Chapter 526

Zhou Kongming descended like this for a long time.

At first, it was only ordinary strata, but as he sank deeper, the material of the surrounding environment gradually changed.

Even the "map" auxiliary module he carried popped up a line of text.

【Detected current mission world's civilization artifact, analyzing…】

【Analysis complete, data logged into database】

The Immortal Network's functions weren't limited to assisting Ascension Envoys in completing missions; one of its most vital functions was recording the civilizational development of each world.

These worlds' energy levels might not match the Tai Xuan Realm, and the gaps in combat power and individual strength were immense.

But that didn't mean the civilizations forged by generations of their people had no value whatsoever.

Zhou Kongming stared at it for a long while.

He realized it merely recorded—there seemed to be no intention to reward him with Ascension Points—so he simply ignored it.

He mentally grumbled, "Stingy."

In games, you always get rewards for exploring a region to a certain degree!

After passing through dozens of layers made of special materials, the view ahead suddenly brightened.

Before him stretched a vast underground space, lit brightly in every corner.

The entire underground space could roughly be divided into three levels.

At its center stood a pure white Gao Ta, piercing through the upper, middle, and lower levels.

The upper level was densely packed with pure white drones, constantly flying yet showing no disorder.

Each drone maintained identical flight speed.

The spacing between them was precisely enough to allow another drone to pass; as they crossed, they seemed to merge seamlessly, yet not a single collision occurred.

The middle level consisted of interwoven transparent pipes, enclosing pale golden cylindrical crystals that flickered with faint light.

From an overall perspective, these pipes resembled blood vessels, interconnecting the entire underground space.

And the lowest level was what Zhou Kongming remembered as a "city."

Streets, skyscrapers, greenery, traffic…

The only thing that felt off to him was how unnervingly "harmonious" everything was—how unnervingly "precise" the entire underground space was.

So precise that everything seemed like a component of a vast machine, with not a single discordant noise.

"It's a bit like those old demons' underground labs for cultivating simulated soul fragments…"

A thought drifted through Zhou Kongming's mind as his form slowly drifted downward.

He felt something was off—he'd better observe the human beings of this world first, understand its civilizational development.

Soon, Zhou Kongming passed through the upper and middle levels and arrived at the lowest level's "city," landing beside a roadside tree.

Yet he remained in "Qi" form, choosing not to condense into a physical shape.

His spiritual sense unfolded silently, centered on himself, probing every corner of the underground space.

At that moment, a young man in pure white clothing, with standard features, neither fat nor thin, about 1.8 meters tall, walked over with a blank expression.

His eyes were utterly calm, devoid of any emotion; a drone carrying a tool bag trailed beside him.

The entire man walked straight through Zhou Kongming's "Qi" form and headed into the distance.

Hm?

Zhou Kongming frowned and turned to look at the man.

A strange "person."

In the Transmission Hall of the Xiang Jianzong, some texts recorded the chaos caused by demonic cultivators in ancient times.

Among them, the symptoms of those ravaged by demonic cultivators were described in detail.

This man's aura…

Was like someone born with a congenital defect, whose soul had been mostly drained by the Ten Thousand Souls Banner.

The map had just updated the number of intelligent individuals to 683.74—was that 0.74 the man who just walked past?

His thoughts flashed, and his spiritual sense had already enveloped the entire underground space.

Due to the world's inherent "spiritless" nature, Zhou Kongming had previously refrained from leaving his spiritual sense extended for long, so he'd only grasped the general structure of this underground space.

But now, it was entirely different.

As an individual who had reached the upper limit of this world, with intent to probe, every detail of the underground space became crystal clear, laid bare before him without concealment.

First, the number of humans in this underground space.

One, ten, a hundred, a thousand…

As the number of humans he detected grew, Zhou Kongming's expression grew heavier.

"Seventeen thousand three hundred twenty-eight…" he slowly uttered.

This underground space housed a total of seventeen thousand three hundred twenty-eight people!

Yet all nearly twenty thousand were just like the young man he'd seen—born with congenital defects, their souls incomplete.

That was why the count of intelligent individuals was recorded as 683.74.

After all, none of them could be regarded as a complete, independently thinking "individual."

Wooo~!

A piercing alarm suddenly blared, and the lights turned a chilling crimson.

All humans in the underground space simultaneously stopped their work, their eyes still blank, then orderly retreated into shelter facilities on each level.

Zhou Kongming was stunned.

He had considered himself cautious enough!

He'd used only his spiritual sense—how had this world, devoid of Qi, detected him?

「￥#%%#%#！」

Then a meaningless sound echoed through the underground space.

Perhaps it was a warning.

【Detecting unknown language, decrypting…】

【Decryption complete, no transcendent elements detected, archived in database, named Civilization-1 Language One】—what a damn simple and straightforward name.

But the Xian Net's personal interface showed no intention of transmitting the decrypted language to him, and Zhou Kongming felt a bit speechless.

Isn't the basic version supposed to be used only by participants in the Xian Sect Grand Competition?!

Why does my advanced version have even fewer functions than theirs?

With no other choice, Zhou Kongming infiltrated the consciousness of one human, preparing to read its information to understand the meaning of that phrase.

Yet…

「Nothing? ！」

This time he was truly baffled.

In that fragile consciousness, there was no complete linguistic information—only maintenance procedures for 'high-concentration耀变晶体'.

Aside from that, only biological instincts like 'eating' and 'excreting'.

His cognition contained nothing else.

「…」

After a pause, Zhou Kongming quickly switched to another person.

But he found their stored information was equally 'fragmented' and extremely specialized.

Beyond their assigned duties, their cognition held no other information.

This discovery sent a chill through Zhou Kongming's heart.

Without even self-awareness, the rulers of this world truly were…

After switching through several more, he finally found linguistic information in one person's consciousness.

By then, the warning phrase had already shifted through several languages.

【Decryption complete, Civilization-1 Language Two archived…】

【Civilization-1 Language Three archived…】

【Civilization-1…】

Leveraging his Profound Void Realm's powerful learning ability, he finally understood and mastered 'Civilization-1 Language One' when the voice switched to its seventeenth language.

And the meaning of that original phrase was—

「Outsider, state your intent! 」

「…」

After brief consideration, Zhou Kongming chose not to reveal himself, but instead moved toward the central Gao Ta.

The drones, previously only distributed on the uppermost level, now descended to the middle and lower levels, patrolling everywhere.

Circular waves of invisible energy spread outward from the central Gao Ta.

Yet no matter what methods they employed, they could not affect Zhou Kongming, who had already reached the vicinity of the Gao Ta.

Clearly, though they had somehow detected an outsider's intrusion, they had no idea where the outsider was—or even what the outsider was.

Thus, he effortlessly passed through the Gao Ta's outer layer of special material and entered its interior.

…

…

Looking around, orderly corridors branched in every direction.

Inside, drones continuously flew about, and figures clad in pure white uniforms, expressionless, continued their work.

Commands constantly flashed before their eyes.

Now that Zhou Kongming had mastered 'Civilization-1 Language One', he could understand the meaning of those commands.

【… Reconnaissance Plan invalidated, activating … Detection Plan】

【… Fluctuation amplitude weakened, 'Observation' behavior terminated?】

【Inference Conclusion One: Outsider is an unknown life form; current … unable to observe】

【Inference Conclusion Two: Outsider is … life …】

The commands were chaotic, some even mixing multiple languages.

This world's civilization seemed deliberately avoiding leakage of its own cultural information…

「Observation…」

Among the readable information, Zhou Kongming finally understood why he had been detected.

It was because of the very act of 'Observation'!

This was truly…

After a pause, he began reading and learning the languages stored in others' consciousnesses.

It seemed this task world's civilization level was not low—this mission would be harder than expected.

But twenty-one years…

No matter how you looked at it, it should be enough.

「First, use this underground space as a springboard, locate the core, then pinpoint the human race's main base. 」

「Then observe the social structure; if possible, eliminate the ruling authority that has lost its humanity and rebuild a social system more suitable for cultivation. 」

With absolute Wu Li to suppress resistance, the 'transition period' should pass smoothly.

As for whether I can outmatch this civilization…

Leaving other things aside, Zhou Kongming was very confident in this regard.

He did not believe that any being could arise in such a world capable of defeating him.

Do you understand the value of being the top Return-to-Void swordsman of the Xiang Jianzong?

He simultaneously formulated plans in his mind while reading memories and learning other languages of this civilization.

Zhou Kongming finally reached the core of Gao Ta. (End of chapter)