183: Heading to Rome! A Secret Realm

Before the words had even faded, Morning Dew walked in, the silver cross from the Church of Our Lady swaying against her plain white Daoist robe.

"Oh, Brother Lu Chen? I just happened to see a record of the 'Column of Fire from Heaven' event in the Italian Alps during the 14th century in an Incomplete Manual of the 'Vatican Secret Records' at the Holy See archives; perhaps it will be of some help to the place you are going this time!"

Sun Feifei followed right behind Morning Dew, a green jade hairpin inserted obliquely into her Daoist bun, making her look quite beautiful.

The Daoist girl handed a stack of Talismanic Incantations directly to Lu Chen—the "Shangqing Demon-Suppressing Records."

Ink-colored Dragon patterns slithered from her sleeve onto the talismans.

"Hey, Little Skeleton, take this for self-defense!"

"As for me, I just deduced the Qimen Dunjia..." She flicked a burning talisman paper away with her finger.

"The entrance to the Secret Realm in Italy is located in the Tuscany region, and its coordinates form a Six Harmonies Formation with the local ley lines."

As the talisman ash drifted down, it condensed into a reflection like a flower in a mirror or the moon in the water, revealing the appearance of the Temple of the Twelve Gods of Ancient Rome.

Lu Chen took out the jade cong and said, "The nodes passed by these silicon-based lifeforms' escape route all correspond to relics of ancient Earth civilizations—perhaps the Holy See might have made contact with them as early as the Middle Ages."

"I remember last Christmas... wait, Little Skeleton," Morning Dew said, flipping open a yellowed parchment scroll.

"Hmm, non-terrestrial metal was unearthed thirty meters beneath the Sistine Chapel, engraved with the same dodecahedron symbol as the Liangzhu jade cong."

Shelley also said, "I remember the Holy See seems to call it the 'Angel Cube,' but according to my decryption, this is just a spatial route marker for when these Heavenly Dao Puppets—this bunch of guys—arrived, right?"

Ignis also came to Shelley's dormitory.

She also thought about the place Lu Chen was going this time.

She told Lu Chen the information she knew: "Little Skeleton, the crystals detected in the lava of Mount Etna in Sicily—they can be said to be exactly the same as the ones you crushed inside the Human Alliance."

Lu Chen pondered for a moment.

He proposed his idea, saying, "Is there likely a 'Dimension Anchor' built by silicon-based lifeforms hidden here? Something like that? Spatial coordinates, right?"

Sun Feifei tilted her head curiously and said, "If you are going to Italy, make sure to take the Magical Artifact for avoiding calamities that I gave you; this Talismanic Incantation is definitely useful!"

Morning Dew also took out a cross inlaid with holy relics from her sleeve and handed it over.

"I have already applied for a Vatican underground vault access permit for you—it was exchanged for three pieces of burial shroud fragments. Brother Lu Chen, I hope it can help you, and you must come back safely!"

When Lu Chen put away the jade cong, the light spots on the jade condensed slightly.

He looked out the window at the night sky where the Big Dipper was inverted.

"I will set off tomorrow morning after seeing the Old Dean, but before that..."

Before he could finish, Ignis had already thrown out the Profound Fire Chain and wrapped it around his wrist.

"Keep me company properly first!"

Sun Feifei protested, "I want to too!"

"Ahem, I can," Shelley couldn't help but join in.

Morning Dew, not wanting to be left behind, said, "What about me!"

Lu Chen smiled, "I'll keep you all company!"

The next morning, Lu Chen passed through the corridor carved with reliefs of "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature," the bronze patterns on his wrist resonating with the academy's protective formation.

Then, the ink traces of "Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains" swimming between the pillars suddenly solidified, turning into nine hexagram gates—this was the encrypted passage to the Ziwei Pavilion.

The Old Dean was starting to become cautious!

Lu Chen trod the Yu's steps and passed through the eye of the Three Enclosures and twenty-eight mansions formation.

The moment the bronze door opened, the Milky Way hologram projected by the armillary sphere enveloped the entire secret room.

The Old Dean held a white piece suspended over the Go board; the board was actually pieced together from black pottery shards of the Dawenkou culture.

The Grand Elder was also here.

He swept his gaze over the jade cong in Lu Chen's hand, a strange brilliance flashing in his pupils, and could not help but say, "Are those people in the Human Alliance still the same as before? Back then, Huaxia used some Incomplete Manuals just to get them to disclose the Area 51 files, but the data they gave didn't even fully list the radiation values of the Great Rift Valley... Is this really of any value?"

"There's no helping it. Those Heavenly Dao Puppets of the silicon-based lifeforms all came to Earth via interstellar routes passing through the Holy See's restricted zones."

Lu Chen said as he embedded the jade cong into the base of the armillary sphere, the hologram immediately displaying a 3D tomographic scan of the Mediterranean.

"They seem to have left things like 'Dimension Anchors' at every node, just like how we use the Imperial Jade Seal to prosper the Nine Provinces' Dragon veins; all require a medium to accomplish certain things. This is the rule of the Law!"

The black pottery shard where the Old Dean placed his piece floated slightly.

He said indifferently, "Sixty years ago, it was rumored that our people found some spacecraft wreckage in Lop Nur, and the thruster fuel contained these crystals—it was likely a layout buried by the Heavenly Dao long ago."

The Grand Elder waved his hand, unfolding a bronze armillary sphere, which formed a double-helix magnetic field with the astrological instrument.

"This actually reminds me of something, in the Wanli era of the ancient Ming Dynasty."

He brought up some diagrams from ancient books.

"The dew-collecting plate refined by Immortal Master Zhang Sanfeng using lightning-struck wood contained interstellar dust—it's roughly the same stuff as the shells of these silicon-based lifeforms."

In the hologram, a superimposed image of the bronze sacred tree and the Sistine Chapel ceiling painting suddenly appeared.

The objects held by the Twelve Apostles in the mural actually matched the topological structure of the Liangzhu jade cong perfectly.

Another result of mutual corroboration.

Lu Chen said, "They are Puppets, they are also fleeing, and moreover, they are former Huaxia people!"

"They seem to have been awakened in the Milky Way, and have even established a higher-dimensional civilization; they are also the 'guiding beacons' of the Heavenly Dao!"

An Incomplete Manual of the "Daoist Canon" flew out of the Old Dean's sleeve, the cloud seal script on the yellowed pages writing something.

"Just like the secrets of the Heavenly Dao hidden in our 'Tao Te Ching'? Are you looking for the location of the true Heavenly Dao through them, just like those giant servers? You really are full of adventures!"

Thunder suddenly rumbled outside the window, and Shelley's ice crystal communication talisman rang on Lu Chen.

"Little Skeleton, Mount Etna has just erupted," her cool voice carried some worry.

"A bronze dodecahedron with a diameter of three kilometers has risen from the lava—it is exactly the same as what we saw before."

The Grand Elder said, "Immediately activate the 'Celestial Star Formation'—the Italian sub-formation, and notify the local military to use the special communication frequency to cover the entire Mediterranean!"

As Lu Chen turned around, the Old Dean slapped a bronze tiger tally engraved with ancient characters into his palm.

"Take this, and take Ignis with you; her Flame Demon Bloodline can also help you."

Passing through the "Dwelling in the Mountains" corridor, Lu Chen heard the thunderous sounds of refining Calamity-Avoiding Pills from the nearby alchemy room.

He also heard the "Gregorian Chant" forming a wonderful song with the "Northern Arctic Ice Soul Chant."

Morning Dew and Shelley had also taught the students here what they knew.

Arriving at the dormitory, Ignis had already changed into casual clothes for going out.

Ning Xiwei was also waiting here.

"If those fanatics from the Holy See dare to block the way!" Ignis licked the corner of her mouth.

"I will burn their Holy Blood Pool into coolant!"

Ning Xiwei also gripped her wand tightly.

She hugged the book of the dead.

Her attitude was also unquestionable.