Power. Endless, endless power. And Yang Qi was taking it all.
There really didn’t seem to be an end to what he could take from this divine likeness in the Unknown Temple. Furthermore, the quality was incredible. Obviously, the leader of the future world hadn’t held anything back in opening the passageway.
Generally speaking, it was not a type of power that the people in the present could benefit from. Most people couldn’t even sense it. But Yang Qi could. And he could tell that the power was being used to suppress something immensely strong, something pulsing in the depths of the Brahman Institute, something struggling to break free. Only this power from the future could keep that object in check.
It was obviously Brahma’s heart, which had been kept sealed for countless years by the future world. Yang Qi’s guess was that it was all the masterwork of Proud Heaven. The more Yang Qi’s cultivation progressed, the more he realized how powerful Proud Heaven must be. He’d seen the man’s clone back when he was in the Titan Emperor Collegium, and although that clone hadn’t been particularly powerful, he had been strong enough to keep Yang Qi completely in check.
Future power flowed into the God Legion Paradise to be devoured by King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans and sent into the fragment of the Cruiser of Civilization, filling its power reactors.
This level of power surpassed anything the Mechfolk patriarchs had managed to gather during the million years they had possessed the spacecraft. After all, Yang Qi was siphoning from the resources that were being sent to keep Brahma’s heart in check.
That said, not even this much power was enough to fully satiate the Cruiser of Civilization. From what Yang Qi could tell, he actually couldn’t sustain the power flows that would be necessary to do that. The way he was filling the power reactors now was like using an eyedropper to fill an ocean. At the current rate, he probably wouldn’t even succeed in a hundred million years.
Perhaps when he was a Godmyth, and had all three thousand of King Heaven-Devourer’s talismans, his power would be like that from the god legion kingdom. But that was a long way away.
In the end, the Cruiser of Civilization was still a miraculous thing. As he poured power into it, new systems and functions came online. There were power shields, weapons systems, calculation systems, heavenly imaging systems, civilization dissemination systems, genetic systems, organic technology systems, and other even more unbelievable systems, all of which were coming online and being upgraded.
From what Yang Qi could tell, as long as the genetic manufacturing and organic technology systems had enough power, they could actually take ordinary flesh and blood and turn it into people who could rival ancient devil-gods. Such entities were called genoforms, or morphites. They had no true energy of their own, but were pure expressions of power.
Yang Qi was learning a lot from the photonic computers. For instance, one of the powerful functions of the Cruiser of Civilization was to create fate warriors, who could fight and kill members of the legion of gods.
‘This thing is really amazing. With enough power, I could use it to alter the genes of the members of my clan, making them even more perfect! And according to this information here, I can eventually make Godmyth-level genoforms. It’s similar to how the future world can create virtual godhood. Science and technology are really incredible. Unfortunately, I’ll need much higher levels of power before I could do anything like that.
‘But at least I now have what it takes to deal with these obstinate and unruly Mechfolk. That prince is a Shattered God, so I’ll use his lifeblood and genetic serum to make myself stronger. These genetic systems use science and technology to forge a path very different from those of immortal dao civilizations. Civilizations like ours involve painstakingly improving our own power, with the slightest mistake leading to death by tribulation. But with these organic and genetic systems, you can extract serums to improve your genes. Such serums can instantly give you abilities comparable to devil-gods, with no risk of heavenly tribulation! Is this real? Is it because the dao of heaven approves of this kind of thing? Or could it be that immortal cultivation is considered evil, while science and technology based on genetics is righteous?’
Yang Qi was fairly certain that these questions involved the dao of heaven, and fate itself, and that if he pondered on them he would improve his own cultivation level and thinking ability.
Rumble!
Around this time, he heard a bellow of rage as his prisoners began acting up again, trying to break free from the brig. Unfortunately, no matter how hard they tried it didn’t do them any good.
The brig had been constructed by a civilization that had pushed science and technology to the ultimate limits. The Mechfolk’s machinery wasn’t even at the level of one ten-thousandth of that ancient civilization. Thus it was no surprise that this prince’s mecha couldn’t possibly do anything to the Cruiser of Civilization.
“You’re just making a fool of yourself, Prince,” Yang Qi said. Addressing the photonic computers in the spacecraft, he said, “Activate genetic systems! Remove his mecha! I want it!”
[Powering up. Removing mecha now.]
Without any hesitation, the photonic computer followed the orders. A stream of light shot out toward the prince and wrapped around the mecha. Then the mecha vanished. The prince immediately coughed up a mouthful of blood as his connection to the mecha was severed.
“Take all the mechas, then bind the prisoners!”
Power surged out from the Cruiser of Civilization, stripping all of the Mechfolk of their mechas, then binding them with light.
After the process was done, silence reigned.
Yang Qi strode into the God-Imprisoning Brig and looked around at the individual cells, within which were the prince, the patriarchs, and the various warriors. All of them looked back at him with fury in their eyes.
“We were blind to have let you into our spacecraft!” one of the patriarchs shouted. “You’re far worse of a villain than that fiend-devil Young Master Leaf!”
“You people are as rapacious as wolves and as savage as curs. You forget favors and violate justice! If it weren’t for me, you would already be dead at the hands of Young Master Leaf.” Yang Qi walked up to the patriarch who had just spoken, looked at him sharply, then suddenly reached out and ripped his beard off, including bits of skin.
“Aggghhhh!” The man screamed and writhed about like a crazed spirit-snake. Next, he burst into flames, all while Yang Qi looked on without the slightest bit of mercy. Considering how these people had returned evil for good, he absolutely wasn’t inclined to let them die quick, painless deaths. After the patriarch died, Yang Qi looked around and made a quick estimate of how many Mechfolk were present. He had imprisoned the entire crew, putting the number at several billion. Obviously, putting them to work making mechas for him would be ideal. If they refused, he had no compunctions about executing them.
“I’ll give the lot of you one chance to live,” he said. “Acknowledge allegiance to me. Open your souls and give me your faith. Become my believers. If you serve me well as engineers, I’ll spare your lives.”
“Hell no!” one of the warriors shouted. “I’ll never work for you. You’d better let our prince go right now, otherwise the Mechfolk will never let you off the hook!”
“If that’s how you feel, then just die and give me a good portion of genetic serum! Besides, I don’t really need Incarnated Gods like you. Mere fighters are easy to recruit!”
Power swept over the warrior, who let loose an agonized shriek as he slowly began to melt. Gradually, his genes were isolated, purified, cleansed, and combined. After a long moment passed, they became a serum that Yang Qi collected. “Perfect. Science and technology really are amazing things. I’ll use this serum later to make some really terrifying Godmyths.”
It was no medicinal pill, but a serum formed from an Incarnated God, that could be used to help other Godmyths to improve their constitution. Yang Qi would give it to Empress Jadefall to try out.
Unfortunately, it couldn’t be used to improve one’s cultivation level, only one’s general strength. Cultivation enlightenment would still require contemplation of the dao of heaven and natural laws. Furthermore, although genetic serums could be very powerful, they could harm the soul and create obstacles for soul enlightenment. Obviously, they had their ups and downs.
“We won’t work for a fiend-devil like you!” one of the patriarchs said, putting a very pious expression on his face. “Just kill all of us!”
Yang Qi shook his head at how fake these ungrateful curs were. In some ways, it was almost funny.
“Fine. Since you’re not afraid of dying, I’ll start with this prince of yours.” He walked up and, without any warning, gave the prince a vicious slap across the side of the face, causing blood to spray out of his mouth.
“Bastard!” he howled.
All Yang Qi did by way of response was say, “On your knees!”
