Crisis of the Mechanical Kingdom

The Grand Archbishop sat rigid upon his high throne, his expression grave, green flames flickering within his eyes.

After a moment of silence, he spoke slowly.

"So... that human is currently on Great Qi Star?"

"Yes. He has been on Great Qi Star the entire time. He's never left."

Xue Han nodded, then looked up at the Grand Archbishop. "Grand Archbishop, what should we do?"

Silence fell. The Grand Archbishop spoke again, his voice deliberate.

"I recently received a revelation from Heavenly Calamity. That human War God is extraordinary — he must be killed."

Xue Han blinked in surprise. "A revelation directly from Heavenly Calamity? What's so special about this human?"

As far as she knew, this was the first time Heavenly Calamity had ever issued a revelation targeting a single individual.

The Grand Archbishop glanced at her and said flatly, "Don't ask what you shouldn't ask."

Xue Han quickly lowered her head. "Yes!"

A beat later, she ventured, "Then, My Lord, what should we do?"

The Grand Archbishop considered for a moment. "That human is extremely powerful. Killing him won't be simple. When the time comes, I and two other Bishops will act together to ensure nothing goes wrong."

Xue Han hesitated. "But My Lord... the War Gods surely won't just stand by and watch?"

The Grand Archbishop let out a cold laugh. "Those War Gods will soon have no time to worry about such things."

Xue Han's eyes widened. "My Lord, you mean...?"

"The Cosmic Boundary near the Mechanical Kingdom has developed problems. Combined with the covert activities of the Blood of Machinery, it won't be long before Heavenly Calamity descends upon the Mechanical Kingdom. When that happens, those War Gods will be too busy saving themselves."

Joy spread across Xue Han's face. "Then the full descent of Heavenly Calamity won't be far off."

"Heh... At the shortest, a century. At the longest, a millennium — and the Mechanical Kingdom will fall completely. The Human Race's territory will follow within a few tens of thousands of years at most, inevitably consumed by Corruption. It won't be long now."

Lu Yuan and Anastasia returned to the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin.

When word got out that Anastasia intended to stay, Li Qinghe and the others were — predictably — displeased.

And naturally, it was Lu Yuan who bore the brunt of their cold looks.

He felt rather helpless, but after considerable effort — and because Anastasia was no fool, treating everyone with grace and courtesy — he managed to smooth things over.

After that, Lu Yuan settled back into his regular cultivation routine.

The only Transcendent Gene he hadn't fully tempered was Sands of Time.

Though tempering it to perfection required far more Spirit Power than any of his other genes — a staggering thirty million Ninth-tier Spirit Crystals or so — compared to the previous task of tempering every gene simultaneously, this was far quicker.

After breaking through to Battle Saint, his Spirit Power absorption efficiency had improved yet again. He could now absorb ten thousand Ninth-tier Spirit Crystals per hour.

That was a hundred and twenty thousand per day.

In less than a year of Origin time, the tempering would be complete. Easy.

Between cultivation sessions, Lu Yuan made another trip to White Cloud City to challenge the Saint Rankings.

White Cloud City had only twelve Saints in total, and every one of them was on the board.

All Lu Yuan needed was to qualify, and he'd automatically rank — probably the easiest placement in the history of these rankings.

Of course, breaking through to the Battle Saint level was, for most Gene Warriors, an extraordinarily difficult achievement to begin with.

The rank one challenger on the Saint Rankings was Yan Xing of the Ink-Wing Race.

Lu Yuan chose to challenge him directly.

Yan Xing was currently in the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin, pacifying an Aberration Nest, when the voice of the Land of Origin's will echoed in his mind.

When he heard that Lu Yuan was challenging him, his eyes went wide. He was utterly dumbfounded.

His teammates included the Tianming Sage and several other Saints.

Seeing Yan Xing freeze mid-action, the Tianming Sage and the others frowned.

"Yan Xing, what's wrong? Lucky for us there aren't many Saint Grade Aberration Feral Beasts here — otherwise we'd be in real trouble."

Yan Xing rolled his eyes and shot the Tianming Sage an irritated look. "What's wrong? *Your* boy Lu Yuan wants to challenge me on the Saint Rankings. That's what's wrong."

Everyone froze.

Then the Tianming Sage burst out laughing. "Wonderful! Wonderful! You've been sitting at rank one long enough, old man. Time to make way for the younger generation."

Yan Xing scoffed. "Younger generation? The man fights at the War God level. This is bullying the elderly, plain and simple."

The Tianming Sage grinned. "But he *is* still young, isn't he?"

The other Saints exchanged puzzled glances.

Among them, a slim Battle Saint with silver skin, golden pupils, and handsome features — a Silver Flash — spoke up curiously. "You're talking about the War God-level powerhouse who sealed all those Spatial Rifts during the last Heavenly Calamity incursion? Lu Yuan?"

A towering Ironclad Battle Saint rumbled in his deep voice, "I was there. Lord Lu was terrifyingly strong. What's this about? He's challenging the Saint Rankings? Challenging Yan Xing?"

Yan Xing's expression turned bitter as he nodded. "That's right."

The Silver Flash appraised him with a smile. "A War God challenging *you*? That's an honor, if anything."

Yan Xing rolled his eyes and gave the Silver Flash a withering look.

The Silver Flash just chuckled.

The Ironclad, meanwhile, seemed struck by a thought. He glanced at the Tianming Sage with a peculiar expression. "Tianming, I hear one of your clan's descendants has been following Lord Lu around. Must be nice, having a War God backing your people. I'm envious."

The Tianming Sage's lips curled, a hint of pride creeping in. "Oh, it's nothing special. The young ones simply get along well. An old man like me had very little to do with it."

Then he added with a wry note, "I'm not like those Nightshade women. Gladys practically wants to hand over the entire Nightshade Race to the boy."

The Silver Flash grinned. "Say that to Gladys's face and she'd just agree."

The Ironclad stroked his chin thoughtfully. "I'll be honest — I have a talented descendant of my own. Tianming, think you could make an introduction?"

The Tianming Sage: "..."

The Silver Flash: "..."

Yan Xing: "..."

All three eyed the Ironclad's towering frame, sheathed in gray-white armor plating, their mouths twitching.

Before the Tianming Sage could respond, Yan Xing cut in. "Old Iron, forget it. Your race's beauty standards don't exactly align with humans'."

The Ironclad bristled. "How so? Aren't we all part of the Human Race? What's the difference?"

The other three stared at him in silence.

"...The problem is your kind thinks taller and bulkier means better-looking. Who could handle that?" Yan Xing shook his head. "Honestly, Tianming, you should consider our Ink-Wing Race instead. I have some truly outstanding young women among my descendants."

The Tianming Sage studied Yan Xing for a moment. "Hold on — why are you still here? Don't you have a challenge to fight?"

Yan Xing's expression stiffened. He coughed.

He'd been hoping to stall a little longer.

Now he was out of excuses.

"Fine," he said with resignation. "I'll go now."

His body vanished.

Everyone stared at the empty spot. After a beat of silence, the Ironclad cracked a grin, his gaze following the direction Yan Xing had disappeared. "How long do you think he'll last—"

Before he could finish, Yan Xing's body reappeared.

He looked at the Tianming Sage and the other two — who stared back at him in stunned silence — with an innocent expression.

"What? Why are you all looking at me like that?"

The Silver Flash's face contorted into something strange. "...It's over already?"

Yan Xing read their expressions immediately. His face twitched, and he scowled. "Why don't you try facing a War God and see how *you* do?!"

The three laughed awkwardly. The Tianming Sage cleared his throat. "Let's continue. The sooner we clear out this Aberration Nest, the sooner we can get back to cultivation."

For Lu Yuan, the Saint Rankings challenge was naturally effortless.

The top-ranked Battle Saint turned out to be the same Ink-Wing warrior he'd seen before.

Upon meeting, the man mentioned having a descendant among the Ink-Wing Race he'd like to introduce. Lu Yuan was completely baffled.

What descendant?

He dispatched the Ink-Wing Battle Saint with Scythe of Death without a second thought.

*Nice try, but I'm not making any mistakes!*

*I'm a man of integrity.*

Having claimed the top spot on the Saint Rankings, the rewards were naturally generous: three hundred Origin Stones, two hundred and fifty Saint Spirit Fruits, over a dozen single-use Saint Grade Talismans, gene medicines, four Saint-grade Gene Armaments, and two Saint-level Transcendent Genes.

Quite the haul.

Of course, for Lu Yuan, aside from the Saint Spirit Fruits for cultivation, few of these rewards were actually useful. For Gene Armaments and Transcendent Genes, he only ever picked what suited him personally.

After collecting the rewards, he returned to the Upper Layer of the Land of Origin to continue cultivating.

During this period, both Anastasia and Wang Lingling broke through to Battle Sovereign.

Lu Yuan naturally prepared Saint Grade Transcendent Genes for them and helped complete their inscriptions.

And somehow... a certain tradition had taken root. They all seemed to treat inscribing Transcendent Genes as a ritual now.

By the end, there was always that peculiar... finale.

Not that Lu Yuan minded. He rather enjoyed it.

He'd never pretended to be some paragon of virtue. He liked what he liked.

And he was genuinely fond of both Anastasia and Wang Lingling — otherwise he wouldn't have gone through the trouble in the first place.

In the villa, inside Amy's room.

Wang Lingling and Amy sat together, deep in conversation.

Amy's face was crimson as she listened to Wang Lingling recount her experience.

When the story was done, Amy stammered, "L-Lingling... is that... that feeling really okay?"

Wang Lingling gazed at her with a gentle smile. "What could possibly be wrong with it?"

Privately, she felt a little exasperated.

*Just look at Yeye — charges right in without a second thought. Meanwhile, my lady can't even follow the example sitting right in front of her.*

But then she remembered how Small White — that prim and proper woman — had worn the expression of a defeated dog upon seeing *her*, and Wang Lingling decided that maybe her lady's timidity wasn't so bad after all.

At least *she* herself had gotten what she wanted.

Her cheeks warmed at the thought. *In every sense of the word.*

She wondered if she should sneak into Lu Yuan's room sometime soon. Had anyone else been paying late-night visits during this period?

Probably.

But what if she ran into someone? Given Lu Yuan's personality...

Wang Lingling's soft smile froze slightly. *Maybe I should wait. Observe the patterns first.*

"Lingling, what are you thinking about?"

Amy noticed her shifting expressions and asked curiously.

Wang Lingling snapped back to attention, her warm smile returning. "My lady, you should be close to Battle Sovereign yourself, right? When the time comes, you'll understand firsthand."

Amy's blush deepened, and she pouted slightly. "Oh... it won't hurt, will it?"

Wang Lingling pretended to consider this, then flashed a mischievous grin. "It hurts a *lot*."

"What?! Th-then what do I do?"

Wang Lingling laughed. "Just have Lu Yuan knock you out first. Then you won't feel a thing."

Amy nodded uncertainly. "Okay then."

Meanwhile, in Anastasia's room.

Anastasia was chatting with Nina, Xia Zhi, and several others.

Nina's shrieking forced Anastasia to erect a barrier to keep the sound from carrying outside.

Nina's projection appeared in midair, her eyes locked onto Anastasia, sparkling with excitement. "Your Highness — are you saying... you're saying you've already completed the mating process with Lord Lu?!"

Even discussing such matters, Anastasia's expression radiated nothing but confident pride.

She gave a slight nod. "Yes."

Nina squealed, "Then Your Highness must be expecting Lord Lu's offspring any moment now!"

Xia Zhi rolled her eyes at the incoherent Nina and said bluntly, "Idiot. Don't you know that the higher one's cultivation and life-form tier, the harder it becomes to conceive? Lu Yuan has already inscribed Divine Grade genes. Having children isn't nearly that simple."

Anastasia nodded in agreement. "We'll need many more attempts. Besides, I quite enjoy the experience."

The others blushed at her candor.

Nina cleared her throat. "Your Highness... Lord Lu is a War God-level powerhouse. For the sake of the Nightshade Race, you must strive to bear his heir. But is just you enough? If not — I'm willing to sacrifice myself!"

The others stared at Nina.

"Nina, this kind of thing doesn't require *your* sacrifice! Leave it to me!"

"I can do it too!"

"Your Highness — look at me, pick me!"

Xia Zhi watched her bickering companions with a deadpan expression, finding them insufferably loud.

She cleared her throat and said with perfect composure, "Your Highness, for the sake of the Nightshade Race... I could also serve."

Anastasia considered the matter seriously, then spoke. "I can't decide this on my own. I'll need to ask Lu Yuan, and Sister Qinghe and the others."

Xia Zhi and the rest looked at Anastasia in surprise.

In their eyes, Anastasia had changed. Before, given her proud and self-assured nature, she would have concerned herself only with Lu Yuan's feelings at most. They hadn't expected her to also consider the feelings of the women around him.

Xia Zhi nodded eagerly, gazing at Anastasia with such reverence she looked ready to drop to her knees. "Of course! Your Highness, we're counting on you!"