radicalducati Page 417
Page 417
The original data of "Spirit Binding and Commanding Generals" that was "downloaded" from Feng Zhenghao has been completely disassembled into the most basic soul contract model and energy supply runes.
[Optimization Plan A abandons the spirit's secret incantation and instead constructs an absolute subordination contract based on the laws of the soul, achieving 100% control and ignoring the spirit's will to resist.]
[Optimization Plan B: Improve the energy supply mode by using the user's own Qi as a fuse to leverage and guide free energy in the environment to power the spirit, significantly reducing consumption and theoretically achieving unlimited endurance.]
[Application Demonstration 1: Modular Spirit Body. The spirit body is decomposed into a pure energy core and a functional outer shell, which can be reassembled at any time into weapons of different forms such as knives, guns, swords, and shields, and can even simulate modern firearms for high-energy particle firing.]
[Application Simulation 2: Spirit Legion. By setting up a mother spirit, which acts as a server, and linking countless child spirits, a legion-based 3D combat system can be achieved...]
Hundreds of incredible optimization schemes and application simulations were constantly generated and perfected in his mind. If Feng Zhenghao knew that his family's proud heritage had been used in more than a hundred different ways in just half an hour, he would probably shatter his Dao heart on the spot.
Sitting next to him, a young man wearing a black baseball cap and an ordinary windbreaker, who looked like a hiker, quietly took out a specially made phone from his pocket, glanced at Zhou Ye out of the corner of his eye, and then quickly tapped on the screen to send an encrypted message.
[“Peregrine” report: Target is on the vehicle, currently…admiring the scenery. No abnormalities. Over.]
He thought his actions were discreet, but he didn't notice that at the very moment he sent the message, the man next to him who was looking at the scenery had a slight smirk at the corner of his mouth.
The train rumbled along.
Midway through the journey, the train stopped for three minutes at an inconspicuous little station.
The car door opened, and an old Taoist priest, dressed in a worn-out and faded robe, with gray hair and a slightly hunched posture, carrying a huge cloth bag with several patches on his back, leaned on a wooden cane with one hand and held onto the railing with the other, and shakily boarded the car.
He appeared to have bought a standing ticket, and after boarding the train, he slowly walked towards the connecting area between the carriages, following the flow of people.
As he passed carriage 13 and went past Zhou Ye's seat, his seemingly cloudy old eyes inadvertently swept over and met Zhou Ye's calm eyes for a moment.
The old Taoist priest paused slightly in his steps.
Chapter 390 An Encounter on the Train
The appearance of the old Taoist priest did not cause much of a stir in the carriage.
For this old-fashioned green train winding through mountains and rivers, the boarding of a few oddly dressed passengers was hardly anything unusual. People glanced at him and then went back to their own worlds. Those playing cards continued playing, those chatting continued chatting, only a few children stared curiously at the huge, bulging cloth bag on his back, its contents unknown.
The old Taoist priest moved slowly through the crowded aisle, his wooden cane, worn smooth and shiny from being rubbed, making a dull, rhythmic sound with each tap of the ground. His cloudy gaze swept across the carriage, passing over faces that were either tired, numb, or excited, before finally settling on Zhou Ye by the window.
He stopped.
The noise in the entire carriage seemed to be invisibly shut out at that moment.
Zhou Ye's seatmate, the All-Knowing Agent codenamed "Peregrine," tensed instantly. His knuckles, resting on his knees, were turning white, while his other hand slid silently behind his back, concealing a specially crafted weapon capable of firing highly concentrated compressed Qi bullets. Zhou Ye sensed an extremely dangerous aura emanating from the old Taoist priest—an aura not possessed by ordinary supernatural beings, but rather an ancient charm, refined by time, subtly harmonizing with the natural world.
Zhou Ye, however, seemed completely oblivious, still turning his head to look at the receding scenery outside the window, without even blinking.
The old Taoist priest stood there silently, his cloudy eyes scrutinizing Zhou Ye from head to toe. His brows furrowed and relaxed intermittently, his face displaying an expression of utter confusion and shock.
The surrounding passengers finally noticed the strange thing. Several middle-aged men who were playing cards stopped what they were doing and looked over curiously.
“Young man,” the old Taoist priest finally spoke, his voice hoarse, like two rough stones rubbing together.
"I see that your forehead is radiant with purple energy, yet you are shrouded in an impenetrable mist. Your destiny is truly extraordinary, unlike anything I have ever seen in my life. May I perform a divination for you?"
His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly reached the ears of the people around him.
"Tch, another scammer."
An older man muttered something under his breath and picked up the cards again.
Peregrine's heart was in his throat. He knew this was no ordinary charlatanry. The "purple aura" and "mist" the other party spoke of were probably some kind of profound aura-gazing technique, allowing them to see things that ordinary people couldn't.
Zhou Ye finally turned his head slowly, his gaze falling on the old Taoist's wrinkled face. His face was expressionless; he simply asked calmly:
"How to calculate?"
As he spoke, he took out his wallet from his pocket, pulled out a few red banknotes, and placed them on the small table in front of him.
"Please calculate, Taoist priest. If your calculation is accurate, this is your payment for tea."
Seeing this, the peregrine falcon nearly bit its own tongue off. Seriously, what's going on here? Are you cooperating with a dangerous, unknown person in a staged performance?
The old Taoist priest's gaze lingered on the banknotes for a moment, then he shook his head. He didn't take the money, but instead stretched out his hand, which resembled a withered twig, and reached for Zhou Ye's wrist.
"The art of divination lies in the connection of cause and effect. Young man, may I borrow your hand to connect with you through a karmic bond?"
His fingertips were surrounded by an invisible and extremely subtle Qi. This was an extremely ancient physiognomy technique called "Touching the Bone to See the Secrets of Heaven," which allowed one to bypass the surface aura of the other person and directly explore the root of their destiny through the most direct physical contact, revealing glimpses of their past and future.
The peregrine falcon's pupils suddenly contracted; he was almost about to pounce. This direct contact with the target was a serious violation of surveillance protocols!
However, Zhou Ye simply watched the hand reach out without flinching.
Just as the old Taoist priest's fingertips were about to touch Zhou Ye's skin...
"Fuck-"
A faint, almost inaudible popping sound rang out between the two.
The old Taoist priest's withered hand recoiled violently as if burned by a red-hot iron! His body trembled violently, and he uncontrollably took two steps back, crashing into the back of the opposite seat with a dull thud.
His cloudy eyes were now wide open, the whites of his eyes instantly filled with countless blood vessels. The image reflected in his eyes was no longer Zhou Ye's young and calm face.
It was a scene that defies description.
It was a vast and boundless universe composed of endless streams of golden data. Each string of data represented a law, and each flash signified the birth and annihilation of a "possibility." He could not see the past, for it had countless branches; nor could he see the future, for it had countless possibilities. All he could see were cold, absolutely rational, and ever-changing "variables" and "divinity."
This was a Qi far surpassing that of anyone the old Taoist had ever encountered. Neither the Ten Elders nor anyone else could possess it in the slightest. In front of Zhou Ye, his Tao, his understanding, and the "heavenly secrets" he had believed in all his life were utterly and ruthlessly shattered at this moment.
Because Zhou Ye embodies the Dao!
"Taoist Master, what did you see?"
Zhou Ye's voice was calm and undisturbed, but to the old Taoist priest at this moment, it sounded like a question from some indescribable being, carrying the majesty of judgment.
“No…no…no destiny…” The old Taoist priest’s face was ashen, his lips trembled, and his teeth chattered, making a “clucking” sound. He barely managed to stay upright by holding onto the back of the chair.
"You...you are not within the Three Realms, nor within the Five Elements...you...what exactly are you?!"
He roared out those last words with all his might, his voice filled with fear from the depths of his soul.
The carriage fell silent instantly; everyone was stunned by the sudden turn of events.
Zhou Ye withdrew his gaze, picked up the few banknotes on the table, walked to the distraught old Taoist priest, and gently stuffed them into his tattered cloth bag.
"I am just a tourist with power."
He turned and returned to his seat, presenting everyone with a calm profile. Watching the old Taoist priest stagger away, almost fleeing in panic, he silently added a thought to himself.
"Using divination methods inferior to mine to try and make things difficult for you is a mistake. It's fortunate you meant no harm, otherwise the backlash would have been enough to kill you on the spot. Don't be like that idiot Lü Ci."
He knew that this old Taoist priest was no ordinary person. The quality of the Qi emanating from him was ancient and pure, probably a pawn sent by a reclusive sect with a long history, perhaps even stronger than the Ten Elders Clan, to test his strength.
But this piece is clearly useless now. For a cultivator, a shattered Dao heart is more terrifying than death.
The train slowly came to a stop at a small station.
The old Taoist priest, as if grasping at a straw, pushed through the crowd and rushed off the train. Standing on the platform, the cold wind brought him back to his senses. He turned back and took one last look at the lit carriage, his eyes filled with unprecedented fear and awe.
With trembling hands, he pulled an old-fashioned flip phone from his pocket and dialed that familiar number.
The call was connected.
"Senior brother..." His voice trembled violently, on the verge of tears.
"We...we were all wrong...completely wrong..."
“That’s not a person…that is…that is the Tao itself, the principle that walks among men!”
Chapter 391 The Steps of Longhu Mountain
The exit of Yingtan Railway Station was bustling with people.
Zhou Ye, carrying a simple backpack, mingled with the bustling crowd and walked out of the station. He ignored the unlicensed taxi drivers enthusiastically soliciting business and went straight to the roadside to flag down a legitimate taxi.
"Driver, to Longhu Mountain Scenic Area."
"Alright! Young man, you're here for tourism? Longhu Mountain is our local landmark, the ancestral home of Taoism, the scenery is absolutely beautiful!" The driver, a talkative middle-aged man, started the car and introduced the place.
Zhou Ye responded half-heartedly, his gaze fixed on the view outside the window. The city's appearance was completely different from the northern metropolis he had previously stayed in; even the air seemed more humid and gentle.
All of this was new to him.
After driving for about half an hour on the winding mountain road, we finally arrived at the entrance of Longhushan Scenic Area. The area was bustling with tourists.
Zhou Ye paid the fare, but instead of heading towards the bustling visitor center, he took an inconspicuous path and circled around to the side of the scenic area. Here, an ancient bluestone staircase meandered into a dense bamboo forest.
This road is the true gate to the Celestial Master's Mansion.
There were no tourists here, only the occasional Taoist boy in blue robes sweeping the ground as he passed by on Highway 317. They merely glanced at Zhou Ye, a stranger, with curiosity, but didn't approach him to question him. They had already received word from their superiors that a distinguished guest would be arriving today.
Zhou Ye walked up to the stone steps and stopped.
He could sense that the path before him was shrouded in an invisible force field. This was the protective array of Longhu Mountain, passed down for thousands of years. It had no offensive power, but it could distort a person's five senses and sense of direction, causing those with ill intentions or uninformed outsiders to wander endlessly in circles within the mountain, ultimately returning to the foot of the mountain without them realizing it. It was an extremely sophisticated defensive measure, subtle and pervasive.
Zhou Ye lifted his foot and stepped onto the first step.
The moment his feet touched the ground, the scene before him seemed to distort slightly; the shadows of the bamboo forest rippled like water for a moment before returning to normal.
The formation has been activated.
But Zhou Ye's steps did not falter in the slightest, nor did he even change his rhythm. He was like a hermit who knew his own backyard intimately, climbing the steps unhurriedly.
Every step he took seemed to be the result of the most precise calculations. His footing landed precisely at the nodes where the Qi flowed through the entire protective mountain array. He neither tried to disrupt nor resist the array; he simply followed the array's principles, walking on the only correct path.
For the Herrscher of the End, the underlying logic of any spell composed of energy and rules is clearly visible. To break it, one doesn't even need to use any power, only... to understand it.
As he continued to climb, the surrounding environment began to undergo some wonderful changes.
The mountain breeze became exceptionally gentle, carrying a faint, fresh scent of grass and trees as it brushed against his face. The birdsong in the forest became exceptionally melodious, each note clear and crisp, as if playing a welcoming melody. Even the Qi (vital energy) floating in the air became unusually active, like playful little fish swirling and leaping around him.
The entire Longhu Mountain seemed to awaken from its slumber.
Zhou Ye was no longer walking on cold stone steps. He was walking on the dragon energy of Longhu Mountain, which had accumulated for thousands of years! With each step he took upwards, his own aura resonated more with the mountain's terrain.
At this moment, in the forbidden area of the back mountain of the Celestial Master's Mansion.
In front of several simple thatched huts, several elderly Taoist priests with white hair and beards, who were meditating with their eyes closed, suddenly opened their eyes almost simultaneously. Their faces were all filled with shock and disbelief.
"Is the mountain...is the mountain welcoming him?"
An old Taoist priest's voice was hoarse and filled with disbelief.
"The mountain-protecting formation... has not given any warning or rejection response whatsoever! How is this possible?!" another old Taoist priest exclaimed in a low voice.
"He...he activated the earth's ley lines! Every step he took landed precisely on the dragon vein's nodes! This...this is beyond human capability! Even my senior brother could only guide it, not make the dragon vein so...so excited!"