Ten thousand I am across the heavens

The Ghostly Demon Lord's biggest advantage is its long lifespan. This means that, theoretically, it could travel to a much more distant past.

At most, Fang Yuan could return to the time when he was just born. But at that time, he couldn't start cultivating yet, and the things he could do were very limited. Even if he slightly changed history, the impact on the overall situation would be limited.

In comparison, the Ghostly Demon Lord's lifespan is far longer. This being has lived for tens of thousands of years, nearly ten thousand years. This means that over such a long period, he could travel to any point in the past. Even if it's only a theoretical possibility, the variables it could bring are far greater.

Perhaps tens of thousands of years ago, the invisible guardians hidden within the Republic of Mountains and Rivers had not yet been born. His future technology was truly unparalleled, a pinnacle of innovation. If he were to change the future in such an environment, he would undoubtedly be invincible.

However, this kind of thing can only be done with the Spring and Autumn Cicada. At least so far, apart from the Republic of Mountains and Rivers, it seems that no other force has successfully refined a second type of Gu worm that can directly travel back to the past. Other Gu worms that can change the past all have some kind of flaw, and they cannot retain their complete realm or their complete memories.

Although they are also capable of time travel, they ultimately cannot bring back almost complete future memories and the complete future realm like the Spring and Autumn Cicada.

He's already at his limit, relying on his ultimate move to time travel using the Spring and Autumn Cicada technique. If he wants to take control of it himself, he'll have to ask Fang Yuan for permission first.

Obviously, this person would never agree. Fang Yuan, while not necessarily the most selfish and self-serving type, is also someone who would never easily trust anyone and always has a backup plan. This means gaining his trust is virtually impossible. Furthermore, something like the Spring and Autumn Cicada would never be given to anyone other than someone with absolute trust, because the ability to alter the past is too sinister. The closer someone knows you, the greater the threat they pose once they possess this ability.

In the altered timeline, he might not even be aware that he's being subtly influenced. After all, his past self wouldn't know that the people around him might be time travelers from the future, and being completely unaware of their situation, he naturally wouldn't be on guard. Therefore, if such a situation were to occur, he might not even know how he died. Perhaps he'd still be working for them even after death, his remaining value squeezed out even in death.

This can be seen in the case of Taibai Yunsheng from the original history, who was completely exploited by Fang Yuan. Even the original historian in the Reverse River was killed by Fang Yuan simply because of his past experience of being used.

That's why he understood all too well the immense inequality that this information gap between the past and the future could create. A single thought could potentially kill a person. This is why he could never, under any circumstances, hand over the Spring and Autumn Cicada to the Ghostly Demon Lord.

If the other person could travel back to a time much further into the past and learn more about him, they could completely manipulate themselves and arrange their own life at will by repeatedly time-traveling. Wouldn't controlling them be much more troublesome than training a dog?

Knowing this, the Ghostly Demon Lord didn't even consider borrowing the Spring and Autumn Cicada from Fang Yuan. Any agreement would be difficult to maintain; borrowing the Spring and Autumn Cicada could easily distort the past, even subtly altering it. Through repeated attempts, the effects of any previously established contract could be nullified. The Ghostly Demon Lord currently carries a contract, a killing move constructed from the Mountain Alliance Gu. This Gu originated from the Fairy of Lishan. She relied on this killing move to help people sign contracts, charging intermediary fees. This allowed her to earn immortal essence for her cultivation.

The effect of this Gu worm is simple: both parties enter into a pact, with a certain mountain serving as witness. As long as the mountain remains intact, the pact remains valid. Violation of the pact will result in immediate death.

This means that the stronger the mountain to which the alliance between the two parties is bound, the more difficult it is to destroy. The more effective the contract will be.

The mountain they've chosen is none other than the most majestic floating mountain of the Mountain and River Republic, suspended in mid-air—the floating continent known as the Mechanical City. This floating continent is already immense, its overall size comparable to the entire Eurasian continent. Furthermore, it's a Immortal Gu House, essentially one of the Mountain and River Republic's strongest assets. Destroying it would be nearly as difficult as defeating the Mountain and River Republic itself. If they could achieve this, both sides would have largely accomplished their objectives.

Therefore, they established a pact using this mountain as a basis, stipulating that neither side could harm the other, or even indirectly harm the other. Otherwise, they would suffer the consequences. The pact contained many detailed clauses. Both sides were seasoned veterans, making it virtually impossible for the other to find loopholes. However, precisely because of this, even with such a comprehensive pact, neither side trusted the other, and they still could not exchange the Spring and Autumn Cicadas.

In fact, from the day the contract was signed, both parties were tirelessly trying to break it.

Not only did the Ghostly Demon Lord immediately start thinking about unilaterally breaking the contract after making it, but Fang Yuan did the same. Both wanted the other party to abide by the contract, while they themselves did not need to abide by it, so they could secretly plot against their opponents.

So far, while the Ghostly Demon Lord hasn't found a way to break or bypass the contract, he has more or less grasped some clues. Relying on his technological and resource advantages, he is confident that after a period of preparation, he can loosen the chains of the contract on his side to a certain extent, allowing him to breach it to some degree.

Although Fang Yuan lacked the corresponding abilities, lagging far behind in knowledge, resources, and cultivation level, he possessed the Spring and Autumn Cicada, allowing him to repeatedly travel back in time to retry. This creature's Spring and Autumn Cicada technique had been used countless times behind his back, making it difficult to say whether it had stolen his experimental results or achieved any breakthroughs surpassing his own. Even with a contract, both sides remained wary of each other, never relying on the contract's protection to expose their true selves to the other.

[To be continued]

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