Tower Defense: Public Enemy

Lei Chi took the Azure Fire Pearl and the storage belt, thus all the gains from the Azure Fire Incarnation were now in his hands.

"The starry sky here is merely a pseudo-starry sky. I wonder if the system's power will reappear if I were to escape to the other world from here..."

As soon as Lei Chi thought this, lotus petals quickly sprouted from the lotus platform beneath his feet. In just one breath, a golden flower of the other shore with a radius of about one zhang appeared.

The lotus was in full bloom, and Lei Chi stood at its center. If he wished, the lotus could continue to grow until it expanded into a lotus world with a radius of thirty miles. However, Lei Chi did not allow it to grow any larger at this moment, because it was already enough for him to escape into the other world alone.

The next moment, the petals of the Golden Lotus closed up, quickly enveloping the Thunder Pool, and then suddenly disappeared in a flash of light.

In the other world, the Thunder Pool descended before the manor gates.

Qiukas, the Spirit of Molten Fire, and many other artifact spirits immediately came to greet them, and Tianzhen, the artifact spirit of the Haotian Mirror, also appeared.

Lei Chi laughed and said, "The Golden Lotus of the Other Shore truly lives up to its reputation as a divine artifact. With it by my side, I am invincible in exploring this starry sky. It is so convenient."

As he spoke, Lei Chi shook the storage belt in his hand, and a large number of items fell out with a clatter. These were the items that Qing Huo's avatar had obtained during his exploration in the starry sky.

Originally, the attributes of these items were not displayed in the starry sky, and the artifact spirit's innocent appraisal ability was not effective. But now, they all have attributes, and the artifact spirit's innocent ability has been restored.

Lei Chi first collected the two [Heart of the Galaxy], and then called over the spirits to count the spoils together.

Soon, the spirit of the artifact, Tianzhen, identified the [Moon Gazing Bell].

[Moon-Gazing Bell: A sacred artifact, a treasure specifically used to control the Moon-Gazing Beast. A portion of the beast's soul is sealed within it. Shaking this bell allows one to establish a mental connection with the beast, thereby achieving mind control and even determining its life or death. Explore the details yourself.]

"As expected of a sacred artifact, this must be a treasure of an ancient player from the Star Palace. It seems that the Moon-Gazing Beast was most likely once raised by a player from the Star Palace in the Star River Moon-Gazing Pool, and was controlled by this bell. With this bell, one is essentially the master of that Moon-Gazing Beast. Truly remarkable!"

Lei Chi nodded. He had used the [Moon Gazing Bell] and had truly felt its wonder. However, to use it smoothly and effectively, he not only needed a strong will, but also a lot of willpower to "refine" it.

At this moment, Tianzhen also identified the [Moon-Raising Furnace].

[Moon-Raising Furnace: A sacred artifact, a treasure specifically designed to raise the Moon-Gazing Beast. It contains its own space capable of holding both the Moon-Gazing Beast and the Moon-Gazing Mist. The Furnace can also collect and release the Moon-Gazing Mist. Using this sacred artifact requires mastering the Star River Moon-Gazing Technique; please explore for details.]

Upon seeing the attribute information of the [Moon-Raising Furnace], Lei Chi was excited but also secretly regretful.

The [Moon-Raising Furnace] has its own space that can hold the giant moon-gazing beast, making it an extremely powerful treasure. When combined with the [Moon-Gazing Bell], it is even more perfect. Unfortunately, to use this treasure, one must learn the [Star River Moon-Gazing Technique]!

Where did Lei Chi learn this technique?

After a moment's thought, he turned his gaze to the Molten Spirit, who was engrossed in examining its spoils, and said, "Little Fatty, could you possibly create a spirit for this sacred artifact?"

The Spirit of Molten Fire blinked, shook its head repeatedly, and said, "This thing is a sacred artifact, and it cannot be touched by the divine fire of faith. I have no way to create a spirit for it."

Lei Chi sighed slightly upon hearing this, realizing that controlling the [Moon-Raising Furnace] through the method of creating a spirit was no longer an option.

Suddenly, Lei Chi's mind stirred, and for some reason, he remembered the giant tortoise carrying the "Cosmic Sword Technique Inscription" that he had seen when he first entered the Ancient Sacred Domain.

"If that Cosmic Sword Technique is truly a cultivation method, are there similar giant tortoises in this ancient sacred domain, carrying inscriptions of the Star River Gazing at the Moon Technique?"

Lei Chi thought about it and felt it was necessary to continue exploring the Ancient Sacred Domain. If he could find the [Star River Gazing at the Moon Technique] and master it, he could put the giant moon-gazing beast in the [Moon-Taming Furnace] and carry it with him. The beast's powerful flying ability would undoubtedly be of great benefit to him.

Next, the spirit Tianzhen appraised the other items one by one. Among them, the black chessboard, three jade cups, and the iron ruler that Qinghuo's avatar had scavenged in the ruins of the Star Palace were all divine artifacts. As their attributes were identified, they could be used by Leichi.

The black chessboard and jade cup were alright; although they had some magical properties, they had no combat function, similar to the jade futon and luminous cup that Lei Chi had obtained before.

However, that black iron ruler was no ordinary object. It was called the "Ruyi Divine Iron," a powerful artifact that could "change a thousand times" and was incredibly hard. Its special feature was that its weight would change accordingly after the user changed its shape according to their thoughts.

If it were enlarged and shaped into a large sword, armor, or giant cauldron, its weight would increase accordingly.

However, this object also has a weight limit. Lei Chi transformed it into an iron weight the size of the Molten Temple, which weighed 900,000 tons, which was close to the limit.

Furthermore, using this [Ruyi Divine Iron] requires consuming thoughts; the larger it becomes, the more thoughts are consumed.

"This divine iron is indeed amazing; carrying it with you may come in handy in certain situations."

Thinking of this, Lei Chi transformed the [Ruyi Divine Iron] into a ring and wore it on his right thumb.

As for the other items, they were mostly materials and weapon fragments ejected from the Moon Gazing Beast. Some were of good quality, some were of bad quality, but overall they were all ordinary, and most of them eventually became embers in the Molten Temple.

If we exclude the [Mask of Truth] and the Fallen Black Armor, the last piece of loot is a black sphere.

Asmi described this black sphere as a storage item, and its properties have indeed manifested. Its name is simple: "Black Sphere." It is also a divine artifact with a storage space of 10,000 cubic meters, capable of storing not only inanimate objects but also living ones.

Once you have control of this item, you can store and retrieve items from it at will, similar to the storage space provided by the system.

Controlling this object is quite simple; one only needs to use one's thoughts to knock away the original mark on it, and then use one's own thoughts to re-form the mark.

Besides Lei Chi, Qiu Kasi was also present at the scene and was capable of doing this.

Lei Chi had exhausted a lot of his thoughts by playing with the [Ruyi Divine Iron] before, so he had Qiu Kasi open the object. Sure enough, there were many divine materials inside, such as Thunderwood, Myriad Flower Stone, Cold Wind Stone, and so on.

In addition, there were two fist-sized fruits.

The two fruits were shaped like peaches, juicy and radiant, with tiny rainbows floating above them, making them look quite extraordinary.

These two fruits had no attribute information, and even the artifact spirit Tianzhen couldn't identify them. However, Qiukas's eyes widened upon seeing them, and he exclaimed, "These are Wisdom Fruits! Tsk tsk, they're actually Wisdom Fruits!"

Lei Chi asked with interest, "You recognize it?"

Qiukas nodded and said, "I've seen an introduction to the Wisdom Fruit in an ancient text. According to the description, these two fruits are undoubtedly Wisdom Fruits! Master, these fruits have extraordinary effects. After eating them, they can stabilize the soul, thereby healing soul injuries and enhancing soul power. Moreover, these fruits are recognized by the system, and eating them can level you up. However, each person can only eat one Wisdom Fruit; eating more will have no effect!"

"Is that so?"

Lei Chi took one fruit in his hand and gave the other to Qiu Kasi, saying, "In that case, let's each have one. You go first."

"good!"

Overjoyed, Qiukas swallowed the fruit in its hand without any hesitation. Then, a light flashed on its body, and its level increased rapidly. About five breaths later, the light on Qiukas disappeared, and its level had increased by more than two hundred levels, reaching level 330!

"Haha, that scoundrel system has elevated my rank to a lower-level god, saving me a lot of trouble." Qiukas was beaming with joy. "If I can retrieve all my godhood fragments from the alchemy array, returning to the status of a main god won't be difficult!"

Seeing this, Lei Chi had no doubts and ate the wisdom fruit in his hand.

The fruit tasted bland, almost like water, with little flavor. It was glutinous and the texture wasn't great, but its effects were amazing. After eating it, Lei Chi felt warm all over, and his mind was exceptionally clear. He closed his eyes to feel it for a while, and when he opened them again, his level had suddenly increased to 600, and his number of thoughts had increased to 5000!

An ordinary person has only about 100 thoughts, but Lei Chi has 5000 thoughts. He can clearly feel the power of his mind. He even feels that he can control objects, sense things from a distance, and injure people from a distance with just this power.

This is a real feeling of becoming stronger, completely different from simply leveling up to increase attribute data.

"If an ordinary person has one hundred thoughts, and I possess five thousand, considering only the level of mental power, I probably haven't reached the level of a god yet. In the future, I still need to use the Creation Furnace more to create things from nothingness..."

Lei Chi pondered silently.

At this point, the spoils of war had been counted. A moment later, Lei Chi left the Other Shore World and appeared in the same place where the Golden Lotus of the Other Shore had previously escaped into the sky, which was the strange and dilapidated place within the dark space of the Ancient Sacred Domain.

Seeing the ancient stone disc with eight patterns again, Lei Chi was filled with endless thoughts.

"This stone disc is clearly no ordinary object; it must be closely related to my cosmic erhu..."

After looking around again, Lei Chi had a thought, and the lotus platform beneath his feet rapidly expanded, with lotus petals growing out of it again.

This time, the Golden Lotus of the Other Shore grew enormous, gradually filling the small space shrouded in darkness. Then, the lotus closed up, completely enveloping the floating giant beasts and the ancient stone disc.

Lei Chi clearly intended to take all those boulders and stone discs into the Other Shore World.

He didn't know if it would work, but he just wanted to give it a try. Without much effort, he actually brought those floating boulders and stone discs to the other side of the world.

"Um?"

Upon returning to the Other Shore World, Lei Chi remarked on the strangeness of the 64 boulders brought by the Golden Lotus of the Other Shore. They did not touch the ground, as if they could not feel the gravity of the Other Shore World. They remained floating in mid-air, scattered about, creating a unique and beautiful scene.

As for the stone disc, it also floated, located in the middle of all the boulders, as if surrounded by stars.

Lei Chi stepped through the void as if walking on stairs, and gradually approached the stone slab, gently touching it a few times with his palm.

The stone disc contained no attribute information. The artifact spirit, Tianzhen, arrived, but she was also unable to identify any information from it.

Qiukas and the Molten Spirit also came to examine the stone disc, but neither of them could figure out what it was.

Lei Chi and the others studied it for a while and finally determined that the stone disc was extremely hard. Qiu Kasi could not leave a mark on it even when he launched an attack with all his might.

"This stone disc is no ordinary object; what secrets does it hold?"

After a moment's thought, Lei Chi took out the Universe Xiqin and gently plucked it in front of the stone plate.

"Sizzle sizzle..."

Under the simple, crude, and aesthetically unappealing sound of the zither, the erhu pattern on the stone plate suddenly brightened, and then gray mist overflowed from the center of the stone plate. The mist gathered into a ball, slowly swirling, and suddenly transformed into a vortex in the center of the stone plate.

Lei Chi looked at the vortex, which was dark and deep inside. He had seen many such things before, and he had a strong feeling that it was a passage, but he didn't know where it led.

"Should we go through this passage?"

Lei Chi frowned, hesitating.

He dared not rashly step into the vortex. Standing outside and observing, he discovered that the pattern of the Cosmic Harp on the stone disc was slowly darkening. This darkening could not be stopped even if Lei Chi pulled the Cosmic Harp again. Judging from its behavior, it seemed that it would be completely extinguished and become the same as before in no time.

By then, perhaps the vortex channel formed by the mist in the center of the stone slab will also dissipate.

After a moment, Lei Chi finally made a decision. He released the Azure Fire Pearl, and the Azure Fire Avatar appeared immediately, stepping into the vortex passage.

With just this one step, the Azure Flame Avatar completely vanished.

Lei Chi's thoughts were attached to it, and at this moment he had a strange feeling. It was as if he had entered a world of flowing light tunnel. With the vision of the Azure Flame incarnation, there was no way back, and although there was a path ahead, it did not seem to be very far.

"Now that my mind can return to its normal focus, let me explore ahead and see what mysteries and differences this space holds..."

After confirming that there was no danger in the area, Lei Chi controlled his Azure Flame avatar to move forward. After walking for about ten minutes, he discovered a light screen about ten feet high. Through the light screen, he could see a forest full of giant trees. The forest was extremely vast and could not be seen at all. As far as the eye could see, all the trees, although they were ordinary species, were extremely thick and lush, as if they had been growing for a long time, but still had a vibrant life.

"Where is this?"

Lei Chi estimated that controlling the Azure Flame avatar would allow him to pass through the light barrier and then enter the world where the forest was located.

However, he did not act rashly. Instead, he used his mind to withdraw his consciousness from the Azure Flame Avatar and return to his original body.

"Um?"

As soon as his consciousness returned, Lei Chi immediately realized the strangeness. In front of him, the stone disc was still the same as before, but the pattern of the cosmic erhu was fading. Judging from the reactions of Qiu Kasi and the others, it seemed that the Azure Fire Avatar had just entered the stone disc, but he clearly remembered that he had controlled the Azure Fire Avatar to walk in the flowing light tunnel inside for more than ten minutes.

"Does time flow differently inside and outside the stone slab?"

Lei Chi suddenly had an epiphany.