Shengjing Underground City, Panshi District B3-07 Residence.
Late at night, the simulated moonlight (projected by an optical simulation system) cast a cool glow through the window into the room.
Ling Chen sat cross-legged in the center of the quiet room, without the slightest spiritual energy fluctuation around him, but the Soul Jade Physique's cold will was highly concentrated, like a precise optical instrument, analyzing and reconstructing an extremely complex three-dimensional model in his mind, composed of countless spatial coordinates and energy nodes.
This originated from a secret transmission of a hostile sect skilled in formations, deeply embedded in his memories from his previous life—a small directional spatial teleportation array.
A sect was destroyed by him, and this array also fell into his hands.
This array was extremely complicated to set up, requiring extremely stringent spatial perception and energy control, and each activation consumed a vast amount of energy. However, its advantages were also extremely obvious: silent, leaving almost no trace, and extremely difficult to track.
Previously, when Ling Chen teleported from Linghui Academy to Shengjing, he used this very array.
Ling Chen's gaze seemed to penetrate layers of alloy barriers and distant geological strata, spanning thousands of kilometers in a straight line, firmly locking onto a coordinate—Jiu'an City, deep within the Linghui Academy Ruins, the secret chamber where he once cultivated in seclusion.
There, his strongest aura and the prepared receiving array eye remained.
"It's almost time."
Ling Chen murmured to himself.
He took a deep breath, and his hands began to form seals with an ancient rhythmic speed. As his ten fingers flew, an extremely subtle, yet immensely powerful dark golden blood seeped from his fingertips—this was using the Soul Jade Physique's primordial essence blood as a guide, forcibly leveraging spatial laws!
Buzz—
A complex light array, approximately two meters in diameter, silently lit up on the floor beneath him! Countless mysterious runes flowed like living things, emitting faint but heart-palpitating spatial fluctuations.
The light in the room began to subtly distort, like reflections beneath the surface of water.
Ling Chen's face instantly paled a shade. Even for him, forcibly using such a method, which transcended the conventional norms of this world, was an extremely heavy burden. But his eyes remained cold, without the slightest hesitation.
Just as he was about to begin condensing spatial energy and drawing runes, a cold and terrifying memory fragment, buried deep within his soul, surged up without warning, impacting his consciousness!
…
That was a corner of a treasure-snatching battle in his previous life.
Heaven and earth overturned, laws collapsed.
He, having cultivated the Soul Jade Physique to its peak, was surrounded by a boundless sea of blood, and his bone armor was strong enough to contend with immortal-grade spirit artifacts!
His opponent was not some Immortal Emperor or Divine King, but a… "existence."
A perfect geometric entity, suspended above the shattered firmament, entirely composed of countless constantly flowing, combining, and transforming dark silver liquid metal.
It had no fixed form, sometimes resembling a colossal multifaceted crystal diamond, reflecting destructive light;
At other times, it transformed into a sandstorm of billions of nanometer-scale particles, devouring and annihilating all energy.
And at still other times, it condensed into a cold, slender humanoid silhouette, yet faceless and emotionless, with only two swirling vortexes of dark blue data, constantly performing billions of calculations, where its eyes should be.
Lin Mo!
Or rather, it was Lin Mo, who had abandoned the last trace of flesh and blood ties and completed the ultimate mechanical ascension!
At that time, he was no longer human, but a higher-level, pure aggregate of information and energy, an embodiment of eternal rationality!
Ling Chen still remembered that his vast sea of blood, capable of corroding stars and freezing souls, when it impacted the flowing dark silver metal, was easily diverted, dispersed, and absorbed, like clear water flowing over a mirror!
His indestructible bone armor, imbued with the laws of power, struck the opponent, but only stirred up ripples of energy. All kinetic energy and destructive power were instantly transmitted and resolved by an incomprehensible structure!
The body of mechanical ascension possessed terrifying resistance, almost absolute immunity, to pure physical and energy attacks!
Even more terrifying were Lin Mo's attack methods.
He did not release dazzling energy beams, but directly manipulated rules.
A flicker in the data vortexes in his eyes, and the space around Ling Chen was instantly programmed and solidified, as if trapped in the hardest alloy cage;
He could even directly invade and alter some of Ling Chen's weaker soul thoughts, making him instantly hallucinate and fight himself!
It was a desperate battle.
Ling Chen's proud flesh and blood power and devouring laws, in the face of a fully formed mechanical ascension, seemed to have met their natural enemy, constrained everywhere, and unable to exert their full strength!
That cold, absolutely rational fighting style, which viewed everything as calculable and controllable variables, made Ling Chen feel, for the first time, what it meant to be… powerless.
In the end, he paid an extremely heavy price to barely tear through space and escape, and Lin Mo seemed not to pursue deeply due to some restriction.
But that dark silver, mercilessly flowing metal figure, and the suffocating feeling of being completely countered, along with the chill, were deeply imprinted in his soul.
…
The memory fragments receded like a tide.
Ling Chen slowly opened his eyes, a rare trace of solemnity and… fervor flashing in his deep black eyes.
"Mechanical ascension… Lin Mo…"
He murmured, unconsciously rubbing the ground with his fingertips.
"I didn't expect that in this life, you would start to touch this path so early… and even tinker with some interesting toys."
The shadow of his previous life did not make him fearful; instead, it ignited deeper vigilance and… greed.
He would never allow Lin Mo to grow smoothly to that terrifying extent again!
That path must either be controlled by him, or… completely destroyed!
But at the same time, he knew the terrifying power of a complete mechanical ascension better than anyone.
The current Lin Mo was far from that level, perhaps not even truly having touched the threshold.
This was the best time to intervene, lay out plans, and even… steal the fruits!
"Panshi Fortress… Academy of Sciences…"
A bone-chilling arc curved at the corner of Ling Chen's mouth.
"It seems it would be inexcusable not to cause you some trouble."
Originally, his remote manipulation of Zhuang Han was merely to stir up chaos and tie down Qin Weiguo.
But now, with the memories of his previous life, his goal was even clearer—he must not allow Lin Mo to develop peacefully!
Before he truly grows up, he must disrupt his research as much as possible, delay his progress, and even… find an opportunity to seize his core achievements!
And the prerequisite for all of this was that he needed to better understand Lin Mo's current progress and give that mad dog more explicit instructions.
Long-distance mental communication was extremely draining and not clear enough; he needed to go in person!
His resolve firm, Ling Chen no longer hesitated.
He formed seals with both hands again, forcing out dark golden primordial essence blood from his fingertips, and began to draw the incomparably profound spatial teleportation array.
Buzz—
The complex light array lit up, and space began to distort.
Ling Chen's figure suddenly vanished.
The next second, his figure suddenly blurred, as if erased from this world by an invisible eraser, instantly disappearing into the light array!
The mysterious light array then dimmed and dissipated, and the room returned to calm, as if nothing had ever happened.
…