Chapter 370: Joint Crusade

The Half City branch.

Although Owner Fang had not yet done any advertising, the battle that suppressed the Great Demon carried an advertising effect that no marketing campaign could ever hope to match.

Most importantly, every customer could now enter the shop and gaze upon the true visage of the suppressed Great Demon completely free of charge.

This was a stark contrast to the old days when the major cultivation sects would tremble in fear just trying to maintain their seals!

Consequently, after this battle, those few true high-ranking officials of the Inner City who had previously harbored thoughts of making trouble in the shadows quietly abandoned their schemes.

Clearly, with a massive demon serving as a chilling precedent before them, they began to weigh the pros and cons anew; though everyone coveted good things, the Great Demon itself had been suppressed, and one needed to be alive to claim prizes, let alone enjoy them.

Thus, while Half City appeared as chaotic as ever on the surface, it had actually become far more stable than in the past.

Meanwhile, the array of classic games from Jiuhua City, such as Resident Evil, Diablo 2, and The Legend of Sword and Fairy, were now being introduced to Half City one by one, alongside a broader selection of titles spanning modern science fiction, Western fantasy, and Eastern Xianxia, successfully drawing in vast crowds of players across all genres.

By comparison, the Xianxia genre already boasted Sword and Fairy, Jade Dynasty, and even Shushan; as cultivators, being able to witness a grand variety of diverse sects alongside countless powerful spells and Dharma treasures was undoubtedly exhilarating.

Yet, just as a popular saying went before Fang Qi crossed over—"familiar scenery holds no wonder"—cultivators, warriors, spells, and artifacts were simply too commonplace in their daily lives, whereas the sci-fi civilizations found in Resident Evil and Grand Theft Auto 5, and the magical worlds of Diablo 2, Harry Potter, and The Hobbit, were the true sources of novelty and astonishment.

Therefore, whenever these games and movies appeared, they never failed to captivate a large portion of the player base, for whom raising their cultivation strength had gradually become a mere byproduct, while witnessing and personally immersing themselves in these magnificent, bizarre civilizations became the ultimate thrill.

As a result, for the time being, even a relatively casual game like Grand Theft Auto 5 maintained its high sales figures without any sign of decline.

Take Jun Yangzi for instance; whenever he grew weary of researching various spells and artifacts in Shushan, he would usually hop into Grand Theft Auto 5 to drive his beloved sports car, put on a piece of classical music purchased from "My Space," and cruise through this city that felt so surreal and dazzling to them, perhaps even stopping to sample the local cuisine.

Of course, if he invited a few fellow Daoists to pull off a couple of bank heists, earning some extra cash while raising his level and strength along the way, it became an even sweeter experience.

Furthermore, once they amassed enough wealth, they could even acquire the design blueprints for these "mechanical artifacts" and a wealth of foundational knowledge regarding "scientific artifact forging" through certain special channels.

For a faction like the Wuwei Daoist Alliance, it was naturally impossible to focus their research solely on cutting-edge artifacts like the Haotian Mirror.

While the cost of surfing the internet in Owner Fang's shop was far from enough to bankrupt a faction of their scale, the materials, experimental trials, and research funding required to develop a supreme treasure like the Haotian Mirror could easily break the Wuwei Daoist Alliance.

Even the Morning Star Sea Realm found itself struggling tremendously to develop a second mirror after forging their first flawed prototype.

Consequently, many low-end yet easily mass-produced items—such as enchanted items modeled after fantasy worlds, or new communication jades and vehicles inspired by sci-fi—became research projects that these artifact masters found even more indispensable than the Haotian Mirror itself.

And for certain factions, many of these new items would likely be implemented in the future anyway, so familiarizing themselves ahead of time was entirely reasonable.

Besides, while high-level cultivators were busy analyzing high-end items like the Haotian Mirror and the Purple and Green Dual Swords, the ordinary cultivators who lacked the capability to assist couldn't just sit around doing nothing.

Therefore, it was impossible for Li Haorhan to participate in the long-term research of super treasures like the Haotian Mirror; at most, he would learn a bit under his master's guidance, while his primary focus remained dedicated to Grand Theft Auto 5.

Inside the research lab, several artifact masters of his generation sat around the long table before him, while he held a communication jade in his hand—one that was noticeably smaller and more exquisite than the one he personally used; upon injecting spiritual essence, a flickering, semi-transparent projection quickly materialized above the jade, displaying an recorded image of cultivators engaged in a duel.

Li Haorhan spoke, "I am sure everyone has seen spells like this before; afterimages, illusions, and even thousand-mile voice transmissions are undoubtedly familiar to all of you."

In truth, powerful cultivators were perfectly capable of recording events that occurred within a specific area over the span of an hour or even a day and recreating them, so such concepts were indeed nothing new.

"However, doing it this way completely ruins the practical value that a communication jade intended for ordinary cultivators ought to have. Do any of you have better suggestions?"

"Uh..." Several artifact masters exchanged glances. "Perhaps we could use a scroll-recording method; a fully three-dimensional projection like this is indeed far too costly."

"Additionally, regarding how we operate this new communication jade, we could replace the finger-tapping method used on 'phones' with our own mind and spiritual essence control," another artifact master suggested. "After all, these new communication jades are mostly meant for ordinary cultivators; on one hand, it can improve their control over spiritual essence, and on the other hand, it saves us a great deal of manufacturing effort."

"Indeed, finger operations are far too difficult to develop right now," several middle-aged artifact masters nearby nodded in agreement. "Let's stick to using spiritual essence and martial qi for control."

"Well said. I believe we can also equip it with a storage jade slip to keep necessary information."

"It can also be used to store mini-programs like the ones found on phones."

"..."

The cultivators chimed in one after another, and with everyone pooling their wisdom, the research progress advanced at a rapid pace.

"Thank you all for your suggestions. If we can truly manufacture a communication jade according to this design philosophy," Li Haorhan concluded, "it won't be long before we completely dominate the communication jade market across the entire cultivation world!"

"Furthermore," Li Haorhan continued, "everyone should have witnessed Lester's elusive methods, using communication networks to disrupt the enemy's surveillance and restrictions, or even paralyzing their communications entirely."

The artifact masters nodded one after another.

Li Haorhan said, "I call this communication warfare. We study spells year after year, but have we all overlooked the impact of communication in warfare? I imagine if, and I mean if, the enemy cultivators' communications were completely cut off in a war while ours remained perfectly intact, what kind of scene would that be?"

...

Meanwhile, at the Taixi Sect.

The disciples from various sects who had finished receiving treatment stood with vacant, lifeless stares.

"Although this treatment is effective, it still leaves behind a few minor side effects," Feng Xi explained. "However, the harm caused by this poison addiction is simply too severe, and this was an absolute necessity. Please do not take offense, everyone."

"Naturally!" The elders of several major sects spoke with deep hatred in their voices. "The Great Jin State harboring such wicked and unorthodox fiends in this world is simply intolerable to the heavens! If not for them, our disciples would never have fallen to such a state. Please rest assured, Venerable One; once we return, we shall rally the major sects to launch a joint campaign against the Great Jin State!"

"A joint campaign!" Seeing the drastic changes in their own disciples, many accompanying cultivators also spoke with resentment. "If we do not wipe out these wicked fiends, the hatred in my heart will never be appeased!"

"Once we return to our sects, we shall report this to the Sect Masters and discuss the grand plan for the campaign!"