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nThe machine race was one of the hegemons of this universe, occupying a total of nine constellations, each of which were numbered from one to nine.

nAside from the nine constellations, they also ruled an independent planet.

nThat single planet was not under the jurisdiction of any of the other nine constellations and it did not come to be by natural means, but was constructed by the scientific technology of the machine race instead.

nZero, patriarch of the machine race, resided upon that planet.

nWhoosh!

nTwo figures arrived on that planet just then.

nBoth Saints of the machine race had arrived.

nThey arrived before a palace with various robots, then entered it and took a hidden elevator connected to the underground.

nThe elevator headed straight to the bottom, moving rapidly for a dozen minutes before stopping.

nThe doors then opened to reveal a gigantic passageway, with its walls covered in large pipes and wiring, as well as various lamps hanging from the ceiling.

nOn one side of the passage stood a three-meter-tall robot.

nIts eyes emitted red rays which scanned both machine Saints, beeping before vocalizing, “Identity scan complete.”

n“Defense system shut down temporarily.”

n“Welcome, Saints.”

nBoth Saints hence continued advancing over the passageway, with the building before them slowly changing.

nIf Jiang He was there, he would most certainly have realized that the building was actually a spacecraft buried deep beneath the ground.

nThe technology of the spacecraft was also immaculate—in fact, every bit of machine race’s technology was developed based on this spacecraft.

nJust as both machine race Saints entered the spacecraft, a silhouette appeared in the cockpit of the spacecraft.

nHe was not solid form, but a full-body projection.

nHe appeared to be a hunchbacked old man with white hair and beard, leaning on a crutch and showing the air of a sagely immortal.

nThat old man was Zero.

nHe was incredibly mysterious—just a handful of individuals from the machine race had the right to see him. Likewise, outsiders only knew that the patriarch of the machine race is known as Zero, and not his true form.

n“Patriarch…”

nBoth machine race Saints bowed at him.

nZero smiled in return. “I know. Neither of you shall be a part of the war between the Three Realms against the Gods and Demons… as for the traitor, I’ll punish him myself.”

n***

nAt Biyou Palace, within the Jie Sect—in his sealed room, Jiang he was scowling as he flipped through the pages of his Strengthened Fist of the Six Paths of Reincarnation and Esoteric Nine.

nHe had managed to create the cultivation manuals, but learning them would take a huge toll on his Farm Points.

nOf course, he could try cultivating it on his own—he was even filled with fighting spirit at first, believing that he had finally had the chance of cultivating from a method he developed… only to end up cursing and swearing three days later.

n“Life is so hard…”

n“I can’t even learn the first style of my own fist technique after three days. Likewise, I’ve only scratched the surface of Esoteric Nine.”

n“At this rate, I won’t cultivate both methods even after thousands of years.”

nThere were three styles in total when it comes to the Fist of the Six Paths of Reincarnation.

nThe first style ‘Six Paths’ and the second style ‘Reincarnation’ required 200 billion Farm Points to master.

nThe third-style required 500 billion, while Esoteric Nine would take 900 billion.

n“At the rate I’m earning Farm Points, I would only earn 500,000 Farm Points with each premium-grade immortal item planted. In other words, I would need several hundred thousand of those to master both the Fist of the Six Paths of Reincarnation and Esoteric Nine.”

nSeveral hundred thousand premium-grade immortal items?

nNot even the Jie Sect, Chan Sect, Western Sect, or even the Celestial Court would provide him with that many even if they emptied all their vaults.

n“I should look for crops that I could earn truckloads of Farm Points with, and get more resources after cultivating Six Paths and Power, the first word of the Esoteric Nine.”

nRegardless, the only way to earn loads of Farm Points right now would be by planting mystic treasures and medicinal pellets.

nBut aside from the Western Sect, the medicinal pellets and mystic treasures that the various major factions of the Three Realms had were basically already used up by Jiang He.

nOf course, the untitled cultivators and lesser factions would have considerable stores of mystic treasures and medicinal pellets, but Jiang He could not be bothered to ask door-to-door.

nJiang He left the sealed room then, and was going to head for the Western Sect and trade with the two Saints of the Western Sect, exchanging medicinal pellets and mystic treasures with them to plant with.

nHowever, he ran headlong into the Daoist of Many Treasures just as he stepped out of his sealed room.

n“Brother Jiang He-I mean, Martial Uncle.”

nThe Daoist of Many Treasures said without further ado, “Something has happened.”

n“What is it?” Jiang He asked, lifting a brow in curiosity.

n“Nine-Five-Two-Seven blew up!”

n“…”

nStunned, Jiang He exclaimed, “What happened?”

n“I don’t know.”

nThe Daoist of Many Treasures said with a wry smile, “After the three Demi-Saints defected to Jie Sect, I arranged for them to stay at the outer sect… some of the disciples even held a welcoming banquet for them, but this morning, Nine-Five-Two-Seven suddenly blew up while he was drinking wine, critically wounding a Demi-Saint and three other Grand Luo of the outer sect as well.”

n“Robots, drinking wine?”

nJiang He frowned as he asked, “Could the wine have caused its body to short circuit? No… why bother becoming a Demi-Saint after cultivating to Nine-Five-Two-Seven’s level, only to blow up from wine? Has your master said anything?”

n“He said that it might be the patriarch of the machines’ doing. Strictly speaking, they were all created by Zero, which is why he would have the power to keep something hidden in every machine’s body.”

nJiang He’s expression became solemn at that.

nTaking a deep breath, he sighed, “That would be terrifying… the machines had two Saints and were not that strong a hegemon race. I thought them to be pushovers, but now it seems… that they could kick my teeth in.”

n“What do you mean?”

nThe Daoist of Many Treasures was taken aback… that metaphor was rather unique.

nJiang He explained, “What’s the most powerful move of cutlivators?”

n“Self-destruction!”

n“If forced to self-destruct, a Golden Immortal could trigger an explosion that maims or even kills Grand Luo.”

n“I was grooming dozens of slaves before, and even the Nether River Patriarch was wary after they blew themselves up in synchrony… Many Treasures, have you ever imagined how powerful the explosions would be if Saints self-destruct?”

n“A Saint… self-destructing?”

nThe Daoist of Many Treasures did a double take. “Saints are eternal! Why would they choose to self-destruct?”

n“But what if the machines’ patriarch could control even the machine Saints?”

nJiang He chuckled when he saw the Daoist of Many Treasures stiffen. “No worries. This is actually a simple matter to solve, since we would just have to find the machines’ patriarch and kill him… by the way, could you go with me to Spirit Mountain again, Many Treasures? I have a trade to make with the two Saints of the Western Sect.”

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