Gou Dao and Cultivation of Immortals, Start from Farming

"Alert: Areas E-7 to G-12 are experiencing temporal erosion, resulting in a 99.9% decrease in material stability."

"Warning: The intensity of the Will Suppression Field has exceeded the threshold of the 'Dragon Might Barrier'. The links between Sub-Legions No. 4, No. 7, and No. 12 have been interrupted."

"Alert: The underlying logic protocol has detected unknown 'inner demon' data contamination and is currently isolating it... Isolation failed! 'Disconnection protocol' initiated, abandoning the contaminated unit!"

……

A series of chilling alarms, like the death knell of doomsday, echoed deep within the consciousness of the Ancestral Core.

However, beneath this seemingly impending collapse, a more hidden undercurrent is quietly surging in the deepest part of the Golden Puppet Realm.

On the back of the massive stellar body of the ancestral core, countless highly sophisticated nanoscale golden puppets are forming imperceptible torrents of metal, silently transferring massive amounts of core data, the most refined primordial energy, and a group of special units known as "sparks" towards a hidden singularity deep within the Earth's core.

That place is the final evolutionary ground that the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core prepared for itself, and it is also where its true trump card lies.

It stirred up this monstrous chaos, attracting the strongest forces from the three realms. Its deepest purpose was never to perish together with them. Its core logic, after countless deductions, has already reached the conclusion that it has less than a ten percent chance of winning against the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty alone. However, if it muddies the waters and drags these "barbaric" beings from neighboring realms into the fray, the situation will be completely different.

Its first calculation was to use the power of the Three Realms to deplete the vital forces of the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty. In its view, Li Mu's fleet was the greatest threat.

Its second and most crucial calculation is to use this unprecedented high-end war to buy itself time and resources! The Time Guardian's time laws, the soul essence of the Dragon Emperor's remnant soul, the emotional energy of the Nightmare Lord... In the eyes of the Ancestral Core, these are all "data" and "energy" that can be analyzed, absorbed, and ultimately transformed into its own evolutionary ladder!
It aims to use this destructive war to complete an unprecedented transformation, a final evolution from the extremes of "order" and "logic" to a higher dimension!

At this moment, the massive army of golden puppets on the outer battlefield, along with the seemingly indestructible star itself, are nothing more than pawns it has thrown out to deceive others and buy time!
Outside the battlefield, a completely different scene unfolds.

Tens of thousands of war fortresses of the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, led by the Rift Universe, have completely withdrawn from the chaotic core of the battlefield and are now anchored in an absolutely safe void created by Li Mu using the Chaos Domain.

Through the thin, chaotic mist, the soldiers could still see the devastating scene in the distance: gray shadows of time scythes, a raging tide of dark dragon souls, seven-colored nightmare light, and golden beams of destruction, all interwoven into a picture of apocalypse. Each collision caused ripples in the surrounding void, as if it were about to collapse completely at any moment.

After the initial relief of surviving the ordeal, a deep sense of confusion and bewilderment followed.

The atmosphere inside the command bridge of the Rift was somewhat somber.

An old general, clad in crimson-gold armor and bearing a lightning mark between his brows, finally stepped forward and bowed to Xiao Jingtian, saying, "Commander, our army is at its peak, and our morale is high. Why retreat now? The Golden Puppet Ancestral Core is under siege by three forces. This is the best time for us to seize the opportunity and completely annihilate it!"

This statement immediately drew agreement from several generals.

"Yes! We have come from afar, how can we sit idly by and watch others take away the benefits of our expedition?"

"Our Great Qian Dynasty has never feared or avoided war! This action may damage the prestige of our dynasty!"

……

They were all fierce generals who had followed Xiao Jingtian in battle for many years, and their bones were filled with the pride of the Great Qian Dynasty. They found it hard to accept that the military achievements that were within their grasp were about to slip away.

Xiao Jingtian stood at the bow of the ship, his back to the crowd, his gaze fixed intently on the battlefield shrouded in chaotic mist. He did not turn around, but slowly raised his hand to stop the generals' discussions.

"Gentlemen, what you see is only the surface."

Xiao Jingtian paused, then continued, "Each of those three entities is no less powerful than the entire Great Qian Dynasty. If we rashly get involved, not only will we not gain any advantage, but we may also become the common target of all four, plunging us into an abyss of no return."

The old general with the Thunder Seal was still unconvinced: "But we have a master... a senior in charge! The senior is incredibly powerful, enough to suppress everything!"

"It is precisely because our master is here that we must obey his orders." Xiao Jingtian's tone became more serious. He slowly turned around, his gaze like lightning, sweeping over every general present. "Why do you think he ordered our army to withdraw? Was it out of fear? No, it's because we no longer have the right to interfere on this battlefield."

Xiao Jingtian's words were like a bucket of cold water, extinguishing the fighting spirit in the hearts of the generals.

qualifications!

These two words pierced the hearts of these chosen ones. They were the most elite legion of the Great Qian Immortal Dynasty, victors who had conquered world after world. When did they become the ones described as "unworthy"?

Xiao Jingtian saw their resentment and said in a deep voice, "Our master's realm has long surpassed our imagination. In his eyes, the meaning of this war may be completely different from our understanding. We only need to remember one thing—"

He spoke each word clearly and distinctly, his voice reaching everyone's ears:

"Master has ordered us to observe the situation calmly!"

These eight words seemed to possess some kind of magic, instantly suppressing all dissent and commotion. It stemmed from absolute trust and reverence for Li Mu.

"Pass on my orders," Xiao Jingtian waved his hand, "The entire army shall set up camp on the spot, activate the highest level of defensive formations, and block all communication. Without my order, no one shall approach the Chaotic Mist even a step! Those who disobey will be punished according to military law!"

"As ordered!"

The generals responded in unison, their resentment and confusion transforming into absolute obedience.

Soon, the massive Immortal Dynasty fleet sprang into action. War fortresses, like moving stars, were arranged according to a profound array, their energy circuits interconnected, forming an impregnable void camp. A dazzling array of light rose, enveloping the entire fleet and completely isolating it from the chaotic battlefield outside.

They were like a group of hunters lurking in the shadows, concealing all their claws and murderous intent, simply waiting quietly for the mist to dissipate, waiting for the supreme being's... final command.

On the battlefield, the fighting had reached a fever pitch.

The Guardians of Time, as the embodiment of the will of the River of Time, possess the most direct and unavoidable attacks. A gray canopy composed of billions of scythes of time slowly crushed down upon the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core.

Beneath the celestial canopy, everything was decaying at an accelerated pace. Space was aging, the laws were withering, and even the light seemed to have become sluggish and dim. The metallic continent on the surface of the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core turned to ashes in large swaths, revealing the even older and more solid core structure beneath. However, faced with this irresistible erosion of time, the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core's reaction surprised everyone. It did not choose to resist head-on, nor did it attempt to block it with an energy shield.

"Rule analysis... Time... Structural model establishment... Reverse compilation begins..."

Deep within its core, a massive flow of data surged like a galaxy. Even while passively taking hits, it frantically analyzed the time laws unleashed by the Time Guardian!

The next moment, a sudden change occurred!

Suddenly, countless tiny energy nodes on the massive star-like body of the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core lit up. Immediately afterward, streams of grayish-white energy erupted from those nodes.

That's not imitation, but a higher level of application!
These grayish-white energies rapidly condensed in the void, transforming into crystals smaller than dust particles. Each crystal seemed to contain a cross-section of time, exuding an ancient and weathered aura.

The Sands of Time!
This is a weapon of law that the Golden Puppet Ancestor Core reverse-engineered using its immense energy and computing power after analyzing the laws of time!
"Activate the 'Time-Sequence Cage' protocol!"

As the cold command from the Ancestral Core was given, billions of "Sands of Time" erupted instantly, transforming into a gray storm that swept across the entire battlefield.

The storm did not cause any damage to the Time Guardians, but it created one tiny, independent, and completely closed time loop after another around them!

A Time Guardian has just swung its scythe when, in the next instant, its movement will eerily reverse, returning to the state it was in before swinging the scythe. Then, it will repeat the swinging motion, and then reverse again... endlessly.

They're trapped!

The Golden Puppet Ancestral Core actually used their own methods against them, using the laws of time to trap these time incarnations in countless infinite time loops!
These guardians of time remain powerful and immortal, but they can never step out of that brief moment of the "present," are completely stripped of the "future," and have lost all ability to interfere with the outside world.

The advance of the gray sky came to an abrupt halt; the power that was enough to corrupt all things was forever frozen halfway through.

With the threat of the Time Law temporarily averted, the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core immediately redirected most of its computational power to another major threat—the remnant soul of the Dragon Emperor.

"Roar--!"

The Dragon Soul Tide, formed by the convergence of billions of dragon souls, has torn through the outer defenses of the Golden Puppet Army, like a black sword of divine retribution, piercing straight into the core of the Ancestral Core!

The attack, composed purely of will, resentment, and dragon's might, ignored all physical defenses. Metal mountains were crushed into dust by the invisible force amidst the dragon's roar, and energy shields shattered like bubbles.

The vanguard of the Dragon Soul Tide has already reached the core area of ​​the Ancestral Core.

"The suppression of will has reached its critical point... Activate the 'Dragon Bone Furnace'!"

At this critical moment, a bottomless rift suddenly opened up in the center of the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core Star. Beneath the rift was not a cold mechanical structure, but a terrifying furnace churning with dark red magma!
Within that furnace, countless enormous and grotesque skeletons floated—the remains of the ancient dragon race!
These were all collected by the Golden Puppet Clan over countless years from various cosmic ruins, including dragon bones stolen from the edge of the Dragon Tomb Realm. Originally materials for the Ancestral Core to study the mysteries of life and soul, they have now become the most insidious weapons.

"boom!"

The furnace was activated, and billions of puppet runes lit up, transforming into chains of order that bound the dragon bones and began frantically extracting the remaining dragon essence and immortality from them.

At the same time, streams of polluted data representing "chaos," "rage," and "bloodlust" were forcibly injected into the furnace, savagely merging with the pure dragon essence!
"Ow—!"

A heart-wrenching, agonizing cry echoed from the depths of the furnace.

The next moment, a terrifying energy, as black as ink yet mixed with blood-red patterns, shot up from the furnace, like a waterfall flowing backward, and crashed into the unstoppable tide of dragon souls!
"Sizzle sizzle sizzle—" The two collided, without a deafening explosion, but instead produced a tooth-grinding corrosive sound.

The "polluted dragon source" refined by the dragon bone furnace is the most terrifying poison in the world for a pure dragon soul!

The once unified tide of dragon souls began to surge and twist violently the moment it came into contact with this energy. The sorrow and anger that had been in the eyes of the phantom dragon souls were quickly replaced by a irrational, bloodthirsty madness.

Their forms began to become deformed, with twisted bone spurs growing on their bodies, and their mouths no longer uttered dragon roars, but rather the howls of wild beasts.

"Roar! Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Even the supreme will of the remnant soul of the Dragon Emperor, which ruled over everything, began to weaken under this targeted pollution. It could no longer perfectly control the billions of corrupted dragon souls.

The chaos began.

The corrupted dragon souls no longer only attacked the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core, but began to attack everything around them indiscriminately! They tore at their companions, charged at the Time Guardians trapped in the Time Cage, and even the Nightmare Lord, who was hiding in the shadows and quietly watching the battle, was swept by a violent dragon soul shockwave and let out a scream of shock and anger.

The Dragon Soul Tide, the sharpest sword, was dismantled from within by the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core using the most despicable means, turning into a catastrophe that swept across all directions.

The tragedy of the Dragon Tomb was brought to its extreme at this moment.

On the battlefield, the Guardians of Time were trapped, the Dragon Soul Tide fell into internal strife, and the Golden Puppet Ancestral Core finally had time to deal with the last and most bizarre enemy—the Lord of Nightmares.

"Hehehe... What a wonderful performance, Iron Lump. Your methods are even dirtier than I imagined... But I like them!"

The Nightmare Lord's laughter echoed directly within the logical core of the Ancestral Core. It had already taken advantage of the chaos to infiltrate its power into the Ancestral Core's internal network.

For it, logic and order are themselves a constraint. And constraint means the existence of "loopholes".

"Let me see just how much fear your 'heart,' made of absolute rationality, can withstand? Is it the fear of metal decaying? Or the fear of being crushed by will? Or perhaps... the fear of having the meaning of your own existence denied?"

Countless negative emotions transformed into illusory data streams at the lowest level, frantically assaulting the ancestral core's firewall. (End of Chapter)