88: Chapter 88 On the Eve of the Killing Trap, the Tightening Net of Justice

Yunze Immortal City, Inner City, Danding Sect Law Enforcement Hall.

In the huge bronze incense burner, calming dragon saliva incense was burning. However, the atmosphere in the great hall was suffocatingly oppressive.

Shen Changge, the Danding Sect Inner Sect Law Enforcement Elder, a Late Stage Foundation Establishment Cultivator, was expressionlessly flipping through the mountain of Jade Slips and dossiers on his desk. Below the hall stood four Law Enforcement Squad commanders who dared not even breathe loudly.

"In just three days, nearly eight hundred Loose Cultivators have flooded into the Outer City. Among them, over sixty are at the Late-Stage Qi Refining."

Shen Changge tossed a Jade Slip onto the table, his voice cold as water in a frozen pond. "The Blood Fiend Sect's secret agents are biting everyone in the city like mad dogs, and the Wandu Pavilion's secret guards are also frequently mobilizing. Now, even a bottom-tier Loose Cultivator dares to use some Incomplete Manual from the Qianji Pavilion to create hype at the Blood River Dark Assembly."

"You all, who can tell me, whose world is this Yunze Immortal City, exactly?"

Cold sweat poured down the four commanders. The leading Cultivator braced himself and took a step forward: "Reporting to the Elder, that descendant of the Qianji Pavilion, named Puppeteer He Zichuan, has spread word that he intends to auction the Soul-Pulling Threads at the Dark Assembly. This is clearly an attempt to muddy the waters!"

"Since you know he is trying to disrupt the situation, why not go directly to Willow Lane and capture him?" Shen Changge sneered.

The leading commander swallowed hard: "We sent people... but the area around Puppeteer He Zichuan's small courtyard has already been secretly locked down by two Foundation Establishment Stage Elders from the Blood Fiend Sect. They seem to be treating Puppeteer He Zichuan as some kind of bait, and this subordinate dared not easily provoke a war between the two sects."

Hearing this, a deep gleam flashed in the depths of Shen Changge's eyes.

Shen Changge stood up, and a massive Spiritual Pressure instantly swept through the great hall: "Pass on my decree. Triple the manpower in the Outer City and activate the monitoring of the city-wide Nine Palaces Spirit-Locking Formation. Do not worry about that Puppeteer He Zichuan; keep a close eye on any unfamiliar faces purchasing high-grade Formation Plates or large quantities of Medicinal Pills!"

"Great chaos is imminent. Even if they are powerful dragons crossing the river, once they enter the net of my Danding Sect, they will have to be peeled of a layer of skin!"

Outer City, Qingyi Alley, an Immortal Cave with standard Spiritual Qi.

This place was very far from the chaotic shantytown of Loose Cultivators, with high rent, and had always been a place for those Cultivators with some assets to stay.

Gu Shen pushed open the heavy stone door and walked slowly into the courtyard.

At this moment, he had long since taken off the gray scholar's robe of the sickly scholar. Under the exquisite writhing of Thousand Faces, he had transformed into a slightly chubby, kind-faced middle-aged merchant with a handlebar mustache, his cultivation also steadily suppressed to Level 5 Qi Refining.

With this cultivation and this appearance, he was like a drop of water in the ocean within the Immortal City, unable to arouse anyone's desire to pry.

Gu Shen closed the stone door behind him and waved his large sleeves.

Four Formation Flags sank extremely precisely into the four corners of the courtyard. With a soft hum, the yellow light shield of the Thick Earth Array rose up, completely isolating the entire Immortal Cave from the outside world.

"Master, the entire Immortal Cave area has been scanned. No Recording Stones or monitoring Formation patterns were found."

Crab, in silent mode, emitted a slight vibration frequency after confirming it was safe.

"Hmm."

Gu Shen walked to the stone table and sat down, his Divine Sense probing into his Storage Ring to check the day's expenses.

To rent this C-grade Immortal Cave with an independent protective Formation for a month, he had paid thirty Low-Grade Spirit Stones without hesitation. On the way back, he spent ten Spirit Stones at a roadside shop to buy a batch of the most ordinary blank talisman paper and cinnabar spiritual ink.

Along the way, he had stopped at several Loose Cultivator street stalls and even picked up a few pieces of broken weapons claimed to be ancient relics. But after his sharp eyes and Crab's microwave scan confirmed they were just scraps of metal fermented in the dirt, he turned and left without any lingering attachment.

In the Cultivation World, there have never been so many heaven-defying bargains to be picked up just by walking down the street.

"Crab. Project the joint transmission blueprints of those four Wasteland mechs for me." Gu Shen stopped thinking about the surging winds in the Outer City and got straight to the point.

"Understood!"

An extremely precise, deep blue holographic scroll composed of countless gears, high-frequency servo motors, and ultra-lightweight frames immediately appeared before Gu Shen's eyes.

While looking at the blueprints, Gu Shen spread out the blank talisman paper on the stone table, dipped the carving knife in cinnabar, and extremely slowly deduced the gathering spirit Formation patterns of the Cultivation World.

"Master, if we want to use the Cultivation World's thread-control secret techniques to control these Wasteland heavy industrial mechs, there is a fatal physical gap."

Crab's computing core ran wildly, providing an extremely professional analysis: "The wood-stone Puppets of the Cultivation World have natural Spiritual Qi conductivity. But these mechs are made of high-carbon titanium alloy, which has a very strong blocking effect on your wood-element mana and Divine Sense. This is like using an insulator as a wire; even if you get the Soul-Pulling Threads, you won't be able to control them as easily as your own arms."

The carving knife in Gu Shen's hand paused slightly. Instead of being discouraged, a burst of intense light erupted in the depths of his eyes.

"Insulation, is it?"

Gu Shen revealed a smile, as if he had everything under control. He flipped his wrist, and a dark green tree core, emitting a rich and even slightly violent radiation aura, appeared in his palm.

It was precisely the mutated wood marrow extracted from the rampaging mother plant on the fourth layer of the Wasteland!

"The refined iron of the Cultivation World cannot conduct spirit because it lacks an engraved spirit-connecting Bloodline. But this mass of mutated wood marrow is itself an Aberration forcibly catalyzed by nuclear-contaminated energy. It has both the spirituality of plants and can perfectly accommodate extremely violent otherworldly energy!"

Gu Shen forced a wisp of Geng Metal Sword Qi from his fingertips and extremely carefully cut an extremely tiny piece from the wood marrow.

"As long as I obtain the refining method for the Soul-Pulling Threads and modify the node Formation patterns within it. Then turn this mutated wood marrow into liquid and inject it into the gaps of those servo motors and joint bearings like engine oil!"

"Wasteland alloy frames, mutated wood marrow nerves, Cultivation World thread-control Divine Sense, plus Spirit Stones as a perpetual motion machine..."

Gu Shen's breathing gradually became heavy, his eyes surging with an extremely crazy desire for creation.

This is the truly terrifying aspect brought about by the two-world traversal of the Heaven and Earth Furnace! Using the methods of the Cultivation World to forcibly control a group of Wasteland steel monsters with physiques comparable to Foundation Establishment great Cultivators and who do not know fatigue!

"Now, everything is ready; I only lack that eastern wind to make this pile of steel come alive."

Gu Shen put the mutated wood marrow back into his Storage Ring, his gaze passing through the light of the Thick Earth Array, looking far towards the direction of the Inner City.

Half a month later. The Blood River Dark Assembly.

Since that mysterious Sword Cultivator named Puppeteer He Zichuan wanted to use the Soul-Pulling Threads to set up a trap to catch big fish, then he, Gu Shen, would lie in wait in the deepest part of these dark waters, acting as the abyss giant crocodile that bites through the bait and swallows the fishing rod!