Chapter 382

Chapter 383: Damage Assessment

Deep inside the Demon Suppression Tower, in the vertical shaft called the core Containment Zone, Immortal Yuan Ling and Immortal Qian Ji were carefully checking each facility when Yu Sheng pushed open the Door with his group and saw the two busy elders.

“I came to check on things and brought Yuan Hao over,” Yu Sheng said to Yuan Ling. “How is it?”

“As you can see, everything is a mess,” Immortal Yuan Ling sighed and pointed into the shaft. “This is probably the biggest accident since the tower was built. Thankfully, we contained it in time.”

Yu Sheng looked where he pointed.

They stood midway up the shaft on a half-round platform jutting from the inner wall. Beyond the platform, many mechanism bridges fixed along the wall had been wrecked. Disciples from the Artifact Refining Sect’s Spirit Mountain were flying through the air to inspect connections. All over the wall, many containment cells had collapsed or were smoking. Tower staff, with the help of large automatons, were clearing the rubble.

More shocking than the cells was a single rift that ran almost the entire height of the shaft. The wall, made from some extremely tough material, looked as if it had been torn open by brute force. The rift curved and stretched upward into a hazy height and downward into the shaft’s depths. At its widest, it spanned dozens of meters. Even now, sparks and bright flashes from breaking spiritual materials burst from the crack.

“Whoa…” Irene sat on Yu Sheng’s shoulder, stunned. “No wonder so many demons got out. Your Containment Zone is split in half!”

Immortal Qian Ji let out a long sigh: “Yes. It was terrifying. I was shocked when I arrived.”

“Even for me, handling this is tricky,” Immortal Yuan Ling added. “The real problem is worse than what you can see. When the tower’s core formation stopped, many fierce demons suppressed at the very bottom made a move together. Some of them are intelligent. They sensed the wards weaken and started breaking things layer by layer, from bottom to top and from inside to outside. About half of what you saw outside were creatures they ‘let out on the way’ to make chaos.

“So the situation below is very complex now. There’s structural damage and also miasma and pollution left by all kinds of evil demons, demonic cultivators, and even Runaway Entities. Cleaning this up will take time.

“Luckily the tower is huge, and there are many unused floors that weren’t damaged. We can move captured demons there for now.”

Irene finally blurted out: “I’ve been wanting to ask, with so many demons and monsters locked up, and some of them sure to cause disasters if they get out, why not just kill them? At least kill the worst ones so they aren’t time bombs.”

“It’s not that simple,” Immortal Yuan Hao said, shaking his head before Yuan Ling could speak. “The ones that can be executed are executed after we confirm their identities and crimes. The ones kept here are kept for a reason.

“First, some don’t deserve death and still have a chance to return to the right path, like the Serpent Princess. Locking them here gives them a chance to change.

“Second, some are strange beings that are extremely hard to ‘kill.’ Forcing them apart can release pollution and backlash even worse than the risk of keeping them contained. We keep them to reduce overall danger.

“Third, there are special cases, like ancient beasts or demonic cultivators who have touched a bit of the great Dao. Those prisoners are linked to the cycles of heaven and earth. Their breath and their life and death affect more than themselves. If we kill them outright, we can damage the Grand Void Spiritual Axis and even the environment of the Featherwing star domain for a time, causing natural disasters that harm the people. So we can only keep them in the tower and slowly refine them for hundreds or thousands of years until they can be safely dissolved.”

Yu Sheng gaped: “You can do that?”

Immortal Yuan Ling gave a wry smile and nodded: “Yes. Earlier, a Primeval Behemoth linked to the Earth Veins tried to escape. Qian Ji and I had to kill it on the spot. It was supposed to be refined for eight hundred years at the bottom. Its death was quick, but we just got news from the Eight-Star region that the local magnetic pole has shifted by at least two degrees. We don’t yet know how many harvests that will affect.”

Yu Sheng was truly stunned: “Is cultivation always this absurd?”

Even Irene was a little dazed. Then she turned to Foxy: “Hey, silly fox, do the immortals from your home have this problem too?”

Foxy thought, then shook her head: “I’ve never heard of that. Maybe our world’s rules are different. Also, on most planets where I’m from, the parameters are machine-controlled. If the magnetic poles shift, they correct themselves.”

“That sounds even crazier,” Irene muttered.

Yuan Hao and Qian Ji stared at Foxy with bright eyes and said together: “How does that work?”

“Let’s not get into principles. She only finished primary school and can’t explain it,” Yu Sheng cut in quickly, worried the two tech-minded immortals were about to ask a cyber fox for a course on planetary control. “Right now we need to figure out how this ‘accident’ started and whether it will blow up again.” [That’s the part that scares me.]

Hearing that, Immortal Yuan Ling’s face changed: “You mean…”

“Zheng Zhi saw the rift. It still exists,” Yu Sheng said, voice heavy. “It’s just stable for the moment.”

“Over there,” Zheng Zhi pointed. “It lines up with the rift in the inner wall and keeps going down. I can’t tell how far. It’s too dark.”

Immortal Yuan Ling frowned, tugged his beard, and decided quickly: “I’ll take you to the bottom of the tower. Let Fellow Daoist Zheng use his Spirit Eyes to see what lies below. Senior brother, you and Elder Qian Ji stay here and keep checking the damage nearby.”

“Of course,” Immortal Yuan Hao said. He suddenly remembered something and pulled a red spirit brick from his sleeve. “The Earth Veins are in disorder below. I fear some monster may be stirring. Take my Ten Directions Heaven-Suppressing Ruler for protection.”

Immortal Yuan Ling glanced at the ‘weapon’ and his facial muscles twitched as he tried to keep a straight face: “Senior brother, you know I’m not good with weapons. I can’t handle your Heaven-Suppressing Ruler.”

“Alright… then how about a Primeval Demon-Subduing Targe? Or the Heaven’s Demon-Quelling Hammer? The Four-Directions Spirit Seal? The Sky-Flipping Seal?”

As he spoke, Immortal Yuan Hao pulled out a whole pile of magic tools he had refined. The platform filled with gleaming light and rich aura. A clear, lingering sound of Artifact Spirit resonance rose like fairy music. Yu Sheng focused his eyes and saw all kinds of spirit bricks: ones with edges, blades, handles, chains, hooks, and even Emei spikes. Two bricks were joined by an iron bar like a dumbbell, yet its name was the Boundless Cosmos Demon-Smashing Mace.

To be honest, if these things weren’t shining with golden light and spilling aura, you could mix them with concrete and get a wall.

Immortal Yuan Ling’s face was almost green. Seeing his senior brother about to pull out even more, he grabbed Yu Sheng and headed for the platform’s edge. With a flick of his dust whisk, he summoned a Floating Round Dais that drifted in midair with a soft glow. He brought everyone aboard and steered it down toward the bottom of the Demon Suppression Tower.

Immortal Yuan Hao leaned over the rim above, holding up a spirit brick that shone with chilling light: “Do you want the Limitless Treasured Talisman?”

“Put it away!” Immortal Yuan Ling shouted from the Floating Round Dais as it descended. “Don’t drop that and smash the Earth Veins!”

Lowering his head again, he found everyone looking at him. His face turned a little awkward.

Yu Sheng held it in, then asked: “Xuan Che’s Elder Senior Uncle… is really your refining grandmaster?”

“…Yes.”

“His taste is very unique,” Yu Sheng said as the corner of his mouth twitched. [And terrifying.]

“You don’t understand. My senior brother’s refining skill is top tier. He just doesn’t care about appearance,” Immortal Yuan Ling said, still defending him. “He always builds tools for practicality, but their power must never be underestimated.”

Yu Sheng remembered how Immortal Yuan Hao had smashed the Desolate Meteor Crystal with a single spirit brick and had to agree. That brick had stats, looks, and special effects all in one.

Riding the Floating Round Dais, they quickly passed the tower’s middle shaft. After a stretch of corridor packed with carved talismans and runes, Yu Sheng noticed the structure below change.

The wall of cells and caves came to an end. Below lay a deep, vertical cavern. In its depths, a faint light swelled and dimmed, like breathing or a heartbeat.

“That is the Earth Veins,” Immortal Yuan Ling explained. “The nascent core power of the Grand Void Spiritual Axis lies within.”