192: The Statue of Liberty-themed old man

Time passed quietly, and two months flew by in the blink of an eye.

Just as Zhang Huaiyuan had expected, the Outsiders gathered in the Orr Empire were perhaps frightened by the news that "even the Guardian was killed," and they remained inactive for a long time.

He wasn't idle either; taking advantage of this rare opportunity, he had the AI brain command the Empire and the Star Alliance to go all out in building defensive facilities along the border.

As for himself, he manifested several robot clones and headed to various ruins under development, hoping to find some inspiration for another technological breakthrough.

Compared to the tranquility within the trial world, the Profound Sword Sect—especially inside the reincarnation mirror—was a different story.

Although the Reincarnation Mirror Spirit's intelligence had been reset and most of its functional modules reclaimed by a supreme being, its original form was, after all, modified from the Profound Sword Sect's supreme treasure, the "reincarnation mirror," by a master from the "Time Traveler Association," and its foundation was far too powerful.

In just two short months, its intelligence had made a qualitative leap.

If its IQ was only 1 before, it was now at least 10, a full tenfold increase.

Now, Asroth had to exert full effort to construct attack programs just to delay it for a moment, and the pressure increased significantly.

Fortunately, during this time, Asroth was also gradually integrating the latest "Miracle Algorithm," and its abilities had grown as well, allowing it to barely hold on.

However, because Asroth drew most of the opponent's attention, the Statue of Liberty finally found a breakthrough in a certain unit and began to act quietly.

At this moment, inside the reincarnation mirror's control hall.

"It's over... everything is over..."

The two disciples who had just been reassured not long ago looked completely despairing.

Even the usually optimistic Brother Lin kept his face grim and remained silent.

There was no other reason.

The Profound Sword Venerable seemed to have finally realized that leaving such an important task to three outer disciples was a bit too hasty.

Therefore, he specially used his connections to invite a technology-side expert to inspect the work and see if these few could handle the maintenance of the reincarnation mirror.

The time was set for just two hours from now; they didn't even have time to run away.

"Damn it, that old dog Profound Sword is pushing me too far! He wasted my talent, and now he's even bringing someone to inspect us—it's clear he doesn't trust us!"

Brother Lin was filled with resentment.

He was originally the number one genius of a certain town in the Profound Sword Great World and had been specially recruited into the sect over a hundred years ago.

But in the competition among many geniuses, a momentary mistake left him ranked third from the bottom, and he was relegated to being an outer disciple, with his resources drastically reduced.

As a result, he had been stuck in the same spot for many years, unable to make a breakthrough.

The halo of genius faded, and the subsequent doubts and ridicule from his family and rivals became his inner demon, overshadowing everything else.

This was one of the reasons why he was bold enough to deceive the Venerable.

"Is this where I, the number one genius of Eastreach City, come to an end?"

A sliver of fear finally rose in his heart.

Deceiving the Venerable, altering the trial process without authorization, and disabling alarms—if any of these were exposed, it would be a capital crime resulting in the extermination of his entire clan.

"Junior."

At this moment, a deliberately modified, elderly voice rang out.

"Who's there?!"

He suddenly looked up and scanned his surroundings.

Only to find that the other two were still slumped over, looking as if the sky had fallen.

"Stop looking. I'm inside your identity medallion."

Brother Lin quickly took off the jade plaque hanging from his waist and looked at it.

This was the identity proof for disciples of the Profound Sword Sect, recording their rank, contributions, and other information.

Ever since the reincarnation mirror was modified into an intelligent terminal, the identity medallions, which were originally manually tallied, had been added to the reincarnation mirror's basic functions and were managed by it.

"Who are you? How are you inside my identity medallion?"

"I am the Immortal Profound Sword."

"Immortal Profound Sword... Could you be a member of my Profound Sword Sect? Why have I never heard of you?"

Brother Lin was stunned for a moment and asked suspiciously.

"Never heard of me? Hahaha! I didn't expect that traitor would go this far. Good, good, very good!"

The voice inside the medallion suddenly flared up in rage.

"Traitor? Senior, you mean...?"

"Humph, junior. I am the true founding ancestor of the Profound Sword Sect. While I was at a critical stage of a breakthrough, I was ambushed by a disciple and nearly had my soul scattered. Only a sliver of my true spirit managed to hide within the reincarnation mirror."

"Who knew that traitor would be so ruthless? He didn't stop there. He even modified the reincarnation mirror into a technological weapon, attempting to erase all traces of my existence."

"What!"

Brother Lin was startled, and he suddenly thought of some biographical novels that were popular in the cultivation world; his heart couldn't help but race.

"Do you mean, Senior, that the current Sect Master, Mr. Xuan Jian, is a traitor? And why did you choose to tell me all this?"

"Exactly. As for why I chose you, I've observed you for a long time. Your talent is decent, and you're a diamond in the rough; you just haven't received proper nurturing. Furthermore, thanks to your reckless fiddling, I was able to escape from the reincarnation mirror, so I owe you a favor."

"Moreover, the fact that someone with your talent only has this level of strength is partly due to me. That traitor, having betrayed his own master and ancestors, doesn't dare to recruit true geniuses anymore for fear of following in my footsteps. Truly pathetic."

Upon hearing this, Brother Lin's eyes immediately lit up.

It all made sense now.

No wonder a grand cultivation-side power like the Profound Sword Sect would modify their sect's supreme treasure, the reincarnation mirror, into a technological weapon.

No wonder various problems had cropped up with the reincarnation mirror lately; it turned out he had accidentally released this senior.

More importantly, the senior's words had struck a chord deep within him.

To see his talent at a single glance—this was a true master!

"Ancestor, your disciple Lin Ge is willing to follow you, slay the traitor, and restore the dignity of the Profound Sword Sect."

Thinking this, he suppressed his excitement and quickly sent a telepathic message.

"Alas... My physical body is destroyed, and my soul has been trapped in the reincarnation mirror for so long that I am far from being a match for that traitor now. Unless..."

The voice in the medallion sighed.

"Unless what, Ancestor? Is there anything your disciple can do to help?"

Lin Ge asked hurriedly.

"To deal with that traitor, I must regain control of the reincarnation mirror. However, the reincarnation mirror has been completely modified; refining it requires a vast amount of precious materials. I see that you aren't even in the First Rotation Realm, so how can you help me..."

"This..."

Lin Ge said, unwilling to give up, "Ancestor, could you tell me which materials are needed? Perhaps I can find some for you."

"Very well... considering your sincerity."

A set of data was immediately transmitted into his mind through the jade plaque.

"Eh... these don't seem too precious."

Lin Ge's expression brightened with joy, but then his face fell again as he said dejectedly, "Ancestor, I forgot one thing. In just over an hour, the Ven... that traitor will send someone to inspect my work. I lied to him before, saying I would maintain the reincarnation mirror. Once that's exposed, I'm afraid I won't survive."

"No matter. Since you call me Ancestor, I will naturally lend you a hand. Having been imprisoned in the reincarnation mirror for all these long years, I've picked up a few technological tricks. Fooling some laymen won't be a problem."

The Statue of Liberty silently sent the last line of the message; scanning his words about them "not being too precious," she couldn't help but piece together a smiling face in her core.

She was right.

The materials for constructing a "spatial topology server" were rare in lower worlds, but in a high-level world like this, they were clearly not as precious. If she could fool enough Profound Sword Sect disciples, she might be able to gather all the materials very soon.

"Five hundred times, is it... Your Excellency, hold on; I will soon resolve everything for you."

...