Xianzhou, Seat of Divine Foresight underground.
In the most confidential and secret grotto-heaven, only four people were present.
As an assistant, Jibril was constantly feeding Su Mo snacks, massaging his shoulders, and doing a job that was unclear whether it was a maid's or an assistant's.
Su Mo's expression fluctuated slightly as he carefully felt the difference between the Mara-Struck and a normal Xianzhou native.
In front of him, two young women, both appearing rather cold but with completely different temperaments, lay on a cold stone bed.
As experimental subjects, they were naturally not wearing any clothes.
From Su Mo's perspective, he could only see works of art like suet jade, dazzlingly white like the finest porcelain.
While using the Catalogue of Life as a medium to feel the difference between the two Xianzhou maidens, Jingliu and Ruan Mei, he casually asked Jingliu, "When the Lord Ravager matter comes up, will you betray me?"
In fact, when she didn't deny the matter of the Lord Ravager, Jingliu's stance was already quite clear.
Su Mo didn't know how long her original plan had been in the works, but he knew that it had taken her less than half an hour to switch sides.
"I just feel that compared to our plan, your plan has a higher chance of success."
Jingliu forced herself to endure the extremely unfamiliar discomfort, trying her best to maintain a calm expression, her breathing slightly rapid as she answered Su Mo's question.
"Besides, with you here, if I didn't agree, you wouldn't have let me proceed with our plan, would you?"
Her attitude was very frank.
Since all the chips of her plan had been seen through by Su Mo, and she couldn't kill him to silence him, she had no chance to oppose him.
Even if she was unwilling to cooperate with Su Mo, Su Mo, who knew everything, would not let her cause a disturbance in the Xianzhou.
It could be said that the moment Su Mo found out, her plan had completely failed.
In that case, it was better to surrender.
With her keen intuition, she could almost be certain that Su Mo's goal was definitely not as simple as curing the Mara-Struck.
However, no matter what his purpose was, his stance was against Abundance and Destruction. This was enough for her to place her bet.
"A wise choice."
Su Mo nodded, his index finger slowly sliding down. The power of the Path of Destruction was transmitted from his fingertip into the two's bodies. From the inside out, he thoroughly examined them.
Two hours later, Jingliu, as cold as a mirror, and Ruan Mei, as indifferent as could be, both had their body temperatures rise, their skin tinged with pink.
Only then did Su Mo withdraw his hand and stop the examination.
"What are the results?"
Now that there were no more secrets, Jingliu did not rush to put on her clothes.
She sat up and asked Su Mo, "Did you find anything?"
She had noticed that Su Mo was using the power of the Path of Destruction.
Although she didn't know why a genius of the Path of Erudition, recognized by Nous, would possess the power of the Destruction attribute, no one could say for sure about geniuses. Compared to that, she was more concerned about the results Su Mo had obtained.
If it were anyone else, one experiment would not be enough to get results, but a genius naturally did not play by the rules.
"A little."
Su Mo nodded on the spot.
"After comparing your situation, I have reconfirmed the mechanism of the Mara-Struck. As Jing Yuan said, this is a property that is two sides of the same coin as Abundance. Rather than saying that the Mara-Struck is a curse of the Aeon of Abundance, it's better to say that this is the blessing of longevity from the Aeon of Abundance itself."
The Aeon of Abundance had bestowed the gift of longevity upon the Xianzhou people. This was a certainty.
However, this gift was not for the mind, but purely for the body.
Therefore, even if the bodies of the Xianzhou people could live forever, and even become stronger during the Mara-Struck period, with their self-healing abilities doubled, their minds could not withstand the pressure of longevity and would fall into a chronic illness like the five signs of decay in a deva.
Injury, defilement, anger, other transformations, and non-remembrance. In the long years, beautiful and peaceful memories of happiness constantly fade, leaving only the most vivid and extreme memories. Regret and pain fill the minds of the Xianzhou people, turning them into beasts that have lost all human ethics and reason, with only biological instincts remaining.
Overall, the root cause of the Mara-Struck outbreak lies in the contradiction between physical longevity and mental erosion.
The longevity bestowed by Yaoshi, the Aeon of Abundance, ultimately only allows people to survive as beasts.
For the Denizens of Abundance, they are willing to accept this way of existence, willing to cast aside reason and embrace life.
The Xianzhou people, however, are absolutely unwilling to live like beasts. If so, they would rather die.
The longevity that the Xianzhou people desire is a longevity with quality.
"To solve this chronic illness without harming the lifespan of the long-life species, with the power paths of this world, there are temporarily three methods."
Su Mo continued.
"Three methods?!"
Jingliu's eyes widened in surprise, a look of disbelief flashing in her scarlet eyes.
Even Ruan Mei, who was silently putting on her clothes on the side, couldn't help but be stunned.
Faced with a chronic illness of this level, a problem that no one had ever solved, Su Mo had actually found three methods in such a short time?
Was this really not a dream?
"The first method is, as I said before, to use the power of Destruction to balance Abundance. This plan requires a large amount of data support and the participation of the highest level of power. Without the cooperation of a Lord Ravager, it's difficult to obtain enough data."
Su Mo didn't keep them in suspense and spoke directly.
This method was also the plan he was currently carrying out.
The examination of the two just now was also to reconfirm the feasibility of this plan.
"The second plan is to use the power of the Path of Permanence, through the method of reincarnation, to free the Xianzhou from the troubles of the Mara-Struck."
For Su Mo, this plan was actually simpler to carry out.
After completely absorbing the myths of the two major god groups, Hinduism and Buddhism, he had obtained a worldview called reincarnation.
If he was willing, he could completely use this to create a cycle of reincarnation, directly erasing the mental burden of the Xianzhou people and allowing them to be reincarnated.
Of course, this plan also had its drawbacks.
If the Xianzhou people continued to reproduce and could live forever, then their population would inevitably increase exponentially, until it reached the limit of what the universe could bear.
However, Su Mo had no intention of adopting this plan in the first place.
The Xianzhou people were the people of the Hunt. It was one thing to rashly snatch believers, but it was completely unnecessary to do so if it didn't benefit him at all.
"As for the third plan, it is to use the power of the Path of Remembrance to have Fuli strengthen the minds of the Xianzhou people, making them strong enough to withstand the erosion of time. If so, the lifespan of the Xianzhou people can be increased by at least ten times."
The Mara-Struck of the Xianzhou people was a contradiction between an overly strong body and a relatively weak mind. Since that was the case, simply raising the mind to the level of immortality would easily solve this problem.
"That's impossible."
Jingliu shook her head and judged calmly.
Let alone the problem of snatching believers, even if that was ignored, Fuli had no reason to turn the Xianzhou people into Memokeepers.
They had already abandoned their physical bodies. What was the difference between the Xianzhou people and ordinary people?
"So, the most feasible plan is still the first one... To achieve a balance between the power of Destruction and the power of Abundance, one must observe the largest scale of data. In other words, a Lord Ravager is the most important experimental subject."
After careful consideration, Jingliu completely understood Su Mo's plan.
"That's right." Su Mo nodded. "You should know what to do next, right?"
"Understood."
Jingliu nodded quietly, then deftly put on her clothes.
Perhaps it was because she had been exposed for too long. After getting dressed, she even put on a moon-white cloak, so as not to recall the itchy and strange touch from before.
---||---
Noon the next day.
On the roof of the Divination Commission building, on the rooftop.
A man with long golden hair, carrying a strange coffin on his back, and holding a rapier in his hand, quietly pushed open the door to the rooftop.
Seeing the figure in the moon-white cloak at the edge of the rooftop, the man was slightly taken aback and showed a guarded expression.
It was only when he saw Jingliu's eye patch that he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Why the sudden change of clothes, and why did we have to meet on the rooftop... If I didn't know your identity, I would have suspected you were going to betray me, Miss Jingliu."
His tone was gentle, but it carried a hint of keeping a distance.
Obviously, the two were not particularly familiar.
However, in this Xianzhou, anyone could betray, but it was impossible for Jingliu, a Mara-Struck and a traitor to the Xianzhou. So he quickly let go of his worries.
Faced with the golden-haired man's accusation, Jingliu silently shook her head.
"If the plan can proceed successfully, I will not betray. We all have our own goals."
"That's natural."
Luocha nodded, closed the door, and walked towards Jingliu.
"So, why did you look for me this time? I haven't planted the key seed yet, but the plan that has been drawn up cannot be changed."
As he spoke, he slowly approached Jingliu and stopped five steps away.
This was not because he had discovered something was wrong with the other party, but because of his usual caution.
However, at this moment, this caution seemed to have harmed him.
As if his actions had been calculated, the moment he stopped, the light of a magic circle suddenly appeared under his feet. A feeling of weightlessness came over him, causing him to float on the spot.
"Who?"
Sensing the sound of something breaking through the air behind him, caught off guard, Luocha chose the most timely response.
He twisted his body and turned around. A rapier miraculously blocked the blade that came from behind.
The moment the rapier and the blade were locked, he saw the face of the attacker. Even with his composure, his heart couldn't help but be shocked.
"How is this possible? Jing Yuan?!"
The person he saw was actually the general of the Luofu?
What was going on? Had their tracks been exposed and they had been ambushed?
Doubt arose in Luocha's heart, but before he could turn his head back, he felt a chill welling up in his heart, freezing the surface of his body and making him unable to move.
This was an extremely familiar power. He had seen his companion use this frost-like blade to strike down the Antimatter Legion more than once.
After a moment of silence, he let go of the rapier in his hand, letting it fall to the ground, and raised his hands, striking a posture of surrender.
Finally, he slowly turned his head and looked at his former teammate.
"Jingliu, have you betrayed me?"
Luocha's eyes were full of disbelief.
Even now, he couldn't figure out the reason for her betrayal.
A traitor to the Xianzhou, a Mara-Struck, a rebel with the same ambition, had actually defected to the Luofu?
Wasn't this seeking death?
Faced with the gaze of his former ally, Jingliu silently shook her head.
"I had no choice before, but now, I intend to stop this impossible plan."