A group of individuals, clad in full metal suits and carrying simple oxygen tanks, strode into the spatial tunnel and entered Fentian.
"Brothers, the talents of the Celestials are truly remarkable and incredibly diverse. They can do anything—control metal, manipulate air... they're practically perfect equipment manufacturing masters, a real beginner's village!" someone whispered.
"This is so convenient. Maybe we should have them make spacesuits for us in the future."
"Spacesuits? What's the point? With this level of precision and capability, wouldn't it be great to make a computer?"
The group quickly rushed in. Intense radiation immediately made them feel unwell, causing a slight tingling and burning sensation. Negative buffs quickly appeared.
"Brothers, to get rich, we must first farm trees!"
They moved extremely fast, beginning to chop down a tree. Observing the tree's entire structure, they were greatly astonished.
Meanwhile, the research institute outside, which had members within this group, continuously received text screenshots. They were once again astonished: Plants that could survive in a vacuum and high radiation?
This was a monumental discovery for the age, proving that life could exist even in the vacuum of space—a true miracle in the history of life.
They hadn't even taken two steps.
"Brothers, retreat!"
Someone calculated the time and shouted,
"According to calculations by the experts outside, these metal suits only offer partial protection. Although we are second and third-tier life forms, stronger than ordinary humans on Earth, we'll likely reach our limit in about ten minutes!"
After barely arriving in Fentian and chopping down one tree, they quickly retreated. Then, in an orderly fashion, they began to inspect their bodies for the extent of radiation-induced mutations and cellular damage.
"Normally, the dungeon progress would be 0.5."
"Don't touch that tree! The radiation levels are very high! Especially the leaves, that's where photosynthesis happens, where it absorbs radiation."
"However, perhaps the leaves could be made into some kind of highly poisonous weapon! A Karmic Fire Leaf, with a gentle wave, bringing countless karmic fires... wouldn't that be like the Banana Leaf Fan?"
The group discussed in an orderly manner.
Don't let their constant chatter fool you; aren't they all veteran online gamers who run dungeons and study guides?
They were quite skilled and experienced, discussing strategies with each other on how to improve for the next step.
Modern people live urban lives; their combat skills might not be high, and they might not have even killed a chicken or duck before entering the game. However, their theoretical abilities are definitely excellent.
After resting for a while, they charged back in.
From a distance, Emperor Yun slightly closed his eyes and praised, "Remarkable. Their advances and retreats are well-reasoned."
"These Asuras truly understand the environment of Hell. They have such well-developed and practiced measures to cope: metal suit armor and air tanks to protect against Hell's toxic fires..."
"Their current actions are continuously allowing their bodies to adapt to these terrifying, hellish hot poisons... to evolve and develop the resistance and adaptability they desire."
He constantly analyzed their movements, finding them very logical.
"Your Majesty..." Yun Zhongjun hesitated. He had already observed the plants with legs, attempting to graft sections of those mysterious ancient trees onto himself. Some plants even began trying to pollinate and hybridize to produce fruit.
"Let them try."
Emperor Yun's eyes sparkled. As a dominant ruler of his generation, he naturally possessed a broad mind.
In the following days, some players couldn't withstand the environment and began to die. After all, it was survival of the fittest, though they had done their best to make the adaptation process as gradual as possible.
As they continuously adapted to the hellish environment, they began to extend their entry time. Gradually, they emerged from Fentian and arrived in the legendary Avici Hell outside.
The entire world was bathed in a golden glow.
It was stunningly beautiful.
The ground was covered with desolate meteorite craters, yet ancient trees grew sparsely, and mysterious male and female beings ran everywhere.
In the distance, there was a bronze stele, and faint outlines of building complexes, crumbling walls, and ancient temples could be seen.
It was vast and boundless; any life form felt insignificant on this ancient land.
Someone's eyes widened. "Meteorite craters, vacuum, and radiation... Could this be space? Nine Dragons Pulling Coffin?"
Someone rubbed their forehead, picked up a crude wooden stick, and looked up. "I don't know, that big fireball is too bright; we can't see any stars even if they're there." He kept organizing his thoughts. "Come on, brothers, let's go grind this dungeon and take on those mysterious vacuum treants!"
In their eyes, these trees were the mobs of this dungeon. After all, reaching that distant building complex would take too long, and they definitely couldn't withstand it yet. They could only grind monsters to level up and adapt to the environment first.
And naturally, they also needed to clear a path ahead.
Although they were second and third-tier, the environment was too harsh, reducing their combat effectiveness by more than half. The mysterious treant men and women, despite being only first-tier, were fighting on their home turf, making victory difficult to achieve.
"Kill!"
"Wah-ya-ya!"
The mysterious treant men and women also roared and charged forward; their belligerence seemed ingrained in their very bones.
Both sides began to fight.
"Pull aggro!"
"Kite him! Tanks, move in!"
The group shouted.
"A dungeon? How can there be no monster grinding?"
In the distance, Xu Zhi quietly opened his notebook, recorded data, and slightly curved his lips into a smile.
"The elemental spirits that just reproduced are very peculiar. This war is perfectly suited to refine them and allow them to evolve more perfectly... And these players are also evolving, enriching species diversity... Their very design is evolution!"
This was Xu Zhi's main objective.
War drives life's evolution; it's a form of natural selection that has, over long ages, played a crucial role in evolution.
"Left on the path as obstacles, continuously evolving and improving... they are a very special race. I feel they are quite extraordinary, harboring a powerful force within them." Xu Zhi slightly raised an eyebrow. "Perhaps they will become the strongest warrior race; they are indeed very belligerent and love to fight."
Day after day passed.
The elemental spirits were already newly evolved creatures, undergoing refinement and evolution. Now, these players seemed to stimulate their evolution rate, making them even stranger. The air-liquid in their meridians began to contain energy like blood, appearing as scattered, very dense specks, replacing the function of blood.
"Waaah! Waaah!"
On this day, they were driven to desperation by the players' attacks.
A powerful leader cried out. Inside its body, like an internal combustion engine, its "carbon dioxide heart" and "oxygen heart" began to build high pressure and boil.
A massive air cannon blast slammed towards them, accompanied by dazzling white light.
"Holy crap!"
"What the hell is that, an air cannon?"
"Kamehameha?"
All the players freaked out and fled for their lives, suffering many casualties.
They had naturally figured out a way to use this, but it was a tactic that harmed them a hundred for every thousand they harmed the enemy. Their internal energy was consumed with each use.
"Waha! Waha!"
The excited leader looked at its hands, unable to fully grasp the immense power it possessed, feeling very happy.
"Very good," Xu Zhi quietly noted the experimental evolution data.
Meanwhile, the players also began to gradually grow, utilizing their evolutionary traits, storing energy to advance and break through to the next realm.
Boom!
Gradually, some players began to break through, shining with white light as their forms started to change.
"After one evolution, they have initially gained radiation resistance."
At this moment, Bai Xiaojun looked at himself, his treant form becoming even stranger. He had broken through to the fourth tier, having grafted parts of those mysterious treant men and women, thus possessing their genes. An air heart and dense, special meridians began to appear within his body... though he only had one heart, making it incomplete.
After all, he wasn't Yuan Qinghua, who had been forcibly accelerated by being used for breeding and breaking through to Heavenly Emperor before being imprisoned. Bai Xiaojun was just an ordinary player who evolved on his own.
Now at the fourth tier, he was considered part of the first echelon.
"Air currents are forming inside me..." He widened his eyes, feeling immense curiosity about the structure of those mysterious beings. He murmured repeatedly, "Internal energy? A cosmic vacuum race that uses and senses 'qi'? Hell... it's absolutely terrifying!"
He felt that the secrets hidden behind this land were too horrifying, experiencing a deep sense of dread. The Underworld and the Six Paths of Reincarnation were definitely not as simple as they appeared.
Everything they had seen was merely the tip of the iceberg.
"Hahaha, but I'm going to develop and utilize 'qi'!" he laughed.
Who was Bai Xiaojun?
A medical student, he had extensive research into human meridians and various biological structures.
He sat cross-legged, adopting a martial artist's training posture with his five centers facing upwards, exuding the demeanor of a grandmaster. He mused, "Internal energy, the legendary supreme martial arts: the Northern Darkness Divine Art, the Six Meridian Divine Sword, Kamehameha, Kaioken..."
His teammates, who were grouped with him, were speechless.
Modern people generally have some quirky traits, but someone this eccentric was still rare.
However, as he silently sensed, his eyes suddenly brightened. "Brothers, there are over six hundred of us left now. Everyone is grouping up, pushing for dungeon progress, trying to reach the ancient temple and clear the dungeon... But the enemies are very troublesome. I have a way now!"
His teammates nearby were startled. "What way?"
Currently, everyone diving into the dungeon was scrambling to advance their progress and complete it for mission rewards. However, there were too many enemies, and the path was too long.
Otherwise, why would the Celestials be unwilling to venture in themselves, instead letting them evolve radiation-resistant talents?
Although the Celestials possessed many strange talents, and might truly have a way to reach the ancient temple, Emperor Yun was secretly harboring ulterior motives. Perhaps he didn't want to risk it, suspecting a terrifying entity within the ancient temple. They were afraid of death... so they wanted to use this opportunity to have the Asuras explore it for them.
Furthermore, they intended to use these toxic fires to evolve a batch of beings, use them for breeding... to propagate offspring and produce hungry ghost warriors for the Celestials who could resist Hell's karmic fires.
"I really do have a way to 'cheese' this," Bai Xiaojun whispered. "I've found that after I evolved, we fourth-tier beings are now semi-radiated species. Our radiation resistance is very strong, and if we move quickly, we should be able to make a round trip."
Someone beside him was speechless. "Yes, just getting there and back is possible, but those guys aren't pushovers. They'll block our path like crazy, and that's the biggest problem. Every time we push forward, seventy or eighty percent of our time is spent dealing with them, with very little time spent on travel itself."
Bai Xiaojun smiled faintly. "Don't worry, I've discovered I can sense 'qi'."
"Sense 'qi'?" The others' eyes widened.
That sounds too mystical.
"Yes," Bai Xiaojun whispered. "I can sense 'qi,' specifically the 'qi' of those strange creatures."
The people around him immediately grew excited, their hearts pounding.
If Bai Xiaojun could sense them, did that mean those monsters could also sense each other? And could Bai Xiaojun also be sensed by them?
In that case, if they thought he was one of their own, could he sneak past?
"It's very risky. Sensing them from afar is fine, but if they get close enough to see our appearance, our cover will be blown. And if we go deep into enemy territory, we'll be instantly wiped out... Are you in?" Bai Xiaojun said. "This is a rare opportunity. It's likely that other plant players are also close to evolving and might have integrated some of these abilities, just like me."
The others exchanged glances.
"Let's do it! Fortune favors the bold!" they declared.
Immediately, their group quietly set off.
Bai Xiaojun clearly sensed the 'qi' of other beings, and even the 'qi' of individual trees sensed him, mistaking him for one of their own and continuing their patrol.
"It's safe," Bai Xiaojun and his group stealthily advanced. "To the south, there's a very powerful 'qi' signature; it's probably a formidable character, so let's bypass it."
The group crept silently, watching as the distant ancient bronze stele grew larger and eventually appeared clearly before them.
A look of joy appeared on their faces.
"There it is, the ancient bronze stele! It's said that the Heavenly Emperors of that era stopped here," Bai Xiaojun said, looking further ahead. "There's still a ways to go; that's the ancient temple over there. They say there's a mysterious entity inside."
After taking a screenshot of the ancient bronze stele, they continued forward.
After moving for a while longer, they finally arrived before the ancient temple.
Crumbling walls and ancient, weathered stone carvings stood in the vacuum of space, telling unknown ancient tales. A faint blue lamp hung there.
"Hahaha, we're finally here!" The group was incredibly excited, dancing with joy. This was the moment they'd clear the dungeon and successfully 'cheese' it.
They strode into the ancient temple, showing no reverence for the ancient ruins. Casually, they stood before the temple and wiped clean the old, rectangular plaque above the entrance. As dust dispersed, several mysterious, powerful traditional Chinese characters, grand and imposing, became faintly visible on the plaque.
"Dizang..."
After that, a series of scratches made the rest of the inscription blurry and illegible.
Bai Xiaojun's eyes widened, and his voice suddenly trembled, his face paling. "Brothers, I've learned the four common languages of the Beast Path and can manage some simple communication, but this writing... why does it look so familiar?"
"Familiar? Are you seriously overdoing your hardcore linguistics studies lately? What's familiar about it?! This is a ruin from multiple ancient civilizations. Given this game's style, these are prehistoric characters; we definitely wouldn't recognize them!" The others laughed, then followed his gaze. But in the next second, they fell silent, just like Bai Xiaojun.
Because... it was ancient traditional Chinese script!
One person beside him grew quiet, utterly disbelieving. "How can an ancient temple from such a distant past suddenly have a plaque with ancient Chinese characters on it?"
They stood at the entrance, staring silently at the ancient temple, momentarily stunned.
According to their speculation, this ancient, desolate land must have a history spanning thousands, tens of thousands, or even hundreds of millions of years. How could Chinese characters possibly appear here?
They looked inside the ancient temple.
It emitted a faint glow, filled with desolate sadness, as if it had waited tens of thousands of years. They could only wonder how grand and magnificent it once was.
Instantly, the group shed their casual demeanor. They quickly began to show respect for this ancient temple, proceeding cautiously and refraining from any damage, solely due to the mysterious script on the plaque.
"An Easter egg?" Bai Xiaojun took a deep breath, his expression profound. "Like how Daojun spoke Chinese before?"
"That's impossible! Even if it's an Easter egg, the timeline doesn't match up."
One person, clearly knowledgeable about history, spoke up, hastily suppressing his inner panic. "Dizang... legend has it he originated in the Tang Dynasty, said to be a monk from Silla during that era, a prince who became a renunciate and later achieved godhood as Dizang Bodhisattva... The Tang Dynasty was only about a thousand years ago... that's recent history. But how old is this place? A myth from several eons ago? Tens of thousands or hundreds of millions of years?"
Bai Xiaojun's eyes suddenly snapped open. He looked at the others beside him, murmuring in a low voice, his face filled with shock, "Does the timeline... truly not match up?"
[19 seconds ago] Chapter 404: Dragon Horse Appearance, Bagua Immortal Thunder
[1 minute ago] Chapter 579: Fate's Hero!
[3 minutes ago] Chapter 1291: Yang World Turmoil
[5 minutes ago] Chapter 2206: Lingyuan Heaven
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