Chapter 419: Opening the Square Body

"Many years from now, who will be the one to read the story of my life?"

Chen Shu wrote this line in his diary, drew a period, closed the diary, and threw it into the Crystal.

Daily Cultivation.

Waking up the next day, it was already late October.

Recently, the problems in Xixiao have been mostly resolved; at least the Cao Ci believers of the Sixth Stage and above have been cleared out. Only these believers with a certain capacity for destruction required the use of High-level Practitioners to quickly subdue them before they could resist, so as to prevent them from acting out of desperation and harming civilians. The rest can be captured using normal military and police forces, so this period has become more relaxed, and tasks are becoming fewer.

As a key area of Zhongzhou, with Xixiao mostly under control, Zhongzhou is basically mostly under control as well.

The situations in the other continents vary.

Other continents also have Secret Sect Practitioners distributed throughout them. This joint crackdown on the Mengyue Sect is less of a move by the various countries and more of an arrangement by the bigwigs of the Secret Sect. Therefore, Secret Sect Practitioners from other continents also participated, but their abilities varied, and without the assistance of Heavenly Human and Buddhist systems, their efficiency was lower.

Among them, Dongzhou, having only one unified Yaoguo with a highly centralized government, saw the crackdown proceed very smoothly.

The various countries in the Northern Continent also had high operational capability, and the brothers were ruthless; the process of clearing out Cao Ci believers was cleaner and more efficient than in other continents, simple and economical. It is said that they have also mostly finished off the Mengyue Sect during this time.

The remaining Western Continent is a bit more troublesome.

Although the Lan Country is powerful, its political power is fragmented, with each state having autonomy, a large variety of ethnic groups, and chaotic public security; this kind of matter is inherently very difficult to handle.

Other countries in the Western Continent are also one more chaotic than the next.

Moreover, there are many island nations on the ocean.

Chen Shu feels that the Mengyue Sect's influence in the Western Continent is likely greater than that of the Central, Eastern, and Northern continents combined.

The Mengyue Sect originated in the Western Continent.

"Sigh..."

Chen Shu got up to have breakfast, walked on the road on his way back, chatted for a while with Qingqing who was ten thousand miles away, shared their respective mornings, and after returning to the room, he opened the Autobiography of his fellow countryman again; this was already the last volume of the set.

"At this time, I had reached the First Grade peak.

"I discovered that the peak of the First Grade is not quite the same as the previous ones. When the previous grades reached their peak, the Spirit Sea seemed to have reached its end and was difficult to improve further, or rather, one would step into the next grade when making further progress. But after the First Grade peak, it just became increasingly difficult and slow to cultivate, and there was still room for continued progress.

"I guess the Spirit Lock ends here, because there is no Spirit Lock after the First Grade, so there are no restrictions after reaching the peak, and one can continue to cultivate indefinitely.

"But this is not good news.

"This means that if there is no major technological breakthrough, or if a new cultivation method different from Spirit Sea cultivation is not found, for a normal Cultivator, the top of the cultivation path is the First Grade; there is no such thing as Zero Grade or the like afterward.

"Unless one merges with the Plane Origin and becomes a god."

"So that's how it is..."

Seeing this, Chen Shu finally understood; no wonder that even though both were at the Ninth Tier Peak, Cao Ci only needed to send out a clone to confront Meng Kaiyang of the Imperial Family.

At the same time, he also understood what his fellow countryman meant—

One can still make progress at the Ninth Tier Peak, but it becomes increasingly difficult and slow, and since lifespan is limited, even if one can still move forward, one cannot go very far.

"The Sun True God told me that this plane is adjacent to a plane that is about to be destroyed, and that plane is more mature and powerful than this one. Originally, the gods of both sides had always had exchanges. Since gods cannot leave their plane, they had always maintained friendliness and distance, until they were drowning. Between the survival and extinction of their civilization, they frantically wanted to grab anything they could grab, and thus long-lasting fighting broke out.

"The gods have been resisting them for many generations, from being at an absolute disadvantage at the beginning to barely being able to hold on now, and many generations of gods have fallen.

"He told me that if I want to become a god, I must also be like them and fight for the survival of the plane.

"I hesitated for a long time, then agreed.

"It's just that I don't intend to use the Plane Origin of this plane to become a god, as that might lead to being restricted, which would then affect my departure. Fortunately, I know of a type of energy higher than the Plane Origin, which might also help me become a god."

If anyone else saw this, they would surely think that Shengzu was hesitating about the battle with the gods of the other plane, but Chen Shu knew that he was hesitating about his hometown.

In the end, he still agreed.

It is hard to leave one's native land, but having lived here for hundreds of years, could one really just abandon it easily?

It is sigh-inducing.

As for that energy higher than the Plane Origin...

It was undoubtedly the energy within the Crystal.

Chen Shu was amazed when he saw this and hurriedly flipped forward a few pages, yet his fellow countryman did not record the method of using the energy in the Crystal to become a god; he only mentioned in the following pages that he had already ascended to Godhood. However, one could tell from between the lines that he had successfully used the Crystal to become a god.

Chen Shu had no choice but to flip back to the original place and continue reading.

"The Sun True God told me some methods and precautions for merging with the Plane Origin; some parts were beyond my cognition, but upon reflection, they were quite reasonable.

"It is not only at the First Grade that one can merge with the Origin; the Second Grade, Third Grade, and even the Fourth Grade, Fifth Grade, or even mortals can do it. The difference is that the higher the grade, the shorter the time it takes to merge with the Origin, the lower the failure rate, the more complete the fusion, and the more powerful one is after becoming a god.

"The Plane Origin encompasses all things; that only the First Grade can merge is not a limitation of the Origin, but a limitation of the Forbidden Land, and the mechanism of the Forbidden Land originates from the gods of the past. So, in the final analysis, it is a restriction set by the gods of the past, with the purpose of making the process of a god's birth smoother and the born god more powerful.

"When cultivation was not yet mature in the past, Cultivators could not reach high grades at all, yet gods were still born."

Chen Shu was surprised again when he saw this.

This also exceeded his cognition.

But upon reflection, it was truly reasonable.

The modern belief that the cultivation system reached maturity only during the time of Shengzu is true; the further back in time, the less mature the cultivation system was. If one goes back a bit further, perhaps it was very difficult for Cultivators to push their Spirit Sea Lock to the ninth layer, yet the fighting between the gods of the other plane had already been going on for a very, very long time.

"At the same time, the Origin, like the Forbidden Land, contains the residual will of the gods of past generations. If one wants to become a god, one needs to obtain their approval. Therefore, for a long time, many gods were passed down from generation to generation within various tribes or countries and would not be leaked out.

"If one cannot obtain the approval of the gods who have merged with this Origin in the past, there is also a method to force a fusion, at least I know of one..."

Chen Shu's eyes widened instantly.

"Bang!"

Close the book! Throw it into the Crystal!

Not reading it, not reading it!

No wonder that throughout history, no god has ever disregarded the life and death of the world or acted tyrannically after becoming a god; it turns out there are so many checkpoints for screening successors.

Just at this moment, a commotion came from outside.

"Mr. Chen Shu?"

"I'm here!"

"The matter in Xixiao has mostly subsided. The higher-ups have decided to open the Square Body the day after tomorrow. The expert group is already on their way. The higher-ups asked me to notify you to please follow the History Expert Group into the Square Body at that time to take inventory of the artifacts."

"Alright."

"I will come to pick you up the day after tomorrow."

"Sorry to trouble you."

"You're welcome."

"Emmm..."

Inventorying cultural relics? More like a government-funded vacation, right?

Chen Shu shook his head and checked the time; it was already ten in the morning. After bothering Qingqing, who was observing the universe, it was time to go eat lunch.

Two days later.

The History Expert Group arrived at the Mengong Lake camp.

Isolation nets were set up along both sides of the lake, guarded by military police. However, the area around Mengong Lake was surrounded by mountains, and many onlookers still stood on the peaks. These people completely ignored the danger warnings from the Xixiao Government; many had driven thousands of miles just to witness the appearance of the Square Body.

Chen Shu met with the expert group.

Many of them were old acquaintances.

With a strange feeling, Chen Shu chatted with the experts while waiting for the military's technical team to open the Square Body and isolate the lake water.

As more and more Square Bodies appeared around the world and cultural relics were unearthed, everyone was gaining a better understanding of the history of the Xia Dynasty. Many gaps had been filled, which only made the remaining gaps appear even more glaring, causing a sense of irritation in people's hearts.

Therefore, everyone was full of anticipation for the Xixiao Cube.

"I hope that documents related to the mid-Xia Dynasty can be unearthed from the Xixiao Cube; the middle period was a very important time for the Xia Dynasty."

"There are also many mysteries in the late Xia Dynasty. If they can be solved, perhaps we can understand why the Xia Dynasty collapsed so quickly."

"It would be great if we could find records related to the death of the Shengzu."

"I personally think that if we can find his early life experiences inside, it would provide a great explanation for the birth of this Shengzu Emperor, as well as his life's work. Perhaps it could lift the historical fog shrouding this legendary figure."

"What do you think, Chen Shu?"

"I... um, all of those are fine." Chen Shu felt somewhat awkward.

"Don't be shy, feel free to speak."

"I, anything is fine..."

"You really aren't picky."

Hearing this, everyone stopped giving him a hard time.

Finally, someone came to call them to head toward the Square Body.

The Square Body was located in the center of the lake, dozens of kilometers from the shore. Nothing could be seen from here, so the military had prepared Support Aircraft and boats for them.

As they stepped onto the aircraft, the experts were incredibly excited, but Chen Shu couldn't help but turn his head to look into the distance.

The mountains were packed with people.

Although it had already been reported in the news, the Dayi Wuzong-class Aerospace Carrier had already flown to Xixiao two days ago, and a carrier strike group was also anchored at sea. This place was not like Duqin back in the day; it was not a place where one could fish in troubled waters.

But what about the Mengyue Sect?

Just as this thought crossed his mind, an air-raid siren suddenly blared, its shrill, long, and penetrating sound carrying far into the distance.

"Woo~~~"

"What happened?"

"What's the situation?"

The experts were in a state of panic.

The pilots had already received orders for an emergency retreat, so the Support Aircraft that had just taken off turned around and flew away before they could even head toward the center of the lake.

The troops on the lakeshore retreated rapidly.

Chen Shu, unsurprised, leaned toward the window to look outside. He could only vaguely see a few figures appearing in the sky, and Cultivators on the ground were also shooting up into the air. The onlookers on the mountain peaks were panicked and terrified, fleeing the area frantically.

"Whoosh..."

Dozens of Hunter Aircraft brushed past them.