Chapter 6: The Imperial Glitch and the First Sovereign Code
The silence that followed the defeat of the Black Hawk Enforcers was unnatural. It wasn't the peaceful silence of nature, but the heavy, pressurized quiet of a system holding its breath. Li Ming stood at the center of his "Architect's Domain," his senses expanded to the very edges of the mountain. The grey mist of his Zero-Zone swirled around him like a loyal pet, but even it seemed to shiver.
[System Alert: High-Dimensional Signature Detected.]
[Warning: Target does not conform to standard Kang Qiang power metrics.]
[Distance: 10 Kilometers... 5 Kilometers... Arrival Imminent.]
Li Ming gripped "The Nullifier" tighter. "So, the Li Clan wasn't the only one watching," he muttered.
Suddenly, the sky above the mountain didn't just darken—it fractured. A jagged line of golden light tore through the clouds, looking less like lightning and more like a tear in a piece of silk. From that tear, a figure descended. He didn't use a flying sword or a beast. He stepped through the air as if walking on invisible stairs.
He was a man dressed in robes of pure white, embroidered with a silver sun—the mark of the "Imperial Inquisition" from the Capital. His face was youthful, but his eyes were ancient, swirling with a galaxy of stars. This was an "Ascendant," a being who had moved beyond the mortal stages of cultivation.
"My name is Envoy Chen," the man said, his voice echoing not in the air, but directly in Li Ming's mind. "I am the hand of the Emperor. I was sent to investigate a 'disturbance' in the heavenly records. I expected a demonic ritual... I did not expect a boy playing with the primal threads of creation."
Li Ming felt a pressure he had never experienced before. His "Architect's Domain" was screaming. The presence of Envoy Chen was like a giant stone dropped into a calm pond; the laws Li Ming had written were being forcibly overwritten by the Envoy's sheer existence.
"I am not playing," Li Ming replied, planting his spear. "I am correcting. Your Emperor's world is built on corrupted data."
Envoy Chen smiled, a gesture devoid of warmth. "Data? An interesting term. But the Dao is not a machine, boy. It is a living, breathing river. And you are a dam that needs to be removed."
With a flick of his wrist, Chen unleashed a "Word of Power."
"STILLNESS."
The world froze. The wind stopped, the falling leaves hung in mid-air, and even the atoms of the atmosphere seemed to lock in place. It was a Tier 7 Law—the "Dao of Absolute Command."
Li Ming felt his muscles lock. His breath was trapped in his lungs. But inside his chest, the Grey Core roared.
[Executing Counter-Protocol: 'Kernel Panic'.]
[Analysis: Targeted Law is an external overlay. Initiating System Bypass.]
"Your command... has no authority here," Li Ming gasped. He didn't try to move his body; he moved the "code" of the space he occupied. He "deleted" the concept of stillness in a one-meter radius around himself.
The invisible chains shattered. Li Ming lunged forward with The Nullifier, the tip of the spear glowing with a violent, pulsating blue.
Envoy Chen's eyes widened in genuine surprise. "You broke a Sovereign Word? Impossible!"
He raised his hand, and a shield of golden solar energy erupted between them. The Nullifier struck the shield, and for the first time, Li Ming felt a massive recoil. The two powers clashed—the "Old Dao" of the sun versus the "New Dao" of the void.
*Creeeeeak.*
The sound of reality straining under the pressure was deafening. Li Ming's spear was deconstructing the solar shield, but the Envoy was pouring endless amounts of energy into it.
"System!" Li Ming roared in his mind. "I need more permissions! Overclock the core!"
[Warning: Overclocking will cause 40% damage to the Host's nervous system.]
[Do you wish to proceed?]
"Do it!"
[Overclock Active. Current Rank: Temporary Rank 3 (Sovereign Architect).]
A blinding surge of grey energy exploded from Li Ming. His hair turned silver, and his skin began to glow with a series of complex, moving geometric patterns. He didn't just strike the shield; he "reprogrammed" the solar energy.
"Convert: Solar to Void," Li Ming commanded.
The golden shield didn't break—it turned black. The Envoy's own energy was turned against him, becoming a hungry vacuum that began to eat his robes and flesh.
Envoy Chen retreated hastily, his eyes filled with terror. "You... you are a Devourer of Worlds! The Emperor was right! You are a Glitch that must be purged!"
Chen summoned his ultimate technique: "The Emperor's Executioner." A massive phantom blade, a hundred meters long and glowing with the light of a thousand suns, appeared in the sky, aimed directly at the mountain peak. It was a strike meant to erase an entire city.
Li Ming looked up at the descending blade. He knew his "Architect's Domain" couldn't stop something of this magnitude. He needed to think bigger. He needed to write a "Global Script."
He closed his eyes and touched the Blue Dragon tattoo. "Blueprint... give me the Sovereign Code."
[Loading 'Sovereign Code: World-Deleter'...]
[Resource Required: 100% of current energy.]
Li Ming didn't hesitate. He poured every drop of his essence, his pain, and his ambition into the spear. He didn't swing at the blade. He stabbed the ground.
"FORMAT: REALITY."
A ripple of pure white nothingness expanded from the point of the spear. As the Imperial Blade touched this ripple, it didn't explode—it simply ceased to exist. The mountain, the trees, the sky, and even the Envoy were momentarily caught in a world without color or sound.
When the light faded, the Imperial Blade was gone. Envoy Chen was on his knees, his silver-star robes scorched, his galaxy-eyes dull and flickering. He was no longer an Ascendant; he was a man whose "Source Code" had been scrambled.
"Go back," Li Ming whispered, his voice sounding like a thousand voices speaking at once. He was pale, blood leaking from his eyes and ears from the strain, but his spirit was unshakable. "Tell your Emperor that his 'Executioner' is nothing but a broken line of text. I am the Architect now. And the world... is being rewritten."
Envoy Chen scrambled to his feet, terrified beyond words. He didn't even try to speak; he used a high-level escape talisman and vanished in a blur of golden light, heading back to the Capital to report the birth of a God-like anomaly.
Li Ming fell to one knee, using The Nullifier to support himself.
[System Notification: Evolution Complete.]
[Current Rank: Rank 3 Creator (Sovereign Architect).]
[New Module Unlocked: 'Source Code Manipulation'.]
[Warning: Host body requires 48 hours of 'Defragmentation' (Sleep).]
"Finally," Li Ming muttered, his eyes closing as the mountain mist wrapped around him like a protective blanket. "The First Draft is finished. Now... the real work begins."
As he drifted into a deep sleep, the Grey Core within him began to pulse, slowly expanding its influence. The Hidden Dragon Mountain was
no longer just a mountain; it was the "Mainframe" of a new universe.
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End of Chapter 6.