Nightmare Immortal Era

Chapter 138: Technological Disparity - West Liang 43

Yang Ning's cultivation has always been multi-threaded, so he didn't waste any time during the hour he spent practicing the "Fate Reversing Star Technique." He also took the opportunity to study the "Extreme Eternal Classic," "Heaven Level Dao Technique 3," "Earth Level Dao Technique 12," and "Human Level Dao Technique 99."

The "Extreme Eternal Classic" is a technique that circulates mana within the body and refines the physical body. After reading it once, Yang Ning put it aside. This technique is no different from the cultivation techniques of the Physical Body Realm, except that it uses mana instead of qi and blood.

As for Yang Ning, he possesses the "Crimson Dragon's Crimson Cloud Force," "Purple-Gold Coiling Dragon Body," "Nether Dragon's Carefree Roam," and "Heavenly Dragon's Apocalyptic Sound," all of which are Body Refining Divine Abilities at the Unparalleled Divine Ability level.

Even without considering these Unparalleled Divine Abilities, his self-created "Black Tortoise Aura Concealing Technique" is a technique derived from calculations in the Spirit Realm. It involves meridians that are more extensive, comprehensive, and profound than the "Extreme Eternal Classic."

The only thing lacking in the "Black Tortoise Aura Concealing Technique" is the concept of mana sublimation. Yang Ning extracted relevant parts from the "Extreme Eternal Classic" and integrated them into the "Black Tortoise Aura Concealing Technique," renaming it the "Black Tortoise Classic." This became his fundamental technique.

"Heaven Level Dao Technique 3," "Earth Level Dao Technique 12," and "Human Level Dao Technique 99" are self-explanatory. They consist of three Heaven Level Dao Techniques, twelve Earth Level Dao Techniques, and ninety-nine Human Level Dao Techniques.

The three Heaven Level Dao Techniques are as follows:

1. "Heavenly Sword": A top-tier sword technique Divine Ability that combines one's will with the power of heaven and earth. With a single sword strike, it can cut through mountains and seas effortlessly. Some powerful individuals can even use the Heavenly Sword to break open the stars.

2. "Feather Step": A top-tier body movement technique that allows one to step on spiritual energy and travel with the wind. When mastered to perfection, one can transmigrate thousands of miles with a single step, traversing the world in just a few steps.

3. "Self-Immolation": A technique that burns all of one's essence, blood, and mana, unleashing a move that far surpasses one's own combat power. However, those who use it will die afterwards.

These Divine Abilities are indeed powerful, but Yang Ning possesses the "Azure Emperor's World-Shaking Fist" and "Nether Dragon's Carefree Roam." He even has the explosive Divine Ability, "Crimson Dragon's Crimson Cloud Force," which completely surpasses these three Divine Abilities.

However, it is still necessary to learn them, at least to understand what they look like when activated, and then imitate them using Unparalleled Divine Abilities.

Yang Ning quickly skimmed through the twelve Earth Level Divine Abilities and ninety-nine Human Level Divine Abilities, gaining a general understanding of their functions.

These Divine Abilities are mainly used to enrich one's arsenal of techniques. Unparalleled Divine Abilities consume a significant amount of energy. For example, Yang Ning's "Fate Reversing Star Technique" requires the use of Divine Ability power. Most people have very little Divine Ability power, and using it in a fight would be a waste. Naturally, they cannot use it casually in battle.

There are also mutual amplification and restraint between Divine Abilities. The more one learns, the more techniques they have against opponents. The more Divine Abilities one can combine and play with, the stronger their own strength becomes.

However, learning Divine Abilities takes time. If one spends most of their time practicing Divine Abilities, their personal cultivation will suffer, and their strength will naturally decline. The Divine Abilities they use will also be weaker.

Fortunately, Yang Ning doesn't need to worry about this problem. He summoned 123 avatars in the Spirit Realm, with 123 avatars practicing the Heaven, Earth, and Human Divine Abilities, and 8 avatars practicing Unparalleled Divine Abilities. This doesn't interfere with his own time.

After consolidating his own strength, Yang Ning entered the Spirit Realm and opened the database.

The office software on his phone has a note-taking function that is extremely useful. Many people upload their cultivation techniques and insights to their phones.

After all, the phone is absolutely confidential. If someone else tries to open it, they won't be able to. If there is an unexpected death, the data can be passed on to future generations through a will.

But if you carry a secret manual with you and it gets stolen, then it's really gone.

Where is the data on the phone stored?

That's right, it's all stored in the Spirit Realm.

The Spirit Realm is the server, database, computing service center, and customer service center for all phones. When someone uploads videos, texts, voice recordings, animations, or data, the Spirit Realm records them in an instant and transfers them when someone wants to view them.

Hasn't anyone ever questioned this?

Actually, no. In the eyes of others, the phone is just a slightly enhanced identity token. They have been using identity tokens for thousands of years, so naturally, they wouldn't suspect the phone.

Moreover, no one knows what kind of video this is in the first place. It's unbelievable that even text needs a medium for storage. And who knows how much space is needed to store tens of thousands, millions, tens of millions, or even billions of videos.

There is no other reason than the fact that the Immortal Cultivation World has never conceived the concept of storage devices. The technological gap is just too large!

On Earth, mobile phones have evolved from generation to generation. Countless people have participated in learning, researching, and producing mobile phones. Coupled with the later information explosion and the fact that most people have bought USB drives and memory cards, this has led to the concept of information storage being well-known to the world.

But how did Extreme Eternal's mobile phones come about?

Jiang Boming single-handedly invented the concept of Yangping Yinzhizhi's bitwise operation and created the Identity Jade Card. Yang Ning then directly upgraded the Identity Jade Card from the pager era to the smartphone era.

There was no preparation or gradual progress in between. It was a direct leap to one peak and then another. How can people comprehend and learn like this?

Moreover, Yang Ning actively suppressed the development of mobile phones. He made the manufacturing process of mobile phones extremely simple, so that any artifact refining master who knows how to draw symbols can make them.

But what does this symbol mean? No one knows.

Isn't anyone curious? Isn't anyone discussing it?

There are some, but this thing is too difficult to get started with. There are no textbooks for you to learn from. Starting from scratch and learning code in the smartphone era without textbooks is no different from reading a heavenly book.

And there are fewer people learning this thing.

Isn't there a forum online? Can't you post and discuss?

Of course, you can, but your post will sink and be forgotten. Even if there are passionate enthusiasts, they will eventually give up their hobby in the daily lack of attention.

Do you think you can form a group to discuss in reality?

That's a joke. It's impossible to gather everyone together. We are all cultivators, who has so much free time to chat online?

There are countless mobile phone orders to fulfill!

Besides, what's the use of researching this? Can it help you improve your cultivation? Can it greatly increase your combat power?

Even if you have some brilliant ideas, such as developing software or creating a game.

There is a software on the phone called "Deep Blue Service Center". You submit your requirements, and Deep Blue will make the software and put it on the shelves in minutes. And in the column for software developers, your name will be written. Isn't that considerate enough?

This powerful tool called Deep Blue AI directly eliminates professions like artists and programmers in their infancy!

Yang Ning knows very well how to raise the entry barrier for an industry!

While learning artifact refining and formation knowledge, he also started to improve the powerful tool he designed when he was in the Physical Body Realm.

After advancing to the Qi Refining Stage, his vision and perception became different from when he was in the Physical Body Realm. Many designs can be seen from the perspective of the Qi Refining Stage, and there are better solutions.

And after being able to manifest a Spirit Weapon in the Spirit Realm, this powerful tool can also be manufactured, tested, and simulated experiments in the Spirit Realm.

As for the simulated target, of course, it is the Lin family in reality.

At first, Yang Ning didn't understand the Lin family. He thought it was still the powerful and dominant Lin family of that era. It was only after he started to understand that he realized the Lin family was already in a very sorry state!

For example, the Lin family is wealthy, so it's natural for smartphones to have been popularized early on. Not only do people with the surname Lin have them, even the Lin family's maids and servants each have one.

Then, Yang Ning discovered that some old and unkempt members of the Lin family were using their smartphones to harass the maids. There were also instances of the Lin family's female masters colluding with the servants.

This is not an isolated case. In just one day, Yang Ning discovered over 7,000 cases!

Furthermore, under this feudal system, even if the upper class demands secrecy, specific tasks are delegated to the lower class. The smartphones in the hands of the Lin family's servants, as well as Yang Ning's cloud and mist water droplets that spread to the Lin family, can quietly steal information.

In addition, the Lin family has not experienced war for tens of thousands of years. No matter how strict the regulations are, they gradually become mere decorations over time.

As a result, some servants show off by flaunting their connections when maintaining the formation or changing spirit stones.

Such behavior goes unchecked, and soon others follow suit, turning it into a trend.

Once more people are involved, it becomes difficult for those in power to control. After tens of thousands of years of development, even if it's just a servant changing spirit stones, there is a chain of relationships behind them. The steward who manages the servants cannot intervene, and these minor matters cannot be reported to the Lin family, so they are kept under wraps.

After all, nothing has gone wrong for tens of thousands of years, so what harm could a leak do, right?

After all, who would dare to attack the Lin family without knowing what's good for them!

Do you think that's bad enough?

Well, you're underestimating it.

The protective formation used by the Lin family is called the Five Elements Rotation Formation. It utilizes the power of the five elements to eliminate harm. Any attack under the influence of the formation is dissolved layer by layer and transformed into spiritual energy of the five elements, which is then released into the air.

This formation has a simple name but an extremely high upper limit. When it was first built, ten Spirit Law Realm cultivators attempted to test its defensive power. They launched continuous attacks for three days and three nights, but the formation remained stable without any fluctuations!

The formation consists of five areas representing gold, wood, water, fire, and earth. Each area has twelve large pedestals, and each large pedestal has thirty-six small pedestals. Each small pedestal can accommodate eight Supreme Grade spirit stones. In addition, there are 100 spare Supreme Grade spirit stones. To activate the formation, a total of 18,280 Supreme Grade spirit stones are required.

Each spirit stone can be used for five years. However, it doesn't mean that the formation needs to be stopped and the spirit stones replaced every five years. The formation masters select Supreme Grade spirit stones with specific durations. Five years equals 1,825 days, plus an extra year for leap years. Therefore, replacing 10 spirit stones per day is just right.

But after thousands of years, the Lin family couldn't bear it anymore. After all, Supreme Grade spirit stones are expensive, and although the Lin family has no shortage of these thousands of Supreme Grade spirit stones, there are many branches within the family, and some are in need!

Moreover, since there hasn't been a war for thousands of years and the Tower of Eternity is guarding them, it can be predicted that there won't be a war for thousands of years to come.

So why should I still use Supreme Grade spirit stones?

The branch responsible for guarding the formation replaced some of the Supreme Grade spirit stones with High Grade spirit stones.

At first, it was just a small amount, but because no one noticed, and they tasted the sweetness, they became bolder and started replacing large quantities. Eventually, no one knows when the supply of spirit stones for the formation changed from Supreme Grade to High Grade.

The difference in effect between Supreme Grade and High Grade is tens of times!

With the change in energy source, the defensive power of the Five Elements Rotation Formation naturally declined.

At this point, the Lin family may have discovered someone embezzling, but it was useless. That person had already embezzled so many Supreme Grade spirit stones and had already advanced in cultivation, becoming a pillar of the family. Their descendants are also highly skilled in managing the teleportation formation and possess great strength.

They can't be controlled, but the Lin family can't just watch as all the Supreme Grade spirit stones flow into their hands. However, other branches don't agree to hand them over because everyone knows how lucrative this shortage is.

So the Lin family agreed that each branch would guard the formation for fifteen years, taking turns.

Each branch can only guard for 15 years, and it will be hundreds of years before it's their turn again. The window of opportunity is short, so why not take advantage of it?

So the next successor was even more ruthless, directly replacing High Grade spirit stones with Middle Grade spirit stones.

In theory, this is extremely dangerous.

But with the Tower of Eternity guarding, Extreme Eternal, there is no war at all!

Without war, they can't attack the Lin family. Without attacking the Lin family, no one will pay attention to the formation problem.

So at some point, even the Middle Grade spirit stones in the formation were gone, replaced with Low Grade spirit stones.

The higher-ups, Supreme Grade, High Grade, and Middle Grade spirit stone servants dare not touch them, but taking a few Low Grade spirit stones should be no problem!

If ten thousand years ago, the rise of the First Heaven Sect and the war with Extreme Eternal didn't happen in East Victory, but in South Forest, maybe the Lin family would have made some reforms. But since it didn't happen, the Lin family naturally didn't change.

Passed down to the present, the Five Elements Rotation Formation can't even gather the usual 17,280 Low Grade spirit stones, only 13,255. Among them, there are also over three hundred defective spirit stones, but because the spirit stones were embezzled, the servants didn't replace them.

The reason this large formation hasn't fallen apart is not only because the energy source of the formation is not just spirit stones, but also the absorption of spiritual energy from the air and the interception of spiritual energy when the semi-Immortal Weapon absorbs and releases it.

But the Lin family even embezzles Supreme Grade spirit stones, so naturally they also embezzle the spiritual energy absorbed by the semi-Immortal Weapon. Since I don't embezzle, it benefits others. Since that's the case, why not embezzle!

Now, the power of the Five Elements Rotation Formation may not even be one ten-thousandth of what it was when it was designed!

Yang Ning constructed all the mountains, rivers, palaces, secret chambers, and even the Five Elements Rotation Formation of the Lin family's territory in the Spirit Realm, almost replicating the South Forest territory in the Spirit Realm one-to-one.

The only thing missing is that Yang Ning can't simulate the semi-Immortal Weapon, but it's not a big problem.

Yang Ning observed the bombardment of the formation by natural thunder and lightning in all directions, and then recorded the reaction data of the formation.

The thunder will cause fluctuations in the formation, then start running, digest the attack, stop running, and the fluctuations will stop.

The frequency of fluctuations, running time, digestion time, and duration of fluctuations can determine the power of an attack. And Yang Ning has the Divine Ability of controlling the Nine Thunder, so he can accurately measure the intensity of the thunder.

The intensity of each thunder is different, causing different fluctuations in the formation. The Lin family's territory covers an area of 500,000 square kilometers, and there are 500,000 thunderbolts falling on the formation every year. Yang Ning doesn't need to observe for a whole year. He can measure the defensive power of the Five Elements Rotation Formation in the time it takes for a thunderstorm.

He used the White Dragon's Absorption Method to simulate the absorption of spiritual energy by the semi-Immortal Weapon. Each clone is a White Dragon's Absorption Method. In the end, he used 140,000 clones to construct a formation that is equivalent to the defensive power of the real Five Elements Rotation Formation.

In other words, the efficiency of his White Dragon's Absorption Method is one-fourteenth of a semi-Immortal Weapon!

It can be seen that even with so many cheats, Yang Ning is still not as good as the Lin family's cheats.

One semi-Immortal Weapon absorbing spiritual energy for a day is enough for Yang Ning to operate at full power for 140,000 days, or 383 years!

"Everything is ready, only lacking..."

In the Spirit Realm, after half a month of busyness, the result is a rocket with a diameter of 38 meters and a height of 180 meters, looking a bit chubby, with a pure white paint job.

On the rocket, there are two vertical rows of large red Chinese characters: "West Liang-43!"

It's not for symmetry with the East Wind, West Liang refers to the West Liang Female Country, and 43 refers to the 43rd difficulty of the Eighty-One Difficulties.

The actress playing the Queen of the Female Country is named Zhu Lin.

"West Liang-43, first trial, begin!"

(End of this chapter)