Chapter 920 – Cooperation Achieved

The boundary membrane of the Mystic Spirit Realm was enduring enormous pressure unlike anything it had experienced since its birth.

“S-stop! You… you fiends!”

The Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness let out an agonized wail.

Yet what answered it was an even denser, even more ferocious barrage of attacks.

Everyone’s Firework Blasts were focused on a single point, rising and falling in waves, an unbroken chain of devastation.

As the damage to the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane grew increasingly severe, its world consciousness finally came to a clear and cruel realization.

The power these “extraplanar fiends” possessed far exceeded anything it had imagined.

As long as the enemy didn’t enter the world itself, it had absolutely no way to deal with them. If it continued to resist, there would be only one outcome — the boundary membrane would shatter completely, the world would be exposed to the void, its source power would drain at an even faster rate, and it might even attract even more terrifying void creatures.

“Stop… stop! Please stop!”

The Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness began to plead. “I… I’m willing to talk! To discuss cooperation!”

The attacks ceased abruptly.

The unbroken stream of Firework Blasts dissipated in an instant, as if they had never existed at all.

Only the crack-covered, dimly glowing boundary membrane and the energy ripples in the void that had yet to fully subside proved just how devastatingly real that storm of destruction had been.

Traci flew out of the mirror space. “Talk? You have only two choices — sign the contract, or be destroyed.”

No room for bargaining. No second chances.

The Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness fell silent. It could sense that the terrifying beings outside had not let their killing intent fade — merely reined it in temporarily. The moment it showed the slightest sign of defiance, that annihilating onslaught would descend upon it again in an instant.

Even though the Immortal Realm’s will currently held the upper hand within the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness, the instinct for survival was still etched into its very bones.

If the world was destroyed, then truly nothing would remain.

After signing the contract, it would no longer be able to move against these people, but at least its source power wouldn’t drain too severely.

“I… I’ll sign…”

As the Mystic Spirit Realm’s intent transmitted outward, the contract flew toward the boundary membrane and this time merged into it without the slightest obstruction.

Once the contract was successfully signed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

The concentrated barrage just now may have looked spectacular — the sky ablaze with dazzling Firework Blasts, the momentum awe-inspiring, as if their power were inexhaustible — but every single person knew the truth. Behind every seemingly exhilarating strike burned a massive amount of disposable Mana!

Each Firework Blast that Anita personally fired consumed one hundred billion Mana worth of disposable Mana.

The Eighth Rank Firework Blast Magic Cards that the others used were slightly weaker than Anita’s own casting, yet consumed even more Mana.

Maintaining that kind of overwhelming firepower for even one additional second meant astronomical expenditure.

All of that Mana had been painstakingly accumulated by them over time, bit by bit — their entire savings.

Spending it had been satisfying, certainly, but it was impossible not to feel the sting.

The faster they could force the other side to submit and finalize the contract, the smaller their losses would be. The contract being signed now meant this costly “show of force” could finally come to an end, and the phase of reaping returns was about to begin.

Carmela had also reached the Eighth Rank now. The binding power of her contracts was something the Mystic Spirit Realm could absolutely never break free from.

Once established, no matter how deep the Mystic Spirit Realm’s world consciousness harbored malice toward them, it could no longer directly interfere with or attack any of their activities.

It couldn’t even deliberately obstruct the promotion of Card Magic, because doing so would violate the contract terms and trigger a backlash from the power of the rules.

Unless it was willing to endure the terrible consequences of the contract shattering and its world’s source power being forcibly extracted and delivered to Mo Lan and the others, it could only watch helplessly — and even had to cooperate with their actions.

With this layer of protection in place, everyone could safely pilot their respective cosmic travel vessels through the Mystic Spirit Realm’s boundary membrane and officially dock inside the Mystic Spirit Realm.

What came next was the familiar routine that everyone had done many times before.

Gain a deep understanding of this world’s customs, power systems, and cultural beliefs. Then Mo Lan would design a fully localized version — a “Mystic Spirit Academy” edition perfectly tailored to the Mystic Spirit Realm’s characteristics — and leverage the world consciousness’s power to begin large-scale promotion.

Just as everyone was preparing to set off on their respective tasks, Mo Lan glanced toward the quiet figure in the pilot’s seat.

“Clack, did you capture the entire process of the assault on the Mystic Spirit Realm just now?”

The little skeleton Clack obediently nodded, the soul fire in its eye sockets flickering calmly.

It raised a bony finger and tapped the control panel a few times. A clear, multi-angle recording was pulled up.

From the boundary membrane’s enthusiastic disguise, to revealing its true colors before the contract, to the frenzied concentrated bombardment, and finally the scene of the boundary membrane on the verge of shattering as the world consciousness wailed and begged for mercy — nothing was missing. The footage was stable, the energy fluctuation records were crisp, and the whole thing was tremendously impactful.

Mo Lan reviewed it carefully. After confirming there were no issues, she exported and encrypted a copy for safekeeping.

But that wasn’t enough. She also grabbed several compact personal recorders equipped with ultra-high-definition filming capabilities before leaving the Starsea Ark to rendezvous with Vasida and the others, who had already begun their preliminary survey.

“Moira, what are you bringing those for?” Vasida asked curiously, eyeing the several active recorders hovering around her.

Weren’t they supposed to be focusing on gathering information about the world right now?

Mo Lan smiled slightly. “We recorded the entire process of our ‘armed persuasion’ of the Mystic Spirit Realm in full clarity. Later, when we go to ‘visit’ other Spirit Realms, if they prove as stubbornly unyielding as the Mystic Spirit Realm was at first, we can play this footage for their world consciousnesses to ‘study.’

“Consider it another form of ‘show of force’ and ‘psychological deterrence.’

“Let them see with their own eyes what happens to those who resist. Perhaps it will help them make the ‘correct’ choice more quickly.

“And then let them see how the world becomes better and better after Card Magic is promoted — they might not be so resistant after that.”

Vasida immediately understood her intent, her eyes lighting up. “Brilliant! That way, we might save ourselves a ton of Mana! If we can get them to agree to cooperate without lifting a finger, that would be even better. My heart was breaking during that bombardment just now!”

“Exactly!” Mo Lan nodded. “We still need to minimize everyone’s expenditure during the ‘armed persuasion’ phase as much as possible. Every bit of Mana we save is capital for our future confrontation with the Immortal Realm, and everyone gets to earn more too.

“Even the Immortal Realm itself knows how to weigh its options when faced with absolute power.

“Let alone these Spirit Realm world consciousnesses that have been assimilated by it and learned the Immortal Realm’s ways.

“The more evil-aligned a world consciousness is, the more ruthlessly it will do whatever it takes to survive.

“When faced with the threat of annihilation and a clear ‘cautionary tale,’ they will understand the meaning of ‘self-preservation through discretion’ better than any cultivator.”