In truth, the moment he realized he could use the command token to control the seven prisoners and make them work for him, his first thought had been to send them to slaughter Edward.
However, he soon learned that these prisoners could not leave the Land of Glory, nor could their power be brought outside the cages.
Otherwise, even if Yu Xian did not order them to kill Edward, he could have borrowed their power to kill Edward himself.
In addition, he had also considered using the seven prisoners to forge a Star Divine Artifact.
The problem was that he had no materials; according to the rules, only if he provided the materials could these prisoners forge equipment for him.
A Star Divine Artifact required Star Rank materials or above as its primary component. The highest-grade material he currently possessed was likely the core of the Dragon Shield, but that thing was only a God rank material.
Therefore, any thought of having the prisoners forge a Star Divine Artifact could be immediately ruled out.
Left with no other choice, he could only go all-in.
He would pool the wisdom of all seven prisoners to deduce a flawless path toward greater strength for himself.
Once his decision was made, he immediately exercised his authority through the command token. In the next second, he felt as though his mind were linked to the brains of the seven prisoners.
However, the prisoners' brains could not interfere with his thoughts. At this moment, they acted more like an auxiliary AI assisting him; whatever question he posed, all seven brains were forced into furious contemplation, subsequently delivering their respective answers and insights.
"I want to grow stronger—at the fastest possible speed!"
The moment Yu Xian threw out his question, six answers appeared simultaneously in the very next second.
The first answer came from Luomo, titled the *Scripture of the Wicked*. As the saying went, wicked people required wicked ways to grind them down; this cultivation method could absorb the grievances left behind by enemies when they committed evil. When torturing those enemies, this resentment would rapidly transform into power and be absorbed. As long as Yu Xian killed enough wicked people, he could quickly become strong.
The second answer was the Dragon Blood Species-Shifting Method: by obtaining the blood of a Dark Gate Dragon, one could change one's race through this secret art, directly growing stronger from the very root.
The third was Cell Viralization. This would allow all the cells throughout Yu Xian's body to transform into viruses. Condensed, they formed a single whole; dispersed, they became countless minute viruses.
As long as he controlled the virus to continuously invade other living beings, he could quickly accumulate immense bioenergy.
The fourth was the Faith Godhood Method. Yu Xian lost interest with a single glance; although this method could swiftly boost his strength, its drawbacks were glaringly obvious—if anything went wrong with the faith, death easily followed.
Furthermore, this path easily resulted in being held hostage by faith in turn. As a person who valued freedom so deeply, how could Yu Xian ever slip a noose around his own neck?
The fifth came from the World Tree, which offered no useful answer at all. It clearly triumphed entirely through its innate racial abilities, essentially being an unlearned, ignorant big tree.
The sixth was Forbidden Witchcraft, which roughly entailed signing pacts with demons in the Abyss. The more demons one contracted with, the greater the power. If Yu Xian were daring enough, his strength could skyrocket by thousands or even tens of thousands of times in a short span.
Of course, this came at a price; as for what that price was, it depended on how Yu Xian negotiated with the demons.
The seventh method was provided by the silicon-based lifeform. The specific plan was to convert Yu Xian's consciousness into electronic signals and then construct a mechanical legion. As long as Yu Xian's data remained undestroyed, he could continuously manufacture more bodies and could even nanoroboticize his mechanical forms, making himself far more difficult to eliminate.
"..."
Yu Xian fell silent after going through the six proposals.
These methods could indeed make him strong quickly, but the problem was that none of them suited him—especially the one from the silicon-based lifeform, which was utter garbage.
How could he possibly abandon his own flesh and blood to become a robot?
The problem was... he had no more chances left.
Aside from the World Tree, which had not answered due to its ignorance and thus still owed him a request, the other six prisoners had already given their answers. He could no longer command them to think for him.
He simply sat back in his chair with the command token in hand, reviewing the six answers over and over again. His brain continually analyzed the merits and flaws of the proposals while contemplating whether there was anything he could borrow from them.
Although Zhenwo Changjing always called him dull-witted, he wasn't truly stupid; he simply lacked broad experience and knowledge.
After all, knowledge could not materialize out of thin air. Without the appropriate horizons, he couldn't conjure up things beyond his imagination out of nothing.
Now that he had six answers, he could adapt and modify this knowledge based on his own circumstances to seek out the path that best suited him.
In fact, the procedures provided by the six prisoners were exceedingly intricate and exceptionally lengthy. The first three in particular could be said to encompass everything under the sun.
The grievance conversion method of the *Scripture of the Wicked* spanned three thousand eloquent words, profound and succinct, pointing straight to the heart of cultivation.
The Dragon Blood Species-Shifting Method laid out the art of bloodlines with crystal clarity, even including how to develop bloodline abilities; clearly, the Dark Gate Dragonman had held nothing back.
Cell Viralization detailed concepts like souls, cells, and viruses. Yu Xian felt as though Ning Na had dismantled the physical body again and again; anyone who could fully grasp its contents would undoubtedly become an expert at radically modifying cells.
Yu Xian noticed that certain elements across the six answers were very peculiar, almost as if they were products of six distinct eras.
Their descriptions of cultivation realms also bore different nomenclatures. Fortunately, all roads led to the same destination: in the end, their cultivation cores all pointed toward the realm of Mighty Ones.
Evidently, the ranks below Mighty One had historically been inconsistent.
They might be described in numerical levels, such as Level 100 or Level 200, or by designations like "Creation Realm" or "Dragon Transformation."
Comparing the material against the common knowledge Zhenwo Changjing had taught him, Yu Xian gradually digested the contents of each answer. Three hours later, as he looked at the Dragon Blood Species-Shifting Method, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him.
The Dragon Blood Species-Shifting Method was essentially replacing one's own blood with that of a Dark Gate Dragon and using a secret technique to transform one's race, growing stronger from the root.
In theory, the stronger the blood of the extraordinary race obtained, the stronger one could become.
Then what if... Yu Xian absorbed his own blood?
This involved a particular feature of the Dragon Blood Species-Shifting Method: the dragon blood enhancement was not limited to a single time, but could be performed infinitely. In fact, a Dark Gate Dragonman could become even more powerful than an authentic Dark Gate Dragon.
If Yu Xian continually absorbed his own blood and transformed his bloodline through the secret art, what would happen?
The moment this thought entered his mind, he began furiously deducing the possibilities, while simultaneously seeking ways to patch the flaws using the *Scripture of the Wicked* and Cell Viralization.
For instance, the Blood Cleansing Technique and the Cell Transcription Technique derived from those two methods respectively: the former was a way to cleanse one's vital energy and blood, while the latter was a secret art to purify cells.
Five hours passed in the blink of an eye. Yu Xian slowly opened his eyes, a faint smile curling the corner of his lips.
Integrating the knowledge from the six answers, he had finally deduced the cultivation method that suited him best: Blood Demon Stream: Infinite Autophagy Method!
Chapter 182