Chapter 7: The Genesis Protocol and the Silent Gathering
While Li Ming lay in a deep, transformative sleep atop the Hidden Dragon Mountain, the rest of the Kang Qiang continent was in a state of absolute chaos. Envoy Chen's return to the Imperial Capital had been anything but silent. His reports of a youth who could "delete" the Emperor's laws had spread like wildfire through the jade-paved halls of power.
In the heart of the capital, within the "Hall of Eternal Providence," the five Great Emperors of the continent gathered for the first time in a millennia. These were not mere men; they were the pillars of the Old Dao, beings who had lived for thousands of years by breathing the very essence of the stars.
"A 'Glitch' in the south?" the Emperor of the Eternal Flame mused, his voice sounding like a mountain of coal shifting. "Chen claims his Sovereign Word was bypassed. This is more than just a rogue cultivator. This is a corruption of the Heavenly Blueprint."
"If one boy can rewrite the laws of gravity and light," the Empress of the Frost Moon added, her gaze colder than the void, "then the power we have spent eons accumulating is nothing but a house of cards. We must act before he wakes from his 'defragmentation'."
As the Emperors plotted their "Correction Campaign," the Hidden Dragon Mountain was undergoing a rebirth. The "Zero-Zone" created by Li Ming had expanded, turning the entire mountain range into a shimmering, crystalline fortress. The animals that lived there were no longer ordinary spirit beasts; they were being "optimized." Their fur glowed with binary patterns, and their eyes held a cold, calculated intelligence.
[System Notification: Defragmentation 100% Complete.]
[Host Consciousness: Restored.]
[Current Status: Rank 3 Creator (Sovereign Architect).]
[New Feature Unlocked: 'Legacy Patching' – The ability to grant System Access to others.]
Li Ming's eyes snapped open. They were no longer grey; they were a shifting kaleidoscope of silver and azure. He stood up, and the very air of the cave bowed to his movement. He felt more than strong; he felt "correct."
He walked to the entrance of the cave and looked down at the mountain slopes. There, he saw a small group of people huddled near the boundary of his domain. They were the "outcasts" of the Li Clan—servants, failed disciples, and the elderly who had been thrown out after the clan's recent defeat. They had nowhere else to go, so they came to the only place that had defied the Patriarch.
"They seek a path in a world that has deleted them," Li Ming whispered.
[Quest Generated: The First Disciples.]
[Objective: Create the 'Architect's Legion' by patching their broken Qi Seas.]
Li Ming descended the mountain, not by walking, but by "repositioning" his coordinates in space. He appeared instantly before the trembling group. At their head was a young girl named Li Xiao, barely twelve years old, whose Qi Sea had been shattered by a cruel overseer months ago.
"You seek power?" Li Ming asked, his voice sounding like the hum of a distant star.
"We seek to survive," the girl replied, looking up at him with eyes full of desperate hope. "The clan says we are trash. The world says we are errors. We want to know... can an error have a purpose?"
Li Ming knelt and placed a hand on the girl's head. Through his vision, her shattered Qi Sea looked like a broken piece of glass—sharp, chaotic, and useless.
"In the old world, you are a mistake," Li Ming said. "But in my world, a mistake is just an opportunity for an upgrade."
He closed his eyes and activated **[Legacy Patching]**.
[Accessing Target: Li Xiao.]
[Scanning Damage... 80% loss of spiritual conductivity.]
[Executing Patch: 'The Weaver's Sub-Routine'.]
Grey threads of light flowed from Li Ming's fingers into the girl's chest. The crowd gasped as Li Xiao began to levitate. Her shattered Qi Sea was not healed; it was "converted." The jagged shards of glass were melted down and reformed into a miniature, glowing silver loom—a specialized internal system designed for "Energy Weaving."
"Open your eyes," Li Ming commanded.
Li Xiao landed softly. She took a breath, and instead of the agonizing pain she usually felt, she felt a surge of cold, clean power. She pointed a finger at a nearby withered bush, and without any chant or gesture, a thread of silver energy shot out, "re-knitting" the bush until it bloomed with flowers in the middle of winter.
The crowd fell to their knees. This wasn't the Dao they knew. This was something miraculous.
"I have not given you Qi," Li Ming told the group. "I have given you 'Permissions'. You are now the first 'Coders' of the New World. You will not gather energy; you will manage it. You will not follow the path; you will maintain it."
One by one, Li Ming patched the broken souls. He didn't give them all the same power. To the strong, he gave the "Guardian Shield" sub-routine. To the elderly, he gave the "Chronos-Buffer" to extend their lives. He was building an army of specialists—a legion that didn't rely on the heavens, but on the Mainframe he had become.
As the day ended, the Hidden Dragon Mountain was no longer a place of exile. It was the "Source Forge" of a new civilization.
[System Update: Architect's Legion established (12 members).]
[Domain Fortification: Increased by 300%.]
[Warning: The Five Emperors have mobilized. Arrival of the 'First Wave' in 72 hours.]
Li Ming looked at his new disciples, who were practicing their new abilities with tears of joy. He then looked toward the north, where the horizon was glowing with the golden light of the Imperial Army.
"Twelve against an empire," Li Ming mused, gripping The Nullifier. "The odds are statistically perfect for a revolution."
He turned to Li Xiao, who was now standing by his side as his first 'System Admin'. " Xiao, prepare the mountain. The Emperors are coming to delete us. Let's show them what happens when you try to force-close a Sovereign System."
The Nullifier's tip flickered with a dark, hungry light. The war for the soul of the continent was no longer a skirmish. It was a battle between the "Old Script" and the "New Genesis
."
And Li Ming was ready to press 'Enter'.
---
End of Chapter 7.