Chapter 1 The Pace of Technological Development Rises Explosively

The pace of technological development is rising explosively.

A hundred years ago, no one could have imagined that humans could fly into the sky without using magic. Fifty years ago, no one had ever thought that, in the face of the decline of spiritual energy, people could use 'mortal materials' without any spirituality to forge 'magical artifacts' and approach the territory of the Taiyin Xingjun (Lord of the Moon) and the Moon Goddess, and use mortal bodies to land on the 'Heavenly Palace'.

It's just like how the mortals of five hundred thousand years ago never imagined that their crude imitation of spirit beast breathing could lay an immortal foundation in the future, creating a civilization of immortals and gods.

All of this is a miracle, but also, in a sense, inevitable in this world.

The lunar landing program is not the first for any major power, but that doesn't mean that the vast majority of people around the world won't be excited when they hear about it—after nearly fifteen years, the manned extraterrestrial landing program has been restarted, and the unmanned lunar construction that had been stalled for three years has also resumed.

What secrets lie behind this? Is it purely to verify the recently developed rocket technology, or to land on possible immortal and god relics on the moon?

Naturally, some are optimistic and encouraging, while others hold dissatisfied and opposing views.

[Anonymous]: "The Earth's problems haven't been solved, what's the point of going to the moon? With this spare money, why not popularize the immortal and god inheritance?"

[Anonymous]: "So many secret realms on Earth haven't been developed, what's so good about developing the universe... the moon is just a big rock, the Beast God Realm and Tianchi Realm haven't been developed, what's the point of going there?"

"Do they really think that other worlds are as scenic, with simple customs, and hospitable as the Beast God Realm?"

Sitting at the cafeteria table, Su Zhou couldn't help but wonder as he clicked on his phone screen to spray: "As far as I know, those Netherworld Realms are as harsh as Venus, filled with corrosive negative energy. Ignoring other purposes, exploring the moon can also be considered as accumulating experience—and the authorities haven't made the specific intelligence about aliens public yet?"

"The Committee believes it's not the right time yet."

To Su Zhou's left, a short-haired man with a righteous appearance and simple features was cleaning up his tableware. Meng Jin, a veteran astronaut, heard Su Zhou's complaint and replied seriously: "The process of releasing the information will begin when we start exploring the far side of the moon. Accompanying filming robots will reveal the existence of some alien spaceships."

February 27, 2017, 12:15 PM.

There is still a week before the seventh lunar construction and the far side of the moon exploration mission.

At this time, the four astronauts had undergone a long period of simulation training and developed some tacit understanding.

Bai Jingtao is almost identical to his brother Bai Canglang. They are good-looking and share the Bai family template: tall and strong, with long hair and obvious tiger teeth, but he is more stable and taciturn. He used to be a high-speed fighter pilot, and his performance in training is no less than that of Meng Jin, who was originally an astronaut.

Gu Yaoluo's talent can also be considered a prodigy—as everyone knows, before the revival of spiritual energy, even the most talented cultivators in the world could hardly make any progress after spending a few years cultivating to the advanced Awakening stage. Even if they improved their realm and prepared for all the realm advancements, they had no spiritual energy to replenish.

However, once spiritual energy became abundant, they could rapidly advance their realms, turning all the preparations they had accumulated into real power, so a group of them quickly advanced to the high or even peak Transcendent stage.

And they are not completely ignorant of the Lord stage, and their cultivation in magical powers is extremely fast.

Generally speaking, a cultivator starting from scratch would only reach the mid-to-high Awakening stage after three years. Talents might have already advanced to the Transcendent stage, just like Shao Qiming and Guan Wanjing—but Gu Yaoluo's talent is different. In a sense, he is extremely compatible with the Craftsman Saint's 'Tiangong Zaowu Dao' (Artisan Creation Path) inheritance. He has not encountered any obstacles along the way. Starting from scratch for three years, he has already reached the high Transcendent stage.

Originally just an ordinary and weak rocket engineer, he soared into the sky and received such talent and attention. Gu Yaoluo's personality is inevitably somewhat arrogant and complacent, but he is not an idiot after all. None of his three teammates are easy to deal with, so he has been quite calm recently.

Compared to Su Zhou, who leads the team and is responsible for personal combat power, and Bai Jingtao and Meng Jin, who pilot the spacecraft and landing shuttle, Gu Yaoluo is an expert in handling emergency engineering problems, and he also controls the various intelligent machines that accompany them.

Unlike the old rockets of decades ago, today's rockets have more powerful propulsion capabilities. In the past, sending a living person into space required more than fifty times their weight in rocket fuel, so the designs were always narrow and streamlined.

But now it's different. Although there is now '罡風' (罡風, fierce wind) at the top of the atmosphere, with the blessing of transcendent technology, the fuel ratio has dropped from fifty to one to seventeen to one, and is still improving. This means that the lunar exploration team can carry more equipment.

As for safety, there is no need to worry, because Zheng Guo (lit. Righteous Nation, referring to China) has transported intelligent machines to the moon several times to build a base. So far, apart from some design flaws in the first time, no accidents have occurred.

In the last two days of February, Su Zhou's biggest difficulty was actually adapting to space food. Of course, with current technology, sending delicious food to the moon is not a problem, but it is also a luxury, especially since he will be spending a long time on the far side of the moon in the future. At that time, convenience will be the priority, which means he can only eat various liquid foods and purees.

"My rapid regeneration is based on having enough protein and other physical tissues and nutrient reserves. Although my true form's huge body can be used as a source of regeneration material, I also have to consider the situation of my true form being injured."

Su Zhou also informed the Central Committee of this, but there is currently no solution to this problem. No one can fill the rocket with food. The Committee can only tell Su Zhou to avoid high-intensity combat as much as possible. The lunar exploration team will be granted the right to use a miniature nuclear weapon with a yield of 150,000 tons, with the approval of all three.

With the training completed and the rocket having already been tested, the next step is to build momentum for the lunar landing mission.

Just like the global live broadcast of the exploration of the Dragon King's remains, this lunar exploration mission is of the same scale and level. After several precedents, netizens can roughly guess that this rather abrupt lunar landing mission must have a special purpose behind it—just like the Dragon King's remains exploration revealed the imitation Dao, this lunar exploration, could it be to reveal moon people?

Of course, the specifications are the same, but the specific details are different—the exploration of the Dragon King's remains was actually quite entertaining, leaving a lot of room for maneuver, and the danger was not high, while this lunar landing mission is very serious, extremely dangerous, and most of the invited media are world-renowned groups.

Even Su Zhou, even if he can fly back to Earth on his own, the process is still full of dangers and unknowns, not to mention his three teammates. They do not have Su Zhou's powerful strength and vitality. If they fail, the outcome will be death.

Soon, on March 10, 2017, the eyes of everyone around the world were focused here.

Those who do not know the true purpose behind it are simply looking forward to seeing how the situation in outer space, and even on other planets, will change in this era of spiritual energy revival, and whether Su Zhou, who is said to be able to survive on the lunar surface, can represent the superhumans and walk freely in the vacuum of space like the immortals and gods of the past.

Those who know the true purpose behind it are excited but also apprehensive—alien spaceship ruins, exploring these high-tech creations that can gallop in the stars, how much human technology can be gained from them? And are there any alien corpses or remains in them, can they obtain any biological data of alien creatures?

And that mysterious deep space caller... when and why did he come to the moon?

Regardless of which side, they are all looking forward to it, and for the lunar landers, this is a dangerous but glorious journey.

On the morning of March 10, Su Zhou met his parents, the Shao family, and other relatives and friends at the Zheng Guo Northwest Aerospace Center.

Su Zhou's parents were naturally quite worried, after all, Su Zhou was just an ordinary student a few years ago, and now he is performing tasks in the Beast God Realm, suppressing mysterious organizations in the Demon Beast Realm, and now he is going to the moon to perform tasks, truly non-stop, each task more dangerous than the last—they actually felt that their son eliminating a group of bloodthirsty superhumans was simpler than going to the moon, which they didn't know if it was right or wrong.

"When I educated you, I never actually thought about you inheriting our Su family's business, becoming a constable or something. I just hoped that you would become an upright, kind person who dared to take action in times of crisis."

Su Zhou's father, Su Bei Luo, patted Su Zhou's shoulder at the aerospace center and said earnestly, "Now it seems that I probably educated you too successfully—but next time you eat a Guiche (mythical bird) or other divine beasts, don't eat them raw. Who knows if there are any superhuman infectious diseases on those wild divine beasts? It wouldn't be good to bring them back to Earth!"

Su Zhou nodded: "Okay, okay, next time I'll cook them before eating."

Jin Qiong, who came with the team, tilted her head in confusion, a big question mark almost floating above her head.

How is this family like this... The Su family is terrifying!

And Su Zhou's mother, Ning Shiyu, because she participated in the corresponding plan and knew information about aliens, pulled her son to the corner and whispered, "Son, pay attention, don't be clumsy and ruin the alien spaceship that might exist... the department's research results for the next few years depend on your exploration this time!"

Su Zhou nodded repeatedly: "Okay Mom, no problem, I'll definitely be gentle."

The Shao family, Shao Nantian and Wen Yuefeng, also came—Aunt Wen's legs had long since recovered, and after the two of them encouraged Su Zhou and said goodbye, they didn't say much, and then, under the introduction of the nearby guides, they began to visit the aerospace center, leaving their children in place.

"Zhou-ge (brother), Zhou-ge, I want some moon soil as a holy relic... no, a souvenir!" This was Shao Shuangyue's rare request for a trip, which Su Zhou naturally readily agreed to: "No problem, I might even pick up a few meteorites for you, as a reward for your hard work in cultivation recently."

"Be careful and pay attention, don't be stingy." Shao Qiming didn't have much to say, after all, Su Zhou had already talked to him about it. He gestured with his hand, implying that Su Zhou should use what he should use—that is, the nuclear bomb—anyway, it's not like it's wrong to detonate it.

Next, Su Zhou chatted with the students and friends in the academy, and after encouraging each other, he and the other three astronauts, who had also met with their relatives and friends, took a car to the rocket launch center in the Gobi Desert.