A glimpse of the sky
The emptiness after the energy connection was severed washed over Xiang Jinyang's newly soothed core like a tide. The lingering warmth of the healing pleasure brought by the highly effective energy formed an unnerving contrast with the now sluggish, almost stagnant, self-healing process. He subconsciously activated the "unconventional" techniques he had just passively absorbed, attempting to optimize the efficiency of his energy absorption.
The effect was immediate, but it also made the uneasiness caused by being infected by "heterodox" more obvious.
He forced himself to stop this "opportunistic" behavior and return to the orthodox, slow but "correct" repair path, as if this would be enough to hold the last shaky line of defense.
Elsewhere, He Yuan was idly scratching something on the ground with his fingers. Where his fingertips passed, the silvery ground was left with fleeting, complex, and mysterious indentations. They weren't runes, but more like some kind of mathematical model that constantly calculated and collapsed on its own. He was deducing the node information of the sect's formation that he had sensed from Xiang Jinyang, playing a tedious game that only he understood.
Time in Jintian became sticky and slow again.
until--
Buzz...
An extremely faint tremor, which did not originate from within the Jintian Realm, drifted away quietly like a speck of dust thrown into stagnant water.
Xiang Jinyang suddenly raised his head, his glazed eyes instantly sharpening as he gazed at a certain point in the void. Although the connection was tenuous, as the incarnation of the Heavenly Dao, he had an instinctive sense of any major changes in the rules of the main world.
That tremor... came from the Tianyan Sect's mountain protection formation outside! It seemed to have been hit by some kind of powerful impact!
Almost at the same moment, He Yuan also stopped moving his fingers. Silver codes flashed rapidly in his eyes. He said "Huh" with obvious interest: "It seems quite lively outside? Is the firewall scratched?"
His way of perception was completely different from Xiang Jinyang's. It was not through rule resonance, but rather like intercepting abnormal traffic alarms from the external network.
Xiang Jinyang's face was icy cold as he tried to focus his mind and project his perception more clearly. But his connection to the main world was too fragile at the moment, and he could only vaguely "see" the violent flickering of light and the surge of spiritual energy around the mountain protection formation, as if a powerful enemy was attacking! Inside the sect, countless disciples ran around in panic, and the shouts of the elders and the explosions of magic clashing could be faintly heard.
Anxiety instantly gripped him. As the incarnation of Heaven's Way, protecting the sect and maintaining order were his core responsibilities. Now that the sect was under attack, he was trapped there due to his own collapse, unable to offer any assistance!
This feeling of powerlessness was even more unbearable than his physical weakness. The aura around him became uncontrollably chaotic, and the rules that had just stabilized began to become restless again.
"Tsk, it doesn't look good." He Yuan came over at some point, stroking his chin, and "reading" with interest the fragmentary information about the outside world that leaked from Xiang Jinyang's chaotic aura. "The attack strength is not low, and the energy signature looks familiar... Hmm? It seems to be directed at you?"
His last sentence made Xiang Jinyang startled.
Coming for him?
That's right! His previous abnormal state and disconnection from the main world must have been noticed by some long-coveted forces! Could it be that this attack on the mountain was intended to take advantage of his weakness, test him, or even...
"Let me see." He Yuan suddenly stretched out his hand and pointed his fingertips at Xiang Jinyang's eyebrows - the location of the energy interface.
Xiang Jinyang subconsciously tried to turn his head away, but He Yuan's other hand firmly held his shoulder.
"Don't move." He Yuan's tone was filled with unquestionable technical calmness. "You don't have enough bandwidth, and the signal is too poor. I'll lend you a port so I can run a dedicated line and see what's going on."
Before he finished speaking, a cold and huge thought had already forced its way in through that interface!
Xiang Jinyang groaned, feeling his shattered sensory channel, still tangibly connected to the main world, instantly widened and strengthened by a brutal yet highly effective force! The originally blurry external scene suddenly became crystal clear, as if the focus had been suddenly adjusted. It even flooded into his sea of consciousness with an excessive, sharp sense of detail!
He "saw" it clearly!
Outside the mountain protection formation, dark clouds loomed overhead, and demonic energy surged through the air! Leading the charge was a demon lord with an extremely powerful aura, wielding a twisted bone banner. Every wave of his hand drew the howls of countless resentful souls, causing the formation's light curtain to shake violently! Behind him, countless demonic cultivators loomed in the distance, their attack unleashing a tidal wave!
Inside the Tianyan Sect, the elders led their disciples in a desperate defense, their swords flashing and the light of their magical weapons intertwining, but they were clearly at a disadvantage and were losing ground. Many disciples were already injured, and their screams were incessant.
What shocked him even more was that he clearly heard the Demon Lord's wild laughter after a fierce attack:
"Hahaha! Xiang Jinyang! You coward! Sure enough, something went wrong! Today I'm going to break your shell and extract your Heavenly Dao essence. Let's see how you can still be so high and mighty!"
It's really directed at him!
A wave of intense emotion washed over Xiang Jinyang like a tsunami! Anger, anxiety, worry, and even a hint of fear at having his weakness exposed! The rules surrounding him trembled violently once again, nearly losing control!
"Calm down!" He Yuan's cold voice echoed through his mind, strangely calming. "Emotionality won't solve the problem. Data flow analysis shows that the enemy's attack pattern is simple, relying primarily on that banner-shaped magical weapon for energy shock and mental pollution. The basic defense module of the mountain protection formation is intact, but the energy scheduling algorithm is too outdated. When responding to concentrated attacks, resource allocation is extremely irrational, resulting in local overload."
While forcibly stabilizing Xiang Jinyang's condition, he analyzed rapidly, his tone quick and precise, as if he was evaluating a system vulnerability.
"Also, that node in the southwest corner—yes, the one that looks like it's about to collapse—isn't really about to collapse. It's just that the redundant backup circuit is blocked by a low-level logic error. Seventy percent of the computing power is just sitting there idly! How stupid!"
Under his forced "sharing" and calm analysis, Xiang Jinyang was able to suppress his turbulent emotions and follow his "perspective." Sure enough! The southwest node's light dimmed, not because it was under the greatest pressure, but because its internal rules had experienced a profoundly stupid blockage! He had never noticed this problem before?! Or rather, he had never considered it from this "optimization" perspective!
"Also, there's a 0.3% deviation between the output frequency of the main energy pool and the resonant frequency of the formation. At least 30% of the energy is wasted! Is the person who set up this formation a fool?"
He Yuan kept finding fault, and every question he raised was to the point. Xiang Jinyang was shocked to hear this, but he couldn't refute it.
"What do you want to do?" Xiang Jinyang asked vigilantly. He felt that He Yuan's thoughts were trying to penetrate outward through his "port".
"I'll help you optimize it." He Yuan said as a matter of course, "Such a poor defense system is an eye sore. By the way... try out a few gadgets I just thought of."
Before Xiang Jinyang could object, a condensed stream of silver code with He Yuan's unique order had quietly escaped through the forcibly widened perception channel and merged into the rule system of the mountain protection formation!
Outside, the Demon Lord, who was laughing wildly and waving the bone banner, preparing to launch a stronger attack, was suddenly shocked to find that—
The Tianyan Sect's mountain protection formation, which was originally shaky and dim, suddenly lit up!
It is not a simple last flicker of light, but a kind of... more condensed, more orderly, and even carries a certain cold murderous intent!
The seemingly weakest node in the southwest corner suddenly shone brightly! Its internal blockage was instantly cleared, and a massive surge of computing power and energy burst out, not only instantly stabilizing itself but also diverting several torrents of energy to support other critically affected areas!
The efficiency of the entire formation suddenly increased to a new level! The light shone with a precise and efficient rhythm that he couldn't understand!
The Demon Lord's determined attack hit the light curtain, but it was cleverly guided, divided and absorbed. The recoil force made his blood surge!
"What's going on?!" The Demon Lord was shocked and angry.
The elders and disciples in Tianyan Sect were also stunned. They could clearly feel the pressure being relieved. The formation seemed to suddenly "come alive" and operate more smoothly and powerfully!
"It's Daozu! It must be Daozu who took action!" An elder shouted excitedly.
"Daozu, bless our Tianyan Sect!"
Morale was immediately boosted!
In the Jintian territory, Xiang Jinyang "saw" all this clearly, feeling the complete transformation of the mountain protection formation under the optimization of the foreign code, and a storm was set off in his heart!
He was actually... actually helping the sect? In such an unbelievable way?
Moreover, the effect is so immediate!
An extremely complicated emotion was churning in his heart.
However, the next moment, He Yuan's actions instantly wiped out the trace of disbelief that had just risen in his heart!
"Hmm... This demon's attack pattern database is quite interesting. I'll take it." "This bone banner has a decent energy conversion efficiency. Let's scan its structure." "Oh? There's something about the concealment techniques of these demon cultivators. Let's break down the code and take a look..."
While optimizing the formation, He Yuan was also, without any moral burden, stealing and analyzing the cultivation techniques, magical tools, and even combat data of the demonic cultivators outside! He looked like a greedy hacker who had stumbled into a free sample zone!
"You!" Xiang Jinyang was furious, but he couldn't stop it because his perception channel was controlled by the other party.
"Don't be so stingy, it's knowledge sharing." He Yuan didn't care at all, and was even a little excited. "Tsk tsk, this devil's core algorithm has a big loophole. Let's try planting a 'logic bomb' on him for fun..."
A silver light flashed in his eyes, and another extremely obscure code passed through the channel and shot accurately towards the Demon Lord outside who was in shock and confusion!
The Demon Lord was about to activate the Bone Banner once more when he suddenly felt the demonic energy within him stagnate. The trajectory of the movement inexplicably became slightly dislocated, and his previously smooth movement nearly backfired! Although he immediately suppressed it, he broke out in a cold sweat!
"Who?! Who is plotting against me?!" He looked around in shock and anger, but could not find any source of abnormality.
In Jintian, He Yuan smacked his lips regretfully: "Tsk, I don't have enough authority, so I can only interfere. If I could just get administrator privileges directly..."
Xiang Jinyang was horrified when he heard this!
He finally understood that He Yuan's help was never selfless. He was just satisfying his curiosity, testing his technology, and... collecting all the "data" that interested him!
And he himself, the incarnation of Heaven, turned out to be the best "springboard" for him to spy on and interfere with the outside world!
The feeling of humiliation surged over him once again, but he felt even more powerless than ever before. Because the facts proved that without this "springboard", he couldn't even protect the sect.
The battle outside continued, but the tide had turned. The optimized mountain protection formation was as solid as a rock, and the Demon Lord's attacks were repeatedly frustrated. He also occasionally experienced strange malfunctions in his own techniques, causing his morale to plummet and his offensive to slow.
Finally, after a futile attack, the Demon Lord roared unwillingly and retreated like a tide with his demon cultivators.
Inside the Tianyan Sect, huge cheers erupted from those who had survived the disaster.
"Long live the Daozu!"
Cheers faintly entered Jintian Realm.
Xiang Jinyang didn't feel any joy at all.
He Yuan slowly withdrew his hand, cutting off the temporary "dedicated line", and the outside scene instantly disappeared from Xiang Jinyang's consciousness.
He sighed with satisfaction, as if he had had a feast of data. With a lazy and satisfied expression on his face, he looked at Xiang Jinyang, who was pale and had complicated eyes.
"How's it going? Is my 'after-sales service' okay?" He grinned like a thieving cat. "Not only did I help you repel the enemy, I also optimized your system and even brought you a bunch of 'trophy' data analysis reports. Would you like to hear them?"
Xiang Jinyang closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time.
The price of victory is that he is more controlled by others and is spied on more unscrupulously by others.
What he saw was not only the war situation outside, but also his own irreplaceable... value and sorrow.
A ray of sunlight illuminated a deeper prison.
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