Warhammer: Don't Call Me the God of All Machines

Chapter 909 The Origins and Arrogant Ambition of Esoteric Buddhism

Upon witnessing the barge mentioned by Uslan descend from the sky, Narek immediately grabbed his primary weapon: a modified Brontus-type sniper rifle, casually slung it over his shoulder, and then sprinted frantically toward the direction where the spaceship was landing.

He carried a Spirit Race talisman given to him by Uslan, which could effectively reduce the effects of planetary gravity on his body, allowing him to move quickly across the desert and Gobi world at speeds comparable to jet vehicles.

When Guilliman, Uslan, and the others stepped out of the spaceship, Narek had already reached the vicinity of the landing point, occupied a high vantage point, and aimed his sniper rifle at the hatch.

Uslan waved his staff, sending another signal to Narek to confirm his identity.

“It’s me. You’d better put down that gun. It’s just a stick now, and it’s useless except for provoking people.” Uslan’s voice rang in Narek’s ears.

Narek's gaze immediately locked onto Guilliman, who was in the lead. His pupils contracted slightly, and an uncontrollable look of horror appeared on his face.

He only knew from Uslan's information that there was a "human representative", but he did not expect that it was the original Genetic Primarch himself.

"Robert Guilliman?"

Bassatu Narek's voice was filled with disbelief.

Then, the Word Bearer saw the army of Primarch clones behind Guilliman, a total of eighteen Primarchs appearing before him.

“This… Uslan, you didn’t tell me you brought an entire… Primarch delegation this time!?” His gaze was fixed on the Eldar prophet, demanding an answer.

He saw the clone of Luo Jia, but his keen intuition immediately told him that it was not the Luo Jia he was trying to kill.

The Great Manifestation One was forced to ascend to demonhood long ago, becoming a creature that is neither human nor ghost, so how could he still be the same as before?

Uslan nodded slightly: "The situation is special, Narek. Now it's not just us who want the Cult dead; the Human Empire also very much wants this organization to become history."

Narek took a deep breath, quickly suppressing his shock and regaining the composure of a professional hunter.

"...Good, the more power joins in, the more likely it is to tear apart those scum hiding in the shadows."

Narek was indeed invited by Uslan at the beginning. He helped Uslan wipe out the cult, and Uslan helped him kill Loka Aurelion.

However, after he became fully involved, Narek suffered many setbacks at the hands of the cult, and was even nearly killed by their traps several times.

The hatred between the two sides deepened, and Narek even swore an oath to place the Cult on the same kill list as his Primarch.

Guilliman stepped forward, and his unique aura made Narek instinctively shudder, straightening his back to appear more alert.

“Basatu Narek, the Prophet Uslan recommended you. We need all the information you have about Tantric Buddhism.”

In fact, Guilliman recognized the Word Bearer warrior the moment he saw him.

When Vulcan was assassinated on Macurag, the seriously wounded Narek was abandoned by the two cult agents and captured on the spot by the Ultramarines. Guilliman thus had a brief encounter with him.

However, due to a series of events, Guilliman completely forgot about this person's existence. Furthermore, they learned through psychic mind reading that Narek was actually one of the very few loyalists among the Word Bearers and was determined to kill Loka. So they simply released him and banished him from the Five Hundred Worlds.

And now Narek hasn't brought up that old story, the implication of which is self-evident.

The human empire is now the undisputed ruler of the galaxy, so a wandering Astartes bearing the mark of the Legion of Word Bearers naturally needs to find a strong enough backer.

Narek is not a mindless brute; he survived the great purge within the Word Bearers Legion and is still able to carry out missions with boundless energy.

If he can perfectly resolve the issue of the cult for Guilliman this time, then this high-ranking Primarch will be his biggest backer.

Narek paid homage to the Primarchs, then turned to signal them to follow.

After leading the group through the complex Gobi and mountain ranges on the planet's surface for several rounds, the Astartes arrived at an extremely secluded base shelter.

Upon entering, Guilliman immediately discovered that although the place was simple, it was fully functional, even including a tactical intelligence room.

All the Primarchs squeezed into the tactical intelligence room, making the room extremely crowded in an instant.

The walls of the intelligence room were covered with star maps of the Aktash sector, and various data panels were filled with dense annotations and speculative routes. A complex, blurry image was slowly rotating on the central holographic projector.

“I’ve been tracking the cult. They are indeed cunning, but not invincible,” Narek said, getting straight to the point.

“The esoteric religions never stay in one place for long. They will transform a planet to suit their needs, and after staying for a while, they will not hesitate to destroy it and then migrate to the next habitable place.”

"So this planet became like this because of those cult aliens?" Guilliman frowned slightly, then asked.

"Yes, in fact, this planet was called 'Nurs' before it was destroyed, and it was a human colony at that time."

Narek answered Guilliman's question: "It's just that after the arrival of the cult, the humans here were unable to resist these strange and bizarre aliens, and had no choice but to submit to them."

"However, joining the cult does not mean that one can integrate into them. In fact, the vast majority of those who join the alien humans meet a very tragic end; they become excellent experimental subjects."

He brought up a holographic projection, which displayed various bizarre alien shapes and grotesquely modified, twisted human bodies.

Narek's narration seemed to lower the temperature in the tactical intelligence room by several degrees.

The distorted creatures on the holograms, the forcibly spliced ​​alien limbs and human organs, and the faces screaming in agony on the experimental table, silently accuse the heinous crimes of the Tantric sect.

“Those foolish mortals, who think they can survive by surrendering to the aliens, are only delusional. They only suffer a fate worse than death.” Narek’s voice was icy.

"The cult's aliens conducted experiments on human slaves, stripping away their so-called fragile emotions and subspace sensitivity, and reshaping their bodies with cold alien technology in order to become invisible or even immune to chaos."

“We humans have actually been gradually transforming into a completely new psionic race since a long time ago. Every individual has the potential to be born with psionic talents. The results of these cult alien experiments are predictable.”

"Many human slaves were turned into drooling idiots, their souls were destroyed, and they were gradually stripped of their dignity and pride as human beings."

As Narek described the scene, among the many Primarchs present, Clone Angron's breathing became heavy, his psionic powers allowing him to perceive the visions in the Word Bearer's mind.

These horrific images ignited a deep-seated rage within him against oppressors and perpetrators.

After all, back in Nukelia, many of his gladiator brothers and sisters were tortured and killed by those slave owners in the same way, and he himself had the Butcher's Nail implanted in him.

“You despicable bastards!” he growled. “These scum who toy with human lives and inflict suffering deserve to be torn to pieces!”

Clone Mortarion's face was obscured by his hood, but a faint, chilling killing intent permeated the air around him.

Even the usually composed Clone Chagatai Khan crossed his arms, his brow furrowed: "To conduct such large-scale, unscrupulous live experiments for a vague and uncertain goal... these cult monsters..."

"The sin is unforgivable!"

Amidst the crowd's outrage, Guilliman paced silently, his sharp gaze sweeping over every photograph of the cult's aliens and every data panel on the wall.

His gaze fell on a rather inconspicuous screen in the corner of the intelligence room.

It was a bipedal humanoid creature with slender limbs, smooth blue skin, a peculiar facial structure, and no nose.

Guilliman stopped abruptly, his eyelids twitching slightly.

The floodgates of memory burst open, and a jumble of images rushed into his mind.

When the Five Hundred Worlds were engulfed in a devastating storm and the entire Ultramar was in turmoil, his close friend Loshi went to the Far Eastern frontier to investigate matters related to the Sosa Lighthouse and the Black Stone.

Encrypted reports sent back from the front lines mentioned a new alien civilization known as the "Titanium" race.

Guilliman was impressed by them because of the sharp "tai" sound they made when they were dying, which is why he named them the Tau.

This somewhat hellish naming convention was enough to secure a solid foundation in Guilliman's brain, which stored a vast amount of information.

Guilliman clearly remembered that the report mentioned that these Tau aliens exhibited unusual insulation against subspace influences, which meant that their bodies could actually be used as a kind of psionic inert material.

However, at the final moment of annihilating the Tau aliens, a mysterious and powerful psychic force suddenly intervened, forcibly rescuing the remaining Tau troops...

At the time, this report was just one insignificant case among a vast sea of ​​border conflicts and did not attract much attention.

After all, the human empire was fighting countless aliens every day, and Guilliman was already overwhelmed by the Shadow Expeditions of Loka and Angron, with no news of Terra at all. He had no time to deal with these things.

But now, against the backdrop of the evidence of cult crimes provided by Narek and the warnings of the prophet Uslan, that long-buried memory has become incredibly clear and unsettling.

“Narek,” Guilliman’s voice broke the commotion in the room as he pointed to the image of the alien creature, “where did you take a picture of this creature? And what is their connection to Tantric Buddhism?”

Narek glanced at it, racked his brains for a moment, and confirmed, "It's an abandoned observation station on the edge of the Nurse system. The cult's fleet had just left, and I found a small number of these alien creatures and some technological artifacts in the ruins."

"They seem to have had contact with esoteric Buddhism, but apparently they were abandoned due to old age and frailty, left to die in the ruins of the planet."

Guilliman's heart sank, confirming his suspicions.

He turned to the crowd and said in a serious tone, "Gentlemen, I think I have found another missing piece of the puzzle."

Guilliman quickly recounted his memories of the Tau and their rescue by the mysterious psionicist.

"Now that I think about it, that psychic power that was able to forcibly rescue a large number of aliens right under the noses of our fleet and the Astartes Company was definitely not ordinary."

Combining the traces found in Narek at this location with the fact that Tantric Buddhism has consistently sought out and cultivated 'subspace-insensitive' beings…

Guilliman's gaze swept over Uslan, and he asked, "Prophet, do you know more?"

All eyes instantly focused on the Eldar prophet.

Uslan sighed softly, a complex expression appearing on his elegant face.

“Your Excellency Regent, your associations and speculations… are largely correct.”

The tip of his staff glowed faintly, and a new psionic image appeared, showing several figures dressed in ancient Eldar clothing, with gloomy and aloof demeanors.

“The Tantric religion is not monolithic; it has many factions, one of which is dominated by a small number of extremist members of the Spirit Clan.”

They firmly believed that the Eldar, due to their powerful psychic abilities and deep connection to the warp, were hopelessly on the verge of extinction and would one day be utterly destroyed by the Prince of Pleasure.

"Their solution is extremely radical and brutal: they hope to cultivate or create a new 'mainstream galactic race' with extremely low or even zero psionic potential, and gradually replace the existing races."

By drastically reducing the number of intelligent life within the galaxy and diminishing the emotional energy the warp can obtain from it, they believe they can eventually starve the warp, or at least weaken it to a point where it can no longer threaten the real universe.

"The Tau race you mentioned is one of the most promising candidates that they have cultivated over a long period of time. They were rescued from the human expeditionary force by certain cultivators within the cult."

Guilliman listened intently and seriously, not missing a single detail.

As the fog obscuring his vision gradually dissipated, he began to discover that this seemingly insignificant and unremarkable cult actually possessed such long-term goals and arrogant ambitions.

Yes, Guilliman described them as arrogant.

Humans are currently the dominant species in the galaxy, but the galaxy is also home to the Ork, the Eldar, and other powerful regional races.

The Randan Empire, Lady Kra, and the Hruds were all incredibly powerful beings, and almost all of them were psionic races. The joys and sorrows, loves and fears of these intelligent beings would nourish the power of the warp, continuously providing strength to the High Heavens.

The goal of the cult was to eliminate all these races so that a race with better warp insulation could replace the galactic overlord.

But upon closer reflection, Guilliman suddenly found it amusing; these cult supernatural beings were truly daring and audacious.

Which of the races vying for supremacy in the galaxy isn't a righteous and powerful force, capable of swallowing up vast distances like a tiger?

The Necromancers, destroyers of the Old Ones and terminators of the Star Gods; the Aedalin, a powerful race that forced the Necromancers into slumber to avoid their wrath; the Orks, even weakened from their current state as the Kork Orks, are still a green plague in the galaxy, causing headaches for other races.

Not to mention humans, who have fought these powerful races in real combat, earning their respect and fear through sheer force.

As for the esoteric sects, they hide in the shadows, carrying out what they believe to be perfect plans, weaving shady conspiracies, and thinking they can reshape the galaxy's situation.

ridiculous.

Uslan was clearly ashamed of the actions of these extremist Eldar.

“My compatriots… have gone astray. This kind of ‘redemption’ based on genocide and forced transformation is itself the greatest desecration of life.”

"And the chances of this plan succeeding are so slim as to be almost nonexistent, but the pain and destruction it brings are all too real."

The dark relatives of the Comoros at least frankly admit their depravity, while these cult members use 'noble goals' to whitewash themselves.

The intelligence room was deathly silent.

The Primarch clones were shocked by this massive, insane, and ruthless plan.

Even those who hated the aliens the most felt a chill from the depths of their souls. This was no longer a simple act of plunder or destruction, but a godlike arrogance attempting to fundamentally reshape the landscape of life in the galaxy!

Guilliman slammed his fist on the cold metal tabletop with a dull thud.

His cobalt blue eyes burned with a cold rage; his previous urgency to save his mother had now been sublimated into a grander and more resolute determination.

“It’s not just about Ms. Yoton,” his voice was resolute, echoing in the small space, “it’s not just about seizing technology. This cult, their very existence, is the ultimate blasphemy against humanity and all forms of natural life.”

Their experiments must be stopped, their plans must be utterly destroyed, their hive ships must be reduced to cosmic dust, and not a single member of the cult, regardless of race or motives, shall be spared!

He looked around at each of his clone brothers, as well as Narek and Uslan, his eyes revealing an unwavering determination.

"We must ensure that the technology concerning artificial immortals, and all their research data on the 'warp-insulated races,' are either completely under our control or permanently destroyed."

We must not allow this dangerous knowledge to fall into the hands of any power, including... any ambitious individuals within our own ranks.

At this moment, Guilliman's ruthlessness and decisiveness as regent of the empire were on full display. For the survival of humanity, he was willing to stop at nothing, including destroying forbidden knowledge that might pose a great temptation if necessary.

Once the strategic goals and policies were determined, the remaining arrangements became very clear.

All they needed to do was find the movement trajectory of the Cult's hive ship from the clues that Narek had painstakingly gathered bit by bit over a long period of time, and then block those damned aliens at their next stop.

As for whether they can completely wipe out these aliens, no one doubts that.

Their expeditionary force comprised a genuine Primarch, seventeen clone Primarchs, Eldar prophet Uslan, the Deathwatch Chapter specializing in combat against Xenomorphs, and the Grey Knights squad led by Gavial Loken.

With this lineup, how could we possibly lose?
And even if esoteric religions have their trump cards, don't humans have theirs too?

With just one psionic call from Guilliman, the God-Emperor's apostle Magnus would arrive on the battlefield with the human army through the Web, and the Cursed Legion's bomb guns would be pressed against the Xenomorph's forehead, smashing its skull and brains to smithereens.

"Alright, everyone, let's get moving. We must find the migration pattern of the cult's nest ships and then locate the settlement they are heading to."

"We must hurry. The longer we delay, the more crimes these abominable aliens will commit against humanity, and billions of people will die from their cruel torture and biochemical experiments."

All the records and reports that Narek had accumulated were spread out and read by the Primarch clones, and then the summarized data was sent to the matrix of the fleet's main control AI, which was stationary in orbit.

Narek has been tracking the cult for over eighty years. Like a Shiba Inu with a keen sense of smell, he has always followed these aliens, secretly observing their movements.

Even the cult itself probably didn't know that there was a human warrior who was full of perseverance, ability, and determination who had been watching them all along.

They have paid a heavy price to cover their tracks, taking many seemingly impractical measures to maintain secrecy.

For safety, they might even destroy the hard-won footholds they've established, leaving only countless pieces of space debris.

Although Tantric Buddhism possesses sophisticated abilities to alter terrain and has achieved great mastery in atmospheric manipulation techniques, it is still not a simple matter.

After spending half a Terraday, Guilliman finally breathed a long sigh of relief. The data they had entered was being analyzed and modeled by the main AI to generate the movement trajectory of the Cult Nest Ship.

A brand new star map is being generated, showing a dense network of anchor points scattered throughout the Milky Way, covering all five star regions.

The closer Guilliman looked, the more he gasped in horror.

"These damn aliens, how fast they can run."

“In the Extreme Starfield, they have more than 45 outposts, while in the Pacific Starfield they have 23.”

“They go wherever it is remote, like rats in a sewer, scurrying around in search of food and shelter.”

"Hmm? While we were at war with the Ghoul Orc Empire, the Secret Cult actually chose to set up a base in the Hazy Starfield, near the Ghoul Cluster. Are they taking advantage of the chaos?"

Guilliman was both annoyed and amused.

These cult members are quite something; they can be careful because they can decisively change their base every so often, and they're also quite audacious because they dared to show up and take advantage of the situation when the human empire and the orc empire were at war.

"The results are in!" Klon Peturabo suddenly shouted.

His eyes were filled with a large number of numbers and symbols used for calculations, and he looked unusually excited.

"The result is that these alien migrations are irregular."

“Every time they destroy their own foothold, they initiate a warp drive, then travel to any other possible location to rebuild and modify the world, and then capture experimental subjects.”

"Even the computing power of the main control AI is powerless to do anything about it, because their special subspace travel methods are different from our subspace jumps."

"Predicting a warp jump is inherently a highly unpredictable matter, and the unfathomable logic of the cult's higher-ups adds even more uncertainty to the already unpredictable situation."

"cut--"

The other clones booed at Peturabo's results.

"Can we find their location through prophecy?" Klonmagnus asked Uslan.

The Eldar prophet could only shake his head helplessly: "The cult's hive ships possess extremely powerful stealth capabilities. They can release signals that interfere with physical and psionic communications, and even mislead third-party prophecies."

"Don't forget, there are members of our Spirit Clan among the high-ranking members of the Secret Cult, and as far as I know, their psychic prophetic abilities are more refined and stable than ours; they call it 'precognitive sensitivity'."

When Guilliman heard Uslan's words, his eyes suddenly lit up.

"Since the movements of the cult are so elusive, how did Narek manage to keep following them?"

The Word Bearer Warrior replied somewhat awkwardly.

“I got a lot of good stuff from Uslan, including a special tool for using the Eldar network to move, and a reconnaissance device that can detect the special signal bands of the Cult’s hive ships.”

"When the cult hive ship stops, it releases its activity signals, which I then use the network to track it after detecting them."

"However, there is an awkward time difference. When the esoteric sects stop, they will release signals, but by the time I catch the signals, they have already been transmitted for quite some time. By the time I get there, they have often already left."

"So most of the things I find are members or trash that have been abandoned, left behind, or destroyed by esoteric sects."

"And the departing cult nest ships would then block their own signals, creating a vicious cycle in which I was always one step behind them."

Guilliman took a deep breath; he already had a solution in mind.

"In that case."

"Then I have a solution."

“Our opponents now possess a stronger ability to predict the future than we do. This is both their advantage and their disadvantage, so we must do the opposite.”

"Aren't they very good at prophecy? Then let all their prophecies come true."

"By the way, Prophet Uslan, you mentioned that Tantric religions can interfere with prophecies and distort their accuracy. So, are you able to roughly sense their location?"

Uslan pondered for a moment, then nodded solemnly.

"Yes, I will do my best."

"it is good!"

Guilliman immediately waved his hand, instructing everyone to move everything from here onto their warship.

Guilliman's decision was not something that all Primarchs, or even Astartes, could understand.

For example, Angron still doesn't quite understand what he meant by "let all their prophecies come true".

Cloned Magnus answered Anglon's question.

"The underlying logic of Tantric Buddhism initiating prophecies is to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune. As long as they predict that something bad will happen, they will make changes in advance to avoid going down that bad timeline."

"If they sense that they intend to stay and a human fleet arrives, then they will leave and find another place."

"Suppose we create enough false futures, we can influence the choices of esoteric Buddhism."

"For example, we can issue a mobilization order to system A in the Aktash sector, and then surround and destroy the cult's nest ship there. Naturally, a future will emerge where we head to system A."

"The esoteric sects will then use prophecies to avoid going to Galaxy A and running into us."

"Then, by analogy, we can continue to exhaustively list them, and the esoteric sect will predict more and more areas that cannot be chosen, thereby continuously shrinking the operational space of the esoteric sect's nest ship."

"Their choice of where to set up camp was not arbitrary; if you observe carefully, you will find that there are patterns to it."

"They would choose blind spots in the Empire's oversight, where the defenses are far away or lack protection, and where there are also habitable planets to meet their experimental needs."

"In this way, the choices become very limited. We can use the constantly created future probabilities to drive them into a pre-set cage trap!"

(End of this chapter)