Chapter 814: Doubt is Green

"If only Brother Zhao were here. He understands so much; perhaps he could make something of this."

Emerging from the strange, even eerie "cockpit," Wei Zhangle took a deep breath, feeling as though the scene he had just witnessed had been carved into his mind with a chisel and axe, impossible to forget.

Though he could not forget it, he could not make sense of it either. Even having seen it with his own eyes, Zhangle felt he had only observed a superficial phenomenon, that there was something deeper or highly significant he had missed—or perhaps it had been right before his eyes, but he had ignored it out of ignorance.

There was no helping it; he did not understand technology, and his experience was too limited. Most of his life had been spent struggling against a cruel environment, his energy poured into survival. Those painful experiences had tempered his will, but they had not broadened his knowledge. The time he had most opened his eyes was these two months at the Sun Court, but he had been focused on cultivation and prioritizing skills immediately useful, such as the Heavenly Demon Script; he truly had no time to spare for anything else.

If only Jiang Shenyi were here; perhaps he could discern some clues. But it would be best if Tang Zhao were here. He not only had the knowledge, but his Sword Art was particularly suited for three-dimensional simulation and reproduction of everything seen in this cabin, capable of recording all the imagery to take back and study at leisure. The Recording Stone was still too limited.

Thinking of this, Tang Zhao was truly an excellent talent for technical espionage; losing him was a great loss for the Inspection Division.

Zhangle finished recording everything he could, even ducking into two more cabins, before simply leaving. He left quite openly, pushing the door open and walking out.

He even suspected that even if he did not use his Disappearance and just walked out normally, no one would notice. The people in the cockpit were now all immersed in murky water, completely devoid of consciousness, as if they were no longer human, having completely become a part of the green sludge.

When he opened the door and stepped out, Jiang Shenyi and that Heavenly Demon were actually still arguing, trading words quite fluently, and then... still showing no intention of making a move.

It had become a tacit understanding.

If they could set sail smoothly.

Therefore, Wei Zhangle was the other route.

In the end, Jiang Shenyi concluded that hoping to piece together the core technology by relying on the technical personnel involved was truly unlikely, and time was very tight, so he suggested taking another route.

But after circling the ship, the words "precise" and "high-end" in his mind had been completely crossed out, and the remaining mystery was gradually twisting in the direction of "eerie."

Spending a day, Wei Zhangle had a good look around this underground level. Perhaps to improve the comfort of the Emperor, Highnesses, and High Priests on the upper levels, almost all functional cabins were located on the lower level, which meant that to learn the technology, one only needed to thoroughly understand the bottom level. This seemed to be the Heavenly Demon being too confident, feeling that even without the deterrence of a Sword Immortal-level powerhouse, with the juniors of both sides infiltrating each other, the Heavenly Demon could still keep everything in hand, unafraid of secrets leaking.

No secrets?!

Before Wei Zhangle came, he had read the preliminary research results on the ship's technology submitted by Jiang Shenyi and the others in their entirety, the report stating between the lines: "Inscrutable." Jiang Shenyi stated bluntly that the core technology of this Great Ship was very profound; what was exposed on the outside was already very precise, but once obtained, its principles could still be reversed and clarified. However, these cracked technologies could not support a Great Ship for millions of people to sail in the Void; it could be said they were far from it. The true core technology was hidden too deeply and too well; there was no way to infer it from this side. Jiang Shenyi himself guessed that it might be a technology of a completely different system from what was exposed, completely obscured by current technology, with barely a trace to be seen on the outside.

He was not in a hurry. Although the cabin was not small and there were many places, he was only one person, but time was still relatively ample—according to the plan, the ship would take off from Huangbaijie and fly for two full days to reach a location where it could be observed, and the return trip would require twenty hours. After settling down, Huangbaijie would be completely sealed off, and that true Great Ship would sail out of the Heavenly Demon's Shengdi, stop there, and when it opened again, it would be time to set sail carrying the last hope of two worlds.

But after Wei Zhangle circled a large area, he felt that the facts were likely not so. The Heavenly Demon's slight negligence regarding the first level was not because they were confident they could keep the secret, but perhaps...

Zhangle had read the report, and his impression of this ship was: precise, high-end, mysterious. Although he had always followed the Sword Guest route, perhaps because Tang Zhao was a Talisman Sword Master, he also greatly admired technical routes outside of Martial Dao, feeling that technical personnel were amazing. Even though it was Heavenly Demon technology, he had come with the mindset of broadening his horizons and visiting to learn.

Zhangle shook his head, walked past the two of them, and pulled a map from his sleeve. It was the structural diagram of this ship, also marking some key areas; these were places the dispatched technical personnel had not figured out. He went to find them one by one.

In his view, the core crew here were not technical personnel like Tang Zhao or Jiang Shenyi, but practitioners of some kind of ritual. They were not using their own brains and technology, but their bodies or something else entirely.

Furthermore, he discovered that in the deepest cabins, there were shadows of that emerald green everywhere. The green "sludge" existed in various shapes and states, and all were closely related to the ship's existence and forward motion. The only thing that remained unchanged was that overly emerald, vivid color. And although he saw these shadows, and saw the crew voluntarily throwing themselves into them, he could still only see the most superficial layer.

He did not even see whether that green was dispersed or concentrated, dead or alive, controlled or controlling others.

That innermost layer was wrapped in even deeper mystery. He had a feeling it might be hidden in the level above, or... perhaps not on this small ship at all, but on that Great Ship.

Although he could not use "client" or "server" like Tang Zhao to make analogies, he could find a comparison:

It was just like in Wangliang Mountain, where every manor had a "Yingze" that could be used for Sacrifice, and all Yingze led to the main body of Wangliang—Yingyuan.

Thinking about it, those green sludges were the Yingze of various places, and the thing that grew... perhaps produced the green sludge was that Yingyuan. Yingyuan might be in a deeper place, such as that Shengdi revered by all Heavenly Demons.

If such a place truly existed, then that was worth talking about: if Wangliang was essentially a Sword Deity at the level of a Sword Immortal, then what kind of existence was the green main body?

Perhaps, with his ability and strength, he could not reach this truth.

Just wait for someone who truly understands to unearth it. Although he could not solve it for the moment, Zhangle had a premonition that he must figure out the truth; otherwise, it was not a question of whether he could steal the technology, but a question of handing over his own people to some unknown existence in the vast Void.

Death was not necessarily the final outcome.

Even if his method was ultimately adopted and they did not have to board that ship, they should still figure this matter out. Zhangle felt that this was, after all, a hidden danger, perhaps a bomb on the Heavenly Demon side that had not yet been detonated. Perhaps they needed to bypass the Heavenly Demon as a carrier and investigate that green existence separately; perhaps there would be unexpected gains.

He recorded all his findings and thoughts in detail, wrote them down in a certain secret code, and submitted them according to the prescribed method. This way, even if he were exposed later, the Heavenly Demon side would not know what he had discovered.

Thus, on the second night, he officially unleashed the Vanishing Sword Technique and headed to the second level, where the strong were gathered.

The reason he went up now was also calculated together with the Sun Court. At this time, they were already very close to that foreign world, and perhaps they could catch a glimpse of it at any moment. At that time, everyone's attention would be attracted by that world, and they would be unable to care about anything else. If he went up and was quickly discovered, he could take advantage of this opportunity to maneuver a bit.

Of course, it was best not to be discovered.

Although it was said that Immortals and Saints were gathered here, and their strength was far greater than Zhangle's, Zhangle had undergone specialized training. Ultimately, to make the world ignore his existence, how could a mere Sword Immortal or Sword Saint compare to the true world? If it were one of the two Sword Saints who saw through it, so be it; there was still room to cultivate further. If any random Sword Immortal could discover the clues, then he might as well stop thinking about avoiding the world, pack up and go back where he came from, and just leave the opportunity to Tang Zhao.

Wei Zhangle naturally would not allow such a thing to happen, and he was also very actively responding to this small "test." He straightened his clothes and pushed open the door.

Yes, he pushed the door open and went up openly; he did not take advantage of others opening the door to slip in through the crack.

This "Disappearance" of his was different from invisibility; it was a different concept. That is, one simply does not notice. If it were invisibility, one would naturally have to be cautious, fearing to make any abnormal movement or bring along other things, causing an effect like "clothes without a person floating in the air," making people notice the abnormality.

However, this Disappearance was different. He did not cover the sword-bearer himself, but blurred everyone's attention and all senses, making people unable to perceive that this person existed before them. This blurring was conceptual; even related memories could be erased. Now, it had gone a step further: even previous written records would disappear, as if jumping out of the Three Realms and not being within the Five Elements, severing all karma in the world. Moreover, the people or objects attached would also be disappeared. If Wei Zhangle pushed a door, then no one would notice the door, turning a blind eye to the opening and closing of the door. Even if someone had previously locked the door with great care, and in the blink of an eye Wei Zhangle opened the door, that person would still not notice anything abnormal.

Now Wei Zhangle had reached the point where if this door had any delicate anti-theft or alarm mechanisms, anyone pushing the door might trigger them, but Wei Zhangle opening the door at will would not trigger them—because those mechanisms also ignored him. These mechanisms did not even deserve to be "anthropomorphized" in any situation, but in the definition of the Rune Sword, they had attention, and they would be blurred.

This was the mystery of the top-tier Ouroboros Sword.

As soon as Wei Zhangle opened the door, he saw two Heavenly Demons blocking the entrance.