Chapter 667: Third Party Is About to Enter

The Arcane Library. Fluorescent purple flames illuminated the thick arcane tomes. Each book was adorned with various exquisite, light-blue arcane models, reminiscent of intricate mechanical blueprints for a car, precise and detailed, with every structure admirable.

"Arcane models—this is another form of lava technology," Xu Zhi imprinted each of these models into his mind for analysis and interpretation. "What is the essence of these arcane models? They are also imaginative models of laws, converged by massive computing power—billions of supercomputers."

"However, they only make minor modifications to the natural data of reality; they cannot fundamentally alter nature."

Xu Zhi mused. In a Ninth-Tier world, one acts as a world unto oneself, establishing rules and influencing external laws. Perhaps a more advanced Ninth-Tier world could completely modify natural laws, or even create from nothingness, whereas currently, it's just distortion.

These so-called arcane models were akin to generator schematics. Fire arcana had fire generator models. Lightning arcana had lightning arcane models. This was extracted from a "mining" system.

"Even now, it still resembles a unique mechanical civilization. This is the essence of arcana."

"It's just that the structures of physical magic core weapons have been moved into the mind, becoming a kind of mental mechanical model, heheh." Xu Zhi chuckled outright; even he had to marvel at the terrifying nature of the Three Pillar Gods. "I thought the Three Pillar Gods had completely departed from ancient civilizations. As expected, technology and computing power are indeed the greatest talents of the Magic Core race!"

So, arcane models were essentially energy cannons, similar to those found on mechanical mechs, but integrated into the mind.

"In a sense, it's still a continuation of the Ishdar civilization." Xu Zhi stood up completely, observing the medieval arcane library, a raw and crude semi-ancient civilization. Arcane masters bustled to and fro.

Stepping out of the arcane library, he saw commoners on the streets, wearing simple sackcloth and hawking their wares.

"It's a relatively deformed primitive civilization, but is it truly primitive?" What high-tech capabilities of the Ishdar people couldn't arcana achieve now? Flight? Teleportation? Robots managing household chores? Mechanical armor? Energy weapons and swords? Arcana could do all of that!

"However, their 'primitiveness' is merely due to their social structure. Commoners remain primitive, while arcane masters are omnipotent, equivalent to the Ishdar people of old—humanoid mechanical turrets."

At this moment, gazing at the bustling street, Xu Zhi had completely grasped the essence of this era.

"The rest is repetitive and tedious cyclical work; I can just let my clones handle the learning."

Xu Zhi pondered, "I fundamentally cannot use this arcane system right now, as I won't join the Three Pillar Gods' core computing power. However, learning arcana is akin to preemptively learning Ninth-Tier spells, and it significantly broadens one's horizons."

"How terrifying this ancient lava land is; it's already advancing towards the Ninth-Tier. Are they exploring the Ninth-Tier in advance?"

In the living room, Xu Zhi opened his eyes again. After a trip to the ancient lava land, although some chaos ensued, the new learning machine clones had been temporarily settled. Although they wanted to expend considerable manpower searching for the existence of Emperor Messiah, after the changes in Cyberton's Riverbend Town, both sides now had their own concerns and had shifted their focus to Cyberton and Elisa. Therefore, the process of finding him wouldn't be too fast.

"It has been delayed. Even if this clone is found, it won't happen quickly."

Xu Zhi then went to the window. He observed Medusa, who was still asleep, her entire being undergoing transformation. Each of her aggregated tissues seemed to have achieved a degree of mysterious evolution.

"It seems that soon, the incomplete Cthulhu Evil God of old will be a thing of the past. The truly strongest late-stage being, with infinite potential, is about to emerge."

Xu Zhi then checked on the Phoenix in the oven, which had absorbed the mysterious substance and also undergone significant transformation. He was immediately very satisfied.

With the Six Realms having lost Daojun and Medusa, their combat power had been greatly diminished, making a one-sided battle undesirable. Therefore, a balance of power was chosen between the two sides.

"When they fight, it must be an even match." Xu Zhi looked into the distance. "Both worlds are nations focused on population growth, each with tens of billions of inhabitants. This is the probing phase; once full-scale war begins..."

Even wars between small nations involve mutual probing, not a reckless, immediate all-out effort. How much more so between entire worlds? For them, there were simply too many considerations! Perhaps the opportunity for deities lay precisely here. Of course, that might not be enough. With a vast miniature universe also on the verge of development and internal strife, it would also usher in a terrifying era of warring, falling deities.

"Deities..." Xu Zhi sighed, "If this continues, I should soon reach the High-Tier Celestial Emperor stage and prepare to break through to deityhood, right?"

He was already the strongest Celestial Emperor. In a sense, he had persevered longer in this realm than Medusa. In fact, if he had accelerated his own time flow, like the creatures in the sandbox, and cultivated silently for several millennia, he might already be a deity by now.

"But several millennia? That's too long. It's faster to just wait a few months in real-world time to absorb energy." Xu Zhi scratched his head.

It was a simple choice. Accelerate time, diligently cultivate for thousands of years, and become a deity. Or wait a few more months in reality and still become a deity. Thousands of years versus a few months.

At the same time, he cultivated far too many systems. He required dozens of times more energy than others at the same level; otherwise, his realm would be far beyond its current state! It was highly probable that ordinary humans on Earth, of comparable size—or even ten-thousand-foot giants—who only cultivated a single system, would already be close to becoming deities.

"Though I've pursued many paths, it's truly accelerating! To cultivate from nothing to deityhood in just a few months..." Xu Zhi stretched, feeling his Celestial Emperor realm constantly improving. "Arcana seems to be deepening my knowledge and giving me a more thorough understanding of the world. Still, I think I'll cultivate the body refinement system for a bit longer."

He paused, still wanting to complete the last system before becoming a deity. After all, since he had cultivated other systems, if he was going to cultivate, he might as well complete them all! To achieve perfection.

With that thought, he began doing push-ups on the ground. He suddenly had a feeling that if his main body compensated for its last weakness, it would achieve a completely new and unprecedented Celestial Emperor realm. All major systems would be integrated, approaching a state of perfection, transforming him into an ultimate being of extreme power. His body, physique, and spirit, encompassing two vast universes, upper and lower—a true Creator God, whose blink could signify the destruction of an entire cosmic epoch. He would be the ultimate Seventh-Tier Celestial Emperor. If he were to break through to deityhood, even Xu Zhi himself couldn't imagine how powerful he would become.

"I have a feeling that once I break through to deityhood, even as a low-tier deity, I could easily defeat Armin, Phoenix, and Di Qi." His expression grew peculiar. "I would suddenly surpass them all."

Of course, his invincibility was only theoretical. Theoretically, a fully realized Medusa as a deity would be even stronger than him, with greater "cheats." One hundred twenty-nine thousand six hundred deities, each cultivating two to three systems—her ambition was simply terrifying! But her fully-fledged deity form? Heh. That would be a long time coming.

"However, body refinement is the system that demands the most energy, making it a major consumer again. I wonder how many more months it will take. The difficulty increases exponentially with each additional system." Xu Zhi pondered, convinced it was all worthwhile.

He had personally witnessed how abnormal his clone became when body refinement was stacked on top of the two terrifying physical bodies, the Pangu True Body and the Nuwa True Body. Even Emperor Yun, with all his talents stacked, couldn't break through its defenses. The combination of these three heaven-defying, god-tier body cultivation techniques was akin to wearing the thickest armor while enduring the most lethal blows. Therefore, he had to cultivate body refinement again, even if it meant gritting his teeth.

Xu Zhi's gaze suddenly flickered, then froze. "Did Caroline return from the miniature universe to the ancient lava land and discover the anomalies in this area?" Xu Zhi opened his eyes wider. "The war between these two realms is my source of power; the impending conflict cannot be allowed to go awry. It's both an energy source and key to the Ninth-Tier's deduction. Why is she getting involved?"

He suddenly had a bad feeling. Moreover, Caroline had read the magazines in the Reincarnation Underworld and was aware of the history of the Six Realms, including Armin, Medusa, Di Qi, the Alchemy Emperor, and even the Mother Earth Qingteng. She knew the situation of the Six Realms.

"Another major player has entered the field."