Chapter 1080: Chapter 1080
With a touch of warm and pleasant wind brushing across the face of the man standing atop the ruins.
The Shadowless Sword floated around He Ao as he lifted his head and gazed far ahead at the scene before him.
At this moment, they were standing atop a massive platform, constructed from concrete and piled earth, nearly 100 meters tall.
This platform, which had just collapsed due to the aftermath of He Ao’s fight with the Prisoner, had as its main structure a pyramid.
And this platform seemed to also stand at the very southern edge of the city.
Behind the platform was a hazy void, while in front of the platform, where He Ao was now looking, lay a majestic city.
On both sides of the platform, there were hundred-meter walls made of concrete and piled earth, twisting together to form a perfectly circular enclosure.
The city in front of He Ao was built within this perfect circle, with its streets also circular, dividing the entire city into concentric circular zones.
Streets that radiated from the city center also pierced these circular streets, forming a network that connected the entire city.
A bright sphere, resembling the sun, hung in the sky above this city, casting its light evenly into every corner of the city.
And at the center of the city, at the intersection of all the concentric and radial streets, stood a magnificent high tower.
To be precise, it was an ’Obelisk’ soaring into the clouds.
It was shaped like a rectangular column, tapering from bottom to top, with four fluted edges converging into a pointed top.
Its surface had no doors or structures; it appeared as if it were cut from a single piece of marble, each side smooth as a mirror, with faint glints of red, yellow, and blue colors flowing over its mirror-like surface, merging into a barely visible ’K’ character.
It rose so high that the ’sun’ sphere suspended in the sky seemed to be directly floating above its tip.
Just by looking from a distance at this massive obelisk, He Ao could almost hear distorted murmurs entering his ears, noisily echoing in his mind.
An orange-grey light briefly flashed through He Ao’s eyes.
With the help of the Power of Truth Eye, He Ao was able to see the ’essence’ of the city under the brilliance.
A cluster of twisted, intertwined energies that seemed to be fiercely howling.
Disrupted forces from an Angel Tier Higher Being permeated this entire space, forming one of the foundations of this city.
"Is that the city’s ’sun’?"
Ruilin walked up to He Ao’s side, after crossing huge chunks of dispersed concrete, shielding her eyes from the sunlight and staring far at the light sphere atop the obelisk, "Is the real sun ?"
He Ao nodded slightly.
Strictly speaking, the city’s ’sun’ was made very realistically, both in its appearance and the way its sunlight illuminated the city, nearly indistinguishable from a real sun.
Just like truly bathing in the radiant sunlight.
Ruilin tentatively, carefully withdrew her hand, and earnestly and attentively looked at that ’sun.’
The light of gas lamps, electric lights, compared to sunlight, seemed inadequate, even though it wasn’t real sunlight.
Allowing her snow-white, slightly transparent skin to bathe in the light, Ruilin’s usually downturned lips, for once, lifted slightly.
"You can’t see the ’sun’ in the lower levels."
Her skin, having long been deprived of sunlight exposure, appeared somewhat unhealthy and pale, and her originally blue eyes, lacking melanin, subtly revealed a hint of purple due to exposed blood vessels.
The long-term lack of sunlight exposure might also be one of the reasons for mutations among the lower-level residents.
Only a few individuals with high sensitivity like Ruilin, whose bodies are gradually transformed while living in the polluted lower levels to adapt to the environment, can maintain a relatively healthy physical state.
Ruilin’s gaze did not last long; her body instinctively made her sneeze, causing her entire body to tremble.
"You can’t stare at the sun for too long."
He Ao shook his head and spoke slowly.
"This is my first time,"
Ruilin said awkwardly as she rubbed the tip of her nose and stood up, looking once again at the ’sun’ above her head, "It’s wonderful, I hope someday Riley and I can bask in the real sunlight."
Hearing her words, He Ao turned back and glanced at her.
Is this girl really setting up her flags so smoothly?
"Do you see those disturbed colorful flags over there?"
He Ao diverted his gaze, raised his hand, and pointed in a direction near the city center.
It was a round plaza on the west side of the towering obelisk, where various flags were fluttering in the square, seemingly conducting some sort of ’ceremony’.
Looking around the square in all directions, vehicles were driving through the streets, heading towards the plaza.
"What is that place?"
Ruilin followed the direction of He Ao’s pointing finger and looked into the distance.
From this height, the streets and vehicles below looked as small as ants, but the plaza seemed quite large and was distinctly visible; she spotted it immediately, "Are they holding some kind of ceremony?"
"The Rong Guang Ceremony,"
He Ao replied calmly, remembering thoughts that had just been conveyed from a tracking device placed on a prisoner,
"Specifically, it’s the pre-ceremony of the Rong Guang Ceremony, which is a ritual prepared for the establishment of the City of Rong Guang. The pre-ceremony is one of the preparatory processes for the main ceremony and is the most important ritual before the Rong Guang Ceremony."
"Do they sacrifice something at this ceremony?"
Listening to He Ao’s words, Ruilin seemed to comprehend something.
He Ao turned his head back and glanced at the ruins behind him.
In the ruins, massive tentacles were rapidly decaying, and those originally sturdy cages had been shattered, scattered all over the elevated platform.
Then he spoke slowly, "Your sister, as well as everyone else who was imprisoned here before, has already been transferred to that plaza."
Hearing this, Ruilin paused slightly.
But before she could ask, He Ao turned his head back, looked at her, and continued, "However, the ceremony will start after some time. You can use this time to rescue your sister."
Then he leaped forward, appearing instantly at the back left of the elevated platform.
Ruilin hurriedly climbed over a huge rock and followed him.
Then she saw He Ao casually pick up a two to three meters high concrete block, throwing it aside, and then he used his foot to move the mud on the ground, revealing a hidden door below.
Ruilin quickly ran over, opened the hidden door, revealing an iron ladder underneath the door; the ladder was about three meters long, leading into a deep passage.
He Ao looked at the opened hidden door and said softly,
"This contains an emergency elevator, and you can go directly from the elevator to the underground sewers. The elevator only has one button to go down. You press it, enter, and it will take you directly to the sewer.
"The sewer connects to any place in this city, but you should know specifically how to navigate it, right?"
This info was from the memories of a dying prisoner, prepared as an emergency escape route, known by very few, but he wouldn’t need it anymore.
Ruilin nodded, "There’s also a sewerage system on the lower level, usually with corresponding street maps for maintenance, I know how to find the way."
He Ao nodded slightly, then he turned around and glanced below the high platform.
Ruilin also followed his gaze downward, where densely packed vehicles were currently gathering under the high platform — it seemed like the ’reinforcements’ alerted by a warning were rushing this way.
"Go find your sister, try to save her."
Then, He Ao’s voice rang beside her ear, "It might be too late if we wait any longer."
Hearing this, Ruilin slightly startled, then she glanced back at the dark door in front of her and then at He Ao, "This secret passage seems to be the only way out, aren’t you coming with me?"
He Ao turned sideways, looking beneath the high platform.
The support vehicles had already surrounded the platform, entering from outside.
Behind them were vehicles bathed in glory, followed by the thin silhouettes of people.
He Ao’s gaze slowly moved backward, sweeping over the city and streets, finally settling again on the towering obelisk and the ’sun’ at its top, blazing with brilliant light.
He turned back to look at Ruilin, speaking softly, "I’m going to do what I must."
Ruilin blinked, asking instinctively.
He Ao glanced at Ruilin once more, turned his gaze back down to beneath the high platform, and said calmly,
"To set this city ablaze."
Then he withdrew his gaze, looked at Ruilin, and spoke gently, "Go."
Hearing this, Ruilin was slightly startled, then she bowed deeply to He Ao, jumped down the dark door, and ran towards the deepest part of the passageway.
While He Ao turned around, faced the city below, and watched the densely packed figures, he placed the Shadowless Sword behind him and leaped forth.
The youth’s figure, like a soaring hawk, sliced through the sky, the howling wind causing his clothes to flutter loudly.
Main World · Antarctica
A snowstorm obscured the stars and the sky, dense snowflakes fell into the vast cracks of the icy split, yet they could not fill these gaps.
Standing amidst this blizzard, the racing train hovered above the snowflakes and stopped, its doors opened.
The lower part of He Ao’s body, buried in the snowflakes, glanced at the open train doors and lifted his hand.
Retrieve objects from the air.
A high-altitude specialized satellite phone instantly appeared in his hand, using the number ’Hao Yi’.
The power interference from the snowstorm and the Wheel of Stars drastically affected satellite communications, so He Ao had the Velora roam around to facilitate message reception.
At this moment, there was a new message on the phone from Li Cheng.
Li Cheng said that the Research Institute had already started studying the medicinal potion formula that ’Hao Yi’ had given them before, but most of the names for transcendent flora and fauna had slight differences from those in the Main World, and they were trying to find materials satisfying the potion’s requirements based on its properties.
This potion was created by Lin Na in the last Copy World, a ’Transcendent Stimulant’ that could temporarily boost the efficiency of transcendent energy flow, and this ’Transcendent Stimulant’ could also somewhat enhance Martial Arts Aptitude.
Before the final showdown in the Copy World, He Ao had taken the time to read the content from that chip, noted down the formula and the manufacturing process.
Then, while attempting to control the Wheel of Stars, he also took the opportunity to write out this formula and sent it to Li Cheng, asking him to try if the Research Institute could replicate these potions.
Now, even though the formula provided by Lin Na is very simple and easy to understand, due to some issues with ’proprietary terminology’, the potion making still has some complications.
He Ao reined in his thoughts and continued to look at the latter part of the information regarding Li Cheng.
This latter part was about the matters related to the Trok Republic with ’Hao Yi’.
Previously, he had indeed messaged ’Hao Yi’ to confirm whether the Rong Guang Society really had connections with ’K’, and after receiving a negative response from ’Hao Yi’, he often sent messages to discuss the investigation of the Rong Guang Society with ’Hao Yi’.
So, in the latter part of the messages, he was telling He Ao that Yan Yue had successfully arrived at Feklay, the capital of the Trok Republic, and would meet with Lin Chichi.
Rudel had also successfully arrived there.
And he himself was on the way there too.
After reading the information sent by Li Cheng, He Ao quickly replied a few sentences and then threw his phone back onto the Velora.
With only a brief stop, the Velora, now covered in a layer of pure white snow, shut its door and drove towards the outside of the blizzard.
Standing at the center of this fierce blizzard, He Ao raised his head and looked at the dim clouds above.
He raised his hand, two orange-grey rings nested together appeared in his pupils, and an eyeball set within an inverted triangle was outlined behind him in the blizzard.
A twisted and fearsome power immediately shredded the wind and snow around him, turning them into flowing ice crystals that burst outward in this frigid sky.
Without concerning himself with the impacts caused by the Eye of Truth, He Ao continued to look up at the dim clouds above.
At a certain moment, the massive cloud flashed, causing the entire sky to tremble.
The fierce snow was also shredded in that instant by some powerful force, and the dazzling constellations reappeared in the clear sky.
But in almost the blink of an eye, the stars in the sky dimmed, and a vast, invisible shadow stretched for hundreds of kilometers, enveloping the entire firmament.
These shadows wrapped around heaven and earth, dimming the night, gradually contracting downward.
And as it contracted downward, a massive celestial disc made of constellations slowly emerged from the shadows.
A huge and twisted power was instantly infused into He Ao’s body, making his blood seep out and spread over his skin.
He Ao seemed already accustomed to such impacts; he looked at the sky, his eyes reddening without a blink.
Compared to his first summoning, that swirling star wheel had solidified a lot, no longer ethereal and elusive.
He Ao gazed at the very center of the star wheel, watching the giant star surrounded by nine others in the middle.
That central star was etched with fine lines, depicting it like a lifelike eye.
And just as He Ao gazed at those lines, the star standing in the center suddenly began to slowly turn, its etched pupil lines looking downwards, towards He Ao.
As if a giant eyeball was lowering its gaze at He Ao.
Facing such a ’gaze’, He Ao remained expressionless.
Calmly, he met the gaze of the celestial eye, the orange-grey rings in his eyes sparkling with dazzling brilliance.
Behind him, the eye embedded in the triangle also slowly raised, meeting the ’pupil’ of the star above.
At this moment, the ferocious power, as if to tear apart every inch of his flesh and mingling with violent impurity, surged into his body.
Thin streams of light along the star eye’s lines flowed, continuously depicting the entire eye.
Meanwhile, those delicate lines also emerged on the Eye of Truth embedded in the triangle behind He Ao.
Feeling this power transcending time and space, He Ao took a deep breath.
His body showed no motion; he began to guide the power of the Eye of Truth, willingly extending along this mysterious connection towards the Wheel of Stars in the sky.
His thoughts were correct, and the method was too.
Now, only the last step remained.