Chapter 982: Chapter 982
Chapter 982: Chapter 143: Watching the “Traveller” (Third Update)
The conversation between Meng Xizhou and Gu Shen attracted the attention of many people.
The conversation took place in a completely sealed private room.
In theory… no one knows what they talked about except Her Majesty the Empress, who can see everything.
“Tsk, the favored one, finally done with everything?”
This sentence sounded somewhat familiar… After Gu Shen sat down, he looked at Zhong Yuan with a complex expression, wondering why he had never noticed before that this Investigation Corps Second Team Leader had gossip in his bones.
Fisher, carrying a large fish tank, also came over and whispered, “What did you talk about? Care to share?”
“What are you thinking?”
Gu Shen knocked hard on the fish tank on Fisher’s head and firmly refused, “Secrets cannot be revealed!”
Fisher and Zhong Yuan were filled with disappointment.
The banquet thus began.
Of course, what everyone cared about most was not this banquet.
But the “display segment” after the banquet.
After dining, the specialists from the Underground Research Institute led the invited guests to a “Steel Cliff” a hundred meters wide, where the [Furnace] is located. The ground had been hollowed out, revealing a crimson cliff, and countless pieces of steel had been laid and constructed upon this cliff, jutting out to form this “viewing platform.”
Standing on the steel platform, one could feel the heat wave rushing towards them.
This is the roar of the [Furnace] in operation!
“Ladies and gentlemen, this is the achievement the ‘Underground Research Institute’ wishes to showcase today—”
The host today was the deputy director of the institute, standing on the steel platform, with a roaring heat wave behind him, the hot air ruffling his white coat, as if it could catch fire at any moment…yet the deputy director showed no fear, gazing down at the furnace, his eyes hotter than the heat wave.
“Due to this exploration… Her Majesty’s [Furnace] has acquired an ‘endless’ energy source. As you can see, the ‘traveler’ is imprisoned within the [Furnace], and his spark will burn continuously until his physical body naturally dies. To consume this massive heat, the institute has already started planning to lay a larger ‘thawing area.’ If the project progresses smoothly, within a year, thirteen surrounding cities, large and small, will become ‘Floating Cities.'”
The deputy director gazed at the furnace.
What he saw was not only the furnace’s erupting heat wave but also the good fortune of the North Continent’s continuous revival in the future!
“Is the rumored ‘Eighth Divine Seat’… down there?”
A young nobleman stood on the Steel Cliff, frowned, and looked down.
Although a member of the extraordinary world, as a controller of the North Continent consortium, he was not very familiar with battle affairs, but he knew… the name of the “Eighth Divine Seat” meant something.
This is an all-powerful God with a spark!
Her Majesty the Empress subdued it and imprisoned it in the [Furnace], to serve the people of the North Continent!
This news is enough to ignite the blood of every North Continent Transcendent.
This young nobleman was certainly no exception.
He crouched, wanting to get closer to the [Furnace] to see more clearly… but unfortunately, through the intersecting gaps of steel, he could only see the surging magma beneath the cliff.
The figure of the “traveler” was nowhere to be seen.
It was like a huge reef falling into the deep sea, disappearing in the waves of flame.
“I heard the ‘traveler’ is huge, as tall as a mountain…”
The nobleman spoke with regret, “But standing here, I can’t see anything… Deputy Director, can we go further down?”
The headquarters of the Underground Research Institute was constructed around the [Furnace], with dozens of layers underground.
And this was just the top level.
The deputy director shook his head and refused, “Because the ‘traveler’ is currently unstable, the core region of the [Furnace] is constantly undergoing intense reactions, and no one knows what might happen in the next second… so everyone is invited to watch from the Steel Cliff to avoid accidents.”
His words were quite tactful.
“With Her Majesty around, could there really be an accident?”
The nobleman was still full of regret, reaching out to feel the rolling heat wave on the cliff.
Here was the “viewing location” carefully selected by the Underground Research Institute, near the Furnace’s outlet, where the wind blowing out was only slightly scorching and wouldn’t actually burn anyone.
The deputy director merely smiled.
He didn’t continue the conversation but indicated that everyone could freely observe here; the next segment was to showcase some research results of “Old World creatures,” and the nobles could choose to leave anytime to go to the next viewing place.
“That ‘big guy’… sure is hiding deep, without even a glimpse of its head.”
Zhong Yuan also stared in the direction of the furnace’s underground for a long time.
Even his Fourth Order Peak Spirit couldn’t penetrate the [Furnace]…
Although this is the Empress Divine Domain, His Majesty hasn’t restricted the people of the North Continent, so theoretically, we should be able to see something.
“I can’t see clearly either.”
Fisher sighed, “That traveler is hiding too deep.”
Gu Shen stood at the edge of the Steel Cliff’s protrusion, looking down slowly, for some reason feeling a sudden and unexplained sadness.
It was a very strange feeling.
Perhaps it was because of the stone wall he saw in the Netherworld Palace.
The history of the Traveler Clan’s journey through mountains and waters replayed in Gu Shen’s mind at that moment.
He was a human of the New World and should not resonate with these “ancient humans.”
But at this moment, he felt a wave of sorrow in his heart.
The Traveler Clan’s “Divine Throne,” carrying the spark, came to the Five Continents, only to be imprisoned in the “Furnace,” turned into a “monkey” anyone could watch in a zoo.
On the other side, Mu Wanqiu, who like Gu Shen, had read the Traveler’s ancient texts, also found her spirit becoming dazed after gazing into the furnace’s depths.
The spectators around stopped on the Steel Cliff; they didn’t leave easily, instead standing here and starting to chat casually.
“I thought… we could see the ‘Traveler’…”
“Didn’t expect it to just be a tour of the furnace. Who hasn’t seen a furnace before?”
“Have some patience, wait a little longer. Maybe it’ll come out soon.”
“I heard that the ‘Traveler’ is huge, as big as a mountain…”
“Tsk, Her Majesty is truly magnificent, easily defeating such an adversary… Speaking of which, could the ‘Traveler’ have hidden deliberately, knowing we were coming?”
The voices of the consortium’s elites, mingling with the heat, lingered atop the Steel Cliff.
These Transcendents, who had participated in the restart mission, exchanged glances upon hearing these words, their expressions becoming complex.
The tone of the consortium elite, when mentioning the “Traveler,” was quite contemptuous.
These people did not know.
The North Continent’s mightiest elites, during this Disaster Realm mission, barely survived, nearly overwhelmed and slaughtered by the Bone-winged Creatures under the Traveler’s command before even setting eyes upon the Traveler.
Every “survivor” standing here had once been deeply engulfed by the fear of death brought by the “Traveler.”
Merely the shockwave triggered by the Traveler shattering the Old World’s gateway crashed the main vessel and fourteen airships a hundred miles away!
What kind of despair was this?
Those who have never experienced war will never comprehend its cruelty!
And these people had never been to Duolu River.
So, they held little respect for the defeated “Traveler,” treating it as nothing more than “viewing” monkeys in a zoo, even hoping the Traveler would appear, allowing them to witness it up close.
The magma beneath the furnace, once calm, suddenly began to bubble.
Large masses of magma boiled and ruptured at the furnace’s core, then a giant “head” emerged, the giant burnt beyond recognition by the Empress’s Divine Domain seemed to hear the human voices echoing thousands of meters above. It slowly stood from its deep dive and curled state.
The head emitted searing hot smoke!
At the center of the Traveler’s brow appeared to be an inset groove, raging with fierce “Divine Fire.” The Underground Research Institute believed this to be the “Gospel Box Fragment” of the Old World, an unrefined “Traveler’s Spark,” whose contained power could ignite the entire furnace, allowing most of the North Continent to melt away ice and snow and bask in spring for the next five years.
The giant lifted its head.
Divine Fire, like fresh blood, cascaded down, streaming across its face, making it appear extremely eerie and terrifying.
Its gaze directly locked onto the “Steel Cliff Viewing Platform” a kilometer above!
The giant, which was curled up the previous second, suddenly leaped. It exploded with unprecedented agility, pulling itself nearly a kilometer out from the magma.
In an instant, its head was at the “Steel Cliff”—
That eerie and bloodstained visage directly confronted the tiny humans on the cliff.
The young elite who had been conversing merrily on the viewing platform, the scene before them swiftly morphed, replaced by this enormous Traveler’s face—
The consortium scions turned deathly pale in that instant.
The sudden change left their minds blank.
Mortals cannot gaze directly at Gods.
This close “stare,” though devoid of any released Spirit, nearly exploded their Spirit Seas.
To the “Traveler,” everyone here was merely a speck of dust beneath its gaze.
The noble who had previously suggested approaching the Traveler up close had his wish fulfilled; he came face to face with the real “Traveler,” but was so terrified that he sat on the ground with quaking legs.
Most of the elite were in the same condition.
At this moment, the only ones still standing… were the returning participants of the mission.
Lu Zhe, Zhong Yuan, and Fisher were the first to react, their faces ashen, yet they immediately stepped forward, positioning themselves ahead of the crowd…
The Traveler raised its palm.
It tried to strike these “onlookers” on the Steel Cliff.
Sadly, this is the {Furnace}, the Empress’s Divine Domain. Follow current novᴇls on NoveI[F]ire.net
“Swish, swish, swish, swish, swish!”
At the moment it leapt up, countless tiny swords shot out from the furnace, embedding into its body like a dense rain of arrows.
The tiny swords appeared light, yet instantly filled its back.
The Traveler’s palm never touched the Steel Cliff.
It fell just a tad short.
Yet this gap was an insurmountable “chasm.”
The infinite tiny swords exerted a simultaneous force, dragging him back to the abyss… Rolling magma fiercely struck the furnace, splattering immense fiery waves.
Those captains still courageous enough to directly confront the “Traveler” from atop the Steel Cliff witnessed an incomprehensible sight.
The face engulfed by Divine Fire had eyes that revealed a trace of sorrow.
This was the sorrow of defeat, imprisonment, or perhaps the sorrow of being watched by mere mortals…
Yet the corners of the Traveler’s lips lifted slightly.