Chapter 555: Return (Combined Two Chapters, Extra for the Combat Specialist Doctor Leader)

Main Text (Author: A Smile of 300 Jin)

Whoosh!

A huge, scorching sun hung in the sky, illuminating the golden, dazzling ground below.

Xu Zhi leisurely inspected his experimental field, pondering how much energy he could harvest from this land brimming with hope in the future. After all, it was his core channel for growth. In his view, nothing was more important than improving his own cultivation level. If he could break through to the eighth stage and become a god, then the sky would be the limit! Becoming a deity was his ultimate goal.

"If these hundred acres succeed, I'll plant ten thousand acres in the next batch!" He felt somewhat invigorated; after all, this plan had been meticulously prepared for a long time, and it was only with the power of the Ishtar people that he had reached this point. "Although watering and harvesting daily is a bit tiring, ten thousand acres would yield the equivalent of four hundred Ant Heavenly Emperor energies every day." This would be like a major mass extinction event every day, becoming one of his significant sources of income. At this rate, he would likely enter the mid-Heavenly Emperor stage in less than a week—which, in their time, was seven hundred years! After all, his previous accumulations weren't trivial; he was already halfway there.

However, his contentment didn't last long before he suddenly thought of Medusa. The Heavenly Emperor energy she produced in a hundred years was far more than four hundred. He immediately felt a pang of sadness. This super 'fat sheep' was becoming increasingly formidable, producing many times more energy each day than an average god. If not for Armin protecting her, she would have long since met her end.

"Speaking of which, that being now has 129,000 Heavenly Emperors. Although each Heavenly Emperor cell is much smaller than a regular Heavenly Emperor, equivalent to individual coral reefs or small dogs... now, part of her finger has ascended to godhood. A single pinky finger becoming a god, combined with the 129,000 Heavenly Emperor organizations, means her comprehensive combat power is already comparable to an average god." At this level, she could easily defeat new gods like the Blood Emperor, but she still couldn't contend with Armin or Dao Changsheng, because those individuals were exceptionally powerful.

Xu Zhi's expression grew strange. "But when one of her palms becomes a god, she'll likely become completely invincible within the god realm, just as she was invincible in the Heavenly Emperor realm."

Indeed. Currently, with just one palm, she could utterly dominate the entire god realm! But she only had one pitiful finger! This clearly showed how high her ceiling was within the same cultivation realm. However, by the time one of her palms becomes invincible, and the rest of her body transforms into 129,000 gods, Armin and others would have already begun planning their breakthrough to the ninth-tier world, or perhaps even achieved it.

It was also undeniable that Medusa was the one Xu Zhi had paid the most attention to over the years. It wasn't for any other reason; this little snake demon, cooped up in his orchard pond, was simply too 'fat' and tempting. Seeing her go in and out every day, he couldn't help but want to jump into the pond and 'slaughter' her for a good meal.

After circling the experimental field, Xu Zhi felt that he still had a long and arduous journey ahead, and his previous smugness had vanished. Comparison truly was the thief of joy; it was a difficult feeling. However, comparing his energy production to a god's, he realized he had indeed become a bit overconfident. He quietly returned to where the players were, who were still busily engrossed in their research.

"Hahaha! Brothers, let's go, go, go!"

"Hold on, I need to go outside and use the restroom!"

He was quite used to these players. Meanwhile, the group of Celestials hiding in the shadows, led by Emperor Yun, looked at these enthusiastic individuals with troubled expressions. Xu Zhi immediately stared at them for a moment. If they were to make a move, he would have to find a way to stop them. Normally, he could let these players mess around, but now was the crucial moment to 'sacrifice their hairlines' to acquire a cultivation system.

"Don't be imprudent," Xu Zhi said softly, his voice faint yet piercing their minds. As a Heavenly Emperor invincible in his own realm, Xu Zhi did not use any other powers.

On the other side, Emperor Yun's mind reeled, yet he seemed not to have heard a thing. He calmly addressed the other Celestials, "These Asuras have actually begun their own research? Like scholars, they're deducing ancient systems, and they're knowledgeable and orderly? This is hard to imagine... they are truly too unpredictable!"

"Your Majesty, we..." Yun Zhongjun hesitated.

"There's no need to interfere," Emperor Yun smiled, whispering secretly, "According to my observations, they obtained some inheritances from that ancient temple... they are from their ancestors."

"Ancestors? They're actually from their ancestors?" Yun Zhongjun's eyes widened. He had, in fact, seen the murals. That ancient civilization of distant eras, the ancient temple with its green lamp, had a history of at least tens of thousands, even hundreds of millions of years, so profound it was beyond investigation. And these Asuras were actually their descendants?

Emperor Yun merely smiled. "I went to that ancient temple before them. I also saw the remnants of ancient mighty beings on those stone walls, from various eras, each one definitely no less powerful than myself... None of them could reach the depths of the ancient temple to obtain inheritances; they only left writings on the periphery. I myself only reached the deepest part, and the moment I pushed open the door, goosebumps erupted all over my body.... Yet these Asuras received recognition from the mysterious existence within, obtaining ancient inheritances, which, in their language, are called Sarira!"

"Sarira?" Yun Zhongjun's look of surprise turned into disbelief. "What is Sarira?"

"Sarira should be the remnants left behind by a powerful being who achieved nirvana," Emperor Yun analyzed seriously. "That might be an ancient deity, and not an ordinary one. It's very likely a peerless ancient god, whose combat power shook heaven and earth..."

Yun Zhongjun was utterly dumbfounded. An ancient overlord-level god from tens of thousands or even hundreds of millions of years ago?

"Then we should seize it!" Yun Zhongjun immediately sneered, "The most ancient inheritance, one that even Your Majesty couldn't obtain, and that even the mighty beings of various ancient eras envied, must be earth-shattering... If we seize it, our Celestial path is destined to prosper!"

But at this moment, Emperor Yun shook his head, smiling faintly. "Yun Zhongjun, only with the ambition to encompass the world can one become a true monarch... What good would seizing it do us? We wouldn't know how to use it. Instead, we can let them research it, restore and repair the cultivation methods of the ancient era.... Then, from the shadows, we can learn!"

Emperor Yun's gaze was sharp. In reality, the Six Paths of Reincarnation still hadn't developed its own unique cultivation methods up to this point. Their ability to reach the seventh-tier Heavenly Emperor realm was merely through cultivating their innate 'supernatural talents,' similar to the 'visualization' practiced in the faith and incense system. However, this only involved cultivating their inherent 'souls.' Strictly speaking, it was only due to their astonishing talent that they could reach the peak using such crude cultivation methods.

Emperor Yun took a deep breath. "If the Asuras revive the ancient mythological cultivation methods, it could truly lead us to a golden age. Our world would fully get back on track, fostering an era of great prosperity... And among these, the Innate Qi system, Yun Zhongjun, is most suitable for you. You inherently control cloud qi... Perhaps, in the future, you will have the certainty to surpass me!"

"Your Majesty," Yun Zhongjun was instantly flustered. He knew what these words implied: he was being considered the next successor.

"Your temperament still needs refinement," Emperor Yun merely smiled. No one knew what the future held, and having a contingency plan was always the best option.

Xu Zhi immediately put his worries aside, turned, and leisurely walked away. "The teleportation array is just finished. I'll go back to Earth and get some more water."

At this moment, Emperor Yun inexplicably looked around, and a slight shiver ran down his spine.

"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Yun Zhongjun asked.

"Nothing," Emperor Yun shook his head. He had possessed a terrifying intuition since childhood, and he thought to himself, "A hallucination? Impossible. It was clearly real just now... a brush with death... like some ancient existence. Could it be that Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva?" He felt a strange sense of unease and panic. This feeling of being controlled was very unpleasant.

Meanwhile, after playfully interacting with some foreign netizens, the players were delighted, realizing that their continuous, unnoticed accumulation of knowledge had, without them knowing, equipped them with an impressive array of insights.

Some time passed.

"Quickly research the second gene bloodline potion! The Buddhist and Daoist systems clearly require a bloodline!"

Bai Xiaojun, with his background in pharmacology, was now in his element. It was he, back then, who led a group of medical students with the rallying cry, "As medical students, why fear a fight?" to help the Alchemist Emperor create the gene potion, allowing him to live a second life. He was the true pharmaceutical talent.

"Brothers, it's done..." A few more days passed, and Bai Xiaojun's face was beaming with joy. He felt that as one of the oldest players, he had never managed to get a paper published, but now, his era was finally arriving. He held up two test tubes high, where thick, crimson liquid swirled.

"These are gene potions extracted from those Bodhi trees, capable of transforming into radiation bodies... bah! Ancient Buddha Bodies, which can absorb radiant energy... The gene potions are pretty much sorted. Once the bloodline is established, we'll still need to figure out how to cultivate as Buddhists, but at least we have the foundation!" He then excitedly announced: "We also extracted qi-type cultivation gene potions from those tree-people. After fusion, the blood will boil and vaporize, and as cultivation gradually strengthens, it should completely transform into a special energetic air, true qi... However, this is the first generation of fused bloodline potions, so the mortality rate probably won't be low."

A bloodline system was quite normal. Previously, the wizard bloodline came from the Evil Eye gene. The Inner World bloodline came from the Rubik's Cube gene. As for cultivation systems without a specific bloodline, those were currently the 'mortal stream' systems...

"Brothers, let me fuse it! I want to cultivate the Dao!" Someone boldly stepped forward, acting incredibly audacious. He held up the test tube ready for injection.

"Ahhh! I feel my qi overflowing from my butt!" With a 'boom,' he launched straight into the air, leaving behind a group of roaring spectators.

Bai Xiaojun earnestly warned everyone, pointing to the sky, "Look! This, perhaps, is what the Daoists call 'washing the marrow and cleansing the essence,' expelling the turbid qi of the five grains, and officially embarking on the path of cultivating true qi."

"The ancients truly did not deceive us!" Everyone's eyes widened. Thus, a brand new era was born. No matter how comical it seemed, these players ultimately had no idea how profound an impact they were having on the future of the entire world at that very moment, or how significant a chapter of history they were writing.

Days later, individuals began to emerge one after another, and the Celestial Path was shaken by these developments.

At the same time, "It is time to depart." A voice, ancient and profound, suddenly permeated the entire Hell.

"Who is that?" Emperor Yun's expression subtly changed. He abruptly stood up, but there was no further echo. The passage leading from the Celestial Path's 'Burning Heaven' to the mysterious Hell was rapidly closing. Soon, it vanished completely. If 'Burning Heaven' hadn't still retained a strong radiant aura and remained a Buddhist land overgrown with Bodhi trees, they would have doubted that these experiences had ever happened.

And the players were utterly thrilled. "Holy crap! The instance dungeon closed!"

"This drastic change might have been orchestrated by an ancient entity, similar to the Peerless God. On this side, they took advantage of the Lord of Reincarnation's absence to stir up some trouble... even allowing us to inherit the legacy of Hell's ancient temple!"

"This is a huge strategic game!"

"Sure enough, as soon as we finished our class change..."

"Don't rush, we've already acquired those two species, and we can secretly cultivate them, just like we raised the Evil Eyes back then... However, the environment will probably need to be a vacuum for optimal results, and then we'll need to figure out how to get some radiation... Does anyone know how to extract uranium or similar substances? We need to create an artificial Buddhist land, online, pretty urgent!"

Although everyone was excited, they didn't get too rowdy. They knew that even if it hadn't closed, they wouldn't have stayed in this instance dungeon much longer anyway, as the Celestial Realm's repulsion had already begun, forcing them to quickly return to the Beast Path. It was just a pity that this good life of a hundred years in a day, enjoyed for only a few minutes, was quickly about to be 'dimensionally suppressed.'

As expected, Emperor Yun gathered the remaining group of players, now only two hundred strong, and calmly said, "It is time to send you back to the lower realms. We will invite you back to the Celestial Path another day."

Yuan Qinghua smiled, stating simply and directly, "You're sending all of them to the Great Mantis to be imprisoned with me, aren't you?"

Emperor Yun nodded, not denying it. "You should know that once your identities are exposed, I will not let you leave... All two hundred-plus of them will be for you to bear children with."

Two! Hundred! Of them!? Yuan Qinghua's face darkened, utterly bewildered, as he looked at the brothers around him. This Emperor Yun was a crazy fisherman, killing two birds with one stone? Catching them all to massively reproduce the Hungry Ghost Path—what a shrewd calculation.

"I wish you another happy life," Emperor Yun smiled placidly, turning to the Goddess of Love, Baihua, beside him. "You and Yun Zhongjun, send them down together."

"Yes!" The Goddess of Love, Baihua, smiled faintly.

In an instant, all the players were utterly bewildered; they exploded with shock! "What's going on?"

"We just changed classes, just left the instance dungeon, and now we're hit with such a shocking plot twist?"

"Game development team, where is your conscience?"

Xu Zhi closed the external channel of the 'Six Paths of Reincarnation,' taking one last look at this Mercury power station, with its lush green trees. He directly brought the lively little creatures onto the teleportation array. After all, there was no water here, so they couldn't stay for long.

Whoosh!

Xu Zhi lightly jumped, disappearing from the teleportation array on Mercury. When he opened his eyes again, he was back in his living room.

"This appearance was still acceptable." He sat on the sofa, watching the group of little creatures he had brought back out of thin air. They were lively and jumping around in the living room, chirping like a pile of tiny ants. He was instantly speechless. "How am I going to house them?"

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