142: Law Contamination and Ascension Guidance

Han Xiaofan devoured the remains of the Ancestral Master's Thunder-Strike Ancient Sword, his cultivation surged to the Foundation Establishment Late Stage, and he carved a bloody path out of the Qinglan Sect, defecting from the Sect to become the somewhat famous "Spirit-Devouring Demonic Lord" in the Eastern Region.

Wherever he passed, Spiritual Veins withered, Magic Treasures lost their luster, and Spiritual Plants turned to ash; his predatory method of Cultivate was like an incurable plague, quietly spreading across the Tianyun Continent.

However, this method of forcibly plundering and devouring the Law and energy of all things by relying on the 【 strongest evolution system of all realms 】 was not without its price.

That logic fragment originating from a high-dimensional observer was born for "analysis" and "observation," its core logic cold and absolute, and it was not entirely suitable for a low-dimensional life form's Soul to bear.

Han Xiaofan soon discovered that something was wrong with himself.

At first, it was just occasional auditory hallucinations.

After he overused the 【 Eye of Analysis 】 or devoured some Law with strongly conflicting attributes, chaotic and disorderly gibberish—not from the System—would resound in his mind, as if countless voices were simultaneously whispering the world's "rules" and "loopholes."

Next, his perception began to deviate.

Sometimes he would "see" the flowing lines of Spiritual Qi in the air twist into strange geometric patterns; sometimes he would "hear" the Law pulse coming from deep within the earth, like a heartbeat, but the sound was filled with unsettling static.

Even more serious was that the various Law fragments he devoured failed to perfectly Fusion within his body; instead, like dyes of different colors forcibly mixed together, they turned into a chaotic and twisted "Law Sludge."

Although this power was immense, it was extremely unstable, often running wild when he circulated his energy, assaulting his Meridians and Divine Soul.

【 Warning: Detected that the host's Soul compatibility with multiple alien Laws has decreased. 】

【 Warning: Logic core load is too high, information redundancy has appeared. 】

【 Suggestion: Seek Laws of higher purity and more Origin to devour, or increase System computing power to optimize integration. 】

The System's prompts remained cold, but Han Xiaofan could hear a hint of imperceptible "urgency" within them.

The System itself seemed to have been affected by this "Law pollution," occasionally producing minor logic errors during operation, such as miscalculating the energy Rank of a target to be plundered, or issuing contradictory tasks.

He knew that he had to find stronger and purer "nourishment" to suppress and even purify the Chaos within his body, while satisfying the System's ever-growing "appetite."

He turned his gaze toward the top Sects on the Tianyun Continent that possessed long-standing Legacies and complete ancient Daoist traditions, as well as those Secret Realms and Forbidden Grounds said to contain the Origin of the world.

Meanwhile, on the outskirts of the Cloud Court.

The "Holy Land sunbathing" craze triggered by the sweeping Disciple had not yet completely subsided when Nie Li received some abnormal prayer feedback transmitted from the belief networks of affiliated planes (including the Little Linglong World and some lower planes that later attached themselves).

These feedback messages were fragmented and vague, mostly coming from the world wills or natural spirits of those planes as a kind of instinctive "lament."

The core of the information pointed to a peculiar "Law-level" trauma—not large-scale destruction, but some core Law being forcibly "stripped," "polluted," or "twisted," causing subtle but non-negligible "loopholes" to appear in the world's Foundation.

It was like a piece of exquisite silk with a few key threads pulled out; although it had not yet torn apart, its structure and luster were already damaged.

After organizing these abnormal messages, Nie Li reported them to Yun Feng.

"Court Master, recently seventeen lower planes have reported similar information. Their world Laws show signs of abnormal loss and pollution. The pattern is uniform and suspected to be man-made, but the means... are quite bizarre, not ordinary plundering or destruction."

Yun Feng was using a jade hairpin to carefully adjust a leaf on the "Void Star-Pattern Bamboo" that had curled slightly due to the excessively strong light from the Starry Battle Array.

Hearing this, he did not stop his movements, but just asked casually: "Oh? How is it bizarre?"

"It is as if... after being 'analyzed' by something, the most essential Law parts were forcibly 'eaten,' leaving behind chaotic residue, causing the rules in that area to operate sluggishly and become filled with unpredictable mutations." Nie Li described as accurately as possible.

"Analyzed? Eaten?" Yun Feng put down the jade hairpin, seemingly interested, "Sounds like it's hungry."

He walked to the edge of the Pond, looking at the koi swimming in the water, lost in thought.

The koi with a golden mark on its forehead seemed to sense his gaze, flicking its tail somewhat restlessly.

"A bit like... hmm, like the commotion caused by that 'little speck of dust' that accidentally fell down?" Yun Feng rubbed his chin, guessing uncertainly.

To him, the presence of that logic fragment was about the same as a speck of dust occasionally blown by the wind to the edge of the Pond.

"Court Master, do we need to intervene and investigate? If left to develop, it might cause irreversible damage to those lower planes." Nie Li requested instructions.

Although those planes were insignificant to the Cloud Court, they were, after all, affiliates, and leaving them alone seemed to damage the style of the Cloud Court (although they themselves didn't feel so).

"Intervene? How to intervene?" Yun Feng yawned, "Who to send? Making a big fuss over a 'little speck of dust' is so beneath us."

He thought for a moment, his eyes suddenly lighting up, seemingly having thought of an interesting idea.

"How about this, issue an 'Ascension Reception Announcement'." Yun Feng ordered lazily, "Write the content as: Recently, 'law worms' have been detected in some Lower Realms, disrupting the stability of the Ascension channels.

We are now opening temporary reception quotas. Any Cultivator from the Lower Realm who can resolve the 'law worms' problem in their plane and collect its core 'pollution source' can use this as proof to obtain a 'specially approved Ascension' opportunity directly to the outskirts of the Cloud Court.

Hmm, as for the reception envoy... let that kid Qianyuan go for a stroll since he's idle anyway."

Upon hearing this, the corner of Nie Li's mouth twitched imperceptibly.

The Court Master's method... was truly both labor-saving and able to give those lower planes a glimmer of hope (though the hope was slim), and it could also conveniently find some work for Long Qianyuan, so he wouldn't always want to make trouble out of excess energy.

"Yes, Court Master." Nie Li bowed to accept the order and immediately went to draft and issue this extremely special "Ascension Reception Announcement."

This announcement would be transmitted through the Cloud Court's belief network and rule resonance to all known lower planes where abnormalities had appeared.

It was foreseeable that this announcement would stir up quite a storm in those planes that were suffering from the likes of the "Spirit-Devouring Demonic Lord"!

Countless old monsters who were stuck at a Bottleneck with no hope of Ascension would probably all go crazy over it!

Meanwhile, Han Xiaofan, who was currently in the treasury of a Sect he had just "visited" and whose Spiritual Veins were already exhausted, counting his "spoils of war" (a pile of spiritual materials about to be absorbed), felt a shiver for no reason.

The System within his body also rarely popped up a prompt interwoven with garbled code and normal text:

【 ... Detected ... high-dimensional ... information ... broadcast ... threat ... assessment ... Ascension ... ? ... error ... recalculating ... 】

Han Xiaofan frowned, not understanding why.

He just assumed it was another minor glitch of the System and did not think deeply about it, continuing to immerse himself in the pleasure of plundering and becoming stronger.

He did not know that he, this "Law worm," had already been placed on the "specially approved Ascension" hunting list of an existence he could not imagine.

And the one coming to "receive" him would be a fellow who did not play by the rules at all.

In the Star Gazing Hall of the Cloud Court, Yun Feng watched Nie Li's departing figure and nodded with satisfaction.

"Hmm, this is quite good. Let the people below move on their own, and we can just watch the show."

He picked up the jade hairpin again and continued to focus on his gardening career, as nonchalant as if he had just decided what to eat for his next meal.