Chapter 166 - 144: Arrival at the Celestial Essence Realm

Chapter 166: Chapter 144: Arrival at the Celestial Essence Realm

Longzhou.

The World Alchemy Science Academy.

Robby finished the final adjustments and stood beside Zhang Ji. Together, they admired his masterpiece.

A burning Alchemy Furnace and, next to it, a silver-white metal block.

"That Alchemy Furnace lost too much active metal. I managed to reignite it, but it’s only at seventy percent of its original effectiveness at most. It’ll need a constant supply of fuel and a few years of nurturing to get back to its peak state. But until then, it should be more than enough to provide the energy you need for cultivation. It won’t be any worse than that Gathering Light Tower you have at Gesite Lake," Robby said with considerable confidence.

"And what about the block of Mithril? It looks like you just reshaped it," Zhang Ji said.

"It’s not just reshaping. Its properties are unique, and I was worried about damaging its original functions, so I didn’t want to over-process it. For now, I’ve only performed a preliminary alchemical activation. You can inject your Celestial Essence into it, and its capacity should be several times larger than before. I was short on time, so this is all I could manage for now," Robby said.

Zhang Ji stepped forward and reached out, touching the Mithril block. He extended his Spirit particles into it and injected a wisp of Celestial Essence.

Immediately, he had his answer.

It could store about seventy percent of the Celestial Essence currently in his body.

As a "backup power supply," it was more than qualified.

And then there was the Alchemy Furnace next to it.

That thing could generate energy just by burning rocks. Once it was inside the [Hope], he could just throw some random stuff in, and it would have enough fuel to burn for centuries.

The energy problem was solved, just like that.

"You’ve been a huge help," Zhang Ji said.

"Let’s just call it mutually beneficial," Robby said, then added, "But are you sure you need to be in such a hurry? You’ve only just set the tone for your rule. You should be making more public appearances, giving the people some promises to look forward to, and solidifying your position. There’s no need to rush into secluded cultivation to increase your strength. There’s no one here who’s your match anymore. Aliens and people from the Otherworld aren’t just going to suddenly attack. And even if they did, you wouldn’t have to face them alone..."

His words carried a deep meaning. In today’s world, there were few people left who could speak to Zhang Ji like this.

Robby genuinely considered Zhang Ji a friend and was speaking from the heart.

No matter how high Zhang Ji’s status became, the dynamic of their relationship hadn’t really changed.

"Now is not the time to slack off," Zhang Ji said, shaking his head.

This time, he planned to travel to the Otherworld through the spatiotemporal rift, but he had lied to Robby, telling him he was going into secluded cultivation to achieve a breakthrough.

He had told everyone else the same thing.

Robby felt it was unnecessary for him to be in such a rush to improve his strength.

But in reality, only Zhang Ji understood just how necessary it was.

’When I played the game, facing all the future version updates, it wasn’t the Saint King who saved the world—it was the player.’

’Now, in this world, I’m all alone.’

’There are no other players to help.’

’Sufficient strength is my only source of security.’

’If you know certain things are going to happen in the future and do nothing to stop them, then that’s just foolish.’

"Alright, the pursuit of evolution is indeed a basic instinct of life. I wish you success in achieving your grand breakthrough and a swift exit from seclusion," Robby said.

"Don’t worry, it’ll be eighty or a hundred days at most. Similar to my seclusion in Guning Country and at Kahong Mountain before." Zhang Ji stored the Alchemy Furnace and the Mithril "power bank" into the [Hope] and said, "See you later."

"See you," Robby said.

.....

Xia Yu Country.

Within Mao Lin Mountain, outside the spatiotemporal rift to the Celestial Essence Realm.

By now, high walls and defensive measures had been erected all around.

A robot army was also stationed nearby, ensuring real-time surveillance of any changes in the entire area.

During this time, other than the constant leakage of Spiritual Qi from the other side, there had been no other changes.

Zhang Ji temporarily disabled the surrounding surveillance and secretly arrived outside the spatiotemporal rift.

He hadn’t planned on exploring with anyone else this time.

Because he was preparing to get in and out quickly.

He would first make a trip over, see how far the background story had progressed, and then hurry back to make further plans.

He studied the spatiotemporal rift.

It was a tear in mid-air, its edges irregularly folded and wrinkled. It was a full thirty meters long, and its interior was pitch-black, obscuring any view.

Compared to its future appearance when held open by a Space Gate, it looked incredibly crude now.

Its interior was also filled with danger.

Extending his left arm, a pattern of a small boat appeared on the palm of Zhang Ji’s left hand.

The next moment, that small boat materialized in the void.

It was built entirely from a special dark metal, over thirty meters long, and its exterior resembled a sealed, great ship.

"Too big. Smaller!"

Zhang Ji adjusted it, and the [Hope] shrank according to his thoughts until it was about eight meters long.

It wasn’t that the ship itself had the ability to change size; it was merely a contraction of space.

The [Hope] was still enveloped in a Spatial Membrane, or rather, a Spatial Barrier.

The ship’s external shape was, in fact, just its internal filler structure.

Zhang Ji stepped forward, easily passing through the outer Spatial Membrane and onto the deck of the [Hope].

At this moment, it was the true [Hope]—a Legendary-grade, top-tier item capable of carrying the seeds of a civilization’s hope across the void in search of a new place to survive.

"[Hope], activate!!"

Just as he had when piloting a teammate’s [Hope] back when he played the game, Zhang Ji pulled a lever next to the helm.

The next moment, the [Hope] actually floated up out of thin air and slowly began to travel toward the spatiotemporal rift.

Soon, the entire [Hope] vanished into the spatiotemporal rift.

.....

Pitch-black. Everything around was dark.

Only the [Hope] emitted a faint glow as it continued to press forward.

Zhang Ji couldn’t tell which way was which, but he didn’t need to.

The spatiotemporal rift connected two worlds. All he had to do was keep moving forward. The gravitational pull of the worlds would guide him, slowly drawing him toward the other one.

"SHHHHHHHHH~!"

Zhang Ji heard a sound like fine grains of sand striking metal.

He could faintly see points of light flickering intermittently on the Spatial Membrane outside the [Hope].

This was a void storm.

If those sand-like void substances were to strike his physical body instead of the Spatial Membrane, they would instantly punch a hole right through him. Neither his Qi Body nor his powerful physique could possibly withstand it.

In truth, the [Hope] wasn’t just tanking the hits. It was mostly using the properties of its Spatial Membrane to absorb most of the energy and deflecting the remaining void particles to the side.

Zhang Ji sat down cross-legged and began to cultivate.

He had already mapped out the advanced combat skill path for the [Concentration Sect], but had changed his mind about practicing it because he wanted to explore the other side of the spatiotemporal rift.

He went to a cabin below deck, pushed open the door, and entered the interior of the [Hope].

This was the same space where he had been farming before.

Here, Zhang Ji sat cross-legged beside the burning Alchemy Furnace. He then used his bloodline to absorb its light and heat energy. At the same time, the Celestial Essence in his body circulated, being purified and converted. Through precise Control, it moved within his Mud Ball Palace. As time passed, he obtained a [Concentration Sect] (Normal) Combat Crystal.

Zhang Ji made a rough estimate of the time.

He felt that a little over an hour had passed in total.

A while later, the [Hope] suddenly shuddered.

’We’ve reached the range of the Celestial Essence Realm’s gravitational pull.’

Zhang Ji understood what was happening. He stopped cultivating and went to the deck to wait quietly.

The world on the other side must have discovered the spatiotemporal rift long ago, so he had to be extremely cautious when he emerged.

Otherwise, he might get ganked the moment he appeared.

About half an hour later, Zhang Ji saw a light.

With a flicker of thought, he adjusted the [Hope]’s Spatial Membrane, shrinking its spatial dimensions until it was the size of a speck of dust.

The light grew closer and closer.

Suddenly, he entered the light.

-----------------

Celestial Essence Realm.

East Sea Islands.

Near the spatiotemporal rift.

Ever since Shennong Technology announced that the Spiritual Qi in the vicinity was naturally depleting due to over-mining of the Spirit Vein, the surrounding cultivator manors and related industries had been relocated. This place had now become a depleted land.

Just like many other former cultivation Saint Lands in the Celestial Essence Realm, it had been completely abandoned.

A level-two Spiritual Qi concentration made it impossible for anyone to cultivate normally.

Even with a Tier Three Spirit-Gathering Array, one might not necessarily succeed in Foundation Establishment within a hundred years.

At this very moment, a speck of dust flew out of the spatiotemporal rift.

It blended into the surrounding air, appearing utterly inconspicuous.

Staying inside the [Hope], Zhang Ji couldn’t help but feel a surge of excitement upon seeing this vast sea.

Part of his joy came from successfully arriving in a new world, and another part came from the many potential treasures from the background story that he could now obtain.

He carefully manipulated the [Hope]’s Spatial Membrane to open a small gap.

Immediately, his Spirit particles probed out from within.

He carefully scanned and spied on the surrounding environment.

His caution was justified. Soon, his Spirit particles detected some substances hidden in the void.

"Celestial Sword Group reminds you: The East Sea has become a hazardous area. Spiritual collapses may occur at any time. Fellow Daoist, please retract your Divine Sense and leave the East Sea immediately!!"

A sword-shaped drone emerged from the void and circled the area, broadcasting the message on a special frequency.

The message was received by Zhang Ji’s Spirit particles. Although he couldn’t understand the local language, he still understood the meaning the other party was trying to convey.

He rapidly retracted his Spirit particles, closed the Spatial Membrane, and steered the [Hope] to a swift departure.

Fortunately, the other party only seemed intent on driving him away and didn’t attack. It simply circled the [Hope] twice before fading into the void and disappearing.

"I was discovered, but it seems they mistook me for a local. There have probably been a lot of locals coming to explore recently. That’s some good luck. Otherwise, I might have ended up with a ’wanted’ poster on my head..." Zhang Ji said, sighing in relief.

Piloting the [Hope], Zhang Ji headed toward the core region of the Celestial Essence Realm, guided by his memories from playing the game.

After the better part of a day had passed, the outline of a massive city appeared before Zhang Ji’s eyes.

Or perhaps "city" wasn’t the right word to describe it.

The massive cluster of buildings was magnificent and spectacular, reaching up to the highest heavens and down to the Nine Netherworld at the planet’s core.

Essentially all of the civilization’s humans were concentrated here.

It was a single, colossal architectural entity of a civilization.

And its name was "Siji Huanjing."