143: Intelligent life forms!

"My request is simple."

"After dealing with that alien spaceship, I want you to speed up the descent of the Secret Realms!"

"Complete the Civilization Assessment as early as possible; it's better for both of us!"

"Once the assessment ends, depending on your results, the Universe's Origin Law will bestow its grace once more!"

"Do not be greedy for these petty profits from the Secret Realms and lose the big picture! Zhang Sheng, do you understand?"

Zhang Sheng's pupils constricted suddenly, and his heart pounded wildly as he suppressed the excitement that nearly burst from his chest. "Lady Xiao Ling, you mean... after the Civilization Assessment, my Talent can be enhanced again?"

"Exactly!" The answer was decisive.

Zhang Sheng took a deep breath, forcing down the upward curve of his lips as he made a solemn promise:

"Rest assured, Lady Xiao Ling! Once the current crisis is resolved, I will certainly exert all my strength to clear all the Secret Realms at the fastest speed!"

"Very good!"

Xiao Ling's voice went silent, but her thoughts were churning.

I may be one of the myriad Artifact Spirit Clones of the myriad worlds pearl, but during those endless, long years, I have already birthed an independent Artifact Soul.

I have my own joys and sorrows, and my own desires... I long to break free from this tedious, day-after-day cage! And in Zhang Sheng, she saw the hope of breaking free.

"Zhang Sheng," her voice rang out again, carrying a depth that seemed to perceive all things.

"Everything stems from the uniqueness of the Star Domain beneath your feet. This is a barren, abandoned land of the Universe, a Spiritless Domain!"

"A so-called Spiritless Domain means this Star Domain itself cannot nurture even a single trace of Spiritual Qi!"

Earth's current Spiritual Qi relies entirely on the projection of the myriad worlds pearl and the supply from those descending Secret Realms.

"Therefore, the new civilizations born in this Star Domain are almost all technological civilizations!"

"These civilizations vary in level; even those with extremely high technological levels may not necessarily pass the cruel Civilization Assessment."

"Some civilizations fail the assessment and, before their home planet is completely destroyed, use their technological means to flee in panic, becoming remnant races, interstellar refugees, or even... Star Pirates!"

"They are like ghosts of the Universe, wandering everywhere, coveting every newborn civilization, intending to Plunder their most precious hope—the qualification for Ascension to the Tianxing Continent!"

"And what they want to seize most is the 'star ring' in your hand!"

Zhang Sheng was lost in thought and asked in confusion, "But this ship disguised itself as a planet and lurked for who knows how many years! What did they rely on to survive? And how do they live inside the ship?"

"Kid," Xiao Ling's voice carried a hint of playfulness, "In your narrow perception, is intelligent life only made of flesh and blood?"

"It's time to break through your cognitive barriers. Based on your description, the opponent is very likely a Silicon-based life form."

"The most likely candidate is the 'Mechanical Race' among silicon-based life!"

"These guys have unpredictable combat styles and terrifying weapon power; they are by no means easy to deal with. You must be twelve-tenths alert and fully prepared!"

Just as Zhang Sheng was concentrating on how to deal with this potential Mechanical enemy—

...In the deep space five hundred million kilometers away from Earth, that massive alien ship, though it had shed its disguise, did not immediately pounce toward Earth.

Countless metal nano-crawling robots were busy repairing the aged and damaged parts of the hull.

Deep within the ship, an entity named 'Omega' was indifferently scrutinizing everything on Earth through remote monitoring means.

On a giant display screen, a real-time image of a certain street on Earth was playing: a humanoid robot was clumsily cleaning.

"Tsk! These stupid carbon-based lives actually tinkered together an 'Artificial Idiot'?"

"It's simply a desecration of the concept of 'Artificial Intelligence'!" A cold, metallic electronic voice echoed in the cabin.

"However... these humans seem to have obtained some kind of... extraordinary power from those 'Secret Realms'." Omega's core processor was running at high speed.

Over hundreds of millions of years, it had awakened several times, silently observing the evolution of life on Earth.

It wasn't until its awakening seven thousand years ago that it discovered an intelligent species called 'Humans,' which was vastly different from itself. At that moment, it knew: the time for the Civilization Assessment was drawing near.

To save energy, after setting up the ship's warning procedures, it fell back into a long slumber.

Now, the time had finally arrived!

"Even if they've gained a bit of transcendent power, so what? Big bugs, small bugs—in my eyes, there is no fundamental difference!" Omega's core flickered with a cold light.

"Remote attack module activated! Target: Earth Civilization Node. Fire—Electromagnetic Turbulence Beam!"

At the ship's massive bow, a mass of deep black energy gathered rapidly.

In an instant, an invisible energy beam with a diameter of dozens of kilometers, completely unobservable to the naked eye, tore through the Void Realm at the speed of light, shooting straight toward Earth!

Earth was completely unaware of this.

Inside the command center, everyone was still heatedly discussing the plan to send out probes.

However, in the next instant—

Song Xian suddenly felt a current-like chill surge through his body, making his hair stand on end!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang—!"

Like a chain reaction, the Smart Terminals on everyone's wrists, every computer, display, and even all electromagnetic equipment—exploded or began to smoke at the same moment!

The piercing sound of explosions and the smell of burning instantly filled the entire command center!

Although no one was directly injured by the explosions, all electronic equipment had been reduced to scrap metal!

They rushed out of the underground facility in horror.

Looking around, as far as the eye could see, all modern facilities had fallen into a dead silence.

Streetlights were out, vehicles were paralyzed, and the neon lights of skyscrapers had gone completely dark.

A cold fact was quickly confirmed: every electronic device on Earth had been destroyed in a single instant!

Zhang Sheng raised his wrist, looking at the charred, smoking wreckage of his own Smart Terminal, his gaze as heavy as iron. "This is one of that ship's attack methods!"

"Unlike the physical destruction caused by Yao Beasts, the attack methods of Intelligent Machines... are indeed impossible to guard against!"

"But regardless, their ultimate goal is me. A direct confrontation... is unavoidable!" Zhang Sheng quickly took a spare Smart Terminal out of his star ring (storage ring).

The screen lit up, but it couldn't connect to any network, rendering it useless.

"Life forms centered on technology must possess destructive power similar to, or even far exceeding, nuclear weapons!" Zhang Sheng's train of thought was exceptionally clear.

"Once war begins, they won't care about the safety of the home planet like humans do. If they judge they cannot seize the star ring from my hands, they will likely... act out of desperation and destroy Earth directly!"

"I must... meet the enemy outside of Earth!"

Almost simultaneously, Dean Hou Wu also found Zhang Sheng.

After an emergency assessment, the higher-ups of the Heavenly Dao Academy reached the exact same conclusion as Zhang Sheng:

The battlefield absolutely cannot be on Earth! It can't even be near Earth! Once that eight-hundred-kilometer-long colossal ship descends, the consequences will be unimaginable!

"Dean Hou, take me to the Huaxia Vault!" Zhang Sheng's tone was calm, yet it carried an unquestionable power.

"You're... going to fight in space?" Hou Wu instantly understood Zhang Sheng's intention, his face full of solemnity.

Space—that is a true Spiritless Desolation!

Once Spiritual Qi is exhausted, it's a dead end!

In the current Huaxia Vault, the most abundant reserve was no longer gold, but mountains of Spirit Pearls—the only resource that could replenish Spiritual Qi in space.

"Fine! Come with me!" Hou Wu did not hesitate.

When Zhang Sheng arrived at the vault, he found that Song Xian was already there.

He was rapidly sweeping piles of Spirit Pearls into his storage ring.

Currently, the only known spatial equipment in the world capable of storing large quantities of items were the two held by Zhang Sheng and Song Xian.

Zhang Sheng had tried to replicate them, but never found the way—without a deep understanding of the Space Law, refining spatial equipment was like a pipe dream.

"Zhang Sheng, I knew you'd come!" Song Xian grinned, but his hands didn't stop for a second.

Zhang Sheng watched his slightly 'clumsy' gathering movements, the corners of his mouth curling up as he teased:

"Why stop? Keep packing! It's not like... that precious storage ring of yours is already full, is it?"