Wang Wei exhaled softly, calming himself down. He continued to observe the battle between Chen Chen and Tong Ruobing. By now, the two were in a deadlock as Tong Ruobing's clones were on par with Chen Chen's army.
Tong Ruobing calmly watched the confrontation between these two groups. Her brilliant eyes indicated she was going more than just observing. Then, when the number of clones dying reached a certain threshold, she acted.
[Talisman Formation]
The clones stopped simultaneously before creating a small talisman before them; it looked like a small rectangular paper with writing on it. Then, the talismans floated in the air and fused into an enormous formation.
As such, an enormous talisman paper manifested between Heaven and Earth. Subsequently, a purple ball of destruction descended from the talisman and annihilated all of the Chen Chens, not leaving a single particle.
Regardless, Tong Ruobing did not celebrate her victory yet. And as expected, not long afterward, another Chen Chen manifested. However, the Great Talisman City's sect madam frowned.
'There is no spatial or any energy fluctuation–he just appeared here,' analyzed Tong Ruobing. 'He is losing more of his humanity.'
She understood the calm and rational part of Chen Chen's side was slowly taking over. And that's why the latter used more subtle means to send the army.
'He doesn't want me to track where the Spatial Cracks lead to,' continued Tong Ruobing. If Chen Chen's humane side made mistakes that he could exploit, then the other side would not make these mistakes.
Or worse, can rapidly learn from these mistakes.
'Luckily, it's already too late.'
The Talisman Formation above their heads did not dissipate. Instead, it changed the runes written on its surface. Then, a thread came from the talisman to somewhere in the void.
Tong Ruobing swiftly used a Void Breaking Talisman to travel in the direction of that thread. A portable swallowed her, and soon afterward, she found herself in a place with nothing but a mountain in sight.
'This place is full of Earth Energy. Even the Earth Laws are more active than the others.'
Unfortunately, Tong Ruobing did not have time to understand her surroundings thoroughly. So, after a brief scan with her Divine Sense and a short analysis, she focused on her objective.
She gazed in the distance and saw the thread led to another hidden dimension. So, she used another Void Breaking Talisman to rush to her destination.
Tong Ruobing stepped into the Void Portal, surrounded by one of her most potent defensive spells.
After reaching her destination, her eyes squinted because of what she saw before her.
"What a wonderful creation," she muttered, gazing at a towering city floating in the air. With her knowledge, Tong Ruobing could instantly tell this city was an Immortal Tier Artifact, and the grade was on par with 7-Leaf.
"Your compliment means nothing to me," suddenly said a grandiose voice emanating from the city.
"I don't understand," said Tong Ruobing. "Your accomplishments are not worse than mine. So, why the animosity?"
"I'm aware of this. Defeating is only the proof I need to show the world this fact. And what better way to display this fact than when everybody in the Myriad Emperor World is watching?"
Tong Ruobing secretly shook her head. Although her words were true, she knew she had an overwhelming advantage over the latter–her Dao Heart and state of mind were considerably above Chen Chen.
And even if the latter defeated her, his fate might not be ideal. The Chen Chen he knew would forever be dead, replaced by someone by someone or something else entirely.
Tong Ruobing's analysis was more correct than even she knew. Chen Chen's very [Existence] was twisted and changed after that technique, so it was hard to tell whether he was still the same Chen Chen.
"The victor has yet to be determined," countered Tong Ruobing. In the short interactions, she already discovered many of Chen Chen's anomalies. She looked at the Floating City and saw that only Chen Chens occupied the place.
Furthermore, a majority were refining puppets–to be precise, they were manufacturing themselves and their body parts.
'Has he dealt with the Clone Issue?' she pondered. All Professions will face the same issue–their lack of productivity. Every alchemist wished they could refine more pills, and the same for Weapon Refiners or Talisman Makers.
So, they've attempted to solve the issue, mainly through the use of clones and puppets. The idea is to have multiple versions of themselves refined, thus increasing productivity.
Sadly, this method failed. Most clone methods are useless, and the few unique ones are restricted since there is a limit to the number of clones that can be refined.
And the same issue appeared when puppets were used–they were incapable of refining anything, even if the Professional linked their souls to the puppet.
That's when the ancient sages discovered that this was one of the limitations of Heaven and Earth. After studying this method, the ancient sages and wise man concluded Heaven and Earth favored the development of the individual or the self.
So, if any professions want to increase their productivity, they only need to improve their ability to refine more things at once. For example, a talented Alchemist like Yan Liling can refine hundreds of furnaces of Quasi-Emperor Pill at once.
And the lesser the grade of the pill, the more furnaces she can refine simultaneously.
'But, it seems Chen Chen no longer has this limitation,' analyzed Tong Ruobing.
"Have you discovered it?" asked Chen Chen, his voice originating directly from the city. "I no longer have the same limitation as pure flesh lifeforms."
Tong Ruobing felt uncomfortable by his tone and words.
"Do you think this makes you superior to us?"
"Superior? No. Better in many ways? Yes."
"Birth, aging, sickness, and death–these are one of the many obstacles cultivators have to overcome during their journey of pursuing the Dao.
"I won't talk about the first three, but have you escaped the shackles of death?" asked Tong Ruobing. However, Chen Chen did not respond.
"I once read that the lifespan limit of all sentient beings that have not proven the Dao is 1 Yuan Epoch. Tell me, has your new identity broken through this limit?"
Chen Chen was silent. His body has no issue living past this limit. After all, as long as there are resources between Heaven and Earth, he can replace many of his parts.
However, the flesh aspect of his new evolution manifested in the form of his soul. And unfortunately, his soul cannot live for so long.
'Should I abandon my flesh?' pondered Chen Chen. 'No, my uniqueness derived from my soul, so nothing can happen to it. Plus, if I did that, I would be nothing but a Puppet Spirit Race.'
"I guess the answer is no," said Tong Ruobing with a sneer. "There are so many races superior to humans or flesh and blood lifeforms, as you put it. However, we have risen to the top of the food chain.
"So, your existence means nothing to me or other flesh and blood lifeforms. You cannot affect our status."
Tong Ruobing understood that as long as the system of Heaven Will exists and is the only way for any sentient being to escape the shackles of death, it did matter how powerful and unique a race was.
In the end, they will be mortals destined to die.
Eastern Continent:
Wang Wei watched this battle. However, unlike Tong Ruobing, he knew more and saw further.
'Chen Chen is deteriorating at an alarming rate. During his conversation with the Heaven Devouring Emperor, he talked about fixing himself after becoming an Eternal Emperor–most likely through Existence Reconstruction.
'But now, he believes he is a different creature, a new race.'
Wang Wei frowned as he felt something more was at stake,
'Chen Chen's behavior is similar to robots from Science Fiction back on Earth. This fact further proves that the Prehistoric World, or Earth, was influencing the Chaos Universe.'
However, Wang Wei felt things were not that simple. So, his brain began to work again, trying to analyze and deduce the truth.
"An experiment," he muttered to himself.
'What if Chen Chen was an experiment that Grand Dao was doing? Using robots or cyborgs as a blueprint, create a race that is half flesh and half machine.'
Wang Wei squinted his eyes as he connected many dots. From his knowledge, Qiyuan's actions made the Eternal Ascension World the center of the Chaos Universe.
And even if he did not completely succeed, a tremendous amount of destiny concentrated on this place.
'This would explain why things like the Ten Supremacy Foundation originated from this place. And in the future, there will be more.'
Wang Wei shifted his thinking to wondering why Grand Dao would create a new race.
'The reasonable argument would be that the creation of a new race benefits the development of the Chaos Universe. Thus Grand Dao created them. However, this argument falls apart after considering the racial characteristic of robots–resource destroyers.
'Give a robot a few Yuan Epochs, and they could mine the resources of an entire Heaven Will World. And give them a few million Yuan Epochs, they can do the same to a Chaos World like the Eternal Ascension World.
'Grand Dao–who is about balance–would never allow the existence of such a race. So, why create such a creature? Could my theory be wrong?'
Wang Wei's eyebrow furrowed,
'No, I fail to take into account the current situation. If it's true my future self is battling it out with Grand Dao, the latter might create such a race as one of its pawns to destroy me.'
Wang Wei could see how devastating it would be for a race like Chen Chen to become Paragons and take over an entire Chaos World. Their fighting potential in any war would be catastrophic.
'If I follow this logic, Chen Chen's existence is not a chess move of Grand Dao, but myself. He planted it here so I can know and prepare. No, even the existence of Cai Song has the same purpose.'
Wang Wei understood his future self's action–he needed to either subdue Chen Chen or steal his ability and destiny and transfer it to Cai Song.
'The only way to fight robots is with robots.'
