When system cheat becomes rampant!

"If used properly, during battle, it could definitely dodge many attacks," Xiang Beifei couldn't help but think.

As long as his spiritual power touched the opponent, it was very easy to influence them, causing them to misjudge his direction. If they couldn't correct it in time, it would be nearly impossible for them to hit Xiang Beifei.

Of course, all of this was predicated on the assumption that his spiritual power had come into contact with them. If the opponent's strength were higher, they could easily break free.

But even just one second of influence would allow Xiang Beifei to do a lot of things.

This ability should be the one "Respected as a Criterion."

Respected as a Criterion, treating a certain doctrine or conduct as one's standard.

Here, Erha was forced to take Xiang Beifei's standards as its own, to hit Xiang Beifei it had to follow his rules, otherwise, it would never land a blow on him.

"Can this ability be further developed?"

Xiang Beifei couldn't help but continue to ponder.

Respected as a Criterion, taking himself as the standard; could he also set other standards? For instance, making others follow the standards he had set?

Because the Spirit Gathering Book didn't provide much detail about this ability, Xiang Beifei had to explore on his own. The Wooden Kirin wasn't a human, so he planned to find a powerful person to test it.

Why not see if Ye Changfeng is available some day?

The first person that popped into Xiang Beifei's mind was the enthusiastic Mr. Ye.

After all, whenever he usually wanted to verify his abilities or ascertain his cultivation level, he was accustomed to seeking out Ye Changfeng.

However, Ye Changfeng was currently busy helping Elder Luo handle the beast eggs; Xiang Beifei temporarily shelved his exploration of this power. In any case, he had to first increase his cultivation to the orifice transforming stage.

Once he reached the orifice transforming stage, Xiang Beifei was prepared to venture into the extraterritorial desolate lands!

To accelerate this process, Xiang Beifei had already used the spiritual power crystals of the orifice transforming stage to nourish his soul.

His cultivation had been constant; the cultivation of his soul was even faster than Meridian Opening. Meridian Opening was fundamental; it involved creating pathways through meridians in various parts of the body. Once the foundation was solid, the soul could directly use the spiritual power crystals.

Xiang Beifei's soul nourishment was extremely luxurious; he used the spiritual power crystals of the orifice transforming stage, which led to a rapid warming of his soul. Now, his soul was no longer just a transparent mass, but rather looked incredibly solid.

Squeeze it and it was quite elastic.

Next, he considered the issue of orifice transforming.

He didn't have a system, so he couldn't seek advice on how to transform orifices, but he had already thoroughly consulted Elder Luo previously.

Orifice transforming, to put it simply, was to open orifices in the soul.

The soul at the God Refining stage could not fully leave the body without becoming very vulnerable. However, once orifices were opened in the soul, it underwent a qualitative change and became an Orifice Soul.

An Orifice Soul could still possess great combat strength even after leaving the body, making the body an expendable shell. It didn't matter much if the body was injured, as long as the Orifice Soul remained intact.

Of course, comparing him to orifice transforming masters like Qin Hongyi was inappropriate; strictly speaking, the cultivation methods of desolate beasts and humans were different, and with Qin Hongyi being half-human, half-beast, it was even more complex.

The soul was originally a type of spiritual body. To be able to carry a person's consciousness, it needed to open orifices. Humans have seven orifices; for eating, listening, seeing, and breathing.

Opening orifices in the eyes connects to the liver, in the ears connects to the heart; in the mouth connects to the spleen; in the nose connects to the lungs; and in the lower orifices connects to the kidneys.

This process seems simple but is actually very difficult!

Even ordinary SSR-ranked Awakeners, having reached the advanced stages of God Refining, would have to put forth much effort to open their orifices! To open one orifice in one year was considered extremely fast.

Seven orifices, seven years, was the norm. If SSR-ranked Awakeners struggled so, not to mention SR-ranked or other S-ranked ones.

Being able to reach the orifice transforming stage before the age of forty was a mark of a genius!

This process also required consuming a lot of spiritual power crystals; overall, it's incredibly difficult!

"One orifice in one year, this process does seem a bit challenging," Xiang Beifei mused, but he didn't dwell on it for long. Following the guidance of Elder Luo, he started to work on opening orifices in his soul.

He only hoped the speed of his orifice opening could be a little faster.

----

While Xiang Beifei was cultivating, Chang Furong and that Unrestrained lot had already collaborated with the Su People.

This was a very strange occurrence; the Su People and the Unrestrained had always been mortal enemies. The Su Alliance was established to pursue the Unrestrained, and they had never imagined that one day these two completely different forces would come together.

However, the collaboration between the two sides was quite in sync, and they achieved significant results.

Chang Furong had a set of breeding data for the Ghost Whiskers of Remnant Visage's beast eggs; he knew a lot about desolate beasts because he had long seen through the plans of the Ghostly Visage. Hence, he had been analyzing which type of desolate beast is most suitable to be hatched in which location.

The Water-absorbing Rainbow Beast, capable of severing water supplies, is most likely to be found in the water treatment plants. Such desolate beasts could enter thousands of households through the water pipes, and once they attack people, they have enough power to drain all the water from one's body!

The Meng Huai, which can kill people in their dreams, is most likely to appear in urban residential centers. Once the night falls silent, and residents fall into deep sleep, encountering a Meng Huai could mean that those without cultivation might never wake up again.

The Ruolai, capable of killing through sound waves, is most likely to be found at stadiums where concerts are frequently held. When those so-called pop stars open their mouths, and the sound waves roll in, Ruolai could instantly wipe out all the audience.

...

By utilizing the characteristics of desolate beasts, Chang Furong searched for the most suitable places in Jiuzhou for their eggs to hatch. Some locations' beast eggs had already been cleared by them, but Jiuzhou is too vast. Nine states with all kinds of situations, just relying on a few of them is far from enough.

This undoubtedly saved Elder Luo a lot of energy. He had Ye Changfeng assist Chang Furong in determining the locations, then arranged for the Su People to conduct inspections. With the Su People's involvement, the whole process would be expedited.

In the woods of Liangzhou University, Elder Luo, Professor Guo, and Ye Changfeng were discussing the current situation.

"Those people in the Alliance are still not admitting the fact that beast eggs have invaded. If we don't inform the public and remind everyone, the consequences will be severe," said Ye Changfeng.

"These people have really become too complacent now, refusing to believe even the evidence presented before them," Professor Guo was very angry about the attitude of those higher-ups in the Alliance.

Not everyone can accept the fact of desolate beasts invading Jiuzhou.

Especially for those usually Lofty Alliance leaders, it's even more unacceptable.

Because Jiuzhou is like a strong barrier, keeping all dangers outside. As long as the Jiuzhou continent is free from the ravaging of desolate beasts, these high-level System Awakeners can live worry-free, enjoying privileges and the conveniences brought about by high-level Awakeners.

Those SSR and UR level Awakeners must all hold high positions. If there's anything to be done, they only need to order lower-level Awakeners to take action. Jiuzhou's borders don't need their personal protection, nor do they need to explore the desolate wilderness beyond the borders and reclaim land stolen by desolate beasts, or survey the geography of the external wilderness, hunt desolate beasts for energy supply to ensure Jiuzhou's stable life... etc. None of this requires the SSR and UR level Awakeners to take action, naturally there are those at the bottom to do it for them!

These SSR and UR level Awakeners, on a daily basis, just by relying on their system status, can practically call the wind and summon the rain in Jiuzhou.

Even an SSR level literary Dao adept who doesn't know the first thing about desolate beasts could manage a bunch of Martial Daoists who need to fight against desolate beasts.

Jiuzhou is like the backyard of these high-level System Awakeners. Therefore, these high-level leaders who are warming their seats need Jiuzhou to be stable.

And once Jiuzhou is invaded by desolate beasts, it means that the whole of Jiuzhou's life will fall into chaos.

The various desolate beasts all have very strange abilities, which ordinary citizens who are low-level Awakeners cannot possibly resist. Many martial artists focus their energy on the external wilderness. Thus, dealing with the internal issues falls to these high-level individuals.

But most SSR level high-level Awakeners—like the former Dean of Martial Arts College of Liangzhou University, SSR level literary Dao adept Wei Tong—don't even know what desolate beasts look like, let alone how to deal with them!

If Jiuzhou is attacked by desolate beasts, those high-level Awakeners accustomed to luxury will immediately show their true colors, become disorganized, and most of the incapable high-level Awakeners will be utterly ineffective, leaving more Jiuzhou citizens to realize what kind of good-for-nothing leaders they have been under!

So every high-level Awakener in the Alliance cannot accept the idea of desolate beasts attacking from within Jiuzhou.

They refuse to believe the news brought by Elder Luo.

——

"Up to now, there have just been two incidents of desolate beasts causing trouble, which is not convincing enough," said Elder Luo.

He spoke calmly, but Ye Changfeng could feel the anger in Elder Luo's tone. The meeting on the Alliance side did not go smoothly.

Because there have only been two hatching incidents of desolate beasts attacking Jiuzhou so far.

The One-Armed Crab and the Void Devouring Insect—those in the Alliance treated these two incidents as accidents, simply saying that Unrestrained was purposely causing chaos, and that it was more important to deal with the remaining Unrestrained.

And chasing down Unrestrained is the Su Alliance's task.

So they shift the blame towards Elder Luo, not taking any responsibility themselves, nor cooperating.

This angered Elder Luo.

It was clear that Elder Luo had a fight with that group of straw bags!

But Elder Luo was also without options.

As long as the high-and-mighty straw bags do not believe, even if Elder Luo resorts to force to compel them to investigate, those good-for-nothings will not do it wholeheartedly!

Only the Pioneering Department and the Beast Tide Defense Department supported Elder Luo; other departments were just passing the buck.

But powers in the Alliance's departments are intricate and intertwined, with nearly every Heavenly Connection realm expert having their own people embedded into other departments as their eyes and ears.

So even as the heads of the Pioneering Department, Sun Heshun, and the Beast Tide Defense Department, Professor Guo, stand with Elder Luo, it's difficult to carry out the operation to clear the beast eggs. When they issue orders, the subordinates still do the bare minimum, not bothering to search earnestly, just claiming they found nothing.

As long as there isn't a third or fourth large-scale hatching of desolate beasts attacking the cities, these people won't take it seriously.