Chapter 542: Water Mercury Farming Plan (Combined Two-in-One)

This was exciting for all players.

Based on this analysis, the truth of world history and mythology was in their hands. Their decision whether to tell the world would alter the future of the entire world. Everyone trembled with an inexplicable thrill; this feeling of controlling the world's destiny was a tremendous sense of accomplishment that ordinary people couldn't experience.

"Brothers, what should we choose?" Cat Jump took a deep breath, highly hesitant. Standing in Fengdu of the Underworld, he watched from afar a group of excited powerhouses and mighty beings, feeling a strong sense of immersion.

"This is the great appeal of a second life," Cat Jump asked directly. "Even if they know, it's useless; they'll surely undergo reincarnation in the future. As for me, logically, since I've already helped fabricate the entire ancient history, including the Abandoned Heaven Emperor and others, I should continue helping to cover up the truth!" He sounded hesitant as he spoke.

Many in the livestream chat quickly voiced their opinions.

"No need to say more, Cat Jump, just do it! Tell them the real truth, write a hymn of blood!"

"Ridiculous!"

"Screw that, do you know how hard that is? There are two choices: one is hellish combat difficulty, the other is simple farming difficulty. If you tell them the truth, are you sending this group of Heavenly Emperors to their deaths? For example, would you tell the Heavenly Emperors of the Three Realms to overthrow Medusa? This mysterious Monarch of the Reincarnation Hall is likely even more terrifying than Medusa. Are you trying to get them killed?"

"Yeah, controlling eras, dominating eternity—perhaps it's another Emperor Qi!"

"Can't afford to provoke him, truly can't afford to provoke him!"

Suddenly, everyone exploded in debate. Clearly, choosing "hell difficulty" would make it extremely hard for players to progress; it was hardcore to the extreme. It would also implicate many native NPC heroes like Zhang Xiao, who would shed blood and sacrifice their lives, but victory seemed very slim! And if he were merely strong, that would be fine. But what if he was another Emperor Qi, the kind who grows stronger with every challenge? You work hard to build up an incredible fighting force to steadily overthrow him, only for him to suddenly turn their opponents' strengths against them, make a desperate comeback, and turn defeat into victory. That would be utterly disastrous. After all, Emperor Qi had left too deep an impression on everyone; they even felt he was like an unrisen Hermes, an ancient transcendent deity who would eventually reach the ninth stage.

"The problem is, we don't know his true strength!"

"Actually, if he's not a monster like Emperor Qi, but a normal person like Medusa, Almin, or Daojun, who can't just learn everything at a glance, there's still some hope. We might just have to work ourselves bald again to create another peerless divine skill?"

"Damn it! Being cowardly is a lifelong thing. How many Emperor Qis can there be in the world? I don't believe there are that many!"

Everyone immediately started arguing, with each side presenting valid points. Logically, "don't be a coward, just do it" would be the normal choice. But they were also panicking. This plot choice would change the difficulty, making them enemies of a terrifying existence. If they failed, any players who entered in the future would likely be finished, brutally suppressed. How could they play after that?

Akina Mountain Speed spoke again.

"There's no rush right now. We'll wait until the Monarch of the Reincarnation Hall returns, which might take another day or two. Only then will he send Zhang Xiao and the others to be reborn. And it will take some time for Li Sansheng to return and hear about this. At that point, we can decide whether to tell Li Sansheng!"

"During this time, you can research and organize your thoughts, and also improve yourselves, to see which option to choose! After all, it will determine your future destiny! Whether to fight or to back down is a decision made in a single thought."

Everyone continued to argue noisily.

"Peerless beings ask my name, the first lord upon a godless throne?" Xu Zhi stretched, a smile playing on his lips. "I didn't expect that a nascent consciousness would form so quickly, even coining a poetic title." He was still piloting the mechanical battle armor, soaring through the vast, brilliant cosmos. Sitting in the cockpit, he munched on an apple, the Earth's outline behind him now a colossal azure sphere. He watched the world within his body with great interest. Carrying it with him was convenient, allowing him to monitor developments at any time.

"Once I put the mecha back, I'll definitely have to silence them all, throwing them into reincarnation to start fresh," Xu Zhi chuckled. "The truth of history cannot be spied upon." This was common sense; he had to maintain his persona.

"However, speaking of which, this truth about the Underworld is quite good—it's a source for collecting emotions. Generations of people reborn from the Underworld will occasionally learn the truth and, upon seeing the appearance of Peerless God, will feel despair, excitement, and adoration, just like Zhang Xiao and the others. Each time, it will be like this, now igniting a huge wave!" With each cycle of reincarnation from the Underworld, the characters from the arcade, even Peerless God, would become increasingly powerful, truly transforming into ancient mighty beings suppressed deep within the Underworld's hell, living entities. The worldview of the Six Paths of Reincarnation was now completely perfected.

"But, this emotion collection? Perhaps it could be digitized?" Xu Zhi suddenly raised an eyebrow, thinking he might create an emotion collection system. He could let someone with a mischievous personality cause trouble and collect shock and confusion points from others. Then it would display: "Negative emotion value 999 from XXX."

Theoretically, it was feasible. And digitizing energy was entirely possible; the Ishdal people had achieved this completely. His own development had reached a point where he possessed sufficient knowledge and technical foundation to act as a system provider, granting anyone astonishing encounters and making them the protagonist of a world. "It would be quite interesting to arrange for such a character sometime."

Xu Zhi smiled and shook his head, no longer dwelling on it. He piloted the mecha around the moon, finding it extremely barren, covered entirely in exposed gray rock and soil, with meteorite craters of all sizes scattered everywhere.

*Whoosh!*

Xu Zhi's divine sense subtly spread out, scanning a nearby area of land to analyze the soil's composition. The system's demon core brain was furiously analyzing. "Calculating..." "Analyzing environment for life evolution." After a while, he slowly opened his eyes, a look of confirmation flashing across his face. "The environment is too harsh; there are too many conditions unsuitable for life activity, not fit for propagating new species on the moon. I already guessed this, so it's no surprise."

*Boom!*

The mechanical battle armor soared into the air again, flying into the distance. As for hollowing out the moon's interior, injecting oxygen, and transforming the environment, he had no interest. Wouldn't that just be another ancient lava region? Why bother doing that on the moon then? When he entered the universe this time, he indeed had the idea of establishing a new sandbox, coming to investigate the severity of the environment. Unlike the environment of every previous sandbox world, this time he had a bold idea: to create a cosmic vacuum species that didn't need to survive in the air! That is, a vacuum cosmic sandbox. After all, the universe is largely a vacuum environment; this is the general trend, the dominant environment.

He took a bite of his apple, looking at the vast, boundless stars, tiny points of light twinkling.

"Creatures living on Earth have long been limited by their environment. Must they always have lush lands, flowers, birds, and fish? That kind of environment, oxygen—that's precisely the limitation preventing us from leaving the planet." What if there was a life form that didn't need to breathe? Then Earth would no longer be a giant prison! A winged bird could effortlessly penetrate the atmosphere, fly into space, soar among asteroids, and then return to Earth to rest, exploring the universe at will. Of course, it would also need to resist vacuum pressure.

"A species that doesn't rely on oxygen—my first thought is plants," Xu Zhi murmured. Plants have two modes of respiration. Photosynthesis: absorbs carbon dioxide, releases oxygen. Respiration: absorbs oxygen, releases carbon dioxide. In reality, plants, like animals, also respire, but what makes plants different is their self-sufficiency, even producing large amounts of excess oxygen for other animals on Earth.

"Theoretically, if a plant formed a hollow cavity within its body, it could achieve 'internal qi' circulation, with oxygen and carbon dioxide constantly alternating, flowing like yin and yang fish, making it self-sufficient!" Xu Zhi's expression was calm. "It's the only possible cellular species in my current system that could survive in a vacuum. Evolving such a cellular race might work." Naturally, this couldn't compare to silicon-based life. Silicon-based life forms are various chip-based lives composed of silicon atoms, akin to robots. They naturally lack cellular structures, don't require oxygen, carbon dioxide, or water, and can inherently survive in space.

"But there's also a second difficulty to overcome—powerful vacuum pressure. However, the cell arrangement of plants is inherently unique and tough, so it might be very possible!" As for other challenges, they include radiation resistance and temperature tolerance, since temperatures in space can range from hundreds of degrees below zero to thousands of degrees above. If the first two problems were solved, the others wouldn't be difficult to address.

This time, Xu Zhi planned to evolve vacuum-surviving organisms based on plants. And in creating vacuum plants, he naturally had an even bigger goal. In the universe, he would plant a large number of improved vacuum eternal ancient trees to absorb stellar energy and generate solar power, just like in the Ancient Wood World, providing himself with energy! Establishing a vacuum civilization this time wasn't his primary goal.

"I wanted to do this before, but I couldn't leave the universe. Now that I'm in space, the first thing I'll do is farm! Plant trees like crazy!" Xu Zhi sped along in his mechanical battle armor. Gradual, slow upgrades? No such thing! He had gone to great lengths to find the Ishdal people and create a cosmic mechanical battle armor that could enter the void at the Heavenly Emperor level, all just to plant trees! To plant stellar ancient trees. He wished he could fill the entire solar system with green, counting energy until his hands cramped every day.

*Boom!*

Xu Zhi continued flying; he was heading towards Mercury, the planet closest to the sun. Because it was closest to the sun, it would absorb more solar energy. He calmly touched his forehead.

"Since I broke through to Heavenly Emperor, my progress has been too slow. Absorbing countless extinctions still results in slow progress, nearly a hundred times slower than before. I must start a new method of energy acquisition!" Otherwise, breaking through to godhood would probably take years at the fastest. He was already twenty-five; he'd be nearly thirty by then. This speed was intolerably slow.

"What a beautiful universe, what a massive energy body the sun. If I could absorb all its energy, I fear I could break through to an unimaginable level." Xu Zhi's expression grew calm. "Here, I'll plant some solar power stations." He had already reached a speed of a hundred years per day, so it wouldn't take too long. At the same time, unlike Emperor Qi, he wasn't showy; he had already cloaked his mecha's form, so no satellites or space stations could detect his presence.

Days flew by. Xu Zhi soon arrived at Mercury. Mercury is the closest and smallest planet in the entire solar system. In the East, it's called "Chen Xing" (Morning Star); in the West, it's called "Mercury." It's quite a coincidence.

*Whoosh!*

Xu Zhi gently descended, stepping onto the planet's surface. It was barren, covered entirely in dirt and metal, with no atmospheric protection, completely exposed to the vacuum. Mercury is a planet with extreme temperature variations. The side facing the sun had scorching temperatures exceeding 400 degrees Celsius, while the side facing away from the sun, without direct sunlight, experienced frigid temperatures below minus 100 degrees Celsius.

Standing on Mercury's sunlit side, Xu Zhi, bulky in his full armor like an astronaut, looked up. A golden, dazzling, scorching fire orb that obscured half the sky was burning fiercely. At this moment, he felt as if he was witnessing a true ancient myth. Only when he directly faced this immense 4.6-billion-year-old fireball did he truly comprehend the primordial vastness and boundlessness of the universe, which washed over him. Any living being was insignificant before it. Even Xu Zhi himself might just be an unremarkable ripple in its eyes, rising and quickly perishing—if he couldn't achieve eternity.

"Truly, what beauty." Xu Zhi marveled, "It's enough to humble any pride I've accumulated. I finally understand that moment when Emperor Qi saw it and instantly lost his arrogance, only hoping that one day, for the rest of his life, he could stand equal to it." Although planets and living beings are hard to compare—planets billions of years old are common, but do living beings billions of years old truly exist?

Xu Zhi chuckled, "Why think so much? Building solar power stations is the most practical thing."

"Sub-brain, propagate the stellar ancient trees." The moment he spoke, seeds were scattered onto the barren ground, instantly losing their vitality. Xu Zhi slightly frowned. "For plant propagation, I still need to add water, initial oxygen, and carbon dioxide to create an ecological environment for plant growth first. Let the stellar ancient trees propagate, then slowly adapt them, gradually making them compatible with this environment."

"So, I need to create a temporary environment..." Xu Zhi lowered his gaze, observing the Six Paths of Reincarnation within his body. "The Nine Revolutions Profound Art has nine spaces. The Human-Celestial Path occupies three: Cloud Heaven, Burning Heaven, and Revered Heaven. These were originally three Human-Celestial factions, but in recent years, they've been unified by Emperor Yun. The Human-Celestial path is inherently sparsely populated, and Burning Heaven, in particular, is only home to flowers, birds, insects, and fish, with no Human-Celestials residing there."

"I'll choose Burning Heaven as the temporary sandbox!" He gently pressed. A vast divine sense swept across.

In Cloud Heaven, Emperor Yun suddenly trembled violently, instantly sensing something. He abruptly stood up. "One of the three Heavens of the Human-Celestial Path, Burning Heaven, has lost contact! I can no longer sense it!" He soared into the sky, his divine sense frantically spreading, but he could no longer feel the other dimension of space-time!

"Where did Burning Heaven go?"

"Find it!"

"The Underworld has undergone drastic changes recently, with a sharp decrease in reincarnations. I don't know what kind of great chaos is upon us. And mysterious rules of the Underworld are circulating among humans. Yet, at this very moment, Burning Heaven of my Human-Celestial Path has vanished into thin air!" Emperor Yun revealed a cold expression.

In Burning Heaven, a gigantic, vast hand covered the sky and sun, tearing through space to extend. Xu Zhi's palm vigorously flattened the entire verdant landscape of mountains and plains. All the green plants died, turning into fertilizer for the soil, nourishing the whole land.

"Sub-brain, sow the seeds of the stellar ancient trees for propagation." The moment Xu Zhi finished speaking, a scattering of seeds fell onto the land, rapidly blooming and bearing fruit. "First, propagate a batch, let them grow, then gradually worsen their living environment, making oxygen and carbon dioxide sparse, moving towards a vacuum," he organized his thoughts. "Finally, completely connect this Burning Heaven to the external Mercury environment. Through natural selection and continuous environmental degradation, this should be feasible."