189: Thunder Kingdom Dusk

Ink Snow transformed into the spirit of the Hall of Valor, using her own half-step Golden Immortal Foundation and Divine Soul to permanently solidify that tomb of digital souls.

The hall was solemn, its brilliance flowing; though it remained cold, her integration added a trace of eternal compassion and guardianship, making it a unique and desolate sight in this new rational world.

The Mechanical Heavenly Dao did not invest any further "attention" into this.

In its logic core, although Ink Snow's choice was not the most efficient, the result conformed to the new Law, improved the stability of the Hall of Valor, and increased the sample library of valuable "emotional variables," so it "approved" and executed it.

Its computing power quickly shifted to the next higher-priority task—evaluating the overall state of the current world and executing optimal adjustments.

Its vast, cold perception, like an invisible beam, instantly swept through every corner inside the magic bottle, then penetrated the bottle walls, spread to the High-Dimensional Secret Realm, and even followed that faint, lingering connection to cast toward the distant, broken Spirit Realm.

Countless data flooded into the metal Dao core like a torrent, where it was processed and analyzed at high speed:

"Internal environment assessment: Energy reserves: 3.71%. sequence unit survival rate: 0.02%. High-order unit status: Mo Yuan (dormant, under maintenance), Ink Snow (fused with Hall of Valor, status stable). Dao Fruit Tree (repairing, load too high). good corpse dao fruit (running smoothly, output constant). Hall of Valor (running stable, data storage increasing). Overall structural integrity: 41.5%. Conclusion: Extremely weak, but core architecture stable, possesses Foundation for slow self-repair."

"High-Dimensional Secret Realm environment assessment: Spatial structure stability: poor. Energy density: extremely low. Law disorder: high. Conclusion: Unsuitable for long-term stay; risk of unknown dimensional storms exists."

"Spirit Realm environment assessment (based on reverse deduction from residual Dao marks and Karma connections): Heavenly Dao core damaged (estimated 30%), world Laws in violent turmoil, Spiritual Qi concentration plummeting, earth veins shrinking (Mo Yun's transformation into the primordial flood can only slow this, not reverse it), and the withering of all things is accelerating. Conclusion: Entered [Era of Dharma Decline]. Environmental deterioration is irreversible; resource collection efficiency is expected to drop to freezing point."

All data was summarized and cross-analyzed.

A cold conclusion was generated:

"Current optimal solution: Depart the High-Dimensional Secret Realm and return to the main material world (Spirit Realm)."

"Reasons: 1. The High-Dimensional Secret Realm environment is harsh, with uncontrollable risks, and energy replenishment efficiency is near zero. 2. Although the Spirit Realm has entered the Era of Dharma Decline, it remains the Foundation; the material basis still exists, and the power of the Heavenly Dao is extremely weak due to core damage and the birth of the new Heavenly Dao, reducing its threat level to the minimum. 3. Returning to the main material world is beneficial for utilizing existing resources (residual earth veins, Human Race settlements) for basic reconstruction, which conforms to long-term development efficiency."

"Execution plan: Terminate the dimension-raising state and downgrade to the original spatial coordinates of the Spirit Realm. During the process, energy dissipation must be minimized to the greatest extent to protect core units (magic bottle, Dao Fruit Tree, Hall of Valor)."

The command was issued, and the Mechanical Heavenly Dao operated in silence.

The force maintaining the magic bottle's existence in the High-Dimensional Secret Realm was precisely withdrawn, bit by bit.

The faint light on the bottle that isolated it from dimensions began to dim and dissipate.

Outside, those bizarre, color-distorted, High-Dimensional scenes gradually blurred and receded like a fading oil painting.

Replacing them was the Void Realm of the Spirit Realm—familiar yet incomparably broken, and permeated with an aura of decay and deathly silence.

Hum...

A sensation of sinking washed over them.

It was not a physical fall, but a "downgrade" of their entire level of existence.

The broken Mo Capital, the withered mountains and rivers, and the floating magic bottle seemed to rise slowly from the depths, re-anchoring to the original spatial coordinates of the Spirit Realm.

Just at the moment of their complete return—

Pfft!

It was as if a balloon inflated to its limit had suddenly deflated; the already low-energy environment inside the magic bottle plummeted once more!

The light of the Dao Fruit Tree dimmed sharply, the output of the good corpse dao fruit was forced to decrease, and the energy flow maintaining Mo Yuan's consciousness became precarious.

The Hall of Valor shook violently, and the countless light spots of memory within it flickered uncertainly, only kept stable by Ink Snow burning her Divine Soul.

[High-Dimensional Secret Realm downgrade] complete.

The cost was another significant consumption of the already scarce energy reserves.

The magic bottle floated silently above the barren sky of the Spirit Realm, like a scarred drifting bottle.

Outside the bottle, the scene was suffocating.

The sky was a grayish-yellow, filled with a persistent haze of dust; not a single trace of Spiritual light could be seen.

Sunlight filtered through the haze, dim and weak, shining down upon the scarred and cracked earth.

Mountains and rivers had collapsed, rivers had dried up, and all vegetation had turned to withered ash; there was not a trace of vitality.

The Spiritual Qi in the air was so thin it was almost imperceptible; instead, it was filled with a stagnant Death Qi that made one's chest feel tight.

Once-prosperous cities had been reduced to broken walls and ruins, slowly being buried by the wind and sand.

Only in the far distance, a few scattered, small Human Race settlements survived, clinging to life like candles in the wind, relying on the most primitive struggles and a meager Legacy.

The Spirit Realm had suffered a grievous injury, entering an irreversible Era of Dharma Decline.

The once-spirited Lei Yan Divine Dynasty, which could challenge the Heavenly Dao, was now reduced to nothing more than a tiny, energy-depleted fire seed huddled within a bottle, alongside a coldly operating new Heavenly Dao.

Its glory was gone; its honor had passed.

Only the afterglow of twilight shone coldly upon these ruins of civilization.

The Mechanical Heavenly Dao ignored this desolate scene; its "gaze" calmly scanned the environmental data after the landing and began to execute the next instruction:

"Environment scan complete. Confirmed: The Spirit Realm has entered the Era of Dharma Decline."

"Initiating the preparatory stage of the 'Civilization Fire Seeds' plan. Optimizing the existing 'Enlightenment Fire Seed' sequence structure to adapt to the low-Spiritual environment and improve information storage and transmission efficiency."

"Initiating basic resource collection protocol. Dispatching remaining available sequence units (17 Worker Bee units) to collect basic materials from the exterior, prioritizing the repair of external damage to the magic bottle."

"Energy management protocol: Entering minimum power consumption mode. Non-essential units will enter hibernation."

A mere dozen broken Worker Bee sequences wobbled out from the cracks in the magic bottle and began to silently collect rubble and metal debris from the ground, attempting to repair the bottle.

Their movements were slow and clumsy, revealing an unspeakable desolation.

Inside the magic bottle, the newborn Mechanical Heavenly Dao operated in silence, rationally planning every step of the reconstruction upon the ruins.

Outside the magic bottle lay the boundless, deathly silent twilight of the Spirit Realm.

The twilight of the Lei Yan Divine Dynasty had descended.

And beneath this twilight, new fire seeds were waiting in cold calculation for the opportunity to be reignited.

Ink Snow's Divine Soul perceived the decay spreading outside, and she silently guarded the countless cold light spots of memory within the Hall of Valor.

Father was dormant, her sisters had sacrificed themselves, and their homeland had withered.

Only promises and memories remained, stubbornly flickering with a faint light in the twilight.