Chapter 756: Endowment Attempt

Three days later, the Secret Cavern of Performing Law.

The atmosphere was more solemn than before.

That faint golden connection thread still existed, but its light was weaker than three days ago, and it occasionally trembled slightly.

The bandwidth remained fluctuating around a miserable three percent.

Gongsun Sheng's complexion remained pale, but his eyes were unusually sharp.

Before him floated three dove‑egg‑sized strange‑iron beads, inside which liquid gold light flowed.

This is the carrier of the "Life Code" and also the core of this endowment attempt.

"Your Majesty, everything is ready."

Gongsun Sheng's voice had a metallic friction texture.

"But the connection state is worse than expected."

"The Iron Crow Army seems to have sensed something; the disturbance in the ethereal‑energy background on the west side of the light curtain has intensified, creating continuous low‑intensity interference with the link."

"With the current channel stability and bandwidth, the success rate of fully transmitting a 'Life Source Pearl' is……"

He paused.

"Less than five percent."

Chen Wen stood before the ritual, gazing at the halo of Zhu Yuanzhang's seal inside the core crystal ball.

That halo flickered now, as if it might go out at any moment.

"What if…… we transmit only half of it?"

Chen Wen asked.

"Or, transmit only the core strand of the 'Life Source Pearl,' the 'Immortal Code'?"

Gongsun Sheng startled, then quickly calculated mentally.

"If we only extract the core 'Immortal Code,' its information content is less than one percent of a complete Life Source Pearl."

"The transmission pressure would drop greatly, and the theoretical success rate could rise to…… fifteen to twenty percent."

"But the cost is that the endowment effect will be greatly reduced."

"It may be impossible to achieve 'Eternal Youth' and 'Long Lifespan'; we could only…… slightly extend its natural lifespan and greatly enhance the resilience and recovery speed of its vitality."

"It is like adding a more burn‑resistant 'lamp oil' and a sturdier 'lamp shade' to its fire of life."

Chen Wen fell silent for a moment.

"Let's begin."

"Extract the core code, prepare for transmission."

"Yes!"

Gongsun Sheng hesitated no longer; with both hands he drew forth, and one of the three Life Source Pearls slowly rose, hovering above his palm.

He chanted silently, and the energy light in his eyes blazed brightly.

The liquid gold light on the surface of the Life Source Pearl began to boil and separate; finally, a filament ten thousand times finer than a hair, yet condensing the ineffable laws of life, emerged as a golden thread from the bead.

This is the manifestation of the "Immortal Code."

It is too weak, too fragile; once separated from its matrix, it cannot even exist stably in the air and must be transmitted immediately.

"Lock onto the link!"

"Open the channel fully!"

"Inject!"

Gongsun Sheng flicked his finger.

That golden filament, as if alive, shot forth along the faint golden connection thread!

Inside the Secret Cavern of Performing Law, everyone held their breath.

On the monitoring crystal, the light point representing code transmission moved westward with difficulty along the fragile channel.

One percent.

Five percent.

Ten percent……

The speed was slow, but steady.

However, just as the transmission progress reached thirty percent——

An anomaly suddenly arose!

On the monitoring crystal, beside the faint golden line indicating the link channel, several drops of viscous dark‑blue stain suddenly seeped out!

The stain spread rapidly, like ink dropped in clear water, beginning to erode the golden channel!

"It is active interference from the Iron Crow Army!"

"It is contaminating the link!"

Gongsun Sheng's face changed abruptly.

"Purge the interference! Stabilize the channel!"

The calculators frantically operated, sending energy pulses like raindrops at those blue stains.

The stain was temporarily suppressed, but the channel itself had been contaminated, becoming unstable and beginning to shake violently.

The transmission progress stalled.

The golden thread lurched left and right in the polluted channel, like an insect trapped in a spiderweb.

"Channel stability has plummeted!"

"Bandwidth has dropped to zero!"

"Code transmission…… is about to be cut off!"

It's over.

Everyone's hearts sank.

The painstakingly built link fell short at the crucial moment.

"My lord!"

Gongsun Sheng looked at Chen Wen, despair already showing in their eyes.

Chen Wen stared fixedly at the monitoring crystal.

The golden thread representing Zhu Yuanzhang's sliver of life was being gradually wrapped and devoured by the blue pollution.

He seemed to see that, on the other side of the light curtain, the Hongwu Emperor's vital flame was about to lose this crucial reinforcement.

No.

It cannot end like this.

Chen Wen stepped forward and pressed his right hand directly onto the core crystal!

"My lord, you cannot!"

Everyone was greatly startled.

Direct contact with the activated seal crystal will cause a massive energy backlash and information impact!

Chen Wen paid no heed.

His consciousness, following his arm, surged unreservedly into the crystal!

Along the polluted, about-to-break link channel, he surged in reverse!

This is not transmitting energy.

This is forcing part of one's own 'consciousness' and 'authorization' into the channel as a 'scavenger' and 'booster'!

Boom—

Chen Wen's sea of consciousness felt as if struck by a heavy hammer!

Countless chaotic energy surges, icy Yuneng pollution, and the faint yet tenacious life vibrations from the other end of the channel mixed together, wildly assaulting his consciousness.

He saw it.

He saw the golden thread entwined with blue pollution.

He saw, at the other end of the channel, the figure in Ying Tian Wu Ying Dian, who, due to sudden palpitations and dizziness, was holding onto the imperial desk.

"Zhu Yue!"

Chen Wen's consciousness let out a silent roar in the channel.

There was no response.

The other party could not possibly hear it.

But Chen Wen's consciousness, carrying the newly unlocked Lv. 7 system's extremely weak 'life code intervention authority,' like a moth flying into fire, struck at the blue pollution!

Zizzle—

Like cold water poured into boiling oil.

Chen Wen's consciousness and the Yuneng pollution violently collided and annihilated.

The intense pain almost made him lose consciousness instantly.

But he clung on desperately.

Using his own 'existence,' he briefly burned a clean passage for that golden thread!

"Now!"

His consciousness roared.

"Charge through!"

As if sensing this life‑opening path, the wrapped golden thread gave a mighty tug!

Taking advantage of the gap where the blue pollution was temporarily repelled by Chen Wen's consciousness, it shot like an arrow from a bow, racing frenziedly along the last segment of the channel not yet fully polluted!

Forty percent!

Sixty percent!

Eighty percent!

On the monitoring crystal, the transmission progress bar jumped wildly again!

"The channel… the channel is collapsing!"

"My lord's consciousness fluctuations are rapidly weakening!"

"The code is about to reach its destination!"

"Quick! Sever my lord's link! Otherwise his consciousness will be trapped dead in the collapsing channel!"

Zhang Cheng's roar echoed in the secret cave.

Gongsun Sheng gritted their teeth and raised their hand to sever Chen Wen's connection to the crystal.

"No…… don't…… move!"

On Chen Wen's face, eyes tightly shut, muscles twisted from pain, yet he forced out these three words from his mouth.

He was still holding on.

He wanted to see with his own eyes that strand of code truly reach the other shore.

Ninety‑five percent!

Ninety‑eight percent!

Ninety‑nine percent!

The golden thread rushed through the last segment where the blue pollution had re‑permeated, becoming dim and incomplete.

But it, at last, touched the end of the channel.

He touched the source of that violent heartbeat.

A hum…

Inside the core crystal ball, Zhu Yuanzhang's mark halo suddenly burst forth with an unprecedented intense flash!

Then, the linking channel, together with those blue pollutions, shattered like broken glass, fragment by fragment, and dissipated.

Chen Wen's body fell backward, and Yue Fei caught him with one hand.

His face was ashen, his breath feeble, and fine traces of blood seeped from all seven orifices.

The monitoring crystal showed a chaotic snowflake pattern, then gradually calmed.

Only inside the core crystal ball remained that strand of Zhu Yuanzhang's mark halo.

It still existed.

And…

It seemed to have condensed just a bit more than before.

Barely perceptible.

But it definitely existed.

"Transmission…"

Gongsun Sheng's voice trembled as he looked at the monitoring data that had finally calmed down.

"Over."

"Core 'Immortal Code'……confirmed delivered."

"Integrity……estimated less than thirty percent."

He looked at the unconscious Chen Wen, then at that strand of mark halo that had solidified a bit.

"Bestowal attempt…"

"Was it successful?"

No one could answer immediately.

The link was severed.

No one knew how the situation was on the other side.

They had paid a heavy price, but what they sent over was incomplete.

Was this a success or a failure?

Inside the secret cave, there was utter silence.

Only the low hum of the instruments, and Chen Wen's weak, labored breathing.

Distant Yingtian.

In the Hall of Martial Glory, Zhu Yue (Zhu Yuanzhang), after that bout of palpitations and dizziness that almost made him suffocate, suddenly felt a weak yet warm surge flow into his heart from the void.

Immediately after, it was boundless darkness.