593: Chapter 589 Strange Movements in the Small World!

Lu Chen's eyes suddenly snapped open!

He withdrew his vast, omnipresent Divine Sense that had been enveloping the entire Eternal Cultivation Small World. In an instant, it pulled away from billions of living beings, mountains, rivers, seas, Sects, and Secret Realms, returning entirely to his body.

Lu Chen raised his hand, gently supporting something in his palm.

A crystal-clear sphere, shimmering with radiant light and containing its own world within, floated quietly—this was the Eternal Cultivation Small World.

Every blade of grass, every breath, every Dao, and every Law within that world was clearly presented before his eyes, down to the finest detail.

But in that moment just now, he felt with absolute clarity that the "weight" of the entire Small World had undergone an indescribable, subtle change.

It wasn't an increase or decrease in Spiritual Qi concentration, nor was it the expansion or contraction of territory, a change in the number of living beings, or the strength of Law fluctuations.

Rather, it was an abnormality that touched the very essence of the world, originating from the depths of its Origin.

Even if it were just the falling of an insignificant grain of dust, Lu Chen, as the absolute Heavenly Dao of this Small World, could instantly capture it and discern the Karma.

That slight movement just now, though faint, was real; it felt as if someone had lightly tickled the sole of his foot in the depths of his consciousness as the supreme Heavenly Dao.

Faint, yet clear.

Hidden, yet jarring.

Lu Chen's brow furrowed tightly as his Divine Sense spread out once more, turning into an infinite net. From top to bottom, inside to out, from the sea of clouds in the Nine Heavens to the abyss of the Nine Netherworlds, from great Sects to mundane mortal villages, he swept across the entire Small World over and over again.

Once.

Ten times.

A hundred times.

Every inch of land, every strand of Spiritual Qi, every line of Law, and every heartbeat and thought of every living being was meticulously inspected by him.

But the result made his heart sink.

The entire Eternal Small World, totaling 20,396,000,000 square miles of territory, was firmly locked by his Heavenly Dao will:

Human Cultivators and mortal beings totaled 132,123,451 people—not one person more, not one person less.

All matter in heaven and earth was precisely counted:

Grains of sand and dust particles totaled 87,215,934,618,823. Their positions, vibrations, and flows were all clearly observable; not a single grain had appeared out of thin air, and not a single grain had mysteriously vanished.

Under this extreme precision of order, the major powers were operating as usual without the slightest deviation.

Every blade of grass and tree,

Every grain of sand and stone,

Every person and beast,

Every god and spirit,

All were under Lu Chen's absolute control, unchanged and undisturbed in the slightest.

An ordinary person might have comforted themselves, dismissing it as a momentary illusion or a lapse in concentration.

But Lu Chen was the Heavenly Dao.

He was the maker of rules, the controller of Karma, and the creator of the world.

His perception was the reality of the world; his consciousness was the judgment of heaven and earth.

The Heavenly Dao could not have illusions.

Nothing could come from nothing; there is no smoke without fire.

"Just what is it..."

Lu Chen muttered to himself, his tone carrying a rare hint of irritation.

The feeling that someone had clearly tampered with things, yet he couldn't find any trace or catch any tail, made him, the high-and-mighty creator, extremely uncomfortable.

"Zero."

He spoke indifferently, his voice penetrating the Chaos and the Void Realm.

In the next moment, a gentle female voice responded:

"Master, I am here."

"Just now, an abnormal fluctuation occurred at the Origin level of the Small World. Did you monitor it?" Lu Chen asked in a heavy voice.

AI Zero fell silent for a moment, as if rapidly retrieving and comparing multi-dimensional data, before slowly answering a moment later:

"Reporting to Master, the heavenly dao system's background is running stably, there are no abnormalities in the rules, and the activity trajectories of living beings are within preset ranges. No clear external intrusion or record of rule breakage has been detected."

"Not detected?" Lu Chen's eyes turned slightly cold. "I personally perceived an abnormal movement in the world's Origin, and you tell me it wasn't detected?"

"Please forgive me, Master," AI Zero's tone remained objective. "The previous heavenly dao system was in a beta version for a long time and lacked stability. Since Master took full control, I have been performing gradual version upgrades and underlying optimizations on the System. During the upgrade, some extremely minute, non-critical node fluctuations may experience brief delays, omissions, or even become unidentifiable. This is a slight uncontrollable phenomenon within the theoretically allowed range."

Lu Chen's brow furrowed as he tapped his fingertips against the void, his thoughts spinning rapidly.

System upgrades, underlying optimizations, unknown fluctuations...

These explanations sounded reasonable, but they couldn't suppress the eerie sense of vigilance in his heart.

Suddenly, his gaze narrowed as he caught the most crucial point.

"No."

Lu Chen's voice suddenly grew heavy, carrying a hint of unbelievable shock.

"At the exact same moment that fluctuation appeared—the status level of the Small World jumped directly from 2.4 to 2.7."

As these words fell, even AI Zero's data stream experienced a momentary lag.

The world status level represented the essential tier, civilization ceiling, rule completeness, and rating within the Universe.

Under normal circumstances, every 0.1 increase in status level required tens of thousands of years of civilizational accumulation, the life-and-death insights of living beings, and the self-evolution of Laws. Even with him, the Heavenly Dao, pushing it forward, it was extremely slow and difficult.

Leaping from 2.4 to 2.7, a direct jump of 0.3, was a Heaven-Defying transition—a miracle that was almost impossible to happen.

"This... does not conform to any data logic," AI Zero's voice fluctuated noticeably for the first time. "A massive leap in status level must be triggered by a major event touching the world's Origin; it is impossible for it to happen out of thin air."

"Therefore, something must have snuck in," Lu Chen said with certainty. "Some existence that I cannot perceive has entered my Small World and directly touched the world's Origin."

AI Zero immediately retrieved all major events from the most recent moment and analyzed them rapidly:

"Master, according to synchronized records, at the same time the abnormality occurred, hundreds of top experts within the Small World were fighting a great battle in Fallen Immortal Valley, competing for the Ancient Secret Cave you preset. The battle was tragic, a matter of life and death. Perhaps many experts birthed extreme insights into the Great Dao in their desperation, touching the world will and triggering the status level increase."

"Furthermore, the Ancient Secret Cave finally opened, and a supreme defensive Divine Artifact emerged—the Myriad Tribulations Indestructible Divine Armor. Its defensive power is nearly invincible. It is possible that the birth of this Divine Artifact moved the world's Origin."

Lu Chen didn't hesitate and shook his head in denial.

"Impossible."

His voice was decisive: "Divine Artifacts are rule-based creations I generated directly using Heavenly Dao authority; no matter how strong they are, they are merely external objects. No matter how strong an external object is, it cannot raise the world's status level."

"If Divine Artifacts were useful, I could simply generate ten thousand or a hundred thousand supreme Divine Artifacts in one breath. Wouldn't the status level be maxed out instantly? Why would I need to spend so many years step-by-step nurturing living beings, deducing civilizations, and waiting for self-Breakthroughs?"

AI Zero fell silent, unable to refute.

"Master is correct. Directly generating Divine Artifacts, resources, and treasures cannot raise the world's status level. The core of status level elevation lies in the self-evolution of world rules, the autonomous Breakthrough of civilizations, and the Heaven-Defying actions of living beings, rather than external infusion."

"Then what is the reason for this abnormality?" Lu Chen's gaze was as deep as an abyss.

"I am still investigating with full effort," AI Zero's voice carried a rare hint of hesitation. "This matter is indeed strange. None of the events on the surface are sufficient to explain the surge in status level from 2.4 to 2.7. Currently, the most likely possibility remains that during the heavenly dao system's upgrade, an unknown anomaly occurred in the underlying code, leading to localized data disorder and perceptual deviation."

"I will immediately mobilize all computing power to conduct a comprehensive scan, repair, and optimization of the System's foundation. Master, please do not worry."

Lu Chen nodded slowly, but his expression remained grave.

"Make it quick."

"I want the truest, most fundamental reason."

"Yes, Master."

AI Zero's voice slowly faded away.

At the villa on Mount Qinglan on Earth, Lu Chen walked onto the balcony, looking at the starry sky at night and then at the Eternal Small World in his palm, muttering to himself, "Earth, could it be your doing??"

Aside from the earth will, Lu Chen couldn't think of any other reason.

Could it be that Earth saw his Small World's status level upgrading too slowly and decided to give him a hand?

But it should at least tell him why the status level jumped!! This kind of sudden, inexplicable increase made Lu Chen feel uneasy instead.

It couldn't be that the earth will secretly birthed itself in his Small World, then grew into some Heaven-Defying protagonist to seize his Small World, right??

Lu Chen's Divine Sense checked every person in the Small World once more, but he still found no abnormalities.

Whatever, I'll deal with whatever comes my way!!

No matter who is behind this, I will eventually drag you out!!