49: Chapter 49 The Heavenly Dao Blue Screen Incident and the "Glorious" Re-employment of the Shadow Sect Powerhouses
The darkness before dawn is always the deepest.
But today's darkness was a bit different.
It wasn't a pure, pitch-black darkness.
Instead, it was... a colorful, variegated black.
Above the Heavenly River Sword Sect, the sky—which had been exceptionally clear due to the coverage of 'Physics rules'—suddenly cracked open with a massive rift.
There was no howling wind, no rolling thunder.
Only a tooth-gritting 'sizzle' sound, like some sharp object scraping the surface of the world.
In the next moment, countless square 'cloud blocks' with jagged edges began to piece together as if controlled by someone with obsessive-compulsive disorder, completely sealing off the entire firmament.
"What... what kind of cloud is this?"
Sect Master Wang of the Ziyang Sect had just finished a set of 'Introduction to Advanced Mathematics' and felt his IQ reaching new heights. When he looked up, his brain suddenly throbbed with pain.
"Why do these clouds... look like a mosaic?"
"Watch your words!"
In Gu Canghai's pupils, a piercing golden light flickered, his expression solemn to the extreme.
In his 'Spirit Vision,' those things in the sky weren't clouds at all.
They were strings of frantically scrolling, destructive-aura-emitting—garbled code!
【Error Code: 404.】
【Regional logic anomaly detected.】
【Illegal plugins detected: 'Newtonian Mechanics', 'Sow Nursing', 'Eye Exercises'.】
【Invoking low-level antivirus program...】
【World-Ending Lightning Tribulation (Formatted Version) ready.】
Gu Canghai swallowed hard, his voice trembling.
"Is the Heavenly Dao... has the Heavenly Dao crashed?"
"No, the Heavenly Dao is trying to reboot us!"
...
Scripture Pavilion, second floor.
Li Mo stood on the terrace, the high-altitude currents fluttering the hem of his robe, yet he remained motionless.
In his hand, he held the Shadow Sect expert, 'Meiying,' who had been halfway through being sliced and was now covered in bandages.
"Wake up, stop sleeping."
Li Mo patted Meiying's swollen face.
"Your highlight moment has arrived."
Meiying struggled to open his eyes, his consciousness still trapped in the fear of being dominated by 'gravity.' He glanced confusedly at the sky, and the next second, he was scared out of his wits, his Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering.
"Zixiao... Zixiao World-Ending Tribulation?!"
As a Half-Step Void Refining powerhouse, he knew all too well the weight of this thing.
This was the ultimate erasure program that would only descend when a peerless Great Demon appeared in this world, or when an anomaly threatened the world's Origin.
"You... what on earth did you do?" Meiying looked at Li Mo in horror. "Did you raid the Heavenly Dao's nest?"
"Pretty much."
Li Mo shrugged.
"I just installed a few incompatible pieces of software into this world's operating System."
"Now the System has detected a conflict and wants to format this hard drive of ours."
"For... format?"
Meiying didn't understand the word, but he understood Li Mo's next sentence.
"This Lightning Tribulation is aimed at the 'anomaly,' which means it's aimed at me and the Scripture Pavilion."
Li Mo pulled a brush from his robes and dipped it into the essence blood seeping from Meiying's wounds.
The blood of a Half-Step Void Refining Cultivator had excellent spirituality; it was the best ink.
"But I don't want to go head-to-head with the Heavenly Dao just yet. After all, I'm just a fragile Administrator."
"So, I need a 'proxy server'."
"Or rather, a lightning rod."
A spine-chilling premonition rose in Meiying's heart.
"You... what are you going to do? I am a Shadow Sect Inspector! I have diplomatic immuni—AAAHHH!!!"
Li Mo ignored his protests entirely. Holding the brush, he wrote with fluid strokes on Meiying's bandage-wrapped chest.
An extremely complex rune took shape instantly.
It wasn't any kind of Talisman from the Cultivation World.
It was a perfect infinite loop logic diagram composed of countless '∞' (infinity) symbols.
And in the very center, Li Mo, using a form disguised as an incantation, wrote a line of provocative code:
【if (Lightning Tribulation descends) { return “Lightning Tribulation is fake”; } else { loop_forever; }】
"Go, Pikachu!"
Li Mo grabbed Meiying's ankle. At the moment the 100x gravity rule was lifted, he used all his strength to hurl him like a javelin toward the center of the thunderclouds high in the sky.
"NO—!!!"
Meiying let out the most desperate scream of his life.
He wanted to flee, but the bizarre rune on his chest acted like a magnet with infinite force, firmly attracting the first bolt of lightning brewing in the sky.
CRACK!
A bolt of 'data Lightning Tribulation,' as thick as a bucket and a ghostly pale white, struck Meiying with pinpoint accuracy.
On the ground, tens of thousands of Cultivators covered their eyes simultaneously, unable to bear the sight of flesh and blood flying everywhere.
However.
The expected explosion did not occur.
When that Lightning Tribulation touched the line of 'infinite loop logic' code on Meiying's chest, something wonderful happened.
Sizzle... sizzle...
The Lightning Tribulation stopped.
It was as if a download progress bar had frozen at 99%.
A dull roar echoed from the depths of the sky, as if a giant ancient gear had been jammed by something, emitting an overburdened creaking sound.
【Error.】
【Logic conflict.】
【Attempting to parse target attributes...】
【Parsing failed... retrying... parsing failed...】
The 'infinite loop' Li Mo wrote had successfully confused this wisp of the Heavenly Dao's will.
The Heavenly Dao wanted to erase the anomaly, but the 'anomaly' had 'I am fake' written on it. The Heavenly Dao wanted to judge it as fake, but the Lightning Tribulation itself was real...
And so, Meiying, suspended in mid-air, became the brightest star in the entire Cultivation World.
That terrifying World-Ending Lightning Tribulation did not dissipate; instead, it turned into a continuous energy transmission pipe, steadily pouring into Meiying's body in an attempt to use brute force to break through this logic bug.
"Aaaah... I'm... I'm bursting!!"
Meiying's whole body glowed, as bright as a tens-of-thousands-watt solar-powered light bulb.
He could feel his Meridians being frantically flushed by the violent Heavenly Dao energy, and his cultivation was soaring at an unimaginable speed!
Void Refining Early Stage...
Void Refining Middle Stage...
"I'm going to explode! Stop it!!" Meiying screamed, his voice changing pitch.
"Don't be in a hurry."
"This is the Heavenly Dao charging you; waste is shameful."
Li Mo, on the second-floor terrace, was well-prepared for this.
He gave a casual wave.
The [Energy Conversion Grand Array] that had already been set up around the Scripture Pavilion activated in response.
Several thick conduits made from countless rolled-up ancient book pages instantly flew out from the Scripture Pavilion's windows, accurately plugging into Meiying's back while skillfully avoiding all vital points.
"Suck!"
Buzz—!!!
The lights inside the Scripture Pavilion suddenly brightened.
The originally dim oil lamps instantly turned into incandescent light that could sting the eyes, dispelling the thousand-year darkness within the pavilion.
Every book on the shelves vibrated with a buzz, greedily devouring this pure Heavenly Dao energy that had been 'filtered by the Physical Body' of Meiying.
【Ding!】
【High-purity energy connection detected.】
【Scripture Pavilion defense System charging: 100%... 200%... 500%!】
【New feature unlocked: [Holographic Projection Teaching Room].】
【New feature unlocked: [Gravity Training Room (Advanced Version)].】
【New feature unlocked: [Cloud Library (Beta)].】
Li Mo looked at the data frantically jumping on the System panel, his fingertips lightly tapping the cool railing, feeling very pleased.
"Thank you for nature's gift."
"And thank you to the Shadow Sect brother for sending this 'humanoid power bank'."
...
Half an hour later.
The 'mosaic clouds' in the sky finally seemed to choose a strategic retreat due to being unable to process this logic bug for so long.
That suffocating pressure quietly vanished.
Only Meiying remained in mid-air, having had his last bit of value sucked dry... oh no, having been overcharged. He was spitting black smoke, his body twitching as he hung there.
His Realm had been forced up to the Void Refining Late Stage.
But because his Foundation was unstable and he had been used as an energy relay station, he was completely ruined, becoming a glowing 'vegetable.'
"Is it... over?"
On the ground, Gu Canghai crawled out from under a table, still death-gripping that book on 'Physics.'
He glanced at the humanoid object still faintly glowing in the sky, then at the composed young man on the second floor.
At this moment, Gu Canghai felt his worldview, along with that book on 'Physics,' shatter into pieces.
Even the Heavenly Dao's Lightning Tribulation could be used for charging?
This wasn't fucking cultivation anymore.
This was hacking into the Heavenly Dao's backend and modifying the world's source code!
"Sect Master Gu."
Li Mo's voice came over, sounding in an extremely good mood.
"Take down that light bulb in the sky and hang it in the center of the plaza."
"In the future, the Sect won't need to light lamps at night. It's environmentally friendly."
"Also, pass down the word."
Li Mo's voice paused, his gaze piercing through the darkness, becoming deep.
"Although we exploited a bug this time, the Heavenly Dao is no fool. It will soon release a 'patch'."
"Before that, we must take the initiative."
"Since the Shadow Sect loves playing dirty so much, they can't blame us for not being honorable."
"Pass my command—"
"The whole Sect is to prepare for war! Target: Shadow Sect's Southern Barrens Headquarters!"
"This time, we won't bring swords."
The corners of Li Mo's mouth curled into a cold arc.
"Bring 'ideology and morality' and 'Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering'."
"We are going to give those rats living in the gutters... some light and heat!"
"YES!!!"
On the plaza, tens of thousands of Cultivators shouted in unison, their voices piercing the clouds.
In everyone's eyes, a light called 'excitement' flickered.
Going to the Shadow Sect's nest to do some renovations?
Giving ideology and morality lessons to top-tier assassins?
This sounds... thrilling to the bone!
...
Meanwhile.
Tens of thousands of miles away, at the Central Region's Heavenly Secret Pavilion.
Several white-haired elders were gathered around a cracked ancient mirror, their expressions as if they had seen a ghost.
"How is it possible... the Heaven-Surveying Mirror just... blue-screened?"
"What exactly happened in the Southern Barrens? That Heavenly Dao Lightning Tribulation clearly descended, so why did it suddenly turn into an energy replenishment?"
"Could it be that a Saint has been born? Altering the heavenly laws with a single word?"
One elder tremblingly pointed at a blurry line of characters remaining on the mirror's surface.
It was the residual image of the code Li Mo had written on Meiying.
【return “Lightning Tribulation is fake”】
"This... what kind of Talismanic Incantation is this? Why has this old man never seen it before?"
"I don't understand... I don't understand at all! But the profound principles of the Great Dao contained within seem even more advanced than this world itself!"
"Quick! Report this to the Immortal Alliance immediately!"
"The Southern Barrens... has produced a monster we cannot comprehend!"