Chapter 459: Artifact Spirit's Favor

After participating in the yin artifact dismantling project, the more Yan Qianji researched this yin artifact, the more he admired the Jade Nectar Divine Lord of Union University, even voluntarily spending time learning about that Divine Lord's past deeds.

It was said that after the Jade Nectar Divine Lord advanced to the Nascent Soul realm, she discovered that she was unable to plunder and supplement from a mere Qi Refining cultivator through the path of dual cultivation, simply because the other party was a woman.

A dignified Nascent Soul sovereign, actually restricted by mere gender, unable to plunder a Qi Refining cultivator?

How could dual cultivation be so inconvenient?

From then on, the Jade Nectar Divine Lord focused on breaking the inherent boundaries, comprehending the true Great Way of Yin-Yang Union from the originally narrow path of dual cultivation.

And after advancing to Deity Transformation, mere gender could no longer shackle her divine abilities; all beings in the world, in her eyes, no longer had distinctions of gender or race, but were merely vessels of nourishment for her to pluck.

Every time Yan Qianji read about the Jade Nectar Divine Lord's deeds, reverence welled up within him, and he admired the various profundities and difficult-to-understand aspects of this yin artifact even more.

It was like the data he had just obtained from detecting Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan—Yan Qianji could never quite understand its meaning.

"What exactly is it?"

"What kind of thing... Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan—these two are actually more than a hundred times stronger than the other students?"

…

Inside the other laboratory.

When they sensed something was wrong, especially after hearing that the next experiment involved installing the yin artifact in front of them, Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan both stepped back, shielding Ying Xin and Gongshu Jin in front of them.

Zhang Yu said seriously, "I think Ying Xin, as a biological female with the primary sex being female, needs this more than I do."

Yu Xinghan said regretfully, "I am not yet capable of controlling this artifact. Let me settle for a few more years to raise my realm, then I'll come back."

But the next moment, Zhang Yu felt himself leaning against a soft body.

He turned his head and saw that it was the incarnation of Magnetic Pole True Lord.

The woman in palace attire smiled and pressed down on Zhang Yu's shoulder, saying indifferently, "Don't rush. Good things are coming next."

Zhang Yu quickly said, "I just remembered I have some unfinished overtime at the construction site..."

The next moment, Zhang Yu's expression suddenly changed, and cold sweat seemed to ooze from his back.

He said with difficulty, "True Lord, what is that hard thing you have on you?"

Magnetic Pole True Lord smiled and said, "Don't be nervous. That is my Nine Heavens Primordial Yang Tower."

Ying Xin, Gongshu Jin, and Yu Xinghan all looked at Zhang Yu and Magnetic Pole True Lord in surprise, never expecting that the two of them would be on such familiar terms.

At the same time, Magnetic Pole True Lord raised her head and looked at the Deity Transformation yin artifact before her, as if waiting for the artifact's next move.

She thought to herself, "It hasn't succeeded in testing for so long. If we set aside the problem with the artifact's settings, the most likely possibility is… a problem with the artifact spirit itself."

And more information about this Deity Transformation yin artifact surfaced in Magnetic Pole True Lord's mind.

The artifact spirit of this yin artifact was called Jade Nectar Woman Forty-Eight.

Ever since her consciousness was born, Jade Nectar Woman Forty-Eight had been working day and night without rest.

If her mind wandered, a pain as sharp as knives and axes would strike.

If she paused even slightly, a suffering like being burned by fire and drowned by water would rush in.

If she dared to speak and communicate with other artifact spirits, she would suffer the agony of being struck by five thunders.

No distraction, no rest, no hesitation, no slack, no communication…

Under the rules set by the Jade Nectar Divine Lord, Jade Nectar Woman Forty-Eight worked day after day.

Magnetic Pole True Lord thought, "...But fully obeying the rules set by the Jade Nectar Divine Lord is not easy, because as a Deity Transformation yin artifact, during her daily work, she could feel her own body being worn down, even destroyed, over and over."

"Like a dirty, stinking filter, amidst the dual cultivation tasks issued by the Jade Nectar Divine Lord, she actively filtered out everything the Divine Lord did not need, silently swallowed all kinds of impurities, and felt herself being ground down bit by bit, heading step by step toward collapse."

"To follow the rules set by the Jade Nectar Divine Lord in this painful process, she needed to extremely suppress her own nature as an intelligent life form… to stop thinking about anything other than work."

When Jade Nectar Woman Forty-Eight had gone a long time without violating the rules or feeling pain, she had become like a component, as if she could no longer perceive anything beyond her daily work.

Until one day, a chaos… brought Jade Nectar Woman Forty-Eight and the other artifact spirits out of Union University.

When they realized there was no work in their hands, the artifact spirits fell into extreme terror.

But as time passed, when the artifact spirits found that even if they did nothing at all, no intense pain descended, deep confusion arose in their hearts.

The Magnetic Polarity Lord thought: "For these artifact spirits who have been working since birth, not working seriously brings them pain, and stopping work altogether causes heart-rending agony. This is the truth under heaven, the rule of the world."

The artifact spirits who escaped from Harmony University discovered for the first time that they didn't have to work... and that doing nothing at all was also permissible.

Amid gasps of surprise, they exchanged glances, and as the first artifact spirit spoke, they began to communicate.

An unprecedented torrent of information flowed among these artifact spirits, as if the first cry from artifact spirits had sounded across heaven and earth.

They were stunned by this experience, for the first time truly and earnestly observing this real world. "What a pity..."

The Magnetic Polarity Lord silently remarked: "These artifact spirits, originally trained so well by the Nectar Sovereign, have now been led astray by an evil cult onto a path of wickedness."

"From then on, their demonic roots run deep; thoroughly brainwashed by the cult, they can no longer integrate into normal society."

"That the tests have yet to succeed might also be due to the influence of these artifact spirits."

In the process of cracking the Nascent Soul Yin Artifact, he also planned to guide Nectar Woman 48 back to the righteous path, re-equipping her with the ability to work in Kunxu society, and to make the artifact spirit of this Nascent Soul Yin Artifact serve the Myriad Methods University—this too was something the Magnetic Polarity Lord intended to do.

At this moment, the Magnetic Polarity Lord looked at this Nascent Soul Yin Artifact and thought: "So... will it activate this time?"

At the same time, Nectar Woman 48, as the high-intelligence artifact spirit of the Nascent Soul Yin Artifact, was observing several civil engineering students before her.

And as her probing concluded, she locked her attention onto Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan.

With her intellect suppressed by the Magnetic Polarity Lord, she could no longer comprehend many of her past memories.

She instinctively loathed work, yet instinctively understood that if she kept refusing to work, something terrible would happen.

And after seeing Zhang Yu and Yu Xinghan, Nectar Woman 48's eyes seemed to light up.

"These two have too many self-study sessions. The more self-study sessions one has, the weaker one tends to be on the path of dual cultivation, and the lower their resistance."

"And I've never seen anyone this weak before."

"I probably don't even need to do much—just touch them and the work will be done, right?"

Nectar Woman 48 felt she could pick two soft targets as work items, without needing to be installed on them or be attacked by them... to complete the work.

The rhombus-shaped crystal yin artifact zipped over to Zhang Yu in a flash, intending to bully the soft target before it.

The yin artifact suddenly scattered, turning into a cloud of light mist that shot toward Zhang Yu's lower abdomen.

Everyone who saw this was startled.

In the observation room, everyone was shaken.

Yan Qianji exclaimed in surprise: "It's starting already?"

"Is Zhang Yu's talent really that strong?"

"It made the Nascent Soul Yin Artifact so eager to start cultivating with him?"

A student said: "Not even a loading step is needed? Could the yin artifact intelligence data we collected earlier be wrong?"

"If they're cultivating directly like this, does that mean Zhang Yu is engaging in dual cultivation with the Nectar Sovereign?"

Another teacher shook his head: "This Nascent Soul Yin Artifact is not connected to the Nectar Sovereign through the spirit realm."

"At most, Zhang Yu is now dual cultivating with the Nectar Sovereign's offline dharma shell that she shed. As for what will happen... we still need to observe."

At the same time, Celestial Seal Lord, watching this scene with a solemn expression, privately messaged the Magnetic Polarity Lord: Magnetic Polarity, should we stop it?

Celestial Seal Lord: If this yin artifact were installed on a student and then we took action, things would be more controllable—every step would be within our grasp.

Celestial Seal Lord: That way, at least we could look after the student's health and safety.

Celestial Seal Lord: But if we let a student face a Nascent Soul Yin Artifact directly, I'm afraid it might cost them their life, and then the Civil Engineering Department would fleece us for a lot of money.

As he spoke, Celestial Seal Lord glanced over Zhang Yu's records a few more times, thinking to himself that this was a talent who had earned a military certificate in his junior year—if something went wrong, the Civil Engineering Department would surely demand an exorbitant sum.

The Magnetic Polarity Lord stared intently at Zhang Yu and the yin artifact, replying: Let's see how it goes.

Magnetic Polarity Lord: I'll keep watch.

Magnetic Polarity Lord: If something goes wrong, I'll take the blame.

Celestial Seal Lord nodded, thinking that as long as you're willing to pay the compensation, there's no problem.

Meanwhile, Yu Xinghan, Ying Xin, and Gongshu Jin were all staring in shock at the scene.

Ying Xinxin said: "As expected of the senior brother, is this directly attracting the yin artifact to acknowledge a master? No, if so, then he will be senior sister from now on."

Gongshu Jin looked at the cloud of light gathering at Zhang Yu's lower abdomen and thought: "What a powerful yin artifact, it can actually transform into a non-corporeal existence. This definitely isn't a foundation-building level dharma skeletal remains, right?"

Yu Xinghan stared intently at the glowing mist on Zhang Yu's body, and his original intention to withdraw slightly subsided.

He thought to himself: "How can I leave without seeing this through?"

At the same time, Zhang Yu only felt that under the sweep of the glowing mist, all the mana in his body was stirring restlessly, as if it had come to life, surging toward the glowing mist in his lower abdomen.

"This thing..."

Zhang Yu exclaimed in shock: "It's devouring my mana?"

Sensing his mana continuously surging toward the glowing mist and then being constantly devoured, Zhang Yu wanted to circulate his energy to resist, but he felt a wave of weakness all over his body and an indescribable comfort, which actually prevented him from raising even the slightest will to resist.