Golden biological armor covered Phantylia's entire body. That twisted and vigorous life force directly interfered with her soul through her flesh, causing her, a Heliobus, to become dizzy and controlled by her body's instincts.
For the Xianzhou people, this was the most common state of a Mara-Struck outbreak.
"Míng yù chéng, yǒu yú wú jiù." [T/N: A line from the I Ching, hexagram 16, Yù (Enthusiasm). It roughly translates to "Fame achieved in darkness. Change brings no fault." It signifies that excessive indulgence leads to sorrow, and a change of course is necessary.]
After her surprise, Fu Xuan turned to look at Su Mo, her eyes filled with admiration.
"Lady Fu, could you speak in plain language?" Jing Yuan asked tactfully.
He didn't quite understand.
Jibril also showed a curious expression. Although she had absolute faith in Su Mo, she really didn't know how he had done it.
He had clearly given the Stellaron to the other party to absorb, so how was it that before Su Mo had even made a move, the other party had almost collapsed on their own?
"Ahem! My words were already concise. General, you should read more books when you have the time." Fu Xuan replied unhappily, then explained. "This is the line text for the sixth line of the Yù hexagram. It means that one should not indulge excessively, as extreme joy begets sorrow."
"That Lord Ravager Phantylia has the blessings of both the Lord of Destruction and the Lord of Plagues within her body. Before this, the power of the Path of Destruction could balance the power of the Path of Abundance. Although the power of Abundance, amplified and catalyzed by the nine Stellarons, was greater than the blessing of the Lord of Destruction, the two could still maintain a basic balance."
"But after His Excellency Su Mo added the last Stellaron, the Ambrosial Arbor, amplified by ten Stellarons, its contained power of Abundance has greatly surpassed the power of Destruction held by Phantylia. The previously established balance has been completely broken. Therefore, she has begun to show more characteristics of the Path of Abundance."
"Phantylia may have been pleased with the increase in her own power before, but what she didn't know is that the curse and blessing of the Lord of Plagues are two sides of the same coin. Accepting the blessing of Abundance is equivalent to accepting the curse of Abundance."
"When the power of Abundance is amplified to the extreme, her body will undergo a reversal that she cannot control... For those heretical Denizens of Abundance, casting aside reason in pursuit of longevity may be an acceptable price. But for an intelligent life form, it is equivalent to erasing the self."
"Heh, now it seems the same is true for the Lord Ravager. If she loses to the Mara-Struck, the consciousness of Lord Ravager Phantylia will completely disappear, leaving only the Mara-Struck body."
As she spoke, her gaze towards Su Mo was filled with a strange light.
"I actually didn't think of such a simple way to deal with it before. With just one more Stellaron, by continuing to amplify the power of Abundance in her body, she will fall into the curse of Abundance and be unable to extricate herself."
"If so, we can watch her self-destruct without lifting a finger!"
Phantylia's performance could be said to have "extreme joy begets sorrow" written all over her face.
She had indeed usurped an extremely terrifying power of Abundance, but the problem was, she couldn't control this power.
If she was swallowed by the power of Abundance, then she could only watch herself fall into self-destruction.
After listening to Fu Xuan's explanation, Jibril had a slight realization.
"Hmm, it's like when I dealt with the Dragonia before. I defeated a strong enemy by using their own weaknesses!"
Jing Yuan, on the other hand, after a moment of thought, slowly spoke.
"What if Phantylia uses the power of Destruction to overcome the impulse of the Mara-Struck?"
"That would be what His Excellency Su Mo would be most happy to see!"
Fu Xuan looked up at Su Mo, proud that she had seen through his plan.
"If she can really do that, it means that the power of Destruction can resist the excessive growth of Abundance. We just need to record the corresponding data, and it might be possible to curb the outbreak of the Mara-Struck!"
Needless to say, the Ex-Machina legion spread throughout the Scalegorge Waterscape was doing just that right now.
Fu Xuan knew that the computing power of these Ex-Machina legions was even stronger than the Luofu's Jade Abacus Matrix. With their computing power, it would be easy to record and reproduce the data of the clash of Path powers within Phantylia's body.
"Indeed."
Jing Yuan nodded, also admitting this.
"But what if Phantylia loses to the Mara-Struck..."
He continued to raise questions.
"If she loses, won't she just die? Then there's even less to worry about... Wait!"
Fu Xuan had just spoken with great ease when she suddenly realized the problem.
If Phantylia lost, her consciousness would fall into a slumber, no different from death. There was no problem with that.
But even if her consciousness died, her body would still be alive!
A body of the Ambrosial Arbor, amplified by ten Stellarons... even among Emanators, this was a huge problem.
Realizing this, Fu Xuan immediately looked at Su Mo with great nervousness.
"Your Excellency Su Mo, you should have a contingency plan for this situation, right?"
If Phantylia lost, not only would they get no results, but they would also have to face an Emanator-level immortal monster of Abundance. With the immortality she had just displayed, even if they could deal with it, they would have to pay a considerable price.
Faced with Fu Xuan's question, Su Mo nodded very calmly.
"Of course there's a contingency plan. Or rather, from the very beginning, Phantylia had no chance of winning."
The power of Abundance was so simple, yet so stubborn.
Su Mo believed that in the past thousands of years, the Xianzhou must have tried countless times to cure the Mara-Struck.
Using the power of an Aeon to restrain an Aeon—this plan that Su Mo was now proposing must have been tried countless times by the Xianzhou people thousands of years ago.
If the power of the Path of Destruction alone could restrain the blessing of Abundance, then the Xianzhou would have long become followers of Nanook, the Aeon.
But now, among the many faith factions of the Xianzhou, there were quite a few who believed in Preservation and Permanence, but very few who believed in Nanook.
From this, it could be seen that it was impossible to restrain Abundance with the power of Destruction alone.
The nature of both was as aggressive as fire. Even if they restrained each other, the product of forcibly mixing them would only be a bomb.
Therefore, even if Phantylia was an Emanator of Destruction, she would 100% not be able to use the power of Destruction to suppress the Mara-Struck.
"Then what is this plan of yours for?"
Fu Xuan was a bit dumbfounded.
Since Phantylia was doomed to fail, what was the point of this experimental subject?
It would have been better not to let her get close to the Ambrosial Arbor in the first place and just lock her up to generate electricity.
"Among all the Lord Ravagers, Phantylia is the most special one."
Without directly answering Fu Xuan's question, Su Mo's gaze fell on the struggling Phantylia, and his words were very intriguing.
Fu Xuan was slightly taken aback.
"Because she is a spiritual life form, a Heliobus?"
"No, because of her desire to survive."
Su Mo shook his head.
"Most of the walkers on the Path of Destruction recognize destruction itself and the destined end of all things."
"Therefore, like Duke Inferno, most walkers on the Path of Destruction are not afraid of death. They have already accepted this ending. Only Phantylia is different."
"As a Lord Ravager, she is worried that Nanook will destroy herself after destroying all things. That's why she wants to obtain a body of longevity. This fear of death is a strange thing on the Path of Destruction."
After listening to Su Mo's introduction, Fu Xuan had a more comprehensive understanding of the Phantylia before her.
But she still didn't understand Su Mo's meaning.
"She has a strong desire to survive. What does this have to do with our plan?"
"It means that as long as there is a chance to live, she will definitely fight for it, regardless of whether there is sweet poison behind this chance," Su Mo said with a slight smile.
"You mean?!"
A jolt went through Fu Xuan's head, and she suddenly understood Su Mo's plan.
"You plan to help Phantylia overcome the Mara-Struck?!"
"That's right!"
Su Mo nodded, not keeping them in suspense.
"What is a more suitable experimental subject than a Lord Ravager who is determined to live?"
As he spoke, Su Mo glanced at Ruan Mei.
Ruan Mei understood and took a few steps forward, coming before Phantylia.
She raised her left hand slightly, revealing the blessing mark on her wrist, and pressed her right hand to her lower abdomen, which also had Su Mo's mark.
Seeing this, even though she had many questions in her heart, Fu Xuan closed her mouth and retreated.
Jing Yuan also finally understood Su Mo's plan. He took a step forward and stood on the left and right of Ruan Mei with Jibril, guarding her in case the crazed Phantylia attacked this genius.
While Phantylia was struggling and roaring because of the Mara-Struck, Su Mo stood behind Ruan Mei and pressed his palm to her back.
A golden light condensed into a radiant phantom behind Su Mo.
It was a Roman-style religious building with a huge dome structure.
Jing Yuan couldn't understand the meaning of the patterns on this huge building, but after seeing the various huge statues inside the building, he instinctively understood the meaning it represented.
"A temple?"
"No, it's a Pantheon!"
Fu Xuan shook her head, correcting him.
Like the center of a circle, besides the main god, all the gods were placed together regardless of size or order. The number of divine phantoms that were finally formed was more than tens of thousands.
From this point alone, it could be seen that this must be the faith of a polytheistic religion.
The only thing she didn't understand was the shape of the divine phantoms inside the Pantheon.
"Why does every statue of a god have multiple forms? Aren't some of the gods a bit too similar? Can this still be considered a pantheon?"
Looking at the phantoms with extremely high similarity, some of which were clearly from the same prototype, and some of which were exactly the same, she didn't quite understand the structure of this Pantheon.
Could it be that it was just to make up the numbers?
But looking at its exquisite craftsmanship, it didn't seem to be randomly carved.
Not to mention, the phantom displayed by Su Mo must be a manifestation of his power. What was the need to make up the numbers here?
Fu Xuan's muttering was extremely low, and she didn't expect Su Mo to answer.
But unexpectedly, as soon as her words fell, Su Mo immediately gave an explanation.
"Of course it counts. In the worldview of Roman mythology, any god can be accepted, and any god can be tolerated. This is a Pantheon that can even accept a monotheistic god."
As he spoke, he activated the power in his body and adapted the worldview of the Pantheon to this world.
"So, although I can't simulate the power of an Aeon yet, if it's just at the Emanator level..."
At this point, he paused.
Under Fu Xuan's dumbfounded expression, he lightly said words that were enough to subvert her worldview.
"Aeons are gods, after all!"