Chapter 1176
War Mobilization in the Courtyard.
Chapter 1176 War Mobilization in the Courtyard.
Xia Xiu's fingers continued to tap lightly on the armrest, the rhythm slow and even, but his gaze was no longer on the Emperor Penguin, but on the surging ethereal light outside the bridge.
Regardless of what Xin Liezhi is planning, one thing is certain: a civilizational masterpiece like Blackrock Fortress must not fall into the hands of the pantheon of gods from all the heavens and the myriad worlds led by Joseph Garden.
A colossal structure capable of suppressing great power, distorting spirituality, and tearing apart the boundaries of reality, once fully controlled, could even alter the fundamental rules of divine warfare.
If Odin were to obtain it, it would certainly not be a good thing for the courtyard.
Odin should have already set off; the King of Gods wouldn't let such an opportunity slip by.
Odin could no longer afford to delay, having just caused a ruckus at the Golden Palace and with the Emperor Penguin gone. For a being who ruled over the divine realm, the most sensible choice was to leave Joseph Garden immediately and head directly to the coordinates of Blackrock Fortress.
The window of opportunity won't be very long.
At this moment, Joseph's Garden would probably also have difficulty contacting the pantheons of other realms.
On one hand, there is the internal infighting—the pantheons are suspicious of each other and entangled in interests, and every decision requires complex negotiation; on the other hand, there are more practical problems.
--time!
Once the location of Blackrock Fortress is exposed, the time left for all factions to take action will likely be very short.
In other words, the Heavenly Court must also immediately head to the coordinates of Blackrock Fortress to seize the vital artifacts of civilization from Joseph's Garden.
Thinking of this, Xia Xiu's gaze returned to the Emperor Penguin, his fingertips still tapping lightly on the armrest, the rhythm steady and slow, his thoughts clearly already deducing the situation from a more distant point in time.
"Soros, how many people can your Lord Rhodes' multiverse map teleport at a time?"
The emperor penguin paused for a moment.
In that instant, a thought flashed through his mind almost reflexively—this fourth swordsman of Heaven probably also had his eye on Blackrock Fortress.
Although he did not explain the value of Blackrock Fortress to the fourth swordsman of Heaven, the other party's reaction clearly indicated that he knew the value of Blackrock Fortress.
Thinking of this, the emperor penguin's throat bobbed involuntarily.
He answered somewhat cautiously:
"Lord Rhodes... the situation here is a bit complicated."
He paused, seemingly organizing his thoughts.
“If we only use the multiverse map, then even Lord Rhodes cannot take people on dimensional jumps without limit. But Joseph Garden itself has a special spatial structure—the Endless Heavenly Stratification.”
His tone became noticeably more serious when he said this.
"That's a lower-level version of the Rainbow Bridge, you know, hehe..."
The Emperor Penguin didn't say it explicitly, but the meaning was clear: the most magnificent creation of the original deities of Terra, the Garden of Joseph, [the Rainbow Bridge], was taken away by the Kingdom of Heaven.
The [Endless Stairs] in the Garden of Joseph is now just a clumsy imitation of the [Rainbow Bridge].
"Although the Endless Heavenly Rank is of a lower level and slightly less stable, its greatest function is to unify and mark the spatial coordinates of the entire pantheon. If the Endless Heavenly Rank is combined with the multiverse map in Lord Rhodes's possession, then theoretically, he can teleport all the living forces of the entire Joseph Garden pantheon to the same target location at once."
He paused again, then added:
"Yes... the entire pantheon, once the coordinates are determined, will take at most one day."
Soros, that chubby little bird, is the smartest. He had already predicted that Xia Xiu might want to use his [multiverse map] to do something, so he scratched his head and continued, feigning shame:
“My map can’t handle that scale. A wandmaster of my level can only reliably teleport five to ten people at a time, and that has to be a short-distance dimensional jump. If I were to teleport on a large scale, it would be completely beyond my capabilities.”
He then added somewhat awkwardly:
"And... I don't have the coordinates of Blackrock Fortress either."
Xia Xiu suddenly smiled, and the Emperor Penguin felt a sense of unease upon seeing this smile.
No way...
It can't be such a coincidence...
What you fear most is what comes to pass. When Emperor Penguin met Xia Xiu, he used up all the bad luck he had in his life.
"What a coincidence," Xia Xiu said with a smile, looking at the Emperor Penguin. "The Garden of Joseph has Rhodes's map of the multiverse, plus the endless celestial network, while we here—"
He raised his hand and casually pointed at the emperor penguins.
"With you, Soros."
Then he pointed to himself.
"There is also the truly complete Rainbow Bridge of Heaven—the complete Rainbow Bridge, together with a lower-level version of the multiverse map, can also enable large-scale dimensional leaps."
Upon hearing this, the emperor penguin vaguely realized that things were developing in a direction he dared not have imagined.
He couldn't help but rub his hands together, forcing a very strained smile. Suppressing his bad premonition, he continued:
"Your Excellency Abraham...the problem is...we have no coordinates."
Xia Xiu looked at him, his smile becoming even more pronounced.
"Didn't I already say that?"
He spoke casually.
"What a coincidence, I also have the coordinates of Blackrock Fortress."
The emperor penguin's fluffy face froze at that moment.
His hand-rubbing motion froze in mid-air, his wings in an extremely comical pose, as if the whole bird had suddenly been frozen in the air, even forgetting to blink.
His brain almost crashed on the spot.
What a coincidence!
The coordinates of Blackrock Fortress are available in Joseph's Garden; the multiverse map is available to the Wandman; and now, even the fourth Swordholder of Heaven has his coordinates.
The emperor penguin's throat twitched slightly.
Although he was just a reporter-level wandwitch at the Wandman Newspaper and not a big shot in the entire universe, the special thing about wandwitches is that they travel between various pantheons, civilizations and planes all year round, see and hear too much, and have a much sharper sense of many things than ordinary people.
Because of this, he vaguely sensed something.
Something was clearly wrong with this. It wasn't a simple coincidence, but rather as if some unseen force was gently pushing the chessboard from behind, causing different people to end up in the same position at different times.
Several names flashed through his mind instantly. In fact, there were only a handful of people in the entire world who truly possessed this ability.
And the one most closely associated with the wand man...
The emperor penguin's eyes suddenly widened, and a familiar proverb popped into its mind almost reflexively:
"Think long and you will want to know; know many things and you will thirst for more; only the wise, the cunning, and the extraordinary can keep you from being troubled."
The bird froze completely.
Holy crap!?
We've run into some trouble from the ancestor of birds!!!
A chill ran down the spine of the emperor penguin.
Xia Xiu simply watched him quietly.
A faint smile played on his face.
He could tell, of course, that the chubby little bird had guessed something, but he didn't point it out. He simply spoke slowly:
"Let's get ready."
The emperor penguin suddenly came to its senses.
Xia Xiu continued calmly:
“We will return to Abelio first. I will apply to Heaven for permission to use the Rainbow Bridge, and a large force will also be dispatched from the Courtyard.”
His gaze fell on the emperor penguins, his tone remaining calm.
"Something like Blackrock Fortress isn't suitable to lie in space as ruins forever."
He paused for a moment.
"Since Joseph's Garden intends to take it, we naturally cannot miss out. A large-scale war between the Garden of the Orient and Joseph's Garden is now inevitable."
The emperor penguin swallowed hard, while the voice of the fourth swordsman of Heaven continued to ring in his ears:
"As for you, forget about it. You've already been drawn into the conflict between Heaven and all the myriad worlds."
“I am a kind-hearted person, and besides, the Kingdom of Heaven is not some unreasonable and violent organization. We can understand that the Wandman was unintentionally dragged into this war, so we will not specifically target the Wandman because of this.”
"Of course, now that you've all gotten involved in this war, you can't just take sides, can you?"
"Don't tell me that the wind can enter the multiverse map, the rain can enter, and the Joseph Garden pantheon can enter, but the Kingdom of Heaven can't, right?"
"If you really say that, then you're taking advantage of my kind heart, and you're taking advantage of the fact that Heaven is a reasonable and good organization. It's not good to take advantage of honest people."
He gently raised his chin, looking at the trembling little fat bird, and said:
"After all I've said, you should understand what I mean. As a member of the Wand People, you should take responsibility for this."
The emperor penguin's feathers trembled.
Xia Xiu's tone remained gentle.
"After all, that multiverse map you have is still somewhat useful for cross-dimensional positioning."
He said this with a polite smile, and then added another sentence.
"Of course, if you're unwilling to cooperate." His tone remained unhurried.
“Then I can just take that multiverse map directly from you. As for taking it that way, you might not want to experience it.”
He looked at the emperor penguins.
"So now you choose a path and answer this question for the Wandman."
Emperor Penguin: o(╥﹏╥)o
How scary! I want to go home~~~
The emperor penguin could only manage a smile that looked worse than a grimace.
"Of course I am...on the side of Heaven."
He quickly added, afraid that his words might be misunderstood.
"Of course, this does not mean that wandmen have changed their stance. We have always remained neutral... It's just that, as a wandman responsible for recording history, I am very happy to assist Lord Abraham in completing this great exploration as an observer."
He was almost rambling incoherently by the end, but he only got one core message.
I will cooperate with Lord Abraham in anything!
Xia Xiu looked at him and nodded slightly.
"Very good, you are a good bird."
Soros: "..."
The ethereal light outside the bridge continued to surge, while the Sword-class frigate's trajectory had quietly changed, rapidly leaping towards the coordinates of the seventeenth outer plane.
Soon after.
The escort ship traversed the dimensional veil and returned to the paradise.
During this process, the Judgment Mechs from the three Colossi were also dispatched to provide escort.
……
……
The first level of the secluded paradise: Abelio.
Golden Tree Royal City.
As the Sword-class frigate, aided by the escorting Holy Judgment mechs, tore open the dimensional veil, the entire royal city seemed to be gently stirred by some invisible force. The roots of the Golden Tree, buried deep in the earth, emitted a low and long resonance underground, a sound like an ancient life responding to its master.
Overlooking the entire royal city, one can see that it is not a city structure in the ordinary sense, but a living city-state formed by the growth, interweaving and extension of countless golden roots. The roots spread like streets, and the branches spiral like city walls. The layers of golden structures form a constantly growing labyrinth.
Above the sky, a huge [constancy] halo floated silently.
The sword-class frigate pierced through the clouds and slowly landed in the core area of the Golden Tree Royal City.
Hugh Abraham returned to his faithful territory.
The ship's gate opened, and the Lord of the Courtyard stepped onto the ground beneath the Golden Tree.
He didn't stay long. Almost as soon as he landed, he went back to the governor's mansion. He had someone take Magus to a room that had been prepared for him to rest, and that he would call the other party over if he needed anything later.
After settling Magus in, he issued various instructions regarding the impending war.
First, he used the courtyard's communication network to send the collected information directly to various war zones.
He demanded that all the lords of the various court legions, that is, his sons, assemble.
Meanwhile, the two powerful units that the courtyard can currently command—the Commander of the Imperial Guard and the Mechanical Saint—are also required to return to Abelio for a report.
But this is not enough.
"Eden".
The next moment, the big boss's response rang out in the hall.
【exist--】
"Compile the intelligence on Blackrock Fortress and report it to Heaven."
He paused for a moment, then added:
"At the same time, I will notify the resolution assembly that I need to apply for access to the Rainbow Bridge."
After the command was issued, lines of data began to scroll rapidly on the genealogy interface.
[Intelligence node search in progress...]
[Blackrock Fortress related records are being compiled...]
[Intelligence upload complete.]
Immediately afterwards, the runes in the center of the interface changed slightly.
The request for a meeting has been received.
[The Mindset Overdrive Conference is now open.]
When urgent strategic judgments are required, the thirteen decision-makers (currently holding twelve seats) will directly access the genealogical network, boosting their thinking speed to a level far exceeding the normal time scale, and completing the deduction and voting on massive amounts of information in a very short real-world time.
A new flow of information begins to appear on the genealogy interface.
All twelve decision-makers are now present.
[Strategic Issue: Rainbow Bridge Usage Permissions.]
[Topic: Blackrock Fortress Operation]
What may be a few seconds in real time is a long process of deliberation for the decision-making meeting, with data streams constantly flashing by.
Risk assessment complete.
Strategic value assessment completed.
[Feasibility study of the operation completed.]
[Voting complete.]
[The Twelve Decision Makers]
[Passed unanimously.]
Rainbow Bridge access has been enabled.
[Authorized by: Hugh Abraham]
Right at this moment.
Xia Xiu narrowed his eyes slightly, because he could already sense that, in his extraordinary perception, a structure so vast it was almost indescribable was opening up to him.
【Miracle: Rainbow Bridge】
Within the deep structure of the genealogical network lies a vast authority that spans dimensions and space. It is not fixed in any specific location, but rather like a network of channels that crosses reality and ether, and can unfold at any world node marked by the Kingdom of Heaven.
In just a moment, Xia Xiu knew just how immense the strategic value of the Rainbow Bridge was.
The Rainbow Bridge is like an invisible blood vessel covering the entire world, composed of countless faster-than-light tunnels, nodes, and portals, ranging in size from just big enough for one person to big enough for an entire fleet.
It is absolutely safe, as it is isolated from etheric subspace storms, chaotic demons, and temporal turbulence, making navigation risk-free; it can jump at extremely high speeds, ignoring real-world distances; and it does not require star speakers or navigators, nor does it have to endure the corruption of chaos in the ether.
Xia Xiu could sense that leap paths were extending in his consciousness like rays of light, connecting with each other to form a huge network with an extremely wide coverage.
The core of this network lies in Terra, and the Kingdom of Heaven, with Terra at its core, is constantly expanding the network.
He instantly understood the purpose of this thing.
"This is... a genealogical network that does not rely on the Etheric Ocean."
"So that's how it is. If Heaven breaks through the Crystal Heaven in the future, it can rely on the network of the Rainbow Bridge to completely free humanity from the Aetherian space and cut off the encroachment of Chaos on humanity..."
In addition to the network, the Rainbow Bridge also has the ability to teleport to the ether. As long as the location is clear enough and the target is locked, the Rainbow Bridge can be deployed anywhere.
To be honest, Xia Xiu suddenly has a strong urge to kill the little fat bird and then find a way to refine the [Multiverse Map] backup.
After all, while the [Rainbow Bridge] is capable of ether-directed jumps, its positioning capabilities are not as strong as the [Multiverse Map].
The positioning here is not just about knowing the coordinates. In terms of sensing, even if the coordinates are known, it takes a long time for the [Rainbow Bridge] to complete the positioning. Moreover, the Kingdom of Heaven also needs to use the [Rainbow Bridge] to build a network, so the available resources are always very tight.
This is one of the reasons why the Kingdom of Heaven did not immediately retrieve the coordinates of Blackrock Fortress after learning them.
In addition, the inherent characteristics of Blackrock Fortress make its location unclear, and locating it would take a considerable amount of time.
In terms of positioning, the [Multiverse Map] is far more powerful than the [Rainbow Bridge], after all, it is the strongest single-unit positioning and traversal miracle, and its positioning capabilities can be said to be the best in the world.
The [Multiverse Map] possesses the strongest sensing and positioning capabilities, while the [Rainbow Bridge] boasts the strongest teleportation capabilities. The combination of the two is practically invincible.
Unfortunately, the side effects of the [Multiverse Map] are very obvious. Xia Xiu can only think about it now. If there are any ways to avoid these side effects in the future, he will definitely find a way to get the [Multiverse Map] back to play with.
For now, we can only keep the little fat bird locked up. In the future, we'll have to make things even harder for it.
Besides being a backyard worker, Xia Xiu also plans to make the little fat bird a glorious... heavenly bird-shaped sensor in the future.