I Don't Agree to the Terms

At this moment, the original spiritual energy and original ghost energy within him were confronting each other, forming a completely new situation.

Gu Shanhai planned to use this original spiritual energy and original ghost energy as the foundation for Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise, and only needed to wait for the right opportunity to mature before he could create them into companion spirit objects.

But this moment of maturity required quite a lot of time.

For example, Gu Shanhai needed to grasp the balance well, because this was only the foundation; what was truly needed were the concepts of life and death.

He had also attempted to directly replicate it, and he did succeed, but then it cost him one life...

An imbalance of life was one thing, at most it would just cause his outer layer of skin to break, but he recovered quickly, otherwise there could've been real trouble.

This matter was a great supplement to him, but if the concept of death became imbalanced, he would truly die, and then... be reborn.

Gu Shanhai also realized this issue because the control over the original spiritual energy and original ghost energy was too poor; at the very least, it would require forming an entirely new system for development.

To put it simply, Gu Shanhai would need to deduce a cultivation technique or divine skills to further develop and utilize the original spiritual energy and original ghost energy, and during this development process slowly restore the two concepts of life and death. By doing so, Gu Shanhai would gain complete control and would not have to worry about exposing himself by growing too quickly or dying inexplicably while creating Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise.

"Deducing one isn't really a problem, but by doing so, it seems a bit troublesome..." Gu Shanhai felt somewhat helpless, clearly, he had come to find raw materials, yet the raw materials still needed to be refined by himself.

However, that was fine, sooner or later it all had to be dealt with.

If he resolved it now, then later the breakthroughs into the Magic Awakening Stage and Peeping Dao Stage would be much simpler.

After all, he would need to use these two concepts of life and death later on.

"So, it's called the All Heavens Life and Death Wheel... hell, that name's copyrighted." Gu Shanhai thought he should be more assertive, but upon thinking that being too assertive might not be good, he decided against it.

"I'll just call it the Balance Foundation Theory." Gu Shanhai wasn't stupid; naturally, the more common the name, the better.

As for the "Green Emperor Longevity Scripture," he actually wanted to call it "Plant Cultivation Guide", which he could change when the time was right.

Soon, based on the original spiritual energy and original ghost energy, the initial Balance Foundation Theory was deduced by him into its first tier.

As for the name, it would be called the Seed Phase.

Directly copying Emperor Navia's realm names, plagiarism only mattered if Emperor Navia found out after being taken down by him.

He was no good Samaritan.

The two seeds attracted each other but did not fuse; these two things were a bit naturally at odds, and making them integrate wasn't easy. For now, it was already very good that they didn't fight; everything would come step by step.

"The balance between life and death, the mutual cycle that forms, is simply too wonderful."

At this time, Gu Shanhai was not only able to absorb the secondary ghost energy aura released by players upon death but also able to absorb the secondary spiritual energy aura born from players' rebirths, then continuously convert them through the two original seeds.

"In at most three months, these two seeds will be able to sprout."

Gu Shanhai wore a look of joy; all data indicated that his "Balance Foundation Theory" first tier Seed Phase met his expectations for development.

After all, it was just the first tier, the very foundation of the basics; if there were problems even at this stage, Gu Shanhai wouldn't be creating any "Balance Foundation Theory."

"Once the original seeds complete their reversal successfully, they can certainly serve as the seventh tier 'Twin Birth' of the 'Plant Cultivation Guide'."

Gu Shanhai also felt the potential of these two.

Whether Vermilion Bird and Black Tortoise needed their own independent tiers would have to be discussed later; if they showed potential, Gu Shanhai wouldn't mind setting aside two separate areas for them.

If there wasn't enough potential, that would be the end of it, since it was just a byproduct of the Spirit Plant; if push came to shove, the regions of the Azure Dragon and the White Tiger could be merged with those of the Vermilion Bird and the Black Tortoise into a single layer.

In this regard, Gu Shanhai was quite casual about it.

"Wait a minute, if I delved deeper into developing these two original seeds, could I further perfect the squeezing ability of my Sleeve Universe?"

Gu Shanhai's current Sleeve Universe was only capable of extracting resources from the present life. If he combined the original seeds with the Three-Life Spiritual Plant, Peony of the Great Era, among others, for further development, could he also extract resources from one's past and future lives?

"It shouldn't be a problem; it's just that there don't seem to be many worlds that have both past and future lives."

Not all worlds had reincarnation; some ended with death, and others allowed rebirth after death.

Therefore, he wasn't particularly interested in this feature.

After all, who knew how bizarre one's past and future lives could be? If he happened to ensnare a reincarnation of a Taoist Ancestor or a future Buddha or something, he might cause trouble for himself.

"Forget about it, forget about it," Gu Shanhai thought. The cons outweighed the pros; it was better just to exploit one's current life.

It's always good to leave a line of escape when dealing with people for possible future encounters.

"On the other hand, equipping the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers with it could be quite good."

Gu Shanhai had already modified the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers once before, but the effect wasn't significant.

After all, the main purpose of Heart Demon Dao Soldiers was to affect the mind, and that couldn't really be changed. Their strength was one thing, but their primary effect was on emotions and the spirit.

"If it really worked, the original Ghost Energy could grant the power to deliver critical hits and instant kills, while the original Spiritual Energy could greatly compensate for their weaknesses."

The weakness of the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers was naturally their ineffectiveness against beings like puppets and machines, which lacked self-awareness and Spiritual Intelligence. But with the original Spiritual Energy, they could temporarily animate these beings during battle, thus creating a blank vessel capable of experiencing emotions and states of mind.

Then they would be able to utilize various abilities.

Conditions or not, he would have to create the necessary conditions.

There were drawbacks, of course, such as potentially animating some great horror. But that wasn't an issue; with original Ghost Energy, there was a significant restraining effect on the objects temporarily animated by original Spiritual Energy, and besides, the animation was temporary.

As long as Gu Shanhai timed it right, for example, temporarily animating the enemy at the moment of attack, there would be no issue when not attacking.

"With the Four Sacred Beasts System in place, there shouldn't be any problems."

"With such haphazard changes, my body might transform again, and the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers might become even uglier."

As the Dao Soldiers grew stronger, their increased prowess would surely reflect back on Gu Shanhai.

He had already bred fifty million Dao Soldiers within him, with the number steadily heading towards a billion. The main issue was a shortage of resources, so he could only let the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers grow naturally.

Resources should of course be invested where needed, like the Spirit Root Ability and the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers, where he could let them grow on their own over time without putting in too much investment.

It was methods that could let him reach the skies in a single step and take shortcuts that warranted his consideration.

He didn't have to worry that taking shortcuts to gain strength would result in an unstable foundation. Right now, he didn't even have the concept of a 'foundation.'

Compared to martial artists or cultivators who might be concerned about a weak foundation, chaotic mana, or impure True Qi, talking about such issues in Gu Shanhai's world was problematic; they weren't even the same species. To use a sword from the previous dynasty to execute an official of the current dynasty was simply preposterous.

Moreover, his shortcuts were hard-earned after countless failures and research.

"If the Heart Demon Dao Soldiers are ugly, so be it—it's not a big deal. Normally, they're just internal mascots not intended to take action; no one can see them." Gu Shanhai was open-minded anyway. With such strong connections to the Underworld, even if it embraced all eighteen layers of Hell, it wouldn't be a big deal.