Witch Wind

Chapter 425 The Opportunity to Prove the Dao (Part 2)

Sun Wu, the heartland.

In Sun Zhongmou's secret treasure vault, seventy-seven bright silver metal pillars, each over ten feet in diameter, floated in the air.

The hundred-foot-long metal pillar gleamed with blinding electric light. The excessively powerful current surged like a thunder dragon, ionizing the surrounding air with terrifying energy. A strange, burnt smell filled the air, as if the entire void had been pierced by the electric current.

Indeed, it was breached.

Before Sun Zhongmou, a portal, shimmering with silver light and resembling molten metal, appeared.

At first glance, the portal appeared to be only a thousand feet in diameter. However, when Sun Zhongmou closed his eyes and observed it with the power of his quasi-saint peak immortal soul, the portal appeared to be vast and boundless, comparable to the size of a small world, with a diameter of at least 10 billion miles.

The difference between the naked eye and the divine soul, and the different perspectives they have, in different dimensions, results in such a vast difference in the perceived reality.

Sun Zhongmou sighed inwardly, realizing that the power behind Dong Zhuo was truly terrifying, having actually molded the Great Dao of Space into such a form.

A silicon-based life form, eight feet tall, thin, and shimmering with silver light, slowly walked out. Surprisingly, gender is meaningless for silicon-based life forms, but this silicon-based life form clearly resembled a woman with a curvaceous figure and slender branches.

Even without withdrawing his immortal soul power, Sun Zhongmou noticed that this silicon-based life form actually possessed other distinct female characteristics—for example, the place where life was conceived.

Of course, these structures are all made of metals with extremely special materials.

This silicon-based life form glared at Sun Zhongmou with great displeasure. Its silver robe, also made of metal, churned violently, and a terrifying torrent of energy flashed into visible lightning. Sun Zhongmou groaned, as if the immortal soul power he released had been bitten hard by ten thousand venomous pythons.

The pain was excruciating, piercing pain, and even his own Dao foundation was affected, showing signs of collapse.

Sun Zhongmou took a step back and bowed slightly to the woman with extreme apology: "It was my rudeness, please forgive me, young lady."

The silicon-based life form, with its soft lines and delicate features, revealed a bright smile: "You rascal, you do have a rather pleasant way of speaking."

Behind her head, her silver hair, also composed of fine metal threads, was even finer, softer, and thicker than that of a proper woman, moving without wind and flowing slowly behind her like ripples of water.

In her hand, a strangely shaped scepter, nearly two zhang tall, was entirely translucent and made of metal, yet it revealed a crystal-like texture. Within it, intense dark golden energy rippled like water. Heavy, solid, and full of the clanging rhythm of metal, yet brimming with the agile and ever-changing mysteries of the Dao, continuously surged from the scepter.

Under the influence of these slowly pulsating waves of the Great Dao, the entire treasure vault, originally made of jade, had its floor, walls, and ceiling transformed into metal in just a few breaths.

On the heavy metal, one after another, magnificent mechanical flowers slowly bloom.

These mechanical flowers are full of the unique rhythmic beauty of mechanical technology. Each petal is cold and austere, shining with dazzling red light patterns, and may erupt with a destructive torrent of particles at any moment.

Sun Zhongmou tensed up, his mind going blank for a moment.

Merely affected by the Dao fluctuations of this scepter, the aura released by these suddenly blooming mechanical flowers in this mutated treasure vault actually posed a fatal threat to him—the red light patterns surging on these mechanical flowers actually possessed the power to kill a peak quasi-saint!
Sun Zhongmou stared at her in horror.

Her own aura was only about the same as Sun Zhongmou's, perhaps slightly stronger, but not to the point of being invincible. However, the immense energy surging within the scepter in her hand clearly came from an incredibly powerful 'sage'.

Perhaps, it is a power beyond that of a sage.

This terrifying power, which can change the world and transform its appearance without being deliberately activated, is truly terrifying.

Even a saint probably couldn't do that?
A strange, electronic roar erupted, and from the portal, one colossal metal object after another tumbled out. These creatures resembled humans, beasts, and birds, varying in size from a few meters tall to hundreds of millions of miles in circumference.

They were made entirely of metal, and a terrifying energy field covered their bodies.

Their eyes, whether one or two, three or five, or tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands—there was a giant creature with a diameter of over 800 million miles, shaped like a sphere, with thousands of extremely long metal tentacles wriggling below it, its entire body covered with round, water-jar-sized metal eyes, numbering over 100 million.

The scarlet electronic eyes flashed with a mesmerizing yet ruthless light, staring intently at Sun Zhongmou.

More and more metal creations emerged from the portal.

The eerie power of the scepter filled the void. Sun Zhongmou's treasure vault, which originally had a very limited capacity, with an internal space of at most a million miles in diameter, had been transformed by this power into a small world in size. Millions of enormous metal creatures had emerged from it. Compared to the ever-expanding treasure vault, their massive forms were like a grain of rice falling into a large pond, insignificant.

What terrified Sun Quan was this.

The weakest of these emerging metal creations was at the peak of the Great Luo Golden Immortal realm... Among them were more than 30,000 massive metal objects, whose aura was above that of Quasi-Saints.

This force sent chills down Sun Zhongmou's spine. He couldn't imagine which power in this world could withstand the onslaught of this torrent of metal. Sun Wu, which was divided into two factions within itself, was naturally out of the question. Cao Wei was no good. Sima Jin was even less so. Well, Shu Han now had a sage in charge, so perhaps only Shu Han could withstand it.
Even if Shu Han could withstand this torrent of metal, even if Liu Bei could suppress them, Shu Han would still suffer heavy casualties, right?

Sun Zhongmou took a deep, deep breath.

His eyes flashed, and he let out a sharp breath—there was a major problem within Sun Wu.

Those brave and fierce generals, including those who were once close to him, such as Gan Ning and Taishi Ci, have all been replaced by his elder brother, whose personal charisma surpasses his own, over the past million years.

Sun Zhongmou couldn't understand why Sun Ce, with his personality, could attract so many of his most powerful generals to join his cause.

Even Zhou Yu and Lu Su were closer to Sun Ce than to Sun Zhongmou.

Who are the people who are subordinate to him?
They were all local powerful figures from the late Wu period, a bunch of lazy bums who lived a life of luxury and debauchery, always wavering between two sides, always backing down when there was a problem, and rushing forward desperately when there was a benefit!
He himself looked down on that bunch of scoundrels.

But he had no choice but to trust and rely on this scoundrel!
Seriously, that's disgusting!

So when that scoundrel Dong Zhuo came knocking, Sun Quan hesitated for a long time before finally agreeing to cooperate with him.

The best outcome is to drive away the tiger and devour the wolf, with both tiger and wolf dying. Then, Sun Quan can unify the three kingdoms and revitalize the Wu kingdom from the ruins!

With his eyes narrowed, Sun Zhongmou reviewed his plan in his mind over and over again.

His gaze swept over Dong Zhuo.

That damned bastard, that damned son of a bitch—Sun Quan, in a state of turmoil, went on a tour a few days ago. Outside the world barrier of this realm, in a perilous and dangerous place, he encountered Dong Zhuo, who had mistakenly wandered in, was severely injured, besieged, and almost died.

Seeing that Dong Zhuo had completely transformed himself into a lump of metal, retaining only his masculine characteristics, Sun Quan, feeling deeply curious, offered his help.

After Dong Zhuo arrived in this world and understood the situation, he proposed that Sun Quan join the forces behind him. Dong Zhuo had the ability to open a portal, but he was too badly injured before and needed Sun Quan's assistance to gather enough energy to open the portal and let 'her' enter this world.

The connections, negotiations, and numerous strategic maneuvers involved are quite complex.

In short, it boils down to this: Sun Quan saved Dong Zhuo and reached an agreement with the forces behind Dong Zhuo, in which he helped Dong Zhuo open this portal, allowing 'her' to bring a mechanical army into this world.

"I hope my choice is right." Sun Zhongmou's face was ashen as he silently watched the electronic eyes flickering with a mesmerizing light, analyzing the terrifying behemoth that shaped the Great Dao of this world using various methods. Amidst a low, metallic whistling sound, a colossal object, a million miles in diameter, with a transparent metal outer shell a thousand miles thick, filled with a viscous, scarlet liquid, and with countless intricate metal tubes winding and twisting inside, silently slid before Sun Zhongmou.

On the outer wall of this massive metal object, a rugged metal face appeared: "Native, enter my body and begin the transformation... Hmm, my personal suggestion is that you should completely transform into one of our people... Don't be like that guy, he actually retained his reproductive system... Full of low-level carbon-based biological instincts, how boring."

The rugged, metallic face chuckled in a deep voice: "When Dong Zhuo was being transformed, he was just a minor half-step Great Luo, weak and pitiful. Transforming him brought no sense of accomplishment. But you are different. You have actually reached the peak of Quasi-Saint cultivation... Ah, I will do my best to transform you into something even more perfect, using you as the foundation."

Sun Zhongmou took a step back warily and said in a deep voice, "We made an agreement that after you eliminate my enemies... what do you intend to do?"

She glanced around, listening to the conversation between the rugged face and Sun Zhongmou. She slowly raised the scepter in her hand: "Fulfill the contract. After we eliminate those weak little insects, you will have the honor of becoming a true member of our race."

“That’s right, the void here is filled with the aura of a newly ascended saint.” She was so excited that her whole body spewed out high-temperature plasma. She shouted loudly, “As long as we can capture him alive, he will be my opportunity to prove my Dao.”

“His Dao is balanced and peaceful, without the slightest extreme. It is the type of Dao that is easiest to devour and integrate.” She raised her scepter high and hissed, “Among all the ‘children’ of ‘Father’, I, Xiuliya, will be the first to complete the leap of life and ascend to the position of sainthood.”

Behind Xiuliya, a terrifying surge of energy erupted from the portal.

It was as if an ancient dragon whale was passing through a thin water pipe—the water pipe was less than a ten-thousandth the size of the ancient dragon whale. This giant creature could have easily burst this thin water pipe, but it carefully used its own power to forcibly solidify this small water pipe, slowly expanding it and sliding it little by little into this world through this narrow passage.

Xiuliya raised the scepter in her hand.

A terrifying, dark golden tide surged rapidly outwards, opening up the void. Then, countless crisscrossing, enormous chains, resembling interconnected electronic chips, forcibly sealed off the entire void.

The internal and external energies were isolated, and all fluctuations of the Great Dao were sealed within this small treasure vault.

After a long while, accompanied by a deep rumble, a large amount of free-floating golden-red high-energy field sprayed out from the portal like water mist. A terrifying being, no more than a hundred miles tall, roughly humanoid, and sitting on a huge metal throne, struggled out of the portal.

His presence left Sun Zhongmou's mind blank.

Sun Zhongmou's body stiffened, every cell in his body groaning under the unbearable strain. He saw the form of this terrifying being, sensed its aura, and the flesh and blood within Sun Zhongmou, and even the Daoist essence permeating it, began to slowly transform into a metallic life form.

He wanted to say something.

However, he was unable to speak.

Sun Quan suddenly understood something—something he had never been able to understand since the Three Kingdoms period, even after so many millennia.

Sometimes, scheming and power plays are really useless!
To survive in chaotic times, you need strength.

To survive in this terrifying and chaotic world, one needs power so great that no one dares to offend them!

Perhaps Sun Ce was right.

Sun Zhongmou's skin had turned into a jet-black metal.

He strained his eyes wide, his vision filled with countless square chips of all sizes flashing. His brain was transforming from the flesh and blood of a cultivator into the crystalline brain of a silicon-based life form.

His way of thinking has also shifted from the model of carbon-based intelligent life to the 'calculation' method of silicon-based life, which is methodical, extremely precise, and extremely particular about cause and effect.

With this sudden burst of extraordinary perception, he gained a clearer and wiser understanding of the long-standing disputes between his two brothers from a different perspective—he was wrong, and Sun Ce was right.

The Wu kingdom should not have relied on its natural defenses to cower in this blessed land, indulging in power, wealth, and luxury.

If the national policy advocated by Sun Ce had been followed, and if the Sun Wu group had been able to frantically reorganize and expand its military, and continuously and proactively engage in uninterrupted battles with Shu Han, Cao Wei, and the Sima clan, relying on its geographical advantages, then the situation would have been different.

Using the flesh and blood of those three-foot-tall natives as a whetstone, constantly sharpening the flesh and soul of those powerful cultivators in the Sunwu Group... perhaps, the Sunwu Group would not be what it is now?

Who knows, maybe those two brothers will be able to attain sainthood before Liu Bei?
What's impossible?
Liu Bei, a mere straw sandal seller from a poor background... What Liu Han imperial family? Bah, the Liu Han imperial family of the late Han Dynasty, what value? What value? Worthless!

If the two brothers could work together with one heart and one mind, and if they could refrain from vying for power and profit, they could lead the Sunwu Group to strive for progress...

Who said that Liu Bei would definitely be the one to attain sainthood this time?

If that's the case...

He won't let the wolf into his house, will he?

A crimson electronic light shone in Sun Zhongmou's eyes. His physical body and his immortal soul were both transforming into a pure silicon-based life form under the influence of the Great Dao of that terrifying silicon-based saint.

Xiuliya turned her head and gave Sun Zhongmou a cold look: "He is not worthy of your favor."

The silicon-based saint, who was hundreds of miles tall, smiled slightly and nodded slowly: "That's true... It was just an accidental leak of my own magnetic field. After all, I haven't had much time to evolve to this level, and it's inevitable that my power would leak out to some extent."

The silicon-based saint's body began to collapse.

Soon, he compressed his enormous body to a height of twelve feet. His body, which originally shimmered with a faint metallic gleam, became dull and lifeless. At first glance, he looked like an ordinary black iron puppet.

His massive metal throne also transformed into flowing molten metal. With a deep rumble, the molten metal rose into the air and solidified into an exquisite scepter as tall as himself in the palm of the silicon-based saint. Strange metallic rays of light swirled around the scepter, and a rich life force emanated from it.

"My authority is life, is derivation, is propagation, is the study of the evolution of all intelligent life forms." The silicon-based sage examined Sun Zhongmou with great interest—the terrifying metallic mutation was receding from Sun Zhongmou's body like a receding tide, restoring him to his normal flesh and blood form.

"To arbitrarily alter the life forms of various intelligent life forms is the direction of my evolution." The silicon-based saint nodded and said, "However, Xiuliya is right. You are not yet good enough for me to personally help you evolve."

"Of course, you will enjoy the honors bestowed upon you by my clan. But I will not be the one to make the move."

The silicon-based saint said softly, "Remember my name. I am Xiu San San, the first generation descendant of the great ruler Chi Tu. I am the most outstanding individual among the 1.09 billionth generation descendant... She earned the opportunity to become a saint and attain enlightenment through her own efforts and talent."

“Xiuliya, I’m delighted to see you successfully advance in rank.” Xiu San San smiled. “I look forward to your advancement, and then, to the complete destruction of this world as a celebration feast. And, of course, there are so many research templates…”

The countless silicon-based life forms present all lit up their scarlet electronic eyes simultaneously.

Within Xiu San San's pupils, extremely fine, eerie light shot out, outlining the panoramic view of the battlefield ahead.

He muttered to himself, "A carbon-based holy position, Liu Bei?"

"Oh, and this guy, Xing Tianli... Delete the kill order against Xing Tianli, I want him alive. This guy's cultivation speed is too fast, his research value is countless times greater than that piece of trash named Sun Zhongmou!"

Xiu Sansan smiled brightly.

(End of this chapter)