Chapter 59: The Day the Cauldron is Forged: When Tianyi Shines
The river of time surged endlessly. Exactly 3,000 years had quietly slipped away since the desperate breakthrough from the Wrathful Sea and the retreat into the Boundary Sea.
For the Tianyi Civilization, these three millennia were a history of pioneering an unknown universe, a struggle of luminous order standing alone in the stellar abyss, and above all... an all-in, high-stakes gamble.
Tianyi Star, deep within the soaring Tiansheng Plateau, housing the Central Research Institute.
Its internal structure was breathtakingly complex. Beneath a massive dome lay not an empty void, but layered, honeycomb-like giant experimental platforms, energy matrix rings, superconducting pipeline clusters, and bottomless data wells.
The air was saturated with the faintly sweet ozone scent of cooling high-concentration energy fluid, the hum of superconducting materials operating at their absolute limits, and the subtle, cosmic-whisper-like hiss emitted by hundreds of millions of precision-engineered synthetic mechanical cores working in absolute synchronization.
Today, this iron sanctuary—representing the pinnacle of wisdom and crystallization of the Tianyi Civilization—was charged with an atmosphere that was frozen to the extreme yet boiled with fervent anticipation.
All non-core operations had been suspended. Millions of elites from every imaginable field within the Tianyi Civilization—truly the cream of the crop—gathered like pilgrims upon the central observation platform of the institute.
Holding their breath, their gazes were locked dead onto the center of the gargantuan circular space below. There lay the ultimate stage of this final project, which had lasted for nearly three thousand years and consumed almost every ounce of resources and devotion the entire civilization possessed!
The Tianyi Cauldron!
This name carried the deepest ambitions of the Tianyi King, Hefeng, and concentrated the absolute hope of the entire new civilization's countless years of isolated, unyielding struggle!
At the heart of the academy was a spherical space exceeding ten kilometers in diameter.
At this moment, this space was completely enveloped by an energy force field composed of countless nested layers shimmering with a deep blue glow, forming a colossal, continuously pulsating "light cocoon."
Inside the cocoon, direct visual observation was impossible; one could only glimpse the breathtaking scenery within through thousands of gigantic holographic screens arrayed around the observation platform.
Countless high-space alloy frameworks, each as thick as a mountain range, formed a multi-dimensional geometric skeleton so vast it made souls tremble.
Within this framework were embedded countless modules radiating dazzling multicolored lights—some were energy conduits flowing with liquid stellar-core gold, resembling the blood vessels of a titanic dragon; others were computational core matrices inlaid with myriad micro-antimatter units, emitting a pitch-dark aura that swallowed the light.
The entire Tianyi Cauldron was a living, continuously self-improving and self-tuning cosmic-level creation!
Though not yet fully formed, the energy fluctuations it leaked—even after being muffled by layers of force fields—caused the entire space station's structure to emit groans of unbearable strain. Only when the gravity-field generators on the observation platform were cranked to maximum output could the spectators barely manage to stay on their feet.
At the foremost command podium of the observation platform, a figure stood like an ancient pine rooted in the alloy floor. This was not Hefeng, but the grandmaster of Tianyi science and the Director of the Central Research Institute—Azmuth.
He was a true living fossil. As the very first of the 777 elite scientists taken away from the Heavenly City by Hefeng back in the day, he had served three Male Angel Kings over the course of his life.
Azmuth used no amplification equipment. His voice—aged and raspy, yet carrying a metallic penetrating power—exploded like a thunderclap directly into the neural link of every participant via the command console's direct-connect system:
"The seventy-eight hundred and forty-third overall coordinated synchronization—Initiate!"
"Core framework, Alpha-9 quadrant, stress peak monitoring! The synchronization rate of the energy flow constraint field must reach 99.99998%! Miss it by a fraction, and the entire system collapses!!"
"Singularity matrix group, Beta array, entropy increase stabilizer overload warning! Boost redundant cooling circuit power to the critical threshold! Hold it steady!!"
"Logic corridor Gamma zone, data stream conflict at node number 114514! Purge! Purge immediately! Use your souls to perceive that 0.0001-picosecond delay difference!!"
"Spacetime anchor... Spacetime anchor energy injection countdown!"
"5... 4... 3... Calibrate graviton flow!"
"Lock onto the cosmic microwave background radiation baseline point!!"
His voice at times roared like a wounded beast, fraught with anxiety and ferocity; at other times, it blew like the coldest gale across a frozen plain, issuing mercilessly precise commands down to the atomic scale.
Every order issued was accompanied by a sudden burst or instantaneous silence of energy within a specific sector of the light cocoon below, triggering violent energy tides throughout the entire space space!
Under his mental command, tens of thousands of scientists operated like the parts of the most precise instrument—fantically calculating, operating, and tuning. Though their nerves were taut to the snapping point, not a single soul dared to show the slightest negligence!
They knew they were taking part in a moment destined to rewrite the history of the universe!
On the outer perimeter of the research institute, upon an alloy terrace cantilevered above a massive energy conduit, stood a lone figure.
This was one of the best "recreation areas" offering a panoramic view of the entire institute, yet at this moment, only a single silhouette stood quietly.
The Tianyi King, Hefeng.
He wore no casual attire. For this formal occasion, he had donned the Heavenly King Armor he had worn during the bloody battles of the Eternal Gorge, complete with a crimson cape embroidered with a pair of golden angel wings.
His features appeared sterner than they had three thousand years ago. The weathering of time had left few marks on his face, instead sinking that profound introspection deep into his bones.
His gaze pierced through layers of protective force fields and holographic projections, landing like physical weight upon the boiling "light cocoon" below, and upon that raspy, stooped figure of Azmuth at the command console.
His heart thundered within his chest at an almost uncontrollable frequency! Every beat struck like a heavy war drum, pounding against the depths of his soul.
Three thousand years!
Nearly three thousand years of agonizing wait! Ever since that desperate moment at the edge of the Wrathful Sea, looking up at the unknown starry sky amidst a pile of rubble, bearing a body full of scars and thirty thousand surviving soldiers...
Ever since those dark years of groping forward like a blind man in the chaotic mists of the Boundary Sea, relying solely on the star chart and final pointer left by his adoptive father...
Ever since setting out from Tianyi Star to conquer the unknown universe, tightening the civilization's belt, and wagering every single resource, every single genius, and every shred of hope into this ultimate dream named the "Tianyi Cauldron"...
For these three thousand years, the development of the Tianyi Civilization had nearly stagnated.
Warships grew obsolete without large-scale upgrades, while only the territorial boundaries expanded frantically—all to plunder an extra fraction of resources just to feed them into the bottomless pit of the "Tianyi Cauldron"!
Everything had been forced to step aside for this impending birth of a "divine artifact"!
This was a gamble—an ultimate gamble wagering the past, present, and future of an entire civilization!
Hefeng understood the risks better than anyone.
The despair brought by every scientific bottleneck, the internal torment of seeing other fields stagnate due to resource starvation... had gnawed at his willpower like cold vipers.
He was attempting to leapfrog the River of God Civilization's "Grand Clock"—a marvel built over countless eons—by going all in.
He was staking every resource plundered from the Heavenly City back then, alongside all the resources harvested from this universe over the past nearly 3,000 years.
Countless times, he had reminded himself to alter the plan, to settle for something "close enough," to play it safe...
Yet he had no way out anymore!
If he failed, Hefeng could simply hurl himself into a black hole and wait for his next transmigration!
What sustained him was nothing less than the foresight of a transmigrator, coupled with a conviction carved into his very marrow: Computing power is power! Computing power is the future!
In the future, whether exploring the ultimate mysteries of the universe, issuing threats to the major factions of the known universe, or facing that illusory yet ever-present "Ultimate Fear"—without computing power surpassing the Grand Clock, the Tianyi Civilization would forever remain a regional hegemony, incapable of fulfilling his ultimate dream.
The Tianyi Cauldron must succeed!
It was not merely a celestial supercomputer; it was the future brain, heart, and spine of the Tianyi Civilization!
With it, they could deduce cosmic laws with maximum efficiency, illuminating every sealed branch on the technology tree.
With it, they could precisely locate every rare resource deposit in the universe, mining and utilizing them with supreme efficiency.
With it, in any future "god-level" conflict, they could secure unparalleled battlefield information suppression, tactical deduction optimization, and even directly apply conceptual-level strikes!
It was the ladder to the summit of the cosmos, the ultimate bulwark guarding the flame!
Closer... ever closer!
Hefeng could clearly "sense" that within the light cocoon below, amidst Azmuth's hoarse commands and the ultimate operations of tens of thousands of scientists, countless modules were undergoing the final and most dangerous "divine assembly"!
The energy tides grew increasingly violent, and space itself groaned under the strain.
The space station's structure was undergoing unprecedented trials, with alarms sounding alternately in the non-core sectors.
His gaze locked immovably onto that aged figure on the command platform. Azmuth... this thirty-thousand-year-old angel had fused his very life with the Tianyi Cauldron.
Hefeng could see the withered-vine-like veins bulging on Azmuth's neck with every roar, and the light burning from the depths of his soul—an almost frantic radiance born of burning one's life essence!
"Hold on... old man... you must pull this off..." Hefeng shouted silently in his heart, his fingernails digging deep into the alloy railing, leaving distinct impressions.
He could not interfere; this was the scientists' battlefield. The only things he could offer were trust and the sheer agony of waiting.
Time seemed to lose all meaning. Every second stretched like a century.
Suddenly!
Azmuth's bellows—sounding like a broken bellows—soared to an unprecedented, near-shattering screech within the mental link:
"Singularity matrix—final stable anchorage!"
"Logic corridors—domain-wide pathways connected!"
"Spacetime interferometer—phase synchronization complete!"
"Energy core—eternal furnace... IGNITE!!!!"
The instant the word "Ignite" left his lips, Azmuth's stooped body suddenly straightened. His hovering exoskeleton erupted with blinding white light, as if squeezing out his very last shred of vitality! His eyes, burning with the flame of wisdom, stared unblinkingly downward!
Rumble——————!!!
A terrifying roar defying description burst forth—not as physical sound waves, but echoing directly in the depths of every soul as the voice of the cosmos itself!
It felt as though the strings of the entire universe had been violently plucked by an invisible giant hand!
At the center of the research institute, the deep blue "light cocoon" enveloping the Tianyi Cauldron suddenly collapsed inward like a supernova explosion!
All light, all energy, and all matter were swallowed whole in a single instant!
Every light source within the space station went dark simultaneously, plunging the area into absolute darkness!
Only the holographic screens surrounding the observation platform, powered by independent energy supplies, faithfully displayed the interior scene: a pure, ten-kilometer-diameter absolute black domain from which even light could not escape!
Absolute silence! Absolute darkness! Absolute... nothingness!
Just as this suffocating sense of despair threatened to drown everyone—
Hum...
A microscopic, yet primordial chime resounded from the core of the absolute black domain.
A tiny speck of light—like the first spark at the dawn of creation—quietly ignited.
Following it came a second, a third... countless starlights lit up sequentially within the absolute black domain!
They were not scattered haphazardly; rather, following trajectories of profound profundity, they rapidly outlined, connected, and spread!
In the blink of an eye, a colossal, slowly rotating bronze giant cauldron composed of myriads of stars clearly materialized within the absolute black domain!
The cauldron was not static; it rotated, breathed, and grew! Every "star" was a computational core, and every connecting "star-orbit" was a torrent of information!
It radiated an ancient, profound, all-encompassing, and supreme grand will!
The Tianyi Cauldron had completed its final "divine assembly"!
It had awakened!
The humming grew louder, resembling the heartbeat of the universe.
The absolute black domain began to recede—not dissipating, but replaced by a soft, introverted milky-white radiance emitted by the magnificent bronze giant cauldron itself.
This radiance was not dazzling; rather, it carried a soul-piercing penetration, illuminating every corner of Tianyi Star and every stunned, awe-struck face on the observation platform.
It succeeded!
We... succeeded!
Following a brief, dead silence, a roar of tidal relief, tears of surviving a catastrophe, and the exhaustion of spent willpower broke like a breached levee, instantly flooding the entire observation platform!
Countless scientists collapsed to the ground, hugging each other and weeping, using the last of their strength to let out formless roars!
Nearly three thousand years! The pressure, torment, despair, and hope of nearly three thousand years were completely released in this moment!
On the command platform, Azmuth's stooped body swayed. A near-sacred, deeply satisfied, and utterly exhausted smile lingered on his face as he slowly fell backward.
An alert assistant rushed forward to catch him. Before losing consciousness, the old director who had spent his final vitality on the Tianyi Cauldron uttered a single, barely audible word: "...Perfect..."
Hefeng's figure appeared inside the core control room as if by teleportation.
Located directly beneath the magnificent stellar structure (the external projection of the Tianyi Cauldron's conscious mind), this was the sole node capable of interacting with the cauldron at the highest clearance level.
The control room was empty, save for countless milky-white energy streams and floating control interfaces.
In the center floated a slow-rotating, profound rune made of pure energy—the highest-clearance authentication interface of the Tianyi Cauldron.
Hefeng walked up to the rune without hesitation, raised his right hand, and pressed his palm flat against it.
He closed his eyes, and his mental will—vast as a starry river—poured out unreservedly!
The Tianyi King's unique mental imprint, soul wavelength, his 14,000-year life history, history of exile, struggle, and supreme will to guard the flame transformed into an invisible torrent, violently pouring into the rune!
Hum—!
The stellar projection of the entire Tianyi Cauldron flared brilliantly!
Its rotation speed accelerated sharply! A soft yet intensely pure pillar of milky-white light projected downward from the core of the stellar structure, completely engulfing Hefeng!
Countless information streams poured into his sea of consciousness like a gentle river of stars!
It was a feeling of perfect integration, of blood-and-flesh connection! It felt as though this cosmic-level artifact was an extension of his will, the other half of his soul!
Highest clearance, binding complete!
"Tianyi King Hefeng has become the sole master of the Tianyi Cauldron!"
"He now possesses the most powerful artifact in the Supergod universe!"
Hefeng opened his eyes. Deep within his pitch-black pupils, countless stars flickered and re-created themselves!
A powerful sensation of controlling everything and discerning all things surged through his entire body like a tide!
Yet he forcibly suppressed the flutter of excitement. Now was not the time to indulge in power.
He needed to immediately verify whether this ultimate creation—which had cost the civilization nearly three thousand years of effort—was truly as formidable as anticipated!
With a slight shift of his mind, a clear and majestic command was transmitted directly to the newly awakened Tianyi Cauldron via the mental link, requiring no spoken words:
"Deduction target: Super-large cross-universe Great Worm Bridge design plan."
"Origin: Tianyi Star (current coordinates)."
"Destination: Known universe Boundary Sea entrance."
"Design requirements:"
"Transit capacity: Accommodate the short-term, large-scale, lossless transit of the Tianyi Civilization's trillion-class main fleet and subordinate fleets."
"Stability: Must maintain absolute structural stability under the extreme spacetime turbulence of the Boundary Sea's edge, with an expected service life of no less than ten thousand years."
"Stealth: Must possess top-tier stealth capabilities against all existing detection methods in the known universe."
"Construction feasibility: The plan must be executable based on the current and foreseeable future resources and technological reserves of the Tianyi Civilization."
"Path optimization: The crossing of the Boundary Sea section must maximize the utilization and evasion of known internal spacetime characteristics of the Boundary Sea."
This was an unprecedented, sky-high difficulty engineering deduction spanning tens of trillions of light-years!
It involved ultra-long-distance space folding, extreme-environment materials science, top-tier energy shields, high-dimensional stealth technology, and a deep analysis of the chaotic spacetime of the Boundary Sea!
Yet, the moment Hefeng's command was issued—
Hum!!!
The milky-white pillar of light enveloping Hefeng instantly turned blindingly brilliant! The stellar projection of the entire Tianyi Cauldron spun frantically, its myriads of stars infused with life as they erupted with unprecedented radiance!
An invisible torrent of information—terrifying enough to make the entire space station tremble—spread instantly from the Tianyi Cauldron as its core into the depths of the cosmos!
It was frantically harvesting cosmic background radiation data, scanning every minuscule fold of space from origin to destination, and retrieving the massive database of the Tianyi Civilization concerning the Boundary Sea, spatial technology, and materials science!
Countless problems that would have taken top scientist teams years to solve were instantly analyzed, optimized, and resolved to their optimal solutions here!
Time seemed frozen by the might of the Tianyi Cauldron, yet simultaneously accelerated to its absolute limit!
After a long while...
Beside the model, cascading down like a waterfall, came a detailed construction plan down to every atomic arrangement and energy node parameter, complete with a resource inventory, schedule, and risk assessment...
"Plan deduction complete." A grand, cold, yet supremely authoritative consciousness echoed directly in Hefeng's mental core—the will of the Tianyi Cauldron!
"Plan codename: 'Bridge of the Return Path'."
"Theoretical transit capacity: Meets requirements."
"Stability model: Under the influence of the Boundary Sea edge's chaotic field, collapse probability is below 10^-15."
"Stealth tier: Reaches the highest detection technology threshold of the current known universe."
"Estimated minimum construction cycle: 1,376 standard years."
"Path optimization: Integrated with the historical path of the final pointer and the latest Boundary Sea chaos model, avoiding 37 known high-risk distortion zones and utilizing 9 stable 'tidal corridors'."
Success! No, it was an unimaginably perfect success!
Hefeng gazed at the exquisite "Bridge of the Return Path" model before him, which seemed to encapsulate the fundamental laws of the universe.
Feeling the abyss-like, smooth-running terror of the Tianyi Cauldron's computing power, an indescribable excitement and heroism swept through his entire being like a cosmic storm!
He wanted to laugh wildly! He wanted nothing more than to laugh wildly!
Three thousand years of waiting!
Three thousand years of gambling! It was all worth it!
The completion of the Tianyi Cauldron meant not only that the Tianyi Civilization finally possessed the ultimate computing artifact to look down upon the known universe!
It also meant... that the "return path," blocked by the Boundary Sea, now lay crystal-clear before his eyes!
Hefeng looked affectionately at the bronze giant cauldron, feeling deeply moved as he murmured:
"Now, the flame... has finally turned into a roaring blaze!"