Chapter 30: The Spiritual Elevator… Dawn of the Era of the Great Calculation
After the disappearance of the Sword Ancestor and the conversion of his energy into mere fuel within the Lost Ledger of Calculations, a terrifying silence descended upon the Four Continents.
The shock was not in his death—but in the manner of his erasure. A man who had spent three thousand years sharpening the edge of his soul had ended up as nothing more than input in an unknown equation.
In the Imperial Palace courtyard of Tian Long City, Zhou Fan did not rest. He stood at the center of a circle one hundred meters in diameter, carved into the marble floor with black energy lasers.
The city no longer resembled an ancient Chinese metropolis. It had become a strange fusion of classical architecture and flowing light lines, reminiscent of integrated circuit boards.
"Master Zhou," Ling'er approached, her eyes reflecting the violet glow emanating from the floating ledger beside him.
"The great sects across the Four Continents are recalling their envoys. There are rumors of an alliance forming in the Lightning Continent, called the Dao Preservation Alliance. They say you are a 'virus' threatening the natural order."
Zhou Fan smiled—a metallic, cold gleam in his expression.
"A virus? An apt description, from the perspective of an outdated and decaying system. The nature they speak of is chaotic, wasting 90% of spiritual energy on friction and trivial emotions. I am not a virus… I am a system update."
He raised his hand to the sky.
Suddenly, a massive pillar of interwoven white and black light erupted from the city center. It was not an attack—it was condensed matter, rising higher and higher until it pierced the layers of the atmosphere.
"Zhang Song!" Zhou Fan called to the young emperor.
"Announce to the world that Tian Long is no longer a human empire. Proclaim the dawn of the Era of the Great Calculation. Any farmer seeking true immortality must come here and submit their soul core to be encrypted within the array. I will grant them eternal life as stable data, instead of their perishable bodies consumed by time."
"But Master…" Zhang Song trembled.
"You are asking them to forsake their humanity!"
"I ask them to forsake the computational noise," Zhou Fan replied coldly.
"Look at that pillar, Zhang Song. This is the Spiritual Elevator. It extracts energy from the Dragon's Sweat, processes it in the higher dimensions, then returns it to Earth as 100% pure energy. Within a year, this continent will become a paradise of complete mathematics… or a Dead Land if they attempt to stop me."
Lightning Continent – Stronghold of the Dao Preservation Alliance
The masters of the six great sects had gathered in the Absolute Thunder Hall. The air was so charged that words sparked as they were spoken.
"He built an elevator piercing the sky!" shouted the master of the Blue Lightning Sect.
"He is stealing planetary energy and converting it into something beyond our comprehension. Spies report that the farmers in Tian Long no longer breathe air—they absorb light codes instead!"
"This Zhou Fan is no mere farmer," said a mysterious elder seated in the shadows, a member of the Seven Oracles Sect.
"I have examined his fate in the River of Time… and found nothing. His place in the river is a black hole that devours all probabilities. He does not merely alter the future—he erases it and rewrites it."
"Then the only option is total annihilation," said the new master of the Sword Sect, his eyes blazing with vengeance for his predecessor.
"We will assemble the Million Farmer Army, striking from all four directions simultaneously. No matter how strong his array is, it cannot process a million variables at once. We will flood his system with blood until it collapses."
Back in Tian Long
Inside the heart of the Spiritual Elevator, Zhou Fan floated in complete unison with the Second Volume.
Data flowed through his mind at trillions of operations per second.
Alert: Continental military mobilization detected.
Estimated units: 1,200,000 spiritual beings.
Expected arrival: 14 days.
"One million farmers…" Zhou Fan whispered, a grin of computational delight on his face.
"They believe that quantity can overcome logic. They do not realize that a million farmers are nothing more than a million lines of code, needing a single Delete Command."
He turned to Ling'er, watching from the laboratory window.
"Ling'er, I will need you to be the constant variable in the upcoming array. You are the only soul in this city that is completely unencrypted. I want you to hold the Ledger of Calculations while I face the Million Army."
"Will you go alone?" she asked, fear lacing her voice.
"No," Zhou Fan replied, opening the last page of the newly discovered Second Volume.
"I will go with the Phantom Number Army. I will show the world how a single 'zero' can defeat a million 'ones'."
At that moment, the ground beneath the city split open, releasing thousands of statues forged from black Void Energy. Faceless, yet each chest pulsed with complex computational symbols.
These were Zhou Fan's execution units.
The first global war in the history of continental farmers had begun—a war not of swords and magic, but of Will to Survive versus the Inevitability of Calculation.