Chapter 239 – Immortal Heaven

“The Great Collapse Version involved a clash between this world’s only one and the group of Immortals. The battle between them led to the destruction of countless version fragments.

Only through a series of coincidental events did the World-Destroying Rule—such an ultimate-level rule—come into being.

Without this sequence of events, even if one emptied lower-tier versions like the Spiritual Revival Version or the Apocalypse Version, they might not be able to condense a single trace of the World-Destroying Rule.”

“If I can absorb this trace of the World-Destroying Rule into the Supreme Divine Ability Seed, its gestation will undoubtedly progress further.

If I accumulate enough of it, I may even be able to replicate the power that destroys version fragments through the seed!”

Realizing this, Lu Yan immediately understood that the wisp of World-Destroying Rule within the Annihilation Pendulum would be the greatest reward of his journey into the Great Collapse Domain.

The reward was now within reach. The only problem was how to swallow it.

Lu Yan touched the Annihilation Pendulum and fell into deep thought.

The World-Destroying Rule was fundamentally different from other rule fragments. Even the smallest thread of it could stir annihilative power strong enough to wipe out an entire version fragment.

The Supreme Divine Ability Seed could suppress and devour it—but doing so would require an enormous amount of energy.

Worse yet, with the Mechanized City destroyed, Lu Yan had only two days left.

After two days, if the Prophet Mech noticed something was wrong, it would likely recall all of the city’s scattered forces back to the version fragment.

A starved camel is still bigger than a horse. Though the Mechanized City’s local power had been annihilated, there were still over ten satellite-class war fortresses stationed in other regions, not to mention the countless sub-fortresses.

If Lu Yan were trapped inside the version fragment, the risk would increase by a factor of ten compared to the battle he just fought. Once locked on by the causality-linked Prophet Mech, escape would be near-impossible.

“To completely absorb the World-Destroying Rule in two days is virtually impossible.

But if I give up now, and the scattered forces retreat into the version fragment, I might never get the chance again.

Even if I can’t devour it immediately, I must find a way to take it with me!”

With this in mind, Lu Yan turned his gaze to the massive Annihilation Pendulum.

Though the pendulum was a construct of the Mechanized City, it was essentially just a device used to contain the World-Destroying Rule. That was precisely why it had escaped the core rule distortions affecting the rest of the city.

The inscriptions on its surface and the internal structure weren’t particularly complex. Their main function was to create a stable void that sealed the trace of World-Destroying Rule inside, preventing its devastating force from leaking into the outside world.

Lu Yan’s divine sense swept over the intricate runes, carefully analyzing a solution.

“Should I try to take the entire Annihilation Pendulum with me?

Or should I replicate these inscriptions and open a void inside the Human Emperor Banner to temporarily store the World-Destroying Rule?”

The former clearly wasn’t realistic. Not only was the pendulum massive in size, but even if Lu Yan forcefully took it, it would be incredibly difficult to transport.

More importantly, the void created by the pendulum was tethered to the version fragment. Once removed, it would inevitably rupture, causing the World-Destroying Rule to leak—and potentially trigger a catastrophe even more horrifying than before.

As for creating a void inside the Human Emperor Banner, it was theoretically possible. But doing so would require a long period of accumulation—not something that could be achieved in two short days.

While Lu Yan pondered cautiously, the towering Giant Spirit God approached with a bright smile.

“Greetings, my lord!”

The Giant Spirit God knelt on one knee, clad in heavy armor that radiated a mountainous aura. Behind him, hundreds of Yin Soldiers dragged a massive metallic construct with soul-hooking chains. The screech of metal scraping against the ground echoed loudly.

Lu Yan narrowed his eyes, gaze sharp as he looked at the enormous metal box that stood dozens of meters tall, like a prison forged from steel.

He stroked his chin, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

“What is that?”

Before the Giant Spirit God could respond, Davis’s eyes widened in shock. His expression filled with disbelief as he exclaimed:

“The Laplace Demon’s All-Knowing Computation Core? It wasn’t destroyed during the dimension tremor caused by the Annihilation Pendulum?!”

Feeling Lu Yan’s piercing gaze, Davis shuddered. Cold sweat beaded on his metallic forehead. He quickly bowed his head and steadied his breathing before respectfully explaining:

“My lord, the Laplace Demon’s All-Knowing Computation Core is the product of tens of thousands of years of development in artificial intelligence by the Mechanized City.”

He paused to observe Lu Yan’s reaction. Seeing no expression, he continued:

“The Laplace Demon originated from a primitive hypothesis during the early days of the technological era: that particles form the basis of everything. If a being could know the exact position and momentum of all particles at a given time, it could deduce both the past and the future—achieving near-omniscience.”

Lu Yan nodded slightly, signaling him to go on.

Davis licked his dry lips, his voice hoarse.

“However, as technology advanced, the Laplace Demon was proven to have many limitations. The rise of quantum mechanics rendered the concept obsolete and it was gradually abandoned.

But in the Great Collapse Domain, the rules differ from our own. In the core territory especially, we Mechanized Ones can use these unique rules to calculate everything.

After generations of effort and the expenditure of massive resources, we eventually recreated the Laplace Demon’s All-Knowing Computation Core.”

Lu Yan raised a brow, interest flashing in his eyes. Davis, encouraged, raised his voice slightly:

“The Computation Core can, to a certain extent, interfere with the core territory’s rules. Within that domain, it possesses near-omniscient capabilities—possibly even surpassing the Prophet Mech.

But due to its massive energy requirements, it usually remains dormant, activated only during special emergencies.”

He paused briefly, his eyes darkening.

“When you descended upon the Mechanized City, the council activated the core. But theoretical omniscience still has limits.

The core’s logic system is built upon the rules of this version. The rule changes brought by your arrival caused contradictions in its calculations—rendering it ineffective.

Now, with the Mechanized City destroyed, the All-Knowing Core remains intact, but its algorithm is restricted to this domain.

Once removed from the core territory, it can no longer function.

What remains is no more than an overly complex calculator—not worthy of the title ‘All-Knowing.’”

Lu Yan remained silent.

Since the Giant Spirit God had gone to such trouble to retrieve this thing, he surely had a reason.

As expected, the Giant Spirit God ignored Davis’s cold water. He patted the enormous metallic core with excitement.

“My lord, while this core may not function in omniscience outside this domain, it is actually the upgraded version of the main brain in our satellite-class war fortresses.

In fact, those main brains were modeled after this very core.

Even if we discard its omniscience, its rule-interference capabilities alone are of tremendous value to us.

If we combine it with our Ghost-God Computers, we could use it to regulate and refine the rules within the Soul Continent!”

Upon hearing that, Lu Yan’s eyes lit up.

He had no interest in some theoretical omniscience. If the Laplace Demon were truly all-knowing, the Mechanized City wouldn’t have been wiped out by him in one blow.

But the core’s ability to manipulate rules?

That was immensely valuable.

A thoughtful gleam passed through Lu Yan’s eyes as he asked:

“Can this Computation Core be moved into the Soul Continent?”

The Soul Continent was made of soul computational force, while the Computation Core was a physical AI artifact. Compatibility might be an issue.

The Giant Spirit God had clearly anticipated the question. He stepped to the core and suddenly grew into his divine form. Then, clenching his fist, he slammed it against the metal shell.

A thunderous impact rang out. The supposedly indestructible high-energy alloy dented beneath his fist.

He kept punching, tearing through the metal layer with sheer brute force until the core was finally revealed.

It was a luminous probability cloud, a swirling stellar nebula of particles constantly splitting, merging, and vanishing—endlessly enacting laws of computation.

The moment it appeared, the very rules of the world seemed to stir. Through the revolving cloud, Lu Yan glimpsed faint visions of the past and future.

“This is the core of the All-Knowing Computation Core. It is a rule artifact known as the Probability Cloud,” the Giant Spirit God explained.

“Strictly speaking, the All-Knowing Core was distributed across the entire city—its tendrils reaching every corner of this world. Its full size is astronomical.

This Probability Cloud is its heart—housing the core algorithm and logical matrices for rule manipulation.

These are rule-level constructs—not bound by material or spiritual form. They can be transported into the Soul Continent.”

“Good!” Lu Yan declared with a wave of his hand. “Begin dismantling the core immediately and send it into the Soul Continent.”

The Giant Spirit God accepted the command and mobilized all the ghostly engineers of the underworld. At the same time, Lu Yan used the Human Emperor Banner to rapidly regenerate his fallen Yin Soldiers.

The ruins of the Mechanized City were soon abuzz with activity.

Two days flew by.

During that time, the entire underworld army was deployed. With an immense soul computation budget, they successfully transplanted the Laplace Demon’s All-Knowing Core into the Soul Continent.

The moment the Probability Cloud entered the continent, the once-barren land gained a nascent starry sky.

Though it was only an illusory sky simulated by the cloud, and the two had yet to fully fuse, the Soul Continent now held the potential to evolve into a true minor world.

What remained was only the painstaking work of gradual integration.

With such valuable treasures obtained—from both the Annihilation Pendulum and the All-Knowing Core—Lu Yan instructed Davis to compile intel on the remaining taboo constructs of the Mechanized Race.

But to his disappointment, the other forbidden artifacts had already been destroyed in the great battle. Even if repaired, they couldn’t compare to the first two.

That made sense. The World-Destroying Rule inside the Annihilation Pendulum was the fragment’s origin itself. The All-Knowing Core was the culmination of tens of thousands of years of AI evolution.

Both were rare even by the standards of the Great Collapse Domain.

To obtain even two such treasures was already a miracle. Asking for more would be greed.

Aside from the Probability Cloud sent into the Soul Continent, the rest of the rule-tier resources were sorted and absorbed into the Supreme Divine Ability Seed.

As for the most precious wisp of World-Destroying Rule, Lu Yan had finally devised a method to deal with it.

Standing before the Annihilation Pendulum, Lu Yan slowly raised his right hand.

He activated the Supreme Divine Ability Seed, and the Gate of Mystery Womb gradually formed in his palm.

Compared to before, the gate had grown several times larger—thanks to the seed continually consuming rule resources.

The violet vortex reflected countless Great Daos. Lu Yan held the Gate aloft and thrust it into the void within the pendulum.

The moment he did, the void destabilized.

The World-Destroying Rule stirred. The massive Yin-Yang millstone within surged violently, attempting to destroy everything and restart the realm.

Dimensional tremors and waves of shattered time and space burst outward.

But just then, the Gate of Mystery Womb shone its primordial light—the brilliance of origin that bore the essence of all laws.

Where that light passed, the crumbling rules froze in place. Even the Yin-Yang millstone temporarily halted.

Though the World-Destroying Rule and the Gate were of equal rank, the former was too feeble. Even its ability to destroy the version fragment relied on a chain reaction triggered by space-time instability.

With the Supreme Divine Ability Seed’s support, the Gate could suppress it briefly.

And that was all Lu Yan needed.

Clenching his fingers slowly, he absorbed the Yin-Yang millstone into the Gate.

At once, a terrifying aura of destruction surged through his palm. The Gate trembled as if it might collapse.

Without hesitation, Lu Yan withdrew the Gate and embedded it within the Tenth Dao Foundation Layer.

The Chaos Sun formed by the Divine Ability Seed descended, finally stabilizing the Gate.

With everything in place, Lu Yan let out a long breath.

All he needed now was to leave the version fragment and find a safe place to slowly absorb the World-Destroying Rule.

He turned his gaze to Davis.

Sensing Lu Yan’s look, Davis’s mind spun wildly. The nutrient fluid holding his brain began to boil.

He realized his fate would be decided in this moment. Life or death was just a single thought away.

“I’ll give you a chance,” Lu Yan said calmly.

Over the past two days, Davis had demonstrated his value—offering hidden knowledge of the Great Collapse Version and expertise in mechanized technology and rule constructs.

“You will be extracted and turned into a Soul Computer at the appropriate time.

Whether you become a Ghost-God Computer or a Ghost General Computer will depend on your value.”

Upon hearing that, Davis dropped to both knees and shouted:

“Thank you, my lord!”

Lu Yan nodded, formed a hand seal, and extracted Davis’s soul from his Brain-in-a-Jar. It was sent into the Human Emperor Banner.

As the soul left, Davis’s body collapsed, and his brain gradually lost all signs of life.

With that done, Lu Yan scanned the ruined city one last time, then took off toward the fragment’s exit.

The two days were over.

The Prophet Mech might already be on its way back. Lu Yan had to leave before running into the city’s remaining army.

His concealed form blended into the heavens, his light-footed escape darting silently across the sky. The fragment’s edge drew closer.

But just as he prepared to break through in one burst, Lu Yan’s flight suddenly halted.

At the very boundary of the fragment, a strange sense of danger gripped him. The Supreme Divine Ability Seed trembled, issuing a warning.

Lu Yan didn’t dare be careless. He immediately probed the edge of the version fragment.

“Danger? Has the Prophet Mech already returned?”

His brows furrowed—but then he realized something was wrong.

“With the war fortresses scattered, it would be impossible to recall them so quickly. One Prophet Mech alone couldn’t trigger such intense danger.

Even the Divine Ability Seed is reacting. There must be something more!”

With that, Lu Yan summoned the Human Emperor Banner and attempted to activate the Probability Cloud inside.

As the core of the All-Knowing Computation Core, the cloud could still partially control the original Laplace Demon systems and simulate future events.

Lu Yan used it to peer into what was coming.

The Soul Continent’s starry sky shimmered, and a vision appeared—

A giant hand, covered in pitch-black scales, reached into the version fragment from beyond. Hundreds of meters wide, it tore through space in pursuit of something.

Inside the fragment, nine layers of core rule shackles descended from the sky, trying to bind it.

But a single ancient sigil rose from the hand’s palm, transforming into a divine firmament that blocked the nine shackles entirely.

The scaly hand slammed down.

For miles around, space collapsed and everything was buried.

“The Longevity Seal!”

Within the Human Emperor Banner, Davis’s ghostly voice cried out in alarm.

Lu Yan’s expression turned grim.

“You recognize that hand?”

Davis shook his translucent head.

“I don’t know the hand itself, but I’ve seen that sigil before.

It belongs to an ancient and extremely isolated force, one that rarely interacts with the outside world.

Its name is—Immortal Heaven.“

Lu Yan’s heart trembled violently.

He blurted out:

“The Longevity Version?”

(End of Chapter)