Chapter Forty-Five: The Demon Sect's Solitary Loyalty!

Among the Demonic Cult's Ten Superior Paths, the believers of the "Mensuration" path were considered the most harmless and neutral, generally only responsible for providing support.

However, as a faction wielding the overpowered attribute of "space," the "Mensuration" path was certainly no pushover.

During the great wars of the later stages, the large-scale dynamic formation known as the "Latitude and Longitude Realm," established by the "Mensuration" path master, [General Crossroads], played a crucial role.

The so-called "Latitude and Longitude Realm" referred to the Netherworld of Intermediate Yin, situated between the fabric of heaven and earth. It was the place where the souls of the dead lingered and wandered in folklore, and relying on the "Mensuration" path of "General Crossroads," a passage sufficient for mortal traversal had been carved out.

Anyone branded with a mensuration mark would be incorporated into this teleportation system and become a part of the formation.

Every believer of "Mensuration" served as a cog in this machine; they only needed to be physically present to freely form arrays, affecting an entire covered region.

Whether it was folding, hiding, reversing, nesting, circulating, or dislocating, all were part of the "Mensuration" path and proved extremely practical in actual combat.

The Demonic Cult's grotto-heaven strongholds were also formations sustained by "Mensuration" believers.

The Latitude and Longitude Fate Arts of the "Six Directorate Stellar Lords" similarly required the cooperation of this large-scale formation to complete the successive transfers of the six karma lines he had split off, ultimately ensuring sufficient spatial coverage.

Naturally, the Demonic Cult remained the Demonic Cult. The evil aspect of this formation lay in the fact that once formed, the "Mensuration" believers who served as components of the array became akin to "human stakes," nailed permanently into the fissures of the Netherworld of Intermediate Yin just to maintain the formation's operation.

Only when "General Crossroads" dismantled the formation could these human stakes be restored.

Yet under normal circumstances, even upon the dismantling of the formation, the human stakes would have already lost their minds, becoming utterly crippled.

Should the formation be breached by outsiders, the power of "mensuration" would dissipate, and the human stakes would be instantly crushed into a pulp of blood and mud by the pressure of the Netherworld of Intermediate Yin.

Similarly, outsiders could not enter the "Latitude and Longitude Realm"; entering it meant meeting the exact same fate.

Even if one managed to squeeze inside, they remained mere outsiders.

Consequently, Gu Fangchen required this very mensuration mark.

Simply put, he knew the underlying code of the "Latitude and Longitude Realm" formation, but without this decryption key, he could not even access the interface to edit the code.

At least with his current divine path cultivation, he could not replicate the decryption key that could be granted by someone of "General Crossroads"'s caliber.

In truth, Gu Fangchen was exploiting a loophole here.

Because "General Crossroads" possessed absolute confidence in his own formation, the mensuration mark did not distinguish between friend and foe.

Ordinarily, however, no one could possibly crack the "Latitude and Longitude Realm."

Yet, as fate would have it...

"General Crossroads" was the premier figure in array arts within the Great Wei, utterly devoted to the path of arrays throughout his life, infatuated and obsessed—he could well be called an "array maniac."

To complete one of the completionist achievements—collecting all array arts—Gu Fangchen had maxed out the favorability of "General Crossroads" while playing through the [All Demons Descend] Demonic Cult route.

On that particular route, Gu Fangchen had been a wildly loyal and devoted minister of the Demonic Cult. In the later stages of the struggle against Xu Fu, many cultists could not endure and chose betrayal, but Gu Fangchen alone remained staunchly loyal.

Even the master of the "Path of Emotion" had been moved to sigh that the Demonic Cult possessed a truly solitary loyalty!

Under such circumstances, Gu Fangchen naturally relied on his own profound mastery of array arts to become a sworn brother and close confidant to "General Crossroads."

Then, he saved his game, intentionally engineered the downfall of the Demonic Cult, and at the very final moment, stabbed "General Crossroads" in the back, causing him to be besieged by the righteous factions and left gravely wounded.

As "General Crossroads" stood on the brink of death, he handed over the "Latitude and Longitude Realm" grand formation to be commanded by his beloved, cherished close friend—Gu Fangchen.

Therefore, at present, only two people in the entire world could control the "Latitude and Longitude Realm."

One of them was the player, Gu Fangchen.

Gu Fangchen extended the hand that had just caught that sword, and upon his palm emerged a cross-shaped white mark.

This was the mensuration mark.

With a flicker in his gaze, he raised his head to look at the Emperor Yong'an behind the curtain, and said:

"The 'Tooth Artisan.' I can find him, and only he in this world can forge a counterfeit of the 'Lotus Treasury in the Womb'."

"Only... it requires a tiny price."

Emperor Yong'an mused:

"A tooth precious and rare enough?"

Naturally, he was well aware of the existence of the "Tooth Artisan," one of the patriarchs of the "Artisan" path, the elusive ancestor of all crafts.

This fellow's peculiar quirk was collecting all manner of teeth.

As for a tooth whose value could match the "Lotus Treasury in the Womb"...

Emperor Yong'an calmly gazed at the serious-faced youth opposite him, inwardly suspecting that this brat might currently be coveting his own teeth.

In reality, Gu Fangchen did have that thought for a fleeting second... After all, the teeth of the Son of Heaven, tainted with national destiny, could indeed be considered among the most precious and rare teeth in the entire world.

Of course, that was a plan one could only execute while ignorant of Emperor Yong'an's true identity.

As for right now... it was better not to court death.

Gu Fangchen solemnly cupped his fists and said:

"I humbly request Your Majesty's permission to take a tooth of 'Rules and Rectitude'."

—Since Emperor Yong'an had not ordered him to kneel, he simply went along with the flow and skipped the kneeling.

This "Rules and Rectitude" was none other than the name of a turtle-shaped spirit beast raised within Imperial Heaven City.

Moreover, this creature resided right in front of the Purple Polestar Palace.

Yet it slumbered year-round bearing a stone tablet upon its back, frequently leading people to mistake it for a mere statue.

This spirit beast was as old as the Great Wei, left behind within the city by the Confucian Sage when the founding emperor and the Sage concluded their alliance.

It was named "Rules and Rectitude" not only because the spirit beast symbolized the establishment of Great Wei's order, but also because the creature possessed the divine ability to question one's conscience.

Anyone who broke the rules had nowhere to hide before this spirit beast.

Consequently, back in the day, this spirit beast had been kept before the Purple Polestar Palace to awe the civil and military officials, preventing the occurrence of corruption and self-seeking behavior.

Only because Emperor Yong'an was "benevolent" and the imperial court "clear and upright," it had hardly been invoked over all these years.

To acquire a tooth from this spirit beast, judging by the difficulty of obtaining it, its value truly rivaled the sacred artifact of the Matriarch Cult.

Emperor Yong'an also paused, then raised an eyebrow, instantly discerning the brat's intent. He purposely spoke in a cold tone:

"Are you aware that this 'Rules and Rectitude' was left behind by the Confucian Sage?"

"Even I cannot break the rules, let alone allow you to go pluck one of its teeth."

Gu Fangchen puffed out his chest, looking righteous and unyielding:

"Naturally, I know!"

He blinked his eyes:

"Therefore, Your Majesty, you need only pretend to be entirely ignorant, and I shall simply run away."

Emperor Yong'an: "..."

What a splendid "shall simply run away."

With a solemn and heavy voice, he said: "You are attempting to set yourself against the Confucian Sage."

Gu Fangchen waved his hand dismissively, cupped his fists, and replied:

"I am merely an ignorant prodigal raised at the foot of Imperial Heaven City, knowing only Your Majesty, and knowing nothing of any Confucian Sage!"

As for acting as a lonely, unwavering loyalist, he was already an expert at it!

Emperor Yong'an suddenly burst into laughter, speaking at ease:

"Very well, I grant it."

He pointed into the distance:

"The 'Rules and Rectitude' is right there. If you want a tooth, go take it yourself."

...

Northern Suppressing Prince's Mansion, Main Courtyard.

"Respectfully addressed to the Master: Your student is dull-witted, deceived by treacherous villains, causing the path of the heart to be dusted and the path of cultivation to be obstructed."

Gu Dao settled his mind and wrote upon the floating scroll before him.

"I beseech the Master to act, using Rules and Rectitude to question the conscience and shatter the scoundrel."