Found

After seeing Ruoshui off, Lu Yuan, Si Tingyu, and Shuangyue returned to the living room.

The two women exchanged a glance, then fixed Lu Yuan with serious expressions.

"What did that War God senior mean by all of that?" Si Tingyu asked. "Is the situation really that dire?"

Her question reminded Lu Yuan that the Aberrant Beast Mother Nest beyond the boundary and the Aberration Source were things most Gene Warriors knew nothing about. Si Tingyu and the others had only the vaguest understanding.

After a moment's thought, he decided he should tell them. Better they knew now than be caught off guard if something happened.

With that in mind, he relayed everything the Mirage Dragon had told him.

Their expressions shifted repeatedly as he spoke. Even after he finished, shock still lingered on their faces.

A silence fell. Then Shuangyue looked at him and said, "So you're saying the Aberrant Beast Mother Nest outside the universe could invade at any time, and if we can't stop it, the entire universe will be destroyed?"

Lu Yuan nodded. "That's exactly what I mean."

Silence settled over them again.

Lu Yuan smiled. "So you two need to cultivate hard and break through as quickly as possible. That way, even if the Aberration grows worse and I'm not around, you'll be able to protect yourselves."

Si Tingyu held his gaze, her eyes deep and earnest. "Whatever happens, we'll stand by your side. We'll train hard and break through as fast as we can. With your help, even War God rank might not be out of reach."

Shuangyue nodded beside her. "I feel the same. Once we reach War God rank, we can fight those Aberrant Beasts alongside you."

Lu Yuan chuckled. "Then I'll be waiting."

A thought occurred to him, and he looked between them curiously. "By the way, why is it just the two of you? Where is everyone else?"

"We just finished our cultivation session," Si Tingyu said. "Qinghe is still training. Tingxue and the others reached their time limit and left the Land of Origin."

Lu Yuan nodded in understanding.

That was when Shuangyue flashed a mischievous grin. "So it's just the two of us here. Want to do something *fun*? Tingyu and I could team up, you know."

Si Tingyu froze, then her cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

She cleared her throat and stood. "I'll go start dinner. Qinghe will be back soon."

Lu Yuan matched Shuangyue's impish smile and fixed her with a look. "Really, Shuangyue? I can hardly wait."

Shuangyue: "..."

Her grin stiffened. She averted her gaze, suddenly flustered. "I was kidding! I can't believe you actually took me seriously. You're terrible."

She hurried off to help Si Tingyu.

Lu Yuan shook his head with a laugh and settled into the sofa. His thoughts drifted back to the idea of locating the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters. The question was when to act.

After some deliberation, he concluded that with the crisis in the Mechanical Kingdom throwing the universe into turmoil, threats like the Heavenly Calamity Cult needed to be eliminated as soon as possible.

*Might as well do it now.*

With his current strength, plus War God Ruoshui and the other War Gods stationed in Human territory, dealing with three Bishops shouldn't pose a problem.

He was never one to hesitate once a decision was made. Lu Yuan headed for the kitchen, where the two girls had been whispering to each other. They went quiet at the sound of his approach and turned to look at him.

A faint blush still colored Si Tingyu's cheeks. She struggled to meet his eyes. "What are you doing in here? Go rest."

Lu Yuan smiled. "Something's come up. I need to leave the Land of Origin for a while — might take a few days."

Both women stared at him in surprise.

They saw the resolve in his eyes and fell silent for a moment.

"It must be something important," Si Tingyu said. "My strength isn't enough to help you, so just... be careful. Come back soon."

Lu Yuan grinned. "Relax, Instructor. You know how strong I am. Let Qinghe know for me, would you?"

"Mm. We will."

After saying his goodbyes, Lu Yuan made his way to the departure hall and left the Land of Origin.

A flash of white light, and he appeared in his dormitory at the Talent Camp.

He glanced around, thought for a moment, then reached out with one hand.

An identical figure materialized beside him — his Temporal Projection.

He was about to go hunting for the Heavenly Calamity Cult's location, which could take considerable time. Leaving Great Qi Star unguarded while he was away didn't sit well with him.

Unlike the Shadow Divine Messenger, the Temporal Projection allowed Lu Yuan to sense what was happening here no matter how far away he went. It could stand guard in his place. All he needed to do was supply it with the corresponding Spirit Power to maintain its existence.

*I should leave one at Tianming Star and Silver Moon Star too, so Yeye and Shuangyue aren't left unprotected.*

But that could wait.

After leaving the Temporal Projection behind, Lu Yuan's true body vanished.

The next instant, he appeared in the vacuum of space, tens of light-years from Great Qi Star.

It was time to use Fortune Pathfinding.

The black-and-white Wheel of Fate surfaced in his eyes. First, he cast Fortune on himself.

Then he began determining his direction.

Orienting in cosmic space was fundamentally different from doing so on a planet's surface — there were far more axes to consider.

Lu Yuan produced an expendable Staff and set it spinning in an irregular tumble through the vacuum. He closed his eyes, waited a moment, and silently repeated *location of the Heavenly Calamity Cult headquarters* several times in his mind before reaching out and stopping the Staff.

The direction the Staff's head pointed was the direction he needed to go.

It aimed to his lower right.

He noted the bearing and immediately warped one million light-years through spatial power.

After covering that distance, he repeated the process to reconfirm his heading.

Another million light-years.

And so it went — every million light-years, Lu Yuan recalibrated and continued his search for the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters.

It wasn't that he preferred such large increments. But on the scale of the entire universe, even a million light-years was a trivial distance — the same held true across the whole of Human Race territory. His priority was to narrow down the general area first, then refine from there.

Using million-light-year steps was simply the most efficient approach.

Throughout the process, he never forgot to cloak his body and aura with shadow power, ensuring the Cult wouldn't detect him mid-search. If they relocated because they spotted him, the entire effort would be wasted.

Five days later.

A desolate planet drifted alone through the cosmos, wreathed in eerie green flames and radiating a sinister glow. It moved in a slow, irregular orbit through the void.

In the vacuum some distance from the planet, Lu Yuan's form materialized.

The instant he appeared, his gaze locked onto that ominously glowing world. Excitement flickered in his eyes.

The planet pulsed with an overwhelmingly powerful and bizarre Aberration aura. Even from this distance, he could feel it clearly.

*That's the Heavenly Calamity Cult's nest?!*

Elation surged through him. He hadn't truly expected to find it.

*The Wheel of Fate really is something else.*

Honestly, finding a single planet in the vast expanse of the universe was harder than finding a needle at the bottom of the ocean. Yet with Fortune pushed to its absolute limit, it had taken him only five days.

*That's absurdly powerful.*

After a moment's thought, Lu Yuan's body transformed into a streak of light and shot toward the green planet. He couldn't confirm it was the Cult's headquarters from here — he needed to get closer and verify.

During his approach, he employed not only shadow power but also the Spatial Rift ability to conceal himself. If this truly was the Cult's headquarters, three Divine Grade powerhouses would be present. Getting detected would be... inconvenient.

He wasn't worried about his own safety. But from what Senior Ruoshui had said, the Grand Archbishop was formidable. If the man managed to escape, that would be a real problem.

Before long, Lu Yuan set foot on the green planet.

He appeared in a barren wilderness — nothing but rocky terrain stretching in every direction. Cracks split the ground in places, oozing strange green fluid and burning with green flames.

Even the ordinary rock surfaces gave off a faint green luminescence, suffused with a corrosive aura. The whole place felt deeply wrong.

Lu Yuan narrowed his eyes. He was almost certain: even if this wasn't the Cult's headquarters, it was a region profoundly corrupted by Aberration.

He moved across the planet's surface. Soon, an enormous palace came into view.

Powerful auras emanated from within — and among them, Lu Yuan sensed presences at the War God level. Three of them.

His eyes lit up. He was now virtually certain: this was the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters.

He'd actually found it.

Lu Yuan allowed himself a smile, then vanished from the spot.

An instant later, his body reappeared in the vacuum not far from Heavenly Calamity Star.

He produced a black mechanical device — a communicator that functioned anywhere within Human Race territory. Ruoshui had given it to him before she left, saying it would make it easy to get in touch if anything unexpected happened.

Lu Yuan contacted Ruoshui directly.

The communicator projected a holographic screen, and Ruoshui's regal, elegant face appeared within it.

When she saw Lu Yuan, she offered a gentle smile. "Lu Yuan, is there something you need?"

"I found the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters."

The words hung in the air. Ruoshui went still.

The smile froze on her face.

Then her eyes went wide with disbelief. "...What did you just say?"

Lu Yuan grinned. "I said I found the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters."

"...Really? Are you sure?!"

He nodded, still smiling. "I'm fairly certain. I infiltrated the planet and had a look around. The entire place has been thoroughly corrupted by Aberration energy. There's a massive palace on the surface, and inside it I sensed three War God-level presences, along with quite a few Battle Saint and Battle Emperor auras."

Ruoshui listened in silence until he finished. Then her expression turned grave.

"Lu Yuan, you've done us an enormous favor. If this really is the Heavenly Calamity Cult's headquarters, a surprise attack could let us wipe them out in one sweep!"

"That's exactly why I called," Lu Yuan said. "If we can make it work, let's hit them hard and destroy the Cult outright. That eliminates one threat we don't need hanging over us."

"Agreed. I'll contact the other War Gods. Wait for us there, and don't let them detect you."

Lu Yuan nodded. "Don't worry. They won't find me."

Then he gave a rueful smile. "The only problem is I have no idea where 'here' actually is."

After all, Lu Yuan had spent most of his time on Great Qi Star. The few times he'd left, it was only to visit Yeye on Tianming Star — he knew that route. But the rest of Human Race territory? He was completely clueless about the geography.

And he'd gotten here through Fortune Pathfinding, so he couldn't even retrace his own steps.

Ruoshui's stern expression softened into a smile. "That's not a problem. Your communicator has a positioning function — we can locate you. Just make sure you move some distance away so the Cult's instruments don't pick up the signal."

Lu Yuan nodded. "I see. Got it."

With his Mechanical God gene, Lu Yuan had deep understanding of technological devices. He knew positioning systems emitted specific electromagnetic waves. If the Cult's equipment happened to intercept them, things would get complicated.

After stationing a Shadow Divine Messenger to keep watch on Heavenly Calamity Star, Lu Yuan warped a hundred light-years away and began transmitting his location.

Heavenly Calamity Star. The Grand Hall of Heavenly Calamity.

The Grand Archbishop sat in his high-backed chair. The seats flanking him — usually empty — were now occupied by the other two Bishops.

Below them stood the First Apostle, Xue Han.

She was delivering her report to the three Bishops with practiced deference:

"The breach in the Mechanical Kingdom has been forced open and converted into an Aberrant Beast forward outpost. There are signs of movement among the Mechanical Kingdom's War Gods — the Blood of Machinery believes they're preparing a counteroffensive at the breach. Our operatives have confirmed that War God Kro and War God Bu Chang have departed Human Race territory, leading a force of Battle Saints and Battle Emperors toward the Mechanical Kingdom. This corroborates the Blood of Machinery's assessment. The number of War Gods remaining in Human Race territory is down to six."

Satisfied smiles crossed the faces of all three Bishops.

The Grand Archbishop's eyes gleamed as he spoke, thinking aloud. "Four breaches along the Human Race border. Three are each guarded by one War God, and the fourth requires two. That accounts for five. Add War God Ruoshui, and that's all six. In a crisis, the double-guarded breach could spare one defender. Combined with Ruoshui, that gives them two War God-level combatants available. If we move against that human, they won't stand idly by."

Beside him, the Serpent Demon Bishop's eyes glinted with cold malice. "Then we simply give them something else to deal with."

The Grand Archbishop considered this for a moment, then spoke slowly. "I will pray to Heavenly Calamity. We'll have Divine Grade Aberrant Beasts assault the border breaches — that will keep Ruoshui pinned down. Then the three of us can focus our full strength on that human."

"Excellent! With all three of us joining forces, that human won't escape alive!"

All three Bishops wore smiles of anticipation.