134: Chapter 134 The Birth of the Heaven-Defying Medicinal Bath

"We discovered a small, miniature energy depot inside that explosion-proof black box!"

"A full fifty 'high-energy Fusion micro-batteries' that haven't expired yet!"

Gu Shen's pupils constricted abruptly.

"Micro-batteries?"

He took a deep breath, his heartbeat uncontrollably quickening by a beat.

In the Cultivation World, driving Puppets and Formations relies on Spirit Stones. And Spirit Stones are an extremely scarce, non-renewable resource; every one used is one less in existence.

But in this Wasteland, high-energy Fusion batteries are the equivalent of the highest quality Top-Grade Spirit Stones!

The violent energy contained within a single micro-battery is enough to allow a heavy mech to engage in high-intensity combat continuously for half a year!

"Yes! My Lord!" Crab said, extremely excited. "With this batch of batteries, we will completely break free from our dependence on the Cultivation World's Spirit Stones in the future! As long as you can solve the conversion Formation patterns for the energy circuits, we can even directly install the Wasteland's high-frequency laser blades onto your batch of 'Iron Corpse Puppets'!"

"Well done."

A glimmer of light flashed in Gu Shen's eyes.

This Wasteland is practically an inexhaustible super logistics base.

The spoils of war are already sufficiently bountiful.

Although the Iron Corpse Puppets suffered heavy losses in the Myriad Insect Tomb, their skeletons remain and can be repaired at any time. The gu king marrow has also been obtained.

Everything is ready.

Gu Shen drew the thunder pattern gold-slaying blade from his waist, its tip resting against the refined iron floor.

"Crab."

"Instruction received. Please give your orders, My Lord."

"Control three Puppets and transport all the excavated survival supplies and micro-batteries down to the second-level security room."

Gu Shen's voice, within this claustrophobic underground space, carried an unquestionable sense of determination.

"Go and prepare the sturdiest refined steel vat."

"I intend to begin my seclusion here and fuse the Origins of the two worlds."

...

Shelter No. 7, second underground level.

The heavy refined iron door of the security room had long been welded shut at the seams by Gu Shen using a high-temperature plasma gun.

Unless heavy drilling and cutting equipment is used, it is impossible to break through from the outside.

This is also the greatest source of confidence for Gu Shen to go into seclusion here.

"My Lord, all supplies have been transported to the ventilation shaft C-zone node on the first underground level. This includes the refined steel vat you specified."

Crab, on his shoulder, reported the progress.

Gu Shen nodded.

He looked up at the ventilation opening in the corner of the security room's vaulted ceiling, where the louvers had been removed.

This is the only passage connecting the security room to the outside world.

The shadow shoes on his feet shimmered with a dark light.

Gu Shen leapt up, hooked the edge of the ventilation opening with one hand, exerted force from his waist, and silently slipped into the dark duct.

The interior of the ventilation duct was extremely narrow, only wide enough for one person to crawl through.

This was not a vertical shaft going straight up and down, but a winding passage tilted at forty-five degrees with two ninety-degree turns along the way.

The inner walls of the duct were covered in thick dust and dried machine oil grime.

Gu Shen used all four limbs, climbing rapidly up the inclined sheet metal.

After turning the second ninety-degree bend, a faint blue light filtered in from the end of the duct ahead.

Gu Shen pushed open the louvered grille and poked half his body out.

In the corridor of the first underground level, three simple armored puppets, covered in dirt and machine oil, stood silently.

At their feet, fifty cans of iron-sealed meat paste, thirty bottles of pure water, and an explosion-proof black box were neatly stacked.

And in the very center of the corridor sat a refined steel vat, originally used for a chemical plant reactor, standing over half a person tall and extremely heavy.

Such a behemoth, other than in a Storage Ring, could never fit into the narrow ventilation duct.

Gu Shen did not crawl out of the duct.

He extended his right hand, and his Divine Sense swept out like an invisible hand.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The meat paste, pure water, black box, and that refined steel vat in the corridor instantly turned into streams of light and were all swept into his Storage Ring.

"Stand by in place and seal off all passages on the first underground level."

Gu Shen issued his final command with extreme coldness.

Afterward, he released his grip on the duct walls. His entire body slid silently down the forty-five-degree inclined metal duct in the darkness, like a slide.

Thud.

His feet landed steadily on the ground, and Gu Shen returned to the security room on the second underground level.

With a wave of his large sleeve.

Clang!

That incredibly heavy refined steel vat crashed heavily onto the refined iron floor in the center of the security room, causing the surrounding walls to emit a dull hum.

Gu Shen strode forward.

His Storage Ring flashed, and thirty bottles of pure water—extremely precious in the Wasteland ruins—were poured out without the slightest hesitation.

The clear water pooled at the bottom of the vat, just barely covering two-thirds of its depth.

"Back off."

Gu Shen uttered these two words indifferently.

Crab, who had been crawling on the floor, very sensibly moved its eight legs and quickly retreated to the farthest corner of the security room, setting its detector's power to the lowest level.

Gu Shen sat cross-legged in front of the vat.

He extended one hand, pressing his palm against the cold outer wall of the refined steel.

"Rise."

Deep within his Sea of Consciousness, the [Heaven and Earth Furnace] emitted an extremely vast and ancient roar.

The pale white flames of the Rules swept out from Gu Shen's palm; not a single bit of heat leaked out, as they precisely enveloped the bottom of the vat.

In only three breaths.

The pure water inside the vat began to churn violently, and large clouds of high-temperature white steam rose from the surface.

It was boiling.

Gu Shen flipped his left hand.

A jade box covered in Spirit-Sealing Talismans appeared in his palm. Tearing off the Talisman, that mass of gu king marrow, clear and translucent like jade, radiated a terrifying vitality.

"If I were to consume this ten-thousand-year Origin of the Cultivation World directly, its violent vitality would be enough to burst my Meridians. It must be neutralized with an extremely cold substance."

Gu Shen flicked his fingertips slightly.

The gu king marrow fell into the boiling water.

Boom!

The originally clear boiling water, the moment it touched this mass of viscous liquid, seemed as if a high-concentration dye had been dropped into it, instantly turning into a thick, dark green! Eerily, phantom green lotuses of Spiritual Qi sprouted on the surface of the water.

The vitality was too strong! It was even threatening to break through the constraints of the vat!

Gu Shen did not hesitate at all, his right hand wiping across the Storage Ring again.

A mutated heavy water bead, pitch-black, radiating bone-chilling cold, and weighing a thousand catties, was precisely dropped by him into the boiling dark green medicinal liquid.

Sizzle—!!!

Extreme cold and extreme heat, Yin and Yang.

Two completely different, extreme attributes collided violently within the refined steel vat!

A thick layer of frost instantly formed on the surface of the vat, but was immediately scorched crimson by the phantom fire of the Great Furnace.

The terrifying gravity and extreme cold of the mutated heavy water bead acted like a stabilizing needle, firmly suppressing the violent vitality of the gu king marrow that was on the verge of going berserk.

The boiling surface gradually calmed, transforming into a pool of dark green, gelatinous substance that was as still as stagnant water, yet deep to the extreme.

But this was not enough.

"The Thunder Bone of the 'Bone Refining Art' requires the most extreme destruction and reconstruction. The vitality is there, but one more potent ingredient is missing."