342: Chapter 277: The Mechanisms of the Ruins, the Mohists Solve Them and Obtain Divine Weapons

Harvesting 1.5 units of Attribute-less Divinity refined from three Divine Corpses was a good start, but Lin Zhou's team didn't let this initial success go to their heads. On the contrary, they became even more cautious. In this battlefield where even those with Faint Divinity were wiped out like ants in an instant, any lapse could invite total disaster.

The team continued toward the depths of the Skeletal Mountain Range, the shadowed area where the god-king fragment and the river of civilization resonated simultaneously. What they saw along the way became increasingly absurd and dangerous. On the massive biological skeletons, not only were there terrifying battle marks (claw marks, puncture wounds, energy burns), but even some shimmering moss or crystals had "grown." These growths seemed to feed on the faint residual energy within the bones, possessing distorted rule characteristics themselves; approaching them caused slight mental illusions or energy interference.

The concentration of the "God-Fall Curse" in the air did not seem to intensify significantly as they went deeper into the skeletal mountain region, but another invisible "sense of weight" became clearer and clearer. It wasn't a physical gravitational anomaly, but a higher-level residual pressure originating from the terrifying existences these massive bones belonged to when they were alive. Even after being dead for countless tens of thousands of years, their mere presence still made the rules of this space sluggish and heavy. Divine Thought detection became more difficult, and even Su Yueyao's Moonlight Traces began to show slight distortion and lag.

"The owner of this skeletal area while alive was likely far beyond our imagination," Su Yueyao's cold voice carried a sense of gravity. "My moonlight detection is heavily interfered with here, and many details cannot be clearly distinguished. Everyone, stay close and do not easily touch any bones or the growths on them."

Lin Zhou nodded; his Divine Thought was similarly restricted. However, the throbbing of the god-king fragment within him became increasingly clear, as if an invisible hand were guiding him toward the deepest part of the Skeletal Mountain Range—there, under the protection of several of the thickest ribs that stood like pillars supporting the sky, the shadows were at their densest, as if swallowing all light.

Just as they were circumventing through relatively safe skeletal gaps to approach that deepest shadow, a Tracking Behemoth (LV42, Special Variant) under Wang Meng's command suddenly stopped. Its massive nostrils twitched, letting out a low, puzzled grunt, and its claws pointed toward the shadow beneath a giant rib on the left.

"A discovery?" Lin Zhou motioned for the team to pause.

That Behemoth growled, pawing at the ground with its claws—it wasn't actual soil there, but a thick layer of "ash" composed of bone powder, metal scraps, and unknown dust. Beneath the ash, a corner of a material different from the surrounding bone and rock was faintly revealed—it was a dark silver metal with extremely precise geometric patterns on its surface!

"A buried building?" Qin Qing's eyes narrowed.

"Excavate carefully, expand the area, and watch for any energy reactions or mechanisms," Lin Zhou ordered, while signaling Zhou Yan's Lava Titan to prepare for defense and Wang Meng's other Behemoths to spread out and keep watch.

Under the Behemoth's careful excavation (careful for a Behemoth, anyway), an area of about ten square meters was soon cleared. What met their eyes was not a completely buried building as imagined, but a slanted, semi-buried metal corridor entrance! The entrance was a standard square with sharp edges, and the dark silver metal doors were tightly shut, covered in geometric patterns and energy circuits so complex they were dizzying. Although dusty, one could still feel their precision and sturdiness. Above the doors, a mostly faded emblem was faintly visible—an abstract eye surrounded by countless gears, levers, and light beams.

"Ruins of an ancient mechanical civilization!" The voice of Li Mo (a Tiangong Dwarf hero staying in the Divine Kingdom for technical support), who was following remotely via Divine Thought connection, rang in Lin Zhou's consciousness with rare excitement. "Boss! Look at that emblem and the style of the patterns; it's a typical 'Terranos' mechanical god System style! They were known for logic, precision, and energy conversion efficiency, and at their Peak, they could contend with gods! This door... is a standard Terranos 'Logic Verification Gate,' requiring a specific energy frequency and decoding sequence to open. Forcing it open will trigger chain defenses or even self-destruction!"

"Can it be cracked?" Lin Zhou asked Li Mo in his mind while observing the surroundings. This area was located under a giant rib, relatively hidden, and the surrounding energy fluctuations were stable; no other dangers had been found for the time being.

"I need time to analyze the residual energy circuits and pattern encoding laws on the door! Focus the detection waves of the Tiangong Instrument (a Mohist special multi-functional detection and analysis instrument) onto the door and send the data to me!" Li Mo's voice was full of a researcher's fanaticism.

Lin Zhou signaled a Tiangong Dwarf Engineer to step forward and activate the portable Tiangong Instrument he carried. The instrument emitted several nearly invisible waves of spiritual light, scanning the metal doors. Soon, a massive stream of data was transmitted back to Li Mo in the Divine Kingdom through a special faith link.

Everyone waited patiently while maintaining the highest state of alert. Su Yueyao's moonlight was like the finest gauze, enveloping the entrance area to block any possible energy leakage or detection. Qin Qing's Net of Law was quietly laid out, specifically defining "unauthorized energy bursts and spatial disturbances" as illegal to perform preventive suppression.

Time passed minute by minute. The Ancient Battlefield's grey sky had no day or night, only eternal silence. About half an hour later, Li Mo's voice rang out again, carrying a hint of fatigue but even more excitement: "Boss, got it! The verification logic of this door is based on a seven-fold nested energy frequency resonance and geometric rune decryption. Fortunately, it's ancient, and most active defense mechanisms have failed or run out of energy, leaving only the basic verification lock. I've reverse-engineered a feasible 'Pseudo-Key' energy frequency and rune injection sequence for the current environment! It requires delicate operation!"

With a thought from Lin Zhou, the phantom of the Divine Kingdom flickered slightly behind him, and a highly condensed Divine Thought Clone of Li Mo (a temporary projection consuming a large amount of Divine Power) was summoned. This Clone was nearly transparent, composed of countless tiny gears and light path phantoms; it was precisely a special ability from the combination of Li Mo's "Mohist Mechanical Arts" and "Mechanical Goblin" divine domains—【Divine Artificer · Analytic Projection】.

"Watch me!" Li Mo's projection flew to the metal door, his ethereal fingers acting like the most precise probes, lightly tapping several key nodes on the door. Meanwhile, Lin Zhou cooperated by mobilizing Divine Power, turning it into extremely fine, constantly changing threads of energy according to the frequency instructed by Li Mo, and injecting them into those nodes.

"Hum... Click... Click-clack..."

A low, rhythmic sound of mechanical operation came from inside the doors, breaking the surrounding silence. The dim geometric patterns on the door seemed to be injected with life, beginning to light up one by one with blue-white light, flowing and converging along complex paths. The abstract eye emblem also lit up slightly, and a scanning beam shot out from the pupil position, scanning Li Mo's projection and the energy Lin Zhou had injected.

The verification lasted about three minutes. Finally, all the light converged in the center of the door into a complex three-dimensional rune, then silently dissipated.

"Screech—"

Amidst the heavy sound of metal friction, the dark silver doors, which had been sealed for unknown tens of thousands of years, slowly slid inward, revealing a corridor extending downward, also constructed of dark silver metal. There was no light source in the corridor, yet there was a soft shimmer, seemingly originating from the metal itself, illuminating the way ahead. Air rushed out, carrying a stale smell of metal and machine oil, but strangely, the concentration of the "God-Fall Curse" within it was significantly lower than outside, seemingly filtered or isolated by some force field inside the ruins.

"The door is open! The curse inside has weakened!" Wang Meng's eyes lit up.

"Maintain formation. Li Mo's projection leads the way, I'll be in the center, Yue Yao and Qin Qing will provide support, and Wang Meng and Zhou Yan will bring up the rear. Advance slowly and watch for any anomalies." Lin Zhou suppressed a hint of anticipation in his heart and calmly ordered.

The corridor was not long; after sloping downward for about fifty meters, it reached a relatively spacious square hall. The hall was roughly the size of two basketball courts and about ten meters high. The four walls and ceiling were also made of dark silver metal, covered with uniform energy conduit slots and vents. The hall was in a state of disarray, with many metal facilities like workbenches, control terminals, and storage lockers overturned, covered in dust and spiderweb-like energy erosion marks. Scattered on the floor were some long-defunct parts and crystal fragments of unknown purpose.

Most striking was the center of the hall, where three objects were actually floating atop a semi-circular metal pedestal that resembled a display stand or an altar! An extremely thin layer of pale blue energy film, looking as if it might rupture at any moment, enveloped the pedestal, isolating the three items from the outside world.

On the left was a straight-edged long saber, about 1.5 meters long with a slender and fierce design. The blade presented a matte deep gray, neither metal nor stone; the spine was straight, and the edge was as thin as a cicada's wing. Even through the energy film, one could feel a sharp edge capable of cutting through everything and shattering laws! A crystal, mostly shattered with only a speck of dark red core remaining, was embedded in the hilt.

On the right was a circular shield about one meter in diameter. The main body of the shield was dark gold, with a ring of complex gear-like protrusions around the edge. In the center was a minimalist relief of a multi-layered ring structure composed of countless fine lines, seemingly in constant motion. The shield's surface was covered in fine scratches and pits, its luster dim, yet it still gave off a heavy sense of being indestructible and capable of resisting all laws.

And in the middle was a fist-sized, oddly shaped polyhedral metal core. Its surface was densely packed with slots, interfaces, and subtle light paths, rotating at an extremely slow speed. Deep within the core, a nearly imperceptible blue light flickered intermittently, like a heart fallen into a deep slumber.

“It's Terranos's divine weapons and energy core!” Li Mo's projection was so excited that the light and shadow were trembling. “That saber, based on its form and data fluctuations, is very likely from the legendary [God-Slaying Saber] series! That shield looks like a variant of the [Heaven-Defying Shield]! The one in the middle... might be the backup control core for this small temple or the driver for some special device!”

“Can they be taken out safely?” Lin Zhou asked. He noticed that although the pale blue energy film enveloping the pedestal was weak, its structure was extremely complex and faintly connected to the entire hall's energy System; breaking it by force might trigger unpredictable consequences.

“Analyzing the energy film structure... it's a maintenance static field. Its primary function is isolation and micro-energy supply to prevent the internal items from completely 'dying.' Destroying it isn't hard, but it might cut off the last bit of energy nourishment for those two divine weapons, accelerating their total collapse, or trigger alarms or self-destruct mechanisms at the base of the pedestal... Got it!” Li Mo's projection analyzed rapidly. “I can try to simulate Terranos's specific maintenance energy frequency to deceive the field, making it think it's time for a 'maintenance cycle' and have it actively open an extraction window briefly! But it requires very precise energy simulation and timing, and the window might only last three to five seconds!”

“You handle the operation, we'll cover you,” Lin Zhou said without hesitation.

Li Mo's projection flew forward again, dancing rapidly around the pedestal. His ethereal fingers traced complex geometric figures composed of light paths in the air, while simultaneously guiding Lin Zhou's Divine Power to perform extremely fine frequency modulation. This was a silent contest on the level of technology and Law.

About ten minutes later, Li Mo's projection suddenly paused: “Now! Frequency locked, window opening—Open!”

The pale blue energy film enveloping the pedestal rippled like water. Above the three items, a circular gap just large enough for a hand to pass through opened silently!

“Quick!” Li Mo barked.

Lin Zhou was well-prepared. His Divine Power transformed into two invisible giant hands, reaching into the gap swiftly yet gently. He grabbed the [God-Slaying Saber] on the left and the [Heaven-Defying Shield] on the right, pulling them out instantly! The moment the two divine weapons left the pedestal, the metal core seemed to sense something; its rotation speed suddenly quickened slightly, and the core's blue light flashed urgently!

“Not good! The core has been alerted! There might be a chain reaction! Retreat!” Li Mo's projection said urgently.

Without hesitation, Lin Zhou retreated at high speed with the two divine weapons. Simultaneously, the pale blue energy film fluctuated violently, a low hum came from beneath the pedestal, and some energy conduits on the hall walls began to flash with dangerous red light!

“Go!” Lin Zhou growled. The team quickly retreated from the hall along their original path and rushed up the corridor. Behind them, muffled explosions and the harsh sound of twisting metal echoed from within the hall, but nothing pursued them; it seemed the destruction was limited to the interior of the hall.

It wasn't until they burst through the metal doorway and returned to the shadows of the bone mountains that everyone breathed a slight sigh of relief. Looking back, wisps of black smoke were rising from the entrance of the sloping corridor, but they were soon covered by the environmental dust.

“That was close...” Wang Meng wiped away non-existent cold sweat.

“How is the harvest?” Qin Qing looked at the two divine weapons in Lin Zhou's hands.

Lin Zhou placed the divine weapons on the relatively clean ash and sensed them carefully. The river of civilization rippled slightly, transmitting blurred information.

【God-Slaying Saber (Damaged)】

Type: Melee Divine Weapon (Saber)

Material: Unknown Composite Divine Metal (Heavily Worn)

Traits:

Divine Special Attack: All types of damage +30% against biological units possessing divinity (Godhead, Divine Fire, divine office).

Law Sharpness: Attacks carry a weak Law-cutting effect, capable of ignoring a small portion of the target's Law defense and energy resistance (effect decays with the target's Law strength).

Severely Damaged: The blade has multiple hidden cracks, the core energy crystal is shattered, and durability is only about 10%. Overuse or withstanding high-intensity attacks may lead to complete disintegration.

Heavy: Due to special Materials and Law condensation, its weight far exceeds its appearance; it is difficult to wield for those without powerful Divine Power or specific talents.

【Heaven-Defying Shield (Damaged)】

Type: Defensive Divine Weapon (Shield)

Material: High-density Law Alloy and Space Crystal Layer Composite (Multiple points of damage)

Traits:

Absolute Defense Concept: When activated, it can form a 'Absolute Defense' Law field (weak) on the front of the shield, granting immunity to all physical, energy, and Law attacks below Divine-Grade (Faint Divinity and below) for a short time (about 0.5 seconds). It has a strong weakening effect on higher-level attacks (depending on attack intensity).

Spatial Offset: When under attack, there is a probability to offset and disperse part of the attack energy into the surrounding environment through the shield's internal spatial structure.

Severely Damaged: The shield body has multiple penetrating injuries and structural deformations; the multi-layered ring energy operation is sluggish, and the activation success rate, duration, and effect of the 'Absolute Defense' Law are significantly reduced. Durability is about 15%.

Energy Consumption: Activating traits requires the wielder's Divine Power, and consumption increases with the degree of shield damage.

Both divine weapons were incredibly powerful but also severely damaged, like aging generals in their twilight years—though their residual prestige remained, they were no longer fit for prolonged battle.

“God-Slaying Saber, Heaven-Defying Shield... what a pity they're damaged like this,” Zhou Yan said regretfully.

“Even so, they are Sharp Weapons for saving lives or turning the tide at critical moments,” Qin Qing evaluated objectively.

Su Yueyao looked at Lin Zhou: “Perhaps... if there's an opportunity in the future, we can find a way to repair them. The Ancient Battlefield might not lack the relevant technology and Materials.”

Lin Zhou nodded and carefully put away the two damaged divine weapons. Although he regretted their broken state, this harvest had already far exceeded expectations. More importantly, Li Mo had successfully cracked the mechanisms of an ancient mechanical civilization, proving the applicability of Mohist thought and technology in the Ancient Battlefield, providing valuable experience for further exploration.

He looked toward the deeper shadows of the bone mountains; the throbbing of the god-king fragment was still clear.

“Keep moving. The true goal is still ahead.”