The moment Zhong Ming woke up, he saw that his ’little brother’ was completely intact, and he couldn’t help but sigh in relief.
It was fine as long as it wasn’t broken. He had been terrified he’d wake up to a barren plain.
"You’re awake," a strange, cold, mechanical voice said. "I saw how much you value your ’little brother,’ so I implanted something in him."
Only then did Zhong Ming turn his gaze toward the source of the voice. It was the Iron Armor Man. A chill ran through his heart.
’Who could be so twisted as to target another man’s ’little brother’?’
"What... did you implant..." Zhong Ming asked, his voice strained.
"Nothing much," the AI replied. "Just a three-second thrill. And the more excited you get, the harder it will be for it to get up."
At these words, Zhong Ming’s face darkened.
’This was even more terrifying than killing him.’
’When I go out to visit the teahouses in the future, won’t everyone look down on me?’
’Other men might be called fast for lasting three minutes, but he would struggle to even get it up. And even if he managed, he’d be a three-second man.’
"What do you want?" Zhong Ming asked coldly.
"There’s much I want to know. However, your attitude makes it clear you won’t be cooperative."
"Therefore, I will torture you first, and question you afterward."
The cold expression on Zhong Ming’s face froze. He truly hadn’t expected his captor to stray so far from the usual script.
"Wait, just ask me first! How do you know I won’t cooperate if you don’t even ask?" Zhong Ming had never met such a psycho.
’They could totally skip the whole torture and interrogation part. He was a man who knew how to adapt to the situation.’
’As long as he and his ’little brother’ were left untouched, anything was negotiable.’
However, his words were completely unable to sway the AI’s intentions.
The AI had the Tai Sui God retrieve a large pile of custom-made torture instruments.
It even gestured toward his ’little brother’, making Zhong Ming want to clamp his legs together. But he was already on the operating table; there was no room for him to control his own body.
Then, before Zhong Ming’s horrified eyes, the torture began.
After a vicious beating, the look in his eyes cleared up considerably. He answered whatever the AI asked.
But the AI didn’t believe everything he said. Only after repeated rounds of interrogation, torture, and coercion from multiple angles did it finally obtain the necessary intelligence.
Zhong Ming’s reason for coming here was just as Qi Suian had suspected: to find Geng Muquan.
But he was a step too late. Geng Muquan had already been converted into evolutionary energy for the Tai Sui God.
Not only was there no corpse, but there wasn’t even any ash left.
The rest was the AI’s business. Qi Suian, meanwhile, was comparing the two Quenching Methods.
Once the AI was finished, he could begin experimenting on Zhong Ming.
But first, he had to examine the Quenching Methods.
After a quick read-through, his mind began running deductions and simulations based on various data points.
Combining it with the previously acquired Giant Whale Sea-Dominating Skill, he quickly identified the differences between the two Quenching Methods.
For Qi Suian, however, this wasn’t the crucial point. What was crucial was figuring out the difference between "Spirit" and "Intent."
In Qi Suian’s view, Divine Intent was simply Spirit.
But to the survivors in the Divine Intent World, Spirit and Intent were actually two different states.
Thus, the dragon refines the Spirit, while the whale refines the Intent, each with its own characteristics.
’Without a side-by-side comparison, I really couldn’t see much of a difference before.’
’Now that I can compare the two, it’s clear that it’s just a matter of tackling both quality and quantity.’
’But the Divine Intent differs as well. The Cloud Dragon excels in agility and offense, whereas the Giant Whale focuses on vitality and defense.’
’This, in turn, influences the user’s physical inclinations.’
’I just wonder what the Dragon Whale World Suppression Skill is like.’
Although he didn’t have all the details, Qi Suian could surmise one thing from the two Quenching Methods he possessed. The Quenching Method that required these two as prerequisites, which only the Dragon Whale Sect Leader could cultivate, must have combined the strengths of both while possessing an even more powerful effect.
’Otherwise, why would it require the other two as prerequisites? And why could only the Sect Leader cultivate it?’
’Such restrictions could only be in place because of its immense power.’
’Unfortunately, the versions I obtained only have the first six levels. They don’t touch upon the core principles at all.’
’Most likely, only the Inner Sect Disciples of the Dragon Whale Sect have access to any of the core content.’
Levels one through three were for disciples performing Miscellaneous Tasks, taking them from consuming elixirs and tempering their bodies to forming a nascent Divine Intent.
Once their Divine Intent took nascent form, they could become Outer Sect Disciples. At that point, they could cultivate their nascent Divine Intent into a complete one.
And this was the stage that Geng Muquan and Zhong Ming were currently at.
However, merely reaching this stage wasn’t enough to become an Inner Sect Disciple. It was impossible to be promoted directly unless one cultivated the first six levels in an exceptionally short time, demonstrating their potential and talent.
One way was through the unified assessment for promotion, but that was held only once every three years.
If you were lucky enough to be there for it, you could be promoted smoothly.
But if your luck was as bad as these two, there were only two options left. The first was to wait it out.
It was safe, effective, and didn’t require much effort.
The other way was to complete a promotion mission.
Completing one would grant a direct promotion to elite Inner Sect Disciple.
That’s right, the Dragon Whale Sect was like a set of nesting dolls. Each rank of disciple was further divided into three tiers: ordinary, elite, and prime.
Each tier corresponded to another three levels of the Quenching Method.
Qi Suian was stunned when he extracted this information from Zhong Ming.
After casually tossing Zhong Ming into the Melting Furnace, Qi Suian remarked, "It seems compared to Geng Muquan, this Zhong Ming fellow really knows how to read a situation."
Geng Muquan had been a tough nut to crack; Qi Suian hadn’t managed to torture any useful intelligence out of him.
In fact, through Zhong Ming, he indirectly confirmed that much of the information Geng Muquan *had* given him was problematic.
The information Geng Muquan provided had been nine parts truth and one part lie. More importantly, that one lie was fatal. Fortunately, Qi Suian hadn’t planned on acting against the Dragon Whale Sect’s strategic layout.
If he had, he would have walked right into an ambush.
Later, Qi Suian came to understand the difference between the two men. Geng Muquan had been an orphan raised by the Dragon Whale Sect since childhood. His talent was average, but his loyalty was absolute.
Zhong Ming, on the other hand, had joined later in life and naturally didn’t possess such a high degree of loyalty.
So under the AI’s interrogation, he had naturally spilled everything he knew.
In his eyes, after all, the Dragon Whale Sect was merely a place to cultivate the Quenching Method.
The Dragon Whale Sect provided him with a cultivation environment, and it wasn’t as if he only took without giving back. It was nothing more than a transaction.
Therefore, disciples like Zhong Ming were not the foundation of the Dragon Whale Sect. Disciples like Geng Muquan, on the other hand, were given priority in everything from promotions to post assignments.
Their talent might be lacking, but their loyalty was more aligned with the Dragon Whale Sect’s interests and development.
Especially since the Dragon Whale Sect didn’t lack high-end combat power, its mid- and low-level personnel formed its true core.
Without these low- and mid-level disciples, Stewards, and so on, what would the upper echelons eat and drink? Where would their cultivation resources come from?
It was precisely because others handled these matters for them that they could focus on improving their strength, unburdened by trivialities.
’Geng Muquan’s talent was inferior to Zhong Ming’s, but their strengths were roughly equal.’
’But because Geng Muquan was homegrown, he enjoyed better resources, which made his combat strength superior to Zhong Ming’s.’
’It seems the Dragon Whale Sect has a well-established system for cultivating its disciples.’
Unfair? The man grew up in the Dragon Whale Sect, dedicating his life to it. Why should someone who joined halfway, with talent that wasn’t exactly heaven-defying, expect the same treatment?
Granting them the same treatment—now *that* would be unfair.
’Well-established, yes, but not without its problems. The old saying is true: "Fear not scarcity, but inequality."’
’I can understand them favoring disciples they raised from childhood, but human greed is an insatiable thing.’
’Right now, the high-end experts are keeping things in check, so order is maintained. But if someone with ulterior motives were to exploit this...’
’...it would be very easy to stir up conflict and opposition.’ Qi Suian quickly identified the problem.
The system was well-established, but not perfect.
No matter how well-established, it was still executed by people, and finding flaws to exploit would not be a problem.
It takes all sorts to make a world, and the same applies to rules; if you look for loopholes, you will always find them.
But exploiting them was one thing; achieving any real effect was another. After all, the leadership of the Dragon Whale Sect weren’t fools. How could they not notice such problems?
Besides, so what if someone did exploit the system? The ones in power held the strength, which meant the final right of interpretation was in their hands.
’In any case, I just kill my targets directly. I have no use for such schemes and plots. Knowing about them doesn’t change anything for me.’ Qi Suian was disdainful; this method of killing was far too slow for his tastes.
Beat a person to death, and all remaining problems cease to be problems.
That was why he’d rather raise the Slaughter Knife than waste time on schemes.
"But it’s not all without good news," Qi Suian chuckled. "The Dragon Whale Sect Leader recently accepted a new disciple."
"This one has all the makings of a protagonist."
"Unfortunately, the Dragon Whale Sect Leader has hidden this precious treasure a little too well."
"Even Zhong Ming doesn’t know the specifics."
From what Qi Suian had gathered, the story was a classic one: he was made a True Disciple in an unprecedented move, which led to all sorts of questions and doubts.
Someone had even leaked that this True Disciple’s talent was poor, that he was nothing but trash.
The rumor was that the Dragon Whale Sect Leader had only accepted him to repay a personal favor.
That’s why, although this new True Disciple held the rank of prime, not a single scrap of news about him had leaked out.
But most of this was just hearsay and rumor, with no hard evidence to back it up.
To know the truth, one would have to ask either the Dragon Whale Sect Leader or one of his other disciples.
’All this doubt and ridicule, plus an unprecedented promotion... I wouldn’t believe you if you told me he *wasn’t* a protagonist.’
’He’s probably in his development phase.’
’Maybe he’s waiting until he’s unrivaled before he makes his debut. Then he’ll sweep all opposition aside and become the new leader of the Dragon Whale Sect in one fell swoop.’
’And then he’ll slap the faces of all those who doubted and mocked him.’ Qi Suian could already see the plot unfolding.
This was good news for Qi Suian. It meant the protagonist, this "survivor," had not yet reached his full potential. He still had a chance to eliminate him.
And it also meant he had confirmed his target’s location, no longer needing to search blindly like a headless fly.
Of course, it was also possible that this person wasn’t his target at all, but merely a decoy.