“Steven? What’s wrong? You look so preoccupied.”
Inside the hotel lobby, Alice surprisingly hadn’t fallen asleep yet. Seeing Wu Ming approaching, she rubbed her eyes.
“Oh? Nothing at all!”
Wu Ming patted his cheeks, not expecting his melancholy had already fully shown.
After all, the impact and implications of this matter were simply too great. Compared to it, even the rise and fall of a golden Oak Kingdom were merely like dust, insufficient to cause Wu Ming any concern.
“The night fishing wasn’t very successful. Don’t worry, I’m fine!”
However, Wu Ming was Wu Ming. In just an instant, he recovered himself and gave Alice a mental suggestion: “Go back to sleep. After a good night’s rest, your mood will be better tomorrow!”
“Yawn…”
Upon hearing this, Alice stretched her arms and yawned: “Then I’ll go back to sleep first. You should rest early too…”
“Hmm?”
When he opened the door to his room, Wu Ming was surprised to find Angelina there as well.
“Really…”
He covered his forehead: “Why aren’t either of you sleeping properly? If girls don’t get enough sleep, they’ll age easily, you know!”
“Hmph!”
Angelina’s attitude, however, was somewhat strange. She stared at Wu Ming, her eyes gleaming with an even more unusual light.
“Brother, you’ve always been different since childhood!”
The obedient little girl from daytime had vanished. It seemed that this rebellious girl was her true self.
“What exactly are you trying to say?”
So much had happened today that Wu Ming was already planning to give her another mental suggestion.
Although such techniques couldn’t be used too frequently, or they might bring unpredictable effects and consequences to the subject.
“My memory is very good. I can even often recall scenes from my infancy…”
Angelina blinked her eyes, that clarity instantly reminding Wu Ming of the scene when she was a baby and saw him practicing his cultivation.
“Don’t worry, brother. Let’s just keep this our little secret, okay?”
Angelina waved her hand: “I won’t tell anyone. You don’t need to worry about anything. Good night!”
“This little brat!”
Wu Ming frowned, realizing his oversight: “Mental suggestion is merely a form of hypnosis, not actually altering the soul. Theoretically, it might even fail, especially on those with special constitutions?”
Of course, this was just a minor issue. Compared to the huge problem currently in his mind, it was nothing at all.
After closing the door, Wu Ming sat cross-legged on the bed, his consciousness diving into his spiritual sea.
At the center of his spiritual sea, a luminous pearl, shimmering with colorful light, quietly floated there, seemingly containing a virtual space within.
“A half-finished product, prototype, or defective item of the Zhen Shen Hall!”
Wu Ming murmured.
Having once possessed the Zhen Shen Hall, he naturally knew the power this pearl carried. At least, once developed, it could easily dominate this world.
Only by relying on it to establish a terrifying and vast force could he quickly explore the world’s mysteries and find the true inheritance of that powerful being.
The other party had already calculated every step. This feeling of having to follow the other’s plan made Wu Ming quite unhappy.
But he had no choice but to go along.
With the Da Luo Sutra, Wu Ming felt that the higher he deduced, the more difficult it became. Probably, by the fifth level, he would encounter a lack of progress, at most reaching an Earth Immortal, hardly regaining the Heaven Immortal power to manipulate the world’s primal forces.
Exploring the essence and mysteries of the world, level six was the minimum requirement.
“Phew… It seems I really have no choice but to rely on external forces!”
Wu Ming sighed.
At present, this prototype of the Zhen Shen Hall had merely an empty semi-dimensional space, practically destitute.
“This is indeed a genuine Zhen Shen Space…”
Wu Ming shook his head. “Although it has the ability to create, it lacks the most basic energy… Primal forces of the world are out of the question. It seems I’ll have to use secondary energy instead!”
The primal forces of the world were mysterious and profound, beyond the reach of anyone below a Heaven Immortal.
Cultivators below level six actually dealt with secondary forms of energy derived from primal forces.
Wu Ming had extensive experience in this area, after all, he had once collected the spiritual energy of the people of the Great Zhou World to create the Great Zhou Xi Yu Ji World.
“Fate, bloodline, nuclear energy, magnetism…”
He quickly reviewed the energy sources available in this world, then nodded: “It seems I’ll have to collect spiritual energy after all!”
Compared to other forms of energy, spiritual energy better met his needs.
“It seems… I should also revise my future plans!”
After making a silent decision, Wu Ming appeared completely normal the next day, spending a pleasant holiday with his companions on the Red Coral Sea.
On the day of their return, they arrived at the harbor once again.
“Captain Victor, thank you for your trouble!”
The yacht docked as scheduled. Wu Ming smiled at the captain.
“It is an honor for all our crew to serve you gentlemen and ladies!”
Victor bowed respectfully. This was a group of wealthy patrons not to be easily offended, especially this leader, Steven, whose demeanor and speech were so unique that Victor almost believed he was the heir of some great noble family or financial conglomerate.
“Time to go back!”
Vidi carried two large bags, adorned with various souvenirs: “I hope we don’t encounter a storm this time. I really don’t want to experience that again!”
Upon hearing these words, Wu Ming’s lips curled into a mocking smile.
A ghost ship, huh?
That would actually make a very good experimental subject!
…
Click! Click!
Whoosh! Drip! Drip!
Lightning danced wildly, fierce winds howled, and torrential rain poured down.
It seemed fate had abandoned Vidi, causing this poor little fellow to encounter a storm once again, almost vomiting his entire stomach out.
“What’s going on? We’ve encountered another storm!”
Inside the captain’s quarters, Victor saw the navigator become extremely agitated: “Captain, I’ve checked all the weather forecasts for this sailing season. The probability of encountering a tropical storm again should be almost zero!”
“Perhaps, this is just fate!”
He wisely exhaled a smoke ring, suddenly tapping his tortoiseshell pipe: “Men, get to work!”
“Captain, look!”
At that moment, a crew member pointed into the distance and shouted: “Gho… ghost ship!”
“What?”
This time, even Victor lost his composure.
He leaned against the window, staring at the glowing three-masted ship slowly approaching, feeling utterly miserable: “Why? Why does it insist on chasing us relentlessly?”
Woo woo!
Regardless of the crew and passengers’ wails and screams, the ghost ship remained indifferent, slowly sailing forward.
A black light mixed with dark qi added many shadowy figures onto the decaying deck.
They looked expressionless, their bodies semi-transparent, their lower legs completely vanished—clearly a group of ghostly spirits.
“It’s finally here, huh?”
At this moment, Wu Ming, wearing a raincoat, arrived on the deck. Despite the constant swaying of the ship, he walked steadily as if on solid ground.
“Zhen Shen Space!”
He stared at the numb vengeful spirits on the ship, touching his forehead.
Whoosh!
A beam of light appeared, the Zhen Shen Space unfolded, and a large number of ghosts from the ghost ship instantly vanished.
In the next moment, within the Zhen Shen Space, numerous souls appeared, their faces filled with confusion.
Most of them were heavily scarred, their limbs incomplete. At this moment, a layer of white light descended, repairing their spiritual bodies, restoring them to a healthy state.
A profound sense of gratitude instantly arose in their hearts, causing them to kneel down and praise this miracle: “Our Lord! You are the savior who leads us into your divine kingdom, granting us rebirth. May your way spread throughout the world…”
Strictly speaking, the Zhen Shen Space was a more profound concept than a true god’s divine kingdom, but it could perfectly mimic one without any flaws.
With just a wave of his hand, Wu Ming absorbed thousands of high-quality vengeful spirits from the ghost ship into the Zhen Shen Space, transforming them into beings similar to petitioners.
Clearly, the spiritual power generated from their future prayers would become the most fundamental power source for the Zhen Shen Space.
“Just these aren’t nearly enough… High-quality spirits that can maintain their existence in this world are just too rare…”
Of course, Wu Ming had no intention of directly using the Zhen Shen Space as a divine kingdom—it would be a complete waste of its potential.
In his plan, the space designated as a divine kingdom would solely serve as a power source and spiritual energy reserve, one of the most fundamental secrets of the entire Zhen Shen Space. Except for the undead petitioners, no other participants in the cycle would ever be allowed to know or approach it.
“To explore the real world, naturally, I must rely on the living. Therefore, cultivating participants in the cycle is also necessary!”
Wu Ming pondered: “Certainly, relying solely on the kinetic energy produced by petitioners can at most maintain the most basic operation of the Zhen Shen Space. To activate a dungeon, even the lowest-grade illusory paradise, it would be necessary to widely spread and collect spiritual energy from the living!”
The spiritual power generated by a living person far exceeded that of undead petitioners.
After all, in this world, ordinary people were the mainstream. Not to mention the population boom brought about by the steam revolution, which Wu Ming regarded as the most valuable asset!
“Captain! Captain! The ghost ship has stopped, and the storm has also ceased!”
On the yacht, a crew member stammered.
“I can see that!”
Victor pushed the crew member aside and stepped onto the deck.
“Mr. Steven, what are you doing here? It’s dangerous!”
“Actually, I just wanted to meet this ghost ship!”
Before Wu Ming, the ghost ship had completely lost its glow, no different from a dilapidated three-masted sailing vessel.
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