Free Web NovelChapter 477: Chapter 260: A Cultivation Immortality Realm in a Bipolar World?
This would also keep away pests and other Exotic Beasts.
A narrow, three-meter-long passage led from the entrance to the main chamber.
Inside, Cheng Zongyang took out a Lighting Lamp from one of his market huts. As the interior lit up, he retrieved the secondary Array Plate for the Teleportation Array.
Every Teleportation Array had a main and a secondary Array Plate, which enabled two-way travel.
The main Array Plate was installed on the Dragon Bone Ship; this one was the secondary plate.
By now, he was quite familiar with setting up Array Plates.
He took out the materials and began the setup, which went much faster this time.
About an hour later, the Teleportation Array was complete.
Next, he placed Spirit Stones at various points in the Array, then finally took out the Startup Token.
Only this Token could activate the Array, and there were two of them. Removing one from either end would sever the teleportation link.
In other words, for the chain of arrays he planned to set up all the way to Tianduan Mountain, if even one Token was missing, the entire path would be unusable.
Of course, many details were still not ironed out, but that would have to wait until he knew if this test was a success.
He then walked to the center of the array and inserted the Token in his hand into the Array Plate beside him.
The next moment, the Array Plate emitted a multicolored glow. Light from the array’s illuminated patterns flowed toward the Spirit Stone energy supply points.
The energy points began to shimmer in turn, and the light rapidly spread outwards, illuminating and activating the entire Array!
Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang knew the Array was fully activated. ’It’s started!’
Soon, he saw himself enveloped in an orb of blue Energy. He remembered the instruction manual’s description and knew he was about to be teleported.
The blue Energy wrapping him was a protective shield.
After the shield had enveloped Cheng Zongyang for about three seconds, the Array flashed with a dazzling, multicolored light, and his figure vanished from the Teleportation Array.
After he vanished, the Array’s Energy abruptly dissipated, and the light faded, returning it to its previous, inert state.
However, every ten seconds, a faint trace of glowing Energy would flow through the array patterns, as if it were breathing.
This indicated the Array was in a standby mode. As long as someone stood in the center, they would be teleported in about ten seconds, and this would continue until the Spirit Stones’ Energy was depleted.
「Meanwhile, on the surface of the East Sea Abyss.」
A dazzling light suddenly flashed aboard the Dragon Bone Ship as it drifted on the waves. The hull swayed slightly, and Cheng Zongyang’s figure appeared on the deck.
Cheng Zongyang took in his surroundings, and upon seeing he had returned to the Dragon Bone Ship unharmed, his face lit up with excitement.
’It worked!’
’Now all my plans can be set in motion!’
But when he realized his location, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of resignation. The Dragon Bone Ship had drifted with the currents, leaving the East Sea Abyss behind.
He took out his watch to get his bearings, locking onto the east, then pulled out his telescope to take a look.
He quickly spotted the location of the Eye of the East Sea and immediately steered the ship back.
Now that he had confirmed the Array worked, he knew it couldn’t remain on the Dragon Bone Ship. It had to be moved to that Reef Island.
That meant the renovation of the Reef Island needed to begin.
He removed the Token from the Array on the Dragon Bone Ship. As if its power had been cut, the faint light flowing through the array patterns vanished.
This was to prevent anyone from accidentally discovering the cave and using the Teleportation Array to cross over.
After returning to the Eye of the East Sea, Cheng Zongyang headed back to the Reef Island.
Gazing at the Reef Island, which was a little over a sixth of an acre, Cheng Zongyang moored the Dragon Bone Ship nearby and went ashore.
A pungent smell hung in the air. The ground was covered in a thick "soil" formed from layers upon layers of bird droppings.
After thoroughly surveying the Reef Island, he drew a rough sketch. Then, he entered the Wilderness World and summoned a Soul Slave with a construction Talent for a consultation.
After asking Cheng Zongyang what he intended to use the Reef Island for, the Soul Slave created a design based on the island’s environment and his requirements.
The Soul Slave also required information about the reef below the waterline, so Cheng Zongyang had to go back out, dive into the sea to investigate, and draw another set of sketches.
After about an hour of discussion, the Soul Slave proposed a plan that Cheng Zongyang found quite satisfactory.
Creating new Land was out of the question, but they could build upon and modify the existing reef structure—below, around, and on top of the island.
The final plan was to use the trunks of a certain tree from the Wilderness World, one that grew in the Yu Sea, as building material for a platform and a wooden house on the Reef Island.
Without damaging the island itself, they would build a three-tiered, octagonal wooden frame around the Reef Island, one to two meters below the water’s surface. Nearly a hundred tree trunks would then be inserted into the reef for stability, connecting to the octagonal frame to form a stable, interlocking mortise-and-tenon foundation underwater.
In this way, in addition to the structural benefits, the usable area on the Reef Island would be greatly increased to nearly a third of an acre.
Above the water, seventy-two two-meter-high wooden pillars would be erected, and a platform would be built on top of them.
He only needed the Reef Island to serve as a stable core foundation; he had no plans to add landfill or anything of the sort. This would ensure the platform remained incredibly stable, capable of withstanding even a typhoon.
As for the purpose of the platform, first, it would provide ample space that could be used for other things.
Second, it would provide a clean surface, so he wouldn’t have to set up the Array on bird droppings or worry about it being covered by them.
As for the platform being overrun by nesting sea birds in the future, that problem wasn’t hard to solve.
He just had to place a Geomagnetic Stone, and no ordinary creature would venture within a hundred meters.
As for the sea birds’ habitat, that couldn’t be helped. He needed this platform, which meant he had to take their space. However, there were a few other reef islands two or three nautical miles away. Though much smaller, they could serve as temporary roosts.
Humanity’s progress was often built on the destruction of nature and the displacement of its "native inhabitants."
Simply put, human progress was founded on destruction.
The same was true for him now.
With the plan settled, Cheng Zongyang spent three days creating detailed maps of the Reef Island, carefully drawing and measuring the dimensions of everything both above and below the water.
Finally, he handed this data to the Soul Slaves so they could fabricate the necessary components.
When the time came, all he would have to do was take the parts out and assemble them. ’Why would I be foolish enough to craft and install every single piece of wood by myself?’
Cheng Zongyang didn’t just wait around. The Soul Slaves had told him it would take a considerable amount of time to prepare the materials. So, he secured the Dragon Bone Ship to the Reef Island with ropes to keep it from drifting away again.
Finally, he used the Teleportation Array to return to the Cultivation Immortality World. He still needed to figure out what this world was all about.
Reappearing in the chamber inside the cave, Cheng Zongyang removed the Startup Token before walking out and closing the entrance behind him.
Seeing the brilliant sun outside, Cheng Zongyang headed for the summit.
The mountain wasn’t particularly high. Executing his Body Technique, he landed lightly on the trunk of a tree at the peak.
As he gazed out at the landscape below, Cheng Zongyang almost thought he was back in the Wilderness World. The mountain he was on wasn’t the tallest in the area; he could see endless mountain ranges stretching into the distance.
"Looks like the buffer zone between these two polar regions is pretty vast," Cheng Zongyang muttered, taking out his telescope to scan the area.
He recalled from his fall that one side was a world of ice and snow, the other a world of fire and lava, and in between was a vibrant, green world teeming with life.
It felt as if Blue Star had been split into three distinct zones.
Everything north of the 20th parallel north had become a world of ice, everything south of the 20th parallel south had become a world of lava, and the area between them was this green belt!
He really couldn’t understand how anyone could survive here. With that much burning lava, the air should have been filled with toxic gases long ago, making it impossible for people or any other life to exist.
And yet, these three bizarrely extreme environments coexisted, and life seemed to be thriving.
And then there was the sun...
Cheng Zongyang stared at the blinding sun overhead, feeling more and more perplexed the longer he looked.
’I need to figure out what’s going on with this world as soon as possible.’
Cheng Zongyang continued to scan his surroundings. Finally, in the seven o’clock direction, he spotted a wisp of pale yellow smoke tinged with grayish-white rising into the air.
’Looks like there’s a settlement over there.’
Cheng Zongyang glanced at his watch and saw that it was already noon. That kind of smoke was most likely from cooking fires.
He immediately returned to the cave and dismantled the Teleportation Array to prevent any accidents. If all went well, he could simply set it up again somewhere else.
An hour later, he concealed the cave entrance again and started down the mountain toward the seven o’clock position, leaving his unique trail markers as he went.
