235: Chapter 235 A Triumphant Return

Gu Shen looked at the Storage Ring on his hand. Inside was the massive amount of strategic resources he had traded for by splurging Divine Pills at the Mirage Water Market—the supreme fuel for restarting the heavy industry of the Wasteland.

He strode to the depths of the Immortal Cave. With a slight movement of his divine will, the archaic [Heaven and Earth Furnace] deep within his Sea of Consciousness emitted a vast, ancient roar. Pale white flames of rules instantly enveloped Gu Shen, and an irresistible sensation of cross-boundary weightlessness instantly wrapped around his body.

By the time the dizziness before his eyes faded completely, the dim and damp underwater Immortal Cave had vanished without a trace. Replacing it was the wide, flat metal dome of Shelter No. 7.

Gu Shen stood steadily in the center of the main hall of the arsenal on the sixth underground level of the Shelter.

The long-missed air of the Wasteland was mixed with the faint scent of machine oil. To Gu Shen's senses, this smell felt exceptionally reassuring.

The black iron buckle at his collar flickered with a faint, ghostly blue light.

"Welcome back, Master." Crab's flat, emotionless electronic voice echoed through the spacious hall. "The global detection matrix is operating normally, surface radiation levels are trending stable, and all logistical facilities are on standby."

The sixth underground level was a vast heavy processing workshop filled with the violent aesthetics of post-modern industry. Massive amounts of unsealed titanium-tungsten alloy armor plates and high-carbon steel ingots were piled high like mountains. Dozens of huge CNC machine tools and automated robotic arms lay quietly on both sides of the workshop, like a group of sleeping steel beasts.

Gu Shen walked up to the main control and manufacturing platform and swiped his hand over his Storage Ring.

The Jade Slip containing the array pattern manual of the "Thousand Illusions Heaven-Deceiving Array," radiating an ancient and weathered aura, hovered steadily in mid-air.

"Crab, mobilize all computing power of the core mainframe. Take over the micro-Spiritual Qi scanner and perform comprehensive physical and energy modeling on this Jade Slip of the Formation from the Cultivation World."

"Command confirmed. Multi-dimensional analysis matrix has been activated."

On the main control and manufacturing platform in the center of the hall, dozens of ghostly blue scanning rays crisscrossed, locking onto the Jade Slip in mid-air.

In the Cultivation World, Formation Masters rely entirely on their personal talent and Comprehension Ability to study array diagrams. Complex array diagrams often require years of time to deduce the interactions and changes in the flow of Spiritual Qi, and a slight carelessness can lead to a backlash from the Formation, damaging one's Divine Soul.

However, in front of the high-level artificial intelligence of the Wasteland, such profound Formations were extremely crudely and directly dismantled into the most basic geometric coordinates and energy topology models.

On the holographic projection screen, data streams cascaded like a waterfall, scrolling crazily.

The originally obscure and difficult-to-understand cloud seal runes were forcibly stripped of their mysterious veil by Crab, converted into three-dimensional parameters composed of X, Y, and Z axes. The nodes of Spiritual Qi flow within the Formation were precisely marked as the peaks and troughs of energy transmission.

In just half an hour.

"Master, analysis complete. This energy circuit model has been converted into a G-code instruction set and is ready to be loaded into the CNC plasma machine tool for physical etching at any time."

Gu Shen's eyes brightened slightly, and a touch of appreciation appeared on his face.

"Retrieve a mass-produced mechanical iron guard and begin etching on its external core armor plates."

The silent workshop instantly awakened.

A heavy-duty plasma machine tool emitted a low roar. A huge automated robotic arm grabbed a pitch-black, thick titanium-tungsten alloy armor plate and firmly secured it on the operating table.

The deep blue plasma cutting beam suddenly lit up, carrying a temperature of thousands of degrees, and moved rapidly across the surface of the hard titanium-tungsten armor with a micrometer-level precision that was extremely difficult for human labor to achieve.

Sparks flew everywhere, and the smell of molten metal permeated the air.

The high-grade concealment array patterns of the Cultivation World were being perfectly imprinted onto this titanium-tungsten alloy armor plate in the most hardcore industrial manufacturing way. Every bend and every arc was exactly the same as recorded in the Jade Slip. This assembly line operation with absolute zero error was enough to make the top-tier Formation Great Grandmasters of the Great Yu Cultivation World feel ashamed.

Before long, the machine tool stopped.

Twelve core armor components engraved with complex array patterns were lined up in sequence, quietly displayed on the conveyor belt.

Gu Shen stepped forward and assembled these armor components one by one onto the skeleton of a brand-new Mass-produced Iron Guard. Accompanied by a series of crisp sounds of interlocking mechanisms, a humanoid steel beast with an all-black body and mysterious array patterns hidden on its surface stood before Gu Shen.

Everything was ready; all that was missing was the final spark.

Gu Shen took a red gold treasure box from his Storage Ring. Opening the lid, a High-Grade Spirit Stone radiating majestic Spiritual Qi leaped into his palm.

Before this, Gu Shen had used Medium-Grade Spirit Stones to drive simple Formations, but the purity of the Spiritual Qi was insufficient to cover the radiation from the nuclear power furnace within the Iron Guard, making it extremely easy to be detected by the Heavenly Dao of the Cultivation World. Now, with this High-Grade Spirit Stone containing the aura of the Origin of Heaven and Earth as the core power source, all obstacles would be easily solved.

Gu Shen precisely pressed the High-Grade Spirit Stone into the energy slot in the chest cavity of the Iron Guard, and then firmly locked the last piece of heart-protecting armor engraved with the Formation eye.

"Click."

It fit perfectly.

"Connect the spiritual power circuit, activate the Thousand Illusions Heaven-Deceiving Array." Gu Shen issued the final command.

The vast Spiritual Qi contained within the High-Grade Spirit Stone surged wildly along the etched array patterns on the surface of the titanium-tungsten armor.

In an instant, a layer of extremely deep, dark light curtain, resembling the night sky, appeared on the surface of the entire Mechanical Iron Guard. The light curtain circulated endlessly, connecting from end to end, turning into an absolutely closed circulation System.

This was the ultimate Profound Truth created by applying the principles of the "Thousand Illusions Heaven-Deceiving Array"—the Internal Circulation Shield!

The moment the light shield formed, this steel beast, which had originally radiated a cold metallic aura and faint nuclear radiation, vanished without a trace in Gu Shen's Divine Sense perception.

Gu Shen closed his eyes, pushed his Divine Sense to the limit, and repeatedly scanned the position a few feet in front of him.

There was nothing there. There was no mana fluctuation, no metal mass, and not even the slightest vibration of mechanical components could be detected. If not for his physical eyes clearly seeing it standing there, using only the perception methods of the Cultivation World, this place would just be a lifeless Void Realm.

"It's done."

Gu Shen opened his eyes, his gaze filled with extreme excitement and fanaticism.

This prototype of the mass-produced mechanical iron guard, loaded with the Internal Circulation Shield, already possessed the ability to perfectly evade the Heavenly Dao audits of the Great Yu Cultivation World and avoid detection by Cultivators. They were no longer just scrap metal that could only scavenge in the Wasteland, but loyal guards capable of following Gu Shen into battle at any time.

"Crab." Gu Shen's voice echoed through the massive arsenal, exuding an unquestionable, warlord-like dominance.

"Add the 'Thousand Illusions Heaven-Deceiving Array' manual to the standard factory configuration of the Mass-produced Iron Guard. Mobilize all idle energy from the first to the fifth levels and activate all plasma machine tools."

"The sixth underground level arsenal, full-scale production. This Seat wants to see a fully established steel torrent!"

"As you command, Master. The industrial assembly line is at full capacity, and the highest-level mass production program has been initiated."

Throughout the deep underground levels of Shelter No. 7, all the robotic arms were raised high simultaneously, and countless plasma sparks illuminated the darkness.

Massive amounts of supplies were being converted into pure combat power at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The gears of the Wasteland's military buildup were already spinning crazily, with an attitude that crushed everything in its path.