Calamity of Tomorrow-Chapter 473 - 472 Celestial Star Formation
After arranging a time with Jing Xiu, Zhou Bai said farewell and took the aerial corridor towards the lower part of Donghua City.
Donghua City is entirely a giant three-dimensional city, standing two thousand meters tall, with vertical passages consisting of aerial corridors. Zhou Bai now descended to about one hundred meters in altitude, reaching the Array layer of Donghua City.
Normally, ordinary people could not access this layer, but Zhou Bai tried his access rights and found that his authority had reached level 5, allowing him to visit this layer.
There are multiple Array layers throughout Donghua City, specifically to integrate the Celestial Star Formation that envelops the entire city.
Zhou Bai had come here today because he heard that Xia Li had gone to the City Defense Array Maintenance Center for an internship and was supposed to be in charge of maintaining the Celestial Star Formation in this particular Array layer today.
As far as the eye could see, the entire Array layer was filled with towering black metal columns engraved with dense runes. Every now and then, a streak of blue light flashed, like lightning dancing.
These were concentrations of extremely rich spiritual devices assembled within those pillars set up for the Celestial Star Formation, even causing interference with the Material World.
'The spiritual concentration is so intense; is it because of the Celestial Star Formation?'
Although Zhou Bai was not from an Array study background on the 'Earth' map route, he had studied Array principles and understood that most Arrays required mobilizing spiritual devices to exhibit various reality-altering powers.
'But such intense concentrations of spiritual device...'
Since the distortion of the Heavenly Dao, the spiritual devices between heaven and earth had also been contaminated. If touched directly without any protection, it would pose great danger to both ordinary people and cultivators.
However, everything has a limit, and with such high concentrations of spiritual devices, even with the filtration by the Celestial Star Formation and adjustments by the Primordial Spirit and rune vaccines, the likelihood of mutation could increase significantly.
Even immersed in such a dense spiritual concentration, Zhou Bai felt bouts of slight discomfort.
"Who are you? Unauthorized access to the Array layer is not permitted," a few guards saw Zhou Bai and immediately halted him.
After a check and notification, the guards' gaze softened when they looked at Zhou Bai, "Please wait here for a bit, we have sent someone to call Xia Li."
Zhou Bai smiled helplessly, 'I thought too simply. Such an important place as the Array layer would certainly have strict defenses. I should have left a message at Xia Li's dormitory yesterday instead of coming here.'
During the wait, the guards looked at Zhou Bai with curiosity and admiration, seeming to want to speak but restraining themselves.
Zhou Bai saw them in their heavy armor and tried asking, "The spiritual concentration here is very high, isn't it? Isn't it dangerous to stay for long?"
"Yes," a guard shouted, "Get Zhou Bai a set of protective armor."
"Quick! Put it on fast."
"The spiritual concentration here is more than a hundred times that of the outside world. Even with the adjustment of the Primordial Spirit and rune vaccines, it's too dangerous."
Although Zhou Bai felt he needn't worry, seeing the concerned and anxious looks of the guards, he obligingly put on the protective armor.
The guards then remarked, "Staying here for long is definitely risky, we generally switch shifts every two hours."
Someone asked, "You're that Zhou Bai, right? The one who won the four-school competition?"
"Is it true that you repelled the Heavenly Demon in West Mountain City?"
"Amazing! You don't know, the day I heard the news, I was so excited I couldn't sleep all night."
Zhou Bai looked at the guards, excited like little kids, and shared some experiences from the Heavenly Demon Battlefield.
Just then, a group hurriedly carried someone over from a distance.
"Something's gone wrong! Someone is mutating!"
"Hurry, rush them out first." freewebnoveℓ.com
"The body is changing, there's no saving him now."
Watching the group hurriedly take away the person suspected of mutating, the guards sighed, "Another one."
Zhou Bai asked, "Who are they?"
"They're cultivators who work on the training map, maintaining the Array," said the guard.
After some discussion with the guard, Zhou Bai understood that the Celestial Star Formation covered the entire city, protecting a population of three hundred million from spiritual pollution and defending against the Heavenly Demon's attacks, a miraculous and massive Array project that was rare in human history.
The scope and complexity of the entire Array were unprecedented.
While the Array was powerful, it required continuous maintenance, needing regular checks and replacements at critical locations for runes and magical tools.
Some tasks could be performed by soldiers, but many key spots required driving by the force of the Primordial Spirit and had to be operated by a person.
Besides, spiritual devices, although now manageable artificially, were impossible to isolate completely.
Accumulating day by day, there would always be incidents, whether physical or mental.
The guard said, "Those responsible for entering the Array layer and maintaining the Celestial Star Formation are much more at risk than we are. I truly admire them from the bottom of my heart. Honestly, if it were me in their position, I wouldn't dare. It's literally risking one's life."
Hearing this, Zhou Bai nodded silently, thinking, 'The job of maintaining the Celestial Star Formation indeed seems very risky. I wonder how Xia Li is doing.'
Ten minutes later, a short figure in heavy protective armor clumsily walked out, frantically waving at Zhou Bai; it was indeed Xia Li. "Zhou Bai? How did you come here looking for me?"
Zhou Bai explained the situation and asked, "Is everything alright?"
Xia Li nodded, "Everything is fine now… But are you really going to learn the second of the 'Five Great Divine Skills'? Isn't that too soon? Don't you want to consider recording a will like the headmaster, and arrange your assets or something?"
Zhou Bai slapped Xia Li's protective armor, making her shake, "Can't you speak nicely?"
Xia Li held her head, looking annoyed, "Stop hitting! Am I not just worrying about you in case you fail?"
Zhou Bai turned his lips, pulled out a bottle of Ice Heart Pills from his bosom, leftover from his earlier business dealings.
He handed it to Xia Li, "Here, these are for you. If you come here for maintenance and feel unwell, take one. It stabilizes the mind and prevents mutations."
Xia Li grabbed the bottle curiously and opened it to look, then exclaimed, "Ice Heart Pills? We only get one a month, where did you get so many?"
Zhou Bai replied, "It's a reward from above; take good care of them. Alright, I'll leave now if there's nothing else."
Xia Li looked at the Ice Heart Pills, then at Zhou Bai's retreating figure, and thought secretly, "Rich man, getting richer. But these are so expensive, I can't afford to pay him back."
