Chapter 1 The Divine Power Lockdown is Lifted

The divine power lockdown that had enveloped the world of Korlo for tens of millions of years was finally lifted.

Vast ripples suddenly appeared in the material vacuum, and semi-transparent, illusory waves rippled through every inch of space, as if the entire material vacuum had become an endless ocean. As these semi-transparent illusory waves filled the area and gradually became highly synchronized, various hidden celestial bodies and structures slowly emerged.

The first to emerge was a dazzling star. Then, mysterious and complex patterns and lines appeared around the star, wrapping it in layers. These lines shimmered with a golden light that closely resembled the color of the corona. They were part of the divine power system left behind by the Goddess of Creation. Next, a dark red planet appeared near the sun. Various abandoned ancient facilities could be seen on the dark red planet, which were telemetry stations once used to monitor the planet Korlo. Finally, in a more outer orbit, a group of fragmented space lands gradually emerged.

This group of space lands was divided into five pieces, each with a different shape. Some were shrouded in shadow, some were eternally frozen, some were lush and full of life, and some were bathed in light. The four continents revolved around the central land, and a hazy glow enveloped the five continents. Countless symbols and patterns seemed to flow in the glow, showing obvious traces of artificial interference. Supernatural power dominated the group of space islands, maintaining its ecological environment and physical structure, allowing this huge structure that defied the laws of nature to exist in the universe for a long time.

In the dark space around the five space lands, another phantom-like "world" could be vaguely seen. The huge phantom, which appeared and disappeared from time to time, seemed to have a wider land, but it was lifeless and desolate.

That was the "Old World." It was the former material body of Korlo, but it had been transformed into a semi-illusory other dimension with the first escape of Lockmarton. Now it was attached to Korlo's main world, and could only be reached through the "Mirror of Reflections."

A silver light flashed in space, and the form of the Tortoise Rock emerged from the darkness. Hao Ren watched the changes in light and shadow in space from the bridge. Although those images had not yet fully stabilized, the overall structure was undoubtedly clear. In the outer solar system of Korlo, various small celestial bodies and wandering star clusters could also be vaguely seen. In some corners, there were space wrecks that looked like temples and towers, which should be automatic monitoring stations left by the Goddess of Creation—unfortunately, as time passed and the divine power of the Goddess of Creation faded, they had all become waste.

However, as research objects, those abandoned facilities were still very valuable. Under Nolan's command, groups of autonomous machines and drone swarms were flying towards those space facilities, preparing to analyze and study them.

Hao Ren's gaze turned to Korlo—now the latter had become a group of space floating islands operating in the universe. This made people very curious about how this wonderful civilization would develop in such a special environment in the future. About one astronomical unit away from the group of space floating islands was the location of the "Gate."

Space railguns and outposts, fortresses, monitoring towers and other facilities that emitted silver-white cold light formed a huge three-dimensional structure. Only in the distant space could the full picture of the layers of defense and control systems be seen. In the center of these facilities, a twisted, vortex-like "gate" could be seen. The vortex was bound by a silver metal giant ring. The giant ring seemed to be in an unstable state of time and space, sometimes condensing and appearing, and sometimes instantly decomposing and atomizing as if it had become part of the vortex: after activating the gate-opening crystal, it had become this strange appearance. Perhaps only the author, Raven 12345, knew the principle behind it.

This gate of the universe possessed powerful laws. Under its disturbance, Korlo and all the celestial bodies around it were bound to a safe orbit. No matter how they operated, they would not interfere with the operation of the gate of the universe, nor would they drift away—because Hao Ren had arranged some monitoring facilities of the gate of the universe on the Ansu continent and the Frozen continent of Korlo, which was equivalent to binding the two into a whole. This was consistent with the corresponding structure of the Purgatory planet and the gate of the universe in the surface world.

Dou Dou jumped onto the console and stretched out her hands to the constantly fluctuating deep space in the holographic projection, happily patting her tail: she probably really thought that it was full of endless seawater, but before long, those ripples would dissipate.

"With the plans and automatic factories you left behind, things should get back on track here soon," Vivian said from the side, "But you seem to have something on your mind?"

"How could I not have something on my mind after hearing so much explosive information," Hao Ren sighed, "Moreover, the reconstruction of Korlo may not be as smooth as we imagined—this world is in a very special situation. All the motivation and goals of the various races to develop to this day are to resist the tide of chaos. Their technology tree, cultural system, and survival concepts are somewhat distorted. Now that the tide of chaos is suddenly gone, I really don't know how this group of 'combat nations' who grew up in the flames of war will adapt. And there are also those monitoring stations and giant computing centers used to monitor the gate of the universe… I don't know if building them directly on the continent will cause problems. After all, Korlo is different from Purgatory. There are more people here, and the social development is several levels higher."

"They wouldn't demolish the factories and monitoring stations you left on the continent," Vivian smiled, "Didn't the leaders of the countries all express their opinions? As long as your monitoring stations only play the role of monitoring space as agreed, and do not affect the normal life and social order of their people, they will fully support your projects. You just saved the lives of all of them, and at least this generation will be grateful to you. As for the next few generations… by then, they will probably be used to the 'alien machines' that can be seen everywhere in the world, just like the people of Purgatory."

Hao Ren nodded and looked towards the distant space, as if he wanted his sight to cross the stars and space clouds and see the silent darkness in the depths of space.

At the same time, in the sacred domain of Korlo, on the ruins of the city of divine grace, Karas I and the surviving bishopric were leading the believers in a final worship of the Crystal Holy Mountain, Asu-man.

The Crystal Holy Mountain emitted a soft and bright light, and a series of chimes-like sounds echoed in the hearts of everyone participating in the ceremony. The chimes seemed to be saying goodbye and seemed to be telling people what to do, but if you listened carefully, they disappeared like an illusion.

Karas I looked up at the sky. The "Gate of the Universe" in space was so grand that the silver-white lines and the faint vortex shape could be vaguely seen on the ground.

He withdrew his gaze and looked at the Crystal Holy Mountain.

"Holy Mountain and guardians, thank you for protecting this world for tens of millions of years," the new Pope said in a low voice, "Please set off with peace of mind, taking our prayers to fulfill the goddess's will. Just as fledglings will eventually grow up, we mortals will survive in this world on our own, and we will live up to the grace of the gods in creating us…"

The Crystal Holy Mountain seemed to hear these words. It emitted a brighter light, and then the entire "mountain" shook gently. Accompanied by a low roar, Asu-man gradually rose, detached from the ground, accelerated continuously towards the sky, and turned into a white light, disappearing from everyone's sight.

The Tortoise Rock waited in space for a few hours before Asu-man finally appeared in the agreed-upon airspace.

The "Crystal Holy Mountain" had become an interstellar spaceship again, quietly coming to the Tortoise Rock like a crystal clear asteroid. Its size was dozens of times that of the Tortoise Rock, and the layers of crystalline shell reflected the scene of Nolan and countless space stations behind him.

After the communication was connected, Asu-man's holographic image appeared on the projection in front of Hao Ren: "I was delayed for a while, I had to say goodbye to those humans."

"It's okay," Hao Ren nodded in understanding, "After all, you've lived together for so long."

The image of Loken, the King of Kings, also appeared in the projection. He and the other wardens were all on the Asu-man at the moment: "The warden team has been assembled. What are your next arrangements?"

The Goddess of Creation had now fallen. Even if there was a possibility of resurrection, that would be a matter for the future. Now that the warden team was without a leader, Hao Ren, the "foreign god pope" who could be considered a true god's spokesman, had become the leader. Mu Lu had told Loken about the various efforts and long-term plans that Hao Ren had made to find the whereabouts of the Goddess of Creation and revive the goddess system. Therefore, the wardens and Asu-man agreed to act with Hao Ren for a period of time.

"I'd like to hear about the situation of the Lord of Mad Chaos' prison first," Hao Ren looked at Asu-man, "How long do you think that prison can last?"

"The Lord of Mad Chaos is located in the dark abyss in the deepest part of the universe. It is extremely silent and dark, and there is no life except for the Starfolk sentinels who have been watching there since ancient times. The divine power lockdown that the Goddess of Creation left in that darkness is a hundred times stronger than that of Korlo. Moreover, no one except the goddess herself can open it or cross it. Even my people who are stationed in the dark abyss can only move around in fixed outposts," Asu-man explained in detail what he knew, but because he was assigned to Korlo to guard Lockmarton from the beginning, his understanding of the dark abyss cage stopped at these points, "According to the current state of the stars in the universe, it can be judged that the power of the Lord of Mad Chaos has not yet begun to leak—its interference in the Godslayer War should be the limit. I speculate that the Lord of Mad Chaos is taking advantage of the opportunity of the Goddess of Creation's fall to seek escape, but it will take a long time for it to completely escape."

Hao Ren thought for a while and suppressed the idea of "setting off immediately to find the dark abyss cage and then launching 20,000 planet-killer artillery strikes." The idea was beautiful, but he was not an impulsive person. After facing Lockmarton, he knew that now was not a good time to challenge the Lord of Mad Chaos—the power he had accumulated in the Dream Plane was not enough, his understanding of the supernatural powers of the Dream Plane was not enough, his own preparations were far from enough, and the various strange actions of the Goddess of Creation before her fall made him have many guesses and precautions, all of which made him suppress the plan to act rashly.

That "dark abyss cage" definitely had to be visited, but not now.

The wardens and Asu-man must also know this, so they did not urge Hao Ren to hurry up and avenge the Goddess of Creation.

"First of all, we still have to find the whereabouts of the Goddess of Creation—whether it is a true god in slumber or the fragments and thoughts left behind after the fall, only by finding these can we safely and stably open the dark abyss cage. If the Goddess of Creation can be resurrected, it would be even better. In this way, we will have a greater chance of success when we fight against the Lord of Mad Chaos," Hao Ren stated his plans, "I am already assembling the Creation Engine according to the blueprint left by the goddess. At the same time, the search for the goddess's divine domain is also ongoing. Currently, we are also restoring some ecosystems and excavating relics. I hope you can go to Tanagoth Star with Mu Lu first. There you can see my work—then I hope you can cooperate with my research. I hope to analyze the divine power characteristics of the Goddess of Creation from the wardens. This will help the drone swarm in the universe to detect and search. At the same time, I hope that you, Asu-man, can contact your people, and it is best to find the sentinels who are performing guarding tasks in the dark abyss cage. We urgently need to know the situation inside that prison. In addition, the research on the Crystal Disc and other divine artifacts also requires your cooperation."

Although Mu Lu and other guardian giants also had the divine power characteristics of the Goddess of Creation, they were all "mass-produced individuals" born from the crimson sea of the Origin Star, unlike Loken, the King of Kings, and others, each of whom was a "handmade product" carefully crafted by the Goddess of Creation, so the latter was obviously more suitable as a "signature source" for autonomous machine swarms to search for the divine domain.

Hao Ren's arrangements were reasonable and well-organized. Asu-man and the wardens had no objections and naturally agreed.