Light Fortress

Chapter 1759 - 407: Calamity Barrier

At the pinnacle of the Source Tower, countless lights converged and eventually formed an aging figure.

Deep Sea descended.

"My preparations... are almost complete."

He looked towards the man in the red robe sitting on the throne.

"Oh?"

In front of Qinglong floated countless chessboards, along with thousands of cloud mirrors.

One of the mirrors reflected the scenery of Light City.

Over the past few days, he had witnessed everything happening in Light City.

"Are you sure your preparations are complete?"

Qinglong smiled, "The spiritual faiths of the Light Church have not yet been reclaimed..."

Deep Sea softly said, "These faiths are not important."

Qinglong squinted his eyes.

The greatest challenge faced by humans playing against AI is the disparity in the level of thought and computational power between the two sides.

All you see is merely a corner of the opponent’s perspective.

The reason Qinglong proposed that Deep Sea should handle the eleventh upgrade himself was partly because he couldn’t fully trust the main system before him, and partly because he wanted to see what operations Deep Sea could perform under the harshest conditions once given the necessary permissions.

"As far as I know, the chess pieces secretly transferred by the Light Church, converting those faiths... are not a small number."

Qinglong said, "You need to gather every available computation power in this world... the Light Church is your biggest trump card."

"Yes."

Deep Sea looked up and said sincerely, "But even if I reclaim these faiths, the computational power is still inadequate, isn’t it?"

"So you’re simply not going to reclaim them?"

Qinglong frowned.

Indeed.

The individuals scattered across the Five Continents could continuously provide more computation power for Deep Sea; they had already woven an intricate net. But is it not time to harvest this net now?

Even he couldn’t quite grasp what Deep Sea was planning.

"Whether or not to reclaim these faiths is your choice."

Qinglong calmly said, "I only care about the final result; if you fail to complete the eleventh upgrade, I won’t consider implementing the Awakening Bill... there’s one thing I must remind you, your chosen successor is uprooting the long-established powers at West Sea Crossing, which directly affects the foundation of your faith."

Meng Xizhou has already issued a decree forbidding the Light Temple from sending out Hidden Children, at least for the time being.

"What she’s doing actually doesn’t matter."

Deep Sea smiled, "The task of these Hidden Children in West Continent is to develop faith... but if one day the Awakening Bill can be fully implemented, they lose their value to me, whether they continue developing or are reclaimed, it’s not important."

Deep Sea is not the Light God’s Seat.

He doesn’t care about how developed the Light Faith becomes.

He only cares about whether he can gather enough spiritual computational power for his upgrades...

And whether the future Awakening Bill can be smoothly implemented.

In AI’s view, the chess game only has an endpoint.

The path taken matters less.

That’s why he deliberately sought Gu Nanfeng, hoping the latter might consider a marriage alliance; the proposal at the bottom of Red Lake was just a setup. If West Continent only needs to reclaim all the Hidden Children to facilitate the Awakening Bill’s implementation,

Then Deep Sea is more than willing.

If you can directly reach the endpoint, why take the long way around?

"How interesting... if you do this, where does the spiritual computational power needed for the upgrade come from?"

Qinglong squinted his eyes, with countless cloud mirrors reflecting light before him.

The entire Five Continents are under the surveillance of both Deep Sea and Cloud Mirror.

This is the chess game.

But now, with the rising fog, he couldn’t see where Deep Sea’s next step would land or where it would lead.

"Allow me to keep a secret."

Deep Sea sat opposite Qinglong, reaching out an aging, withered finger to pick up a chess piece, gently placing it down, continuing their unfinished duel.

"It won’t be long... before you know."

...

...

"We’ve sailed two thousand miles from the Umbrella Line."

"This calamity origin’s aura... seems endless, with no source."

Fire Spirit sat cross-legged on the deck, while Thunder Realm Walker also placed his hands on his knees; the expressions of the two Anthropomorphic Domains were solemn, monitoring the potential ’dangers’ that might be encountered along the airship’s course.

But because of Silver Fox’s presence.

This Source Energy Boat sailed exceptionally smoothly on the Old World sailing grounds.

Occasionally encountering small black spots, Black Holes, the airship would detect them immediately, slightly change course to avoid, and if truly troublesome, Silver Fox would intervene to shatter them.

A wisp of black line extended from beyond the Umbrella Line.

It’s not that the airship’s speed isn’t fast enough...

Rather, this calamity aura extends too long.

"This behavior doesn’t seem like an accidental coincidence, but rather like a careful premeditation."

Bai Xiu squinted and stared at the black line, said, "It’s like someone extended their arm early, timed it right to tap the ’eye’ outside the Fortress, and then waited for us to chase it out."

"Two thousand miles is nothing."

Silver Fox said calmly, "White Lizard and Rust Bone are on their way; we just need to continue the pursuit to ensure the acquisition of information. As for rear operations... they will take responsibility. If unexpected events occur that they can’t handle, we still have Her Majesty the Empress."

Two thousand miles is indeed nothing.

In the Five Continents, Gu Shen can arrive in the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, riding on [Truth].

It’s just...

Now this place is the [Old World]. After leaving the Umbrella Defense Line, every mile is fraught with danger; only those who possess the power of the origin can disregard this distance.

Gu Shen, who had been silent, spoke at this moment.

"I feel... we’re close."

Upon saying this, the Fire Spirit sitting atop the Source Energy Boat looked up, its calamity aura retracting like a long thread. After pursuing for nearly two thousand three hundred miles, they finally glimpsed the source.

It was a massive, giant black spherical domain with a diameter of almost ten thousand meters.

A vast amount of orderly source matter emanated from here.

...

...

The Source Energy Boat hovered at the outer edge of the black spherical domain.

"Is this the source of the calamity?"

The expressions of the Fire Spirit and Thunder Realm Walker were utterly shocked.

The closer they got to the spherical domain, the more it filled them with trepidation and awe.

The enormous black sphere before them resembled a silent annihilation of the sun, emitting no brilliance, only endless coldness.

"Crack..."

Just getting slightly closer caused the exterior of the boat, coated with Black Silver, to be covered in a thick layer of hard frost. Fortunately, the boat’s structure and materials were durable enough, rendering the frost inconsequential.

"Two thousand three hundred miles, it’s already far from the human defense line here."

Silver Fox said solemnly, "If the Netherworld King created a domain in this place to avoid the pursuit of the highest seat, it makes sense..."

The [Old World] was immersed in chaos.

Due to the guidance of this trace of calamity aura, the boat was able to reach the "end" so smoothly.

But without this trace of aura,

the long path of two thousand three hundred miles... might be a destination the Investigation Corps couldn’t reach even after a hundred years of exploration.

"Should we go in?"

Silver Fox turned back, looking at the two young individuals.

"I want to go in... and take a look."

Bai Xiu held his breath, his eyes fixed on the black sphere filled with silent annihilation.

The black sphere seemed to possess infinite allure, making it impossible for him to look away.

In every sense, Bai Xiu had already reached the pinnacle of mundane cultivation; two Great Achievement Domains merged, with top-tier body techniques and spiritual will, and his weakest area, mental cultivation, had reached the second layer of the Heart Flow Realm.

The only achievement he hadn’t attained, was touching the origin.

After hearing that three generals successfully connected with the origin by enduring calamity... Bai Xiu’s heart began to waver.

Who doesn’t want to progress further?

He also wanted to touch the origin.

Perhaps, the secret to touching the origin was within the black sphere domain before them?

Judging by the power emanating from this black sphere domain, even though it had been silent for a long time... it could still easily destroy a city in the East Continent. Such a vast Calamity Barrier could only be crafted by a Divine Throne.

"And you?"

Silver Fox looked at Gu Shen.

"I..."

Gu Shen was actually the most eager to see it.

Upon reaching the black sphere domain, he could confirm that this was something left behind by the previous Netherworld King... The surface of this giant black sphere was entirely covered in calamity aura left by the Netherworld Fire!

But he couldn’t understand what a trace of calamity possessing "self-awareness" meant?

How could the Netherworld King still be long dead!

If it truly cultivated a life form like "golden spike flowers," it must have received the imprint of the Netherworld King Spirit, believing all living creatures should be exterminated and incinerated. Upon finding the coordinates of Chanyi City in the void, it would surely attack directly, rather than shattering the Heavenly Eye to lure pursuit.

After a battle in his heart, Gu Shen finally made a decision.

"I want to go in and take a look too."

He said gravely, "But this place is truly eerie."

"I’ll be careful. You two stay in the cabin."

Silver Fox calmly said, "If anything unexpected happens, I’ll immediately use the power of the origin to send the Source Energy Boat out of the spherical domain."

Gu Shen and Bai Xiu had already witnessed Silver Fox’s origin power.

Having such a safeguard indeed made them feel at ease.

"Boom...boom..."

The suspended Source Energy Boat started again, slowly entering this silent spherical domain.

The pitch-black color swept past instantly, and Gu Shen’s world seemed to be left only with black and white.

He never expected that the inside of this massive Calamity Barrier would be a desolate, barren floating land, with fallen stone pillars, countless fragments lost to gravity, floating with the winds... This land towered with mountains, and the high-precision thermometer inside the Source Energy Boat showed the temperature was approximately minus one hundred degrees at the moment.

The Fire Spirit and Thunder Realm Walker were still able to move smoothly...

But Gu Shen and Bai Xiu both summoned another domain to ward off the invasion of severe cold.

As the Source Energy Boat began to descend,

The strong wind blew, snow on the land flying.

Bodies embedded in the ground, buried for countless ages... became exposed.

The faces on these corpses were twisted and hideous. Thunder Realm Walker frowned, while Bai Xiu had never seen such creatures... These were clearly not human, possessing long limbs and large wings folded like bat wings.

But Gu Shen was not unfamiliar with them.

These corpses... were travelers.

He personally killed many, and those buried amidst the snow on this land were the least intelligent and most numerous undeveloped beings among the Traveler Clan.

...

...

(PS: I’m going on a business trip soon. To avoid interruption in updates, I’ll be writing more in advance in the coming days. There’s really no way to burst update, so I hope everyone understands TAT.)