Worldwide Awakening: My Soul Kinds Are Lost-Chapter 555: Seven Hundred Years, Nine Extremes Appear Again_1
Seven hundred years passed in a blink of an eye. The Great Xuan experienced its share of ups and downs, and the quality of its emperors varied; they simply muddled through. As Wang Linchi had predicted, the Great Xuan reached its limit at the four-hundred-year mark. However, its existence was extended thanks to Wang Linchi's intervention and the stabilization of the Calamity of the Last Law, allowing it to endure for another three hundred years until the present.
Despite this, the current situation was severe. Land consolidation, while not yet rampant, was an inevitable long-term issue. Presently, the dynasty found itself in a warlord era. The primary cause was the rise of gunpowder, ushering in an age of firearms. Development, however, was slow. Both guns and artillery shells were of poor quality, comparable to those from Wang Linchi's previous life during the Republic of China era. Airplanes and tanks were out of the question, not yet having been developed, though hand grenades and firearms were already in production.
As for Charms, they hadn't disappeared entirely. However, because their power was far inferior to firearms and their creation process was exceedingly complex, they had largely been phased out. Warlords, naturally, opted for the cheaper, mass-produced, and more powerful firearms. Nowadays, Charm practitioners were mostly individuals involved in folk customs, such as Temple Masters and Priests. Moreover, they typically only learned a few Charms as a secondary skill. The most complete repository of Charm knowledge was now believed to reside only with the Royal Family.
However, the Royal Family had declined, much like the Zhou royal family during the Warring States Period. They were a mere figurehead, paid no heed by anyone. Nevertheless, their lifestyle hadn't suffered significantly. After all, the Capital was, by all accounts, a prosperous place. Thus, the current Xuan Emperor still enjoyed a rather comfortable life.
Over these years, Wang Linchi had focused on three things: cultivating the Tai Mountain Seal; refining, optimizing, enhancing, and perfecting his own System; and finding a way to delete the "Apocalypse World" designation in his Reincarnation ability. The first two tasks hadn't been overly difficult and had progressed smoothly. As long as he "consumed" the Great Xuan Dynasty, he was 100% confident he could advance to the next stage. The final task, however, was indeed a great challenge. This was mainly because the designation formed the foundational logic for targeting worlds. Deleting it required reconstructing the entire logic and database, both formidable undertakings. After wrestling with it for over seven hundred years, Wang Linchi had only recently managed to resolve it.
Additionally, he had removed the energy-charging function. Instead, his ability now consumed energy directly when searching for worlds, rather than relying on a charging mechanism. As a result, Wang Linchi was now, in effect, constantly screening worlds. He currently possessed numerous Apocalypse Worlds. As for non-Apocalypse worlds, the search was ongoing. He had only recently gotten this new search method operational, and it was still in a trial phase, so he wasn't very confident about its success. Therefore, he maintained a backup System that operated using the original database to simultaneously search for Apocalypse Worlds. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎
Especially after removing the charging function, his search efficiency had increased significantly. He currently had nearly a hundred Apocalypse Worlds at his disposal—worlds that had survived over the years. If one counted all the worlds he had accumulated access to over time, the number would be at least three thousand. Unfortunately, two thousand nine hundred of them had already perished. Wang Linchi still felt a lingering trepidation regarding this; each loss was horrifying.
"The Calamity of the Last Law is starting to loosen." Wang Linchi had just completed his daily monitoring. Observing an abrupt fluctuation on his equipment, he knew that the System of Qi, which he had tricked Pei Jiang into feeding back into the world all those years ago, had finally been exhausted.
To be honest, it was astonishing that it had lasted for over seven hundred years. This truly exceeded his expectations; he had initially estimated it would only last for a little over five hundred. The System of Qi has vanished, and it's also the End of the Dynasty. If things proceed as expected, this generation's Nine Extremes should be appearing soon.
Wang Linchi glanced at the device used to detect and locate the Nine Extremes, which still showed no reaction. If not for the fact that his monthly inspections revealed no issues, anyone else, seeing it inactive for so long, would have probably assumed the thing was broken. It's a pity. The Tai Mountain Seal can't be nurtured for a thousand years in this world, only seven hundred. Wang Linchi felt a pang of regret. Based on the current situation, once the Nine Extremes departs again, or when the Hidden Dragon begins to take the stage, the World Energy Level will inevitably plummet to single digits. At that point, decay and death will spread across the world. As for natural disasters, those are out of the question. The world is already on the brink of demise; it has no energy left to unleash cataclysms. The final outcome will be a quiet death. If its end were to be so violent, it wouldn't be considered 'on the verge of death,' but rather 'killed in battle.'
"The next step is to prepare for departure," Wang Linchi mused. Although a normal world hasn't been found yet—likely because the trial operation means the database is still subpar—it doesn't matter. Entering an Apocalypse World first is also an option; he can always move on from there. He was no longer pressed for time. Even if this world were destroyed, he wouldn't die. At worst, the 'game character' skin he wore would be shattered, but his true self would remain unharmed. It was a world, after all. It might be smaller than a normal world, but it possessed all the requisite capabilities and strength. It was just that, compared to wandering in the void outside of worlds, Wang Linchi preferred to reside within one. The environment was better, and there were no external enemies. What was so bad about being a world parasite? It was indeed a bit shameless, but thankfully, Wang Linchi wasn't bothered by such things. The plan now was to prepare. After dealing with the Nine Extremes and reaping the benefits, then consuming and digesting the civilization of the Great Xuan Dynasty, Wang Linchi could pack up and leave, abandoning this mess for the world to sort out on its own.
He had only been packing for half an hour when Wang Linchi heard a shrill noise.
What machine is that? The sound was somewhat unfamiliar. For a moment, Wang Linchi couldn't immediately recall what it was; after all, he remembered all his equipment clearly.
"Holy crap! The Nine Extremes locator!" Wang Linchi instantly realized. Among all his devices, the only one that hadn't made a sound in over seven hundred years was the Nine Extremes locator. The Calamity of the Last Law monitor didn't make noise; it was purely for observation.
Wang Linchi immediately dropped what he was doing and rushed over to the equipment, performing a dazzling series of operations.
"Found it. It seems to be quite a distance from here." The located area was a mountainous region. "About 1,100 miles to the south. It's a coastal region surrounded by mountains. The environment... is actually quite good, just a bit impoverished."
Wang Linchi recalled that in seven hundred years, he hadn't left Mount Tai, nor had he even stepped out of the Dai Temple. However, he had dispatched numerous memory constructs that roamed far and wide, gathering a fairly comprehensive understanding of the world's situation. Otherwise, how would he know the state of affairs outside? The location of this generation's Nine Extremes was actually not ideal. Precisely because of this, the ongoing Warlord conflicts hadn't reached that location. Being poor, destitute, and lacking resources, there was no profit to be extorted from it, so it had, in a way, remained safe.
"Next, I need to manufacture an accident, kill the Nine Extremes' entire family... no, the entire village. Then I'll bring the child back to raise," Wang Linchi schemed, intending to use his old methods. Besides, it would be his memory constructs doing the deed, not him personally. And I also need to change my appearance. Otherwise, it would be awkward if they recognized me as Wang Xueshu.
The face he currently wore was still Wang Xueshu's, not his original one. Wang Linchi was from the Jing Dynasty, while Wang Xueshu was from the Heng Dynasty. It was now the Xuan Dynasty. If his true identity or its connections were discovered, it would be quite awkward.
"Alright, I'll go by Wang Linyuan for now. Next time, perhaps Wang Xianyu." Wang Linchi mused that idioms were quite useful; you could just take half of one to make a name.
"As for the Dai Temple, Saint Master, you can stay here and watch over things."
The Tai Mountain Seal was here in the Dai Temple, so someone had to remain. This was to prevent the unlikely scenario where, in his absence, some protagonist might suddenly appear and snatch it away. Even if this possibility was minuscule, with the 'house' empty, having someone guard it was an excellent precaution.
The Saint Master showed no reaction. He would just continue to stand in the main hall like a divine statue. After all, the Saint Master had been doing this job for several hundred years and had extremely rich work Experience.
"I'll finish packing my things, then head out as soon as possible to... eliminate the Nine Extremes' entire family." Wang Linchi was naturally methodical; he understood priorities. Could packing luggage for escape possibly offer greater benefits than dealing with the Nine Extremes? Even if he had only packed half his things, it wouldn't be too late to finish when he returned. His luggage wouldn't run away, but the Nine Extremes could. Who knew the circumstances of its current incarnation? However, one thing was certain: this was very likely the entity's final appearance. If he failed to seize this chance, it wasn't just his own opportunity that would be lost—the world itself might not get another.
