I changed the world.

Page 210

Continuing forward, the terrain began to slope upwards, revealing a mountainous area with steps leading uphill. These steps wound along the mountainside, and despite their considerable cultivation and the element of caution, the master and disciple moved with surprising speed. A few minutes later, they arrived at a platform.

Ahead stood a massive, magnificent archway-like structure, seemingly carved from white jade. Just approaching him, a cool and refreshing sensation enveloped him, instantly clearing Zhang Jing's mind, as if his internal energy had been given a bath.

The energy in the void was being regulated by some kind of rule, and even Zhang Jing's spirit and body felt as if they were being cleansed again and again, making him feel incredibly relaxed.

"This is a treasure!" The thought immediately flashed through Zhang Jing's mind. Clearly, the archway before him possessed some special power, granting certain benefits to cultivators who entered its area.

However, the archway had already collapsed. The master and apprentice had reached the foot of the archway, which, even in its collapsed state, still appeared exceptionally tall.

Its material is unique, seemingly cast from jade. Just looking at it gives one a feeling of heaviness and hardness. However, one side of the two pillars was broken off, tilted to the left and collapsed, covered with scorch marks. It looked like it had been through the ravages of war.

The central plaque leaned against the ruins of the archway, its color like glass, and inscribed with oracle bone script in gold. Zhang Jing recognized it at a glance:

"Purple Palace of Heaven".

After a brief observation, the master and apprentice passed over the huge archway and continued forward.

This is a massive platform spanning tens of thousands of square meters. At the far end of the platform, against the mountainside, a colossal stone palace is embedded entirely within the mountain, appearing as if it were carved directly into the rock. This platform is located at the point where the palace's main entrance extends forward.

High in the sky, a beam of light, seemingly reaching to the heavens and the earth, descended from the sky and pierced straight into an opening above the stone hall below.

Even from an unknown distance, Zhang Jing could vaguely sense the pulsating void energy there...

After observing briefly, the master and apprentice looked away.

Compared to the buildings below, the surrounding area appears to be in a much worse state.

The ground was covered with broken stones, and the surface looked as if it had been scorched by fire. No plants grew there, not even the most basic moss.

At the same moment the master and his disciple crossed the archway, some stones on the ground suddenly began to move. Then, one after another, broken stone beasts began to rise from the ground. These stone beasts had previously fallen among the rubble and appeared to have merged with the broken stones on the ground.

There were five stone beasts in total, each about two meters tall, standing on all fours with ancient runes faintly visible on their bodies, resembling lions and tigers. Their bodies were covered in various wounds; one even had a missing foreleg, standing on its remaining three legs. Their eyes gleamed crimson as they growled softly, seemingly warning the master and disciple not to approach.

However, these seemingly exhausted stone beasts were not enough to pose a deterrent, and the master and apprentice continued to advance.

The next moment, a stone beast slowly vanished into thin air.

Then Zhang Taihe suddenly looked to his left and drew his finger like a knife in the air. Immediately, the stone beast appeared from his left side, its body suddenly exploding open, revealing a terrifying sword wound.

With a single sword strike, the stone beast stopped abruptly, its body then disintegrated and collapsed to the ground...

In a short time, Zhang Taihe had cleared away all the stone beasts in the square. In fact, these stone beasts had been eroded over the long years, and were already dilapidated, with their internal functions severely damaged. Their defenses were already at their limit.

After cleaning the stone beast, Zhang Jing observed the surroundings. This platform was a protrusion located halfway up the mountain. Looking at the current scene, one could imagine that this place was once a magnificent sight, but now it was in such a dilapidated state.

Stepping on the broken road, the two arrived at the stone gate embedded in the mountain. This huge stone gate was several meters high and consisted of two doors, left and right, which were slightly ajar. There was a crack in the middle that was more than a meter wide, and a breeze was blowing out from inside.

It appears that the stone door should have been able to close, but the mechanism for closing the stone door must have been damaged or malfunctioning, rendering the stone door useless now.

The master and apprentice did not rush to enter. Instead, they carefully inspected the doorway to make sure there were no special arrangements. They each made some calculations, then looked at each other and exchanged glances. Their calculations were all auspicious, so they nodded to each other. Zhang Jing then took out his storage bead and retrieved a briefcase from it.

He opened the suitcase, inside which were neatly arranged six egg-sized spheres. In addition, he took out a small laptop.

This is a scanning robot that Zhang Jing ordered online from a professional robotics company. It can be used for map surveying.

Zhang Jing first opened his laptop and quickly started operating it. After setting up the basic parameters last night, he picked up a ball about the size of an egg, pressed it lightly, and then threw it into the doorway. With a soft hum, the ball did not land directly but hovered in the air, floating about one meter above the ground. Using the momentum of Zhang Jing's throw, it flew into the doorway.

Chapter 375 Exploring the Ruins

As the small sphere flew and spun, it emitted rays of light that were barely perceptible to the naked eye in all directions. These rays of light spiraled across the surrounding terrain, scanning the environment in the process.

Meanwhile, inside the small sphere, the terrain computer uses the scanned results to create a 3D model, generating a digital map of the entire space. This mapping can even preliminarily determine the materials used to create different parts of the model based on the light reflection spectra of different materials.

This surveying robot is designed for use in harsh environments and is equipped with multiple modes. The mode that Zhang Jing is currently using is the automatic pathfinding mode. In this mode, the robot can automatically find its way and return without external remote control.

Zhang Jing quickly threw out all six small balls. These small balls are said to use the social principles of some social insects, and when multiple balls work together, they will automatically make the optimal route division.

They then explored along the passage and soon disappeared from Zhang Jing's sight.

However, that wasn't enough. Zhang Jing quickly took out another briefcase from the storage bead, which contained six more spheres. After setting them up, he threw them out one by one.

After repeating this process several times, Zhang Jing launched a total of 36 scanning robots before finally stopping.

The reason for using so many at once is that although these robots are small and agile and can automatically avoid obstacles to a certain extent, they would still be hard to escape if they were attacked. In addition, the interior of the hall in front of him looks quite large, and he has no idea how big it extends into the mountain. Therefore, Zhang Jing simply used a large number of robots to go inside. This way, even if some are lost, at least some will return. The lost robots themselves can also serve as an early warning to point out possible dangers.

Of course, this is actually a rather extravagant approach, because these surveying robots are not cheap, each costing around two thousand yuan. Under normal circumstances, one or two robots are enough to handle the problem. Using robots like a swarm, as Zhang Jing does, is quite a luxury.

Of course, for Zhang Jing, problems that can be solved with money are not worth the risk. This exploration is also an attempt on his part.

After the robot was released, all that remained was to wait. There were no network or communication satellites in this area, and a force was constantly disrupting the communication signals throughout the entire cave. Zhang Jing knew that this was part of the cave's defense, and as long as the cave had not completely collapsed, this defense mechanism would still exist.

Therefore, the data collected by the robots cannot be transmitted back in real time; we need to wait for them to return on their own.

About half an hour later, some robots began to return one after another, and the collected data began to be synchronized to Zhang Jing's laptop. At the same time, based on this data, the program automatically began to generate 3D topographic maps and renderings.

As more and more robots returned, the terrain data they collected became more comprehensive. It could be seen that the area inside the mountain was much larger than Zhang Jing had previously anticipated, with interconnected passageways and at least several hundred rooms of different sizes.

Five robots ultimately failed to return. However, the approximate area where these robots disappeared was also identified by the program, providing Zhang Jing with firsthand early warning information.

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"Squeak—crunch—"

With a heavy scraping sound, Zhang Jing forcefully pushed open a metal door that was only slightly ajar. Inside these doors were intricate mechanisms, but due to the passage of time and lack of maintenance, these mechanisms had all been damaged.

This is the passage that Zhang Jing and his apprentice entered. In this space carved out of the mountain, there are quite a few passages like this. Thanks to the map they had planned beforehand, the two of them had made relatively smooth progress all the way to this point. Based on their judgment of the map, the two of them believed that going in this direction might lead them to the core area of ​​this region.

Further ahead lies a more enclosed area, where the robot's footprint has reached its limit.

Along their journey, they made some discoveries, but overall, they didn't find many. At the same time, various clues seemed to confirm the master and apprentice's initial guess: the original owners of this place had planned their retreat, which is why they took most of the valuable items with them.

Even so, they still made quite a few gains. After all, it was impossible to take everything away from such a large area, so many items were left behind and remained untouched for thousands of years.

Unfortunately, Zhang Jing didn't find many of the Dharma treasures he wanted most. But that's understandable, since knowledge is the most precious wealth, especially for a sect. Even when retreating, they wouldn't casually discard materials related to their sect's cultivation methods.

As they traveled, the master and apprentice discovered that some of the buildings inside showed signs of damage, but most of them were near the outer perimeter. It seemed that this place had also been invaded at the time, but the invaders were probably not able to penetrate too deeply and were pushed back.

Zhang Jing couldn't help but wonder what exactly happened here in ancient times that led to the abandonment of this enormous grotto-heaven. Judging from the scale of the grotto-heaven's architecture, one could imagine that even a sect would not have been able to build or abandon such a place so easily.

Due to the erosion of time, most of the defensive facilities and restrictions that may have existed at this point have become ineffective, which has brought many conveniences to the master and apprentice.

Even so, they did encounter some attacks, just like the ones they had encountered on the platform before. It was some kind of defense mechanism that was still in effect. However, with Zhang Taihe by their side, and with the robots' previous exploration, the two of them did not encounter any major mishaps along the way.

The further they went, the higher the stone walls rose from the ground, and the surroundings began to open up. At the same time, Zhang Jing could clearly sense some kind of energy surging and fluctuating ahead...

This feeling became clearer and clearer, which made Zhang Jing subconsciously more vigilant and carefully observe his surroundings.

After walking another ten meters or so, Zhang Jing suddenly felt as if an invisible wave swept over their bodies. This was a rather subtle scan, and there was no visible light, yet Zhang Jing still managed to sense it.

Chapter 376 Blessed Land

This is also the result of his continuous improvement in perception in all aspects as he cultivates. Now, his perception of visible light and sound waves has long surpassed that of ordinary people. Even so, he almost overlooked the fluctuation just now.

The master and apprentice stopped at the same time. Clearly, Zhang Taihe had also noticed the abnormality. In fact, his gaze had already turned to the wall to the side.

The next moment, rows of holes suddenly appeared in the wall next to them, and then a large number of objects emitting fluorescent blue light swarmed out from them like a swarm of bees...

Those objects twisted and writhed like snakes, and it was unclear whether they were some kind of creature or something else. Even their flight paths in the air were as agile as fish swimming in water. These objects surged out in large numbers, rushing towards Zhang Jing and his apprentice like lightning.

Although it's not entirely clear how they determined the two people to be intruders, it's obvious that they made that judgment.

Then Zhang Taihe looked at the swarming blue fluorescent light, formed a hand seal, pointed forward, and uttered a single syllable.

The next moment, the countless points of light suddenly stopped, just like a group of fish swimming in water. Suddenly, the surrounding water turned into solidified ice, and the points of light struggled in the air, but could not move forward.

Immediately afterwards, a thunderous flash appeared in the sky, and the shockwave shook the surrounding space. Large amounts of dust fell from above. After several thunderous roars, the specks of light in the sky, like snowflakes illuminated by sunlight, turned into starlight and then melted into the sky.

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As they continued forward, they encountered some more defensive formations. However, perhaps due to the passage of time, these formations were scattered and disorganized, and did not pose much of a problem for the master and apprentice.

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As you walk further in, the surrounding light becomes brighter. This is not a light source like a lamp, but rather it permeates the entire environment, like sunlight, giving you the illusion that you have entered the outside world.

After turning a corner, Zhang Jing and his apprentice passed through an anciently carved doorway. Looking around, the view opened up before them, and in the distance, the sound of water tinkling could be heard. An underground river flowed through the entire area, surrounded by numerous pavilions and waterside terraces with white jade railings and exotic wood pillars. However, most of the exotic flowers and trees that once adorned the area had withered and decayed due to long-term neglect.

In this region, Zhang Jing, as a cultivator, keenly sensed that a large amount of void energy was being gathered by some force, accumulating in this area like surging tides. For certain rare and exotic plants, this "high-energy" region was the best environment for their rapid growth. Even for cultivators, cultivating under these conditions could achieve twice the result with half the effort.

He unconsciously uttered a sound of admiration, looking up and around. The dozens of meters above his head were shrouded in a hazy mist, becoming a source of light like sunlight, stretching the entire area to the far distance. From the outside, one would never imagine that such a hidden world existed inside this mountain.

It must have been a paradise on earth when it was at its peak, but now the trees are withered, the flowers and grass are withered, and there is thick dust everywhere, giving off an air of decay.

Several caves have been built on the mountain walls surrounding this area, presumably to facilitate cultivation using the advantageous terrain.

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With a heavy scraping sound, Zhang Jing pushed open the stone door. There was no long, narrow passage as he had expected, nor a huge, intricate internal structure.

The cave was surprisingly simple.

Walking a few meters inside from the door, a bright and open space suddenly appears before you, a two-story building in the shape of a circle, with square bluestone paving the floor and moss-like plants climbing all around the walls.

Everywhere you look, you can see the marks left by time, such as the decaying and broken furniture and the thick layer of dust on the ground.

After thousands of years of ravages, most wooden structures, without special treatment, are now decayed and unrecognizable. Some furnishings are no longer identifiable. Even indoors, it is not completely dark; some light from the outside still seeps in through the gaps in the doorways, creating a dim glow. Some lower plants grow, die, and grow again with this little bit of light, eventually forming a thick, shell-like structure.

Zhang Jing and Zhang Taihe then had to deal with the shells formed by these plants, which resembled both withered leaves and mud. They had entered some rooms before, but had not gained much. Most of the valuable items had probably been taken away, and the remaining items were mostly unusable due to the ravages of time.

The master and apprentice were very patient, after all, these things cannot be rushed. In fact, such a large ruin, even after a planned evacuation that took away most of the valuable items, must still have considerable value, and the ruin itself is one of its values.