The cold, damp sensation awakened Lu Pan from his deep coma.
He snapped his eyes open, instinctively trying to struggle up into a defensive posture, but this pulled at his severe injuries, causing a violent fit of coughing and tearing pain throughout his Soul Body.
He found himself lying in a crude shelter made of dead branches and giant leaves, with dry moss spread beneath him. The shelter was situated in a hidden mountain hollow, outside of which was a gray sky and jagged, strange rocks. The air was filled with the dead silence of the Desolate lands and a faint trace of Yin Qi.
He was still alive, and seemingly safe for the moment.
He immediately checked his condition. His Soul Body was extremely wounded, suffering from numerous hidden injuries, and his Soul Power was nearly depleted. The loss of his Natal Soul Blood had struck at his very foundation. Without months, perhaps even years, of rest, recovery seemed unlikely. The Bronze Mirror Fragment lay quietly beside him, its light completely retracted, appearing like a piece of ordinary iron. It had clearly expended immense energy to protect him during the transit through Time and Space.
He immediately looked into his embrace; the diamond-shaped blue Data Crystal was still there, emitting a faint, stable glow. This made him breathe a long sigh of relief. After paying such a huge price, it had not been in vain.
Who saved him? He looked around; the shelter was empty save for himself. However, although the shelter was crudely built, it was quite sturdy, capable of blocking the rain and the unique Yin Wind of the Underworld Earth.
He attempted to circulate his Cultivation Method, absorbing the sparse Yin Qi around him to heal, a process that was slow and painful. Just as he was struggling to regulate his breathing, the light at the entrance of the shelter dimmed, and a short figure crawled inside.
It was a "Little Ghost" that looked like a child of about ten years old, with pale skin and large eyes that were entirely a murky white, lacking pupils. He wore clothes pieced together from various tattered rags and Beast Hide, and in his hands, he held several mushroom-like plants emitting faint Yin Qi.
"You... you're awake?" The Little Ghost's voice was timid, carrying a hint of curiosity and fear. He was clearly a low-level wandering spirit with low intelligence residing here.
Lu Pan felt a bit more settled in his heart; it seemed this Little Ghost had accidentally discovered him and dragged him to this relatively safe spot.
"Did you save me?" Lu Pan's voice was hoarse and dry.
The Little Ghost nodded, offering the Yin Mushrooms in his hand: "Eat... this, it's good for the Soul Body." He seemed not to have communicated with anyone for a long time, speaking clumsily.
Lu Pan took the Yin Mushroom and sensed it; it was indeed the lowest-grade nourishment for the soul, a drop in the bucket for his current injuries, but better than nothing. He said thanks, consumed the Yin Mushroom, and a faint coolness flowed into his Soul Body, slightly alleviating some of the pain.
"What place is this?" Lu Pan asked.
"This place... is the outskirts of 'Withered Bone Ridge'." The Little Ghost replied, "It's very remote, very few... important figures come here."
Withered Bone Ridge? Lu Pan recalled the geographical records of Fengdu; this place was located southwest of Fengdu, separated from the Abyss of Oblivion by a considerable distance, placing it outside the regular sphere of influence of the Northern Ghost Emperor—a lawless zone. It seemed that random Time and Space shuttle had sent him very far away.
This turned out to be a fortunate accident, providing an excellent place to hide and heal.
In the following days, Lu Pan temporarily stayed in this desolate valley. He relied daily on absorbing the sparse Yin Qi and the low-grade soul herbs the Little Ghost occasionally found to slowly heal. The Little Ghost seemed to have been wandering here alone for a long time; he was simple-hearted, both afraid of and dependent upon Lu Pan, this "important figure," diligently helping him search for sustenance and keep watch.
His injuries recovered extremely slowly, but Lu Pan's mind calmed down. He used this rare period of tranquility to begin attempting to crack the hard-won Workshop Data Crystal.
This crystal clearly could not be read with ordinary Divine Sense. He tried various methods, even using the aura of the Moon-Erosion Demonic Pattern and the Bronze Mirror Fragment again, but failed every time. The blue light on the crystal's surface remained as stable as ever, as if mocking his futility.
Did it require a specific decryption Magical Artifact from the Workshop? Or... some specific energy frequency?
Lu Pan did not give up. He recalled the log fragments he saw in the laboratory, which mentioned terms like "Primordial Code" and "compilation." These words seemed to imply that the Workshop might possess a way of utilizing power different from the existing cultivation system, one closer to "programming" or perhaps "Law definition."
He condensed his Divine Sense to the extreme, ceasing attempts at forceful breakthrough. Instead, like the most precise probe, he delicately perceived the incredibly complex, vast energy structure and Information Stream within the crystal, which resembled a galaxy.
One day, two days... ten days...
He acted like the most patient craftsman, meticulously sorting through and analyzing the seemingly chaotic energy pathways bit by bit. During this process, he fainted several times due to insufficient Soul Power and excessive Divine Sense depletion, but he resumed his work upon waking.
Hard work pays off. On the fifteenth day, when he attempted to inject a trace of his own extremely pure Soul Power—one simulating the state of "Chaos Undivided"—at a specific energy Node that seemed inconsequential, using a frequency imbued with some of the profound mysteries of Time and Space (thanks to the inspiration from the Bronze Mirror Fragment)—
"Buzz!"
The diamond-shaped crystal vibrated violently, and the blue light on its surface rippled outward like water! A soft beam of light shot out from the crystal, projecting a projection before him: an incomparably complex, three-dimensional image composed of countless flashing Runes and energy structure diagrams!
Success! He had found the "Key"!
Lu Pan suppressed his excitement and focused on the three-dimensional image. At the beginning of the image was a massive title filled with fervent meaning:
Harmony Plan - Ultimate Blueprint Fragment