Chapter 1 My Preparation... Is Almost Complete

At the spire of the Tower of Origin, countless rays of light converged, ultimately coalescing into a wizened figure.

The Deep Sea had descended.

"My preparation... is almost complete."

He gazed at the crimson-robed man seated upon the throne.

"Oh?"

An uncountable number of chessboard platforms floated before Qing Lou, along with tens of thousands of cloud-like mirrors.

One of these mirrors reflected the scene of Guang Ming City.

He had been watching the events that had unfolded in Guang Ming City over the past few days.

"Are you certain your preparations are complete?"

Qing Lou smiled. "Those spiritual beliefs of the Guang Ming Church haven't been recovered yet..."

The Deep Sea said softly, "Those beliefs are not important."

Qing Lou narrowed his eyes.

The greatest challenge humans face when playing against AI is the vast difference in processing power and thought patterns.

All you see is a fraction of their overall vision.

Qing Lou had requested that the Deep Sea solve the problem of mental processing power required for the eleventh upgrade on its own. Partly because he couldn't fully trust the main system before him, but also because... he wanted to see what kind of operations the Deep Sea, with its granted permissions, could perform under extremely harsh conditions.

"As far as I know, those chess pieces that the Guang Ming Church secretly transferred, the beliefs they have secretly converted... are not a small number."

Qing Lou said, "Right now, you need to gather as much scattered processing power as possible in this world... The Guang Ming Church is your greatest asset."

"It is."

The Deep Sea raised his head and said sincerely, "But even if I recover these beliefs, the processing power will still be insufficient, won't it?"

"So you simply won't recover them?"

Qing Lou frowned.

Indeed.

These people, scattered throughout the Five Continents, could continuously provide more processing power for the Deep Sea in the future. They have already formed a network, but isn't now the time to close it?

Even he didn't quite understand what the Deep Sea was trying to do.

"Whether or not to recover these beliefs is your freedom."

Qing Lou said calmly, "I only care about the final result. If you can't complete the eleventh upgrade, I won't consider promoting the Awakening Bill... One thing I must remind you of is that the successor you have your eye on is uprooting the deeply entrenched power of the West Sea Ferry, which directly affects your foundation of faith."

Meng Xizhou had already issued a clear order prohibiting the Guang Ming Temple from sending out secret agents, at least for the time being.

"What she's doing isn't really that important either."

The Deep Sea smiled. "The mission of these secret agents in Xizhou is to develop faith... But if the Awakening Bill can be fully implemented and promulgated one day, they will lose their meaning to me. Whether they continue to develop or are recalled, it doesn't matter."

The Deep Sea is not the Guang Ming God Seat.

He doesn't care how far the Guang Ming faith has developed.

All he cares about is whether he can gather the mental processing power he needs for his upgrade...

And whether the future Awakening Bill can be successfully implemented.

The AI's chessboard only has an end point.

The intermediate paths are not so important.

That's why he deliberately sought out Gu Nanfeng, hoping that the latter would consider marriage. The proposal at the bottom of Red Lake was just a prelude. If Xizhou only needed to recall all the secret agents in exchange for the promulgation of the Awakening Bill,

Then the Deep Sea would be more than willing.

Since one can directly reach the end point, why bother with detours?

"That's really interesting... If you do that, where will the mental processing power you need for the upgrade come from?"

Qing Lou narrowed his eyes, and countless cloud mirrors before him refracted light.

The entire Five Continents were under the surveillance of the Deep Sea and the cloud mirrors.

This is the chessboard.

But now, shrouded in layers of mist, he couldn't see the Deep Sea's landing point or the direction of its next move.

"Please allow me to keep you in suspense."

The Deep Sea sat opposite Qing Lou, reached out his withered, aged fingers, picked up a chess piece, and gently placed it down, continuing their unfinished match.

"Before long... you will know."

...

...

"We have sailed two thousand *li* away from the Umbrella Defense Line."

"The aura of this Calamity Source Matter... seems endless, without a source."

Huo Ling sat cross-legged on the deck, while Lei Jie Xing Zhe was beside him, both hands on his knees. The two anthropomorphic Domains looked solemn, monitoring the "dangers" the airship might encounter on its way forward.

But because of Yin Hu's presence,

The Source Energy Airship sailed exceptionally smoothly in the Old World.

Occasionally, when encountering some small black spots or black holes, the airship would detect them in time and slightly change its course to avoid them. If they encountered something too tricky, Yin Hu would take action to shatter it.

A wisp of black thread extended from outside the Umbrella Defense Line.

It wasn't that the airship wasn't fast enough...

But rather, this wisp of Calamity aura was extending for too long.

"This behavior doesn't seem like an accident, but rather a deliberate plot."

Bai Xiu narrowed his eyes and stared at the black thread. "It's as if someone had reached out their arm long ago, aimed at the right time, tapped the 'eye' outside the fortress, and then waited for us to chase after it."

"Two thousand *li* is nothing."

Yin Hu said calmly, "Bai Xi and Xiu Gu are on their way. We just need to pursue and ensure we get firsthand information. As for the work of guarding the rear... they will be responsible for it. If an accident occurs that they can't handle, we still have Her Majesty the Queen."

Two thousand *li* was indeed nothing.

In the Five Continents, Gu Shen only needed a moment to step on Truth to arrive.

But...

This is the Old World. After leaving the Umbrella Defense Line, every *li* is full of danger. Only those who master the Origin can disregard this distance.

The silent Gu Shen spoke at this moment.

"I feel like... we're almost there."

As he spoke, Huo Ling, who was sitting on top of the Source Energy Airship, raised his neck. The Calamity aura was like a contracting long line. After the Source Energy Airship chased for nearly two thousand three hundred *li*, it finally glimpsed the source.

It was a huge, black spherical Domain with a diameter of nearly ten thousand meters.

A large amount of ordered Source Matter came from it.

...

...

The Source Energy Airship hovered on the outer edge of the black spherical Domain.

"This is the source of the Calamity?"

Huo Ling and Lei Jie Xing Zhe looked shocked.

The closer they got to the spherical Domain, the more they felt a sense of dread and awe.

The huge black sphere in front of them was like a dying sun, unable to emit any light, only endless coldness.

"Kacha..."

Just by getting a little closer, the black-silver plated surface of the airship was covered with a thick layer of hard, blue frost. Fortunately, the airship's structure and materials were solid enough, so the frost didn't amount to much.

"Two thousand three hundred *li*, this place is very far from the human defense line."

Yin Hu said in a deep voice, "If it's to avoid the pursuit of the Highest Council, it makes sense for Pluto to create a Domain in this kind of place..."

The Old World was in a state of chaos.

Because of the guidance of this wisp of Calamity aura, the airship was able to reach the "end point" so smoothly.

But without this aura,

The long path of two thousand three hundred *li* in a straight line... could be an end point that the Investigation Corps would not be able to find even after spending a century.

"Are we going in?"

Yin Hu turned back and looked at the two young men.

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

Bai Xiu held his breath, his eyes fixed on the black sphere full of deathly silence.

The black sphere seemed to have endless allure, making him unable to look away even for a moment.

In every sense, Bai Xiu had reached the pinnacle of mortal cultivation. The two perfected Domains were combined, and his physical skills and mental will were top-notch. Even his weakest state of mind cultivation had reached the second level of the Flow State.

The only achievement he hadn't achieved was touching the Origin.

After hearing that the three Great Generals had successfully come into contact with the Origin because they had survived the Calamity... Bai Xiu's heart also began to waver.

Who doesn't want to go further?

He also wanted to touch the Origin.

Perhaps the secret to touching the Origin lies within the black sphere in front of him?

Judging from the power emanating from this black sphere Domain, even though it has been dead for a long time... it can still easily destroy a city in Dongzhou. Such a huge Calamity Barrier can only be created by a God Seat.

"What about you?"

Yin Hu looked at Gu Shen.

"I..."

Gu Shen was actually the one who wanted to go in and see the most.

After arriving at the black sphere Domain, he could be sure that this was what the former Pluto had left behind... The surface of this huge black sphere was full of Calamity aura left over from the Netherfire!

But he couldn't understand what was going on with that wisp of Calamity that had "self-awareness"?

Pluto had been dead for a long time!

If a lifeform like the "Golden Grain Flower" had really been cultivated, it must have received the infusion of Pluto's spirit, believing that all living beings should be slaughtered and burned. Once the coordinates of the Cicada Wing City were found in the void, it would definitely launch an attack directly, instead of smashing the Heavenly Eye and inducing pursuit.

After a battle between heaven and man, Gu Shen finally made up his mind.

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

He said in a deep voice, "It's just that this place is really strange."

"I will be careful, don't leave the cabin."

Yin Hu said calmly, "If an accident occurs, I will immediately use the power of the Origin to send the Source Energy Airship out of the spherical Domain."

Gu Shen and Bai Xiu had already witnessed Yin Hu's Origin power.

With this layer of protection, they could indeed feel much more at ease.

"Rumble..."

The hovering Source Energy Airship started again and slowly drove into this silent spherical Domain.

The black color flashed past instantly, and the world in front of Gu Shen seemed to be only black and white.

He didn't expect that the inside of this huge Calamity Barrier was actually a barren, floating land. Stone pillars were broken, and countless debris lost gravity, floating with the wind... This continent was towering with high mountains, and the high-precision thermometer inside the Source Energy Airship showed that the current temperature was about minus one hundred degrees Celsius.

Huo Ling and Lei Jie Xing Zhe could still move freely...

But Gu Shen and Bai Xiu had summoned another Domain to avoid the invasion of the severe cold.

When the Source Energy Airship began to descend,

Strong winds blew, and land snow fluttered.

Corpses embedded in the ground, buried for unknown years... were revealed.

The faces of these corpses were extremely twisted and hideous. Lei Jie Xing Zhe frowned, and Bai Xiu had never seen such creatures... They were obviously not humans, with slender limbs and huge, bat-like wings.

But Gu Shen was no stranger to this.

These corpses... were Travelers. In the Doluo River Calamity Zone, he had personally killed many!

At this moment, those buried in the land snow were the lowest level of intelligence and the largest number of uncivilized creatures among the Traveler race.

...

...

(ps: I have to go on a business trip in a while. In order to keep updating, I will write some more manuscripts these days. I really can't make a big update, I hope everyone will forgive me.)