Chapter 116 – Heaven's Grace Orange
Gold! (Down with a Bad Cold, Feeling Terrible)
The spaceship had just entered the outskirts of the "Pilgrimage Path." Jiang Zhe still preferred to call it the "Red Zone" — much simpler and clearer. Using the Virtual Universe Company's name, everyone would instantly know this place was dangerous.
As soon as the ship crossed into the Red Zone, it began to shake repeatedly, like a sailboat tossed in a stormy sea.
"Master, it's spatial turbulence. Though still relatively weak, we'd better disembark,"
Orianna reported. She then found a safe area and stabilized the ship.
During the past nine months of dull travel, apart from training, Jiang Zhe had done plenty of homework and was well aware of the primary dangers lurking in the Red Zone.
Besides the "little monsters" guarding the 10,081 temple relic sites, the unstable spacetime environment was the top threat.
In the Red Zone, spatial and temporal turbulence was common, unpredictable, and highly variable. Some areas could even spawn terrifying spacetime storms.
There were also deadly forbidden zones capable of naturally forming space-strangling or time-flow-distorting phenomena — abilities usually only wielded by high-level Kings.
Even the immortal natives of the Ancient God World had to tread carefully here.
Jiang Zhe thought back to how Luo Feng managed to venture in and snatch a Purple Borealis Leaf — purely thanks to the Mosha Clan's innate spatial senses, letting him clearly detect spatial turbulence.
But without a time-related talent, most areas remained extremely dangerous even for Luo Feng.
Fortunately, Jiang Zhe lacked neither space nor time talents.
After putting on his origin force battle armor and slinging the Hunyuan Umbrella on his back, Jiang Zhe flew out of the ship.
His Candlelight Clone remained inside the umbrella's internal space, carrying his life core — the Origin Core. This meant that his main body had nothing to fear in the upcoming adventure.
Unless someone sealed the Hunyuan Umbrella and had a Universe Venerable outside forcibly accelerate time, Jiang Zhe couldn't imagine how he could be killed.
In the worst-case scenario…
He'd end up like Ji Ning — left with only a second divine soul, waiting until he became a Hunyuan Lord to resurrect his main body whose lifespan had run out.
"Master, focus! Be careful ahead!"
Orianna's urgent voice jolted Jiang Zhe, and he hastily dodged half a temple crashing toward him at near-lightspeed.
Fortunately, Orianna's detection range was vast. Otherwise, for an average Universe- or Domain Lord-level traveler, spotting such an incoming projectile would've come too late — they'd be vaporized on the spot.
"Damn! That must've blasted out from an area with abnormal time flow, right?"
Jiang Zhe muttered, still a bit shaken.
It was well known that Kings who comprehended "time acceleration" were masters at fleeing — they could ramp themselves up to superluminal speeds in a short burst and slip into the Dark Universe.
That temple fragment couldn't achieve that speed on its own. Clearly, it had passed through some region with a drastically altered time flow and been launched like a bullet.
Jiang Zhe shook his head, dismissing random thoughts, and continued toward the target he and Orianna had planned — the outer Red Zone's No. 1023 temple relic site.
"Based on the exploration by the Domain Lord family — the Darks, the No. 1023 temple relic is rated at a Domain Lord danger level, or E-grade by our system.
The temple stands on a continental plate spanning over 9,000 kilometers, with the structure itself covering roughly 11 million square kilometers. Inside, it produces a metal treasure the Ancient Gods call 'Dark Orange Gold.'
Master, comparing with the Virtual Universe database, I believe it's actually Heaven's Grace Orange Gold. Its best use is for peak Domain Lord metal lifeforms to consume, which strengthens their body hardness and raises their chances of becoming Immortal by 8%."
Orianna laid out the intel she'd compiled for Jiang Zhe.
Unlike Luo Feng, who had to let his Mosha Clan clone wander the Red Zone like a headless chicken hoping to stumble on fortune, Jiang Zhe and Orianna had a rough map. An E-grade danger zone was perfect to test the waters.
The Virtual Universe Company left 70% of the Ancient God Blood for the natives not to waste, but to push Domain Lords and Domain Masters into the Red Zone, trying to unearth lost Ancient God inheritances.
Countless eras had passed, and the basic situation in the 10,081 temple relic sites had been roughly mapped out by the natives.
For less dangerous temples, the Ancient God natives would enter every millennium to harvest resources — most of which had to be offered up to the Virtual Universe Company afterward.
Jiang Zhe weaved through the void, dodging small asteroids and sensing spatial and temporal turbulence in advance to avoid violent outbreaks.
Behind him, the Hunyuan Umbrella radiated a divine light, creating a kilometer-wide sphere filled with misty glow that calmed the unstable spacetime nearby.
His Candlelight Clone's innate secret technique, Abyss, was the key to moving unhindered through the Red Zone's chaotic spacetime.
— He could sense turbulence zones ahead and steer clear, while any weak time or space turbulence that did reach him was pacified.
After over ten days of travel, Jiang Zhe landed on a barren continental plate.
There stood a towering temple larger than the land area of his old homeland, leaving him slightly dazed.
"Orianna, I keep suspecting these 10,081 temples are renewable resource nodes. The treasures produced inside are probably premium materials for crafting puppets, one of the Ancient God Universe Master's prepared foundations."
Orianna paused, then replied,
"Master, I have the same feeling. But without a complete version of the 'Puppet Art,' it remains speculation."
"Mm. So what now? Should I just walk in through the main gate?"
"No, master. Fly up. We want the highest chamber — that's where the goods are."
"Got it."
With that, Jiang Zhe shot skyward like a cannon shell.
At the same time, his intrusion triggered the temple's defense system.
The Domain and Sector Lords among the Ancient Gods exploring this place would always enter through the surrounding gates, slowly ascending the tower. The special aura awakened by the Ancient God Blood helped shield them — the safest approach.
Flying directly to the top floor?
Absolutely reckless.
The airspace here was heavily guarded — practically a reverse scale.
Zzzt!
A crimson energy beam lanced out from the crumbling temple.
Jiang Zhe used the combat footwork of Nine Refinements Fist to dodge, leaving behind a phantom that was promptly obliterated.
Following the beam back, he saw—
Half a molten-orange metal lifeform leaning out a temple window. It looked like a wax figure melting under extreme heat, orange molten iron dripping down its body.
Its charcoal-like glowing eyes were slowly brightening.
Jiang Zhe knew exactly what that meant — it was charging up.
Once those eyes hit maximum brightness, it would fire another pair of crimson beams.
Luckily it wasn't a true laser, or he wouldn't have escaped.
"Metal lifeform?"
"No, master. According to the sensors, it's a puppet."
"Is that so? Judging by its attack level, it's D-grade — so roughly Domain Lord level?"
"Yes, master. About D9. That last energy blast could severely wound a ninth-rank Domain Lord." Orianna paused, then added, "Did you notice? It has a hint of intelligence, like an insect warrior."
Jiang Zhe's eyes lit up. He recalled that Universe Master's scheming with mechanical and insect clans.
"Puppets… insect warriors? Isn't that a perfect blend of mechanical and insect race advantages?"
Imagine a puppet army with these traits:
"Scattered, they're stars across the sky."
Able to break into small squads and independently execute simple tactics thanks to weak intelligence — no micromanagement needed. Think of how Blood Mantis led the Green Mantis Squad in the genius war, the combat power was insane.
"Together, they're a blazing fire."
They could unify their minds and merge attacks, showcasing the insect clan's most terrifying swarm synergy.
Clearly, that Universe Master wasn't stupid. Perhaps the mechanical and insect races could further refine his "Puppet Art" and give him a shot at breaking through to True God, explaining why he planned to betray humanity.
Zzzt—
Two crimson energy beams shot out. Jiang Zhe dodged again, pushing aside his wandering thoughts.
Throughout the temple's many windows, pairs of crimson eyes lit up. Metal lifeform puppets awakened one by one, all locking onto Jiang Zhe.
Zzzt! Zzzt! Zzzt…
Crimson beams rained down.
"Interesting, but far from enough."
A smile tugged at Jiang Zhe's lips. Like a dancer on a knife's edge, he left behind phantom bodies that were vaporized by beams, but he himself always sidestepped at precisely the right moment.
That was the power of passing the 13th floor of the Heavenly Bridge, with high-level dual-path law insights. In leisurely steps, he seemed to toy with everything in his palm.
It wasn't just terrifying burst speed — it was also supreme spatial reading ability.
Even though the metal puppets could lock onto his position, Jiang Zhe always maneuvered so their attacks lagged by a step, slipping neatly into the safest gaps.
While the puppets recharged, Jiang Zhe ascended toward the top, even joking,
"Orianna, should I grab one of these puppets for you to study?"
"They're too weak. Master, let's go straight to the top floor. The real research targets await there."
The entire temple was nearly a thousand kilometers tall.
Dodging countless crimson beams from all levels, Jiang Zhe reached the top floor in about five seconds, landing on the stone steps leading into the highest chamber.
There, metal puppets with molten-orange liquid dripping from their bodies charged down at him — the elite guards of the top floor.
Orianna emerged from her attached state, taking form as a brass doll that stood protectively before Jiang Zhe, smashing E-grade metal puppets apart with Nine Refinements Fist.
With an 88-fold life gene level at Domain Lord stage four, her base strength already far exceeded a human Domain Lord peak. Plus she could directly wield Jiang Zhe's Heavenly Bridge 13th-layer law comprehension via Proxy.
In this E-rated danger zone, Orianna could simply bulldoze through.
Jiang Zhe swept out his spiritual force, pulling all the puppet corpses to pile before him. Orianna pried open their chests, retrieved the orange spherical cores, and stored them in his internal world to be devoured.
He'd rely on his Matter Lord and Mechanical Pioneer talents to analyze the secrets of these puppet cores.
Jiang Zhe kept one core in hand, examining it.
About the size of a bowl, an orange metal sphere etched with dense, mysterious runes — it exuded a deep, arcane aura.
A dozen breaths later, Orianna delivered her analysis:
"Primarily composed of E9-grade Orange Gold, mixed with a trace of unknown material. In- and outside are engraved with extremely intricate runes.
The latter two seem to be the source of the puppet's weak intelligence and combat strength…
Unfortunately, rune analysis isn't my forte, and we're also limited by our law comprehension — I can't decipher more."
Jiang Zhe nodded, unconcerned.
"You've done well enough, Orianna. Let's head into the main temple hall — time to fetch the Heaven's Grace Orange Gold."
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