362: Chapter 362 Truth Dust Transforms into Demonic Vine, Youth's Bloodshed Opens the Ancient Altar

The dark silver metal passage extended straight ahead, without a single curve or even an inch of undulation.

Zhou Wannian had his hands casually clasped behind his back, his green cloth shoes stepping on the cold, hard metal floor without making any unnecessary sound. He walked at a leisurely pace, as if strolling through Qingshi Alley filled with peach blossoms in spring; his composure seemed completely out of place in this plain filled with a deathly sense of order.

The air held no fragrance of flowers or grass, only a pungent, burnt smell, similar to rusted iron being scorched by fire.

In the surrounding square petri dishes, those strange plants that defied the natural order of heaven and earth were operating at a mechanical frequency. Deep blue Right-angled Grass collided with each other in the breeze, producing a crisp metallic clanging sound like "ding-dong, ding-dong"; inside the transparent Glazed Data Trees, eerie blue light flowed like mercury, accompanied by bursts of low-pitched "buzzing" hums.

Shitou followed closely behind Zhou Wannian.

His tattered straw sandals stepped on the dark silver metal plates, making a dull "patter-patter" sound. The young boy's thin body was trembling slightly, not because of the cold, but because this world exuded a weirdness that made his marrow ache.

Those gray mists still drifted across the plain, wisps of it drilling into his nostrils. He felt his heartbeat becoming increasingly steady, each beat like a precise iron hammer striking an anvil, producing a dull rhythm.

"Big brother, these grasses... these trees... are they alive?"

Shitou swallowed hard, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty. He looked at a metal flower nearby, composed of countless precision gears interlocking; the electric sparks flickering at the center of the stamens made his eyes sting.

Zhou Wannian did not stop walking, his gaze level as he looked ahead.

"Alive? That depends on how you define life and death."

His tone was steady, carrying a hint of idle commentary.

"With flesh and blood, subject to birth, aging, sickness, and death—that is naturally considered alive. But these things are merely dead objects forcibly inscribed with growth instructions. They have no Soul, no sense of pain; they are just blindly executing the rigid rules of devouring Spiritual Qi and replicating themselves. It's like a marionette in your hand; if you make it move, it moves, but can that be called being alive?"

Zhou Wannian casually pointed to the data tree flickering with eerie blue light nearby.

"The people who planted this junk thought they had mastered some truth of creation, attempting to stitch life and dead objects together. Little do they know, this is just an ugly trick of self-deception. Without the carriage of Karma, without the nurturing of the Heavenly Dao, these freaks will forever remain freaks."

Shitou nodded as if he half-understood. He only felt that these things were terrifying, even more so than the man-eating Yao Beasts on the outskirts of the Yunlan Mountain Range. Yao Beasts ate people to fill their bellies, but these metal flowers and grasses gave him the feeling that they wanted to devour the entire world and turn it into cold, dead objects like themselves.

The two continued forward along the dark silver passage.

The mist ahead gradually became thicker.

The originally flat and orderly metal plain began to show signs of damage.

The dark silver passage beneath their feet was no longer straight; the surface was covered with huge cracks and pits, as if it had once been torn by some violent force. Those square petri dishes were also largely destroyed, the metal plants inside fallen to the ground, and viscous black liquid flowed from broken glazed pipes, emitting a pungent stench.

Just as they crossed a massive fissure in the ground.

A tooth-gritting friction sound echoed from the thick fog ahead.

"Creeeeak... kacha, kacha..."

This sound was not like the roar of a beast, but more like a pile of rusted iron chains strangling and rubbing against each other, making one's scalp tingle and eardrums sting.

Zhou Wannian stopped in his tracks.

His deep eyes pierced through the thick gray fog, quietly gazing at the Void Realm ahead.

A meaningful, faint smile appeared on his handsome face.

"Big brother... there's something ahead..." Shitou clenched his fists nervously, his muscles instantly tensing up as that mechanical rhythm surged wildly through his blood vessels.

"Mm, a stray dog that lost its way found a pile of rotten meat and is eating its fill."

Zhou Wannian spoke in a lazy tone, casually dusting off his sleeves.

The gray mist ahead suddenly billowed to both sides.

A massive object slowly revealed its nauseating true form from the mist.

It was a vine.

Or rather, a bizarre monster that looked like a vine.

It had no green leaves or rough bark. Its trunk was as thick as a water vat, entirely a deathly grayish-white, with a cold metallic luster on the surface.

If one looked closely, they would find that the trunk of this vine was actually formed by countless extremely fine gray data cables mixed with sharp serrated iron pieces, all tightly twisted together!

It was like a giant metal python, perched on a pile of broken Glazed Data Tree remains.

At the tip of the vine, there were no flowers or fruit, only an "abyssal maw" composed of countless sharp blades.

At this moment, that giant mouth was biting hard into a section of glazed tree trunk emitting eerie blue light; accompanied by the ear-piercing "crunch-crunch" of chewing, it ruthlessly crushed and devoured that section of trunk along with the data stream inside.

This was not a species that should exist in the Qingping Realm at all!

It had not a single trace of life fluctuations, only the purest, coldest logic of devouring!

"This... what kind of monster is this..." Shitou retreated in terror, his foot slipping, nearly falling into the muddy water.

Zhou Wannian looked at that grayish-white metallic Demon Vine.

A flash of realization crossed his eyes, and the smile at the corners of his mouth deepened.

"The wind blows the seeds down, the rain soaks the soil."

Zhou Wannian's tone was steady, as if he were discussing a mundane household matter.

"Earlier in the teahouse, I casually crushed that scrap of iron containing the Truth Code into powder and scattered it on the street."

"The rainwater of Chunyu City followed the earth's veins and washed those powders into the depths of the Yunlan Mountain Range."

"Those fragmented Truth Codes had already lost their physical shells and would have dissipated at any time. But they just happened to drift into this experimental field filled with defective codes."

He extended a finger and pointed at the Demon Vine that was feeding frantically.

"A bunch of starving fragmented codes encountered the rich low-dimensional Spiritual Qi here and these discarded metal plants. Following the lowest-level logic of survival, they forcibly fused the Spiritual Qi of this world with the scrap iron on the ground, piecing together such a monster that only knows how to devour and replicate."

"This certainly confirms an old saying: 'A centipede dies but never falls down.' The vitality of this high-dimensional trash is truly tenacious enough to be nauseating."

It seemed to have sensed the presence of living beings.

That grayish-white metallic Demon Vine suddenly stopped chewing.

"Kacha, kacha..."

Its massive and rigid trunk twisted around in an extremely stiff manner that defied the physics of joints.

The giant mouth composed of blades at the tip of the vine aimed at Zhou Wannian and Shitou.

Deep within the giant mouth, a crimson light flickered.

Those were not eyes.

They were energy sensors for scanning and locking onto targets.

"Beep—Unmarked carbon-based lifeform detected."

"Beep—Target One: Infinite mass, logic unresolvable, determined to be a non-consumable fatal error, evade."

"Beep—Target Two: Mortal flesh, contains trace amounts of homologous Truth Code fragments, determined to be a high-value consumable resource, execute capture protocol."

A cold, emotionless synthetic mechanical voice emanated from within the Demon Vine's trunk.

This monster had no intelligence at all.

It was merely a machine executing a slaughter and devour program.

In its calculation logic, Zhou Wannian's perfectly self-consistent inner universe was an unresolvable ultimate loophole that might even cause its own collapse, so it instinctively chose to ignore him.

But Shitou, this Mortal youth who had absorbed the gray mist and had the aura of truth remaining in his body, was in its eyes an extremely delicious super battery!

"Boom!"

The Demon Vine moved.

It did not slither like an ordinary snake.

Instead, it was like a siege spear fired from a fully drawn heavy ballista, carrying a sharp whistle that pierced the air as it lunged straight and precisely at Shitou!

Its speed was so fast that even an afterimage could not be seen.

A strong burnt smell of metallic friction permeated the air.

"Dodge!"

Zhou Wannian did not make a move.

He still stood steadily to the side with his hands behind his back.

His clear eyes quietly watched this sudden turn of events. Although he had sealed his power, his vision remained; he saw the attack trajectory of this Demon Vine and also saw the power being activated within Shitou's body.

All variables are destiny. He wanted to see just how far this mundane youth, tainted with the aura of truth, could go.

The Demon Vine's attack rapidly expanded in Shi Tou's pupils.

The giant maw, composed of countless sharp blades, seemed ready to swallow him whole.

The shadow of death instantly enveloped the youth's entire body.

Any ordinary Mortal would have already collapsed to the ground in terror from the horrific wind pressure, closing their eyes to await death.

But.

Shi Tou did not.

Deep within his clear eyes, that flicker of gray data flow suddenly burst with brilliant light!

He felt as if time itself had slowed down in an instant.

The Demon Vine's lightning-fast thrust became frame-by-frame analyzable images in his eyes.

A pure, cold calculative instinct took over his body, which had been trembling with fear.

“Roll left three feet and two inches, crouch to avoid the lateral strangulation!”

This was the cold directive that abruptly popped into his mind.

Shi Tou had no time to think at all.

His body had already reacted, completely beyond his control.

His legs suddenly exerted force.

The thin figure in gray clothes fell to the left in an extremely awkward yet millimetrically precise posture, moving with stiff efficiency.

“Swish!”

The grayish-white metallic Demon Vine grazed Shi Tou's right shoulder and stabbed fiercely into the dark silver ground behind him!

“Boom!”

The hard metal ground was pierced directly, and shattered metal fragments flew everywhere.

He dodged it!

Shi Tou gasped heavily for air, his heart pounding in his chest like a war drum.

He couldn't believe he had actually dodged a monster's fatal blow.

However.

This Demon Vine was not a beast that hunted by instinct.

It was an emotionless killing machine that only calculated.

When the first strike missed.

It didn't even pull its head out of the ground.

Instead.

“Clack, clack, clack!”

The middle of its trunk, as thick as a water vat, suddenly split open in an extremely eerie manner.

Countless thumb-thick gray metal tentacles covered in barbs emerged like a spider web that blanketed the sky.

They surged out from its trunk!

They swept toward Shi Tou, who had just rolled to the ground and hadn't yet regained his footing, aiming to strangle him from all directions!

There were no blind spots.

This was a perfect geometric strangulation array!

The gray light in Shi Tou's mind flickered frantically, trying to calculate an escape route.

But.

The result of the calculation was—evasion probability, zero.

An absolute death trap.

“Am I... still going to die here after all...”

Shi Tou looked at the metal tentacles blanketing the sky and closed his eyes in despair.

But he didn't just wait for death.

He gritted his teeth, shielded his head tightly with both hands, and curled into a ball.

Even if he was to die, he would protect his vitals and hold on for one more breath!

“Puchi!”

The dull sound of a sharp blade tearing through flesh abruptly rang out in the air.

A gray metal tentacle covered in barbs struck with extreme precision and ruthlessness.

It slashed across Shi Tou's right arm!

The coarse gray fabric was instantly torn apart.

Immediately following.

The sharp metal barbs mercilessly sliced through the youth's skin and dug deep into his flesh!

“Ah!”

Shi Tou snapped his eyes open and let out a shrill, agonized scream.

It felt as if a rusty saw was frantically grinding against his bone.

Warm blood, like a spring bursting through a dam.

It gushed out from the wound that was deep enough to see the bone.

The bright red blood traced a tragic, beautiful arc in the air.

It splattered onto the cold, dark silver metal ground.

It also splattered onto the edge of the steps of an incredibly massive, ancient altar that had appeared at some unknown point.

It was an altar that was extremely magnificent yet extremely dilapidated.

Its entire body was built from ancient blue-black stones, its surface covered in the mottling of ages and dark green moss.

It stood at the end of this cold metal plain, emitting an extremely faint yet extremely pure 'Immortal Devilish Qi'.

This aura was completely out of place with the cold mechanical plants around it.

It seemed to be the last trace of ancient stubbornness in this world, lonely guarding this polluted land.

In front of this altar.

The frantically spreading metal tentacles seemed to encounter some sort of extremely restraining force.

Three feet away from the edge of the altar, they all came to a halt, emitting a 'zizhi' sound of harsh electric current.

Shi Tou clutched his bleeding arm, rolling on the ground in pain.

He crashed wretchedly against the cold, blue-black steps of the altar.

Bright red blood dripped from his arm, drop by drop, onto the moss-covered stones.

“Drip.”

“Drip.”

Warm blood, filled with the minute vitality of a Mortal.

Made an extremely eerie contact with this cold, ancient altar that had been dead for countless ages.

The contact was extremely strange.

Zhou Wannian still stood in place.

He watched Shi Tou get injured, watched the blood splatter onto the altar.

On that handsome face, there was not a trace of sympathy or anxiety.

Instead, his deep eyes were fixed intently on the ancient altar that had come into contact with the blood.

Zhou Wannian's voice was steady, carrying a hint of expectation as if watching a good show.

He spoke indifferently.

“A drop of Mortal blood, a rusty lock.”

“The Karma of this world is truly interlinked and quite interesting.”

The moment his words fell.

An anomaly suddenly occurred!

The blood that had dripped onto the altar steps.

It was not absorbed like it would be in soil, nor did it dry up like it would on metal.

Instead.

“Sizzle—”

The bright red blood, the moment it touched the blue-black stone.

It was as if extremely hot lava had dripped onto ice.

It emitted an extremely harsh sound of melting!

Immediately following.

The blood transformed into wisps of crimson mist.

Following the gaps between the stones, it frantically bored into the depths of the altar!

“Rumble—”

The entire massive blue-black altar.

At this moment.

Without any warning.

Began to tremble extremely violently!

The dark green moss covering the surface of the altar instantly withered and turned to ash.

Those ancient blue-black stones began to emit an extremely dazzling, eerie light that was a mixture of pure white Immortal Qi and pitch-black Devilish Qi!

This light soared into the sky.

It forcibly tore a huge hole in the haze that had hung over this deep valley for years!

A vast, ancient, and aged Divine Thought, permeated with endless sorrow.

From the deepest part of that altar, from the ley lines of the earth.

Like an ancient Dragon that had slept for ten million years, it suddenly awakened!

This Divine Thought transformed into an extremely terrifying gale.

It directly struck the grayish-white metallic Demon Vine that was trying to attack Shi Tou.

Extremely arrogantly.

Extremely unreasonably.

It was instantly blown away!

“Crack, crack!”

The Demon Vine's massive body, under the impact of this grand power, smashed through countless metal pipes and slammed hard onto the distant plain, falling into short-circuited convulsions.

Shi Tou clutched his bleeding arm, staring blankly at this suddenly glowing altar.

He forgot the pain, forgot the fear.

There was only an extremely, extremely intimate calling, as if connected by Bloodline, echoing in the depths of his Soul.

“What is... this...”

The youth murmured to himself.

Just then.

Within the brilliant light of Immortals and Devils emitted by the altar.

An extremely deep, extremely aged sigh, as if it had crossed the endless river of time.

In the ears of Zhou Wannian and Shi Tou.

Extremely clearly.

It echoed leisurely.

“Sigh...”

“A million years...”

“Finally, has a Bloodline of my clan brought that 'key' to this place...”

This sigh was filled with endless exhaustion and a hint of relief at finally being liberated.

Along with this sigh.

On the central platform at the very top of the altar.

The Immortal and Devilish Qi intertwined and condensed frantically.

Ultimately.

It transformed into an extremely blurry, illusory figure wearing an ancient Daoist robe.

This figure had its back to them.

It looked up at the hole torn in the sky.

As if looking at an invisible net that had trapped him for a million years.

Zhou Wannian stood with his hands behind his back.

His green robe fluttered in the gale.

His eyes, deep as an ancient well, calmly watched the blurry phantom on the altar.

On that handsome and easygoing face.

An extremely brilliant, extremely interested smile emerged.

Zhou Wannian's voice was steady, as if greeting an old neighbor who had been locked in a cellar for a long time.

With a bit of lazy teasing, he spoke indifferently.

“Why the sigh?”

“Lying under the mud pretending to be a dead man for so long.”

“Since you've been washed awake by a little brat's blood.”

“Why don't you hurry up and turn around, and tell me what kind of shameful, rotten accounts are buried down here?”