225: The Army of Freedom and the Clues of "Return to the Ruins"

The success of the internal purification and the switch to the new Cultivation Technique was like a complete blood transfusion for Bedrock Base. The spiritual power fluctuations that originally carried the marks of the "Ranch" were replaced by pure and restrained Star Power. The atmosphere of the entire base took on a new look; it was not just an improvement in energy level, but a transformation on a spiritual level.

The members walking in the base corridors had brighter eyes and firmer steps, revealing a sense of trust and tacit understanding after experiencing a common baptism. They were no longer puppets controlled by invisible threads, but an Army of Freedom that had mastered their own power and clarified their own path!

Zhao Iron Pillar was the one with the most obvious changes. After switching to the Star Power Cultivation Technique, his brute strength seemed to have been injected with the heaviness and domineering nature of the stars. Every punch and kick carried an overwhelming power. When he practiced, starlight faintly surrounded him, and his Aura was astonishing. He even began to ponder how to better integrate Star Power into his heavy sword techniques to create his own "Starfall Sword Technique."

Wang Wu felt that his thinking was clearer, and his perception and control of energy had also improved by a level. The reconnaissance and intelligence analysis work he was responsible for became more efficient, with a lower error rate.

After switching, Mu Wanqing became more adept at controlling the "Star True Fire," and the success rate of her Alchemy and the quality of the Medicinal Pill had faintly improved. She had already begun to use higher-quality "Star Spirit Plants" to attempt to refine a more powerful "spirit purifying pill - Modified."

Even the newly joined Chen Yuanshan, after switching to the basic Star Power Cultivation Technique, felt that the cultivation Bottleneck that had troubled him for many years had loosened. He was in high spirits and full of energy, actively throwing himself into the work of the Liaison Group, using his years of experience mingling at the bottom to formulate more secure contact plans for subsequent liaison targets.

The entire base was like a precision machine that had wiped away rust and was filled with high-quality fuel, operating with unprecedented efficiency and vitality.

However, Wen Youyi was not carried away by this excellent internal situation. He knew that the strength of "Starfire" must ultimately be reflected in the changes to the outside world. He turned his gaze again to the half-map pointing to "Guixu."

That day, he summoned Senior Brother Li, Ying, Senior Brother Zhang, and Mu Wanqing, who had just completed a round of Alchemy and was full of energy, to gather in the technical discussion room. The half-broken animal skin map was carefully spread out on the central platform.

"Internal Foundation Establishment is complete; it is time to look further afield." Wen Youyi got straight to the point, pointing his finger at the vortex-shaped "Guixu" mark in the center of the map. "Finding this place might allow us to obtain the true legacy of the ancient rebels and greatly accelerate our progress."

Senior Brother Li pushed up his glasses and frowned slightly: "The map is too badly damaged. Except for this mark, the surrounding mountains and terrain are vastly different from today, and many place names cannot be verified at all, making positioning extremely difficult."

Ying pulled up the star charts and some fragments of geographical records from the ancient database to compare with the partial map, but progress was slow. "The geographical information in the database is already incomplete, and because it is from such a long time ago, with so many changes over the ages, the matching degree is very low."

Senior Brother Zhang analyzed it from an energy perspective: "The name 'Guixu' sounds like a place where energy gathers or... a place of annihilation. Perhaps we can try to detect those energy anomalies, especially areas that carry ancient, chaotic, or repulsive 'spirit net' fluctuations?"

Mu Wanqing looked at the map, pondered for a moment, and proposed a different angle: "Perhaps... we shouldn't just stare at the map itself. Refining 'spirit purifying pill' requires specific 'Star Spirit Plants', and the growth of these spirit plants has harsh environmental requirements, especially needing pure and rich Star Power, and must be able to isolate the pollution of the 'spirit net' to a certain extent. Do you think that 'Guixu', as an ancient rebel ruin, might happen to have an environment that meets these characteristics?"

This line of thinking made everyone's eyes light up! That's right, instead of aimlessly comparing terrain, why not look for environments that match its "functional" characteristics!

Wen Youyi immediately grasped the key: "In other words, we can reverse-engineer the possible location of 'Guixu' by looking for areas suitable for the natural growth of high-level 'Star Spirit Plants' that have special energy environments and can block the 'spirit net'?"

"Theoretically feasible!" Senior Brother Li became excited. "We can build a model! Combine the data on ancient energy environments in the database, the growth requirements of 'Star Spirit Plants', and the known energy anomalies in the current Qinglan Mountain Range and even wider areas to perform cross-comparison and probability calculations!"

No sooner said than done! The technical team immediately threw themselves into intense work. Senior Brother Zhang and Ying were responsible for organizing and inputting all known parameters, Senior Brother Li was responsible for building the calculation model, and Wen Youyi used the computing power of the Star Core to assist in the deduction.

This was an extremely complex process involving massive amounts of data and fuzzy logic. For several days in a row, a tense atmosphere permeated the technical discussion room; light and shadow flickered on the platform, and countless lines and light points intertwined and changed.

During this time, there were also jokes. When the model ran for the first time, one of the "high probability points" it calculated was actually the regular energy vortex next to the base! This made Zhao Iron Pillar rub his hands, thinking he was going to "fish for treasure" again, only to be glared back by Wen Youyi—that place was an energy production site, how could it be the same thing as a ruin entrance?

After several revisions and eliminations, the range calculated by the model gradually narrowed, and finally locked onto three areas with the most special energy environments that slightly echoed some of the vague terrain on the edges of the partial map:

One, the far north of the Qinglan Mountain Range, the edge of what is known as the "Eternal Silence Snowfield," where it is bitterly cold all year round, Spiritual Qi is thin and abnormally inert, and it is almost isolated from the "spirit net."

Two, deep in the endless swamp, a place known as the "Misty Ghost Domain," which is shrouded all year round in eerie mist that can interfere with Divine Sense and spiritual power, and the spatial structure also seems to be unstable.

Three, a thousand miles west of Falling Star Lake, deep in a desolate Gobi desert, where it is rumored there is a huge underground rift that often erupts with chaotic Earth Fiend Qi, repelling all ordered energy.

These three places were all dangerous lands and dead zones that ordinary people would avoid!

Looking at the three bright red areas marked on the light screen, everyone fell silent.

"Good grief... These ancient rebels really know how to pick a place." Zhao Iron Pillar smacked his lips. "None of them are good places!"

Wen Youyi's gaze swept over the three locations, but his eyes became increasingly sharp: "The more dangerous the place, the more likely it is to hide secrets. One of these three places is very likely to hide the entrance to 'Guixu'!"

He stood up and made a decision: "Notify Mo Chen and Wang Wu. The next task for the Liaison Group, in addition to continuing to screen the personnel on the list, is to start planning and extremely cautiously collecting intelligence on these three areas, especially regarding any abnormal energy, ancient legends, or spatial fluctuation information!"

"At the same time, the base will enter a combat readiness upgrade state! We must prepare for the possible, true expedition...!"

The journey to find "Guixu," at this point, finally had a vague but challenging direction.

(End of Chapter)