Chapter 42: The Supreme Cauldron: The Ambition of Hefeng

Eight hundred years of peaceful development had yielded remarkable results.

The population had experienced explosive growth: starting from 3.5 million exiles, it had now swelled into a massive civilizational entity composed of 135 million super-warriors.

There were 26.5 million pure-blood angels and 86 million mixed-blood descendants. This demographic structure not only ensured the dominance and "purity" of the angelic bloodline (within the framework defined by Hefeng), but also integrated the superior genes of other Supergene-body civilizations through large-scale hybridization, enhancing overall adaptability and diversity. An endless stream of newborns represented the future of the civilization.

Resource integration was highly efficient: thanks to the strategic reserves acquired back then by practically scraping the City of Angels clean (especially the massive angelic gene banks and rare materials), followed by the systematic (gentle yet efficient) plundering of subordinate civilizations, the Tianyi Civilization was not stretched thin for resources. This allowed Hefeng to convert everyone into first-generation super-warriors.

The institutional advantage of concentrating resources to accomplish major tasks was brought to its absolute limit, with the vast majority of resources flowing into that gold-devouring beast known as the "Tianyi Tripod."

Society enjoyed a high degree of stability: managed under Hefeng's absolute cult of personality (as the savior and creator) and an efficient administrative machine (the Tianyi Star Government).

Within the framework of the "Code of Light" as the supreme constitution—which emphasized order, contribution, and loyalty to royal authority—the entire society operated as efficiently as a precision machine.

The mass deployment of the Swords of Thunder and the universal super-warrior transformation of the populace also fundamentally eliminated the possibility of large-scale internal turmoil.

With no external threats, internal conflicts suppressed in their infancy by overwhelming ruling power, society presented a peculiar, high-pressure yet peaceful prosperity.

The technology tree was tilted to extremes: apart from mass-production breakthroughs in low-cost weapons like the "Sword of Thunder"—based on reverse-engineered Flame Sword technology, pursued for practicality and large-scale deployment—alongside the foundational technologies required to keep civilization running (agriculture, energy, and basic materials), almost all other fields were in a state of "technological freeze."

All light was focused on a single point: the "Tianyi Tripod." The moment the tripod was completed would be the moment of a technological explosion.

Hefeng knew very well that without a celestial supercomputer, any number of fleets and super-warriors would merely be cannon fodder in the high-stakes cosmic games of the future.

He was willing to trade three thousand years of "lopsided specialization" in exchange for one ultimate strategic weapon.

Once the supercomputer "Tianyi Tripod" was built, he would be able to deduce the mysteries of every realm in the universe, putting everything he did on the fast lane. Immense computational power would not only accelerate scientific research by several or even dozens of times.

In future clashes with enemies, where everyone would rely on Void Engines plus celestial supercomputers, if his celestial supercomputer possessed superior computational power than his opponent's, the enemy's system would simply be forced to shut down.

"Three thousand years..." Hefeng muttered softly, his fingers tapping unconsciously against the cold alloy window frame.

His pitch-black eyes gazed into the deep universe, as if piercing through endless space to behold the embryonic form of the "Tianyi Tripod" that was slowly growing and would ultimately shock the cosmos.

His ambition had never been extinguished. Not wanting to return to the Known Universe? That was merely a temporary dormancy, a present necessity for development and the accumulation of a powerful faction as a backing.

The future was brilliant, and more than twenty thousand years remained before the beginning of the plot; right now was a race to see who could run the fastest.

He was acutely aware of the potential of Cassa, Hexi, and Liangbing, as well as the terrifying entities that would emerge in the Known Universe's future, such as Karl and Space.

And the "Ultimate Fear" that permeated the entire anime, or perhaps the "Void Civilization"—even the mighty River-God Civilization had been destroyed, yet in over ten billion years of cosmic history, there was no record of any civilization lasting beyond 200,000 years. This in itself was abnormal.

Peaceful development? It was all to stockpile the strength to overturn the entire chessboard! When the Tianyi Tripod was truly forged, with computational power surpassing the Clock Tower in hand, combined with the ultimate legion he was bound to create and his invincible personal might!

When the time came to return to the Known Universe, he would make every living being hear the voice of Hefeng! He would shatter the curse of that "Ultimate Fear"!

But for now, patience was required—like a dormant dragon, quietly waiting for the moment its scales grew full and its claws were fully tempered.

"To the Academy," Hefeng instructed the attendant standing quietly to the side.

He needed to see with his own eyes how his "heart" was beating.

The Tianyi Central Academy was located in the subterranean world beneath the Tianyi Government Building. Far from the hustle and bustle of the superstructure, the atmosphere here was solemn and serene, imbued with an aura of rationality and the pursuit of knowledge.

The architectural style shared a lineage with the surface building, likewise featuring cold, hard alloy structures and geometric cuts, but on a much vaster scale, resembling a continuous range of silver mountains.

Countless energy conduits, like the root system of a giant tree, spread outward from deep underground, connecting various research institutes to towering mega-signal receiving arrays. The air carried a faint scent of ozone accompanied by the low, ceaseless hum of energy.

Hefeng rode his exclusive hovering vehicle, passing through layers of strict biometric and energy-shield checkpoints, arriving directly at the core area of the Academy—the "Genesis Ring."

This was a colossal circular structure over a thousand kilometers in diameter, at its center lay a bottomless vertical shaft plunging deep into the planet's mantle, reserved for the ultimate energy interface of the future "Tianyi Tripod."

Inside the circular structure lay a honeycomb-dense network of supercomputing centers, simulation laboratories, and theoretical physics institutes.

Accompanied personally by Dean Azmuth, Hefeng had changed into specially tailored anti-interference casual wear (retaining the minimalist style of his administrative jacket) as he walked down the wide, pristine alloy corridors polished so brightly they could reflect a human figure.

The researchers he passed along the way—regardless of age, gender, or original civilization—stopped instantly upon catching sight of Hefeng, placing their right fists over their hearts on the left side and bowing deeply, their eyes filled with awe and excitement.

Hefeng merely nodded slightly without breaking stride. His gaze swept over the laboratories visible through the transparent observation windows on either side:

In one lab, countless high-energy particle streams collided under the constraint of powerful magnetic fields, bursting into brief yet brilliant sparks of energy while researchers stared intently at the waterfall of refreshing data streams, recording minute changes in spacetime curvature.

In another, complex holographic models displayed the topological structures of multi-dimensional spaces, resembling brilliantly colored, constantly twisting and shifting nebulae as scientists fiercely debated the mathematical expression of a certain node.

In yet another laboratory, massive robotic arms were meticulously assembling crystals emitting an eerie blue light—the preliminary refined bodies of chaotic crystals, the crucial material for constructing hyper-dimensional computational units.

The air was thick with intangible pressure and intense focus. There was no idle chatter here, only the clicking of keyboards, the humming of instruments, and the occasional muffled murmur of academic discussion.

Every researcher looked like a tightly wound spring, completely absorbed in the data and models before them. For they knew their King was watching, and they carried the future of the entire civilization on their shoulders.

Azmuth led Hefeng into the central control hall of the circular structure—the "Wisdom Platform."

This place felt like the center of the universe. The vast circular space featured 360-degree seamless ultra-high-resolution curved light screens along its walls, currently displaying the sprawling virtual architecture diagram of the "Tianyi Tripod."

It was an extremely complex geometric structure that constantly self-replicated and optimized, resembling a model of a cosmic brain composed of hundreds of millions of stars and energy pathways, constantly breathing and growing. Countless luminous points representing data streams shuttled, converged, and split within the architecture.

At the center of the hall stood a massive holographic operation platform. Hundreds of top-tier scientists worked around the platform like planets orbiting a star, their minds directly linked to the central master optical brain via neural interfaces, driving floods of data with sheer thought.

"Your Majesty, this is the 'Stellar Core' of the Tianyi Tripod—the nerve center of our current computational power."

Azmuth pointed to the brightest, densest core region at the center of the light screen, his voice carrying a trace of imperceptible trembling.

"The amount of information it processes per second is already equivalent to one hundred times the total computing arrays of the City of Angels during the peak of the old Angelic Civilization! And this... is merely the achievement of Phase One, a mere grain of sand compared to the tripod's future computational capacity!"

Hefeng gazed at the shifting light architectural diagram, pregnant with infinite mysteries.

Even with cognition that transcended eras, facing a blueprint of creation so magnificent and exquisite, he felt an indescribable shock surge within him.

This was the future upon which he had wagered everything! Surpassing the Clock Tower? He saw hope!

"The bottlenecks of Phase Two?" Hefeng asked.

"Dimensional expansion." Azmuth called up another set of graphs, displaying a complex structure spreading like tree roots into higher dimensions. "We need theoretical breakthroughs and must find a way to stably anchor and utilize the 'string energy' of higher-dimensional spaces to support the exponentially growing demand for computational power."

"This involves deciphering the most fundamental rules of the universe... every step is like walking on thin ice. Then there is the purity of the chaotic crystals... our current refinement technology still leaves an impurity rate at the one-in-ten-thousand level, which limits the stability and load capacity of the computational units. We are currently testing the 137th purification scheme..."

Hefeng listened quietly without offering comments. He did not understand these profound theories, but he understood trust and investment.

He patted Azmuth's lean yet remarkably solid shoulder: "Go ahead and do it. Whatever you need, request it directly from the government. Remember, time is on our side. Three thousand years isn't enough, make it five. Five thousand isn't enough, make it ten thousand!"

"What I want is the strongest, the absolute peak."

Azmuth bowed deeply, a fresh burst of vitality seeming to inject itself into his aging body: "I shall not fail Your Majesty's trust! The Tianyi Tripod shall become the eternal lighthouse illuminating all realms!"

Leaving the Wisdom Platform, Hefeng did not delve further into the other laboratories. The purpose of his trip had been achieved—to witness with his own eyes the robust beating of the heart, and once again infuse that heart with the strongest momentum (the promise of resource guarantees).

As his hovering vehicle departed the Academy and returned to the government district, Hefeng looked through the window at the massive training grounds on the outskirts of the city.

There, a new batch of reserves for the Tianyi Legion was undergoing training. They wore standard-issue dark silver armor (basic models) and wielded standard-issue "Swords of Thunder."

The swords were five feet long, silvery-white throughout, with blue energy textures interwoven along the blades, creating faint electrical hums and tearing sounds in the air as they swung.

Hefeng watched those young, vibrant faces, watching their synchronized, powerful slashing movements.

While the Sword of Thunder might fall short of the genuine Flame Sword in terms of pure energy lethality, its durability and material performance far exceeded ordinary dark silver weapons; most importantly, it was inexpensive to manufacture and suitable for mass deployment.

This was a pragmatic choice he had made to maintain basic military strength despite the extreme skewing of the technology tree. Silver armor paired with blue-patterned silver swords had become the standard image of the new generation of the Tianyi Legion.

The vehicle swept past an emerging residential area. Neat and efficient modular housing, clean streets, and well-maintained public facilities dotted the landscape.

In the parks, mothers (whether angels or mixed-blood) could be seen tending to toddlers, the children playing on safe playground equipment with the carefree expressions unique to an era of peace.

Thanks to generous fertility benefits and genetic optimization policies, the Tianyi Civilization was brimming with vitality.

Grassroots officials in black administrative jackets patrolled the communities, handling various daily affairs with high efficiency.

This was the Tianyi Civilization under Hefeng's rule: peaceful, stable, efficient, and developing.

He could not help but reflect on the future: when Hua Ye, aided by his financial backer Karl, would summon his old subordinates—millions of male angels scattered across the universe—to capture the Angelic Civilization in one fell swoop, forcing the Angel Queen Yan to retreat and hold her ground in Feyre.

She had a female angel subordinate named Angel Qingqing, who was dismembered and killed by Hua Ye. Her husband was a mortal who had died before her, leaving only a little girl behind in the world.

That background was so similar to his own—losing both parents to the ravages of war. This was the primary reason he dedicated himself to "sweeping away the feudal lords and unifying the Angelic Civilization."

Yet Hua Ye lacked competence, falling ill during the middle and late stages of the unification war, acting just like the ghost in the original work.

Did he want to change the status quo?

The answer was yes. Kill Hua Ye and usurp the throne?

Before Hua Ye hollowed out the Angelic Civilization to ascend to a third-generation divine body, he truly had many opportunities to kill him with a single sword!

But once Hua Ye died, the Heavenly Palace Group would plunge into infighting once again. Unification wars were already difficult to fight, and adding infighting might mean he would meet his premature doom.

By the time the unification war was nearing its end, his relationship with Hua Ye had soured. Hua Ye disliked him, yet had no choice but to use him, resorting to suppression to prevent him from being promoted to First Legion Commander.

As for Hefeng, he frequently showed Hua Ye no respect, paying lip service while disobeying behind his back, openly speaking in riddles and sarcasms, refusing to lead troops into battle without receiving benefits.

There had been numerous opportunities to completely end the "War of Opposition" in its early stages, but the upper echelons of the Heavenly Palace Group were consumed by internal strife.

When the upper beam was crooked, the lower beams would twist, causing everyone beneath to scramble for power and engage in internal political struggle.

In the end, the outcome was obvious: amidst Lord Hua's self-assumed "sneak-attack brilliance," they nearly managed to kill themselves off entirely.

Currently, resources were concentrated on a single ultimate goal (the Tianyi Tripod), society was in orderly operation under strong rule, the population continued to grow under encouragement, and military strength was maintained at an adequate level.

With no external enemies and no internal rebellion, like a precision-crafted, silent yet terrifyingly powerful machine in a corner of the unknown universe, it quietly accumulated capital to subvert the future.

Hefeng leaned back into the comfortable seat, closing his eyes. A molten gold glow flickered gently beneath his eyelids.

The Angelic Civilization? Cassa? Liangbing? Hexi? Hua Ye? Space? Karl? Deno? Sunyata? Earth? For the time being, none of these concerned him.

His battlefield lay within the blueprint of the Tianyi Tripod, across the dimension of time.

He was waiting.

Waiting for that ultimate intelligence—surpassing the Clock Tower, forged by his own hands—to break out of its cocoon and emerge into the light.

That day would be the moment when the Tianyi Civilization truly made its voice heard across the universe.

And that voice would surely echo through the cosmos, making every known and unknown existence tremble!

The hovering vehicle silently glided into the exclusive passage of the Tianyi Star Government Building. Hefeng opened his eyes, his gaze filled with profound tranquility.

He pushed open the car door, his pitch-black administrative jacket gleaming with a cold, hard luster under the lights, and walked with steady strides toward the core of his power.

The sun of Tianyi Star stretched the red plateau and his tall, straight silhouette into a very, very long shadow.