Chapter 311 – Information Mapping: Return to the Cyber Version

When the words “Cyber Version” settled in Lu Yan’s consciousness, the gray and frozen time-space brought about by the version update rippled like a still lake disturbed by a stone.

Everything that had been frozen began to thaw at a pace visible to the naked eye. Color and motion returned to the world.

Above the myriad stars, the vast and awe-inspiring presence of the Lord God’s Space—occupying the entire Star Realm and radiating boundless might and divine majesty—perceived the ultimate trajectory of the version update at the very instant Lu Yan made his choice.

The Lord God could project Its will and interfere with versions during an update, traversing version boundaries through Its transcendent rank.

However, if Its colossal true form were to fully experience a version iteration, the clash of infinite version laws would unleash a force powerful enough to shake Its essence, even potentially twisting Its very nature.

Such calamity could not be fully exempted from—even by a “this world’s sole existence.” Only those who truly walked the path of becoming the Sole Existence of all worlds, utterly transcending the confines of any single version, could remain whole before such apocalyptic power.

Without the slightest hesitation, the massive white sphere’s radiant glow abruptly dimmed, withdrawing like a receding tide.

Then, as if it merged into the void itself, it vanished silently from the Star Realm and from the entire Occult Version.

No one knew where it had come from, nor could anyone discern how the Lord God’s Space had departed.

Its arrival had shaken the heavens; its departure left not a trace—save for the seven stunned gods, still reeling with dread.

“Damn it!”

The God of Steam and Machinery roared through the Star Realm, Its mechanical Divine Kingdom still reverberating with humiliation after being nearly crushed by that white sphere.

The other six True Gods were equally grim. They had just prepared to battle the Lord God’s Space to the death, only to have it vanish moments later, leaving behind a world on the verge of transformation.

Anger smoldered in Their hearts—anger born of being toyed with—yet none of Them could do anything to such an unfathomable entity.

Even more despairing was the realization that the flood of the version update had already arrived, an unstoppable tidal wave sweeping across infinite versions.

“Retrieve the Authorities. Hold the line of the Old Era!”

The Eternal Sun was the first to react. Its blazing form dimmed as it began rapidly reclaiming the powers and faith scattered across the Occult Version.

The other gods followed suit, madly withdrawing the authorities They had once seized from the corpses of the Old Ones and working to reseal the colossal, ominous corpse among the stars.

In the blink of an eye, the myriad divine phenomena wrought by the standoff between the Seven Gods and the Lord God were wiped away as if by an unseen hand.

In their place, a new sensation surged forth—cold, metallic, rigid, ordered. The mysterious aura of the occult gave way to a landscape of strict logic and cybernetic power.

The once ethereal starry sky filled with starlight and aether was replaced by a vast dome of steel that gleamed with metallic luster.

That steel canopy loomed over the world like an immense vault.

A pale, artificial sun hovered beneath it, fulfilling its duty of illuminating the world with mechanical precision.

But the light it cast on Lu Yan’s skin carried no warmth—only an icy chill that pierced to the bone.

On the ground, the Gothic-style buildings imbued with mystery and elegance crumbled like sandcastles.

In their place rose towers of cold, technological grandeur—skyscrapers made of unknown alloys, covered in intricate pipes and blinking indicator lights. They soared skyward, their tips seemingly piercing the steel dome above, forming the structural skeleton of this cybernetic world.

Gone were the ancient carriages and steam trains. In their stead, levitating cars and magnetic trains sped along pre-set tracks, humming with power.

As the last remnants of occult mysticism were swept away by the cold embrace of technology, and the air filled with the familiar haze of neural euphoria, Lu Yan knew—the version update was complete.

He could clearly sense that the aether and spiritual energy of the Occult Version had vanished. In its place surged a more refined, more violent, and vastly harder to control force: psionic energy.

And in the deeper layers of the void, a vast ocean of psionic energy boiled—this was the wellspring of the Cyber Version’s power.

But Lu Yan didn’t immediately begin investigating this strange yet familiar world. Instead, his mind sank entirely into the depths of his Netherworld Domain.

Compared to the dramatic transformation from occult to cyber on the outside, within the Netherworld Domain, an even more earth-shattering metamorphosis was underway.

“Rumble—!”

Thunder echoed like the sound of creation throughout the Netherworld.

Torrents of divine order and power from the Celestial Court, mixed with unfathomable waves of faith born from infinite information disturbances, surged toward the heart of the Netherworld—Fengdu City.

Fengdu, the sacred seat of underworld authority, now glowed with an unprecedented radiance.

Its once-illusory walls and palaces solidified and expanded with the nourishment of divine order and overwhelming faith.

Countless divine glyphs swirled across the city walls, exuding the might to judge all souls and suppress all evil.

The Celestial Order, like a web, radiated outward from Fengdu, spreading across every inch of the Netherworld Domain.

Above Fengdu, within the Celestial Heavens, countless shadowy gods once faint and illusory were now bathed in the light of faith, taking on solid form.

They stood proud—majestic, compassionate, wise, or martial—as if breaking free from ancient myth to descend upon this newborn divine realm and form a complete divine system.

“As I expected!”

Feeling the monumental changes within the Netherworld Domain, Lu Yan finally relaxed. A relieved smile spread across his face, his eyes gleaming with uncontrollable excitement.

Everything was going according to plan—no, better than planned.

During a version update, versions would begin to resonate and reflect upon one another, creating a phenomenon known as information mapping.

Lu Yan had long deciphered this rule after experiencing several version iterations.

Of course, the strength of this effect depended on how close the versions were and how powerful the information disturbances were.

A chaotic patchwork like the Great Collapse Version would severely weaken such mappings.

But in the Occult Version, Lu Yan had gone all in.

He had used the guild as a foundation to scatter the legend of the Netherworld and the mysterious Emperor of Fengdu across every corner of the Occult Continent—be it the fortified heartlands of the Seven Kingdoms or the wild colonial frontiers overseas.

His personal journey had also been nothing short of legendary.

From devouring the River Styx’s death authority, to slaying the Angel King of Slaughter, to standing face-to-face with the Seven True Gods and luring down the Lord God Himself—

Each event etched a deep mark into the Occult Version’s history, ensuring they would be retold endlessly.

But the true masterstroke was when he delivered the taboo books from the Urban Version into the hands of the hidden heretic gods—works capable of igniting revolutions in thought and rewriting historical narratives.

That act directly disrupted the timeline locked in place by the Seven True Gods, creating a level of information turbulence beyond measure.

Through information mapping, such massive disturbances would ripple across infinite versions, spreading the name of the Netherworld.

Had the versions not been so far apart, this one update alone could have elevated the Netherworld into a complete divine realm.

Even so, the gains were tremendous.

The vast conceptual echoes and informational momentum acted as the most potent nourishment, rapidly strengthening the young divine order of the Netherworld.

Before this, Lu Yan’s divine system could barely suppress a Sequence Two angel.

Against Sequence One Angel Kings—those wielding fragments of singular authority—it was powerless.

But now, his divine system had evolved to the point that it could at least begin to suppress even the fractured uniqueness of an Angel King.

In other words, he was no longer entirely helpless against such beings.

“The essence of the Celestial Court is to spread the divine name across infinite versions, gaining conceptual acknowledgment and faith. In a way, this parallels the path toward becoming the Sole Existence.”

Lu Yan’s eyes grew brighter.

“And the Immutable Trait I possess—its information mapping ability is the best tool to spread the Celestial Court’s renown. It saves me untold time and effort.”

A satisfied smile appeared on his face.

This high-stakes gamble had paid off handsomely—far beyond expectations.

Of course, he also understood that despite his progress—being able to briefly confront Angel King-level enemies—he still fell far short of those who stood at the peak of a version.

And after using the Lord God as a tool, Lu Yan was almost certain of the retribution to come.

He could already foresee the storm that would follow, the Lord God’s wrath descending with overwhelming might.

Which was why, for Lu Yan, his top priority now was power.

“To grow stronger, as quickly as possible.”

He pulled his focus back from the joyous transformation of the Netherworld Domain and returned to the glowing lights of this cyberpunk world.

Among all the versions available, he had chosen this Cyber Version for one critical reason—the Soul World.

His Netherworld Domain had been torn from the immense Soul World once controlled by the AI God.

They were kin—same origin, same essence.

If he could somehow consume that vast Soul World, then his Netherworld Domain could ascend from its current “Heavenly Domain” level to become a true miniature world.

That was Lu Yan’s ultimate goal in coming here.

With that, he began to survey his surroundings.

Neon lights. Towering skyscrapers. Floating vehicles weaving between buildings. The air thick with the scent of electronics and metal.

Everything was familiar—yet different.

But when his gaze swept past the towering structures holding up the steel dome across the city, his pupils contracted sharply.

He recognized those buildings.

They were Soul Computing Centers!

The AI God used these facilities to harvest soul energy from all living beings across the world, refining it into vast Soul Computational Power to fuel and expand Its boundless Soul World.

Lu Yan remembered clearly that during his last visit to this version, even the largest cities had only one or two of these centers.

But now, just a few years later, they dotted the cityscape like steel monstrosities, clawing at the sky, devouring every shred of soul light they could find.

Their numbers, their scale—terrifying beyond belief.

A chill crept through his heart.

And at that moment, a terrifying possibility flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning—

“Is the AI God… trying to ascend as this world’s sole existence?”

(End of Chapter)