Enlightenment: Attaining the Dao at Age 8

After all, he was attempting to reverse-engineer the complete Array from just a small part of it. The difficulty of doing so without any blueprints or reference materials was self-evident.

But even if he couldn’t deduce the entire Array, just scratching the surface would be a massive gain for Li Chang’an!

After countless observations and moments of insight,

Li Chang’an had finally managed to grasp some of the Immortal Ship’s technological secrets!

The Space-Time Protective Shield. It defended against enemy attacks by distorting time and space. It was no exaggeration to say that this was definitively the most powerful defensive measure there was.

After all, in Li Chang’an’s understanding, aside from rule-based attacks, it seemed no other offensive method could bypass a Shield made of time and space to strike what lay within.

Perhaps a dark incursion could be added to that list.

…

By this time, half of the year-long interstellar voyage had already passed.

Just as Li Chang’an was about to use the remaining time to continue observing the Array’s operational Logic, he suddenly felt his vision go dark.

Before he could figure out what was happening, the steadily flying Immortal Ship began to shake violently, and a piercing, urgent alarm blared.

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! High concentration of Dark Energy detected ahead! Current level has reached LV3! All Immortal Ship personnel, return to your stations and prepare for combat immediately!!”

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! High concentration of Dark Energy detected ahead! Current level has reached LV4! All Immortal Ship personnel, prepare to open fire!!”

“BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! High concentration of Dark Energy detected ahead! Current level has reached LV6! System has automatically established a Connection with the Star Realm network to request reinforcements!!!”

Hearing the alarms,

the Cultivators aboard the Immortal Ship, who had been bored to tears, all shuddered as if waking from a nightmare. They instinctively sprinted toward their posts.

On the bridge, Xia Zizhan was roaring, “Level 12 Alert! We may have found the source of the Dark Tide! All hands, to battle stations!”

It was only then that Li Chang’an realized what was happening.

He rose from the deck and looked around. The vast expanse of space, filled with the twinkle of strange and distant lights, seemed completely devoid of danger.

But just as he was wondering,

a deafening BOOM from the Immortal Ship’s cannon rocked the vessel. Li Chang’an felt the deck tremble violently under his feet as a massive beam of light, tens of meters thick, shot out, blasting toward a nearby patch of empty Void.

The intensely hot beam sliced a fissure into the nearby Void as if it were cutting through butter.

And only then could Li Chang’an’s naked eye perceive the terrifying, seemingly infinite darkness within the fissure.

“SKREEE…”

As the fissure in the Void tore open, a bat-like creature crawled out.

The bat-like creature was as black as ink. Its neck split into three separate heads, each baring long, slender, and razor-sharp fangs. It unleashed a bloodcurdling shriek in the direction of the Immortal Ship.

With the monster’s shriek, sound waves hammered against the Immortal Ship’s Energy Shield.

The Energy Shield rippled with unprecedented violence, and the entire ship shuddered. Li Chang’an felt like he was about to be flung off his feet.

But he forced his eyes to stay open, watching the battlefield without so much as a blink.

After its shriek, the bat-like monster spread its massive wings and lunged for the Immortal Ship. The ship was clearly not going to just wait for its doom. From gunports that emerged on its underside, it unleashed massive beams and shells, each one empowered by a powerful Array.

“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!”

“BANG…”

Violent explosions erupted, scattering fiery light in all directions.

For a moment, the already colorful Star Realm grew even more brilliant.

Amid the intense saturation fire, the bat monster’s figure was nearly obscured, its entire body engulfed in flames like a massive, raging torch.

But even so, it continued to close in on the ship.

Only when it was burned so badly that its skeleton was about to crumble did the bat monster finally stop moving, slowly dissolving into plumes of black mist.

However, before anyone on the Immortal Ship could even breathe a sigh of relief,

more monsters charged out of the darkness.

On the bridge, Xia Zizhan frantically commanded the Immortal Ship to lay down suppressive fire, trying to turn the vessel and escape in a different direction.

After all, the scale of this dark incursion was far too massive—practically unheard of.

Their lone Immortal Ship was completely outmatched. They would need an entire fleet to even stand a fighting chance.

Therefore, an immediate retreat was the only logical choice.

But while the Immortal Ship did turn,

it wasn’t to flee. Instead, it began to move uncontrollably toward the very source of the Dark Energy.

“It’s over… It’s all over…”

As the ship drew closer and closer,

the faces of everyone on board turned deathly pale.

Li Chang’an had remained relatively calm, but as the ship plunged uncontrollably toward the source of the Dark Energy, a message from his Rebirth Mark suddenly appeared before his eyes.

[DING! Host is facing extreme danger. Please initiate an immediate forced abort of this rebirth. Otherwise, the Host will be solely responsible for all ensuing consequences!]