Chapter 314: 【gate】!
Yuan Zhu originally planned to stroke this sensible pet that knew the times, understood to proactively take the exam and pledge allegiance to the Mountain Lord; facing Anti-Law, it not only did not resist, but was even more actively devoted to loyalty and soul than Yuan Tang and her brother, wishing to burrow into Anti-Law.Shadow and turn itself into a Ghost Companion, a good pet that stays by the master’s side at all times.
Unfortunately, its fur looked soft and auspicious, but was actually filthy with a layer of greasy dirt hidden underneath, and the smell was also off?
So Yuan Zhu decisively dismissed the idea of interaction and said to the White Deer: “You now have greatly opened spiritual intelligence and can understand my words, right?”
The White Deer raised its head and proudly neighed once: “Yoo!”
Expressing an affirmative tone.
Yuan Zhu clapped his hands and praised: “Very good! I’ll give you a bar of soap here. Then go pick two Eggplant Goblins as servants, go down the mountain, and wash yourself clean by the Cold Pond. You are now covered in greasy dirt and have no qualification to get close to me; it would be blasphemy against me. Understand?”
“Yoo yoo yoo!”
The White Deer finally understood why the master was unwilling to get close to it, excitedly nodding repeatedly, constantly pawing the Floor with its front hooves, urging Yuan Zhu to quickly reward it the soap so it could go wash itself clean right now!
Candle exclaimed in surprise: “Eh? You can understand this too?”
Snake Snake: “Boss, you must not underestimate Goblin intelligence! Nowadays, the Brain Eggplant (CPU) comes with Artificial Stupidity 2.25, which has been fed with 300 different Goblins’ ‘thinking models’ for optimization, and is quite mature, no longer stupid. In the future, it will surely grow into world-shocking wisdom! This White Deer’s intelligence is equivalent to a human 5-6 year old level. If more Common Sense is input, it will perform even smarter.”
Seeing the White Deer looking at him full of expectation, Yuan Zhu took out daily necessities from the Soul Space: a bar of soap, a tube of toothpaste.
Put them into a plastic bag, then hung it on its Horn. Then he said: “Go! Wash clean before coming to see me. In the future, when you meet me, you must bathe and burn incense.”
“Yoo yoo!”
The White Deer happily responded once, then with the plastic bag on its head, joyfully dashed down the mountain. Along the way, it also grabbed two Eggplant Goblins chiseling niches to serve as strong laborers, to groom and massage it.
…
On the other side, Yuan Zhu also arrived at the 2/3 point up Yin Mountain. The stone steps path originally chiseled by the White Bone Scholar ended here.
At the end of the stone steps, at the edge of the cliff wall, a huge platform was chiseled out. Inside the platform was the original Cave Dwelling, a stone chamber dug inside Yin Mountain that was not very large in area, with the inner stone walls engraved full of text.
Now under Yuan Zhu’s orders, 3 Shadow Magic Worms led a batch of Eggplant Goblins, continuing to chisel steps along the original dead-end stone path toward the mountaintop direction. He planned to build his Mountain Lord Temple at the mountaintop.
As for the original Cave Dwelling, now the core area of the Shadow Magic Array, it naturally underwent secondary expansion and renovation.
Not only was a group of Magic Worms diligently digging space into the mountain body, trying to chisel out a standard ‘three bedrooms, one hall, one kitchen, two bathrooms’, even the Cave Dwelling Door was reorganized into a grand shaped entrance.
Above the empty stone door, ‘Yin Mountain Mansion’ was carved in ancient Zhongshan Seal script, thoroughly covering all traces left by the ‘White Bone Scholar’.
New master, new atmosphere. Yuan Zhu looked at the ‘Yin Mountain Cave Dwelling’ that seemed quite proper and nodded in satisfaction, stepping inside.
Walking through a small path about 3 meters long, the inner Hall suddenly opened up. The surrounding Walls were remodeled according to the Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams pattern, with eight Worm Pillar Town Stones now transformed into eight load-bearing stone pillars, supporting the expanded Hall. The indoor Shadow Spiritual Energy was dense and lingering, like an immortal’s treasure land.
Eight lifelike ‘Shadow Magic Worm’ reliefs clung to the stone pillar surfaces, presenting a matte metallic texture.
Around the Magic Worm reliefs, a large number of vein-shaped stone textures spread from the stone pillar surfaces, connecting to the Roof and Floor, extending all the way to the stone Walls. As if this place was not a stone chamber chiseled inside the mountain body, but the visceral space of a giant monster.
Deeper in the Cave Dwelling were three ‘bedrooms’ under excavation. They currently had initial shapes but were not yet completed. As for the Toilet, dining room, Kitchen, they only existed in design drawings.
Still too few cattle and horses on hand. If 30 Cattle and Horses Goblin Strongmen were gathered now to form a construction team, the excavation efficiency would at least multiply by 10!
…
Yuan Zhu at this time switched to Tiger Demon posture, then lay in the core position of the ‘Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams’. The Deed, which was already deeply fused with the Mountain Lord’s Domain in a mysterious way, now also appeared in the Boss Template.
If the Boss Template was understood as a game panel, then the Deed appeared in the form of a ‘mobile phone floating ball’ Plugin, floating in the Boss Template out of thin air.
The Tiger Demon could completely ignore it and focus on operating the Boss Template; or use Spirit to click and touch the ‘floating ball’, quickly switching to the Lord of Yin Mountain interface to manage the Yin Mountain covered by the ‘Domain’ radiation.
It now tried opening the Mountain Lord Management Interface. It found that all information about Yin Mountain was reorganized by the Immortal Scripture, presented in an interface similar to a management game.
Including members: the only core member was the Auspicious White Deer, high-tier minions were a dozen Shadow Magic Worms, peripheral cannon fodder were around two hundred Eggplant Goblins. In addition, there were some Shadow-type weeds (Shadow Eggplants).
Continuing to browse the Mountain Lord Management Interface, he also discovered a small-scale ‘calling clouds and rain’ function, where he could control the climate within 10km radius around ‘Yin Mountain’, most skilled at stirring Shadow Wind, next at gathering and dispersing Mist, then raining to irrigate the moss and vegetation on the mountain body surface.
Unfortunately, his current Domain range was still very small, and in the directly governed area, besides the White Deer and Eggplant Goblins registered as Employees, there were no other living creatures under his rule.
As for other functions, they were displayed as awaiting Development. The Boss Template/Mountain Lord’s Domain did not provide any management Module support; to develop new abilities, he must do it personally.
Only after he first implements it according to his ideas will his Deed/Mountain Lord’s Domain record it and add it to the Management Interface.
For example, if Yuan Zhu spends a fortune to build the Mountain Lord Temple at the mountaintop and sets up a Divine Position and Statue of God for himself, then the Management Interface will have the corresponding ‘Faith function’.
If he opens nurseries or Medicinal Fields on the Cave Dwelling or mountain and successfully plants Spirit Grass and Medicine, the Management Interface will add related content like ‘Planting/Local Specialty/Medicinal Herbs’ to assist in management.
Yuan Zhu closed the Mountain Lord Interface and looked at the nearly 80 Worm Pillar Town Stones piled in the corner of the Cave Dwelling, asking: “Now, can I complete the subsequent 72 Earthly Fiend Formation?”
Snake Snake quickly read the relevant data of the Ultimate Divine Ability Mountain Lord’s Domain in the Boss Template, then gave an affirmative answer: “No problem, the Domain’s state has stabilized. And the Magic Worms have long ago dug the ‘nodes’ for array deployment around Yin Mountain according to the Magic Array design drawing provided by the Immortal Scripture; just need to directly load and activate them.”
Different from the previous two rounds of on-site terrain measurement, calculating Magic Array hub nodes, then spending time and Energy to chisel and dig, and then arrange Worm Pillars.
This time, his subordinate Magic Worms had dug the node Formation Bases early, so they only needed simple loading to quickly complete the array deployment and thoroughly open and consolidate the Mountain Lord’s Domain.
“Then what are we waiting for? Get to work!”
With the Tiger Demon’s order, the Shadow Magic Worms that had long been eager drilled out immediately. They controlled the shadows under them, condensing and splitting into root after root of ‘Shadow Tentacles’, wrapping around the Worm Pillars in the corner, quickly escaping into the shadows, dragging the Worm Pillars into the pre-dug tunnel depths.
In an instant, the Cave Dwelling was full of demonic chaos, Magic Worms of various forms manifesting bizarre ‘Shadow limbs’, carrying Worm Pillars in and out.
The Nine Palaces and Eight Trigrams Array as the hub had the smallest scale, based only on the Cave Dwelling stone Hall. But by the 36 Heavenly Dipper, it expanded more than ten times, with some nodes deep inside the mountain body and others arranged on the periphery of Yin Mountain, covering half the mountain.
The current 72 Earthly Fiend Formation had an even larger area, some Worm Pillars deeply buried inside the mountain body, some brought out of the Cave Dwelling, or inserted at cliff wall edges, or inserted into the Cold Pond bottom, or transported to several adjacent mountains.
As one Worm Pillar after another was activated, the Earthly Fiend Formation nodes began connecting to the Heavenly Dipper Formation. The Heavenly Dipper Magic Array, which had accumulated Shadow Spiritual Energy for many days, burst with infinite vitality, stimulating the Heavenly Dipper Town Stones to frantically proliferate ‘petrified veins’, spreading and growing inside the mountain body toward the Earthly Fiend nodes.
The Earthly Fiend Town Stones similarly ‘came alive’, the ‘petrified flesh’ inside the Worm Pillars breaking through the shell, assimilating surrounding stone like Root Tendrils, expanding rapidly like Root Tendrils, ultimately meeting bidirectionally and connecting and fusing.
The greater number of Earthly Fiend Town Stones also grew ‘vein Root Tendrils’ toward each other, spreading and connecting mutually, weaving a huge Magic Array covering several kilometers radius centered on Yin Mountain.
As the Earthly Fiend Formation frantically drew Spiritual Energy accumulated in the Heavenly Dipper Formation, quickly building a complete base after.
The Tiger Demon’s Yin Mountain Domain also fully formed, with the core area being the complete Yin Mountain + most of the Cold Pond, along with the surrounding 2.5 mountain bodies, named by it as Cold Cicada Peak (left, 2/3 incorporated into the Domain) and Xian Zhi Mountain (right, 1/3 incorporated into the Domain).
The Tiger Demon planned to assign these two Spirit Mountains under absolute control of the Mountain Lord’s Domain to the two siblings and the Auspicious White Deer to manage respectively.
Cold Cicada Peak had a larger covered area, more abundant Spiritual Energy, and higher value, to be managed in rotation by Yuan Tang and her brother, responsible for raising worms and planting medicine. While Xian Zhi Mountain had a smaller covered area, it was given to the White Deer to manage mainly because it would not leave the Mountain Lord’s Domain, could guard the post 24 hours a day, and was sufficiently loyal, worth cultivating.
So it was given half a mountain to pull it up by the roots and cultivate it into a Yin Mountain deputy Goat, the strongest security Captain.
…
With the 72 Earthly Fiend Formation fully formed, the three Magic Arrays nested layer by layer, linking with each other, instantly bursting with terrifying ‘suction’, not only frantically drawing ‘Death Qi Pollution’ from the ‘Yin Fiend Land’ where the Magic Array was located, drawing even more mixed ‘composite Pollution’ from the Misty Mountains, but also madly drawing ‘Shadow Pollution’ from the Shadow Dimension connected to Yin Mountain.
This multitude of source ‘Polluting Energy’ frantically poured into the Yin Mountain Domain, filtered through the Worm Pillar nodes, giving birth to a massive number of ‘vein Root Tendrils’, further spreading stereoscopically at the base and inside the mountain body.
Especially Yin Mountain, this core hub, where the internal ‘vein Root Tendrils’ surged in number, not only densely interweaving along the Magic Array’s cross-section; but also spreading toward the mountaintop and underground directions, showing a trend of fully activating the entire Yin Mountain and injecting Polluting vitality.
And after filtering by the Magic Array, the purer Shadow Spiritual Energy + Death Qi was all poured into the Yin Mountain Cave Dwelling where the Tiger Demon was entrenched.
The Tiger Demon’s Deed suddenly erupted at this moment, taking control of the entire Cave Dwelling Space, and reversely collapsing to form a ‘closed Space’ that was extremely familiar to it.
“Eh? This is…”
The Tiger Demon pretending to be dead on the ground suddenly raised its head, looking around the pitch-black rectangular Space supported by eight stone pillars, showing a shocked and uncertain expression.
Before it could confirm, the Boss Template issued a series of Warning prompts. Its core Shadow System, due to the successful opening of the Mountain Lord’s Domain, was forced to undergo Erosion transformation by the external Pollution (Shadow) rules, forcibly upgrading.
Translated, it meant the Boss Template, due to overly successful external Expansion, deeply combined with the external Pollution (Shadow) System, exceeding the intensity limit of the Mutated Spiritual Root (Boss Template) itself.
Like the Mutated Spiritual Root’s growth limit being Golden Core, but the Tiger Demon, relying on the Ultimate Divine Ability, self-created the Mountain Lord’s Domain, triggering immeasurable Spiritual Energy pouring into the Boss Template, breaking the Golden Core limit and breaking through to a higher realm that even the Immortal Scripture did not understand and could not provide Technology support: Nascent Soul!
Therefore, the Boss Template passively Updated and Upgraded, opening an unknown new chapter.
And its greatest gain at this moment, or the ‘symbolic mark’ of the brand new realm, was the Door belonging to the Tiger Demon!
With a burst of inexplicable Danger Warning, the Boss Template welcomed the Door that was bound to appear as long as one mixed in the Du Ling Universe, whether good or bad.
“Door? Shadow Dream Hole?!”
The Tiger Demon now stood up in shock and excitement, pacing hurriedly, and surveyed its Shadow Space. This was clearly a replica of the Inner World opened in Eclosion World Animal Husbandry Village!
Its Mountain Lord’s Domain not only opened an Inner World (Shadow Space) like the Shadow Domain, but inside this Space, there was also a blurry Shadow Dream Dimension gestating?!
Compared to the Dreamland (Cockroach Village) in Animal Husbandry Village that could bind and link all residents’ Dreams, the ‘Dream’ condensed in the Mountain Lord’s Domain right now was over a hundred times weaker?
In the Shadow Space, that blurry ‘Dream’, besides itself, was only connected to the White Deer through the Anti-Law mark. The rest of the Shadow Magic Worms were Ghost Companions and fundamentally did not Dream. As for the Eggplant Goblins, due to their Brains being hijacked by the Brain Eggplant CPU, they also did not Dream.
Additionally, the most important point was that his Mountain Lord’s Domain had no elements related to the Nightmare Dimension, thus getting no Nutrient supplement (Nightmare Pollution), so the ‘Dreamland’ always remained blurry and on the verge of collapse.
“I get it! It’s because of the Worm Pillars!”
The ‘Worm Pillar Town Stones’ it used to construct the Mountain Lord’s Domain were each Refinement from the Shadow Dream Holes of Eclosion World, innately carrying ‘Nightmare Pollution’ and recording the special structure of the Shadow Domain.
Now with 8+36+72 Worm Pillars jointly opening the Mountain Lord’s Domain, it was very reasonable to copy-paste the Shadow Domain’s Spatial Structure over. Thus it came with a malnourished ‘gift’ (Cockroach Village projection) lacking Nightmare Dimension connection.
As for its own Door, it was naturally the Shadow Dream Hole style, a Door like a submarine’s round pressure-resistant hatch.
“No!”
The Tiger Demon suddenly turned back, looking toward the other end of the Shadow Space, directly opposite the front Door, another identical round Shadow Dream Hole firmly embedded in the Wall on the other side of the Space.
Tiger Demon: “Why do I have two Doors?!”
