I Don't Agree to the Terms

Chapter 846 449: Sometimes the Dead Are Useful

"Tsk, this is such a mess, no idea how to resolve it." Gu Shanhai looked at the online comments, almost bursting into laughter.

Ever since a certain shuttle exploded, the university has been at the center of public opinion, especially with Qin Shang dying at home, announced as a suicide.

However, according to some coroners, he was stabbed in the back, ruled as suicide, with a total of eighteen stabs.

Once this matter came out, the problem got bigger.

No one was interested in the so-called scandal; they just wanted to know what's wrong with the Blood Returning Technique.

If there's no problem, why would something like this happen?

Regarding power struggles, everyone enjoys the spectacle, but when the spectacle becomes their own problem, no one is happy.

The higher-ups hired some people for damage control, account bans, and such, continuously letting various influencers and celebrities break entertainment news to dominate the headlines, attempting to suppress this news.

The idea was good, but unfortunately, this time they really couldn't suppress it.

In contrast, the more they tried to suppress it, the more everyone felt there was an issue.

Fortunately, in the end, the university released a statement saying they have fixed the flaws in the Blood Returning Technique and are planning to launch a new cultivation technique called "Gratitude Secret," which can seamlessly connect with the progress of the Blood Returning Technique and has more capabilities.

Then they went on further to praise it.

They even pushed out a certain genius researcher as a target.

Gu Shanhai immediately recognized the person—a scammer from the past—becoming a top influencer under the powerful backing, dubbed the once-in-a-millennium genius, the top scholar, and all because of him, the Gratitude Secret could resolve all the flaws.

Yet, upon digging deeper, it was discovered that this so-called genius researcher had no presentable research results.

Everyone suspected that he stole someone else's work, simply exploiting the dead who can't speak.

In the face of powerful forces, many just talked about it without much actual action.

However, the Gratitude Secret also spread, and after many people started cultivating, the noise gradually diminished, no longer as loud.

Gu Shanhai was quite satisfied with this, feeling the number of Divine Contracts increasing, and within a year or two, it could cover the entire Xuandao Alliance.

This time it was luck too; to quell this issue, all the mid-to-high level Xuandao Alliance members took the lead in cultivating, otherwise, no one would believe it.

But they were just putting on a show, merely starting without any deeper cultivation since they had better techniques.

Unfortunately, for Gu Shanhai, as long as you start cultivating, that means you've signed and stamped, and the interest starts to compound.

Thus, each of them unknowingly became external farming experience for Gu Shanhai.

"The feeling of farming is really great, but the next step might be tough for the Ascension Empire."

Gu Shanhai knew that when internal conflicts couldn't be resolved, they would become external ones.

The Xuandao Alliance was adept at shifting conflicts, and luckily there was an Ascension Empire, otherwise, they'd have to manufacture an internal conflict, which was troublesome.

Who knows whether this internal conflict would end up gutting the Xuandao Alliance.

"You're preparing to go back and apply for the university again, huh? Let me tell you, it's not easy to get in, and any achievements might end up owned by others."

"Moreover, at your age, they definitely won't take you."

A middle-aged man passing by Gu Shanhai's rental place saw him reading and quipped.

This man was Gu Shanhai's landlord, not ill-intentioned, but had no filter on his mouth, saying things without thinking.

"Come on, landlord, not practicing your Gratitude Secret today? How do you have time to come here?" Gu Shanhai joked.

"What Gratitude Secret, it's called Ingratitude Secret." The landlord replied with dissatisfaction, noting the so-called Gratitude Secret made one need to work tirelessly just to avoid losing vitality, or else you might end up dying from it eventually.

Though it was said the Gratitude Secret corrected the flaws of the Blood Returning Technique, it actually made things more powerful, indirectly increasing the resources needed to maintain oneself, or else one would die from malnutrition.

Yet the Blood Returning Technique had issues, so without changing it, an early death was possible.

For the sake of their lives, reluctantly they had to switch, so nicknaming it quickly became Ingratitude Secret.

The original meaning of the Gratitude Secret was the Xuandao Alliance's blessing, but few recognized it as such.

"Alright, what exactly are you here for?" Gu Shanhai didn't want to get embroiled in the matter and asked directly.

"Nothing, just passing by, heard about something in our building..." The landlord said the first half casually, then shifted to a sneaky tone.

"Aren't you afraid of being taken away by the enforcement team?" Gu Shanhai quipped—so he's here to gossip.

However, Gu Shanhai didn't dwell on it much, as the place he lived in was quite a mix of different people, with many big and small internet celebrities, mostly because the rent was cheap and the location advantageous.

So sending a few people doesn't make much difference.

After the landlord left, Gu Shanhai continued to read his book.

"The creator of the 'Blood Returning Technique' should have been in this area; it's uncertain whether he is still alive."

Gu Shanhai didn't come here without purpose; he found the creator of the 'Blood Returning Technique' because, according to records, the creator had developed it in this region.

If he could find some traces left behind by the creator, Gu Shanhai might be able to discover more information.

Among the many cultivation techniques from the Xuandao Alliance, only the 'Blood Returning Technique' left the deepest impression on him. The rest were either evolved high-level techniques from the 'Blood Returning Technique' or mainly focused on fighting, with few worthy of attention.

More importantly, the 'Blood Returning Technique' is extremely mysterious; even the records within the Xuandao Alliance contain mere fragments. Gu Shanhai suspects that either the information was erased by the Xuandao Alliance, or the origins of the 'Blood Returning Technique' predate the Xuandao Alliance, making it impossible for the alliance to trace its roots.

Equivalent to being erased, Gu Shanhai is more inclined to believe the latter.

Given the nature of the Xuandao Alliance, they surely wouldn't disseminate the 'Blood Returning Technique.'

This implies that the act of invading other universes likely isn't something originally created by the Xuandao Alliance, but rather inherited, and incompletely at that.

If that's the case, Gu Shanhai became quite excited.

Maybe he could unearth some ancient relics... well, the likelihood is low.

Although the Xuandao Alliance is currently chaotic and internally decaying, it is still in its prime, merely ill.

How could an undeveloped ancient relic appear on the ancestral star? They have been thoroughly excavated, either transformed into tourist spots or abandoned; there's no chance of undeveloped relics still existing.

Even though the Xuandao Alliance isn't dominated by technology, they are capable of cosmic travel; their tech tree is still formidable.

"Could it be like Russian nesting dolls, traversing from different worlds within this world cluster?"

Gu Shanhai couldn't help but consider this; it indeed seems possible.

"That being said, the tech tree of the Xuandao Alliance is quite impressive, but their research on space seems way too unbalanced."

"They can use tools like Sun King Dido to open permanent gateways to other worlds, yet haven't further utilized this technology."

The "Sons of Voyage" refers to tools like Sun King Dido.

Clearly, their space technology could colonize other worlds, yet there's no enhancement in its domestic use. Take teleportation as an example: direct space traversal would be more efficient and less costly.

It's not space jumping that incurs great costs, but slowly traversing would take light-years, even with light-speed travel.

It's better to directly teleport, saving time, effort, and costs.

Gu Shanhai's ideas are indeed excellent; the only drawback is that the Xuandao Alliance hasn't developed them.

He possesses the knowledge repository and hidden archives of the Xuandao Alliance, which always have space-related research projects, though the success rate is extremely low. This applies not only to space but also to all technological aspects; the repository contains ninety-nine percent Xuandao knowledge.

These technologies are more like accessories.

"Could it have been unearthed archaeologically somewhere?" Gu Shanhai's mind wandered into this thought.

This made him feel a bit eerie; indeed, it's a possibility.

"And the records? Archaeology should come with records and files; you can't just dig randomly." Gu Shanhai quickly searched, to no avail.

"No records mean the greatest record."

What wouldn't have records?

Of course, the unmentionables.

"Unfortunately, it can't be found."

Gu Shanhai realized that even knowing it might be useless.

Further investigations through prophetic divination yielded limited results.

The main issue was that the information had been destroyed, making further exploration impossible.

The world's information retention was too short-lived and superficial; unless Gu Shanhai used brute force to investigate, valuable findings would be elusive.

Gu Shanhai will definitely resort to brute force, just not now.

Instead, he'll act after he leaves.

"Recently, I should remain calm, and find a way to eliminate that deceitful genius researcher and their entire family first," Gu Shanhai contemplated, as he usually never delays revenge unless the target is valuable.

Right now, the target's value is gone, so he must find a way to deal with them.