Chapter 276: line with translation of chapter title

In the circular corridor of the air-raid shelter, A Qi's weighted frog jumps continued.

With each jump, his bones all over his body cried out under the strain.

"Alright, practice on your own." Gu Yuan's voice echoed in A Qi's sea of consciousness, tinged with laziness, "If you can't hold on, drink a drop of the herbal essence I left beside you. Remember, you're only allowed one drop; any more and your broken body will explode into blood mist on the spot."

A Qi felt as if pardoned, he heavily fell to the ground, looking at the jade bottle that appeared out of nowhere beside his hand, his eyes full of awe.

He carefully licked a drop; instantly, a mighty, moist vital energy coursed through his body, and the torn muscle fibers and damaged meridians healed and rebuilt at an unimaginable speed.

After arranging A Qi, Gu Yuan's divine sense retracted, focusing his attention on the several fifth-grade spirit-qi crystals on the table before him.

His vast divine sense, like the most precise scalpel, peeled away the crystal's outer layer layer by layer, probing into the miniature spirit-gathering array pattern inside.

At the same time, his divine sense followed the connection points of these patterns, extending upward, spreading to the enormous spirit-gathering matrix that blotted out the sky on the planet's outer orbit.

After a moment, Gu Yuan slightly furrowed his brow.

"Crude, extremely crude."

He gave that evaluation.

If these formations were placed in the Primordial Immortal Realm, even the Gu Family's novice formation apprentices would disdain their low energy conversion efficiency.

But the problem is, this thing's size is too huge.

It tightly bound the formation to this world's aberrant mechanical technology underlying logic, forming a self-consistent closed loop.

Although Gu Yuan mastered the Three Thousand Dao and his formation attainment had reached the True Immortal level, to have him analyze it bit by bit, and even tamper with or take it over without alerting the four major conglomerates' patriarchs...

It could be done, but it would be too exhausting.

Gu Yuan has always been someone who knows how to enjoy himself and leverage external help.

Not using the family's top-tier resources would be foolish.

Just as he was about to do something...

【Host, detected that you are facing a technical bottleneck.】

The system's somewhat personable, flattering mechanical voice sounded in the sea of consciousness,

【According to this system's calculations, A Qi is the child of destiny of this world. You can completely remain hidden behind the scenes, carefully guiding him to build a rebel army, from the lower-class slums up to the upper city, step by step overthrowing the conglomerates' rule. This is the proper way to open the kingly path wasteland flow, which not only fulfills the ultimate task of "Reshaping the Cultivation Order" but also lets you enjoy the pleasure of raising him—how wonderful!】

Gu Yuan heard it and directly snorted with laughter.

"Kingly way? Who set the rules?"

He played with the crystal in his hand, his tone full of mockery,

"As the young master of the Gu Family from the Primordial Immortal Realm, I hold a pile of True Immortal and Immortal King–level resources; you want me to waste decades in this broken place playing at wasteland uprising make-believe? Time is too precious—I have no leisure to play heroics with these ants."

The system stalled for half a second,

【Then what you mean is……】

"Professional matters should be left to professionals."

Gu Yuan decisively severed his soul link with the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm.

Primordial Immortal Realm, Gu Family Divine Island.

Inside the palace where time flows a hundred times faster, Gu Yuan's true form opened his eyes.

He rose, pushed open the heavy hall doors. The rich, almost tangible immortal substance surged toward him, forming an intense contrast with the nauseating acid-rain oil smell of the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm.

He shifted slightly, using the Shrink Ground technique, and rushed straight to the Gu Family's blessed land.

In Gu Xuan Ce's exclusive formation workshop, it was so chaotic there wasn't even a place to set foot.

The floor was littered with scattered jade slips, discarded formation plates, and various scraps of immortal metal glinting with strange luster.

This Gu Family formation master, sporting two dark circles under his eyes, was squatting before a huge star chart, muttering to himself.

Since obtaining the corpse of the Zhenyuan Immortal King and receiving guidance from the Myriad Medicine Divine Sovereign beside him, Gu Xuan Ce's obsession with formation has reached the point of going berserk.

It is worth mentioning that.

The Myriad Medicine Divine Sovereign took a liking to Gu Xuan Ce's formation talent and thus accepted him as a disciple.

Gu Xuan Ce now counts as a direct disciple of an Immortal King.

"Uncle Xuan Ce." Gu Yuan spoke up, interrupting his deduction.

Gu Xuan Ce jerked his head up, his bloodshot eyes showing a hint of bewilderment; only after seeing who had come did he hastily straighten himself.

"Young Master? You've left seclusion? Is there something you need me for?"

"Pretty much."

Gu Yuan walked over to the stone table, casually picked up a blank jade slip, inscribed upon it the spirit-gathering array of the Heavenly Pivot Source Realm—the aberrant system that forcibly fuses technology and cultivation—and then tossed it to Gu Xuan Ce.

"I've discovered a new world where cultivators don't inhale and exhale the heavens and earth; they gain cultivation by inserting crystals into their brains, somewhat like a pouring of the sweet dew, except no one needs to transmit spiritual power."

Gu Xuan Ce initially wore the expression of someone listening to a fantastical tale.

However, when he extended his divine sense into the jade slip and saw those twisted mechanical array patterns, this formation maniac's breathing grew coarse.

"Absurd, utterly absurd."

Gu Xuan Ce held the jade slip with both hands, his fingers trembling,

"This pattern arrangement completely treats heavenly and earthly spiritual qi as dead matter to be compressed, but… interestingly, this absorption that divorces itself from the Dao's rhythm and purely pursues energy is actually more stable than our spirit-gathering array!"

He suddenly lifted his head, fervent light flashing in the depths of his eyes:

"Young Master, where is the physical object of this thing? If we can fully grasp this mechanical array pattern, integrate it into our Heavenly Stars and Dipper Great Array, abandon the Dao's rhythm, and solely pursue energy utilization, the next time we relocate Sanqian Zhou, the array's energy loss could be reduced by at least twenty percent!"