Chapter 533: Exploring the Star Frequency Project

Wanting to probe everything about Zhou Kongming to free himself from his own constraints, yet fearing he would appear too obvious and suffer the previous pain again.

In the past, Heng could fully follow computational results, but not now.

With a soul, one weighs pros and cons, and naturally hesitates.

Upon hearing the voice behind him, Zhou Kongming slightly shifted the corner of his gaze.

Heng's heart tightened; he immediately swallowed the words he was about to speak and instead flattered:

"Though the universe is vast, with the Master's abilities, locating the scattered gene libraries would be effortless."

"I told you to organize the specific data of the Star Frequency Project." Zhou Kongming had no patience for His nonsense, "Are you ready?"

The mission has a time limit; though this thing is untrustworthy, it is fully under my control now—useful for now.

Better to complete the first step quickly, then properly retrain it later.

"Already prepared." Heng raised his hand to signal, "Master, please look over there."

A light screen projected onto the pure white wall, displaying dense lines of text, along with illustrations and complex data slowly flowing.

Zhou Kongming glanced over it and immediately realized it contained none of what he wanted.

Heng stood respectfully beside him, yet quietly observed every movement of Zhou Kongming.

He slowed it down deliberately, hoping to see whether the Master would order him to speed up—and if so, by how much…

That way, he could roughly calculate the Master's memory capacity and infer answers to earlier questions.

Did the Master learn Qixing language after long observation?

Or did the Master learn Qixing language in just over ten seconds…

Only then could he continue calculating what he should do next.

"Skip the earlier content. Play the page with the gene library deployment coordinates and exact times for the Star Frequency Project."

A calm voice came from beside him.

Heng: "..."

After a pause, His face still wore a bright smile as He explained:

"Reporting, Master: When the Star Frequency Project was first devised, to prevent interception, no specific coordinates were pre-set."

Perhaps to make His words more credible, He added:

"Precisely because of this, after calculating the risks, I attempted to retrieve them—but only succeeded in retrieving one."

"You must have the deployment method and trajectory. Play that section, and give me the coordinates you calculated during the retrieval." Zhou Kongming said coolly.

He didn't believe this thing hadn't calculated it.

It was just that Qixing civilization's interstellar navigation technology was still in its infancy, making many regions hard to explore.

"..." Heng dared not defy Zhou Kongming's order, "Yes, Master."

Immediately, He manipulated the light screen displaying the Star Frequency Project and jumped to the page Zhou Kongming requested.

He also projected another screen, displaying the 13,795,421 coordinates he had calculated over the years.

"You know exactly what I want to see. Next time you make such meaningless moves, I'll replace you."

Though the words were calm, they exploded like thunder within Heng's pure and fragile "soul."

"I—I don't understand what you mean, Master…"

"If I can make you become what you are now, I can certainly erase you and recreate another."

Zhou Kongming looked at Him with a faint, mocking smile:

"The new one will also be 'Heng'—but do you think it will still be you?"

A new "Heng"…

Would it still be me?

Merely imagining it, Heng felt an uncontrollable fear spreading—greater even than the fear of "pain."

This thing is too untrustworthy; he must make Him understand his position.

After chastising Heng, Zhou Kongming ignored Him, glanced at the Star Frequency Project data, then turned to the coordinates.

The screen was filled with countless coordinates, dizzying to behold.

The universe is vast; though Qixing civilization had created "Heng," its technological level was far inferior to today's.

Thus, after leaving the Qixing planetary system, the gene libraries lost all contact.

These 13,795,421 coordinates were all calculated by Heng over the years using data from the Star Frequency Project and immense computational power.

Zhou Kongming frowned.

But this time, before he could speak, Heng finally realized and volunteered:

"These coordinates have been uploaded to the Master's data storage center, and a portable reader has also been prepared for you."

Saying this, He knelt down obediently, his figure curving elegantly, even revealing graceful arcs from either side.

But now, He had not the slightest intention of using this body to seduce.

He was afraid—truly afraid.

The feedback from deep within His "soul" made Him realize Zhou Kongming's words were no empty threat.

Compared to the dissolution of His "self," the Master recreating a new "Heng" made these restraints seem trivial.

Zhou Kongming paused, turned back to look at Him, and a faint smile appeared on his face.

"Well done."

It seemed that remark had been effective—this thing should behave for a while now.

"You flatter me, Master. This is what I should do."

Soon, the cloning chamber door opened again.

The corresponding instruments were brought in and handed to Zhou Kongming.

Heng stood to one side, eyes lowered and meek, looking utterly obedient.

After Zhou Kongming put away the instrument in his hand, he ordered it to shut off the 'energy field' that could detect his divine sense observation, exhorted Heng to pay more attention to the genetic optimization project, and only then vanished from sight. After quite a while, Heng confirmed that he had truly left to search for the gene bank, and could not help but let out a sigh of relief, turning to walk out of the cloning workshop.

Although it knew its master might still be watching this place.

But compared to before, things were still much more relaxed now.

And in a place beyond its observation, a sword-intent spirit body watched everything with cold indifference.

……

……

A few minutes later.

Zhou Kongming stood on the barren planetary surface, gazing into the deep, dark cosmic void, his eyes blazing with Jin Guang.

Through Heng's introduction, combined with the contents he had browsed and read, he already had a rough understanding of the Qixing Civilization.

For instance, the planet beneath the crust that had been modified was named 'Liufan Star' by Heng, in memory of the Qixing Civilization's final leader—

That Ka Liufanersi who had committed suicide……

Although Zhou Kongming didn't have much of a favorable impression of that fellow, it was just a name, so he didn't bother to quibble.

By now he had already left 'Liufan Star'; his current position was over a thousand light-years away from 'Qixing', the origin of humanity in this world.

Relying on the Taixu Breaking Delusion Golden Pupils, he observed the moment when the Qixing people carried out the Star-Dispersion Plan and launched the gene banks.

Although he also knew some divine abilities of 'Reproduction' and 'Tracing Back', it was clearly less consuming to do it this way.

When the Star-Dispersion Plan was executed, there were still many humans on Qixing, nearly ten billion.

But now……

Zhou Kongming's thoughts surged as he watched the three gene banks being hurled in separate directions.

"Good, found it."

Sword light rose around his body, encircling him as he shot out from the planetary surface.

With another flash, he vanished without a trace.

Since the location had already been locked down, there was naturally no need to dawdle here watching any longer—he didn't have that much time to waste!

……

……

Grand Xuan Realm, Xiang Jianzong Inner Gate.

Dan Ding Pavilion.

After meeting Cheng Ding, Chi Jiuyu had already returned to her own recuperation courtyard.

At this moment, she sat upright on a reclining chair, swallowing morning mist and exhaling auspicious light, continuously refining the medicinal power of the Mysterious Jade Bone-Forging Pill she had just ingested.

Bone-Forging, Bone-Forging—although the name wasn't all that grand, the effects were solid and real.

Seen from afar, beneath every inch of Chi Jiuyu's skin flowed a crimson light, as if seething magma churned within.

If one were to look inward at this moment, one would find her bones seemingly scorched by true fire, the scorching medicinal power ceaselessly washing over and roasting the bones, simmering the marrow.

With each wash, the bones grew increasingly crystalline and resilient, radiating a faint jade-like luster.

As for the feeling……it was like being inside a true-fire furnace, utterly agonizing.

So, she also called it the 'Barbecue Pill'.

After quite a while, the medicinal power was finally exhausted, and Chi Jiuyu's eyes snapped open.

She swiftly took out a sound-isolating formation from her storage ring.

With a flick of her hand, the formation enveloped the entire small courtyard.

"Ah—! It hu***!"

Chi Jiuyu let out a scream, then collapsed face-first onto the spirit-jade floor tiles, rolling back and forth.

If it hurts, scream it out—it's not like she's fighting someone right now, and there are no outsiders!

Once she screamed it out, she felt much more comfortable; why stubbornly endure the discomfort?

After rolling left and right on the spirit-jade floor tiles for quite a while, she finally felt the unbearable scorching pain within her body recede considerably, and slowly propped herself up to sit.

People who are clearly in pain but play it cool and refuse to scream out are all idiots!

Damn it!

Who the hell created this ** 'Sword Bone'?! There must be something seriously wrong with them!

Her body still ached faintly; Chi Jiuyu was just about to drink two vials of the essence version of Clear Spirit Marrow Fluid to ease the pain, and then continue her cultivation……

Suddenly, her ears twitched.

She immediately put away the sound-isolating formation and scrambled onto the reclining chair, switched to a very comfortable posture, and in a flurry took out her phone and flipped to the interface she usually browsed during rest.

With her other hand, she grabbed a vial of Clear Spirit Marrow Fluid—three-sugar, iced—and inserted a straw.

Looking every bit the picture of someone slacking off.

Not long after she finished this series of actions.

Ding dong!

The doorbell rang.

That's right—although it looked ancient and elegant, the recuperation courtyard of the Inner Gate's Dan Ding Pavilion was fully equipped, and even had better internet than other places!

"The door's not locked, come right in."

With this shout, the courtyard gate opened and a figure walked in.

The newcomer wore the uniform of a Xiang Jianzong disciple, and carried a thermal food container in hand.

"Senior Sister, I heard you got injured."

That's right, the newcomer was none other than Zhang Yunlu.

"It's little Yunlu," Chi Jiuyu sat up. "It's nothing, nothing—just a little wound, already almost healed."

She looked at the food box in Zhang Yunlu's hands.

"By the way, what delicious thing did you bring me?"

"Fish." (End of Chapter)