Chapter 83

Chapter 82

The Public Venerable.

The Living Buddha of Shaolin.

The highest elder of the righteous sect, whose authority and influence rival those of the Wulin Alliance leader.

Moreover, all the actions taken so far have been carried out under his guidance.

If it weren't for the trust in the highest elder of the righteous sect, no matter how much he was the general of the Wulin Alliance, he would not have been able to plan and execute this matter.

And yet, such a tremendous existence as the Public Venerable is now humbly bowing and prostrating himself before the subordinate of the Lesser Sword God.

Who could have ever predicted such a thing!

As events unfolded that transcended the realm of strategy and tactics, Zhuge Chanhui was struck with a shock that felt like a mental collapse, which he could not shake off.

"Ah, no... What is this...!"

Would the shock be any different for the other leaders of the alliance?

"Venerable, what are you doing right now!"

"Why is the Venerable bowing to such a ruthless person!"

However, to the Public Venerable, or rather, Jinchuan, his mask had been forgotten long ago, thousands of years ago.

He witnessed the Lord ascending to his seat.

Having welcomed the great being who shared the highest secret of the mortal world, all other values became meaningless to him.

"O foolish and ignorant ones."

He soon rose and walked into the dim darkness where the alliance members stood, stepping out of the radiance of Zhao Hui.

"You cannot recognize the great divinity even with your eyes open; you are foolish. Look, he is your savior."

"A savior?"

"He is the true Central Seat of the Divine. I, and you, and the world, have all been deceived by that false deity. You must listen carefully, for the constellation inscribed by the great being in the heavens is the 'Denier of Existence.'"

"The Denier of Existence?"

Murmurs.

Rumbling.

The radiance surrounding Zhao Hui became even brighter.

As tens of thousands of alliance members simultaneously recognized his divine name, his presence became even more distinct.

General Zhuge Chanhui walked toward Jinchuan with a powerless gaze.

"Then, Venerable, what about the Dharma Sutra?"

"Are you and I the only ones deceived by the cunning false deity? The evil power bestowed by the Dharma Sutra will greatly weaken people's inherent existence. This act aids his consumption, so you must quickly offer this wicked object to the Lord."

"..."

The absurd conspiracy theory advocated by the Lesser Sword God was once again publicly defended through the mouth of the Public Venerable.

This only further amplified the confusion among the alliance members.

A being that devours human souls!

Wasn't that the kind of calamity wielded by the great demons of ancient legends?

"Such a wicked great demon in the world!"

Throughout the history of the Wulin, countless mysterious legends that piqued human curiosity have been passed down.

However, humans have never once faced such a curse as a 'reality.'

"He is not a mere demon! Though he is only a cunning false deity, he is a legitimate Central Seat inscribed on the 'Great Slate'! Do not take this lightly!"

The terms 'false deity,' 'Central Seat,' and 'Great Slate' were incomprehensible to those who did not know the secrets of the seat.

Naturally, the alliance members only became more confused by Jinchuan's words.

Suddenly, the sky brightened.

The scorching sunlight began to shine upon the Wulin Alliance once again.

Thus, Zhao Hui withdrew his will that had enveloped the world and looked at General Zhuge Chanhui with a calm face.

"Seems like you understand now."

"..."

Zhuge Chanhui, overwhelmed by the absurdity of the events unfolding, could not even open his mouth.

He had prepared intensely for all sorts of strategies and tactics of the Lesser Sword God, but this was beyond anything...

If the words of the Lesser Sword God and the Public Venerable were true, he would have personally triggered the worst calamity in history.

Would he be the harbinger of a great nightmare that could endanger the survival of the Central Plains civilization, under the name of the Wulin Alliance?

"Bring the treasure."

"I understand."

Instantly, an extreme absurdity filled Zhao Hui's eyes.

"Wow, I didn't expect this. You had it on you all along?"

What Zhuge Chanhui took out from his robe was a small disc the size of a palm.

He could immediately feel that it was a highly advanced object from the future, as he had expected.

As Zhao Hui used the technique of object manipulation, the disc slowly flew out of Zhuge Chanhui's hand.

Zhao Hui examined the disc from all angles and then tried to compress it with a powerful will.

"Such a cheat item shouldn't exist in the ancient era."

However.

"What, what is this?"

Though it was just a light exertion of will, it contained a tremendous force that could crush a mountain.

Yet, the disc merely vibrated for a moment and then calmed down, as if it had absorbed the force, without a single scratch on its surface.

How could it be so hard that it didn't even scratch?

Even a diamond, the hardest material, should have crumbled to dust!

Frustrated, Zhao Hui materialized his will into a blade-like form on his iron sword.

This was something he was trying for the first time, but it would likely be dozens, if not hundreds, of times stronger than ordinary strong qi.

Crack!

As the unimaginable sharpness was applied, the disc vibrated and sparks flew.

"Wow! This is insane!"

It only glowed red like lava for a moment and then returned to its original state.

He thought it didn't break because the force was spread over a wide area, but he never expected that even when he materialized his will into a sharp form like strong qi, it wouldn't even leave a scratch.

Is it some kind of mysterious cosmic metal?

Jinchuan looked up at Zhao Hui and spoke solemnly.

"It is imbued with his divine power."

"The divine power of that false deity?"

"Yes. There can be no object that the Lord's power cannot destroy. This can only be explained by divine power."

But Zhao Hui shook his head.

"No."

Jinchuan did not know the future as he did.

Even in the modern era, various carbon composite materials created using nanotechnology were born.

How much more advanced materials with superior tensile strength and ultra-high hardness than natural materials in the natural world must have been created in a much more advanced future era.

But this was still beyond common sense.

The power he now possessed, though he didn't want to admit it, was called divine power.

Even with such transcendent power, the fact that it couldn't even scratch this object was incomprehensible.

What kind of technology could make it impervious to divine power?

His awe of future nanotechnology reached a new level.

"Then, I'll confiscate it for now."

Putting the disc in his pocket, Zhao Hui glanced at Zhuge Chanhui again.

"Chips... I mean, how many Dharma Sutras have you made? Do you still have some in stock?"

Zhuge Chanhui finally let go of everything.

"About ten thousand are still left."

"Wow, you made quite a lot."

Looking at the countless alliance members with chips embedded in their foreheads, Zhao Hui gazed at them with clear eyes and spoke again.

"You should all remove those monsters from your foreheads. If you don't want to be eaten alive by that great demon, as you say."

"I understand!"

"We will do it!"

At that moment, Zhao Hui suddenly swept his gaze around and smirked.

"Coward."

It was clear that the deity's avatar must exist among the alliance leaders and members.

Even though he had messed things up so badly, the deity never revealed its true form. From this alone, Zhao Hui could read the deity's terrifyingly meticulous and secretive nature.

The deity must not have anticipated today's events.

Zhao Hui's low voice reached Jinchuan.

"Interrogate the general and recover all remaining Dharma Sutras and return them."

"Understood!"

* * *

As the Wulin Alliance was plunged into chaos by the rumors spreading across the entire northern region,

Zhao Hui, back in his office, gazed indifferently at the Wulin Alliance's symbol on the vast map of the Central Plains.

'It can't be this easy.'

The Dharma Sutra was the culmination of a meticulously planned conspiracy over thousands of years.

Therefore, everything he did at the Wulin Alliance must have been a tremendous event that could completely nullify the deity's plan.

Yet, the lack of any reaction made Zhao Hui uneasy.

Playing with the disc in his pocket with an indifferent expression, Zhao Hui thought,

'I thought the deity would appear if I tried to recover this.'

Jinchuan had said that the deity had only given him this one treasure.

Such an incredible object that could replicate anything could not be common.

'Why? Why is it just standing by?'

The deity's final grand plan, the Incarnation, had been prepared for thousands of years to consume all humans.

It was hard to believe that the object that could complete such a grand plan was so easily in his hands.

If he were in the deity's position, he would have acted regardless of his readiness, even if it meant risking everything.

Zhuge Yun, who entered the office without a sound, observed Zhao Hui's complex expression carefully.

"You always seem to cause trouble when you have that look."

"Stop the nonsense. Where's Nangong?"

Zhuge Yun smirked.

"He passed out after drinking with Sima."

Zhuge Hui smiled bitterly.

Both Nangong and Sima had boasted that their names would carry weight in the Wulin Alliance.

But the Lesser Sword God had resolved everything, and they had done nothing, merely standing behind Zhao Hui like a backdrop. It was only natural that they would think of bitter drinks.

Zhuge Yun pulled a chair to the table and sat down, showing curiosity towards the disc in Zhao Hui's hand.

"Is this the treasure?"

"Yes."

Zhuge Yun, now a legitimate general of the Zhao family, had been informed of all the details.

To him, the treasure that could replicate anything was a mysterious object in itself.

"Is it true that the alliance used this treasure to print the war bonds?"

"That's what the general confessed."

"..."

What would have happened if the imperial court had found out about this first?

Printing money without authorization was a crime punishable by the highest penalty under imperial law.

The Zhao family could have been exterminated.

"Madness. They're all mad..."

Zhuge Yun couldn't understand why the wise and prestigious Zhao family, with its elders, would do such a thing.

It was a simple common sense that if you printed money infinitely, its value would eventually collapse.

Moreover, the wealth of the continent was not infinite.

If they kept buying war bonds, they would soon notice something was wrong and report it to the imperial court.

Naturally, within a few months, the terrifying investigation would be completed, and the Wulin Alliance would be declared a group of rebels and face a catastrophic end.

Looking at Zhuge Yun, who seemed to find it incomprehensible, Zhao Hui smiled meaningfully.

"Isn't it obvious? The time of annihilation is coming faster. By the way, how do you use this thing?"

As Zhuge Yun stood there, frozen with a mournful expression,

Beep-

-Owner's telepathic wave confirmed.

A smooth, mechanical voice suddenly sounded.

-Confirmation complete. The unique telepathic wave belongs to the developer. Enter developer mode?

Ah, what is this nonsense!

Telepathic wave?

And what's a developer mode?

This was so absurd that it made him feel like his mind had stopped.

'What is a telepathic wave?'

-All human spiritual powers have a unique wave. It can be likened to a fingerprint of the soul.

Zhao Hui was utterly shocked.

This strange disc could read his thoughts.

'...It read my thoughts?'

-Being able to confirm the telepathic wave means being able to read the user's thoughts.

Zhao Hui fell into a serious contemplation and then revealed his curiosity.

'So, my telepathic wave matches the developer's telepathic wave?'

-That's correct. The probability that the current user is not the developer of this program is infinitesimally close to zero.

A probability infinitesimally close to zero meant zero.

In other words, it was exactly the same.

But does that make sense?

He had never created such a thing.

Moreover, this was the first time he had seen and touched it. How could he be the one who created it?

-Enter developer mode?

The neuralink chip, or the Dharma Sutra, he had seen before, would cause severe side effects if it couldn't pass the firewall.

He couldn't enter the strange developer mode without any prior information.

"I'll decline the developer mode for now. Can I use your ability to copy objects?"

-Nano cloning is the most basic function. All materials based on elements in the material world can be cloned. However, materials requiring various isotopes may take time due to the complexity of the cloning process. Would you like to scan the original to be cloned?

Zhao Hui was utterly amazed by the answer that it could clone all materials based on elements, which meant it could clone virtually any object on Earth.

This meant that even his most precious treasure, the Ten Thousand Year Ice Essence, could be infinitely replicated.

With a slightly excited expression, Zhao Hui placed his family's iron sword on the table.

"I want to clone this."

-Scanning begins.

Soon, dozens of laser-like beams flowed out from the disc and began scanning the iron sword.

-Scanning complete. Insufficient materials for cloning. Please provide materials. The required material is a mineral containing a large amount of iron (Fe).

"Can it also self-supply materials?"

-Cloning relatively simple objects like water in the natural world is possible using elements floating in the air, but the object you provided requires a large amount of a specific element, so materials are needed.

At this point, he could roughly grasp the disc's capabilities without further verification.

"Alright, I won't do it."

-Deactivating.

The disc, which had been emitting a faint light, stopped glowing.

However, Zhao Hui couldn't take his eyes off the disc.

The ability to clone all objects in the material world was just a 'basic function.'

This meant that there were other incredible functions hidden within.

Zhao Hui couldn't even imagine what other functions would be revealed if he entered developer mode.

Zhuge Yun, who had been watching all this, raised an unexpected question.

"Why did you stop in the middle of doing something? If you just mumble to yourself and end it like that, I can't understand anything."

"This disc can definitely clone objects. There's no need to verify it unnecessarily."

"Really?"

The first thing that came to Zhuge Yun's mind was treasures like the Blue Copper Oil and the Night Pearl.

Being able to infinitely replicate elixirs that could greatly enhance one's inner strength with just a single drop, or treasures like the Night Pearl, which were worth as much as a city!

Zhuge Yun was utterly astounded.

It was akin to the ability to create, something only an absolute deity could do.

The disc in front of him was more than just a treasure.

Was it even right for such an object to exist in the world?

The value of this small disc might surpass that of the entire empire, or even the entire civilization of the Central Plains.

Who could boast of wealth and rarity in front of such an incredible treasure?

"You've really obtained something incredible."

To snatch such a treasure, which could shock the entire civilization of the Central Plains, from the leader of the enemy hidden behind a great veil of righteousness.

Zhuge Yun, though the Lesser Sword God was his close