[705] Gimme That!

The Eye of Observer Effect was actually quite easy to neutralize. Yu Xian had simply made one of his summoned beasts put on a pair of miraculous item glasses, effortlessly neutralizing the item. In fact, the reason the Eye of Observer Effect was keeping its eye closed now was that it had countered against those miraculous item glasses and lost its effect, not that no one was observing it. As for the Tailer Pointer, that was even simpler: just don't tail it. Yu Xian hadn't followed behind the *Mechanical Empire* at all. He usually stayed along its flanks or above it. So long as he didn't follow directly behind its tail, that gizmo wouldn't trigger at all. Even so, Yu Xian ultimately chickened out. He didn't snatch Li Zhenlong's corpse; the risk factor was simply too high. He and the Death Emperor watched in silence as Li Zhenlong's remains were packed up and carted off. Only after quite a long while did Yu Xian let out a long sigh. Such was the price of lacking sufficient strength. "Wait!" Suddenly, Yu Xian's eyes locked onto a severed finger floating in the void. It was Li Zhenlong's pinky finger, severed during his life-and-death struggle against the Mechanical Dragon Knight. It had ended up inside a black hole fragment from a shattered world, gradually drifting beyond the collection perimeter of the Mechanical Empire's robots. Moreover, Li Zhenlong wielded the Rules of Life. He had healed many injuries while fighting; missing a finger, he had regrown another in moments. It was only natural that the Mechanical Empire's robots hadn't noticed this one. A cheeky, audacious thought suddenly popped into Yu Xian's head. What would happen if he used the Legacy Gourd on this severed finger? The Gourd of Legacy had only one flaw: it didn't care whether the target was dead or alive. Yet as long as its activation conditions were met, it was guaranteed to successfully refine a Legacy Pill. And the conditions were remarkably simple: possess the subject's remains, and know the subject's name. As for whether the remains were intact, there was no strict requirement whatsoever. Yu Xian's eyes sparkled, gleaming as he stared at Li Zhenlong's severed finger. The more he thought about it, the more feasible it seemed. Next, he waited a full year. Once he was certain the *Mechanical Empire* had departed far, far away, he finally appeared beside Li Zhenlong's severed finger. By this point, the finger had drifted quite a distance. Much of the temporal energy clinging to it had been depleted, slowing its drift to a crawl. "Li Zhenlong, in you go!" Holding the Legacy Gourd, Yu Xian popped the stopper and yelled at once. The next instant, Li Zhenlong's severed finger was vacuumed into the gourd like a tempest. Then the gourd kept on pulling, vacuuming the void with ferocious force. Countless light-years away, inside the *Mechanical Empire*, numerous robots were gathered around Li Zhenlong's dismembered corpse conducting research. Suddenly, Li Zhenlong's remains transformed into a torrent of crimson energy, whirling with violent fury. Under the pull of the Gourd of Legacy, this energy acted like bullets, punching straight through the robots standing behind them and tearing through layer after layer of interior bulkheads. The *Mechanical Empire* reacted with extreme speed, instantly dropping barrier after barrier, but each was breached in an instant like paper. "Someone is using a transcendence-grade item!" Margot Moxi rushed into the control room. Seeing the scene, she reacted immediately and made the most accurate assessment. The barriers deployed by the *Mechanical Empire* were made of a metal imbued with the Rule of Steel, possessing supreme hardness. Even a Mighty One could never have punctured them like paper. Only power at the transcendence grade could produce such a dimension-reducing blow, effortlessly rubbing the *Mechanical Empire* into the dirt. "Quick, activate the Emptiness Realm Lockdown Stone!" Margot Moxi ordered immediately. However, the *Mechanical Empire* responded, "Too late, Your Majesty. As you know, the expansion speed of the Emptiness Realm Lockdown Stone cannot match the speed of their escape. So long as contact does not occur, no counter-canceling phenomenon will arise between transcendence-grade items, and the force applied to Li Zhenlong's corpse will not fail." "Then what do you propose?" Margot Moxi calmed down and asked. The *Mechanical Empire*'s assessment was correct. The Emptiness Realm Lockdown Stone could indeed seal space, but because it was mounted in the bow of the *Mechanical Empire*, its activation prioritized protecting the bridge and Margot Moxi's quarters before expanding across the rest of the vessel. Currently, Li Zhenlong's remains had transformed into energy and were tearing toward the vessel's stern. The expansion rate of the Emptiness Realm Lockdown Stone couldn't catch up to that energy. "Deploy the Mechanical Dragon Knights to track that energy. First lock onto the enemy's identity; if possible, have the Mechanical Dragon Knights eliminate them!" the *Mechanical Empire* answered. Margot Moxi's internal data analyzed the situation in an instant and reached a conclusion: the *Mechanical Empire*'s judgment was sound. It was the optimal solution. Thus, she declared, "Pass down the command: dispatch the Mechanical Dragon Knights to pursue this energy, lock onto the enemy target, and eliminate them without mercy once identified!" Even after giving the order, her expression remained somewhat sour. Above all, Li Zhenlong's corpse was of vital importance to her. She had seen many Mighty Ones, but few possessed a body as powerful as Li Zhenlong's. From his remains, she had discovered the beauty of the martial path. The cells of ordinary Mighty Ones merely used rule power to bind immense energy—exceedingly crude and brute-force. Li Zhenlong was different. His cells not only possessed rule power, but energy circulated between them, bound together by will at the martial level. This granted his body faster reflexes, greater speed, higher durability, and superior energy efficiency. Most terrifying of all, even in death, his body maintained astonishing vitality. Many might wonder: if his body retained such vitality, how had Li Zhenlong died? He had died because his true spirit had shattered, succumbing to utter exhaustion after all his cellular energy had been wrung dry. Yet even after death, his body continued to function, steadily absorbing energy from the void to recover. Regrettably, once a true spirit perished, it could not be restored to life, leaving behind only a corpse of incredible vitality. As for the true spirit, it was essentially the soul. However, a martial artist's soul was known as a martial true spirit. Blended with martial intent, it possessed resilience, defensive strength, and mental fortitude far beyond an ordinary soul. When Li Zhenlong fought with all his might, every move and stance incorporated martial intent, and every exchange was a life-or-death gamble. His martial true spirit had acted like a CPU running at full tilt, eventually burning off all its thermal paste until it burnt itself out. Had his body still possessed energy at that point, he could have kept fighting. But martial intent combined with moves resulted in attacks where sheer force made anything fly, consuming energy on a ridiculous scale. In the end, both had been depleted, and he had died. Margot Moxi coveted Li Zhenlong's body immensely. She was certain that using tissue samples from him to construct carbon-based robots would produce peerlessly powerful automatons. When that time came, she might even evolve once more, becoming an even mightier entity. Now, the roasted duck in her hands had suddenly flown away. She was so furious she wanted nothing more than to tear the mastermind apart with her bare teeth. Yet the rational constraints inherent to her mechanical chassis forced her to swallow her indignation on the spot, unable even to vent.