Chapter 380: Damage Situation

Deep within the Demon-Suppressing Tower, inside the "Core Containment Zone" that resembled a vertical shaft, Yuan Ling Zhenren and Qianji Zhenren were solemnly inspecting the facilities at various points when Yu Sheng and his group pushed the door open and saw the two busy old men.

"I came to check the situation and also to bring over Sect Master Yuan Hao," Yu Sheng said to Yuan Ling, "How is it over here?"

"As you can see, it's a mess everywhere," Yuan Ling Zhenren sighed, pointing his finger toward the interior of the shaft, "This is likely the biggest accident since the Demon-Suppressing Tower was built—fortunately, the control was timely enough."

Yu Sheng then looked in the direction Yuan Ling Zhenren's finger pointed.

Their current position was on a semi-circular platform extending from the inner wall of the middle section of the shaft; beyond the platform, they could see that numerous mechanism long bridges set along the well wall had been destroyed, many disciples of the Refining Artifact Sect's Spirit Mountain were flying in the air inspecting the condition of the connecting bridges, and a large number of containment rooms distributed on the well wall had collapsed or were emitting smoke, while personnel guarding the Demon-Suppressing Tower were clearing the collapsed areas with the assistance of large mechanism humans.

But compared to the collapse and destruction of those containment rooms, what was even more shocking was a crack that ran almost vertically from top to bottom through the entire shaft—the well wall, built from some unknown material and extremely sturdy, seemed to have been torn open by brute force; the astonishing fissure curved and extended upward straight to the chaotic endless heights above, and downward disappeared into the bottom of the shaft; the widest part of the crack might reach dozens of meters, and even now, sparks and flashes from the breaking of spiritual materials occasionally burst forth from the fissure.

"Holy crap..." Irene, sitting on Yu Sheng's shoulder, was stunned, "No wonder so many demons and monsters ran out; did you guys just split the entire containment zone in half?"

Qianji Zhenren beside them let out a long sigh: "Alas, the situation is indeed extremely perilous; I was also startled when I arrived."

"Ahem, even for me, handling this situation is truly quite tricky," Yuan Ling Zhenren also sighed, "Mainly because the damage inside is far beyond what you see—the core formation of the Demon-Suppressing Tower stopped, and many fierce demons suppressed at the very bottom rose up together; some of them possessed intelligence, sensed the weakening of the prohibitions, and began to destroy layer by layer from bottom to top and from inside to outside; about half of what you saw outside were released by them 'on the side' to create chaos."

"So the situation down there is very complex now; it's not just structural damage, but also miasma and pollution left by various evil demons, demonic beasts, demonized cultivators, and even out-of-control entities; cleaning it up will likely take some time."

"Fortunately, the Demon-Suppressing Tower has a vast space, and many unused floors remain undamaged; those demons and monsters captured can be temporarily moved into those..."

Listening to the old man rambling on about the current situation, Irene finally couldn't hold back: "I wanted to ask just now; you guys have so many demons and monsters locked up here, many of which would definitely cause chaos in the world if they escaped; why not just kill them? At least kill the most dangerous and hopeless batch; why insist on keeping them locked up like ticking time bombs?"

"How could it be that easy?" Hearing Irene's question, before Yuan Ling could speak, Yuan Hao Zhenren standing nearby helplessly shook his head, "The demons and monsters you mentioned that can be directly killed were indeed killed after their identities and crimes were verified upon capture; those remaining that can be locked up in the Demon-Suppressing Tower for a long time certainly have reasons for being kept."

"One situation is that they truly do not deserve death and still have a chance to return to the right path; for example, like the Snake Lady, locking them in the Demon-Suppressing Tower is also giving them a chance to reform."

"Another situation is certain bizarre things; they themselves are extremely difficult to 'kill'; the pollution and backlash unleashed after forcibly destroying them even far exceed the risks during containment; weighing the options, they can only be imprisoned here."

"There is also a more special case: certain ancient demonic beasts, or even demonized cultivators who have comprehended some aspects of the Dao; these 'prisoners' have already established a connection with the cycle of heaven and earth; one breath, one life and death, affecting far more than themselves; directly annihilating them would even injure the Grand Void Spirit Pivot or the entire Feiyu Star Domain's environment in a short time, triggering natural disasters that harm the common people, so these troublesome guys can only be locked in the tower, slowly refined over a thousand or hundred years, before there is a chance to 'dissolve' them harmlessly."

Yu Sheng listened with his mouth agape: "... It can be done like this?!"

"Yes," Yuan Ling Zhenren beside him bitterly smiled and nodded, his tone full of helplessness, "This time, an ancient giant beast connected to the earth veins was forcibly killed by me and Qianji while attempting to escape—it was originally meant to be refined at the very bottom for eight hundred years. Once it died, it left cleanly enough, but just now the Eight Gates Star sent news that the local magnetic pole has shifted by at least 2 degrees... we don't yet know how much harvest it will affect locally."

Yu Sheng was truly shocked this time: "... Do you guys who practice cultivation have some sort of absurdity in you?"

Even Irene on his shoulder was a bit confused listening, then the little puppet suddenly realized, turning her head to look at Hu Li beside her: "Hey, silly fox, do the immortals back in your hometown have this kind of situation too?"

Hu Li thought for a moment and shook his head: "I've never heard of such a thing; it's probably because the world rules are different? And most planets over there have their parameters controlled by machines; if the magnetic pole really shifts, it will automatically adjust back..."

Irene: "... Isn't that even more absurd?!"

Yuan Hao and Qianji beside them were both stunned for a few seconds after hearing Hu Li's words, then their four eyes lit up as they spoke in unison: "What is the principle behind this?"

"Let's not talk about the principle for now; she has only an elementary school diploma and can't explain it clearly to you anyway," Yu Sheng saw two science-type immortals about to consult a cyber-fox with an elementary school dropout on planetary control studies and quickly interrupted (mainly because if he didn't interrupt, this matter would be hard to explain even with long, complex sentences), "Right now the main thing is to figure out exactly how this 'accident' was triggered, and... whether it will explode again."

As soon as Yu Sheng spoke these words, Yuan Ling Zhenren's expression instantly changed slightly: "You mean..."

"The crack observed by Zheng Zhi still exists," Yu Sheng said with a solemn tone, "It has just temporarily entered a stable state."

"Right over there," Zheng Zhi immediately nodded, raising his hand and pointing not far away, "It basically overlaps with the physical crack on the inner wall, extending downward continuously. However, I can't see exactly where it extends to... it's too dark down here to see clearly."

Yuan Ling Zhenren frowned tightly, pinched his beard and thought rapidly for a few seconds, then quickly made a decision: "Then I will take you to the bottom of the Demon-Suppressing Tower and ask this Daoist friend Zheng to use his spiritual eyes to see what the situation is down there—Senior Brother, you stay here with Elder Qianji and continue to inspect and confirm the damage in this area, alright?"

"Naturally," Yuan Hao Zhenren said casually, but soon remembered something, raised his hand and pulled an object from his sleeve—it was his red brick, "The earth veins down there are chaotic; I'm afraid there might be some evil creatures causing trouble; take my 'Ten Directions Heaven-Suppressing Ruler' down for self-defense."

Yuan Ling Zhenren glanced at the "weapon" his senior brother pulled out, his facial muscles visibly twitched, and he forced his expression: "Senior Brother, you know I'm not good with weapons; your 'Heaven-Suppressing Ruler', uh, I'm not used to it."

"Alright... then do you want my Hunyuan Demon-Suppressing Helmet? What about the Haotian Demon-Suppressing Hammer? The Four Directions Spiritual Seal? The Fan Tian Zhang?"

While speaking, Yuan Hao Zhenren poured out a huge pile of divine weapons and treasures he had personally refined from his sleeve; instantly, the platform was filled with dazzling light and overflowing spiritual energy, even with the continuous sound of artifact spirits resonating and ethereal immortal music; Yu Sheng looked closely and saw that within the red light were all kinds of bricks—some with edges, some with blades, some with handles, some with chains, some with inverted hooks, some with Emei spikes, and even two bricks connected together with an iron rod in the middle looking like dumbbells but named 'Qiankun Wuliang Demon-Sweeping Pestle'...

Let's put it this way: if these things weren't spewing Jin Guang and overflowing with spiritual energy, this pile mixed with some concrete would be a wall!

Yuan Ling Zhenren's face almost turned green; seeing his senior brother still pulling things out, he quickly grabbed Yu Sheng and walked toward the edge of the platform, simultaneously waving his whisk and summoning a glowing, floating circular platform from somewhere, carrying everyone onto the circular platform and rushing toward the bottom of the Demon-Suppressing Tower!

Yuan Hao Zhenren's head poked out from the edge of the platform above, still holding a brick radiating cold light in his hand: "Do you want the Wujie Treasure Scroll?"

"Put it away!" Yuan Ling Zhenren stood on the circular platform, controlling it to fly downward while shouting upward, "Don't drop that thing; it might destroy the earth veins!"

Only after shouting did he withdraw his gaze, noticing that Yu Sheng and others around him were looking at him; the old man's expression instantly became somewhat awkward.

Yu Sheng held it in for a long time before he couldn't help it: "Master Xuanche... is he really the great grandmaster of artifact refinement here?"

"... Yes."

Yu Sheng's mouth twitched: "Then his aesthetic sense is very unique."

"You don't know; Senior Brother's artifact refinement skills... are indeed top-notch; he just has a nature that disregards trivialities," Yuan Ling Zhenren thought for a moment and still felt the need to make excuses for his senior brother (or perhaps for the sect's reputation), "The styles of the treasures he refines all follow the most practical and efficient designs, but their power must not be underestimated."

Then Yu Sheng recalled the 'Great Desolation Falling Crystal' smashed by Yuan Hao Zhenren with a single brick and immediately deeply agreed with these words.

It truly had stats for stats, aesthetics for stats, and special effects for stats—a brick...

While speaking, the circular platform under everyone's feet had quickly passed the 'shaft area' in the middle section of the Demon-Suppressing Tower; after passing through a continuous tunnel carved with various talismans and inscriptions, Yu Sheng noticed that the building structure below had changed.

The 'well wall' built with numerous prison cells and caves reached its end; further down was a deep and vertical rock cave; deep within that rock cave, spiritual light could be vaguely seen floating, flickering and swelling, as if breathing and pulsing.

"Down there is the earth vein," Yuan Ling Zhenren explained beside him, "The power of the star core of the Grand Void Spirit Pivot is contained within it."

(End of Chapter)