Warhammer: Black Emperor

Chapter 617 The Secret to Transforming Immortals
"The Disordered Kingdom", the eighth layer of space.

As soon as Ning Lu set foot here, he immediately saw lines of rules converging into different shapes.

Golden, majestic peaks, a gray ribbon...

Every thing formed from the threads of rules can be associated with one of two words: majesty and submission.

The first layer of space opened by the "Chaos Mentor" is related to "majesty".

Ninglu was overjoyed. He was about to head to the fifth level of space to bring Slau Da over.

Suddenly, black mist surged, and the Spirit Clan's Si Zhan appeared before him.

[Um? ]
Ning Lu pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up.

[Further manifestations of elevated privileges.]

I'm increasingly feeling like the master of a "disordered country," no longer needing to run around.
As Ninglu pondered, Slau Da's body trembled, as if something was pressing down on him.

The "Chaos Mentor" unleashed his spiritual power, and his "willpower" pressed down on Slau Da.

boom!
Slau Da crashed to the dark ground, blood seeping from his head.

Slau Da felt the monkey in front of him stretch its body.

He grew ever more majestic, like a god in the pantheon.

Slau Da seemed to have returned to his youth. He knelt before the statue of the Phoenix King Asuyan and prayed for a way to save his people.

The jeering deity he encountered in the tunnel during his visit to the Black Library.

In the presence of the bishops of the various tribes, he entered the Temple of Cairne, gained their approval, and took up one of the hundred swords forged by the god of forging, Vaal.

“Tell me how you will convert John Gramaticus into an immortal.”

Slau Da closed his eyes, trying to enter a meditative state, but found immense pressure not only in the world of rising black mist, but also in the realm of his mind.

He kept repeating to himself, "He is not a god, he is just a monkey."

The Primarch's eyes flickered with light, and pure spiritual power shone brightly as a streak of light flew toward Slau Da's soul.

"You...are...a monkey...you...don't even think about it..."

Slau Da's mind was like a mirror under pressure, on the verge of shattering at any moment.

A look of surprise flashed across Ning Lu's eyes; Slau Da was actually able to resist.

Having just been promoted to "Chaos Mentor," the effect of "Willpower Suppression" was still somewhat weak. Even in the eighth level of space, it was unable to overcome Slau Da's final resistance.

But I won't wait any longer; the potion will be absorbed, and my power will increase.
"Open your eyes."

"Chaos Mentor" shouted, and at the same time, with a thought, the flagpole of the third space appeared in his right hand.

Slau Da closed his eyes tightly, but his mental resistance was not firm.

His eyes blinked six times between opening and closing before he opened them wide.

“Tell me how you will convert John Gramaticus into an immortal.”

“Cradle of the Serpent… Spring… Gem…” Slau Da uttered three words haltingly before suddenly realizing what he had said.

"Monkey...you...don't even think about it..."

“I already know,” Ninglu interrupted him coldly, having found the answer in Slau Da’s mind.

The mind is more real than language, even more real than the brain.

Language can deceive, and it is not difficult to fabricate false memories in the brain, even for the Eldar.

But consciousness is like a mirror; it will truthfully reflect everything.

The ritual to transform immortals is not difficult; I have mastered the runes.

The difficulty lies in the materials: the spring water and gemstones from the Cradle of the Serpent.

It turns out the rumor about the cradle of snakes in the future wasn't entirely unfounded.
Ninglu knew that both the future port of call and the port of wandering were rumored to be the cradle of snakes:

The spring water is sweet and can cure all diseases.

Gems are the size of a palm and are readily available.

[Originally thought to be a false bait, a rumor spread by Slaanesh to lure people in.]

So it wasn't fake after all.

However, of all those who went there, only Sebastian Winster survived.
Ninglu realized that it was unlikely that Old Man Huang had ever been to that remote region of space.

The Eldar's method of converting immortals seems to be different from that of Old Man Huang.

Old Huang couldn't possibly tell Eribus how to convert immortals, and his method for converting Shirene Valantien, a survivor of the Perfect City, was likely different as well.
Ning Lu frowned slightly; obtaining materials from immortals was not easy.

The Cradle of the Serpent is a dangerous place.

The twin stars of the Cradle of the Serpents—Alpha and Beta—are highly likely to harbor Slaanesh demons waiting to prey on them. The twelve planets orbiting the Serpent twins are all precious virgin worlds for the Eldar, yet they have all been abandoned.

[Perhaps this is why Slauda and the Tantric tradition could only create a limited number of immortals.]

After Slaanesh seized the twin serpents, they took only a limited amount of the spring water and gems with them.
Compared to the cult's goal of controlling the galactic situation, their number of immortals is still too small.

Slaanesh alone is not a big problem.

Nimrod leads the extraordinary beings of the "Sun" pathway and the think tank that wields the "Roar of the Griffin," capable of purging the demons of the cradle of serpents.

Those with extraordinary abilities through the "Sun" pathway can also purify the spring water from the corruption of Svaha, even more effectively than the purification rituals of the future state religion.

More importantly, the territory of the Colonus expansion area.

From the perspective of the cosmic sky, the future Calicus sector and the Colonus expansion were originally one entity.

When the traveling merchant Solomon Harlock discovered it, he named it the Callix Expansion District.

However, until the Great Rift unfolded, the empire had barely established a real government in the Colonus expansion.

The decisive factor is that there is no stable subspace route between the Calithis sector and the Colonus expansion.

It wasn't until 997.M40 that the traveling merchant Priti Latimen discovered the only "safe" route—"The Mouth"—along with the disappearance of dozens of traveling merchant families.

Shortly after, on 999.M40, the Rose Scepter of Juno Dachmann, a wandering merchant, became one of the first ships to cross the "Giant Mouth," but it also disappeared en route.

Ning Lu knew that the "Giant Mouth" was surrounded by a powerful subspace storm for a long time.

There is no place for the fleet to dock in the "giant mouth," and the "safe site" is even more dangerous than the space storm.

Even if my fleet can be delivered to the Cradle of the Serpent through the Caligum Gate, it will have to pass through the "Giant Mouth" on the return journey.

Even if the "safe passage" is divined using the divination dice, it is not truly safe.
After a few seconds of silence, Ning Lu came up with a way to return safely.

Go get the Tuqiu engine in advance.

The Tuchucha Engine, created by the Ancients, is a warp artifact capable of efficient and precise warp jumps.

Nimrod originally planned to retrieve it before the grand birthday celebration, because he knew that after Ryan Eljonsson led the "Dark Angels" and Karas Typhon led the "Death Guards" to reclaim the Pertitus system, they had not discovered the function of the Tuchucha Engine.

After the war, the Tuchucha Engine was placed on the main planet Pertitus and studied by the newly established Forging World.

It wasn't until the "Salamas Expedition," after Ryan faced Conrad Coz in Tagusa and was deceived by Peturabo, and his general's cannons were used against the Empire, that he decided to change the passive situation.

Just then, after receiving news that the "Death Guard" had gone to Pertigus, he realized that they were there for that strange creation.

He traveled to Pertitus, where he no longer trusted anyone, and seized the Tuchucha engine from the conflicting accounts of the "Death Guard" and the "Iron Hand."

Although the Tuchucha engine could not meet Ryan's requirements to break through the destructive storm and head to Terra.

However, it still allows Lane to break through smaller warp storms and raid the homeworlds of the various traitorous Primarchs.

Because before the grand birthday celebration, the Tuchucha engine would be in Pertitus.

All he needs to do is go there before the grand birthday celebration, using his Primarch identity to his advantage and check the engine in Tuch, which will save him a lot of trouble.

But in order to return safely, he had to go to Pertitus ahead of time to intercept Tuchucha's engine.

In this way, even if the fleet encounters a subspace storm while passing through the "Giant Mouth" passage, it can return safely.

This is good, as it avoids the butterfly effect and prevents any changes from occurring.

And we gain access to a world rich in resources.
The fact that Pertigus developed into a casting world rather than a research station suggests that it possessed abundant mineral resources.

Having considered this, Ninglu devised his next plan:

He participated in the war against the Nephilim in 884, and then used the prophetic dice to divine the oracle of the Chucha engine in 885.

Afterwards, the star chart for the route to the Cradle of the Serpent and the "Giant Mouth" is divined.

[Well, since we're going to expand the territory of Kronus, let the Fourth Legion occupy that world full of undead while we're at it, so it'll be easier for the "Necromancer" to play the role.]
After Ninglu finished thinking about his plan, he looked at Slau Da in front of him.

He knelt on the ground, his eyes flashing with hatred, sadness, and a hint of admiration.

Ning Lu asked in a deep voice, "Tell me about the Black Library."

“Monkey…you…don’t even think about it…” Slau Da said defiantly.

Ninglu's consciousness, which had seeped into the depths of Slau Da's mind, suddenly felt the surrounding mist rising.

He cautiously withdrew from Slau Da's mind, thinking to himself.

[His communication with the God of Laughter is an even more important secret.]
"I'll know."

Slau Dae can't escape; he'll find out sooner or later.

Ninglu then had a thought and returned to the real world.

(End of this chapter)