Chapter 624: Rule Beings and the New Planar War
Infernal Sulfur Plane, Core Laboratory.
Jie Ming sat before the massive workstation, his fingers unconsciously tapping on the desktop.
The projection page spread out before him was densely filled with records concerning the Dao Integration Realm.
Dao Integration.
These two words represented countless legends in the cultivation world, as well as countless tragedies.
So-called Dao Integration ant fusing oneself with the laws of heaven and earth, allowing the cultivator’s essential existence to resonate in perfect harmony with the operating principles of the world. Once successful, the cultivator would no longer “borrow” the power of laws, but “beco” part of the laws themselves.
Every movent would carry the will of heaven, and every word or action would align with the rhythm of the Great Dao.
Most importantly, in this state, cultivators no longer needed comprehension to understand the Great Dao. Instead, it beca their instinct.
But the problem was that fusion worked both ways.
While the cultivator fused with the laws, the laws also fused with the cultivator.
If the cultivator’s will was not firm enough or their Dao heart not stable enough, they would be assimilated by the laws, losing their self-awareness and becoming a force of rules within heaven and earth with no autonomy.
This was known as Dao Transformation.
Jie Ming recalled the records in the Great Dao Book Pavilion about the risks of Dao Transformation, and his brows furrowed tighter and tighter.
The failed cases were shocking to read.
Most cultivators who failed during Dao Integration simply vanished, as if they had never existed.
They had beco embodints of certain natural phenona, endlessly repeating the sa patterns day after day.
“Even though the Void Refinent Realm changed my life form, the risk of Dao Transformation is still very high,” Jie Ming muttered, stroking his chin.
The true body of Void Refinent perfection could indeed reduce the risk of Dao Transformation to a certain extent, but only to a certain extent.
Conversely, the risk of Dao Transformation still existed.
Jie Ming closed the projection and leaned back in his chair, closing his eyes in deep thought.
The Great Dao Book Pavilion recorded various thods to reduce the risk of Dao Transformation: special pills, auxiliary magical artifacts, specific ntal cultivation techniques… He would prepare all of these, but he always felt it was not enough.
After all, these thods were primarily designed for cultivators attempting Dao Integration in the cultivation world, where the spiritual qi, the operation of laws, and the interaction between cultivators and the world were naturally compatible.
But this was the wizard world.
The way laws manifested, their interaction logic, and even certain underlying rules had subtle differences from the cultivation world he knew.
He could not apply the experiences from the Great Dao Book Pavilion with one hundred percent certainty.
“I need more reference points,” Jie Ming opened his eyes, his gaze landing on the cultivation tanks in the corner of the laboratory. “Ideally, beings that are naturally fused with the world’s rules, or possess similar characteristics.”
Studying their body structures, energy circulation patterns, and modes of existence might yield new ideas for reducing the risk of Dao Transformation.
Jie Ming stood up, walked to the communication terminal, and pulled up his task records.
As an elite combat unit, he enjoyed double rest periods.
From the end of his last mission until now, less than four hundred years had passed, so he still had a considerable amount of rest ti remaining.
However, under the current circumstances, continuing to rest would serve no purpose. It would be better to end it early and begin preparations ahead of ti.
“End rest period early.” Jie Ming operated the terminal a few tis and submitted an application to the logistics departnt of Noren Workshop.
Less than a quarter of an hour later, the reply arrived.
“Application approved. Elite Combat Unit Jie Ming, remaining rest period has been cleared. You may accept missions at any ti through the magic network terminal.”
Jie Ming nodded, then lay down on the comfortable sofa and connected his spiritual power to the magic network terminal.
After more than a thousand years of developnt, the systems related to elite combat units had beco extrely refined.
In terms of the magic network, the planar recruitnt for elite combat units had also beco increasingly standardized. Not long ago, the magic network had even launched an application called the Recruitnt System.
He opened the recruitnt interface.
A clean yet information-dense page appeared in his consciousness, scrolling with various recruitnt tasks: planar developnt missions issued by the Federation, assistance missions requested by various wizard factions, and bounty missions privately posted by high-rank wizards.
Jie Ming did not rush to filter them. Instead, he first browsed through the system’s explanation docunt.
“The Elite Combat Unit Recruitnt System officially launched seventy years ago…” He quickly scanned the docunt, secretly sighing in his heart.
It had taken over a thousand years for this system to evolve from its crude beginnings to its current perfected state.
In the earliest days, elite combat units had essentially been the Federation’s “consumables.” Wherever there was a tough battle, they would be thrown in. If they died, they died. Those who survived would be sent to the next one.
Later, the system was gradually improved. Rest periods, treatnt standards, mission grading… one item after another was added.
But the most troubleso aspect of implenting the elite combat unit system had never been the system itself, but how to make high-rank wizards aware of its existence.
After all, the ti perception of wizards was completely different from that of mortals.
For high-rank wizards, a single closed-door research session could easily last thousands or even tens of thousands of years.
Even among active high-rank wizards, a large portion were on the frontlines of battlefields and paid no attention to what was happening in the rear.
Under such circumstances, conveying information like the “Elite Combat Unit Recruitnt System” to the entire high-rank wizard community was extrely difficult.
Therefore, in the early days, the elite combat unit system did not rely on this recruitnt system at all. Direct assignnt of missions by the Star Ring Federation was sufficient.
The turning point ca nearly a thousand years ago.
Jie Ming pulled up a public news record. The headline clearly read: “Wizard Starfall Obtains Level One Cultivation Protocol through the Spirit Enlightennt Art.”
Level One Cultivation Protocol.
Any wizard understood the weight of these words.
It was the Federation’s highest-level technical support policy, aning the Federation would pour massive resources into supporting the developnt of this technology.
Historically, only a handful of technologies had ever received a Level One Cultivation Protocol, and each one had fundantally changed the landscape of wizard civilization.
This news hit the upper echelons of the wizard world like a bombshell, causing an enormous stir.
Countless high-rank wizards who had been in seclusion erged one after another, wanting to understand exactly what this technology was and why it deserved a Level One Cultivation Protocol.
After coming out of seclusion, they naturally learned about the changes that had occurred in the outside world over the past thousand years.
As more and more people beca inford, the elite combat unit system also beca increasingly refined.
After all, the number of “clients” had suddenly increased.
Those high-rank wizards who had erged from seclusion discovered that what they had missed during their closed-door cultivation was not just news, but countless opportunities to deal with troubleso problems. Many difficult enemies, bizarre planes, and tricky anomalies could now be directly handled by hiring elite combat units.
It was around that ti that the Recruitnt System truly began to operate.
Jie Ming withdrew his thoughts and began setting search conditions.
“Target type: plane-level anomalous creatures… law fusion characteristics… energy level above fifth-rank… mission type: private bounty or Federation recruitnt…”
He entered a long string of conditions and clicked search.
The results appeared almost instantly.
Zero.
Jie Ming sighed, not too surprised.
The kind of naturally rule-fused creatures he wanted were extrely rare to begin with. With all the additional conditions, it was normal not to find any.
After all, the only similar creature Jie Ming had encountered before was the “Mycelord.”
But a rule being at the Mycelord’s level was far too dangerous. Sothing of a lower rank would be better.
He did not close the page. Instead, he locked his spiritual power onto the refresh button and began continuously refreshing.
Tasks on the Recruitnt System were not all released at once.
High-rank wizards could post new bounties at any ti, and the Federation’s logistics departnt would also release new recruitnt missions irregularly.
Sotis, with good luck, a new task would appear the instant he refreshed.
Jie Ming continued refreshing while splitting off part of his attention to browse other posted tasks.
One hour passed.
Two hours.
Five hours.
Jie Ming’s expression remained unchanged as his spiritual power steadily executed the refresh operation.
This level of repetitive action placed no burden on him.
Ten hours later, a red notification box suddenly popped up beside the refresh button.
New task.
Jie Ming’s spiritual power exploded almost instinctively, instantly capturing the newly appeared information.
“Private Bounty: Issued by eighth-rank wizard ‘Voidweaver’ Austin. Mission Objective: Assist in handling a planar law anomaly. Required Slots: 1000 elite combat units. Reward: Negotiable.”
Eighth-rank wizard.
Jie Ming felt a surge of excitent.
Since the Recruitnt System had been launched, many high-rank wizards had begun posting tasks there, but the ones truly worth paying attention to were still those from eighth-rank wizards. After all, eighth-rank existences stood at the very peak of the pyramid in this world. The private bounties they posted carried considerable weight.
Moreover, the keyword “law anomaly”…
He quickly opened the task details and scanned the plane description.
“The target plane contains a large number of native creatures deeply fused with the world’s rules, with energy levels ranging from third-rank to sixth-rank. One of my ‘Miniature Glass Gardens’ has been affected by these rule beings due to improper operation and requires tily cleanup…”
Jie Ming’s heartbeat quickened.
Native creatures deeply fused with laws.
Wasn’t this exactly the reference material he was looking for?
Without hesitation, his spiritual power slamd directly onto the “Apply” button at the bottom of the task interface.
At the sa ti, he could sense countless other strands of spiritual power surging toward the sa button in that instant. Clearly, other elite combat units who were refreshing had also seen the task.
There were only one thousand slots.
The number of applicants far exceeded that.
In this mont, Jie Ming’s spiritual power erupted with astonishing speed.
His reaction speed and focus far surpassed those of ordinary fifth-rank wizards. In fact, after multiple enhancents and technique boosts, his neural reaction speed was already comparable to sixth-rank existences.
His consciousness shot forward like lightning. Together with the fastest group of applicants, he touched the Apply button.
The system feedback arrived almost simultaneously.
“Application successful. You have obtained a mission slot. Mission details and assembly coordinates have been sent to your private channel.”
Jie Ming opened his eyes, the corners of his mouth curving upward slightly.
One thousand slots, and he had secured one.
He stood up, rolled his shoulders, and walked toward the laboratory exit.
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