Chapter 1844: My Surname is Xu! My Surname is Wang! (3)Editor: Atlas Studios

In the distance, massive steam pipes coiled like steel serpents, hissing plumes of scorching white vapor between towering structures that pierced the clouds.

The deafening clatter of interlocking gears formed an unceasing, roaring elegy.

This was a small world—one without cultivators.

And now, a figure stood in the shadows of an elevated iron bridge within this steel metropolis.

His black and purple hair stood out starkly against the greasy filth surrounding him.

It was Xu Qing.

His gaze pierced through the billowing steam and spinning flywheels, locking onto a minuscule anomaly deep within an enormous difference engine.

There, amidst billions of tiny brass gears madly meshing and rotating—calculating every breath of this steel city—one gear’s edge bore an almost imperceptible layer of white residue.

It moved with unnatural smoothness, carrying a sinister fluidity beyond mere machinery.

Spotting that white trace, a cold glint flashed in Xu Qing’s eyes. Like a weightless specter invisible to the patrolling guards, he stepped silently off the bridge.

Alighting on the difference engine’s massive housing, he brushed a finger across its cold, smooth surface, corroding a hole just wide enough for a fingertip.

Then, he extracted a drop of black oil—manifested from his Ordinance—and let it fall precisely through the opening.

"Sizzle—!"

A sound so faint yet sharp enough to pierce the steel clamor rang out.

The white-coated gear jerked to a halt!

The "dust" covering it convulsed violently, trying to flee—but the black oil clung like maggots to bone, instantly enveloping and permeating it.

Trapped in the viscous darkness, the white residue writhed like an insect caught in resin, its struggles growing weaker as the gear’s rotation became labored, emitting agonized clicks.

Finally, the last ripple of resistance stilled. The gear stopped entirely, its surface now devoid of any white trace.

Only an almost imperceptible divine whimper remained, drowned completely by the roar of oil and steam.

Outside, Xu Qing withdrew his finger. The metal around the hole seamlessly repaired itself.

He turned and vanished into the steam, leaving only the difference engine’s renewed thunderous operation behind.

...

The Silent Graveyard at the Abyss’ Depths

Absolute darkness and endless seawater engulfed everything.

This was an abandoned chasm between ascending and descending star rings.

Xu Qing hovered in the icy waters, his feet resting on the rotten wreckage of an ancient ship—a leviathan’s skeletal remains slumbering on the seabed.

Time seemed frozen here. Only the occasional cold blue glow of deep-sea creatures illuminated the warped carvings and scattered artifacts within the hull.

Xu Qing’s gaze swept the wreckage as he stepped inside.

His target lay in the captain’s quarters.

A half-rolled sheepskin navigational chart, forgotten at the corner of an oak desk.

Yellowed and tattered at the edges, it appeared as ancient and lifeless as the sunken vessel.

Yet in the gloom, the ink marking reefs and routes squirmed unnaturally—like living veins.

The moment Xu Qing approached, the chart suddenly stilled.

Then—it melted, attempting to flee!

Too late.

Xu Qing’s right hand snapped up, hurling an iron stick with the force of a thousand junctures!

Like a blunt dagger piercing rotten wood, the stick impaled the half-rolled chart, pinning it mercilessly to the thick oak bulkhead!

A grotesque face formed of ink lines bulged from the parchment, its mouth stretched in a soundless scream as its features twisted and trembled in utter agony and terror.

Seawater infused with Xu Qing’s Ordinance Law seeped through the puncture and the spike’s rusted crevices, invading the chart’s fibers.

The inky face convulsed violently. Islands dissolved into blurred smudges, route lines writhed like drowning earthworms before snapping apart.

Finally, only a murky stain remained, slowly dispersing into the eternal blackness of the abyss.

Expressionless, Xu Qing turned and left this sunken coffin behind, returning to the deep sea’s perpetual silence.

...

Cloudsea Immortal Peaks

Spiritual mist drifted through the sea of clouds.

A solitary peak floated amid the hundred-thousand-feet-high cloud ocean, perpetually shrouded in ethereal qi like cascading veils.

Cranes cried melodiously; exotic flowers bloomed; jade pavilions loomed faintly through the mist.

This was the Pure Quiet Dao Sanctuary—a legendary paradise in the descending star rings that countless cultivators dreamed of entering.

Now, beneath clear skies and celestial winds, Xu Qing stood atop the solitary peak.

His black robes flapped sharply in the gale; his purple hair swirled like a stormcloud threatening to engulf the sunlight—a dissonant, demonic presence amidst the immortal aura.

His icy gaze penetrated the drifting mist below, locking onto a daoist temple within this paradise.

Deep inside, in a restricted meditation chamber thick with seals, three treasure-lighted talismans of the Profound Heaven Guardian were enshrined.

Their material was neither metal nor jade, faintly glowing with spiritual light.

On one talisman’s corner, an almost imperceptible rune’s stroke bore a ghostly gray tinge.

Xu Qing’s focus was fixed on this mark.

"Hiding more cleverly now—concealed within the rules themselves. Only this world’s laws can destroy it."

The instant he locked onto it, Xu Qing stepped off the peak.

The cloudsea churned beneath his feet, solidifying into a path as he crossed space in a flash, arriving before the chamber’s sealed jade doors.

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