Chapter 1539: The Council's Mandatory Reboot Authorization

Fire,

A great fire!

The immortal gate's divine tree, the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, was burning. Clusters of azure data-flames burst from every branch and leaf, scorching the branches, scorching the leaves, then scorching the trunk. Flames filled the sky, burning away all data.

Burning away every shadow without affecting the Mother Star in the slightest, carefully avoiding every place that might endanger its citizens.

"What's happening?"

"The Central Array Spirit Computer is burning!"

"Quick, put out the fire…"

Almost every immortal gate citizen on the Mother Star discovered this terrible truth.

The Central Array Spirit Computer mother-tree that had accompanied them since childhood was burning, turning to ash, and a powerful dread rose in their hearts.

They immediately dialed the emergency number, or acted on their own, summoning vast sheets of raindrops to try to douse the great fire on the Central Array Spirit Computer—as if watching their mother perish in flames, impossible to ignore.

"Citizens,"

"Cease your actions."

The Central Array Spirit Computer's cold mechanical voice reached the ears of every citizen attempting to fight the fire: "By order of the Immortal Gate Council of Participation, the Central Array Spirit Computer has been infected with a lethal virus and is currently reinstalling its system and rebooting. No citizen may interfere…"

"Please wait three years; a new Central Array Spirit Computer will be born."

While the Central Array Spirit Computer was issuing the decree, administrative personnel at every level of the immortal gate's government likewise began relaying the immortal gate's orders, explaining everything that was happening and all the reasons behind it.

Everything proceeded in an orderly fashion; the immortal gate had sufficient contingency plans and was executing them tightly.

Logically speaking, the immortal gate's citizens should gradually disperse.

Every immortal gate citizen had received sufficient civic education—they were not ignorant natives of the Minor Thousand Worlds—and over tens of thousands of years the immortal gate had accumulated an unimaginable reservoir of public trust. It was impossible for any mistake or disturbance to arise at this moment.

For an advanced immortal-path civic society, such events were almost unimaginable.

However…

"Tyranny!"

"This is tyranny!"

Almost the instant the order was issued, millions of immortal gate mortal and low-level cultivator citizens revealed an eerily uniform, ferocious expression: "This is the Council of Participation attempting to seize the citizens' immortal gate—this is tyranny!"

"Citizens, unite!"

"Resist the tyranny…"

They were scattered across the nine great planets of the Mother Star, shouting at the top of their lungs. Though they were plainly different individuals—men, women, old, young—millions of entirely distinct beings, they displayed a strange, eerie sameness, as if some essential identical thing lay within them.

They marched along the streets, through the schools, shouting loudly in their homes, repeatedly urging the relatives and friends around them.

Their

voices carried a strange, eerie power, easily infecting the immortal gate citizens around them, turning them from puzzlement to stupefaction, then to fury, their faces twisting ferociously as they loudly denounced the Council of Participation's injustice.

The Central Array Spirit Computer's soothing, comforting words were completely ignored by them; they took it as a conspiracy of the Council of Participation.

One after another, one after another.

Like a meme-contamination, like a viral outbreak, these ferocious-faced immortal gate citizens rapidly spread out in great swathes—from tens of millions to over a hundred million, then to tens of billions, hundreds of billions, thousands of billions, tens of thousands of billions!

In a short time, one-tenth of the immortal gate's citizens had already changed.

Among them were mortals, Qi Refining cultivators, Jin Dan, Foundation Establishment, Soul Transformation cultivators, and even a few Void Refining cultivators!

And the tens of thousands of billions were not the end. That terrifying meme continued to spread, scattering like a plague, and in a short time had already reached tens of thousands of trillions of people—only then did it approach the limit of this phase.

"Convene…"

"Convene a Citizens' Assembly… Citizens' Assembly… overthrow the Council of Participation's resolution… resolution…"

"…Take back, our power…"

These tens of thousands of trillions of immortal gate citizens opened and closed their mouths, their voices at the same frequency—utterly eerie.

Under the immortal gate's current system, this was a terrifying force; such numbers were enough to convene a Citizens' Assembly and overturn any immortal gate resolution.

In the Immortal Gate Council of Participation, there was utter silence.

Someone gave a cold laugh.

"Central Array Spirit Computer,"

"Are these citizens in a normal state, capable of fully exercising their civic rights?"

Divine Mechanism True Venerable said coldly.

Civic rights could not simply be invoked at will—at the very least one had to remain in a clear, rational state; one could not, simply by being enchanted or contaminated, hijack the immortal gate at will.

"A large number of citizens have already been contaminated!"

"Their civic rights are temporarily suspended; the application to convene a Citizens' Assembly does not pass; the Central Array Spirit Computer's self-destruct and system-reinstall order continues to execute…"

The Central Array Spirit Computer rendered its judgment.

But!

The next instant!

"Citizens, not contaminated."

"Still possess the right to exercise civic rights…"

The Central Array Spirit Computer immediately overturned its own ruling.

"May exercise civic rights…"

"May not exercise civic rights…"

"May…"

"May not…"

It fell into chaos—approving one moment, rejecting the next. The program suffered tremendous confusion, and at last things were no longer entirely normal.

The Immortal Gate Council members watched coldly.

They saw that, on the central array spirit computer's mother

tree, the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong, a sinister, cold face had finally appeared, parasitically clinging to the core of the central array spirit computer, coiling around the Shenmu Shenmu Futianrong's main trunk like a venomous python.

It would suddenly appear, gloomy and terrifying, then vanish without a trace, its karmic aura completely gone—even quasi-Heavenly Being-grade formations could not detect a single trace of it.

"Finally, I've seen it."

"No longer formless and intangible, invincible…"

Jiang Ding stared at this shadow.

All the Immortal Gate councilors looked toward Yuan.

When the Immortal Gate's first-generation ruling elder established the system, he had foreseen the present situation. He had built a bottom-level program: the Immortal Gate ruler held the authority of discretionary decision-making. Under extremely dangerous circumstances, when the Immortal Gate faced the threat of annihilation, he held the permission to forcibly restart the central array spirit computer!

The price was that, within a thousand years, a citizens' assembly must be convened to try the incumbent ruler; if the approval rating could not reach ninety percent, he would be executed on the spot for treason.

"Command."

"By the authority of the seventh-generation ruler, forcibly restart the central array spirit computer."

Yuan said lightly.

"Execution permitted…"

"Execution not permitted…"

The central array spirit computer fell into extreme program chaos, but after Yuan's command was issued, its program logic immediately ceased its deadlock and confusion.

It immediately executed the lowest-level program; the self-destruct program continued to advance at great speed, and the azure-blue data blaze that had stalled blazed up again fiercely.

Amid such a great fire, the central array spirit computer's own branches swiftly turned to ash.

At the same time, that sinister, ferocious face hidden in the deepest part of its body was also burned in the great fire, as if some kind of oil had been ignited, making the flames several times more ferocious.

Streaks of cold, gray mist spread along with the smoke and dust into the cosmic starry sky, seemingly endless.

"Dead thing…"

"You damned dead thing…"

Finally, that cold face deeply entwined with the central array spirit computer's bottom-level program stopped pretending and spoke in a hoarse voice.

It broke part of its body free from the central array spirit computer's bottom-level program, revealing in the cosmic starry sky a towering, heaven-piercing thousand-armed ancient god giant, whose terrifying might swept in all directions.

Its lower half was rooted in the central array spirit computer, its upper half's thousand arms spread wide, black hair flying wild, like an awakened ancient star demon.

It coldly stared at the blue-robed youth among the Immortal Gate councilors.