Chapter 471 - 291: Immortal? The Shock of Mechanical Life! Mass-Produced Martial Saint Robots

Chapter 471: Chapter 291: Immortal? The Shock of Mechanical Life! Mass-Produced Martial Saint Robots

"That’s one thing, but what’s the deal with your divine soul? How did it suddenly get so much stronger? And with no signs of an unstable foundation, either. It’s as if it’s perfectly natural!"

"And the clarity of your divine soul is something I’ve never seen before. Combined with that vibrant life force of yours, I get the feeling you could live to be a thousand years old!"

Ye Shuping circled Yu Fei a few times, scanning him all over with a purple light before asking with a puzzled expression.

"Could it be that those two fire spirits you brought back possessed a divine soul talent? No, that can’t be right!"

Yu Fei cut off Ye Shuping’s speculation.

"Teacher, that fire spirit’s talent was still just fire-elemental. I used it as a material to upgrade a divine soul-related talent to the maximum level."

Ye Shuping was incredibly envious and griped:

"You’re just like the Founder—not a normal human being. In fact, you’re even more of a monster than he was!"

Yu Fei retorted, "Teacher, who could possibly match the Founder’s ridiculous speed at advancing his realm and mastering Cultivation Techniques? He ignored the prerequisites for most techniques and mastered them instantly. *That’s* what you call using a cheat code!"

"No. You have even more potential than the Founder."

Ye Shuping stood with his hands clasped behind his back, offering a wise analysis.

"The Founder may have seemed to master Cultivation Techniques and advance his realm with incredible speed, but he never surpassed the inherent limits of the techniques themselves. The same was true for his martial realm.

His strength came from the cumulative effect of powerful physical traits granted by countless Cultivation Techniques. But his mastery over them was superficial—he knew *how* they worked, but not *why*. His own comprehension and his fundamental understanding of the martial path never really changed."

At this, Ye Shuping turned to Yu Fei, his gaze intense.

"But you’re different, Yu Fei!"

"Your foundation is constantly improving, built one solid step at a time. At the very least, your strength in the Gang Qi Realm is greater than the Founder’s was when he was at your level!"

Yu Fei thought about the Founder’s monstrous ability to learn Cultivation Techniques and suddenly asked:

"Teacher, if the Founder had access to all the Cultivation Techniques I have now, do you think I’d be a match for him?"

Ye Shuping froze. That was something he couldn’t say for sure.

According to the records, the Cultivation Techniques the Founder practiced back then weren’t particularly outstanding. In that chaotic era, every sect’s techniques were closely guarded secrets. Some would rather die than hand them over to an outsider.

Thus, in his early and middle stages, the Founder built his strength by stacking countless ordinary Cultivation Techniques. If someone with his abilities were to join one of the current Seven Greats, with all their top-tier techniques available to him... it’s truly hard to say how powerful he would become.

After all, overwhelming power can shatter all technique.

The old man shook his head and chuckled at the thought. ’There’s no point in making such comparisons now.’

"Just focus on your cultivation. Eight hundred years ago, the Founder led this world out of an age of ignorance, guiding humanity toward a new way of life. Now, eight hundred years later, I’m eager to see what changes you will bring to the world."

Yu Fei was flustered. He couldn’t imagine himself doing something so grand. ’If I ever become strong enough, my first goal is to find the path beyond the Martial Saint realm. My second is to solve the mystery of the borderlands.’

’And finally, to wipe out all the troublesome organizations and evil cults.’

"Teacher, that’s all too far in the future. For now, I’d like to practice a Sound Wave Martial Skill. Do you have any recommendations?"

"A Sound Wave Martial Skill? Why that, of all things? Ordinary ones have limited power and aren’t worth practicing. The powerful ones are highly dependent on talent. I thought the unique abilities of your organs were stronger when it came to Pupil Skills... Wait. That’s not right!"

Ye Shuping suddenly recalled something and asked suspiciously, "Don’t tell me you’ve acquired another talent in that category?"

Yu Fei just smiled. Following his instinct, he let out a sharp shout.

"HA!"

An invisible vibration emanated from him, spreading in all directions. Ah Zhen jumped in fright and ran off, squawking.

"Not bad!"

Ye Shuping perceived it calmly. Yu Fei had activated it on pure instinct, without any technique. This was a rare, innate talent for sound-based abilities.

"You used no technique; that was pure instinct... Hmm. There is one Cultivation Technique that would be perfect for you to practice at your current realm: Thunder Tiger Celestial Sound."

"Thunder Tiger Celestial Sound?"

’This Cultivation Technique even has "Tiger" in its name,’ Yu Fei thought. ’It sounds like a perfect match for me!’

"Yes, Thunder Tiger Celestial Sound. As I recall, it has two effects: one for internal cultivation and one for external application.

For internal cultivation, it strengthens the body on a microscopic level and enhances the resilience of the divine soul. In combat, it can vibrate an opponent’s sea of consciousness to tear at their divine soul. It can also emit invisible sound blades with powerful penetrating capabilities."

"You can head back for now. I’ll organize the details and send them to your account after I get back."

"An ordinary person would need to use many precious elixirs to practice this martial skill, but given the talent you’ve displayed, you can probably cultivate it directly."

Yu Fei bowed to Ye Shuping.

"Thank you, Teacher!"

Just as he was about to leave, Ye Shuping stopped him again.

"Don’t be in such a hurry to leave. In half a month, I need you to make a trip to the Heavenly Palace Ruins. Xiaoming has upgraded your weapon, Zhan Ming, into a Spirit Weapon. There’s a battle suit for you as well. Go and pick them up."

"The Heavenly Palace Ruins is a borderland controlled by Tianwen. You’ll need to verify your identity to enter, so I’ll give you an ID tag before you go."

Yu Fei’s interest was piqued. He’d wanted to ask about the Heavenly Palace Ruins ever since Zhuo Feiming mentioned it. It was a mysterious borderland, and he couldn’t find any information about it.

"Teacher, why is it called the Heavenly Palace Ruins? Is there anything special inside?"

Ye Shuping smiled gently, seemingly lost in thought.

"The Heavenly Palace Ruins... It’s a wondrous place. There are four such borderlands in total, all of them being studied by Tianwen University. Information about them is so restricted that you aren’t even allowed to know they exist unless you have ties to the Seven Greats."

"It’s that secret?"

’Since the name is related to a "Heavenly Palace,"’ Yu Fei wondered, ’could it be home to ancient mythological creatures?’

Ye Shuping gave a mysterious smile. "Given that it’s called the Heavenly Palace, what do you suppose is inside?"

"The secret to godhood? Or maybe a place where myths have become real?"

"Wrong!" Ye Shuping stopped beating around the bush.

"The ’Heavenly Palace’ name is just what ancient Martial Artists called it out of ignorance. Inside, our enemies are a group of mechanical lifeforms. In other words, robots!"

"What?"

Yu Fei was astounded. ’How can there be robots?’ Just as the thought crossed his mind, he heard Ye Shuping continue to explain.

"The ancient Martial Artists mistook the robots for divine guardians of a ’Heavenly Palace.’ They believed they were puppets left behind by gods and immortals to guard the secrets of immortality. They were nearly wiped out by those mechanical lifeforms, and out of a mixture of fear and awe, they named the borderland the ’Heavenly Palace’."

"As for the ’Ruins’ part of the name, that’s because of the environment. The borderland appears to have been the site of an unprecedented technological war. The entire place is filled with residual harmful radiation, scorched earth, and so on."

"The ancient Martial Artists entered without any protection, and the radiation affected their life force, causing mutations and diseases. They considered this a sign of great misfortune and became convinced that the place held a curse left behind by the gods. So, they sealed it off."

"After the Seven Greats were established, we launched missions to explore it and uncover its secrets. As our own civilian technology advanced, we were stunned to realize that we were dealing with the power of technology. It was simply inconceivable."

A hint of pride entered Ye Shuping’s voice.

"All the modern technology you’ve seen at the Shaman School—including the Flying Devices, smart butlers, and so on—are the results of studying those mechanical lifeforms. However, we don’t dare to let technology’s influence grow any further. If a true, transcendent artificial intelligence were to emerge in our Yu Kingdom, it would be a catastrophe for the world!"

Seeing Ye Shuping’s grave expression, Yu Fei couldn’t help but ask:

"How strong are those mechanical lifeforms?"

Ye Shuping fell silent for a moment before saying in a distant voice:

"The most powerful combat robot we’ve encountered so far has an energy level comparable to a Martial Saint!"

He paused, then added with a sigh, "And they’re mass-produced."

"Mass-produced?"

"Mass-produced."

’How could anyone fight that?’ The news sent a chill down Yu Fei’s spine. He understood that industrial products were often mass-produced on an assembly line, but hearing that robots on par with Martial Saints could be made that way... he understood just how terrifying that was.

"Fortunately, those metalheads seem to follow some kind of predetermined protocol and won’t attack without provocation. Our mission is just to clean up some of the malfunctioning ones that are running amok. Most of them are at the Gang Qi or Grandmaster level. That is to say, they’re mostly tier 7; we rarely even see tier 8."

"It’s not a huge problem."

Ye Shuping said, downplaying the danger.