The Wiring Problem

Hu Mang squinted at the teahouse depicted on the screen, especially the tea drinkers on display.

After the storyteller disappeared, the little viewers clearly showed expressions of mixed surprise and delight.

However, three of the tea drinkers exchanged glances and then disappeared from the "Demon-Subduing Bustling Market Painting". Before disappearing, one of the tea drinkers even faced the direction of the Hu Mang, with a smile on his face and bowing with his hands clasped.

Their attitude wasn't bad.

"The other 'remnants of the Divine Dynasty,' they certainly slipped away quickly."

Hu Mang tilted his head.

Since the chaos that ensued in the city, these former sanctuaries and places of protection against evil have become sources of danger.

But this only applies to ordinary Rogue Cultivator.

For the "remnants of the divine dynasty" who hold religious positions in the city, as long as they use the mechanisms here properly, even a dangerous place can become a place of refuge.

"Are you running so fast because you're worried I'll take over the priesthood?"

This time, with the awakening of the "Heavenly Soldier Divine Office", Hu Mang suddenly gained a series of knowledge about divine duties in his mind, including the types of divine duties in the city, the different powers of different divine duties, and most importantly, the "centralization of divine duties", or rather, the merging of powers.

According to the information transmitted by the "Heavenly Soldier Divine Office," this seems to be a wartime evolution of divine power. It is said that when facing an insurmountable enemy, the officials of the Jade Firmament Divine Dynasty can absorb the divine offices of other systems to master a higher level of divine power.

For example, the current state of the Hu Mang.

Even after only merging with half of the "Devil-Slaying Bladesman, "Hu Mang's "Heavenly Soldiers" had already evolved to a deeper level, with all of their abilities being greatly enhanced.

For example, with this Heavenly Eye Technique, Hu Mang can now not only perform "street marking," but also seamlessly observe any building in the city, even places where demons are suppressed or sealed, whenever he needs to.

"This feature is quite suitable for engineering work."

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

Although he appeared to be staring at the screen, a glint of light flickered deep in his eyes as he used his evolved "Heavenly Eye" to observe and watch the unfolding events.

The Demon-Subduing City now is nothing short of a chaotic mess of demons.

In the vision of the Heavenly Eye, those Devil Creature were not cowards hiding in the shadows, but openly occupied the city.

In the alleyways, streaks of blood intertwined, transforming into waves that even began to surge toward the Devil Suppression Tower in the city. As the pollution spread, blood-red light emanated from the eye sockets of the Devil Creature corpses.

The demon-slaying mechanism in the city is similar to the "Golden Pupil Formation" that Hu Mang had seen before. One by one, the Eye of Devil Subjugation have been corrupted and have begun to attack living things in the city indiscriminately. Meanwhile, more and more "Eye Devil Seed" are being secreted on the outer perimeter of the array.

A once solemn and majestic Thunder God now has no lanterns hanging from its eaves, but rather strings of dried heads, with the candlelight emanating from their eye sockets as blue flames.

More and more dark figures began to emerge from the moat.

As the Heavenly Eye's field of vision shifted, it became increasingly apparent that the various entities previously suppressed due to the normal operation of the city's divine restrictions were showing signs of revival.

"Extraterrestrial Heavenly Devil, Demon Seed--"

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

This is yet another new term I learned from "clergy".

In fact, after the Heavenly Gate "Spirit Transformation Realm" was conquered, the Heavenly Gate leadership organized Spirit Transformation teams to explore beyond Earth Star more than once, attempting to find cultivation species and natural cultivation resources on other planets.

The result was that dozens of planets were found, but nothing of value was found.

Let alone cultivation resources, even natural resources are much worse.

Hu Mang's mindset has undergone a transformation, from the excitement he felt listening to the radio as a child to his current indifference.

However, the Devil Creature resources here seem to be quite abundant.

These demonic seeds, whether Bone Devil Seed, Blood Devil Seed, or other types, are all "native species" born from the interaction between Extraterrestrial Heavenly Devil and the energy of this world.

He suddenly saw something that even Heavenly Gate Spirit Transformation could not see.

Another type of spiritual practice resource.

Moreover, it has become rampant and disastrous.

Among the methods beyond the "Profound Yin Body Refining Technique," there seems to be a way to absorb Devil Creature to refine the body.

"Let's look into that later."

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

The Hu Mang licked its lower jaw, closed its eyes, and when it opened them again, the "Heavenly Eye" above the city and the divine light in its eyes had all vanished.

What he's concerned about now is the operation of this "power hub".

His gaze swept across the entire environment of the "Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub".

Unlike "Hundred-Well Abyss", this place is less a place to seal demons and more a large compound of mechanisms.

The main gate is a heavy solid wood mechanical door. Entering the gate leads to the front yard, where several tall wooden screens separate the passageways.

The screen is not merely decorative; its panels are carved with fine grooves, and countless threads shimmering with a pale purple halo connect various puppet mechanisms, even capable of triggering Devil-Subduing Thundercloud.

The silk thread traveled through the beams and pillars of the corridor, its ends tied to various wooden puppets in the courtyard.

In the front yard, a large number of small cloth puppets were placed under the porch, like guards, with silk threads hanging from their heads; on both sides of the corridor stood heavily armored puppets, with burly figures and lightning threads connecting their iron bones and joints.

The central courtyard is the core of the entire array. A giant wooden and stone puppet sits on a stone platform, with all the main lightning threads gathered and wrapped around it, essentially acting as the master of the house, controlling the movement of all the threads in the courtyard.

As Hu Mang walked out of the screened room, he looked around and saw scattered wooden puppet fragments all over the floor.

These are all the results of his hard work.

Hu Mang's gaze fell on the three-story-high wooden puppet in the center of the main courtyard, which was most likely the protective mechanism of this "Thunder Eye".

The surface of the puppet was covered with densely packed demon-slaying runes, and even the "wood grain" followed the direction of the runes.

This stuff, already "marinated," must be incredibly effective against Devil Creature.

Just by looking directly at the other person, the Mysterious Yin Devil Moon in State of Mind ripple with wave after wave.

Fortunately, this thing broke down before the Hu Mang came in.

There is a hole between the eyebrows of this puppet. Cracks begin to spread from this hole, and one crack after another covers the upper body of the puppet.

Moreover, the hole looked very familiar to the Hu Mang; it was a gun hole.

To be more precise, this damage was caused by the Shattering Thunder Immortal Weapon piercing through the opponent's central mechanism.

In other words, it was the work of that Heavenly Soldier Queen.

Hu Mang wasn't interested in grudges from a thousand years ago; he was a civil engineer, not an archaeologist.

There was just one small problem—he broke into this "Dark Lightning Puppet-Control Hub," where the mechanical defenses were practically nonexistent, but the problem was, he couldn't find the thunder eye here.

"This is incredibly embarrassing. As a top civil engineering student, how can he not understand cabling?"

Hu Mang muttered to himself, lightly flicking one of the lightning wires with his finger. Sparks flew, and Body-Protecting Buddha Light flashed and disappeared. The lightning wire slowly vanished into thin air.

A moment later, the lightning bolt reappeared.

"I can't sense any spiritual pressure, nor can I sense any changes in Law Power, and I can't even discern the flow of Spiritual Qi. How am I supposed to proceed?"

The Hu Mang muttered to itself.

The Spiritual Qi pipelines in Heavenly Gate are generally divided into three types: ordinary Spiritual Qi pipelines, which is the small cultivation room he runs; array pipelines, which are said to be derived from the protective arrays of ancient sects. Most city arrays, especially those in blessed cities, are built based on this. Transportation, commercial district security, and the business needs of private sects all originate from this.

However, there is supposedly another type called "Void Spiritual Qi Pipeline," but this is just hearsay, and it is not yet mature enough to be launched on the market.

But what we see here feels a bit like a "Void Spiritual Qi".

Since science couldn't solve his spiritual problems, Hu Mang decided to try theology.

The "divine office" in the Niwan Palace lit up, Hu Mang chanted an incantation:

"The Supreme Enlightenment illuminates the netherworld. Heaven and Earth revolve, thunder roars and wind blows. The wind of Xun blows Li Fire reveals form. The water of Kan flows into the abyss, the lake of Dui flows with essence. All directions are still, even grass and trees are soldiers. The Three Platforms and the Seven Stars illuminate my emptiness and fullness. If there is any life force, it responds to the light; if there are any strange beings, they will manifest themselves upon encountering the law. Hurry, hurry, like a thunderclap!"

Among the divine authority of the Devil-Subduing Heavenly Soldier is the authority to search and patrol.

A glint flashed in Hu Mang's eyes, and a Bagua symbol instantly formed beneath his feet. Soon, he confirmed a direction.

At the same time, a thought popped into my head.

"When those Spirit Stones from Heavenly Gate can be converted into cash, we must buy a demon-detecting radar and see which one is more effective."

Hu Mang charged straight into an inconspicuous woodshed in a courtyard. With a sweep of his spear, he cleared away the charred fragments of spirit wood, revealing a half-burnt wooden puppet.

This is no different from the group of puppets that the Hu Mang had previously wiped out; if you have to say something, its missing arms and legs were not caused by itself.

"The Heavenly Gate opens, the Earthly Gate connects. Humans and ghosts are on different paths, yet united by one Qi. Green smoke guides the way, candlelight is the foundation. Heed my command, reveal your true form. You will respond to any knock, you will be answered by any feeling. Hurry, hurry, like thunder!"

As soon as the incantation ended, the interior of the house seemed to drop an inch out of thin air.

As the Hu Mang gestured, the puppet suspended in mid-air suddenly trembled, and a divine light, barely perceptible to the naked eye, fell from the void, enveloping the charred and withered puppet body.

In an instant, two dazzling beams of light burst forth from the depths of the puppet's eye sockets—not like ordinary fire, but more like the soul of a century-old, dormant skeleton suddenly awakened.

A glint of light flashed in the Hu Mang's eyes, but before it could discern the meaning within that light, a sudden ripple swept through its mind.

A well in my heart, the moon in the sea.

The Mysterious Yin Devil Moon shattered silently, turning into countless shards of cold light that scattered and splashed across the surface of his heart's lake.

Almost simultaneously, he forcefully brought his State of Mind back to its original state, like a frozen lake, without the slightest ripple.

Even so, his expression changed slightly.

"Who!?"

The puppet did not answer immediately, but simply looked at him silently. After a moment, an old and indifferent voice rang out:

"I am Rogue Person Yunxiu."

"Oh."

The Hu Mang nodded slightly, its expression unchanged.

In the next instant, he moved swiftly, his spear flashing like a dragon.

The tip of the iron spear sliced through the air, carrying a murderous intent that was almost tangible, and headed straight for the puppet.

The opponent clearly did not expect Hu Mang to turn on them so suddenly. In his haste, he only had time to dodge and barely avoid a vital spot in his heart, but his only remaining good leg was still blown off by the spear.

"Wait, stop! Stop! I'm a rogue Rogue Cultivator, a pure Rogue Cultivator!"

The indifferent voice instantly filled with terror.