Volume 2 Side Story 4: The Dilemmas Of A Competent Master

Kong Ye's days weren't going well.

Since his entrance into the Titanfall Archipelago, he had been struck every day by all sorts of trial penalties for breaking the rules of the tournament. It wasn't that abiding by these rules was anything difficult, but it was his system that prevented him from keeping his mouth shut and watching his disciples struggle.

For example, just yesterday, he had been sitting inside his cultivation chamber, contemplating what to do with the diminishing resources being allocated to every Elder of the sect when Yuen Zhou came knocking on his door.

"Disciple Zhou, did you run into some problems related to the Tenta- I mean, the Tenacious Tentacle technique? You know I can't help you with anything aside from cultivation here."

While wasting time with unnecessary rhetoric, Kong Ye quickly ran his eyes down the system panel, checking Yuen Zhou's latest stats.

[ Disciple No-3: Yuen Zhou ]

[Race: Human ]

[Ancestry: Endemic to this planet, common-grade, click Here to examine the potentials of the ancestral factors ]

[Cultivation: Peak of the seventh layer of Physique Transformation Realm ]

[Dao Heart: S ]

[Comprehension: A- ]

[Qi Quality: A- ]

[Dao Foundation Quality: A- ]

[Combat Skill: B+ ]

[Elemental Affinity: C- ]

[Special Affinity: Death Energy (A) ]

[Expand this list to examine the rest of her talents and characteristics ]

[Overall Potential: S ]

[Click Here to see the fluctuation of the stats]

Curious, Kong Ye couldn't help but focus on the last panel. As a disciple with S-tier potential, Yuen Zhou had a massive variety of talents, explored and unexplored. He didn't usually obsess over these small details and left their progression to fate. But the latest addition to her top stats, the Special Affinity called Death Energy, wasn't something he had noticed before.

It had to have developed in the last few days. But how? Why?

[There have been 12 total fluctuations in disciple Zhou's minor stats. However, only one stat among them has shown a fluctuation of over 2000% ]

Right on the mark. Kong Ye found the data of the Special Affinity at the top of the list. The other stats had barely fluctuated past a range of 1%, whereas her affinity to Death Energy had gone from grade-C to grade-A in TWO days?!

What in the world was this lassie doing in her cultivation chamber?

Kong Ye didn't know much about harnessing death energy. He only understood that people who practiced such aspects of the heavenly dao deal with undeads, zombified abominations, gu worms of the most sinister categories, and their very presence was abhorred by many orthodox factions.

Cultivators who thrive on death energy prefer to linger around sites of tragedies, battlefields, mass graves, and plagues. How Yuen Zhou had come into contact with the death energy here was beyond his comprehension.

Should he ask...?

Kong Ye reconsidered the urge to make her talk. There was no use in doing so. If she wanted him to know, she would reveal it one way or another, sooner or later. Until then, he had to keep up a pretense of ignorance.

"Teacher, I have another inquiry," Yuen Zhou answered while he was immersed in his own web of plans.

"Oh? Ask away! As long as it doesn't have anything to do with the tournament, you may ask anything," Kong Ye said absent-mindedly.

"Teacher, what would theoretically be the lowest level of cultivation capable of letting one interfere in a mass-integration type spell formation where, let's say...at least 30 cultivators at or above the Dao Genesis Realm have participated involuntarily?"

"...."

The question didn't quite register in his mind. The keywords used in it weren't anything he was used to hearing in this underdeveloped planet. For a moment, he struggled to make sense of the visual impact brought forth by the scenario proposed by Yuen Zhou.

Thirty cultivators in the Dao Genesis Realm?

It wasn't a surprise to learn that Yuen Zhou knew about the orthodox tiers of cultivation above the Soul Reformation Realm, being so resourceful and knowledgeable about practical cultivation. But...

"Why would thirty cultivators of that realm be confined inside a mass-integration type spell formation?" Kong Ye asked. "You're probably aware that cultivators above the Soul Reformation Realm have a powerful grasp of their own spiritual being. In the context of this planet, there's no mechanism that can force so many of them into imprisonment under a mass-integration type formation. Such formations require active participation, not forced willpower. The question you've asked is based on a flawed scenario."

Yuen Zhou scratched her neck and thought hard for a couple of seconds before answering.

"Let's just suppose the existence of such a situation. I can't come up with the logic behind every imaginary problem I find myself invested in. So, if such a situation exists, how strong does a cultivator have to be to interfere in the formation and take control of it?"

Kong Ye ran some calculations in his mind and put up a finger.

"First of all, let's assume that only the 30 Dao Genesis Realm cultivators are inside that formation, and none of them are conscious of the material world around them. In this scenario, you simply need to be at the peak of the Physique Transformation Realm with a focused cultivation of a sturdy physique. It's even better if you have any martial skills capable of inflicting powerful attacks. Those in the Dao Genesis phase barely have better physiques than those in the peak of the Physique Transformation Realm, since the Soul Reformation Realm puts little to no focus on physical strengthening, and the Dao Genesis comes right after transcending the Soul Reformation realm.

"Simply put, just go and attack one of those 30 Dao Genesis Realm cultivators, preferably the weakest one among them if you can identify that person. That will rapidly weaken the stability of the formation. If your aim is to destroy the formation completely, then repeat this process several times. The remaining cultivators won't be able to cover the chaos resulting from the loss of each participant in the formation.

"Secondly, there is the matter of a more realistic approach. Logically, there is no way 30 cultivators would put themselves in a position so vulnerable. If they truly participate in a mass-integration type formation, they'll do so with adequate preparation of protection. In fact, even the formation itself, being powered by the spiritual bodies of the cultivators, would carry with it a heavy backlash mechanism at any interfering factors. It would be much like trying to touch an iron anvil as it's being used. Unless your fingers are as sturdy as iron too, you can forget about trying to take control of such formations."

Yuen Zhou looked a bit distraught as his answer became longer and longer. As he fell silent, she smiled wryly.

"In short, if I just want to destabilize the formation, I need to be at least at the peak of the Physique Transformation realm with unusual attacking ability. As for interfering in and taking control of the formation, that'll be a job for someone at or above the same realm as the participants."

"Correct," Kong Ye verified her summarization.

"Thought as much. So uh, let's expand that scenario a bit. What if the formation includes thousands of cultivators at the Physique Transformation and Soul Reformation Realm?" Yuen Zhou asked.

"...Disciple Zhou, your scenarios are too wild. The sheer quantum of variables in this second scenario is beyond simulation. Even in a one-dimensional imaginary scale, this problem in its most simple form doesn't necessarily have an answer. All I can say is that, to break up such a formation, you'd need to be above the Dao Genesis realm."

Yuen Zhou looked like she was about to ask something even more unsettling, but Kong Ye refused to entertain these absurd debates any longer.

Seeing his reluctance, she eventually gave up and left. Just before leaving, she asked casually, "Master, can we use the subspace inside the fissures in the sky to teleport to specific destinations outside the solar system?"

"No, you canno-"

Boom!

Apparently, the mechanical entity that had been entrusted with the responsibility to oversee the strict implementation of the rule of secrecy had deemed his unfinished reply a violation of the rule.

It has been an entire day after that incident. Kong Ye, still nursing the sequela of the lightning strike as he rested inside his cultivation chamber, became distracted by the sudden pop-up of red glowing panels in the upper corner of his vision.

[ Alert!]

[ The system has detected a grave emergency!]

[ A threat to Your title as a Master has been uncovered! ]

Following the prompt, an unexpected panel opened up.

[ Disciple No. 1: Han Xuhan ]

[ Race: Demon (Just changed) ]

[ Dao Foundation Quality: Unable To Determine as it has just been Expelled From Heavenly Domain ]

[ Dao Heart Title : Nascent Parasite ] { New Stat}

[Special Affinity: Light (B+), Disorder (B) ] {New Stat}

One after another, panels containing chaotic, unfamiliar data continued to storm into his perception. Within moments, Kong Ye felt his limbs turn cold.

[ As his master, it is your firm duty to save your disciples from this deviant path! The demon race should remain a forgotten footnote in the history of past millennia. Find a method to change your disciple's race, and investigate the reason behind his Dao tower's expulsion from the Heavenly Dao Domain! ]

"System!"

[ What shall be your command, host? ]

"Help me create a bucket of Mindkiller Poison and its antidote."

[ No can do without the ingredients, host! ]

"It's okay, I'm willing to spend my points and make sacrificial rituals, if required. Just find some ingredients for me. I'm pretty sure that's what my number one disciple needs the most right now," Kong Ye growled as he took out a glass syringe from his rack of cultivation equipment.