Mechanical Ascension

Several months after the turmoil ended, the continent gradually recovered its peace from the catastrophe left by the God King's lingering might.

Qian Gu Fenfeng's injuries had long since healed completely, but he knew that, against the now-reborn band of protagonists, he had already beaten the grass and startled the snake. With Old Tang and his parents protecting them as well, he feared breaking the vase while striking the rat.

He simply chose to settle himself instead. That brush with death had not only reshaped the foundation of his Divine Soul but also allowed him to see through to the ultimate truth of power.

He had understood.

Qian Gu Fenfeng had understood.

The Douluo Plane was now almost entirely under the control of Tang San's parents. Even if he broke through to god level, he would merely be hovering at the edges, still nothing more than a slightly larger ant.

In the past, he had relied on his bloodline talents, the Coiling Dragon Staff Technique, Battle Armor, and Soul Power. Now, a path to godhood that belonged to him alone had already taken shape in his heart.

His temperament had settled completely, shedding the brash arrogance of youth and gaining a measure of composure and clarity born of surviving life and death.

The Federation had countless things awaiting rebuilding, while the Qiangu Family wielded towering authority, with innumerable, complicated military and political affairs to handle. After careful consideration, Qian Gu Fenfeng decided to lay down all worldly duties and power.

He sought out his gentle, steady Second Brother, Qiangu Qingfeng, and handed over every matter, great and small, from the Federation's military and political scheduling to the family's internal affairs and the maintenance of order across the continent.

"Second Brother, leaving these worldly troubles in your hands is the safest choice."

Qian Gu Fenfeng's expression was calm, his tone firm. "I will condense my godhood. When I emerge from seclusion, this Douluo will be nothing more than something already in our Qiangu Family's pocket!"

Looking at his utterly transformed third brother, Qiangu Qingfeng understood. He solemnly nodded and took on every burden:

"Fenfeng, go ahead without holding back!"

He needed to keep the Federation's entire foundation stable so that Qian Gu Fenfeng could pursue enlightenment wholeheartedly, free of worries.

After settling all his worldly ties, Qian Gu Fenfeng bade farewell to his elder brother and father, then found Qian Chenyue and Leng Yaozhu, who had remained by his side all along.

The evening breeze was slightly cool, and the courtyard was quiet.

Qian Chenyue's gaze was gentle, reluctance and worry hidden in her eyes. For months, she had stayed beside him, watching over him as he healed and began anew.

Leng Yaozhu stood nearby, radiant and unrestrained, concern and nervousness showing in her beautiful eyes.

Qian Gu Fenfeng looked at the two women, his voice unusually gentle. "When I emerge from seclusion, prepare the God-Sealing Ceremony and announce it to the world."

Qian Chenyue nodded softly, gazing at him affectionately with her large eyes as she whispered, "I'll wait for your return."

Leng Yaozhu's eyes burned brightly, and she suddenly hugged Qian Gu Fenfeng. "We will always stand behind you."

Qian Gu Fenfeng smiled faintly, holding Leng Yaozhu with one arm while gently patting Qian Chenyue's head with his other hand.

Then he turned and left, entering the deepest, quietest seclusion chamber in the Qiangu Family's Main Residence. He sealed the barrier, shutting himself away from the world, and began his own heaven-defying path to proving his Dao.

The foundation Qian Gu Fenfeng had built throughout his life differed from that of the continent's countless Soul Masters.

In his youth, he had attended Mingdu's finest Soul Engineer academy. After years of dedicated study, he had mastered ultimate Soul Guidance technology, Battle Armor Forging, and mechanical construction, becoming one of the continent's rare powerhouses who cultivated as both a top Soul Master and a top Soul Engineer. Moreover, after taking office as Councilor of the Sun Moon Federation, he had deliberately cultivated continental faith, erecting statues of himself in every province and city while outwardly presenting himself as someone who pleaded for the people. Countless living beings across the continent felt grateful for his kindness, and the vow power in their hearts gathered into rivers, ordinarily residing within the statues scattered across the land.

The seclusion barrier cut off the winds and clouds of heaven and earth. The years outside stood still; within, only laws flowed, and his mind lay silent.

Qian Gu Fenfeng floated cross-legged at the center of the void, having removed all his Battle Armor and cast off his worldly edge. Through that instant between life and death, he had already perceived the truth-traditional deities' godhoods were all inheritances native to heaven and earth, their ancient lineages already fixed. The Dragon God, the Angel, Asura... all beings followed the old tracks of heaven's way, and not one could break its laws to create something of their own.

Yet he insisted on walking a road no one before him had taken.

His foundation was unmatched in the world, impossible for anyone to reproduce.

The first layer of that foundation was the supremely profound great Dao of the Soul Engineer.

He had entered Mingdu Soul Engineer Academy in his youth and spent more than a decade thoroughly mastering all the continent's finest Soul Guidance formulas, mechanical principles, and structures of order. He understood the principles of metal smelting, the workings of Soul Tool runes, the laws governing the birth and destruction of mechanical creations, and how artificial creations could draw upon the power of heaven and earth. Ordinary Soul Masters cultivated Soul Power; what he cultivated was artificial order, the ultimate laws of countless machines, steel runes, and precision structures.

This was the framework with which he would create his godhood, the foundation of his path.

The second layer of his foundation was the power of the people's faith, diffused throughout the entire continent.

Countless tiny, pure motes of faith, formless and intangible, crossed mountains and lands, pierced the barrier, and slowly converged upon his place of seclusion.

Some commoners were grateful that he had ended wars and brought peace to the people; some Soul Engineers revered his heaven-reaching mastery; some weak people remembered that he had once protected all living beings.

This was not worship deliberately cultivated, but faith that had naturally settled through half a lifetime of "walking the righteous path," remaining true to himself, and "protecting all living beings."

Of course, whether it was true or false, what mattered was that Qian Gu Fenfeng himself firmly believed he acted for the people, that he was justice itself.

Qian Gu Fenfeng closed his eyes, his mind sinking completely into nothingness. With his Divine Soul as the furnace and his will as the flame, he began the first and most heaven-defying step-creating his own path and condensing a demigod Divine Embryo.

He cast aside every established God Level law, accepting no gifts from heaven and earth and borrowing no ancient inheritance.

Millions of tiny golden Soul Tool runes flew from his fingertips, and countless images of mechanical structures of utmost precision unfolded in the void. Steel order became the sinews, the profound principles of Soul Guidance the meridians, the people's faith the blood, and the spiritual energy of heaven and earth the flesh.

Countless runes piled layer upon layer, intertwining and recombining.

Collapse, reshaping, deduction, evolution.

Countless times his path collapsed; countless times its laws were reconstructed.

Qian Gu Fenfeng's heart was clear, his resolve to pursue the Dao flawless. Every strand of his deductions accorded with his original intent-I am heaven's mandate, treating all things as straw dogs; I am order, and judgment rests within a single thought.

After an unknown passage of time, a translucent gray-white godhood embryo covered in intricate mechanical patterns slowly took shape within the void.

It had no Divinity radiance, no vast draconic might, yet it carried a sense of supreme order that was cold, regimented, and absolutely rational.

Every turning gear symbolized that order was no longer impartial; every flickering pattern was an ultimate truth of Soul Guidance he had personally deduced, and every inch of the Divine Embryo that absorbed power carried "the people's faith."

For the first time in the continent's history, an artificially forged mechanical demigod godhood had successfully taken shape.

The demigod position hovered in the void, trembling softly. It had begun to possess the pressure of a Divine Core, yet it still lacked the final step to completion.

With only a framework, order, and faith, it lacked a core origin and could not enter the realm of true deities.

Qian Gu Fenfeng had already settled on his answer.

A faint light flashed between his brows, and the Break Evil Dragon Soul Spirit's origin slowly rose out.

This Artificial Soul Spirit, the Break Evil Dragon, had accompanied him throughout his journey. The two had long since become attuned in heart, each existing within the other.

The next instant, he stirred the Dragon Source, beginning to fuse the origin with the godhood and shed mortality to become a god.

A vast, mighty torrent of golden Dragon Source, like a surging river of stars, slowly poured into the gray-white mechanical demigod Divine Embryo.

The rigid, regimented steel patterns became entwined with boundless golden light of the draconic Dao.

Violent collisions of laws thundered within the barrier!

The godhood trembled violently, countless cracks bursting open, only to be instantly repaired, tempered, and sublimated by the power of the Dragon Source.

The once monotonously gray-white mechanical Divine Embryo underwent a complete qualitative transformation.

The gray foundation of order turned gilded gold and profound black. Countless mechanical runes shimmered with purple-gold draconic light, and the aura of a true dragon and the profound principles of Soul Guidance flowed between every intricate pattern. Machinery was its body, a true dragon its core, order its Dao, and the self its heart.

Every conflict dissolved, and all paths united in perfection.

The Break Evil Dragon Soul Spirit also broke through to a million years.