novelsite Chapter 64: Technological Creations?
Chapter 64: Technological Creations?
"An interdimensional passage? The one that leads to the Cloud Continent?" Ye Zhi asked, even more puzzled.
"No, but similar. They all fell from the sky and were created by a powerful metal-based ability that even the Insect King could hardly damage."
The one transmitting spiritual power was Zuo Wang Qingyuan. Its compound eyes looked at Ye Zhi, then at the Wuyuan Ant King, and added:
"It was discovered by the Azure Ant King at the edge of the divine barrier. Along this divine barrier that divides the sphere from north to south, there is a path to the southern continent, which is in a period of dormancy."
"The material of this thing can penetrate the divine power barrier and connect the two sides of the barrier, allowing us to pass through it and reach the other side, the continent where the primal force is depleted." After a moment of silence, the Black Cypress Ant King sent out a mental message to add, "Little guy, you should follow Green Cypress for a while and familiarize yourself with the route."
"But, King Wuyuan, there's no natural force over there. How are we supposed to move around?" Ye Zhi asked, somewhat frightened.
"The divine power barrier cannot completely isolate the Force. At locations close to the divine power barrier, a weak amount of natural Force will seep in and dissipate along the barrier. Although it is thin, it is enough for the insect warriors to survive."
"Little one, I will support your growth as quickly as possible." Wu Yuan changed the subject, "When you evolve to the level of the Mountain Lord, with the presence of the Slender Ants and the Weaving Ants, it will be a complete tree ant kingdom."
"Your talent is limitless; you can go further than me on the path of Force evolution. But what if, before that happens, something unexpected happens to the Tree Ant Kingdom..."
Wu Yuan returned to the original topic: "The entrance to this interdimensional passage is hidden. Apart from me and the deceased Qingzhi Ant King, only Qing Yuan knows about this place. Even Hong Yuan doesn't know about it."
"Your destiny is special. If anything unexpected happens here, I will have Qingyuan take you to that continent and then seal the entrance here... to do everything I can to ensure your survival, little one."
"Now, follow Qingyuan once to familiarize yourself with the route."
Ye Zhi silently tapped its antennae, flapped its wings and took flight, landing on the back of the Azure Cypress Ant King, where it fell silent. The Azure Cypress Ant King tapped its antennae at the Black Cypress Ant King, then turned around and beckoned two worker ants to follow.
Surrounded by two worker ants, the slender black figure disappeared into the dense camphor forest, silently heading south along the rarely visited woodland.
......
Emerging from the dense forest once more, a sky-piercing, seven-colored glow appeared in sight, illuminating the heavens and earth with extraordinary splendor. That was the "divine barrier" that the true god of nature had laid down to divide the continent, as legend has it.
In the vast forest, which resembled a green ocean, three figures stopped almost right next to the divine power barrier. Zuo Wang Qingyuan's tentacles swayed, and Ye Zhi looked in that direction, where a cave suddenly appeared.
As Ye Zhi's slender figure entered the narrow cave, Zuo Wang Qingyuan slowly stopped again, his pair of steel whip-like tentacles gently brushing against the cave wall, as if caressing something.
Looking in the direction of the cypress's tendrils, one can see simple patterns, each consisting of only seven strokes, clearly carved on the rock face.
A long, straight vertical line seems to represent the ant's body, while six short, thick diagonal lines are neatly arranged, seemingly representing the ant's six limbs. Together, they form an extremely simple ant-shaped pattern.
This seems to be a timekeeping method similar to the character "正" (zhèng). Ye Zhi observed that these symbols are grouped in sets of four; if one represents seven days, then four can roughly represent one month.
The earliest markings have become blurred by the ravages of time. Perhaps they were left by the Blue Ant King, a "senior of the same kind" whom he had never met, in an attempt to verify the theory of the Force's cycle of reincarnation.
"Little guy, we've arrived." As he pondered, Qingyuan's mental power entered his mind. "From here, keep walking straight down. When you see the sky again, you'll reach another continent, a continent without primal force."
After squeezing through a narrow, twisted metal gap—barely big enough for Zuo Wang Qingyuan's massive but slender body to squeeze through with its limbs tucked in—the cramped passage in front of him suddenly opened up into a wide space.
On both sides, large rectangular metal pieces are pieced together like bricks and tiles, creating a straight corridor that stretches into the unknown distance.
On the wall, there are still yellowed threads that have been worn away by time, but you can still vaguely see the original white silk threads forming arrow-like patterns that point to the end of the passage.
That was the silk of the weaver ant, perhaps a "signpost" left by its never-before-seen "elder of the same kind" - the blue ant king.
As Ye Zhi's compound eyes swept over the walls and floor covered with large metal plates, he had the illusion of returning to his previous life and strolling through the long corridor of the building. Only the worker ants silently moving forward beside Qing Yuan proved that this was still the Force Star Realm.
On both sides, some familiar metal doors, about two meters high, appeared. Some had fallen off, while many more had been forcibly opened by some means, revealing empty spaces inside.
Ye Zhi was even more shocked. He recalled Qing Yuan's description earlier—forged with an unknown, powerful metallic ability, so strong that even the Insect King could hardly damage it. Could this be a structure made of some special alloy, crafted by a technologically advanced civilization?
Zuo Wang Qingyuan also mentioned that the passage connecting the Dragon Bamboo Continent and the neighboring Cloud Realm Continent is similar, only much wider. And all these passages "descended from the sky"!
A guess popped into Ye Zhi's mind: Could this be a spaceship from some technological civilization that was shot down by that terrifyingly powerful Force life form known as the "True God of Nature" and thrown into the protected astral plane?
Ye Zhi's mind suddenly started racing - could there be any tools or even weapons left behind by a technological civilization on this spaceship?
As an extremely powerful primal force life form, the "Nature God" would probably look down on these "junk," but to these tiny insects in the astral plane, each one is a treasure and a weapon.
"When the Azure Ant King found this place, these rooms had already been completely emptied. Perhaps it was the work of the insect warriors from the other side of the continent during the previous cycle of the Force. What was inside is unknown."
Qingyuan's mental power interrupted Ye Zhi's fantasy. He did not send out any mental power, but simply lay silently on Qingyuan's back armor, looking at the seemingly familiar yet unfamiliar inner wall of the passage, his mind wandering.
After walking for an unknown amount of time through the dimly lit passage, another narrow crevice, seemingly formed by the violent impact and deformation of metal, came into view.
A beam of light shone through the narrow gap, piercing Ye Zhi's compound and monocular eyes, which had already adapted to the dim environment. For a moment, he couldn't see clearly ahead; only in his mind could he "hear" the mental energy emanating from Qing Yuan:
"We've arrived."