Defeat on the Sandbox, A Cold Warning

Inside the "War Sandbox" simulation space, the atmosphere was oppressively heavy.

Guang Chengzi, Zhao Gongming, and the others stopped their bickering. They stared at the lifelike rhomboid warship before them, feeling a soul-deep tremor emanating from its cold metal hull.

Even though they knew it was a simulation, the pressure of world-ending destruction felt incredibly real.

"Deduction sequence initiated."

Chen Ran's voice fell.

In the sandbox space, based on the Heavenly Origin Sect's plan proposed by Guang Chengzi, centered around the "Nine Revolutions Profound Art," a virtual defense node was rapidly constructed. Surrounding this node, phantoms of hundreds of standard Heavenly Origin Sect magical artifacts appeared, forming an exquisite defensive formation. Golden light shimmered, and treasure aura surged to the heavens, exuding the prestige of a true Mystic Sect lineage.

"Round one, saturation energy attack test."

As Chen Ran commanded, dense points of light illuminated the surface of the rhomboid warship in the distance. In the next moment, thousands of tiny energy beams, each possessing terrifying penetrating power, rained down like a storm.

"Activate the formation!" Guang Chengzi ordered with pride.

The Heavenly Origin Sect's defensive formation instantly activated, a massive Bagua diagram blocking the front. Golden light flowed, attempting to deflect all incoming attacks.

However, those energy beams seemed utterly unreasonable. They were neither deflected nor weakened. Instead, with pure brute force, they struck the Bagua diagram directly.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With each impact, the golden light of the great formation trembled violently. The runes on the Bagua diagram dimmed at a speed visible to the naked eye.

It lasted for less than ten breaths.

With a crisp "crack."

The seemingly indestructible Bagua diagram was covered in cracks and shattered with a roar!

Thousands of energy beams pierced through unimpeded, instantly tearing apart all the phantom magical artifacts behind it, along with the core node.

[Heavenly Origin Sect plan, duration in round one saturation attack: 9.7 seconds.]

[Evaluation result: Complete failure.]

A cold, mechanical synthesized voice echoed through the space, like a resounding slap, brutally striking Guang Chengzi and all the disciples of the Heavenly Origin Sect.

Their faces instantly turned deathly pale.

How could this be?

Their proudest defensive formation, capable of trapping a Grand Unity Golden Immortal, had... not even lasted ten seconds?

"Now, for the Intercepting Sect's plan."

Chen Ran's voice carried no emotional fluctuation.

The sandbox reset.

This time, the Intercepting Sect's plan node, centered around the "Myriad Immortals Array Diagram" proposed by Zhao Gongming and others, was constructed.

Compared to the exquisiteness of the Heavenly Origin Sect's formation, the Intercepting Sect's array appeared more massive and complex. Countless banners fluttered, their killing intent soaring, faintly accompanied by the cries of myriad immortals. Its aura was far grander.

"The same attack, commence."

Thousands of energy beams struck once more.

"Power of the Myriad Immortals, heed my command! Turn!" Zhao Gongming roared.

The colossal Myriad Immortals Array Diagram began to rotate slowly, like a giant grinding stone. All the energy beams that entered the array were drawn in by the immense power of the formation, their trajectories altered, causing them to collide and dissipate.

"Hmph, see? This is the true path of formations!" Bixiao glanced triumphantly at Guang Chengzi.

The Intercepting Sect's plan was indeed far more effective than the Heavenly Origin Sect's.

They successfully endured the first round of attacks.

However, Chen Ran's voice sounded again.

"Round two, quality strike test."

Dozens of launch ports opened on the flank of the rhomboid warship. Spindle-shaped physical warheads, gleaming with metallic coldness, were fired.

These warheads had no energy fluctuations, nor any aura of laws.

But the moment they appeared, the surrounding space distorted due to their terrifying mass.

"What is this..." Zhao Gongming's pupils constricted.

Before he could react, the warheads struck the Myriad Immortals Array at near-light speed.

There was no violent explosion.

The warheads, relying solely on their unreasonable mass, charged forward relentlessly.

The Myriad Immortals Array's proud characteristic of transferring and dissipating energy became meaningless in the face of pure physical impact.

Banners were smashed to pieces.

Formation eyes were directly destroyed.

The massive Myriad Immortals Array collapsed instantly, like a water surface struck by pebbles.

[Intercepting Sect plan, duration in round two quality strike: 3.1 seconds.]

[Evaluation result: Complete failure.]

The same verdict caused Zhao Gongming and all the disciples of the Intercepting Sect to lose their color.

The Myriad Immortals Array Diagram they prided themselves on had been defeated faster and more thoroughly than the Heavenly Origin Sect's formations.

The entire simulation space fell into a deathly silence.

For the first time, the disciples of the Heavenly Origin Sect and the Intercepting Sect put aside their prejudices and pride. Only one emotion remained on their faces—fear.

What if this wasn't a simulation...

What if, outside of Chaos, they had been the ones facing that attack...

The consequences were unimaginable.

"Now, do you understand?"

Chen Ran's voice broke the silence.

He walked slowly before everyone, his gaze sweeping over each face like a knife.

"Your pride, your Dao techniques, the divine abilities you boast of, how vulnerable they are in the face of true interstellar civilization warfare."

"The Heavenly Origin Sect's plan was exquisite but overly concentrated in power. Against saturation attacks, it was like delicate porcelain, shattering at the slightest touch."

"The Intercepting Sect's plan was magnificent in momentum but loose in structure. Against physical strikes, it was like a pile of loose sand, collapsing at the first push."

"You all made the same mistake,"

Chen Ran said word by word, "which is to use your preconceived notions to guess at an enemy you completely do not understand."

"You were still thinking about how to defeat the other side with your 'Dao,' without considering that the other side doesn't speak of 'Dao' at all!"

"They speak of energy, mass, efficiency, and cold calculation!"

His words were like a thunderclap.

Guang Chengzi and Zhao Gongming lowered their heads in shame. They finally realized how ridiculous and childish their previous arguments had been.

"Mister... then what should we do?" Yunxiao's voice trembled slightly. She was the first to set aside her status and ask Chen Ran for guidance.

Chen Ran looked at the finally humble and awestruck eyes of everyone, knowing his purpose had been achieved.

"It's very simple."

He turned and reactivated the War Sandbox.

This time, a new node model appeared before them.

It possessed the exquisite structure of the Heavenly Origin Sect's formations and the immense energy of the Intercepting Sect's formations. More importantly, its outer layer was covered by an energy shield constructed with Human Race Rune Technology, shimmering with a faint blue light.

"Fusion," Chen Ran said. "Complement each other's strengths and weaknesses, and completely merge immortal arts with technology."

"This is our only way out."

Just as Chen Ran was about to explain his fusion plan in detail.

Buzzzzz--

The entire research center was suddenly filled with a piercing, top-level alarm!

A red light illuminated everyone's faces.

Youchao Shi appeared at the laboratory door in a panic, his voice trembling.

"Mister! Something's wrong!"

"The central monitoring system of the Hall of Civilization has issued an alert!"

"At the edge of Chaos, outside the Primordial Era crystal wall system, our remote observation post just detected... an anomalous spatial fluctuation!"

"Its energy characteristics have a thirty percent similarity to the 'Gestalt' in our records!"