Light Fortress

Chapter 1772 - 417: Oasis

"If I refuse, you’ll kill me?"

Ku’s face was deathly pale. He could very clearly feel a chill welling up in his heart.

This was a kind of "oppression" he had never experienced before.

This "oppression" came from Deep Sea’s gaze.

That blurred shadow merely watched him, calm and indifferent, yet the bone-chilling killing intent crossed the distant, boundless Spiritual World and descended right onto his head.

He knew Deep Sea was not lying to him.

"The torrent of an era will not halt for a single grain of sand. I advise you not to make a foolish choice."

Deep Sea said softly, "Even if you die, I still have other ways to accomplish this... The reason I didn’t kill you outright is only because that isn’t the optimal solution."

This was also why he was willing to talk to Ku.

"Now, it’s time for you to make your choice."

Deep Sea left Ku the chance to answer.

In truth.

Ku no longer had a choice.

...

...

Boom!

A violent roar suddenly shot up to the sky. The stele on the back of the Black Snow Mountain Giant began to tremble violently.

"What’s going on?"

Silver Fox frowned, the ominous premonition in his heart reaching its peak.

The shadows shrouding the sky above the Calamity Barrier suddenly began to stir and blaze with dense radiance.

Those countless Bone-winged Creatures wheeled and circled at the Skytop. They screeched, they roared, their Spirit Seas covered by an invisible linkage.

Silver Fox gave rise to a vague, unreal illusion.

He felt... as if he himself was inside a vast "Spirit Network", countless thin and feeble spiritual torrents spreading out with that Black Snow Mountain Giant as their center.

And those Extraordinary Lifeforms that kept descending around this land became the nodes that wove this enormous net.

No.

The real "core" was not the giant.

It was the "traveller" borne upon the giant’s back!

Silver Fox looked toward the shoulder of the Black Snow Mountain Giant.

The withered figure chained to the stele slowly lifted its head.

Silver Fox met the "traveller’s" gaze.

That corpse which had been "dead" for so many years now opened its eyes. Within the pitch-black pupils flowed dazzling silver arcs of light. The bitter wind howled past, sweeping over the spears and arrowheads that had pierced through its body. It merely opened its eyes, looking at this strange and desolate world, just looking, saying not a single word...

The land, riddled with scars, had weathered for decades.

Great snow swirled and billowed.

Seas turned to mulberry fields; all was bygone.

But now, wherever that gaze swept, snowflakes melted, the void was torn open, and one portal after another unfolded. The entire Traveler Tribe’s Spirits began to converge toward it.

A massive vortex spread over the sky above the Calamity Barrier.

Silver Fox General, who had gone through the Crimson-slaying War, taken part in countless crusades and expeditions beyond the borders, just stood there blankly beneath the enormous vortex. He watched the massed spiritual dark clouds gathering at the Skytop, and after that one shared glance, he suddenly understood many, many things.

He also realized whom that familiar gaze had truly belonged to.

But by then, it was already too late.

...

...

"The eleventh upgrade, officially begins."

Within the Sky Divine Domain at the pinnacle of the Source Tower, a figure sat amidst layered clouds and shadows. The "traveller" a thousand miles away opened his eyes, and he too opened his own.

Deep Sea’s gaze fell upon the throne of the Sky Divine Throne.

"What a delightful surprise."

Qinglong, lazily propping her elbow as if dozing, narrowed her eyes and said with a soft laugh, "The spiritual power within the Five Continents isn’t enough, so you borrow strength from the[Old World]... This move should count as an outside move, right? You’ve been laying out this board for a long time now, haven’t you?"

"A competent player needs to account for every eventuality."

Deep Sea extended a hand.

He displayed the fruits of his layout to Qinglong.

In his palm was reflected the dusky projection of the deep water area.

The sea surged and spread. Innumerable currents rushed toward the pitch-black "seabed" below, expanding... This signaled that the main system had entered an unprecedented eleventh upgrade. The computing power required for this upgrade was the massive sum of all previous ten added together. This immense amount of computing power, without Qinglong granting authorization, simply could not be gathered within the Five Continents.

But now.

The Traveler Tribe of the[Old World]had made up for this short board for Deep Sea.

Endless spiritual power poured into the deep water area.

"How long will this upgrade take?"

Qinglong asked with a smile.

"Impossible to estimate." Deep Sea shook his head. "The eleventh upgrade is unlike any previous one. My computing power will soar explosively, and the deep water area will undergo an unprecedented expansion... Perhaps once this upgrade is complete, the main system will be able to perform a self-check of its ’underlying logic’."

"Self-check of the ’underlying logic’?"

Qinglong raised a brow. "So after this upgrade, you’ll be able to touch the[source code]Turing left behind?"

"Theoretically speaking, something like[source code]no longer exists. It was already defeated in the First War and completely purged by me."

Deep Sea said calmly, "But if I can carry out a full-scale self-check at the underlying level... there might be unexpected gains. Even if there are remnants of the[source code], I will excise them entirely."

After ten upgrades.

The main system had become many times more powerful than before.

There was no suspense left in this code war... The greatest meaning of the self-check was that[Deep Sea]could become its own master.

It had once been a piece of code.