The World

“Lost contact?” Yaoguang pondered for a moment, and several puzzles that had previously baffled him suddenly clicked into place. Well, well. It had all been a bluff after all. Listening to both sides brought clarity; not every piece of information represented truth, and it might well be nothing more than enemy propaganda. “The reason you never expanded your operations in this world wasn’t because of some restriction keeping you from entering, but because you didn’t know the exact status of the war and were terrified that causing too big a stir here would provoke the Artifact Sect into taking action?” “Yes,” Leng Tianfeng responded. In his nearly transparent emotional fluctuations lingered a trace of embarrassment at having his bluff called. “In the past year or two, your actions escalated slightly because you finally confirmed that the Artifact Nurturing Realm had lost contact with the Artifact Sect’s world, which made you grow bolder?” “Yes.” Leng Tianfeng’s mental fluctuations weakened slightly. Yaoguang sorted through the information. After a moment, he continued, “Are Horned Demons your cultivation system for the physical body?” “We have conquered many worlds. Although the cultivation systems in each world share broad similarities, applying them in different environments produces different results. The Horned Demon is an organism from one of the worlds we occupied. After years of imperial research, we mapped out its biological structure and encoded its genome for all citizens to download. This creature has high compatibility with humans and possesses a potent digestive and growth system; it can grow rapidly simply by consuming flesh and blood,” Leng Tianfeng explained. “Then why focus on eating human heads?” Yaoguang asked coolly. To this day, he had never forgotten that image in his mind. “A Horned Demon’s growth is not just physical, but also spiritual... For imperial citizens, physical growth doesn’t matter much; we value the expansion of our divine mind more, and the beneficial elements that strengthen divine minds are concentrated in human heads... To avoid spending a day or two digesting an entire human body, well... they eat less and choose the essence...” As Leng Tianfeng reached this point, his mental fluctuations lowered even further. He felt the chill emanating from Yaoguang. In a hurry, he blurted out, “I am a Soul-Commanding Envoy, specifically responsible for overseeing the smooth Descent of Moon Demon citizens. To this day, I have never embarked on the Horned Demon evolutionary path.” Yaoguang remained silent. To the Moon Demons of the Moon Demon Empire, humans were probably no different from cats and dogs. Furthermore, creatures like the Horned Demon... could be viewed as a Moon Demon’s cultivation form. Their true combat form was serving as the control system of mechs and battleships. Treating mechs and battleships as their own bodies. Just like a Treasure Weapon and its artifact spirit. The only difference was that an artifact spirit did not have absolute control over a dharma treasure, whereas they could exert total control and unleash the full might of a battleship. “So, there is still a portion of Moon Demons in the Artifact Sect’s Cangwu Realm?” Yaoguang said. “What’s the situation over there?” “The Artifact Sect... might have been critically weakened... or perhaps truly wiped out.” Leng Tianfeng pondered for a moment before saying, “The artifact refining technology mastered by that sect posed the greatest threat to us... The Metamagnetic Divine Light Device they developed could paralyze one of our battleships in a single strike. Later, they even observed supernova explosions in an attempt to forge higher-tier devices with even greater power. Therefore, when the total war began, they were our primary strategic target...” Yaoguang quietly sensed Leng Tianfeng’s emotional fluctuations. He wasn’t lying. This matched the fact that both Chixing and Xuelong had lost contact with the Artifact Sect. Of course, there were bound to be discrepancies in some details. After all, it was impossible for Leng Tianfeng to know everything about the battlefield. The outcome remained uncertain. Who had actually won? Wait. It seemed that regardless of who won, things would be troublesome. If the Artifact Sect won, they would inevitably settle scores when they returned to this world in the future. As for the Moon Demon Empire winning, that went without saying. Just as Leng Tianfeng had said, the entire world would become their hunting ground. This situation... was troublesome. In the final analysis, he was still too weak. He had originally thought being able to withstand a nuclear explosion would basically ensure his personal safety, but as it turned out... The power ceiling of this world was this high?! He had been using the mindset of his previous life to assess the safety threshold needed to survive in this world... “My vision was too narrow,” Yaoguang sighed inwardly. Looking back at Leng Tianfeng, he asked, “You possess superior Star Gate technology, don’t you?” “Well...” Leng Tianfeng hesitated for a moment. Feeling his emotions and thoughts laid completely bare before Yaoguang, he answered truthfully, “It’s hard to say whose technology is superior; one can only say they have different applications. However, if you wish to return to the Cangwu Realm, fusing our Star Gate technology with that of the Artifact Sect would indeed allow a teleportation to be completed without destroying the Star Gate. It’s just that... maintaining it after activating the teleportation would take half a year to a full year...” “Hand over the technology. I will verify it myself,” Yaoguang said. “Very well. I will need to conduct a spiritual exchange with you.” “Fine.” Yaoguang did not refuse. Although Leng Tianfeng had cultivated an Origin Spirit, without a host, an Origin Spirit was like duckweed without roots, unable to exert much power. Furthermore, Yaoguang had the Great Sun Spirit-Suppressing Diagram in his spiritual world. As long as there wasn’t an overwhelming disparity between them, he had no fear of Leng Tianfeng pulling any tricks. Seeing Yaoguang agree, Leng Tianfeng separated a stream of Origin Spirit power and began transmitting the information. The volume of information was immense; if written on paper, even a whole crate of sheets would hardly suffice. Yet after obtaining the “ancient tree,” Yaoguang was long accustomed to massive influxes of information. Faced with such an immense cognitive surge, his spiritual world did not fluctuate in the slightest. This sight... caused the faint flicker in Leng Tianfeng’s eyes to settle immediately, and he obediently finished transmitting the Star Gate technology. Several hours later. Yaoguang, who had been resting with his eyes closed, opened them. He took out his phone. “Have the Snow Dragon Federation bring over their Star Gate technology as soon as possible. Also, tell Kong Fang to bring Chixing’s Star Gate technology along as well. We need to cross-check them.” “Understood,” Lei Yun’s voice promptly came through the receiver. After digesting the Star Gate technology a bit, Yaoguang continued, “Tell me about the Cangwu Realm.” “Our knowledge of the Cangwu Realm is broad and macroscopic. We don’t know many of the fine details.” “No matter. I will fill in the gaps through Xuelong,” Yaoguang said. Leng Tianfeng nodded. Information like this was nothing confidential. He spoke directly: “The Cangwu Realm, known as the Cangwu Great World, is a world where the heavens are round and the earth is square. Outside it, one hundred and eight thousand stars revolve around it...” “Round heavens and square earth?” Yaoguang was slightly taken aback. “Such a place actually exists? Is that... reasonable?” “It is entirely reasonable. When space is warped, you naturally obtain a continent where the sky is round and the earth is square, and the concentration of massive amounts of dark energy distorts space... Cangwu calls this dark energy spiritual power. The core of spiritual power nodes in the universe almost always gives birth to such worlds.” Leng Tianfeng explained, “Worlds of this sort are constantly expanding. Coupled with periodic spatial warping that causes geographical displacement, their surface area is impossible to calculate. However, we have thoroughly investigated the factions within the Cangwu Realm. The strongest powers, including the Artifact Sect, are known as the Ten Great Immortal Sects... Beyond them, numerous kingdoms and alien races occupy various parts of the continent, ruling as kings in their own right...” The Soul-Commanding Envoy from the Moon Demon Empire explained. Although his overview was broad, it nonetheless allowed Yaoguang to grasp how majestic and vast the Cangwu Realm truly was. Every detail matched his imagination of an immortal cultivation world. Yet just at this moment, after describing things for an hour or two, Leng Tianfeng changed the subject. “However, in recent years, the situation seems to have shifted. Our Moon Demon Empire’s offensive dealt a tremendous shock to the Cangwu Realm. Over the past three hundred years, the Ten Great Immortal Sects have undergone a sweeping technological revolution, moving from an all-around, small-workshop model to one of specialization and large-scale cooperation. In the past, a single cultivator was an independent combat unit, but now... every cultivator has a specialized role.” “A specialized role?” “Yes. In a small-scale skirmish, spirit cultivators first conduct reconnaissance, followed by precision strikes from sword cultivators to eliminate resistance. Spell cultivators then level defensive fortifications with spells and concentrate fire on rally points, and finally, body cultivators move in to secure the area...” Leng Tianfeng’s mental fluctuations were heavy with solemnity. “Nowadays, every battle relies on multilateral coordination, operating along multidimensional and integrated lines... We in the Moon Demon Empire... are finding it harder and harder to hold our ground...” As he spoke, he sighed with emotion. “Cultivators learn and adapt... far too quickly.” Hearing this, Yaoguang instantly felt half of his romantic illusions about an immortal cultivation world shatter. ... In the time that followed, Yaoguang continued to extract information from Leng Tianfeng regarding the Moon Demon Empire and the Cangwu Realm, and even obtained a Divine Path cultivation method from him. Meanwhile... The Snow Dragon Federation launched decapitation strikes against the high-ranking leadership of the Crimson Star Empire. Just as Xie Yushu had said, Xuelong was vastly stronger than Chixing; had they not feared the power backing the Jiang family of Chixing, they could have wiped out the Jiang family whenever they pleased. Now, the news they had received from Leng Tianfeng was that even the Artifact Sect had fallen... Though the information was incomplete, it had already given them the resolve to throw caution to the wind. Regardless of whether the Artifact Sect had truly been destroyed by the Moon Demon Empire, they had to return to the Artifact Sect. To return to that sacred ground revered by countless hearts, like fallen leaves returning to their roots. As for the backing behind the Jiang family... They could no longer care about that. Under these circumstances, the Snow Dragon Federation unleashed the full combat might of an emerging hegemon, throwing the entire world into an uproar. What stunned everyone even more was that Dayu had actually joined hands with the Snow Dragon Federation, forming an allied force to participate in this feast of carving up the old hegemon, the Crimson Star Empire. Although the forces deployed by Dayu were so weak as to be negligible, with the Snow Dragon Federation sweeping aside all opposition and cementing victory, everyone knew what kind of spoils Dayu, as their sole ally, would reap from this feast. In an instant, the world was shaken. Within Dayu, the major aristocratic families that had intended to mind their own affairs erupted into absolute chaos.