One year passed in the blink of an eye.
Su Hao built a dam near Morley Manor, using hydraulic power to successfully establish a conversion station for “potential energy – electric energy – spiritual energy,” allowing the “Starry Sky Trading Group” led by Feng Xianglong to achieve autonomous charging.
One factory after another was established. During the construction process, a large number of skilled craftsmen gradually matured and mastered the core production methods of various machines.
As for the issue of these craftsmen spreading technology, Su Hao held an indifferent attitude. Technical things spreading out, isn’t that just what he wanted?
Healthy competition can accelerate technological updates, while monopolies will only stagnate, serving no purpose.
Having completed the initial guidance, Su Hao no longer frequently focused on the operation of Feng Xianglong’s “Starry Sky Trading Group,” but instead returned to his main task of researching the carrier of consciousness.
Su Hao had already opened up a passage for Feng Xianglong to travel back and forth to the Starry Sky Academy. If there were any problems, they could find Yashan Fengcheng and others to assist in solving them.
“Next, let’s go collect a large number of cultivators’ and ordinary people’s consciousness.”
Ever since the collapse of the strongest top-tier immortal sect, Yunzhong Valley, Anan Hengzhou had fallen into chaos. The various immortal sects attacked each other, vying for the territory and resources left vacant by the collapse of Yunzhong Valley, with the most crucial being the competition for the headquarters of Yunzhong Valley. This was a treasure land, a standard feature of top-tier immortal sects.
Such chaos had persisted for more than a decade, and so far, there was no sign of it ending. Instead, the fighting intensified, and the major immortal sects in Anan Hengzhou were almost at the point of fighting to the death.
And such a chaotic place was an excellent place for Su Hao to collect experimental consciousness. What type of consciousness did he want?
Su Hao communicated with the positioning stones buried in Anan Hengzhou, teleported away, and then transformed into a “Child if Fate,” leaping into the air and flying in any direction.
Radar perception extended to a maximum of one hundred thousand meters, searching for targets.
If anyone saw this scene, they would surely be shocked and exclaim, “The Crystal Thief is back!”
He flew to an altitude of three thousand meters, overlooking the earth, looking at the continuous mountains and rivers, full of vitality, sincerely praising, “This is really a good place. Let me solve the mystery of cultivating immortals, and I will definitely give you a truly ethereal world of cultivation!”
“If I can smoothly fly through space in the future, and even find a suitable planet, remodel it, and establish a teleportation array as a place for ascension in this realm, heh, just thinking about it feels interesting.”
It didn’t matter that there was no distinction between the “mortal realm” and the “immortal realm” in the world of cultivation; he could build one according to his preferences.
“The day when everyone aspires to the immortal realm is the arrival of the golden age of cultivation.”
However, these were just whimsical thoughts that Su Hao had inexplicably come up with. There were too many uncertainties in the future, and whether he could ultimately achieve them depended on Su Hao’s progress.
At this moment, his radar on the edge sensed a battle between cultivators, and his spirits shook: “Got it!”
So he turned and flew towards it, and after a moment, he quietly hovered in the sky ten thousand meters above, overlooking the two sides of the battle.
They were two Foundation Establishment cultivators, a man and a woman, chasing each other in the sky, sometimes entering the woods, sometimes circling around the mountains, wherever they passed, grass and trees were flying.
Then Su Hao exclaimed in surprise, “Oh, they are acquaintances!”
The two cultivators in the battle were none other than the two cultivators Su Hao had met before he entered the Yunzhong Valley, Daoist Cao and Lin Shenghua.
The reason Su Hao was so impressed was because Daoist Cao had brought him to the Sanhe Peaks before. He didn’t expect both sides to have broken through to the Foundation Establishment realm now.
The difference was that Daoist Cao had originally chased after Lin Shenghua, loudly proclaiming to eliminate demons and uphold justice. Now, it was the other way around, with Lin Shenghua chasing after Daoist Cao. It was like the saying goes, “Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river!”
The fight continued unresolved, with Lin Shenghua mocking Daoist Cao while chasing him, spouting nothing but trash talk, and Daoist Cao repeatedly apologizing, saying that it was all a misunderstanding back then, and he just wanted to make friends with Lin Shenghua because of her beauty.
After fighting for a long time without resolution, Su Hao thought to himself, “When will this end? At this rate, it will take at least a day or two to determine a winner. How can I collect consciousness? If they keep fighting and develop feelings, turning enemies into friends, wouldn’t it be a waste of time? What if… I help Lin Shenghua?”
Just as he was contemplating, by coincidence, Lin Shenghua and Daoist Cao stumbled upon a place where a Foundation Establishment cultivator was cultivating in seclusion. What’s more, Lin Shenghua’s countless flower petals shot out straight towards the cave of that Foundation Establishment cultivator, who was meditating, and suffered this unjust disaster, just like Daoist Cao’s flying sword had gone astray and hit Su Hao himself.
“Hey! Where did you two brats come from, so bold!”
A crimson streak shot out, turning into a red-robed cultivator who stood in front of Daoist Cao and Lin Shenghua.
Then Daoist Cao and Lin Shenghua instantly reconciled, fleeing together and facing the enemy together. Just when Su Hao thought that the two of them had developed love-hate feelings, they were both hit by a binding technique from the red-robed Foundation Establishment cultivator, and then two red lights flashed.
Daoist Cao and Lin Shenghua, both perished!
As they looked at each other in their final moments, ah, they unexpectedly died together with the person in front of them, lying on the ground together. The person who had been shouting and fighting against them… looked quite pleasing to the eye. If they hadn’t accidentally provoked the Foundation Establishment senior, perhaps…
Just as the two of them were contemplating, a tall crystalline figure suddenly appeared, holding one in each hand, absorbing their vitality, and recording their consciousness information.
“The first order completed!”
After Su Hao finished speaking, he loosened his grip, and the two dying people fell straight down from mid-air, stunned!
Then he turned around, smiled at the bewildered Foundation Establishment cultivator, and flashed away.
Before Daoist Cao and Lin Shenghua’s consciousness plunged into complete darkness, they both sent out a series of question marks: “???”
After Su Hao left, the red-robed Foundation Establishment cultivator’s forehead felt numb, a chill spread throughout his body, and he was extremely frightened: “It’s over, it’s over! That person must be none other than the notorious Crystal Thief. How could he appear here… I’m doomed!”
However, after waiting for a long time without seeing the Crystal Thief appear again, his body warmed up slightly, and he muttered to himself, “Could it be that the Crystal Thief didn’t intend to take my life? That makes sense too. The Crystal Thief targets Unity Realm cultivators, but I’m just a mere Foundation Establishment cultivator… I can’t stay here. I must leave immediately and inform the sect leader to be cautious.”
…
Next, Su Hao wandered around Anan Hengzhou, unaware that the news of the reappearance of the “Crystal Thief” had spread throughout Anan Hengzhou in just a few days, causing everyone to panic and hide, afraid that the Crystal Thief would suddenly appear and attack them.
The appearance of the Crystal Thief temporarily brought peace to the chaotic Anan Hengzhou.
However, Su Hao’s collection work slowed down. Without people fighting, how could he collect consciousness?
After wandering around without much gain, Su Hao shifted his focus to other major provinces: “I’ve only recorded information from a dozen or so consciousnesses so far, which is far from enough. Let’s go see other places first!”
One year later, rumors about the Crystal Thief were circulating throughout the cultivation world.
“The Crystal Thief is roaming around eagerly, seeking various cultivators, shedding blood, and seizing spiritual power!”
“The Crystal Thief appeared in Qingyu Youzhou, and many members of the demonic sects were ruthlessly slaughtered by the Crystal Thief, which was a relief to many!”
“The Crystal Thief was spotted in Luzhong Changzhou, causing various sects to urgently blockade the area, activating their mountain protection arrays at full strength. Spiritual power stones are in short supply, and prices have skyrocketed. Various sects are offering high prices to repurchase spiritual power stones. Details are as follows…”
Su Hao, clad in crystal armor, stood on a high peak overlooking the horizon, murmuring to himself, “Why does it feel like the cultivation world has been much calmer in recent years? Is it the consequence of the Supreme Immortal using my name to hunt down numerous fused cultivators?”
They say killing one to warn a hundred, but now it seems like killing a hundred to warn one.
But this is also good. With fewer arrogant Unity Realm cultivators, many troubles in the cultivation world have been reduced.
As for using verbal persuasion to convince these Unity Realm cultivators to give up the path of Unity and believe in his scientific cultivation…
That’s wishful thinking!
Compared to convincing existing cultivators to cooperate with his work from their hearts, Su Hao prefers to spend his time cultivating the next generation.
