Chapter 411: Void Imprisonment Device, Civilization Ascension

Chapter 411: Void Shackles and the Ascension of Civilization

God-Chosen Battlefield, Human Stronghold.

The automated defense system of the Level 3 fortress had been running for forty-eight hours straight.

The ghostly blue radiance emitted by the phase-logic core enveloped this steel bastion in a zone of absolute security.

Qin Feng stood upon the ramparts, clutching a newly generated "Stronghold Expansion Inventory."

"The energy transmission loss rate remains unacceptably high."

Qin Feng scanned the data panel, his brow furrowed. "While Crimson Flame Copper is sturdy, its conductivity is only B-grade. To sustain the full-power operation of the Interstellar Warp Gate, we require crystal materials of higher purity."

Just as he pondered where to find a substitute, the system’s task notification chimed right on cue.

For Qin Feng, this felt less like a "life-or-death trial" and more like a courier notification for exactly what he needed.

[Ding.]

[Stronghold upgrade requirements detected.]

[Triggering collection mission: The Radiant Vein.]

[Mission Description: The "Crystal Song Canyon," located on the east side of the S-09 sector, is rich in high-purity "Prism Star Sand." This is an essential material for constructing photon defense towers and zero-loss energy conduits.]

[Mission Objective: Collect at least 500 units of Prism Star Sand.]

[Hostile Faction: The Crystal Race.]

[Regional Guardian: Venerable Cold-Prism (Crystal Elder, expert in energy reflection, immune to physical damage).]

[Time Limit: 3 hours.]

Real Universe, Terra Council.

"The Crystal Race?"

The intelligence officer glanced at the screen, stifled a yawn, and scribbled a few lines in his logbook. "Confirmed. Venerable Qin is going shopping again."

The young staff officer beside him looked nervous. "Sir, that is Venerable Cold-Prism! He is known for 'Absolute Reflection'; any energy attack directed at him is doubled and rebounded..."

The intelligence officer shot him a glance, took a sip of coffee, and replied, "Oh. And? Remember to notify the logistics department to prepare for the incoming data packets of new materials. After Venerable Qin returns, our light-weapon technology will likely need another update."

In the live broadcast room, the tone of the comments had shifted as well.

"The Crystal Race this time? I heard their bodies are excellent semiconductor materials."

"The betting pool is open! How many minutes until Qin ends the fight?"

"It took five minutes to kill the Blood Crocodile last time (because of the skinning). The Crystal Race doesn't need skinning, so I'll guess three minutes."

"That's a Venerable! Can you show some respect? I'm betting three and a half minutes!"

"...The Crystal Race is finished."

"Go tell Venerable Cold-Prism to run."

"He can't run. Once that monster marks you, you're just a walking supply crate."

"Nothing to see here, folks. Just another one-sided massacre."

Inside the God-Chosen Battlefield.

Qin Feng tucked away the inventory as the warp gate behind him flared to life.

"Prism Star Sand... perfect. Venerable Cold-Prism himself is a massive, top-tier prism."

Qin Feng stepped into the light, his tone as casual as if he were discussing dinner plans.

"I hope his purity is high enough. Don't disappoint me."

Crystal Song Canyon was a breathtakingly beautiful land of death.

There were no plants here; every object was composed of various crystals. Sharp crystal clusters grew from the ground, and visible dust motes of energy drifted through the air. As the wind swept through the canyon, it produced ethereal, organ-like echoes, hence the name "Crystal Song."

Deep within the canyon, inside a colossal crystal palace,

Venerable Cold-Prism hovered in mid-air. He lacked fixed facial features, his entire body composed of countless perfectly faceted diamond-like crystals, with blinding cold light flowing within.

"Human Qin Feng..."

Venerable Cold-Prism emitted a buzzing vibration. "I know you killed the Blood Crocodile. But that foolish beast relied only on brute force. My Crystal Race are the darlings of energy, possessing the 'Phase Reflection' talent. No matter how hard your fists are, they will only rebound and shatter you!"

He was confident.

For in the past tens of thousands of years, countless powerhouses had fallen to his "Absolute Reflection." Physical attacks were nullified, energy attacks were rebounded—it was a seemingly unbreakable death loop.

Just then, the space above the canyon rippled like water.

Qin Feng’s figure appeared out of thin air.

He wasted no words. The Eye of Return to Ruins opened, his gaze sweeping across the canyon before settling on the mineral vein beneath Venerable Cold-Prism.

"Good quality," Qin Feng nodded. "It's just a shame there's a big lump blocking the way. An eyesore."

Venerable Cold-Prism roared in fury, his radiance surging. Countless high-energy lasers erupted from his facets, instantly weaving into an inescapable web of death through the mirror-like reflections of the canyon.

"Arrogant human! In my domain, light is my slave! Myriad Refractions—Purgatory of Death-Light!"

The web of light instantly engulfed Qin Feng.

Lasers of that intensity were capable of slicing a small planet into fragments in an instant.

However, the human audience in the broadcast room didn't even stop eating their snacks.

"Is that it?"

"Playing with lasers? Qin just acquired the core components of the Mechanical Race."

The web of light dissipated.

Qin Feng remained standing exactly where he was.

He hadn't even activated a shield. He had simply adjusted the frequency of his internal energy to achieve a state of perfect "transparency" relative to the lasers.

The light passed through him as if he were nothing but air.

This was the "Primordial Limit Dao Body's" mastery of interpreting and adapting to the laws of reality.

"Is this your best trick?"

Qin Feng brushed off his shoulder and looked at Venerable Cold-Prism.

"Since you're a rock, you should just lie on the ground and be a mineral."

Venerable Cold-Prism realized with horror that his attacks were useless against Qin Feng.

"Impossible! You are a physical entity—how can light pass through you?!"

Refusing to believe it, he spun his body violently, transforming into a massive drill, and charged directly at Qin Feng.

"If light won't work, then we'll see whose hardness prevails! My body is denser than a neutron star!"

Facing this world-shattering impact,

Qin Feng neither threw a punch nor retreated.

He merely extended a single finger.

The tip brushed lightly against the high-speed rotating apex of Venerable Cold-Prism.

Ding.

A sound, faint yet piercingly sharp, echoed through the air.

There was no violent collision.

A peculiar oscillation wave emanated from Qin Feng’s fingertip.

It was not force; it was frequency.

Application of Law: Molecular Resonance.

The Eye of Guixu had long since decoded the inherent frequency of the Venerable’s crystalline lattice.

"Any hard crystal, under the vibration of a specific frequency, is as fragile as a sheet of paper."

Qin Feng said indifferently.

Hum—!!!

The colossal body of Venerable Cold-Prism suddenly froze.

Immediately following, starting from the point of contact with Qin Feng’s finger, countless fine cracks spread like a spiderweb in a frenzy.

Crack, crack, crack...

"No... my body... my crystal core..."

Venerable Cold-Prism let out a desperate shriek. He felt every atom within him trembling violently, his once-dense structure disintegrating of its own accord.

Qin Feng withdrew his finger and stepped back.

"Shatter."

Crash—!

The hundred-meter-tall Venerable Cold-Prism collapsed into nothingness in that instant.

There was no spray of flesh and blood, only a sky filled with dancing crystal dust, like a shower of diamonds.

A powerhouse at the Venerable level had been reduced to raw materials scattered across the ground.

"..."

"What was that? Shattered with a single poke?"

"Resonance principle. That human has mastered the underlying laws of physics."

"Too brutal... The Blood Crocodile was torn apart, this one was vibrated into dust. In front of this human, what is a Venerable? Glass?"

"2 minutes and 15 seconds. The brothers who bet on 3 minutes just lost."

"Too fast, my instant noodles aren't even ready yet."

"God Qin: I don't produce materials, I'm just a porter for the Venerables."

Qin Feng paid no heed to the reactions from the outside world.

With a wave of his hand, his powerful divine sense enveloped the entire field.

The core left behind by the disintegrated Venerable—a fist-sized crystal core radiating seven-colored light—flew automatically into his palm.

The high-purity "Prism Star Sand" on the ground was also swept up like a carpet and stored away into his spatial storage.

"500 units? No."

Qin Feng looked at the overflowing spoils of war.

"There are at least fifty thousand units here. Combined with this crystal core, it is enough to elevate the fortress's energy transmission efficiency to S-rank."

[Mission complete.]

[Time elapsed: 2 minutes and 20 seconds.]

[Kill rating: SSS-rank (Bloodless victory).]

[Rewards obtained:]

Resources: High-energy crystals x 50,000 units.

Tech Blueprint: [Photon Shield Generator (Complete Edition)].

National Fortune Feedback (Core Reward):

[Energy Affinity]: The entire human race's perception of energy is increased by 30%. Energy manipulation (such as electricity and spiritual qi) loss rate reduced by 20%.

[Crystalline Vision]: Human eyesight significantly enhanced, with a chance to awaken the "Micro-Perspective" or "Energy Flow Observation" talent.

Qin Feng glanced at the rewards and nodded with satisfaction.

"Energy Affinity? For a modern human race about to fully step into cultivation, this is the best foundational talent."

He turned and stepped into the warp gate, vanishing from the Crystal Song Canyon.

Leaving behind only a chaotic ruin and a group of trembling low-level stone monsters, grateful they were merely fodder and hadn't caught Qin Feng's eye.

The moment the rewards were distributed, the real universe underwent another seismic shift.

This time, the transformation occurred in the realms of energy and perception.

Blue Star, Eastern Coast, Fourth-Generation Controllable Nuclear Fusion Demonstration Reactor.

Inside the control room, alarms blared one after another. "Magnetic confinement field unstable! Energy transmission loss too high, coils overheating!"

Engineer Zhang was drenched in sweat, staring at the efficiency curve plummeting on the screen.

"Still not working... The conductivity of the materials limits the output power. We achieved ignition, yet we cannot transmit the energy, only watch it dissipate in vain."

This was the conundrum that had plagued the human energy sector for half a century—transmission loss.

Just as everyone was preparing to press the "Emergency Shutdown" button.

The feedback from the God-Chosen Battlefield descended.

[Energy Affinity] took effect.

[Energy manipulation loss rate reduced by 20%]—a modification at the level of law.

Suddenly, the piercing alarms fell silent.

The red efficiency curve on the screen, as if injected with a stimulant, surged instantly, breaking through the theoretical green limit.

"Wh... what is happening?" the assistant exclaimed, "The coil temperature has dropped! Transmission efficiency jumped from 75% to... 98%?!"

"Impossible! Even room-temperature superconductors couldn't achieve these figures!"

Engineer Zhang reached for the console with trembling hands.

He was astonished to find that he could "feel" the joyful rhythm of the current flowing through the circuit boards. The once-violent electrons were now as docile as sheep.

He subconsciously adjusted a parameter dial.

Hum—

The reactor emitted a steady, melodic hum.

Boundless energy surged through the grid, illuminating the city’s neon lights without a single circuit overloading.

"Success..." Engineer Zhang removed his glasses, tears streaming down his face. "The dissipation barrier is broken. From this day on, humanity is free from the energy crisis."

Outside the window, ten thousand homes glowed bright. It was not merely electric light, but the starlight of a civilizational leap.

Sector 9, frontline scout company base.

Ye Fei lay beneath the camouflage netting, a heavy sniper rifle braced in his hands.

Ahead lay a swamp choked with toxic miasma; intelligence suggested an alien scout squad was lurking within.

But the miasma was too thick, severely interfering with thermal imaging and infrared sensors, leaving the screen a wash of static.

"Damn it, I can't see a thing." Ye Fei’s eyes ached and watered from staring through the scope. "If they close the distance in this, we're finished."

Just as he prepared to call for artillery support.

God-Chosen Feedback: [Crystallized Vision] activated.

Ye Fei suddenly felt a coolness in his eyes, as if drops of the finest elixir had been applied.

He blinked and looked back at the swamp.

The world had changed.

The gray, murky miasma faded in his sight, becoming transparent.

In its place were brilliant, flowing lines.

They were the movement of the wind, the respiration of plants, and... seven dark red energy clusters hidden three meters beneath the mire.

"I see you."

Ye Fei whispered to himself.

He could clearly see the energy cores pulsing within those clusters, tracing the flow of spiritual essence through their bodies.

This was no longer mere sight; it was an insight that pierced to the essence of reality.

"Three o'clock, three meters under the mud, seven targets."

Ye Fei adjusted his muzzle calmly, his voice chillingly steady.

"No artillery needed. I can see their hearts."

Bang!

The first bullet tore through the air.

A muffled groan rose from the swamp, and one red light instantly flickered out.

Then the second, the third...

Seven shots, seven alien scouts sniped in their hiding spots without ever knowing why.

Ye Fei stowed his rifle and blew the wisps of smoke from the barrel.

He looked at the incredibly clear lines on his palm and a confident smile curled his lips.

"So, this is what the real world looks like."

...

God-Chosen Battlefield, fortress core.

Qin Feng embedded the crystal core of the Frost-Edge Venerable into the base of the newly completed "Photon Defense Tower."

A visible, translucent light screen instantly unfurled, enveloping the entire fortress.

This barrier was not only for defense; like the Frost-Edge Venerable, it could reflect enemy energy attacks back at them.

"Defense system, complete."

Qin Feng clapped his hands, surveying his transformed home.

"Next, it’s time to make this fortress move."

...

God-Chosen Battlefield, human fortress.

The Photon Defense Tower hummed with a low, steady vibration, and the translucent screen, barely visible to the naked eye, hung like an inverted glass bowl over the two-thousand-kilometer expanse of the Red Flame Wasteland.

The Frost-Edge Venerable’s core was truly a treasure of heaven and earth; even at full power, the core temperature remained at an absolute, icy calm.

Qin Feng stood atop the highest watchtower, hands behind his back.

His gaze pierced the light screen, casting toward the chaotic, primordial mist deep within the battlefield.

That was the "Unexplored Zone," a death trap that even the God-Chosen system’s map displayed only as a void of black.

"Defense, energy, and basic resources are all overflowing."

Qin Feng tapped his fingers against the railing in a rhythmic cadence. "Following the logic of normal civilizational development, the next step should be 'expansion,' or the search for a higher 'evolutionary opportunity'."

The "Civilization Spark" behind him seemed to sense the guardian's thoughts; the golden flame flared a meter higher, crackling as if hungering for fuel of a higher dimension.

At that moment, the sky of the entire God-Chosen battlefield underwent a transformation.

It was neither the crimson of a war alert nor the gold of a mission announcement.

The sky turned a haunting, deep violet.

Countless stars spun rapidly within the purple firmament, arranging themselves into a massive vortex.

A bell, ancient and desolate, carrying the heavy dust of eons, tolled from the depths of that vortex.

Dong—

Dong—

Dong—

Three tolls, striking the soul.

Whether it was a weak race cowering underground or a hegemon-level God-Chosen occupying a territory, all felt a tremor in the depths of their souls.

Then, the cold, grand system prompt, for the first time, carried a note of solemnity as it echoed across the universe.

[Warning: The first phase of the God-Chosen Battlefield, "Survival and Construction," has reached its end.]

[Energy concentration in the battlefield detected as sufficient; initiating pre-event for the second phase.]

[Global Competition Mission triggered: Key of the Abyss.]

[Mission Description:]

[Above the "Endless Abyss" in the central region of the God-Chosen Battlefield, a "Lost Star Gate" has emerged. The only proof required to open the gate—the [Astral Key]—has spawned at the apex of the Abyss Altar.]

[This is a trial of courage. The Astral Key possesses an extremely heavy "Rule Mass"; the holder will be subjected to a hundredfold gravity suppression and cannot be placed into storage space.]

[Victory Condition:]

[Seize and hold the [Astral Key] for 1 hour, or successfully bring it back to your stronghold.]

[Mission Reward:]

[1. Activation of "Tier 2 Resource Zones" (including spirit crystal veins, exotic beast lairs, and ancient ruins).]

[2. The victorious race shall be granted the qualification for "Civilizational Ascension" (unlocking race-exclusive divine abilities).]

[3. Penalty for the defeated: All participating races that fail shall have 30% of their stronghold resources deducted.]

In the physical universe, the entire network erupted into a frenzy.

"A global competitive mission? This is going to be an all-out brawl!"

"Previous missions were targeted at individual races or regions; this time, they’re herding all the God-chosen into one pit?"

"Look at the rules! The holder suffers hundredfold gravity? And it can't be stored in the inventory? That’s practically a living target!"

"Whoever gets that key is going to be focused fire by the entire map until they’re riddled with holes, aren't they?"

The once-moribund channels suddenly surged with life, thick with the scent of opportunism and conspiracy.

"Heh, this mission is interesting. Not being able to store it in the inventory means that human can't hide things like he used to."

"Hundredfold gravity suppression? Even if Qin Feng’s physical body is strong, his speed will be crippled, right?"

"This is our chance! As long as we join forces, we can focus fire the moment he’s slowed down by holding the key..."

"Exactly! This might be the only chance to kill him! That key is a hot potato; whoever holds it is as good as dead!"

"The big shots of the God race and Demon race, what do you think?"

The newly appointed commander of the God race cast a gloomy gaze: "It is a trap, but also an opportunity. If we don't go, once the human race obtains the 'Civilizational Ascension' qualification, we will truly have no hope. We must go! Bring the 'Void Shackles'; even if we can't kill him, we must seize the key!"

Inside the God-chosen battlefield.

Qin Feng looked up at the slowly rotating purple vortex in the sky and the blindingly bright golden marker at the center of the map.

"Abyss Key? Civilizational Ascension?"

The corners of Qin Feng’s mouth curled slightly, the expression of a hunter who had spotted interesting prey.

"It seems the system also feels our current evolution speed is too slow and wants to stoke the fire."

Qin Feng stretched his neck, the joints popping with crisp cracks.

"For the weak, that is a death warrant. But for the strong..."

"It is a scepter of coronation."

He turned around and issued a command to the stronghold’s control core.

"Initiate Level 1 combat readiness. Photon defense towers, stand by at full power."

"If anyone tries to raid the base while I’m away..."

A flash of ferocity crossed Qin Feng’s eyes.

"Then let the lingering ghost of Venerable Han Leng teach them the meaning of 'Absolute Reflection'."

After arranging everything, Qin Feng did not use the warp gate.

Because the space surrounding the Endless Abyss was extremely unstable and filled with spatial turbulence, warping there would be tantamount to suicide.

But that could not stop him.

Boom!

The ground beneath Qin Feng’s feet suddenly shattered.

Relying on pure physical explosive force, he tore through the air, leaving a long white wake as he charged straight toward the purple abyss at the center of the map.

(End of chapter)