Mech Pilot

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Thousands of miles away in the sky, from the direction of a warship drifting in the atmosphere, twelve streaks of light, shrouded in a holy glow, pierced through the atmosphere like space-based missiles and descended onto this sea surface.

This is the Heavenly Punishment Squad, which is in the first tier of the Immortal Cave Heaven Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty.

Compared to the twelve members of the Hunter Squad, who wore almost standard-issue mechs, the Heavenly Punishment Squad's equipment was undoubtedly much more luxurious.

Each mech is different in size and style.

The massive mechs can reach tens of meters in height, appearing heavy, majestic, and as imposing as mountains, and their weapons are equally futuristic.

The small mechs are only two or three meters tall, and at first glance they look like a set of ancient heavy armor.

On this petite mecha, there is also an animal robot, no more than ten centimeters long, resembling a praying mantis.

At this moment, the robot moved around in his palm like a pet.

"Looks like we're late."

At this moment, a tall, slender, all-white mech, about thirty meters high, stepped forward and announced over the communication channel, "The Hunter Squad has been completely wiped out."

"Speaking of which, what's going on? The Immortal True Spirit clearly didn't detect any intruders at the Golden Immortal level. Could it be that she's malfunctioned again?"

"Don't talk nonsense. How could an immortal True Spirit make a mistake? It maintains and monitors the operation of the entire Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty at the social level. I guess it was a temporary worker who made a mistake."

"Alright, Sunshine, Hurricane, stop talking badly about the Immortal True Spirit. Don't forget, our communication system is also connected to the Immortal True Spirit's auxiliary module."

At this moment, the slender, snow-white mecha examined the residual energy in the air. "Nuclear fusion, gravitational field, what kind of reactor could enable them to release such a massive amount of energy? In terms of energy level, it has already reached the Great Dao Golden Immortal level. It seems that the Hunter team has run into a brick wall. Their weapons are not much of an advantage against the new era rebels."

"Captain Snowflake is right, whatever you say goes."

The man referred to as Hurricane shrugged.

As for their communication system being connected to the auxiliary module of the Immortal True Spirit...

It's just a super spirit that's absolutely rational and devoid of emotions.

They won't lose anything by saying a few words.

Besides, they are the elite of the new era, yet they have to be commanded by a super artifact spirit. Just thinking about it makes them very unhappy.

"The entire hunter squad has been wiped out. Search the area and report back. We'll wait for the Immortal True Spirit to provide further information."

The person referred to as the captain, Piaoxue, said something but showed no intention of investigating further.

Their duty is to deal with outside intruders and those who are accidentally captured after falling in.

The rebels are not under their jurisdiction.

Moreover...

This target is clearly not easy to deal with.

In an ordinary little town.

Gu Jinlai the scorching sun, and guided by a memory shared by one of the hunting team members, they arrived at a courtyard.

This courtyard is a liaison point for a rebel force called the Fairy Shadow Society.

This stronghold had long been discovered by the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, but they did not take any rash action, only as bait.

However, the unique nature of outsiders' own power makes them easily detectable by the immortal True Spirit that surround the entire Immortal Cave Heaven.

In order to find a way to resolve this hidden danger, and also to urgently understand the specific situation of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, people from Gu Jinlai present, knowing this, still came to us.

"Zhou Huang".

Gu Jinlai stood outside the courtyard, glanced at the blazing sun overhead that was clearly different from the stars of the Immortal Realm and Blue Star, and let out a long breath. "The Demon Realm was formed from the corpse of an Immortal Golden Immortal over countless years, absorbing cosmic dust... and Zhou Huang actually took ten thousand years to achieve that feat that was close to that of an Immortal Golden Immortal."

Of course, this might be due to the aid of some external objects or forces. In addition, the immortal golden immortal formed the Demon Realm by passively absorbing cosmic dust, while this human emperor of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty did so actively, yet he was able to hang above the immortal grotto heaven like a star...

With such vast and majestic power, it's no wonder he wanted to surpass the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors in achievements.

"Zhou Huang does not possess such power. He must have relied on some treasures left over from the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Otherwise, this human emperor would not have remained within the Great Sun Star for a hundred years."

Moreover, unlike stars.

Stars emit light because of nuclear fusion.

However, the great sun that Zhou Huang transformed into seemed to involve the level of material annihilation.

He relies on the annihilation of matter to provide energy, continuously maintaining the operation of the Immortal Cave Heaven.

The way to achieve all this is by devouring the Great Dao.

What sustains the operation of the Devouring Dao, and even the circulation of life within the entire Immortal Cave Heaven, should be the spiritual energy generated after the collapse of other Heavenly Dao.

"A universe, a world, is composed of three thousand Great Daos. Zhou Huang does not possess the three thousand Great Daos, and perhaps even the Devouring Dao does not belong to him. However, he relies on the Immortal Cave Heaven and the Devouring Dao to continuously obtain the power of Heavenly Dao and Great Dao from the outside world to replenish himself, forcibly constructing a small world or small universe with the ability to circulate."

Gu Jinlai, they have gradually come to understand the truth of the Immortal Grotto-heaven. "But the Heavenly Dao is not the Great Dao. The Great Dao is eternal and flawless, while the Heavenly Dao is like a living being that cannot withstand the erosion of time. Even if it is maintained by spiritual energy, it will still collapse after thousands or tens of thousands of years. At this time, it needs to constantly obtain more Heavenly Dao and spiritual energy from the outside world to replenish and nurture it."

"Therefore, he devoured countless worlds around him, which is why there are many people like us, like you, who stand up to resist him."

At that moment, a voice came from inside the courtyard.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged man and an elderly man walked over at the same time.

All eyes, Gu Jinlai, fell upon the two of them.

"You must be the mysterious expert who wiped out the Hunter team half an hour ago."

The middle-aged man said, giving a slight bow, "You can call me Pang Yuan."

"Oh, you guys know?"

Gu Jinlai at him, then at the old man behind him.

The old man was the contact person at this liaison point.

But look at his appearance...

They clearly followed this middle-aged man's lead.

"Our control over the Azure Sea area is not much weaker than that of the Immortal True Spirit. We even know that they have discovered our contact point, and we have deliberately maintained this contact point. Do you understand our meaning, Your Excellency?"

"Use their plan against them."

Gu Jinlai at the old man, whose cultivation was mediocre and whose body exuded an aura of decay, and nodded.

The old man appears to be a pawn willing to be sacrificed at any time.

And he also had the awareness to make this sacrifice.

The goal was to wait for someone like him who would "come upon hearing the news" to join.

"Evacuate as soon as possible."

Pang Yuan gave an instruction to the old man.

The old man nodded.

It was worth the great danger he took to be able to wait for an outsider who had defeated the Hunter squad.

He would have no regrets even if he had to sacrifice himself now.

After all, everything he had had been destroyed by the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, so there was no difference between being alive and dead.

"This is not the place to talk. If you are willing to trust us and become one of us, please come with me. If you are not willing to trust us, you may leave now."

Pang Yuandao.

Looking at him from the Gu Jinlai, after a moment's thought, he chose to follow.

At that moment, Pang Yuan led Gu Jinlai into the courtyard and into an underground passage.

"It works?"

Following Pang Yuan, Gu Jinlai was somewhat surprised. "With a sweep of divine sense, this passage has nowhere to hide, right?"

"This world, which is called the Immortal Grotto-Heaven... well, let's just call it the Xuanhuang Realm, is a place where other powers are devoured once they are released. Only the power of mind and matter are subject to less control."

Pang Yuan gave a brief introduction. "The human body and matter have limits, so people focus on developing and utilizing mental power. However, this can lead to dependence. We have accumulated a wealth of experience in how to hide ourselves under the scanning of mental power, which is why our Immortal Shadow Society has been able to persist until now despite the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty's pursuit."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

He did not inquire in detail about these crucial issues concerning the Fairy Shadow Society.

Pang Yuan and Gu Jinlai quickly arrived at a basement where an array was inscribed.

The array's fluctuations were not strong, but at its core was a crystal, from which a powerful devouring force was faintly emanating.

"First, touch the Cleansing Crystal. It will cleanse your body of external influences as much as possible. The length of this process will vary depending on the time you spend cultivating and comprehending the Heavenly Dao."

Pang Yuan paused here, then added, "I only hope that during this time, the people of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty won't think of our stronghold and try to eliminate it."

Gu Jinlai did not detect any danger.

He immediately stepped forward and touched the spirit-cleansing crystal with his hand.

Instantly, a cool aura, containing a trace of the passage of time, flowed out from the crystal, seemingly clearing away some of the remaining traces on his body.

In just a few dozen breaths, the cool fluctuation disappeared and returned to the Cleansing Crystal.

This scene slightly surprised Pang Yuan: "So fast!?"

Then, as if realizing something, he looked at Gu Jinlai with astonishment. "You... how many years has it taken you to cultivate from the True Immortal Realm to now!?"

"A true fairyland?"

After a moment's thought, Gu Jinlai said, "I walk the path of the innate divine."

"Innate divinity?"

Pang Yuan suddenly realized something, but then he realized something else. "Wait, a Primordial Saint... that's too fast! Dozens of breaths... You're not telling me that you've only taken less than ten years from embarking on the path of a Primordial Saint to now, are you?"

Gu Jinlai at the crystal and was somewhat surprised.

"You guys found out about all of this?"

"Impossible!"

Pang Yuan couldn't help but say, "You were able to defeat the Hunter squad, so you must have at least a level nine pilot... at least the combat strength of a Nine Heavens Mystic Immortal. Let's say you had the strength of a True Immortal the moment you stepped onto the Path of Innate Sainthood. In less than ten years, you went from a True Immortal to a Nine Heavens Mystic Immortal!?"

As he spoke, he stared at Gu Jinlai with a strange look, his expression showing a hint of wariness.

She unconsciously created a slight distance between herself and him.

Although Gu Jinlai found it somewhat difficult to understand, he could only explain in a sincere tone, "If I said that I am a cultivation prodigy, one in a billion, would you believe me?"

Pang Yuan looked like he was saying, "I don't believe your nonsense."

"Alright, Pang Yuan, don't be nervous. The washing crystal won't make a mistake. He really only took a maximum of ten years to complete this growth process."

At this moment, a wave of divine thought came through, followed by the addition. "If the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty is really so extravagant as to use such a genius as a pawn in order to deal with our Immortal Shadow Society... then our Immortal Shadow Society will accept it."

"Lord Biyuan."

Pang Yuan bowed slightly to the void.

"May I ask your name, and from which realm do you come?"

This divine thought fluctuated.

"You may call me Gu Jinlai, as for which realm I come from."

Gu Jinlai, the inner furnace of all living beings has been revealed. "Perhaps you can judge for yourselves."

Although he did not activate the immortal artifact, merely exposing it allowed Gu Jinlai to clearly feel the power within it rapidly dissipating.

This mysterious figure named Biyuan seemed to be verifying something, and quickly came to a conclusion. "The Xuanxian Realm, the Xuanyuan Sword Sect? Yes, we're almost at the Xuanxian Realm, it's understandable that the people of the Xuanyuan Sword Sect are restless."

After saying that, he said to Pang Yuan, "Bring him here."

"Grown ups..."

Pang Yuan was somewhat worried.

"Hehe, my importance is probably not enough for the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty to throw out such a heavy piece, or even sacrifice a second-tier team for this purpose."

Biyuan said something.

Seeing this, Pang Yuan stopped insisting and said, "Yes."

After speaking, he gestured towards Gu Jinlai once again.

The two traveled underground and soon arrived at an underground river.

Here, a peculiar magical Law Artifact, resembling a small submarine, awaits.

Pang Yuan carried him onto this Law Artifact, across the underground river, and soon into the vast ocean.

At this moment, Gu Jinlai suddenly asked, "Immortal Shadow Society, I remember there is a world not far from the Xuanhuang Great World called Immortal Shadow Realm? Is there any connection between the Immortal Shadow Society and the Immortal Shadow Realm?"

"You probably guessed it, didn't you?"

Pang Yuan said, "The Immortal Shadow Realm, the Ten Thousand Immortals Gathering, the Immortal Cloud Gathering, and in the future... perhaps there will also be a Mysterious Immortal Gathering and a Shu Light Gathering..."

"Zhou Huang, what exactly is he trying to do?"

This Gu Jinlai.

"To cultivate three thousand Golden Immortals, corresponding to the three thousand Great Daos, so that the Xuanhuang Realm can be maintained for tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of years."

Pang Yuan said, "If these three thousand Golden Immortals can go further and achieve the Immortal Cave Heaven, then, as long as they are not eliminated by the Dao Ancestor of their respective Great Dao, the Immortal Cave Heaven will be able to continue for hundreds of millions or even billions of years."

"Three thousand immortal golden immortals!?"

"Who knows? Anyway, Zhou Huang had already secretly ordered people to plunder spiritual energy and seize worlds in various worlds ten thousand years ago. By a thousand years ago, he was too lazy to even pretend anymore and directly seized them by force. In recent years, he has allowed this Xuanhuang Realm, which is centered on the rules of the Immortal Cave Heaven, to wantonly devour the surrounding worlds."

Pang Yuan said with a hint of sarcasm.

"Wantlessly devouring the surrounding world..."

From Gu Jinlai, I have been thinking about how I originally planned to travel to the Immortal Cloud Realm, but instead I fell into the Xuanhuang Realm.

Clearly, he was right; the Immortal Cloud Realm had been swallowed up.

Moreover, it seems that even the Immortal Shadow Realm has followed in the footsteps of the Immortal Cloud Realm, so there are probably already dozens of worlds that have been devoured.

Considering what Bi Yuan said earlier...

If we calculate based on Gu Jinlai, the Xuanxian Realm is probably not far off.

Clearly, Luo Jiuxiao and the others thought that by closing themselves off from the world, they could escape the fate of having their spiritual energy plundered by the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty. But their final fate would probably be even more terrible than having all their spiritual energy plundered.

"There is only one way to defeat the evil god: to transform into an evil god who is even more terrifying than the evil god."

Pang Yuan sneered, "These are Zhou Huang's own words. How insane! He has completely fallen into the demonic path."

They have remained silent Gu Jinlai.

"The disaster brought about by the Xuanhuang Realm is even worse than the world-destroying destruction by that evil god. No force in our star field can remain unscathed."

Pang Yuan said in a deep voice, "The space around those worlds that are targeted by the Xuanhuang Realm will be distorted first. Unless they escape into the vast space and live out their lives in solitude, even if they build star gates to try to escape, they will still be unable to escape the fate of being sucked into the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm by the Devouring Dao."

He looked up, his gaze seemingly piercing through the Law Artifact, through the ocean, and reaching beyond the world's barrier. "Over the years, countless True Immortals, Celestial Immortals, and Profound Immortals have accidentally fallen into the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm each year. Occasionally, even Great Dao Golden Immortals have been caught in the process. The spirits of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty's grotto-heavens constantly monitor the changes in the surrounding space. Once they detect a True Immortal, Celestial Immortal, Profound Immortal, or Golden Immortal falling in, they immediately dispatch a rapid response team to eliminate or capture them..."

He glanced at Gu Jinlai: "That's the hunter squad you encountered."

"The Immortal Shadow Gathering, the Myriad Immortals Gathering, the Immortal Cloud Gathering... cannot stand against the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty?"

Gu Jinlai have sought this question.

Pang Yuan remained silent.

After a long while, he slowly said, "At the very top of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, there is undoubtedly still the Human Emperor Zhou Huang, who has transformed into the sun and illuminates the world. Below him... is the Senate composed of the Taiyin, the six stars of the Southern Dipper, and the seven stars of the Northern Dipper, and three hundred and sixty-six star gods."

The gazes of Gu Jinlai have pierced the sea and looked up at the sky.

One hundred and eight figures, shining like stars, could be faintly seen, their light interwoven into veins, maintaining the operation of the Immortal Xuanhuang Realm.

"Every elder and star god is a Golden Immortal of the Great Dao! There are a total of 366!"

Pang Yuan said, "Some of these Great Dao Golden Immortals originally belonged to the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty, while others were forced to submit to the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty and become Star Gods in order to ensure their own lives and the inheritance of their sects after their world was destroyed by the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty."

He paused for a moment. "They cannot be entirely regarded as part of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty's power... Many times, they will give us a break when they have the ability to do so."

There has been no reply Gu Jinlai.

Building a world requires far more than 366 paths.

Sure enough, Pang Yuan continued, "Besides the 366 Star Gods, there are 2,434 Star Lords. Although these Star Lords are Xuan Immortals, 20-30% of them have Great Dao Golden Immortals behind them. This is because the Great Daos and Star Gods held by these Great Dao Golden Immortals overlap, preventing them from ascending to the position of Star God. Therefore, they can only support Star Lords."

"So much?"

Gu Jinlai frowned. "They've all submitted to the Xuanhuang Realm?"

"Those who do not submit shall die."

Pang Yuan said indifferently, "Cultivators can't even maintain a holy body or an immortal body, let alone attain the Dao Fruit and merge with the Heavenly Dao. How can they survive?"

Gu Jinlai.

He was still young, not yet ninety years old, and with the Great Sun Core still functioning, he didn't feel particularly weak.

But others...

"Without the power of Heavenly Dao to help living beings withstand the erosion of time, even though the mental cultivation system of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty is very advanced, the upper limit of living beings is still difficult to exceed a thousand years. There is only one way to obtain a longer lifespan, which is to become a Star Lord or Star God. Once you become a Star Lord, even if you are only a Xuan Immortal, you can live for tens of thousands of years, or even hundreds of thousands of years."

Pang Yuan said, "Star Lord is a rank. Without becoming a Star Lord, even a Great Dao Golden Immortal must constantly cultivate diligently in order to maintain their strength! And the energy they draw from the Great Dao through their cultivation will be completely absorbed by the Devouring Great Dao, which is like a vicious cycle... which forces those Great Dao Golden Immortals who have not obtained the Star God rank to cultivate diligently day and night without the slightest slackening!"

"This is... 007..."

Gu Jinlai.

"The infusion of star power can slightly alleviate the effect of the devouring power on the Golden Immortal of the Great Dao. Therefore, those Golden Immortals of the Great Dao who cannot become Star Gods will spare no effort to cultivate their descendants to become Star Lords. However, to become a Star Lord, or even just to receive the infusion of star power, one must make contributions."

Pang Yuan looked at the Gu Jinlai: "There are many ways to make meritorious contributions: serving in the court, benefiting the people, conducting scientific research, suppressing rebellions, hunting down invaders..."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

At that moment, something occurred to him, and he suddenly said, "The hunter squad that attacked me... their power seems to rely heavily on external objects..."

"Pilot."

Pang Yuan said, "Zhou Huang was worried that someone would sabotage his Immortal Cave Heaven plan, and he didn't trust anyone except himself. The Great Dao Golden Immortals were a little better off, but the Profound Immortals, despite having longevity, couldn't exert much power, and their safety was hard to guarantee. Thus, a system to avoid the influence of devouring the Great Dao came into being: the Mechanist."

He glanced at Gu Jinlai and said, "You should have felt it. The Devouring Great Dao has the strongest impact on the Great Dao, the Heavenly Dao, the Dao Fruit, the Immortal Body, and the Holy Body. Next is True Qi and other energies, and then the power of the mind... Therefore, using the mind to drive matter to fight in a purely physical way, and containing mental vibrations in every move, is the best way to bring out the advantages of the Xuanxian's strength."

Gu Jinlai nodded.

"In addition, they also used external forces, including nuclear fusion, matter annihilation, etc., to drive some powerful mechanical creations. However, the more powerful the energy is released instantly, the greater the influence of the Devouring Dao. Only those with a high enough mental state can resist the influence of the Devouring Dao and stimulate the nuclear energy through microscopic operations."

"I see."

It's all so clear Gu Jinlai the present.

The influence of the Devouring Dao is everywhere.

For ordinary people, even if they build a nuclear reactor with a very high power output, most of the released energy will be consumed.

Of course, it does have some effect, but the energy release efficiency of a nuclear reactor is not necessarily much higher than that of burning coal.

In other words, if your mental state isn't strong enough, mastering these techniques is useless.

Once your mental and spiritual level is high enough, it's often better to launch an attack directly using your mental and spiritual power.

This is also why the Hunter Squad's mechs maintained almost only normal sound speed.

This speed is sufficient for normal cruising.

Higher power leads to faster energy dissipation, which is counterproductive.

During intense battles, one can use their mind to drive the force, unleashing speeds several times faster than the speed of sound.

"The mind has very little interference with matter... especially the Devouring Dao. It's not that it doesn't affect the power of the mind, but the degree of influence is not as great as that of energy, holy body, immortal body, or Dao fruit. As a result, the interference effect is even worse. Therefore, if the mind's realm does not reach a certain level, the engine cannot even be started, let alone drive the mecha. Even if it can be driven, it will only be the smallest mecha."

Pang Yuan said, "Those who can activate reactors made of external materials and drive mechs are called mech pilots, a new kind of power that can barely avoid the Devouring Dao."