Gu Jinlai frowned: "They all submitted to the Xuanhuang Realm?"
Pang Yuan said indifferently: "Cultivators can’t even maintain their Sacred Bodies or Immortal Bodies, let alone achieve Dao Fruit and merge with the Heavenly Dao. How can they survive?"
Gu Jinlai was startled.
He was still young, less than ninety years old, and with the Great Sun Core still functioning, he didn’t feel particularly weak.
"Without the Power of Heavenly Dao to help beings withstand the erosion of the Power of Time, even if the psychic cultivation system of the Xuanhuang Immortal Dynasty is highly developed, the lifespan limit of beings is still difficult to surpass a thousand years. To achieve a longer life, there’s only one way—to become a Star Lord or Star God. Once one becomes a Star Lord, even if just a Profound Immortal, they can live ten thousand, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years."
Pang Yuan said: "A Star Lord is a status. Without becoming a Star Lord, even Great Dao Golden Immortals must constantly practice hard to maintain themselves against decline! And the energy they absorb from the Great Dao is ultimately consumed by the Devouring Dao, forming a vicious cycle... thus making those Great Dao Golden Immortals who have not gained the status of Star God practice tirelessly, without a moment’s rest!"
"The infusion of Star Power can slightly alleviate the effects of the Devouring Dao on Great Dao Golden Immortals, so those who cannot become Star Gods will spare no effort in nurturing their descendants to become Star Lords. But to become a Star Lord, or even receive the infusion of Star Power, one must achieve merits."
Pang Yuan looked at Gu Jinlai: "There are many ways to achieve merit—entering the court as an official, benefiting a region, advancing in research, suppressing rebellions, hunting invaders..."
At this moment, he thought of something and suddenly said: "The Hunter Squad that attacked me—their power seems to heavily rely on external objects..."
Pang Yuan said: "Zhou Huang worries about someone sabotaging his Immortal Cave Heaven plan and doesn’t trust anyone outside of himself. Great Dao Golden Immortals are slightly better, but Profound Immortals, despite having longevity, cannot exert much power, and their security is difficult to guarantee. Thus, a system to evade the influence of the Devouring Dao emerged, the Mechanic."
He glanced at Gu Jinlai: "You should have felt it. The Devouring Dao has the strongest influence first on the Great Dao, Heavenly Dao, Dao Fruit, Immortal Body, Sacred Body, then on True Qi and other energies, and then on Divine Sense... therefore, using Divine Sense to manipulate matter for purely physical combat, embedding mental shocks in each move, best utilizes the strengths of Profound Immortals."
"Moreover, they have also utilized external powers, including nuclear fusion, material annihilation, and other means to drive some powerful mechanical constructs. But the stronger the energy released instantly, the greater the impact of the Devouring Dao. Only those with a high enough Spiritual Realm can resist the Devouring Dao’s influence to unleash nuclear energy."
The influence of the Devouring Dao is everywhere.
Ordinary people, even if they build a nuclear reactor of considerable power, the energy released will largely be devoured.
Of course, there is some effect, but the energy efficiency of a nuclear reactor may not be much higher than burning coal.
In other words, without sufficient Spiritual Realm, mastering these technologies is of little use.
If the Spiritual Realm is high enough, often, it’s better to directly use Divine Sense for attack.
This is also why the mecha of the Hunter Squad can only maintain ordinary supersonic speeds.
For normal cruising, this speed is sufficient.
The higher the power, the faster the energy dissipates, ironically making it counterproductive.
During intense battles, they then use Divine Sense to drive and burst out at multiple times the speed of sound.
"Divine Sense’s interference with matter is extremely low... Especially the Devouring Dao, it does affect Divine Sense power, but not to the extent of energy, Sacred Body, Immortal Body, or Dao Fruit. Thus, the interference effect is weaker, and if the Spiritual Realm doesn’t reach a certain level, engines can’t even start, let alone drive mecha. Even if they can, it would only be for the smallest mecha."
Pang Yuan said: "And those who can start reactors made from external objects and drive mecha are called Mechanics, a brand-new force that can barely evade the Devouring Dao."