Chapter 1 The Peak of the Barren Mountain

On the summit of the desolate mountain, the wind howled. Su Jie's heart was filled with lingering doubts, and he was momentarily lost in thought.

How vast was the universe?

Not to mention Xuan Xing, even the entire solar system was but a speck of dust. If other worlds truly came to their universe for some unknown reason,

they shouldn't single out Xuan Xing.

Unless this unusual 'space-time displacement' happened very often, very frequently, or Xuan Xing possessed something extremely special.

Otherwise, it was impossible to explain.

And what was so special about Xuan Xing?

Increase or decrease monitoring of the target?】

Ying Long was omnipresent. As his voice sounded, a waterfall of data cascaded down, intricate and complex.

Monitoring the crystal skull occupied most of Ying Long's computing power, almost constantly for more than a decade.

Su Jie came back to his senses and waved his hand when he heard this: "Maintain the status quo. Don't make any extra moves. Also, connect me to Qing Long."

Dreams and reality were one of the most important research directions for Su Jie and even Xuan Xing in recent years, but few could truly communicate. The only way to achieve this was through Ying Long's data transmission.

Of course, this kind of information transmission consumed a great deal of energy and required high authority.

Connecting...】

Ying Long responded quickly. In a few seconds, the cascading data flow had turned into a video window. Qing Long, with a solemn expression, looked at Su Jie from the window.

Behind him, the thirteen crystal skulls shrouded in runes seemed to be more and more excited, dancing wildly within the runes, emitting bursts of sharp and terrifying sounds.

"With the awakening of that 'Craftsman God' or whatever, the skulls are moving more and more. If this goes on, we can only choose to exile them to space."

Qing Long's face was not pleasant.

The restlessness of the skulls was one thing, and the words of that Craftsman God were another.

Growing up under the red flag, he was most disgusted by these self-proclaimed superior beings, who were actually unknown demons and monsters.

"Exiling them to space is not advisable."

Su Jie shook his head: "What the Craftsman God said is vague, but if it's true, losing the isolation of the rune array will cause great harm."

He was the first to notice the skulls' movements. If exiling them to space was feasible, he wouldn't have gone to the trouble of drawing runes to suppress them.

In the end, space could not truly solve these problems.

Bai Hu requests a conversation...】

Dr. Wang requests a conversation...】

Ying Long's voice sounded at the right time. With Su Jie's slight nod, Wang Zhixuan and Bai Hu's figures appeared in the video window one after another.

"Captain, Dr. Su Jie."

In the vast wind and snow, Bai Hu was unshaven, looking like a wild man. His voice was slightly hoarse, but also very serious:

"What do you two think we should do with that visitor from another world?"

In the antique room, Wang Zhixuan's eyes were cold as she glanced at everyone, without speaking.

The nine giants of the New Era were responsible for different directions. Qing Long guarded the underground base, while Gu Changsheng and Bai Hu were stationed at the two poles to defend against fierce beasts.

She was developing dream resources, feeding back to reality, and incidentally cultivating new rune masters.

She was not very clear about the skull matter.

"Too little information, difficult to distinguish between friend and foe. Judging from his posture, he is more likely to be an enemy than a friend. As for the rest, it's half true, half false."

Qing Long looked at Su Jie with a deep voice: "We must not let him come into contact with these crystal skulls."

In the forty years of the New Era, Su Jie's prestige had reached its zenith. Although he did not dictate everything, no one could ignore his importance.

Especially since Su Jie was too concerned about the skulls, Qing Long couldn't help but worry.

Su Jie was speechless. He glanced not far away at Ying Long, who had also manifested his dragon body at some point and was circling:

"Based on the current reaction of the skulls, how long can the 'empty' character array last?"

1274 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes, 12 seconds】

Ying Long answered quickly and accurately.

Qing Long was expressionless, obviously having inquired about it already, but Bai Hu's expression changed, and he blurted out: "So short?"

"Qing Long."

Wang Zhixuan also spoke, glancing at the silent Su Jie: "This time is already very short. Even if they are put into space, it won't be enough to create a big enough distance from Xuan Xing. It's better to..."

"You mean to hand these crystal skulls over to that Craftsman God?"

Qing Long frowned, with a warning:

"Have you considered that the god's initial arrogance and subsequent deference may not only be because Han Fangbai's soul is special? Is it possible that he is trying to deceive us into returning the crystal skulls to him in his weakened state?"

Everyone was silent. This possibility was not nonexistent.

Ying Long responded: Lack of necessary data, unable to analyze whether this possibility exists, but cannot be ruled out】

In the forty years of the New Era, and hundreds of years in dreams, Ying Long was no longer comparable to what it once was. As an artificial intelligence, its advancement was the fastest in Xuan Xing.

But it was not omnipotent.

"This possibility may exist, or it may not, but as long as there is this possibility, I will not allow him to touch the crystal skulls."

Qing Long's tone was calm, yet firm: "I propose exile to space, or forced destruction. Choose one of the two."

Bai Hu and Wang Zhixuan both frowned. Obviously, these two had a major disagreement, although Su Jie had not yet spoken.

Su Jie frowned slightly, but only for a moment, his brow had already relaxed: "Then, I will exile them to space."

This time, everyone had no objections.

Relying on rune techniques, many people in Xuan Xing had the means to set foot in space, but Xuan Xing had strayed into a strange star field. The space outside Xuan Xing was not normal space.

In recent years, many rune masters who explored space had died in the process, except for Su Jie.

Although Qing Long frowned slightly, he knew Su Jie's character well and could only nod.

...

Su Jie never acted indecisively.

As soon as everyone discussed the results, he appeared in the underground base, and under Qing Long's gaze, he took away the thirteen crystal skulls.

And closely followed by the latter, he left the base city.

Whoosh~

Outside the base city, the cold wind howled, the ice and snow were vast, and the temperature was frighteningly low.

"I need to watch Dr. Su fly out of the atmosphere..."

Qing Long bowed slightly, with a hint of apology, and said, "Please don't blame me, Dr. Su."

"Why would I?"

Su Jie shook his head, indicating that he didn't care.

Qing Long was rigid, more like a soldier than a martial artist, but that didn't mean he had any malice. They had worked together for many years and were already used to it.

Seeing him staring at himself without blinking, he could only sigh and use rune techniques to guide the Earth's magnetic field, and in the blink of an eye, he seemed to have left the atmosphere.

Whoosh!

In the icy high altitude, Su Jie stopped.

This was the outermost edge of the atmosphere. With his eyesight, he could already see the space outside Xuan Xing from here.

White!

A expanse of white!

Outside Xuan Xing, it was no longer the space that ordinary people knew. Pure white light was everywhere.

Xuan Xing was lost in the universe, which was the helpless sigh of many astronomers.

No matter how brilliant the astronomer, he could not determine the location of Xuan Xing without any comparison.

The reason for this was these white lights.

This was not just a simple astronomical phenomenon, but brought more than just the terrifying cold of approaching absolute zero.

"Where does this white light come from? So terrifying, could it also be from another universe..."

Su Jie's eyes flickered.

In the past few decades, he had studied rune techniques and his cultivation realm had improved. He could almost sense the will of Xuan Xing at any time.

This white light, in his eyes under the blessing of Xuan Xing's will, had completely changed its appearance.

That was countless tiny 'poisonous insects' that even the most sophisticated instruments might not be able to see!

They were ferocious and terrifying, extremely brutal!

They gathered in groups of three or five, converging into white light, and almost everything was devoured wherever they went. The terrifying frozen cold was not worth mentioning compared to their own terror.

The fierce beasts at the two poles of Xuan Xing could not compare to these poisonous insects.

With the blessing of spiritual machine particles, rune masters no longer cared about the invasion of cold. The reason why they could not cross the space was because of these poisonous insects.

They ate almost everything except spiritual Qi particles!

Unless the spiritual Qi particles were integrated to the particle level, it would be impossible to resist the erosion of these poisonous insects.

Whoosh!

Su Jie threw the thirteen skulls into the white light.

Kaka Kaka~

A subtle and terrifying biting sound kept ringing in his ears. Unfortunately, as in his previous attempts, these poisonous insects could not erode the skulls filled with 'spiritual Qi particles'.

In fact, if it weren't for the 'spiritual Qi particles', Xuan Xing would have been eaten clean long ago.

"With my current ability, these poisonous insects can't do anything to me, but no one knows how large the area covered by this white light is..."

Su Jie thought to himself.

One thousand two hundred days was not a short time, but for space travel, it was simply insignificant.

What's more, he had to reserve half of his speed to return.

Such an exile was meaningless.

"Get further away and try again..."

Thinking in his heart, Su Jie stepped into the white light, holding the thirteen crystal skulls, and swept away at a very high speed.

He was unwilling to conflict with Qing Long, because it was unnecessary, and it was better to compromise.

That was to exile them away from Xuan Xing, and also carry out his own attempt...

...

Whoosh~

Terrifying cosmic rays were intertwined, like a tide of destruction, beating against the entire starry sky.

The starry sky was full of destruction, and countless star wrecks were constantly colliding, creating an extremely terrifying scene of destruction.

However, in such a terrifying tide of destruction, there was a touch of white light that was unyielding, and it stood firm no matter how the endless and terrifying cosmic storm hit it.

Even, it was spreading slowly to the surroundings, and wherever it passed, large areas of the starry sky and star wrecks were 'assimilated'!

If someone could see it from afar, they would see that in the center of the destructive storm, amidst the white light, there was a snake body more massive than a star.

The white light was emanating from the countless dense and cold scales on the snake's body.

Cold and strange.