“What do you mean?” Tiesheng sensed something was off and pressed for an answer.
Tongsheng realized he’d let it slip, so he decided to come clean. “An extraterrestrial civilization was discovered parasitizing the Rock Clan, and the council leaders found out. After a series of negotiations, we learned a huge secret.”
He glanced at Lin Xiaohe, who was staring at him with wide eyes and blatantly eavesdropping. With a cold snort, he turned his head away, pretending not to see her, and continued in a stiff tone.
“The extraterrestrial civilization told us that a world-ending crisis is imminent. They want to cooperate with us to resist it together.”
Tiesheng: “Did the leader agree?”
“He agreed, but we’re preparing for both possibilities. According to the information from the extraterrestrial civilization, the only way to survive the crisis is to break out of this star domain. So, we’ve pooled all our clan’s resources to build a ‘World Seed.’ Inside its miniature furnace, we’ve stored our vital genetic matrices. As long as we find a suitable planet, the Rock Clan civilization will sprout anew.”
Tongsheng patted Tiesheng on the shoulder. “The clan chief thinks highly of you and strongly recommended you as a guide at the council meeting. Don’t let the chief down!”
Tiesheng was taken aback, a sense of reluctance welling up inside him. “What about those who weren’t chosen? What will happen to them?”
“They’ll hide in the earth’s core, or enter voluntary slumber.”
Lin Xiaohe raised an eyebrow and spoke up on her own: “What if both preparations fail? Don’t you have any kind of Awakener Plan? Like, selecting a group of people, extracting their consciousness, and finding a way to store it so they can awaken in the next civilization, or the one after that?”
“Hmph! That’s pure nonsense. We of the Rock Clan would never stoop to such a thing. Everything that floats on the surface—frivolous, fleeting things—are all illusions. Only what remains deep within the earth’s core, tempered over hundreds of millions of years, holds eternal value. If our flesh and souls are destroyed by time and pressure, then it simply means we are unworthy of eternity.”
Tiesheng nodded in agreement.
Lin Xiaohe was stunned for a moment. So, the Rock Clan didn’t have Awakeners—only the fated ones?
To be honest, the Rock Clan’s response to the crisis caught Lin Xiaohe off guard.
The Witch Clan had thrown their entire civilization’s strength into breaking through their cage, and they’d managed to tear open a crack.
Even now, Lin Xiaohe still couldn’t say for sure whether that sacred ship had been destroyed or had successfully broken through.
As for the cultivation civilization, that bastard Divine Sovereign knew a lot, but even he had held back in his response to the crisis. He didn’t have the same all-or-nothing resolve as the Witch Clan.
When it came to the Rock Clan, they had built the “World Seed,” but judging by their attitude, they seemed more inclined to bury themselves in the earth’s core and enter deep slumber.
The entire civilization’s response to the crisis felt oddly sluggish.
Then Lin Xiaohe thought about it—the Seventh Epoch civilization wasn’t much better. With the weight of Mount Tai pressing down on them, everyone was still tripping each other up, pulling each other down, drowning in lies and deceit.
Looking at it that way, at least the Rock Clan was united, with everyone pulling in the same direction.
After Tiesheng and Tongsheng said their goodbyes, Tiesheng handed Lin Xiaohe over to Grandpa Lin and Grandma Lin.
His rugged features softened in the glow of the magma. “Xiaohe, I’m going to become a guide. The Rock Clan’s seed must not be extinguished!”
Lin Xiaohe clenched her right fist. “Go for it, Dad!”
Even if the ending was already set in stone, you still had to try your best to change it.
For a civilization that measured time in years like the Rock Clan, the world-ending crisis came without warning.
When the alarms blared throughout the earth’s core, the “Source Body,” which stored all the genetic matrices, had only just been completed.
It was a smooth, crystal-like hexahedron. Tiesheng held it in his arms and rushed hurriedly into the “World Seed.”
The launch base used stellar core resonance to teleport the “World Seed” to the farthest end of their stellar network.
That was the most distant planet they could reach.
In the silent void, the “World Seed” floated like a forgotten, dark-colored meteorite, suspended within an invisible cage.
It couldn’t find the familiar vibrations or the familiar pathways.
Tiesheng pressed the button, and the “World Seed” began to gather power. The ancient crystal veins on its shell lit up one by one, shifting from a dull red to a blazing white.
It was going to forcibly tear through space and make one last jump.
Surges of energy raced through its interior, causing the entire structure to tremble slightly, like a heart pounding violently in a chest.
A silent ripple spread outward from the tip of its spire. Under this immense power, the boundaries of the cage became clearly visible—a colossal net woven from countless dark threads, effortlessly dissolving and absorbing all its destructive energy.
Tongsheng was horrified. The cage that enveloped the entire star domain was this powerful? “Tiesheng, we can’t get out.”
The “World Seed” was more like a miniature city than a powerful breakthrough weapon.
The Rock Clan had vastly underestimated the cage and the world-ending crisis.
One by one, the crystal veins of the “World Seed” dimmed, like cooling magma. The hum of the internal core furnace grew fainter and fainter, on the verge of falling silent.
The three guides inside the seed knew that this mission had failed completely. The cage’s suppression of the World Seed was devastating!
Tongsheng’s eyes were filled with despair. At this moment, all he could do was pray that the clansmen buried deep in the earth’s core would survive this crisis, even if only one person remained!
Tiesheng shot up from his guide’s seat and sprinted toward the “Source Body.”
“What are you doing?”
Tiesheng didn’t look back. “Sending the ‘Source Body’ out.”
Wherever it ended up, as long as it left this collapsing space, the flame of hope would not die out.
Tongsheng quickly followed him. “I’ll help you.”
Tiesheng’s first choice was the Sacred Stele.
The “World Seed” tried to vibrate its internal core to establish resonance with the Sacred Stele’s stellar nucleus, but the call vanished like a stone dropped into the ocean, completely absorbed and dissipated by a soft, irresistible force.
Tiesheng switched to contacting the Forge-Heart.
Fortunately, this time there was a faint resonance. A narrow, wobbling spatial passage appeared! Without a second thought, Tiesheng shoved the “Source Body” into it.
Just as the spatial passage was about to close, a surge of overwhelming energy instantly crushed the “World Seed” into powder.
At the same time, the Forge-Heart fell into a deathly silence.
In the city, some residents went to the Life Furnace to enter slumber.
Others went home and fell asleep with their families.
The entire city was empty, utterly silent.
Lin Xiaohe was at a loss.
Sure, they all called her “Rockling,” but she knew her own situation. The Rock Clan could sleep for tens of millions of years at a time, but she couldn’t!
Lin Xiaohe made up some excuse to convince the Lin family to go into slumber, and then wandered around the city on her own.
She arrived at the launch base and started studying the stellar core resonator. This device was the pinnacle of the Rock Clan’s civilization—truly distinctive.
Divine Sovereign: “Aren’t you in a hurry to find shelter?”
“Go where? Can you take me back to the Ship Graveyard?”
Divine Sovereign let out a cold laugh. Fine. They’d all die together.
Truth be told, Lin Xiaohe had her eye on a particular place—the central White Tower! As the Rock Clan’s council center, there had to be something significant there, right?
The problem was, how was she supposed to cross the lava lake and get into the White Tower in the middle?
Just as Lin Xiaohe was scratching her head in frustration, a tiny passage suddenly opened up at the launch base. A moment later, a familiar hexahedron emerged from the passage and crashed right into her arms.
The Source Body?!
She’d heard Tiesheng talk about it every single day—she could recognize it with her eyes closed!
Right on its heels came an earth-shattering wave of energy!
Even before it had fully passed through the passage, the energy was already making Lin Xiaohe’s scalp tingle.
Every cell in Lin Xiaohe’s body was screaming at her: Run! Run now!
