Chapter 241: The Heavenly Dao of the Great Collapse?

“Version repair? Permissions?”

Lu Yan froze for a moment, then a look of emotion crossed his face.

He had once replaced the version’s Heavenly Dao within the Cityscape Version by establishing a supreme Dao foundation through his own will. That event had granted him the designated version permissions.

Those permissions had helped him escape from the hands of the Immortal Lord of Longevity, allowed him to complete his transaction with Jiang Zhiwei, and were the reason he could even enter the Great Collapse Version in the first place. Their value was undeniable.

Lu Yan had long suspected that the version update interface contained other types of permissions, but he had never encountered another opportunity to obtain them.

Now, this sudden system prompt was without a doubt a glimmer of hope.

With this thought in mind, Lu Yan looked around at the space that had already been repaired by the Great Collapse Version.

The once steel plains and alternate-dimensional space had vanished, replaced by nothing more than an ordinary wasteland.

Previously, standing outside the version fragment, Lu Yan could clearly feel the discord between the fragment and the rest of the Great Collapse Domain.

But now, neither the abnormal rules nor the spatial discrepancies remained. It was as if the wound that once clung to the body of the Great Collapse Version had been sewn shut, replaced with new flesh in place of the old scar.

Just as Lu Yan was preparing to investigate further, colossal satellite-grade war fortresses broke through the clouds on the horizon, bringing with them an overwhelming presence.

And above them, a silver mech with six wings extending from its back sliced through the sky with a speed that exceeded even most Nascent Soul cultivators—it was rushing straight for him.

Lu Yan’s heart clenched.

“Prophet Mech!”

He had no time to worry about the version update interface now. With a wave of his hand, the Human Emperor Banner in his grasp drew upon the spatial power of the Abyssal God. Like a giant axe, it cleaved open a spatial passageway stretching hundreds of miles.

Lu Yan stepped into the passage in a single stride, sealing it behind him with a sweep of his hand. In an instant, he vanished from this world.

Less than a stick of incense after Lu Yan departed, the Prophet Mech descended.

Only at close range could one see that the six wings on its back weren’t wings at all—but six floating eyes suspended in space like peacock feathers.

As the pinnacle of the Mech Version’s technology, the Prophet Mech was not piloted by a mechanical lifeform, but was instead powered by an artificial intelligence modeled after the Laplace Demon.

These Void Eyes captured every detail in the surrounding space, running simulations through the Laplace omniscience model and coordinating with a causality module to simulate futures, forming the Mech Version’s peak combat strength.

As soon as it arrived, the data streams from the Void Eyes surged, instantly locking onto the lingering spatial traces and the now-closed spatial tunnel.

“Trying to run?”

From the Prophet Mech’s right wrist, a liquid-like starlight substance flowed through the void, forming a blade seemingly forged from fractured dimensions.

The Dimensional Blade quivered gently in the Prophet Mech’s grip, releasing a soul-piercing hum that echoed not through the air—but directly within the soul.

As the blade swept out, reality tore like thin silk, revealing the intricate space channel beyond.

The Prophet Mech thrust the blade into the dark tunnel, and instantly, shattered pieces of space flew like shards of broken glass.

Its causality sensors traced the path along the blade, piercing through layered dimensions in search of Lu Yan’s residual traces. Every ripple in space was captured, analyzed, and translated into spatial coordinates pointing toward his trail.

With the Prophet Mech’s movements, the sealed spatial passageway reopened, and even the spatial anchoring was flawlessly restored.

Just as it was about to step into the passage to pursue Lu Yan, its movement halted.

The Void Eyes scanned the coordinates, confirming that this should be the boundary between the core territory and the Great Collapse Domain.

But now, all that remained was a barren plain—no Mech Dominion rules, no Steel Earth, not even the faintest trace of the Mech City’s presence.

A chilling realization emerged from the Prophet Mech’s computational core.

“The Mech Version’s core territory… is gone!”

Back when Mech City’s communications had gone dark, the Prophet Mech had already accounted for numerous disaster scenarios, even preparing for the worst-case outcome of activating the Doomsday Pendulum.

But no matter how deep its simulations ran, it had never imagined that the version fragment of the Mech Version—a sub-realm with high-rank core rules—would be wiped away without a trace.

As a construct of the Mech Version, the Prophet Mech had never been programmed with sentimental subroutines. It held no emotional attachment to Mech City or its version fragment.

But from the moment of its creation, its foundational code had one primary directive: to protect Mech City and the version fragment.

As the Prophet Mech, though not bound by core rules like other forbidden creations, it still derived immense power from operating under those very rules.

In fact, due to its innate compatibility with core rules, the Prophet Mech was supposed to evolve further over time.

But now—all of that was gone.

Without warning, the imprint of the Mech Version’s core rules embedded deep in its base code began to fade silently.

At that moment, several massive satellite-grade war fortresses finally arrived.

From their hatches emerged several Mech Commanders.

They looked upon the Prophet Mech standing in silence and the desolate plains around them, and a formless sorrow welled up in their hearts.

The aura of the Mech Version on their bodies was fading, slowly being replaced by that of the Great Collapse Version.

If, before today, they were still considered lifeforms of the Mech Version, then with the collapse of the version fragment, they had lost their anchor within the Great Collapse Domain.

From now on, they were, for the first time in truth, native to the Great Collapse Version—beings molded by the shifting tides of version updates.

On the Prophet Mech itself, the last remnants of the Mech Version’s imprint were erased from its code.

The Dimensional Blade on its arm slowly faded away.

Turning to face the few hundred surviving mech-kind and the massive war fortresses behind them, the Prophet Mech raised its right arm and spoke in a resonant voice:

“Mech City is now a thing of the past. I will inherit its legacy and lead you to a new home!”

The mech-kind exchanged glances, then all knelt respectfully before the Prophet Mech.

“We heed the Prophet’s guidance!”

Lu Yan, of course, was unaware of what had transpired at the site of the version fragment.

After using the Abyssal God’s power to open several space tunnels in succession and confirming no pursuers were on his tail, he finally let out a breath of relief.

He had to admit—activating the Extinction Rule to destroy the version fragment had been the right move.

If he had delayed even a little, the Prophet Mech leading Mech City’s forces would have cornered him inside.

The Prophet Mech had already fallen once to the Dreaming Myriad Worlds illusion. If it combined that experience with its causality simulation module, it could very well see through Lu Yan’s traps.

If the four major demon monsters and Mech City’s army had any inkling of caution, they could have simply waited for the Extinction Rule’s effects to pass, then surrounded Lu Yan with ease.

“Immortal Heaven of Longevity…” Lu Yan’s eyes flashed cold.

Right now, he couldn’t contend with even one of the peak Nascent Soul-level demon monsters. But if he found time to digest his current gains, he might be able to collect a bit of interest in advance.

Suppressing his thoughts for now, Lu Yan finally turned his attention back to the version update interface.

New permissions—there was no question how vital that was to him.

But after this period of escape and cooling his mind, Lu Yan’s perspective had shifted.

Recalling how the space was restored after the version fragment shattered, and the timing of the mission prompt’s appearance, a vague insight dawned within him.

“So destroying version fragments and removing foreign rules that cling to the Great Collapse Domain… that’s considered repairing the Great Collapse Version.

As long as I keep destroying version fragments, I can complete this mission?”

The thought made his eyes flicker.

“The Great Collapse Version was born from the war among the ‘this world’s only ones,’ tearing apart dozens of versions and converging under immense forces.

Thus, the Great Collapse Domain was born, with its own set of unique rules, forming a standalone special version.

But strictly speaking, the Great Collapse Version isn’t truly complete—mainly because it still houses a large number of version fragments from other worlds.”

“It’s like a human emperor ruling a kingdom, but within his borders, numerous vassals have established their own mini-nations.

These vassals have their own laws, are beyond the emperor’s authority, and even bring in outsiders to serve them instead. These people call themselves subjects of the vassals and feel no loyalty to the empire.

Such a situation would be intolerable for any emperor. The Great Collapse Version is no different.”

“Major version factions harvest resources from the Great Collapse and feed them into their own fragments to strengthen themselves.

Due to these rule fragments, the Great Collapse lacks true native inhabitants. Even those born from version updates are aligned by version faction, making it incompatible with the system of world version evolution.”

“Perhaps it’s exactly this chaos and contradiction that has prevented the emergence of a Heavenly Dao within the Great Collapse Version. Most of its land remains barren despite its vast size.

Though enormous in scope, it still cannot be considered a fully-formed version.”

Lu Yan’s eyes swept over the prompt on the version update interface.

The permission rewards were tempting—but he wasn’t about to lose himself over a single line of reward text.

Having controlled the version update interface for so long, he knew a crucial truth: the interface had never actively issued a mission before.

The version update interface was more like a guide manifested by his unique ‘unchanging’ trait than a system-generated tool.

Even the last designated permission had only appeared after he replaced the Heavenly Dao.

But this time, the mission had appeared proactively. And that alone was suspicious.

Moreover, there was something else—something even more obvious.

Lu Yan looked again at the mission text.

[Repair. Great Collapse Version. External Fragments. Gain Permission Reward!]

Having interacted with the version update interface for so long, Lu Yan spotted the problem immediately.

There was an ellipsis in the task description. The prompt was not complete.

He’d seen something like this before—when the Immortal Lord of Longevity had tried interfering with the interface, similar text corruption had appeared in entries tied to the Longevity Version.

This meant one thing—the task did not originate from the version interface itself, but from some external interference.

Connecting the dots, the answer was now crystal clear.

Lu Yan raised his head and looked toward the sky.

Unlike ordinary versions, the Great Collapse Version’s firmament was unstable. The domain beyond it held abundant rule resources and had long been a battleground for the major factions.

Only those who occupied a segment of the sky could call themselves top-tier version powers.

The Nation of Gods, Alliance of Immortals, Mech City, Tenfold Martial Path, Seven Gods Church… a total of nine version powers had carved the sky into what was known as the Nine Heavens.

Even though Mech City was special and struggled to harvest rule resources, it still held fast to its share of the sky.

Ordinarily, with the collapse of Mech City, another faction would rise to claim its portion.

But the Mech Version’s fall had come too suddenly, and all traces of it had been erased. Even the sky it ruled fell out of anyone’s grasp.

The Nine Heavens that had blanketed the Great Collapse Domain for tens of thousands of years was no longer complete. And in that blank gap, the true essence of the Great Collapse Version revealed itself.

The moment the Mech Fragment collapsed, the long-suppressed Great Collapse Version began to awaken.

Furthermore, with no version fragment to anchor them, the mech-kind began to convert into native lifeforms of the Great Collapse Version.

This flaw that had plagued the world for millennia had finally been corrected.

And in that moment—a being that should have been born at the version’s genesis finally began to manifest.

The corners of Lu Yan’s lips curled into a faint smile. Gazing into the sky above, he spoke in a calm voice:

“Great Collapse Heavenly Dao… shall we make a deal?”

(End of Chapter)