novelraw Chapter 430: True Body and Data
Chapter 430: True Body and Data
Chapter 430: True Body and Data
The moment Altreus’s true body stepped into this time branch, the situation reversed dramatically.
That vast will, which had seemed omnipotent before Jie Ming, instantly displayed an entirely different “emotion” when facing this eighth-ring wizard.
A violent shock, even tinged with an unconcealable trace of panic, spread without restraint.
Without the slightest hesitation, the will demonstrated astonishing decisiveness.
All its tendrils diffused throughout this time-line gap world contracted frantically at unprecedented speed, like a startled octopus!
The force field enveloping the world collapsed rapidly, converging toward the blue energy sphere atop the central altar of the temple—clearly intending to sever its connection to this “temporary prison” and flee back to its true hiding place!
However, would the elaborate “variable overload” net painstakingly woven by Wizard Altreus allow it to escape so easily?
From the very instant his true body set foot here, countless streams of data incomprehensible to ordinary people were already reflected in Altreus’s calm, starry eyes.
He was calculating. With the terrifying thought speed of an eighth-ring wizard, he analyzed the structure of this temporary gap world, traced the paths of the retracting will, and reverse-engineered the “coordinate parameters” of the time line where its main body resided.
Once a clear “clue” emerged, the exposure of its hiding place became inevitable.
Everything happened too quickly.
Jie Ming only felt the will that had nearly erased him recede like a retreating tide, the pressure vanishing abruptly.
By the time he instinctively looked up, the will had already withdrawn the vast majority of its power.
Just as the contracting will was about to fully detach from the energy sphere and escape into deeper time lines in the final instant…
The corners of Altreus’s mouth curved into an extremely faint smile.
“Heh… Got you.”
Before the words even finished, he raised his hand again and casually tore at the void before him.
Rip…
A pitch-black rift far more stable than the one that had received Jie Ming earlier, its edges flowing with rich starlight, was forcibly ripped open from this world’s very “structure”!
The aura coming from the other side of the rift was utterly different from this temporary time gap world.
Heavier, more real, and carrying a faint, indistinct resonance with this branch world.
Without any hesitation, Altreus stepped into the rift, his figure instantly swallowed by the darkness.
Jie Ming reacted extremely quickly.
He knew full well that staying here might allow him to survive for now, but if anything unexpected happened, he could very well become lost together with this time rift world.
By comparison, following the Starforger was likely the better path to survival—and the only chance to uncover the final truth.
Without a moment’s delay, he rushed in after him into the starry rift.
After a brief sensation of weightlessness and distortion from crossing different dimensional interlayers, solid ground returned beneath his feet.
The moment Jie Ming steadied himself, he sensed the fundamental difference.
The surrounding environment was still that same crude-style temple—stone pillars, domed ceiling, altar.
But the stone here was not lifeless gray; it glowed with a warm, restrained energy sheen.
The air was filled with an ancient, solemn aura. The temple itself seemed steeped in the passage of time and a certain lofty “meaning,” exuding a truly majestic and sacred presence—worlds apart from the artificial, cold “copy” he had seen before.
Without a doubt, this was the genuine article!
This was the core time-line world that the mastermind had truly constructed and long inhabited!
And the scene at the center of the temple confirmed it.
Above the altar, what hovered was no longer a simple blue energy sphere.
It was an enormous metal sphere over five meters in diameter, brimming with mechanical beauty!
The sphere’s surface was not smooth but covered in a dense crisscross of precisely arranged vertical energy conduits.
Within the conduits flowed highly condensed streams of gold-and-silver energy, emitting a low, steady hum.
The entire sphere looked like a masterpiece combining supreme engineering aesthetics.
At this moment, its surface conduits were flickering and dimming with unprecedented frequency, clearly operating under extreme overload as it processed vast amounts of energy and information while confronting the sudden invasion crisis.
Jie Ming’s gaze swept rapidly, yet he could not spot the figure of Altreus, who had entered first.
But just as doubt arose in his heart, the mental imprint that had always been branded on the surface of his soul was triggered.
Suddenly, strands of mental power separated from the surrounding environment.
Jie Ming immediately recognized them—they were Wizard Altreus’s mental power.
After sensing the mark from Altreus on Jie Ming, these strands of mental power converged on their own and surged toward him.
At the same time, the “contents” carried within the mental power were also received by Jie Ming.
It was information Altreus had left in advance, automatically released at this moment:
“The flow of time differs between time-line worlds, so there is a high probability you will not see me immediately after entering. I will do my utmost to lock down its core defensive mechanisms, suppress and restrain them. Its main body’s active defense capabilities have been greatly weakened, but its inherent data firewalls and information countermeasures are still operational.”
“If you come in, immediately take advantage of the time I am tying down its protective mechanisms to approach the sphere. Attempt to breach and connect through external interfaces or weak points. I will maintain full suppression.”
The message was concise and clear, outlining Jie Ming’s current task.
Jie Ming did not hesitate for even a moment.
In a contest at this level, doubting the judgment and arrangements of an eighth-ring wizard would be foolish.
If there were protections even the Starforger could not handle, his own strength would have no power to resist.
Conversely, if Altreus had created an opportunity, he must seize it!
His figure moved, turning into a streak of light as he sped straight toward the enormous mechanical sphere.
The sphere clearly detected Jie Ming’s approach.
Its surface conduits flickered with even greater frenzy, and the entire body emitted a low, almost furious tremor.
However, just as Altreus’s message had stated, its “active defenses”—those will attacks that directly erased existence, time turbulence, spatial seals, and the like—seemed to be firmly pinned down by an even greater power, unable to be deployed.
The sphere’s current behavior was more like a central computer whose main weapon systems had been disabled, capable only of futilely sounding alarms and mounting limited internal resistance.
Seeing Jie Ming rapidly closing in, the remaining defensive mechanisms inside the sphere were fully activated.
A will torrent—though much weaker than before but still vast and chaotic—mixed with massive, disordered streams of contradictory and noisy information, surged toward Jie Ming’s consciousness like a flood of sewage!
This was the most primitive form of mental pollution and information overload attack, attempting to shatter his reason, clog his thoughts, and reduce him to an idiot or scatter his consciousness.
Against ordinary fourth- or fifth-level beings, or even some sixth-level existences weak in mental defense, this move might have worked.
Unfortunately, in the eyes of wizards, this method was far too “crude.”
Moreover, Jie Ming was not only a wizard but also a cultivator who possessed a Spirit Transformation Stage nascent soul!
His soul essence had undergone dual tempering, its stability far surpassing others at the same level.
“Child’s play!” Jie Ming snorted coldly.
His nascent soul was clear as a mirror. The Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror glowed brightly as his mental power transformed into an indestructible dam. At the same time, he circulated the “Clear Mind and Calm Spirit” method recorded in the Great Dao Book Pavilion.
The surging chaotic will and information garbage crashed against his mental defenses. Most were directly deflected and repelled, while the small portion that seeped through was swiftly decomposed and isolated by the Five Aggregates Rainbow Mirror, unable to affect his core thinking and actions.
Withstanding this “mudslide” of spirit and information, Jie Ming landed steadily beside the enormous mechanical sphere.
At close range, the precision and antiquity of this creation became even more apparent.
The energy flowing within those conduits was not merely power—it seemed to encode extremely complex information as well.
There was no time to admire it carefully. Jie Ming immediately pushed the All-Purpose Eye to full power.
Deep within his pupils, complex runes and spiritual light intertwined, elevating his vision and perception to the limit.
Before him, the enormous metal sphere was rapidly deconstructed in his “eyes” into countless flowing streams of data, energy pathways, rune structures, interface definitions, information keys…
Vast, highly encrypted data flows bearing the characteristics of unknown technological trees washed over his consciousness.
Jie Ming concentrated his entire mind, rapidly screening and comparing, searching for patterns and breakthroughs.
His goal was clear: find an interactive “interface,” a “centralized storage area” for information, or a relatively weak “logical vulnerability.”
Time passed in this highly tense cracking process.
The sphere’s resistance grew increasingly feeble, yet the complexity of its internal data flows exceeded imagination.
Finally, at a certain moment, Jie Ming’s All-Purpose Eye captured a special “data stream.”
Unlike the other streams responsible for energy transmission, system maintenance, or defense feedback, this one was more “complex,” more “ordered,” and its flow path pointed toward a core region inside the sphere protected by multiple layers of encryption.
After repeated confirmation, Jie Ming determined its encoding method to be of the “archival” and “recording” type.
“Information storage organ… or… an access channel to the core database?” Jie Ming’s eyes lit up.
While processing vast amounts of information, he immediately diverted a portion of his consciousness—carrying his soul imprint and cracking runes—as delicate tendrils, cautiously and slowly “probing” toward the area indicated by that special data stream.
The instant the consciousness tendrils made contact, an incomparably more immense data impact than the previous information torrent surged toward him.
But this time, it was not an attack—merely the pure outpouring of vast recorded information.
In that moment, Jie Ming’s consciousness was swept into a bottomless data abyss composed of memory and time.