Chapter 137: Call From A Teammate
After a long trek, Yuan Zhu led the squad under the guide’s direction and smoothly arrived at the Surface World. A somewhat blinding ray of light projected into the massive tunnel connecting the sky and the ground.
This beam of light stung his eyes, making his spirit somewhat dazed… He had gone nearly ten days without seeing sunlight, as if a lifetime had passed.
Along the way, he had witnessed the harsh environment of the Underground World, encountered multiple rounds of attacks, and stumbled upon several hidden Forbidden zones, but all were resolved and handled by the Tiger Demon.
During this time, there was a labyrinthine looping cavity like a ghost hitting the wall, the air filled with anesthetic Miasma, the tunnel secreting corrosive acid, like the Intestine mutated from Immortal Realm Tree Root Tendrils. Once mistakenly entered, escape became nearly impossible, but ultimately the Tiger Demon violently tore open a path to survival with Spatial Claws.
Some Forbidden zones were piled with high concentrations of polluting Miasma, decayed Root Tendrils connecting statues that were Kunlun Human Immortals in life, imprisoned after death by special areas, reduced to Immortal Zombies similar to Earthbound Spirits, hunting passersby.
Yuan Zhu’s squad had discovered them early and bypassed to avoid, but they were still spotted by a group of Immortal Zombies, with tattered root vines connected to their tailbones, launching a pursuit. Fortunately, they were drawn away by two Shadow Magic Worms wantonly causing destruction, and with the Tiger Demon covering the retreat, they smoothly escaped.
There were also thoroughly activated decayed Immortal Realm Tree Root Tendrils like, with a massive wooden brain tumor at the core, surrounded by over a hundred thick rotten Root Tendrils, the surface of the thick root stems emerging with faces screaming in agony, emitting meaningless groans, luring passing Magic Worms and humans with the scent of corruption.
This wave couldn’t even be bypassed; the Root Tendrils released by the activated brain tumor Root Tendril stretched for miles, and with so much food gathered together, it immediately triggered the other, extending numerous rotten Root Tendrils to hunt.
In the end, Yuan Zhu had
After fleeing this area in disarray, the team encountered wild magic worms that were wantonly gnawing on corrupted root tendrils, madly reproducing, swarming in groups like ocean waves and tides rampaging across… as well as a lone demonic giant insect wandering in the underground tunnel, constantly searching for food, pursuing larger, stronger, and more robust prey.
Facing this underground crisis akin to the eighty-one tribulations, the Tiger Demon relied on ‘Ghost Companion + Shadow Tentacle’ for early warning, avoiding it when possible, bypassing it when feasible, and adapting randomly when unavoidable. Or releasing Shadow Magic Worm to attract firepower and cover a retreat. If all else fails, just charge head-on.
Sometimes, when he was confident, he even proactively stepped forward to provoke, while keeping the danger within a controllable range.
In the end, they arrived safely all the way, not only reaching the Surface, but also smoothly devouring an Immortal Zombie, a large amount of Activated Root Tendrils, a massive quantity of Magic Worms…… As spoils of war and food, sealed in the [Universe Within The Belly].
Simultaneously activate multiple “Ghost Companion Refining Missions”. He had a premonition that the [Immortal Zombie] and [Activated Root Tendril] might refine some unexpected surprises?
…
At this moment, seeing the long-missed light entering the upward-slanting tunnel entrance, he couldn’t help but take a deep breath.
Then a fiery stinging pain came from the respiratory tract, a stinging sensation like the lungs being scorched while simultaneously inhaling corrosive chemical gas.
The air is poisonous. To be precise, the Surface World is filled with unbreathable poisonous gas. Normal creatures cannot survive on the surface; once they inhale the poisonous gas, they will die quickly.
On the contrary, the polluting miasma of the Underground World, although its fatality rate is also maxed out, can barely be breathed, belonging to chronic erosion, gradual pollution, and eventual death.
He turned his head to look at the teammate beside him, who had already put on a breathing mask similar to a Facehugger early on. Along their journey, they had been using this Facehugger breathing device to pre-store high-concentration True Qi + Spiritual Energy the entire time, similar to a biological oxygen tank.
As for Yuan Zhu, his lungs contain a large amount of [Holy Cough Particles], burning life (Magic Worm) throughout the entire process to purify everything inhaled into the body. He uses the [Holy Light] within his body to repair the damage.
He took the lead and stepped out of the shadow-shielded root tendril tunnel, advancing toward the light to reach the surface. What met his eyes was an endless expanse of red scorched earth, utterly desolate, like the end of days.
The ground appears flat and boundless, but the distance is filled with cracks and gullies, like scratches left by giant blades; looking into the distance, at the end of the hazy smog, are the outlines of bare mountain ranges.
The entire world is composed of red iron sand, black crushed stone, and yellow sand dust; endless desert gobi, long grand rifts, winding mountain ranges… The fierce wind howls past, whipping up waves of sand dust, with not a hint of green in sight, as if arriving on Mars.
The only trace of any living existence was probably one after another bare, lonely, standing straight up from the ground, battered and polished by the storm sand dust until only a withered branch remained—the Immortal Realm Tree Remnant.
Yuan Zhu guessed that the Immortal Realm Tree at its peak period back then was perhaps not a solitary-pillar world tree; instead, a single tree formed a forest, splitting off root tendrils through the underground root network in the Bubble World, giving rise to ‘sub-plants’ that sprang up from the ground one by one.
Nowadays, giant withered wood like the remnants of skyscrapers have been weathered and polished by the black storm into bizarre spectacles of strange shapes, scattered alone across the desolate land.
Continuing to look up, a rusty red apocalyptic sky appeared, with four irregular cracks. If one imagined the firmament as a sheet of paper, above Yuan Zhu’s current position, the sky had been torn into four irreparable paper fragments by external force, unable to heal for a hundred years.
Around the huge crack, countless tiny cracks extend, infiltrating the fragments of the sky. On the back side of these cracks, some reveal the wondrous scenery of the starry sky; some show layered stacks of color blocks, stirred into twisted vortices; while other gaps display scenes of destruction interwoven with thunderstorms.
“Magnificent!”
This surface is indeed a doomsday world. Apart from a demonic giant insect in the distance that was as massive as a mountain peak and moving slowly, no traces of any living creatures could be seen.
“How is the Moon Worship Ceremony conducted? When does it start?”
The guide following behind him explained: “When night falls, the ‘rust red’ in the sky will be replaced by the ‘starry sky’ in the cracks, and that is when it becomes 【night】. To hold the ceremony, you need to move to the base of any ‘towering ancient tree’, and contact the wooden base on the ground to draw down the moonlight.”
“How do you judge when night falls? I see that the longest crack in the sky has already been filled with the ‘starry sky’.”
“When [Starry Sky] fills all the cracks, nightfall will come. Now it’s about 1/3 of a Daytime; we’ve missed the first small Full Moon and are in the middle of the big Full Moon, with plenty of time.”
Yuan Zhu nodded: “Then let’s move out!”
The Surface World is similarly fraught with crises, including the utterly chaotic [Black Storm, Corrosive Iron Rain, Undead Knights], as well as super Demonic Giant Insects whose bodies have expanded to the limit, making it difficult for them to move underground…
Only by moving to the foot of the “Giant Withered Wood” can one enjoy the protection of the force field left by the Immortal Realm Tree.
Although the air was filled with deadly poison and impossible to breathe, Yuan Zhu felt a sense of liberation from the shackles of the root network, as if a layer of chains binding his body had been released.
Thus, he couldn’t help but fire a shot of [Illumination Technique] into space. As a result, holy light erupted in a small area and did not trigger any ‘polluting energy’ outbreak. It merely made the uneasy teammates around feel waves of discomfort.
“The Underground World indeed discriminates against 【Holy Light】, is it the Kunlun System’s ‘Root Network’ unconsciously suppressing and oppressing?”
With doubts in his heart, Yuan Zhu ordered the team to mount the Shadow Magic Worm and begin moving at high speed toward the nearest “Withered Wood Remnant.”
Over the short distance of just ten or so miles, they encountered multiple attacks from giant worms hidden under the gobi, and even ran into two death qi-infused ‘death knights’—half rusted iron armor and half withered skeleton mummies—wielding remnants of iron weapons with only sword hilts left, charging at the team at an extremely slow speed.
As a result, it was mercilessly crushed by the magic worm’s chelicerae feet, rolling over the corpse without stopping, shattering into pieces all over the ground.
“That thing just now, was it the famous ‘Calamity Knight’?”
While speeding along, Yuan Zhu soul-questioned the guide. That weak thing is the most feared “Forbidden Calamity” of the Underground World?
The guide shook his head: “No, at that time, during the Undead Knights’ movement, corpses infected by the scattered Calamity Knight aura. These corpses would spontaneously absorb ‘iron sand’ from the Gobi, repair their broken bodies, and gradually transform into walking corpses. As long as there is enough killing, they can gradually self-complete, and eventually be discovered, captured, crushed, and absorbed by the ‘Knight Order’…”
In the guide’s explanation, the true Knight Order will roam and hunt aimlessly, usually targeting Demonic Giant Insects as prey. The pollution they disperse while moving will spontaneously infect corpses, collecting and condensing Polluting Iron Sand, which is ultimately recycled by the Knight Order passing by again, supplementing damaged weapons and armor.
Quite thrifty and sustainable in household management. Yuan Zhu also dismissed the idea of swallowing a “Waste Recycling” device and slowly refining it.
When the team moved at high speed all the way (riding insects), repelling several waves of lone magic worms, they smoothly arrived at the base of a spiral-shaped withered wood, and once again felt the suppression (field protection) brought by the root network.
Yuan Zhu issued the command, having the Magic Worm dig a cave downward along the Withered Wood to establish a temporary camp.
At this moment, Little Spicy Stick, who was fiddling with the Mechanical Mouse probing nearby, suddenly exclaimed: “Boss, there’s a signal! The Mouse received a signal from its companion!”
Yuan Zhu said in surprise: “Oh? Could there be other teammates on the Surface?”
Little Spicy Stick showed some joy of encountering an old acquaintance in a foreign land: “Wait, let me connect first!”
Under her control, the Mechanical Mouse quickly climbed up the spiral Withered Wood. This time, not only was the Mouse unaffected by the Root Network’s signal shielding, but it also used the Withered Wood as a “super signal receiver” to establish contact with the “Mouse” far away on the other side of the world.
The Mechanical Mouse controlled its eight limbs, constantly pulling out and extending the antenna inserted into the crown of the head, then shaking its head and swaying to adjust the angle, trying to receive a clearer frequency band.
“Ha, got it! It’s a pre-stored broadcast from Meng Xiyue.”
Soon, Yuan Zhu heard the familiar energetic female voice: “This is the encrypted frequency [Meng Xi Broadcast], repeating every hour, 24 hours non-stop, if received please stay tuned! This is the encrypted frequency [Meng Xi Broadcast]…”
After nagging and repeating several times, the mechanical voice entered a new phase.
Meng Xiyue’s pre-recorded voice boasted greatly in the encrypted broadcast. Introducing her legendary experiences, her current situation, and the little secrets she had explored and excavated through scientific research…
“Welcome all teammates who receive this intelligence to come to [Cao Ling City] and join me. I will provide you with shelter and food, opportunities and power!”
…
At this time, in [Cao Ling City], Meng Xiyue was imprisoned by the natives in a huge Underground Space.
The Root Tendrils intertwined with the Magic Array as one body spread from the ground to the Wall, eventually covering the entire ceiling, confining her in a luxuriously decorated Laboratory.
There was not only a huge “Laboratory”, but also a Bedroom, Living Room, Kitchen, bathroom… In addition, there were four young girls acting as maids, providing her with thoughtful service.
She ordered whatever food she wanted, requested whatever materials she needed, and she did not disappoint, linking more than twenty “Skull Servers” wearing “Insect Armor Helmets” that looked like Knight heads into a super [Server Matrix].
Using technology incomprehensible to the natives, she created a bizarre product compatible with both the [Physical Magic Net] and True Qi System.
Beautifully named as creating a “City Server” for [Cao Ling City], laying the great [True Qi Magic Net], achieving a Technology (human head) revolution!
In the eyes of local Qi Refiners, this thing was a “black box System”. They could not understand its mysteries at all. Clearly, these Heaven Rank dead corpses’ heads had long lost their most important Primordial Spirits, leaving only empty shells.
But they strangely operated, performing incomprehensible thinking activities. Although lacking in Spirituality (intelligence), they possessed the “brainpower and computing power” from life, performing logical operations that even they found absurd.
Even the “Puppet Dao Soldiers” refined by the Reverse Life Immortal Sect were not this magical! And this woman achieved it with just mere heads?
Just a bunch of worthless dead heads connected together erupted with super brainpower surpassing their “Dream Hole Supreme”, even recreating the [Martial Dao Domain] that only living Heaven Ranks could deploy, and even the legendary [Martial Dao Dharma Image].
This achievement simply shocked [Cao Ling City], causing the City Lord to personally oversee and monitor the entire process.
The City Lord immediately ordered to imprison this extraterritorial heavenly demon, force her to serve [Cao Ling City], build the [Skull Matrix] she mentioned, and exploit her value as much as possible, “True Qi-izing” the knowledge in her brain.
The “imprisoned” Meng Xiyue was very sensible and cooperative, actively translating the knowledge she learned from [Taixi International Academy].
On one hand using the newly developed [Skull Server] to learn and understand local Qi Refining knowledge, on the other hand translating the mature knowledge in her brain into the local culture as much as possible.
This wave of “Renaissance (translation)” movement greatly improved [Cao Ling City]’s Technology foundation.
Although the City Lord did not understand why this woman compromised so easily? He hadn’t even used threats or inducements, and she gave everything for free throughout… There must be a conspiracy hidden in this?!
But the City Lord still honestly received and learned these newly translated knowledge. And arranged for confidants to record it, sealing it off to prevent leakage.
If nothing unexpected happens, once Meng Xiyue exhausts her own value and can no longer provide new knowledge, she will likely be killed. And [Cao Ling City] will usher in a wave of Ascension with this alien knowledge, standing shoulder to shoulder with other [Technician Families].
