Chapter 341: Earth Online Multiplayer Game

Ascension?

Hearing Fang Can’s claim, the many Martial Artists on the scene were shocked!

But before they had a chance to struggle, Fang Can unleashed his AR force field at full power. A flow of dark energy lifted over a hundred Martial Artists at the Heaven-Ascending Road Realm and above, carrying them high into the air.

Only the Martial Artists of the Transcendent Body Realm remained below, each one crying out, “Sect Leader! Your Majesty! Take us with you to the heavenly realm!”

Looking at the group with amusement, Fang Can transmitted a message directly via his Heart Image: “The heavenly realm is dangerous. There is no oxygen. Your Realms are too low for you to survive.”

As soon as he finished, Fang Can began to ascend faster. The combined mass of over a hundred people, a mere dozen or so tons, was a trivial matter for him now.

The Martial Artists being lifted felt only a slight tremor before they began to rise steadily. The landscape below them shrank rapidly.

‘If the Sect Leader suddenly lets go, won’t we be smashed to pieces when we fall?’ some of the First and Second Turn Martial Artists thought in horror.

Upon reaching the stratosphere, a flash of panic appeared in the Martial Artists’ eyes. They instinctively covered their mouths and noses, their faces filled with terror.

“This is bad! The closer we get to the heavenly realm, the harder it is to breathe. Even with our breath-holding techniques, we’ll be dead in less than fifteen minutes.”

But soon, their panic subsided, replaced by a pleasant surprise.

They discovered that as they ascended, the power within their bodies was strengthening at a visible rate.

Their once-depleted Heart Images were now proliferating, growing countless times stronger in an instant—it was like evolving from a water pipe into a small stream.

Even the weakest First Turn could feel that their physical body had become dozens of times stronger.

For those at the Second Turn and above, it was even more absurd. Their bodies were amplified by at least a thousand times, and for the Fourth Turn and above, the baseline was a staggering ten million-fold increase.

‘So this is the heavenly realm… Just bathing in its light grants such terrifying power. Even the thin air is so sweet,’ Yang Xiao marveled internally.

And as the enhanced computational power of their brains began to process everything, the Third Turn Martial Artists started to intuitively grasp how to use their Heart Images.

Then, in the increasingly thin air of space, they used their Heart Images to rapidly exchange their new findings.

As they communicated, one Martial Artist observed how Fang Can was lifting them and began to analyze the action. Soon, they felt as though they could do it too.

The next moment, a Third Turn Martial Artist floated up, breaking away from Fang Can’s support to hover in the air alone. The other Heaven-Ascending Road Martial Artists quickly followed suit, learning how to fly.

To the people of this planet, Fang Can’s actions at this moment were akin to those of Prometheus.

The look in their eyes was like that of humanity discovering fire for the first time.

‘With my current power… forget a hundred thousand imperial guards, not even millions or tens of millions could stand against me.’

A glint of ambition flashed in a Second Turn Martial Artist’s eyes. “I’m an Immortal now…”

Watching the Martial Artists who had broken formation and were flying about chaotically, Fang Can said nothing to stop them. He just silently continued his ascent, neither too fast nor too slow.

Without Fang Can’s restraint, some of the Martial Artists grew arrogant. They zipped around at over ten times the speed of sound, streaking through the surroundings and performing repeated dives.

But it wasn’t long before disaster struck.

One Martial Artist cheered as she flew toward the ground, intending to venture a bit farther out. But during her dive, she flew directly into the perimeter of the Sixth Turn restriction.

In the next instant, her Heart Image and her ability to fly completely failed. She let out a scream, like a pilot in a crashing plane, and plummeted downward.

“Help me! What’s happening? I can’t use my Heart Image anymore!” The next moment, a terrified scream erupted from the Martial Artist’s mouth.

“What’s going on? How could she just fall?” another Martial Artist scoffed, flying down toward the first.

But the moment she entered the Sixth Turn restriction, she too lost her power. A series of screams escaped her lips as she joined the other in plummeting toward the earth.

Seeing this happen to two of them in a row, a cold sweat instantly broke out on the backs of the other Martial Artists.

What was going on? How could two Martial Artists have accidents one after another?

They watched helplessly as the Martial Artists, having dived at supersonic speeds, now fell frantically at 200 meters per second, shrinking into tiny dots in their vision.

A Martial Artist hurriedly asked, “Your Majesty, what happened to those two?”

“Why do you think I had you ascend?” Fang Can said lightly.

“The lower realm is under a Sixth Turn restriction that limits you. Everyone in the lower realm is subject to an unprecedented suppression, as well as a one-hundred-year lifespan limit.”

“Only by coming to the vastness of outer space can this suppression be removed. But the moment you return to the lower realm, you will become mere mortals again.”

‘So that’s how it is?’

Hearing Fang Can’s explanation, everyone stared down at the planet below with fear and apprehension. They had never imagined this was the true reason.

Soon, with the two dead Martial Artists serving as a stark example, the remaining ones all behaved themselves and gathered closely around Fang Can again as he led them all the way to low-earth orbit.

With the majority of their power now unshackled, the Martial Artists felt reborn, their eyes gleaming with excitement.

Looking at them, Fang Can gave his orders: “With the power of a Fourth Turn, you can now completely influence the world below. You few Grandmasters, working together, are more than capable of conquering this continent for me within three days, and this entire planet within seven.”

“Thank you for this opportunity, Sect Leader! We will not fail our mission!” Yang Xiao and the other Fourth Turn Grandmasters replied in unison.

Fang Can nodded lightly, his gaze shifting to the Martial Artists below the Fourth Turn. “Your strength is too weak. If you are willing, then in the coming days… help build my domain.”

With those words, Fang Can’s figure silently vanished, leaving the Martial Artists to stare at each other in confusion.

A short while later, after Yang Xiao and the other Fourth Turn Grandmasters had departed, one of the remaining Martial Artists asked uncertainly, “His Majesty spoke of building his domain… how are we supposed to do that?”

“I don’t know, but… does this mean no one is in charge of us now?”

Excitement flashed in the eyes of several Martial Artists. Out here in space, they were as free as Immortals, with no need to breathe and power beyond anything they had ever known.

With Fang Can gone and no one to lead them, couldn’t they just do whatever they wanted?

Just as a thousand thoughts raced through their minds, they saw a white, prismatic cube cruising in the distance. Then, a boundless Heart Image connected directly to their minds.

[Welcome to the Fang Can Heart Image Network Trial.]

‘What… is this?’ several of the Martial Artists wondered.

[This is a temporary psychic connection network established by His Majesty for the founding of the Empire. It can forcibly connect to the minds of those with a Realm below the Heaven-Ascending Road.]

[Your Realm is too high. If you wish to use the network, please voluntarily lower your mental defenses and allow your consciousness to connect.]

This… The Martial Artists on the scene hesitated, unsure of what to do.

“Jingxu, you connect to it,” a Third Turn Martial Artist said to a First Turn. The two were master and disciple.

“Yes, Master.”

Jingxu hesitantly agreed and connected her consciousness to the network.

The next moment, she felt a massive Heart Image pierce directly into her sea of consciousness.

Instantly, she could clearly hear the thoughts of the other Martial Artists who were also connected to the network.

Then, a request for a forced connection appeared in her mind.

[3,562 people in the Imperial Capital are requesting a remote conference call with you. Accept?]

Jingxu: ?

…

In the former capital of Li Yang, after Fang Can’s figure disappeared, the populace was completely bewildered, not knowing what to do next.

They had grown accustomed to a life of being commanded. Now, their emperor was suddenly dead, and the Immortal who ruled over them was also gone.

So what were they to do? Go back to farming?

Millions of people from all over the city were gathered around the Hall of Supreme Harmony.

But without anyone in charge, and with everyone’s thoughts laid bare, conflicts quickly erupted.

“You fucking bastard, Li Si! You’ve been sleeping with my husband! I’m going to kill you!” an angry woman shrieked, raising her fists to strike another man.

“You wretched girl! No wonder you never came home! You gambled away all your money at the casino and were too afraid to face me,” an old woman cried, raising her cane to strike a wastrel of a young woman.

In an instant, once-hidden thoughts were exposed. People who had previously stuck together were now turning on each other, their relationships shattering, and some even resorted to violence now that there were no secrets between them.

Yang Qiaoyan watched the rioting crowd. Not wanting to get involved, she began to move away, but her heart was filled with elation.

Through the psychic network, she had learned many things she never knew before.

For instance, the world wasn’t a flat earth under a round sky as everyone said; they lived on a sphere. And the stars were also spheres of various sizes, just like their own world.

But soon, a worry crept in. She still owed Landlord Zhang next door two taels of silver and had no idea when she would be able to pay it back.

Then, she stopped in her tracks. Hesitantly, she thought, ‘Immortal, can you show me how to pay back the two taels of silver I owe Landlord Zhang?’

In response to her query, the reply came a moment later:

[The clinic in the west of the city has posted a request: build a distillation apparatus and deliver it to the clinic before noon tomorrow. Reward: 2 taels of fine silver.]

Two taels of fine silver?

At this, Yang Qiaoyan’s eyes widened.

Before she could even ask what a distillation apparatus was, the relevant information was injected directly into her mind via the Heart Image network.

The design, materials, and blueprints for the apparatus all flooded into her brain.

‘I can definitely make this at my forge,’ she thought, ‘but I don’t know where to find materials like quartz sand.’ She hit another snag.

[Pay 30 copper plates, and Ye Qing in the north of the city can deliver one catty of quartz stone to your blacksmith shop in six hours.]

[Pay 20 copper plates, and Li Xiang in the south of the city can deliver half a catty of limestone to your blacksmith shop in the time it takes three incense sticks to burn.]

…

Without Yang Qiaoyan having to worry about a thing, the various sub-tasks had already been perfectly calculated by Fang Can’s satellite in orbit.

It broke down the main task into countless sub-tasks, distributed them to everyone along the entire production chain, and ensured that every single person in that chain was satisfied with their part.

Meanwhile, at the clinic in the west of the city, an old woman sat inside, having already pledged several hundred taels of Silver.

She was just waiting for the so-called distillation apparatus, artemisinin, stethoscope, and various other items to arrive at her clinic.

“But Immortal Master,” the old woman from the clinic asked, somewhat annoyed, “why are you giving all this money to Old Li from the shop next door? And you’re even letting him take a cut for free.”

Isn’t this whole convoluted process just creating extra hassle and wasting money?

[Your morality is low. You have a record of multiple breaches of trust since opening your clinic.]

“But that Old Li’s credit is no good either! He’s cheated me out of money before,” the old woman said defiantly. “Why should Old Li next door get to manage the money? Aren’t you afraid he’d just steal it himself?”

[We have already contacted Execution Express. If Li Siqi embezzles the funds, the interest you pay will become the assassin’s fee. The assassin will then distribute the remaining principal to the rightful recipients.]

“What if the assassin embezzles the money too?” the old woman continued to ask.

[There are assassins to watch the assassins. We’ll keep killing them until no assassin dares to embezzle.]

The old woman: …

‘So they’ve got commissars watching the commissars?’