novelraw Chapter 1078: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (86) — Convergence
Chapter 1078: How Could There Be a Path to Immortality in This World? (86) — Convergence
Death... naturally doesn't come so easily.
This was a body entirely made of metal—though it was canine in form, it was undeniably fully metallic.
In fact, Tai Yinzi couldn’t even feel pain—his gut-wrenching howl was purely a mental reaction to the shock of being kicked.
This made Tai Yinzi start to doubt life itself. Ever since entering the Penglai Treasure Vault, had anything gone smoothly?
“What’s with this old dog?” Gongsun Wuwei picked up the metal dog again.
He found its expression surprisingly vivid—from panic to a look of utter despair, its face was startlingly expressive.
Gongsun Wuwei casually shook his head, only to see that the metal dog was now completely lifeless. No matter how dangerously he acted—or even stomped on it a few more times—it didn’t make a sound, as if it had gone dumb.
“Let’s not waste time on this strange mutt.” Gong Fanxing shook her head. “There are still several secret areas we haven’t explored.”
Gongsun Wuwei nodded and casually tossed the metal dog toward Jiang Zuo.
Jiang Zuo caught it and cradled it in his arms. Curious, he grabbed its hind leg and fiddled with it inside and out—he too noticed the metal dog’s utterly blank expression and clicked his tongue in amazement.At that moment, the metal dog's eyes slowly shifted to Jiang Zuo’s face, locked gazes with him for a few seconds, then drooped down to look at the leg Jiang Zuo was holding.
The soul within the metal dog—feeling like it had lost everything—would have rather died at the hands of the newly resurrected Count Drekeya.
It just wanted to die...
...
Inside the Leixia Ship, within the inner layer of a giant rotating central metal column, a vertical transport tube led upward. Within it, Count Drekeya stood on a lift, suppressing his irritation while staring at a projection screen and tapping the guardrail.
“What the hell is that idiot trying to do?!”
Count Drekeya growled in a low, angry voice. “Over the years, almost sixty percent of the Universal Material mother vein’s production has been consumed! And the Leixia Ship’s energy reserves are down by nearly a quarter!”
【Response: This is the standard consumption for producing a top-spec Valkyrie-Class Gaia】
The prototype beside the Count replied with a blank expression.
The Count was conflicted. After reconstructing his body, the Valkyrie-Class Gaia had already been in production for quite some time. Halting it now would freeze the process, and once Universal Material was molded, it was hard to revert it to its raw form.
So, stopping the print meant wasting that portion of material—an outcome Count Drekeya was unwilling to accept. Reluctantly, he let the process continue without prototype intervention.
However, the Count needed to log in as the main operator before the Valkyrie-Class finished printing. Otherwise, the prototype's limited access couldn’t control it.
The Valkyrie-Class would activate and run independently on its default intelligence—likely initiating a combat protocol immediately.
“Forget it, let it waste some. As long as I seize the authority of the Penglai Immortal, everything will come back to me. And if I can replace the new Root Agent before they fully mature…”
The Count didn’t even dare imagine—what luck, to awaken and be presented with such an opportunity!
A newly appointed Root Agent had appeared in this primitive Main World... If those who had already obtained secondary root authority found out, they'd be livid.
“But why did the Root suddenly assign a new official agent…”
As this wild thought cooled, Count Drekeya started to sense something off. After his long cryo-sleep, his mind needed time to recover—and as it did, he noticed more abnormalities, especially the low Source of Anomaly ratio in his current body.
Even if the prototype had degraded into a low-level AI and just followed hidden commands by bringing him a Black Soul Envoy for body replacement—back then, the contract had clearly demanded a high-level Black Soul Envoy. Delivering such a low-grade soul shouldn’t have been possible.
The contract was binding. The Root’s contract spirit wouldn’t allow such a substitution.
Worse yet, he had sealed the Penglai Treasure Vault before sleeping, specifically to ensure no incidents during this period.
Yet, the prototype’s memory revealed that the vault had been opened—and nearly all the Combat-Type Gaias had been lost. Even a Valkyrie-Class had been deployed. The prototype had even regressed in intelligence as a result.
“Something’s definitely off…” Count Drekeya grew more uneasy.
Suddenly, the lift stopped and opened.
Ahead lay a metal bridge leading into the core of the rotating column—revealing it wasn’t a single structure.
Instead, it was split in two, connected by a massive sphere acting as a joint.
Count Drekeya stepped onto the bridge. Even if something felt off, he couldn’t delay—he had to reclaim the Leixia Ship’s top authority.
Because right now, all he had was a transplanted consciousness. Nothing more.
Fortunately, one prototype remained and still obeyed hidden instructions. Without it, Count Drekeya wouldn’t have even been able to revive—even if the Root had sent him the highest-level Black Soul Envoy.
As he walked, he stared at the brocade box in his hands—inside was a segment of the Penglai Immortal’s finger bone. He distinctly remembered that when he ambushed the Immortal, their body had been intact.
Just then, the prototype following behind suddenly stopped and looked down from the bridge.
Count Drekeya paused and frowned.
Below, a green light slowly grew brighter… accompanied by an eerie beast-like cry. A strange ancient transport vehicle—a type so obscure that even the Eternal Kingdom’s archives barely recorded it—rapidly came into view!
The palanquin… A palanquin pulled by black oxen!
On the palanquin sat a gaunt man with a gloomy expression—Xiao Shengmo!
This man soon descended with the palanquin onto the massive metal bridge—blocking Count Drekeya’s path.
Count Drekeya frowned. The sudden appearance of an uninvited guest in this place was clearly unexpected.
As for Xiao Shengmo, he too was surprised to encounter Count Drekeya and the prototype Gaia here.
“Dispose of him,” Count Drekeya waved his hand—completing the Valkyrie-Class was urgent; he didn’t want to waste even a second.
【Understood】
The hidden command overrode everything. The prototype Gaia instantly charged forward, her purple long dress fluttering and swiftly contracting as she moved.
Xiao Shengmo's expression changed slightly. Without time to speak, he hastily directed the palanquin to soar upward—but just then, Gaia swung her arm. A thunderball, nearly a meter in diameter, shot up from beneath the palanquin and struck it directly!
The oxen let out miserable cries and were instantly reduced to black smoke by the thunderball’s force!
A gust of ghostly wind swept Xiao Shengmo several meters away. Holding the Tower of Ten Thousand Ghosts, he focused—but suddenly, the small tower in his hand trembled slightly.
The City Lord of Fengdu City frowned, thoughts racing.
Meanwhile, Count Drekeya, without even turning around, continued heading toward the massive sphere at the end of the bridge.
Xiao Shengmo immediately turned into a black gust of wind, chasing after him—but the prototype Gaia was still carrying out her orders!
Behind her, dozens—if not hundreds—of thunderballs formed a massive wall of lightning, blocking Xiao Shengmo’s path.
Faced with the natural nemesis of ghostly spirits—lightning—Xiao Shengmo frowned deeply. With a cold snort, the ghost wind reversed, revealing his true form again. He raised the Tower of Ten Thousand Ghosts!
At once, a dense wave of ghostly aura surged out—wailing souls, deep white bones, and countless twisted faces burst forth like a flood!
Within the ghostly tide, countless phantoms tangled and devoured one another—terrifying and utterly hopeless!
Boom—!!!
The ghost tide collided with Gaia’s lightning on the bridge, instantly erupting in a shockwave… but the ghost aura couldn’t even break through an inch!
Still, Xiao Shengmo didn’t stop. Raising his arm again, seven more ghostly torrents surged from the Tower of Ten Thousand Ghosts, each filled with countless wailing souls, crashing toward Gaia from all directions!
Countless ghosts were immediately obliterated upon contact with Gaia’s lightning—this was merely delaying her through mass sacrifice.
The tower housed 100,000 ghost soldiers and generals, and countless dead spirits from Fengdu City—it had deep reserves. But even so, this pace of consumption couldn’t last long.
So, the City Lord roared, and once again activated the Tower of Ten Thousand Ghosts!
A black beam suddenly shot from the tower—through a gap in the lightning wall—straight toward Count Drekeya's back as he neared the massive sphere!
Sensing danger, Count Drekeya calmly raised his hand and spread his fingers—the black beam was immediately blocked by a semicircular barrier!
But just then, he sensed an even greater threat. His face twitched slightly, and he looked up in alarm!
Above him—when had he appeared?—a small old man, both hands gripping a sharp staff-sword, stabbed downward vertically… Kui Qianyi!
“Hmph!”
Count Drekeya snorted coldly, fearlessly facing the plunging strike—but just before it could pierce his forehead, it abruptly stopped!
Kui Qianyi was shocked. The sword tip sparked and crackled, unable to move forward an inch… But there was no time to hesitate. The moment the strike failed, Kui Qianyi leapt away without pause!
Then, Count Drekeya’s gaze sharpened—he sensed another powerful threat behind him!!
Several glints of cold light silently flashed behind him—another assassination attempt—but it was again blocked by his strange barrier!
In a blink, Gaia’s body flashed with purple light—something small detached from her and quickly formed into another prototype Gaia, who instantly appeared at Count Drekeya’s side, swinging a hand-formed blade to drive back the attacker, leaving a deep wound!
“Gui Ying!” Kui Qianyi shouted.
The attacker flipped mid-air and landed beside Kui Qianyi… Gui Ying's face was pale, a gash bleeding across his chest. “I’m fine.”
“A brilliant assassination,” Count Drekeya’s voice was icy. “Too bad your power level is far too low.”
Then he waved again—and the second prototype Gaia suddenly crouched and charged like lightning.
Kui Qianyi and Gui Ying exchanged a quick glance and leapt aside just before the attack struck.
“Whether it’s enough, we’ll only know once we try!”
A clear voice rang out—at the moment Kui Qianyi and Gui Ying parted, a golden figure burst forward and directly confronted the prototype Gaia clone!
The moment the golden light hit, it shattered the clone—and then punched Count Drekeya directly!
In a panic, Count Drekeya raised his barrier—but it only held for a moment before the punch broke through!
The fist wasn’t large, but it carried immense power—landing solidly on Count Drekeya’s chest!
His elegant face twisted in pain as he was sent flying, rolling across the bridge for several meters before coming to a stop.
Coughing up black liquid, Count Drekeya looked up—standing before the path to the massive sphere was the golden figure.
“This energy…!” Count Drekeya staggered to his feet, eyes flickering.
The golden glow faded—revealing none other than the Constructed Body of the Divine Land’s True Dragon, Long Xiruo.
The Constructed Body tilted its head slightly, eyeing Count Drekeya, who had just wiped the black liquid from the corner of his mouth. Frowning, it said, “So you’re the invader from beyond? Not much to look at… but—”
Its gaze suddenly locked onto the prototype Gaia.
“This thing… is far more dangerous.”
“A mere experimental product,” Count Drekeya replied coldly. “At best, just a relic of Penglai... Gaia! Level-3 restrictions released! Duration: three minutes!”
Behind them, suppressed by countless streams of ghost energy, the true body of prototype Gaia suddenly moved.
【Understood…】
Her purple pupils contracted sharply—and then, a massive energy burst erupted, blasting through all the ghost energy!
Xiao Shengmo was alarmed. As the ghost mist scattered, Gaia had already vanished!
“Behind you!” shouted Long Xiruo’s Constructed Body.
Xiao Shengmo’s face froze. A lightning spear had already pierced straight through his chest from behind… and over a hundred bolts of lightning detonated at that point!
The lightning spear then withdrew from his chest, and Xiao Shengmo fell, crashing onto the metal bridge below.
Count Drekeya gave a low command, “End this quickly.”
【Understood…】
…
…
A glowing sphere slowly broke through the clouds, rising steadily, until it reached the peak of the massive mountain.
Before them stood a magnificent golden palace, towering and majestic.
The glowing sphere gently descended and gradually dissipated. Luo Qiu was the first to step out.
Staring at the palace—larger and grander than any human construction—Jessica was stunned, as if witnessing a myth.
“This is…” Even Qin Chuyu couldn’t help but be moved. “Penglai Palace… Penglai?”
She softly read the enormous inscription above the palace entrance.
Luo Qiu then walked directly toward the grand palace… Penglai Palace.
“Wait—what are you planning to do?” Qin Chuyu asked instinctively. But as soon as the question left her mouth, she realized it was inappropriate—he had no obligation to answer her.
“I just want to understand something,” Luo Qiu replied unexpectedly. “Understand… why I’m here.”
With that, he ignored Qin Chuyu and continued walking.
Qin Chuyu frowned, then finally followed after him. Jessica had no choice but to follow as well—until suddenly, Miss Maid stepped in front of them.
“Miss Jessica, Miss Qin Chuyu, I’m sorry. From here on, please remain where you are,” You Ye said expressionlessly. “Beyond this point, entry is forbidden.”
Qin Chuyu frowned again… but clearly, this Miss Maid had no intention of proceeding either.
She stayed behind. Only Luo Qiu… continued walking alone.
(End of Chapter)