mtlumby2d #375 - The oppressed spiritualist
#375 - The oppressed spiritualist
“What did you do…” Gao Huating asked, frowning and clutching her forehead.
The woman on the throne looked down at her, a hint of joy in her eyes.
The woman gently raised her hand, and the full-coverage armor on Gao Huating's body fell off on its own, as if the armor had gained sentience.
Gao Huating, wearing a tight-fitting compression suit, slumped to the ground, waves of dizziness accompanied by nausea constantly assaulting her.
The woman's beautiful voice rang out: "You are still too weak. As my reincarnation, it is time for you to accept power. The timing is just right."
Gao Huating asked in a low voice: "What did you do… What does Prisoner Number One mean… Is that me?"
"You are the master here."
The woman said softly:
"You are me, but the current me."
"You have not yet merged with my memories, so you cannot understand us for the time being."
"What does Prisoner Number One mean?"
Gao Huating gradually adapted to the discomfort in her body. She leaned on a chair nearby to stand up. The compression suit made her slender figure look somewhat frail.
Gao Huating swallowed and stared at the woman:
"Are you going to do something to Commander Wang Zheng?"
"What exactly are you planning?"
"Have you told me a single truth? You say I am you, is that how you deceive yourself? You have been using me, deceiving me, making me your mental puppet!"
The woman closed her eyes and sighed softly.
She corrected: "Not a mental puppet. You are my soul's reincarnated individual, and should be the continuation of my spirit."
"Isn't that a puppet!"
"But you are an independent individual."
"You said you wanted to forget the misery and mistakes of your civilization."
"Yes, I didn't lie to you. After I finish all this, I will hand everything here over to you."
The woman sighed softly:
"Little Hua Ting, you don't know the pain of bearing the weight of years."
"I only said that you cannot understand me, but I didn't ask you to understand me. Understanding me means bearing a lot of weight."
"Compared to the continuation of civilization and the revival of civilization, personal gains and losses sometimes don't matter."
"Look…"
The woman raised her hand and gently swiped forward.
Gao Huating subconsciously looked around.
The once empty hall was now filled with noise and laughter. Men and women with long arms and legs, wearing robes or long skirts, were chatting and bustling about.
The alien screens in front of them were all flashing with light.
This should be a command center.
These light and shadows dissipated with the wind, leaving only the Tyndall effect created by simulated sunlight, and some fine dust in the light.
The woman said: "Our civilization has died, sixty-odd thousand stellar revolution cycles ago. But now, we have a chance to revive our civilization… Child, will you abandon your own civilization?"
Gao Huating subconsciously clenched her fist.
The woman's expression was very sad, and she said in a low voice:
"Yes, I have been plotting against that cultivator."
"He is too important to us, so I lied… Everyone lies, as long as it is for their own benefit."
"Even those rigid Blade Beasts, aren't they selectively lying for their own benefit?"
Gao Huating asked: "Is our civilization really that important? Isn't it already destroyed? Tens of thousands of years have passed, what's the point of reviving it?"
"It's meaningful."
The woman stared at Gao Huating:
"This way, I can be smoothly liberated, leave this prison, and completely dissipate myself."
"For sixty-odd thousand years, because of the power of this city itself, I cannot die, cannot pass away, and cannot even achieve self-collapse. I can only coldly wake up from the empty and silent palace again and again, and then wait for my memories to become mixed, my own consciousness to become confused, and enter the so-called slumber."
"Civilization revives, I will complete the mission of guarding civilization, Cloud City will return to its rightful place, and I will be liberated."
"And you, my rebirth, you will not have to bear any hardship or pain, become the master of this star field, and lead humans, Blade Beasts, Spiritual Cultivators, and their spirit slaves to usher in a new era."
"That might give you the illusion of becoming a god, but I hope you can remain rational and pay attention to the reproduction of individuals and the inheritance of civilization and culture."
Gao Huating: …
The woman looked at the screen in front of her.
The alien screen extended outward, showing images of Wang Ji Xuan and others searching the streets.
The woman said slowly: "If you cannot understand these things for the time being, then I can tell you something that you should care about. If our civilization is successfully revived, the Spiritual Cultivators will be our spirit slaves, and the disaster of the Blade Beasts can be solved with a single thought."
Gao Huating's expression changed slightly.
The woman added: "Prisoner Number One is now not just a soul, he has a body. You also admire him very much. Your union with him is the process of civilization's continuation. He is qualified to become your spouse."
"The last cultivation method…"
"It was effective, but that was just one part of my plan."
The woman said indifferently:
"The core of my plan is not to do anything, but to make him curious by doing these things."
"His nature is full of exploration and a desire for knowledge."
"Although I don't object to open sexual relationships, we ourselves are noble, and the noble need elegance. There should be a full sense of ritual before the union of bodies."
The woman's lips revealed a hint of a smile.
She gently raised her hand, her palm facing the screen, and then gently grabbed.
"Now, we can slowly capture him…"
Gao Huating suddenly rushed forward, trying to hold down the woman's raised arm.
The woman seemed to have expected this. She allowed Gao Huating to rush over, but the woman's body became illusory. Gao Huating pounced and fell onto the seat. Before she could make any movements, the woman's illusory figure had already merged with Gao Huating's body.
Gao Huating's vision blurred, and she found herself in a pink room.
"Calm down in the illusion in your heart."
The woman said indifferently:
"I will temporarily borrow our body to help you complete all the steps. The moment I call you out will be the moment before your union with him."
"Don't be too emotional, child."
"The path I have chosen for you can save the human world on Earth and help him once again attack the Immortal Ascension Heavenly Tribulation. Why not give it a try? Just consider it giving yourself a chance."
Gao Huating sat weakly on the edge of the bed.
She didn't know why, but she couldn't help but start to cry, a sense of powerlessness spreading throughout her body.
In the end, she still couldn't do anything.
…
"Brother Wang! Come here and take a look!"
With a shout from Zheng Shiduo, Wang Ji Xuan's figure turned in mid-air, leaping over the golden streets like a flying squirrel, and landing on the second-floor window of the building where Zheng Shiduo was.
Zheng Shiduo, as if presenting a treasure, held up a small booklet for Wang Ji Xuan to observe.
Wang Ji Xuan took a closer look.
Good heavens.
Spring palace pictures?
However, not the drawn kind, but a collection of photographs, surrounded by a faint aura of spiritual energy, seemingly an anti-corrosion restriction.
From the content of the pictures, it could be judged:
These seemingly bright and beautiful residents of the ancient civilization were also very wild at heart. And, as expected of an ancient civilization, many of the poses were full of beauty, and the main point was that Wang Ji Xuan himself had never seen them before.
The Daoist priest frowned and said: "What are you making such a fuss about with this stuff!"
Zheng Shiduo clicked his tongue and flipped through a few pages, finding a group photo of the couple doing that on the rooftop.
"Brother Wang, you need to use your mental power to put mosaics on them. Look here…"
In the corner of the photo, a huge, blimp-like object was floating in the blue sky, with beams of colorful light on it.
Zheng Shiduo pointed to the sky outside.
"The sky we see now looks very real, but it's actually very low. The top should be simulated using some technological means."
"But Brother Wang, look at this photo. Its shooting location is on the roof of this building. I've compared it, and the details match perfectly. The huge airship in the sky is at least several thousand meters high, and the light beams on it are directly shining into outer space."
"There is similar evidence in several other places."
Zheng Shiduo quickly flipped through it a few more times.
Wang Ji Xuan revealed a look of understanding: "Are you saying that this city was originally on the surface?"
"It should be suspended above the surface."
Zheng Shiduo muttered:
"Later, something must have happened, and the city sank down."
"Not sank," Wang Ji Xuan said, "This is a huge sub-space that wraps the entire city. That huge spiritual energy cluster is either to maintain the operation of this sub-space, or it is attracted by this sub-space."
"Okay," Zheng Shiduo muttered, "Anyway, it's pretty weird."
Wang Ji Xuan thought of Gao Huating's dream back then.
That was the scene that appeared when she first awakened, the entire city being continuously impacted by fiery meteors falling from the sky, and fiery giants standing up from the meteors.
That city was basically consistent with this city as well.
"Keep searching," Wang Ji Xuan threw the album to Zheng Shiduo, who openly put it back into his storage ring.
Archaeology;
This was a serious archaeological work.
The Daoist priest smiled and scolded: "Don't just look for these things, see if there are any precious materials for refining weapons, try to take them all away. I can't use my spiritual sense here either, so I can only search using stupid methods."
"No problem! I'm just afraid we don't have enough storage artifacts."
"Sir! There is a stone tablet here!"
Wu Man's shout came from a distance.
Wang Ji Xuan flashed out of the window, and disappeared in a few leaps.
Zheng Shi blinked, turned around to survey the room, and quietly slipped into the bathroom.
Wu Man found many words engraved on the stone tablet.
These words were very similar to the tadpole script used in the spiritual energy user advancement ceremony; each word not only represented a certain label but also had some special function.
Wang Jixuan studied it for a moment and decisively called for Amina.
Amina said speechlessly, "Wouldn't it be easier for us to just go to the palace and find that woman?"
"No hurry," Wang Jixuan said with a smile. "Let's play with her first. Now that we're in a treasure mountain, we can't return empty-handed. What does this stele say?"
"An epic poem."
Amina finally had a chance to show off her erudition.
She said softly:
"The gist is that the great King Quimidanima led his fleet in a desperate battle against powerful enemies who invaded this starfield.
"This king made such brilliant decisions in the decisive battle, encircling and annihilating the enemy, and employing ingenious strategies to capture the enemy commander, ultimately succeeding in destroying the enemy fleet, concluding a treaty of non-aggression, and receiving war reparations."
"Fleet?" Wang Jixuan asked with interest, "Can you determine the date of this stele?"
"Let me see..."
Amina turned to the back of the stele, her expression gradually becoming serious.
"They calculate according to eras. This is the Fourth Era. As for what their era means, I'm not sure. It might be that the period of a king's reign counts as one era."
Wang Jixuan nodded and asked, "Can you tell what kind of combat methods they used?"
"I can't tell from this stele, but such a large city should have some libraries."
"Look for them," Wang Jixuan said with a smile, "I'm very interested in their history."
"Okay," Amina said, "My spirit slaves can't appear here, otherwise, it would be much easier."
"Why can't they appear?"
"They will be attacked," Amina explained, "I tried it the first time I arrived here. As long as I take out my slate, I will receive a warning, and then a group of special drones will fly over… like, over there."
Amina and Wang Jixuan looked up.
Dozens of 'dumbbell'-shaped golden aircraft fell from the sky, numbering about sixty or seventy, surrounding the area.
Some strange synthesized sounds came.
Wang Jixuan didn't bring his core circuit;
Amina thoughtfully raised her hand and pressed on Wang Jixuan's arm, and Wang Jixuan immediately understood the semantics of these synthesized sounds.
"Intruders, please cease your destructive behavior."
"Intruders, please cease your destructive behavior, otherwise, we will legally and legitimately attack you."
"We do not wish to kill life forms capable of reaching this great place."
Amina took Wang Jixuan into the air, easily seeing the situation over there.
Nierda Tamon reached out and grabbed the finger of a roadside sculpture.
This burly man seemed to be intentionally attracting these drones.
Amina reminded him telepathically, "Don't easily damage things on the roadside; things inside those residences can be moved at will."
"It's okay, I'll try."
Nierda Tamon smiled, shook his hand gently, and the finger of the sculpture immediately fell off.
A buzzing sound suddenly rang out around them.
The dumbbell-shaped drones simultaneously emitted tiny red lights.
Laser beams? No, it doesn't seem to be laser beams.
Nierda Tamon was very confident in his physical strength, so he didn't take any defensive measures, just directly receiving these red lights.
The attacks launched by these drones were not fatal, just punitive and warning in nature.
But the next second, the smile on Nierda Tamon's lips instantly froze.
When the red light touched his body, a light curtain opened behind him on its own. The ring on the light curtain instantly went out, and the entire light curtain turned light gray.
Nierda Tamon didn't have any wounds on his body, but he staggered and instinctively knelt down.
Drawn by the red light, Nierda Tamon, the super fighter who could single-handedly defeat a group of Pillar Blade Beasts, was actually dragged up into the air by a group of drones that didn't seem to have much energy, and sent to the nearest 'police station'.
Wang Jixuan and Amina exchanged glances.
Amina shrugged, "I warned you."
"What kind of method is this?"
"I'm not sure," Amina sighed softly, "But I felt the suppression of civilization."
Daoist Wang's Dao Heart trembled.