novelsite Chapter 340 Refining Heroic Spirits, Going on a Western Expedition to Steal a Brain
Chapter 340 Refining Heroic Spirits, Going on a Western Expedition to Steal a Brain
East China Sea, Dengxian Island.
The gray fog was torn open by the gale. Black and gold streams of light fell from the sky and crashed heavily onto the shattered white jade square.
The earthquake trembled, and spiderweb-like cracks spread rapidly along the gaps in the floor tiles.
Lu Sheng stood up and looked around.
Half of the island had collapsed. Seawater flooded into the outer area. Bloodstains were still wet among the broken walls and ruins. The corpses of tens of thousands of Abyssal synthetic beasts were piled up like mountains, emitting a pungent stench and corrosive white smoke.
Li Xiaoyao, carrying a broken sword, and Dao Yi, dragging his crippled left arm, were directing the surviving disciples to move corpses and repair array patterns.
Upon seeing Lu Sheng, everyone stopped what they were doing.
Thousands of eyes were fixed on them. There was awe, fear, and a desperate, desperate hope.
Ignoring the stares, Lu Sheng walked past the crowd and headed straight for the hero's tomb, which exuded a chilling aura.
"Island Master Lu, please wait."
An untimely voice came from behind.
The crowd dispersed. An old man dressed in a tattered Taoist robe strode forward. Behind him followed a dozen or so Kunlun cultivators with displeased expressions, as well as several blond-haired, blue-eyed remnants of the Western Pantheon.
Dao Yi lowered his voice and quickly reported, "Young Island Master, this is Elder Chi Ming from Kunlun Jade Void Palace. Just now, the abyss monsters attacked the island, and they used the formation to defend a corner. However..."
Lu Sheng raised his hand to interrupt Dao Yi.
He turned around and looked directly at Chi Ming.
Chi Ming straightened his back, his expression righteous and awe-inspiring, and cleared his throat before speaking: "Island Lord Lu, we have sensed the movements in the far north. A great enemy from the stars is about to descend. At this critical juncture of life and death, all of humanity must unite as one."
Lu Sheng didn't say anything, just watched him perform quietly.
Seeing this, Chi Ming assumed Lu Sheng's silence emboldened him, and raised his voice: "For the Immortal Island to monopolize the *Immortal Qin Military Canon* and those ancient heroic remains is against the will of Heaven. I propose that we immediately establish a United Council of Elders for Humanity. Representatives from all sides should be elected to jointly study the military canon and share the resources of the remains. Only by pooling our wisdom can we overcome this calamity!"
The remnants of the Western forces behind them echoed their sentiments.
"That's right! Sharing resources is humanity's only way to survive!"
Lu Sheng stuck out his little finger and picked at his ear.
"Are you done talking?"
Chi Ming's tone faltered, his brows furrowing tightly: "Island Lord Lu, this is not a private matter concerning your family or clan; it concerns the lives of billions of people on Earth..."
The words came to an abrupt halt.
A blast of air rose into the sky. Lu Sheng vanished from the spot.
The next second, a hand covered in black and gold dragon scales gripped Chi Ming's neck tightly, lifting him up like a radish.
Chi Ming kicked wildly, his face turning a purplish-red. The life force of a level 40 Spirit Master at the Great Perfection stage surged violently through his meridians, attempting to break free of its restraints.
It was completely ineffective. Under Lu Sheng's physical gravitational field, which was 3000 times stronger than that of a mortal, Chi Ming's resistance was no different from a three-year-old child pushing against a wall.
Lu Sheng stared coldly at Chi Ming's bulging eyeballs, which were throbbing from lack of oxygen.
"Human righteousness? The Senate?" Lu Sheng's tone was flat, as if stating an objective fact. "I just crushed an alien fleet on the edge of the solar system, and you're talking to me about rules on my turf?"
Bring your five fingers together.
Click.
The sound of the neck bone breaking was crisp and pleasant.
Lu Sheng's left hand formed a claw with his five fingers, and a deathly gray, desolate light gathered at his fingertips. He slammed his palm solidly into Chi Ming's dantian.
The suction force reverses the flow.
A heart-wrenching scream was trapped in his shattered throat. Chi Ming's level 40 cultivation, his understanding of the rules, along with that crystal-clear spiritual core, were forcibly extracted from his flesh by Lu Sheng in the most savage way.
Lu Sheng casually tossed the corpse, which had lost its spiritual source and instantly dried up, into the blood-soaked pit.
He held the spirit crystal core, which was emitting a rich energy fluctuation, in his right hand.
The entire place was deathly silent. Even the sound of waves crashing against the rocks sounded harsh. Every breath was suppressed in one's throat.
The Western powerhouses who had been shouting along with him suddenly trembled, their knees buckled, and they knelt down on the ground.
Lu Sheng looked around, tossed the crystal core in his hand into the air, caught it, and tossed it into the air again.
"On my island, there are only two kinds of people."
The sound pierced through the sea breeze, precisely hitting everyone's eardrums.
"Obedience, and materials."
"Anyone who tries to use righteousness to blackmail me will suffer the consequences."
Lu Sheng turned around and strode into the open gate of the Heroes' Tomb.
No one dared to speak up and stop them.
Dao Yi and Li Xiaoyao exchanged a glance, seeing the deepest fear in each other's eyes. This master was a hundred times more ruthless than the monsters deep within the starry sky.
Inside the Heroes' Tomb.
One hundred and eight remains of immortal Qin heroes were neatly arranged. After their Daoist essence was drained, the bodies of these ancient powerhouses became dull and lifeless, like pieces of dried-out rotten wood, their surfaces covered with mottled marks of abyssal erosion.
Lu Sheng walked to the center of the corridor and stood still.
With a flick of his left hand, the "Immortal Qin Military Manual" floated in his palm.
The ancient scroll moved without wind. A vast amount of golden seal script detached from the paper, intertwining in mid-air to outline an extremely complex three-dimensional array full of industrial aesthetics.
Lu Sheng pulled up the system panel.
Editable material detected: 108 remains of the Thirteenth Legion of the Immortal Qin Dynasty.
[Included in Volume Twelve of the Military Manual: The Mass Production and Modification Sequence of Terracotta Warriors.]
At Lu Sheng's dantian, the phantom of the [Ancient Devouring Furnace] magnified and began to rotate at high speed in reverse.
The massive spiritual energy obtained from devouring a million abyssal troops in the far north ice plains has now transformed into a vast red torrent. Following the three-dimensional array patterns in mid-air, the torrent splits into one hundred and eight precise energy streams, forcibly pouring into the crown of each skeleton.
The assembly-line style industrial transformation has officially begun.
Lu Sheng's ten fingers moved rapidly through the void.
He used the computing power of the Star Gate core to forcibly inject lines of underlying code and rule instructions into the depths of the remains's spiritual platform.
The shriveled muscle fibers began to plump up again. The fragile, dried-out bone surface gradually revealed a cold, heavy metallic sheen.
Click click.
One hundred and eight remains sat up simultaneously from their ice coffins.
Dao Yi and Li Xiaoyao followed to the palace gate, where they were frozen in place by the sight before them.
"Corpse refining... He's trying to turn our ancestors into living corpses!" Li Xiaoyao clutched his chest, his urge to curse being suppressed by his will to survive.
Dao Yi narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the remains, his whisk deformed from being squeezed.
"No. This technique doesn't have a trace of corpse energy."
The remains were devoid of any deathly resentment, nor did they possess the vicious, bloody stench typical of demonic corpse refining.
The terracotta warriors opened their eyes.
The empty eye sockets no longer held soul fire, but instead contained two balls of azure electronic light.
In the center of his chest, a triangular core emblem appeared, identical to that of the Ten Thousand Meter Prison Demon Armor.
The uniform mechanical electronic sounds echoed back and forth in the tomb chamber.
[Underlying logic reset complete.]
[The Spirit Source Power Reactor is operating normally. Armor coverage is 100%.]
[Weapon module offline. Highest-level commander identified... Lu Sheng.]
[The 13th Legion's Guards stand in formation, saluting you.]
One hundred and eight restored Qin Dynasty terracotta warriors rolled over and descended from their coffins. One knee slammed into the ground, producing a resounding clang like metal striking stone. Their movements were perfectly synchronized, with not a millisecond's error.
They lack self-awareness, are unaware of fear, and are not afraid of pain.
These are war machines created purely for efficient killing.
Lu Sheng stroked his chin, walked to the nearest terracotta warrior, and circled it once.
He raised his hand, clenched his fist, and slammed it onto the terracotta warrior's chest armor, which was harder than basalt. A dull echo reverberated.
"The shell has been repaired well, and the hardware is sturdy enough. But..."
Lu Sheng pointed his fingers like a sword and flicked them. A burst of energy, imbued with the laws of desolation, shot straight towards the terracotta warrior's brow.
The terracotta warrior detected the attack trajectory and quickly raised its arms to block.
Bang. The energy dissipated.
The movements were extremely precise, yet they exuded a strong sense of stiffness. It only completed the "defense" command, its feet seemingly welded to the ground, without making any follow-up moves to deflect the force or launch a counterattack.
Lu Sheng frowned.
These ancient beings were all top experts in their lifetimes, some even reaching the threshold of Spirit King or Spirit Emperor, possessing martial arts skills with ease. Now, they only have powerful bodies and abundant spiritual energy reserves, but their combat logic is stuck at the most rigid beginner's level.
"He's missing a brain."
Lu Sheng recalled the military manual data.
A red warning box popped up on my retina.
[Warning: The current terracotta warrior formation is missing the 'Battle Formation Command Core'.]
[Current situation: Unable to conduct high-frequency coordinated operations. Unable to execute complex tactical infiltration. Individual combat efficiency reduced by 80%.]
[Recommendation: Capture a biological brain with advanced war simulation capabilities, or locate and connect to the 'Terracotta Army Array Control Brain' left behind by the Immortal Qin.]
Lu Sheng swiped his finger across the panel, his gaze piercing through the iceberg, looking towards the western horizon.
The fragments of memory obtained from searching for souls in the far north were rapidly pieced together in his mind.
The Supreme Commander of the Abyss Council was murdered. But within the underground pyramid ruins of its headquarters, the "Oracle," lies an ancient super star chart, assimilated by the Abyss for millennia. It was a divination tool used by these idiots to predict the future of Earth's spiritual origins.
Essentially, it is a supercomputer.
Lu Sheng turned and walked out of the hall. The hem of his black robe billowed up, stirring up frost on the ground.
Dao Yi quickly stepped forward: "Island Lord, shall we rest and recuperate before restarting the island's protective formation?"
"Rest and recuperate?"
Lu Sheng made a gesture with his right hand. The Dragon Devouring Spear flew through the air and into his palm, letting out a high-pitched dragon roar.
"Take these freshly made toys and get all the warships on the island operational."
"The Western Expedition"
"I need a brain with enough computing power to be the engine of this army."
Lu Sheng raised his head, his double pupils reflecting the still-scarlet sky, the deathly gray light like flickering will-o'-the-wisps.
"Go to the West."
"Take the skull of that iron lump in the oracle and use it."