Chapter 3172: Luodasi's Resistance

————It will be later~~

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"Since you have already arrived in the Northland, you must have heard about Kalishi's New Artifact Project, right? This has been spreading like wildfire in the Northland. What is your take on this matter?"

Xia Duo asked a key question here, but this time Luodasi's answer surprised him once again, "I have never heard of any New Artifact Project? How could I see Kalishi wanting to forge an artifact in the Northland? How is that even possible?"

Luodasi's expression was somewhat nervous and somewhat angry, but he was trying his best to suppress it, not wanting Xia Duo to see it. But how could Xia Duo not see such intense emotions!

After all, this was a Consciousness Cage, which inherently possessed perception enhancement specifically targeting consciousness, not to mention that Xia Duo was running multiple instances simultaneously; there were always individual instances that couldn't hide their emotions. Comparing them like this, Xia Duo understood what Luodasi was thinking.

"You are angry? Why? Wouldn't forging an artifact sacrifice a Psionic Master? If Kalishi forges an artifact, doesn't that mean Kalishi will die? Why are you still angry?" Xia Duo decisively threw out the question.

Regarding this, Luodasi was silent for a moment, but still stated the matter: "The Psionic Material that can be used to forge an artifact is extremely rare. Perhaps you have already guessed it—yes, it is the Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone stolen by Kalishi. That is an extremely powerful piece of Psionic Material."

"In the past, many times when it was the Anti School's turn to hold the Executive position, the school had considered forging the Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone into an artifact, but because the material itself was too weak, the probability of the artifact forging process going out of control was very small. I never imagined Kalishi would still harbor such an idea!"

"When you say that, is Kalishi in contact with some low-level existences in Zhamu Dasi, wanting to use the Northland's Computing Power Pool to forge a New Artifact?"

"Is that not possible—could the New Artifact Kalishi wants to forge be powerful enough, powerful enough to suppress all other existing artifacts in one fell swoop?"

Regarding Luodasi's judgment, Xia Duo acknowledged it, but it was still the same point: Luodasi's judgment might not be a lie, but Luodasi might not know the whole truth, so his words could only be used as a reference.

While there were friendships and bonds within the school, it was not entirely a place of warmth. Luodasi had lived to this age and had seen everything regarding what happened to those who did not agree with the school's philosophy.

In other instances, Xia Duo also heard Luodasi's explanation that it was impossible for the Zeqi School to collude with Kalishi to forge an artifact, but after a moment of thought, he discovered another possibility that existed—

"While competition and even conflict exist between the two major schools, both sides have a tacit understanding to control the competition and conflict to a certain degree."

"That is the convention for missions outside! Even if it is a Zeqi School mission, our school can still send people to join!" Luodasi retorted with some lack of confidence.

"That is even more impossible. The power of an artifact far exceeds any Psionic Master, so to fully unleash the power of an artifact, one must have enough Psionic Masters. Our school's Psionic Masters are indeed not as numerous as the Zeqi School's, but the quantity has not opened up an absolute gap. The existing gap is still not enough to let them completely crush us."

Even if the New Artifact were powerful, so what? The process of forging an artifact could not possibly be hidden from the Anti School. Once the tacit understanding between the two sides ceased to exist, the Anti School would inevitably make it impossible for the New Artifact to be successfully forged.

In any case, Arcane Psionic Fusion and the New Artifact were no longer secrets in the Northland; rather, it was Luodasi, who came from the south, who knew nothing about it. Xia Duo proposed a new possibility—

But in fact, he had already thought of this possibility: as long as the New Artifact was powerful enough, the Anti School could completely reach a cooperation with the Zeqi School. As for the slight sacrifices in between, they would just be a necessary cost.

"If you are worried that the New Artifact cannot be unilaterally controlled, or if you are thinking about sharing the risk of the project failing, is it possible for the Zeqi School to cooperate with the Anti School? And you are just the sacrificial pawns used to gain the Northland's trust in this plan!"

Xia Duo's words were like a needle pricking Luodasi's heart, making him freeze for a full few seconds before saying very firmly—

But as he spoke, Luodasi's voice grew lower and lower, until finally, he was silent. Xia Duo did not want to see this scene, so he simply pointed it out:

"How is that possible? If that were really the case, then what are we? And what about Aokesi, who died in the mission earlier?"

"What if it is a conspiracy between the Anti School and the Zeqi School to let Kalishi return to the Northland, and then use the convenience of the Computing Power Pool to forge the New Artifact? It would be nothing more than an agreement that the New Artifact belongs to both parties to keep together; this is not without precedent."

Luodasi was very confident in his judgment. He had come into contact with every artifact of Zhamu Dasi; he knew the characteristics of those artifacts too well. If the Zeqi School had the certainty to completely suppress them, they would not have waited until now.

As for the so-called agreement with the school's philosophy, who had the right to interpret that?

……

"Then is it a unilateral collusion between the Zeqi School and Kalishi?" Xia Duo proposed another possibility.

Even for an intact artifact, it was not impossible to destroy it, just like the artifact stored in Tuokesente that was destroyed by Xia Duo a few years ago.

"This, this is impossible! The school would not abandon us!" Luodasi muttered.

"What you said makes some sense, but that is on the premise that the New Artifact is still the psionic artifact you understood in the past. What if the New Artifact is no longer the psionic artifact you understood in the past?"

"You have also seen it; if it were not a conspiracy between the two major schools, why would there be people from the Zeqi School mixed into your investigation team? You must know that the Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone you mentioned is kept by you!"

But Luodasi pondered for a while and still gave a negative answer, "It is also not very likely. Although the Zeqi School has become somewhat degenerate in recent years, it would not go so far as to collude with Kalishi to steal the Remains of the First Mentor kept by the Anti School."

Then he seemed to have thought of something and hurriedly said: "The Zeqi School has no reason to do so, because it is currently their turn to hold the Executive position, and they have long made various preparations to forge the New Artifact. There is absolutely no reason to share the New Artifact with our school."

"That is impossible. According to the rule of the two major schools taking turns to hold the Executive position, an artifact forged during one's term must be kept by the school in power. The Primary Mentor's Glabella Bone can be said to be the most powerful Psionic Material in the history of Zhamu Dasi. It is impossible for the school to hand over what is very likely the most powerful artifact in history to the Zeqi School."

After thinking for a moment, Xia Duo asked again:

Forging an artifact is not easy; Zhamu Dasi has only forged seventeen artifacts in thousands of years. But wanting to sabotage the artifact's manufacturing process is far easier than forging an artifact.

"Once such a tacit understanding is broken, Zhamu Dasi will never have peace again. The Zeqi School cannot make such an unwise decision!"

In any case, Luodasi himself did not have it, so could it only be that they were to become the sacrificial pawns?