Chapter 389: Cross-Parallel Spacetime Hunt Warning!

"What the hell?!"

Even with the Gemstone Old Man's vast knowledge and experience, having weathered countless storms...

At this moment, he couldn't help but feel a wave of goosebumps rising from the bottom of his heart.

Because what he saw before his eyes was simply an anomaly beyond imagination.

ORT, has this thing super-evolved?

In the long passage of years, it wasn't simply hibernating, meaninglessly dormant and asleep, but was secretly continuously improving its own functions?

Look at this current dire situation, this Limit Unique Species is actually gradually evolving the possibility to interfere with parallel spacetime?

At this moment, time seemed to stagnate, the Gemstone Old Man's expression moved.

Unrelated to anything else, purely because this conjecture was too shocking, and too terrifying, like a judgment of the End of the World, making one instinctively feel a chill.

Even long ago, when directly facing the might of Zhu Yue, the Gemstone Old Man had never been so moved.

Very simple.

Because he did not fear Zhu Yue.

The other party wanted to mirror the Moon and smash it down, the Mage could likewise unleash endless Ether Energy Cannons, countering back with the most violent momentum.

Isn't it just a head-on clash, looking down on whom.

The facts also proved that in the end it was indeed the Gemstone Old Man who won, while Zhu Yue was defeated and eliminated... although it wasn't exactly an overwhelming victory, in a certain sense it was more like a pyrrhic victory.

But knowing this result is enough.

However.

Back then what he had to face was merely Zhu Yue, but the one causing trouble now is ORT.

What must be known is, as fellow Celestial Body UOs, there are also differences in strength between them...

As for Zhu Yue and the other Celestial Body UOs, who is stronger or weaker is hard to determine, but only ORT's strength is undeniable, belonging to a tier of its own, overwhelmingly powerful.

To put it bluntly, even if you tied Zhu Yue and the other UOs together, they wouldn't be enough for this spider to take two punches from.

"..."

"..."

A trace of gravity flashed in the Gemstone Old Man's eyes, he stepped forward slowly, carefully observing a crystal.

The former alien crystal, seemingly indeed had a tendency to transform into a kaleidoscope. Every facet's reflected light did not seem to be reflecting the current world's images.

They were more like reflecting the world of the "Opposite Side"...

Peering at that side of the deep parallel spacetime.

Although it hasn't reached the degree of being able to open a "Door", it can already faintly reflect the same location of adjacent World Lines.

It's similar!

It's really too similar!

But... what exactly is the reason?

The Mage felt very confused, because he deeply knew that as long as he was in this position, it was impossible for anyone else to additionally grasp the true Second Magic.

But... if not limited to "true"?

The Gemstone Old Man would not be blindly confident in these aspects.

He was very clear that although the Second Magic was in his hands, this could not prevent others from accessing part of the domain belonging to the Second Magic through some special methods...

—Briefly and one-sidedly...

—Visit part of the domain belonging to the Second Magic.

Not to mention anything else, just he himself had crafted some Magecraft Mystic Codes, possessing the limited function of "Parallel World Interference".

That is to say, besides him this Mage, there are clearly some Equipment Items that also possess the power of the Second Magic.

Furthermore, there are also bored fellows, harboring the boring thought of "cutting down a flying swallow in mid-air", swinging their swords for countless springs and autumns... until the fire of life burned to its end.

The result was at the very end of life, they cultivated a Secret Sword that reached the Realm of Magic.

—Flashing from the Reality World once, then completely simultaneously overlapping a second flash ignoring the concepts of Time and Space, thereby producing a slashing attack from Three Directions.

—A "Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon (Kischur Zelretch)" that transcended elements like speed, intricacy, and feints.

—Similarly, although restricted, it also reached the high domain of the Second Magic.

Clearly a nameless martial artist who knew neither Magecraft nor Magic, created a Magic Sword that with a human body challenged Asura gods and Buddhas.

One must say, it is truly boring to an incomprehensible degree.

And what is even more incomprehensible is...

Just to cut down a flying swallow in mid-air, why would one need to use this kind of Magic Sword Technique that transcends the human domain?

Just what kind of swallow is that, a high-ranking Phantasmal Species? A Phantasmal Beast or a Divine Beast?

In short—

The Gemstone Old Man also knew of similar situations, therefore naturally tended toward this line of thinking.

ORT is too powerful, a super high-level extraterrestrial creature, fundamentally impossible to analyze. If this thing is still in a continuous evolution phase, then there's no telling what new functions it might develop.

Just as this Mage was concentrating in thought, an inexpressible intense heart palpitation suddenly struck.

In an instant—

Boom!

A violent tremor spread from the Surface World, like a localized earthquake suddenly arriving.

Immediately after, a staggering scene appeared.

A gigantic jointed limb flashing with gloomy cold light, its surface covered in a metallic texture both heavy and cold, sharpness comparable to a steel blade, and that astonishing volume, more like a ship-slicing knife from an Extraterrestrial Civilization...

Just like that, it directly pierced through the space the Gemstone Old Man originally occupied, precise and swift.

However, although this strike was enough to be deadly, it failed to nail the Gemstone Old Man to the Ground as wished.

At the most critical moment, by a hair's breadth——

The figure of Jewel Sword Old Man miraculously disappeared.

He left this world, his body instantly transforming into the jewel essence that originally existed in this world.

Immediately after, this brilliance was ruthlessly shattered under the violent attack, turning into dust filling the sky……

In the remnant waves of wind pressure left by what seemed like a localized shockwave, every grain of dust was instantly swept up and blown away, ultimately vanishing without a trace, as if nothing had ever happened.

Purely in terms of visual effect, it was just as if Jewel Sword Old Man had been struck once and annihilated into nothingness.

"……"

"……"

In that crystal-clear Crystal Valley, a monster of extremely massive build, spider-like in appearance, quietly arrived.

It stood there, like a moving black Shan Yue, its massive body casting a stretch of shadow.

After unleashing that swift and deadly strike, it maintained this static state, as if frozen by formless magecraft.

Just quietly……

Quietly……

After ten-odd seconds passed, it finally suddenly moved its massive body slowly, as if awakening from a long dream, movements sluggish and heavy.

Then, it raised that jointed limb bit by bit, but only halfway up……

It stopped moving again.

This entire cosmic lifeform seemed to have fallen into a trance-like, sleepwalking-esque bizarre state, even its body seeming to occasionally disappear.

Like the subtle and mysterious changes in Crystal Valley, ORT's massive and cold body was likewise quietly undergoing an unprecedented transformation.

Although its essence remained heavy, cold, hard, stern like a silicon-based mechanical lifeform, at certain key parts a striking crystallization phenomenon manifested.

Those spider-like metabolic chitin, and the UFO-like disc-shaped main body, were being rapidly wrapped layer by layer in crystalline crystals.

The crystallized parts spread like waves, yet in a turn of an instant were devoured by the original metallic texture, the two seemingly engaged in a silent contest.

Assimilating each other, contending with each other, displaying a bizarre harmony and conflict.

Although compared to the massive metallic body, the crystallized skin's current proportion still appeared insignificant, it nevertheless expanded its territory bit by bit with a tenacious posture.

This is not merely a change in ORT's character illustration, but a portent of the Celestial Body Management Cell rapidly evolving a new form at a frequency millions of times beyond ordinary Earth lifeforms.

——ORT is seeking a more superior evolutionary path.

——It yearns for every cell to possess the power to interfere with parallel spacetime.

Of course.

This situation is not very normal.

If it were normal predation of a lifeform, then mimicking its possessed abilities, everything would be much smoother.

But the current situation just happens to be abnormal.

The Jewel Sword is merely a Mystic Code, no matter how you look at it it doesn't resemble a lifeform, even though a certain Qi Refining practitioner exploited a bug——

First he captured ORT alive, imprisoning it……

Then with the Spray Transformation Technique, he made the Jewel Sword temporarily transform and activate, like a living object……

Of course, just that alone is still not enough.

So he also hammered ORT half to death, forcibly suppressed it, maintaining it in a state unable to fully wake.

Confusing its sensory perception, even deceiving the perception of every single cell in its body.

Only thus did it barely succeed.

Because every cell believed ORT had conducted a predation.

But even so, it was still very difficult to treat this predation object as a true lifeform, therefore forced mimicry could almost not proceed.

Therefore——

Still need to coordinate methods like Artifact Refining, assisting ORT bit by bit to refine and extract the Mystic Code essence possessing magical power……

And through a specially crafted Super Large Learning Device, directly teach the unconscious ORT in its dreams, instilling relevant knowledge……

Like this, it is both Artifact Refining and life refining, and moreover pushing ORT to evolve in the direction of weaponization.

It instinctively, slowly evolves a brand new life form toward that direction, fusing the Jewel Sword's characteristics on one hand, combining the instilled knowledge on the other, attempting evolution.

That this process can be forcibly pushed is already a remarkable operation.

To say it is smooth is naturally even more impossible.

What's more, this is still regarding a sample directly experimented on by someone.

For those ORTs in different parallel world lines, their evolutionary paths are even more arduous.

Because there is nothing, what they can rely on is only a subtle signal transcending spacetime released by themselves in a parallel spacetime, from the far end of a distant timeline.

Intermittent, fragmented……

Clearly instinct tells them, this is the special "pheromone" emitted by another self during the process of life leap……

Although instinct drives them to perceive, to capture these elusive information fragments, ultimately it is difficult to piece together that complete evolution blueprint.

Among the many parallel world lines……

Most of the time ORTs only act on instinct……

Naturally fall into a kind of predicament.

——Like in a terrible, on-and-off, extremely slow network environment……

——Attempting to download an incomparably massive, critically important update package, yet encountering endless lag, errors, missing key files and other problems, as if it can never finish downloading……

If ORT had emotions and was sufficiently anthropomorphic, it would surely have a mindset explosion.

But fortunately, they do not.

Only mechanical, stable, and utterly unfluctuating instinctive behavior.

Boom!

The enormous entire valley trembled once more!

Finally, the alien spider broke free from its trance-like sleepwalking state again, regaining a brief moment of clarity and ability to act.

It seemed to only now discover that the tiny insect that had just invaded its territory had actually escaped from under its nose……

Faintly, a feeling of being unable to accept this seemed to rise!

It was not some boring reason like self-esteem being provoked, but purely the hunting instinct being stirred.

There was also……

It had just perceived that on that tiny insect's body, there was contained what its current self needed most! That was a Mors Inexpressible longing, a Mors Desperate Mors Demand of cells for survival and evolution.

In the next moment, the crystallization phenomenon suddenly swelled, as if in a Mors Subtle instant it spread and covered most of the alien spider's body.

Its body became crystalline and transparent, like a giant piece of crystal, reflecting dazzling light.

Taking advantage of this moment's bizarre state, ORT grew restless, raising its head to the sky and letting out a silent roar.

That sound seemed like a call traversing spacetime, as if releasing some kind of signal.

In a split second, this information swept across the entire planet, rushing toward the far end of parallel spacetime!

It was as if a vibration occurring on the timeline, instantly rippling outward, rapidly received by the Extraterrestrial Same-Time Isomorphs of neighboring worlds during the transmission process.

………………

The other side.

"Not friendly to the old man at all……"

The Mage who had just transferred to this parallel world line shook his head, mocking himself.

A bit careless.

Just Mors Difference — if that thing's reaction hadn't been inexplicably sluggish, or if his own reaction had been fast enough……

Jewel Grandpa felt he would probably be lying there right now.

Things have gotten a bit tricky……

But fortunately, since he's fine, he can properly consider what to do next.

For example, take another look at South America in other worlds……

Confirm whether ORT's situation has all started to become troublesome, or what step it has evolved to?

The Mage rapidly thought, while sizing up the surroundings.

And it was precisely at this moment——

Boom!!

As if the entire planet trembled slightly in this instant, like a giant beast suddenly turning over in its sleep, carrying irresistible power!

This vibration originated from the Crystal Valley's demonic realm, it suddenly erupted like a thunderclap, shocking all of South America, triggering a series of large and small localized earthquakes.

The earth trembled, like a giant's footsteps reverberating on the endless horizon, each tremor seeming to want to tear this land into fragments.

And the sky, also seemed to sense this fear, letting out a low wail, resonating with the earth, the shockwave spreading at astonishing speed, like a formless giant hand, tightly gripping all of South America.

Houses collapsed in the trembling, roads cracked open, like scars forgotten by time, mountains shifted, the earth's fury fully revealed at this moment.

Everything trembled in chaos, as if the End of the World had arrived in the blink of an eye.

"……!!"

Jewel Grandpa's heart skipped a beat, an extremely strong targeted hostility pierced his soul like a needle.

He sensed it, some great terror from distant South America had remotely locked onto his position!

It was a suffocating oppression, as if the entire universe was casting a cold and cruel gaze at him in this moment.

What thing?!

How did this world's spider also suddenly set its sights on him?!

(Chapter End)