You can only teleport a sixth-rank Gu Immortal at most. If its strength increases further, it might become impossible to teleport. The ancient battle formations, with their interconnected paths, are similar, and also require specific immortal Gu.

With insufficient Immortal Gu and relying on natural science knowledge to compensate, constructing such a teleportation facility is even more difficult. If he hadn't just happened to obtain the Wisdom Gu and been in a state of bursting inspiration, he wouldn't even have been able to perfect this teleportation facility. And even if he had perfected it, it would still take considerable time to construct the remote teleportation facility without arousing suspicion.

[To be continued]

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