Chapter 45: Psionic Machine Organism

"Sister Xiaoqici!" Feng Ting was the first to walk over, grabbing Qiu Ci's hand.

Taking the opportunity, Qiu Ci tucked the needle, thread, and long dress into her storage bag, looking her up and down. "Are you alright?" She had even used a teleportation talisman.

With that, she glanced at Zhen Yi and the social-anxious Jing not far away, and finally looked at the elders. Especially Elder Yu on the ground, who had been reduced to a bloody mess, she was instantly startled. "How... how did you all get injured again?" And so severely, was being an elder such a high-risk profession?

"Senior Chu." Qi Hong and the others finally snapped out of it and quickly spoke, "There's no time to explain, please..."

"Oh no, the barrier has broken!" Before he could finish, someone cried out in alarm.

Everyone heard a crisp cracking sound by their ears, followed by a thud as a spherical object dropped down. The previously dazzling white light instantly extinguished, and the protective shield that had enveloped them shattered immediately. The overwhelming red light surged toward the crowd and the beasts like a tsunami without any obstruction, accompanied by an incessant buzzing sound.

"Careful!" Qi Hong shouted loudly, wanting to warn Qiu Ci who was at the very front.

Naturally, Qiu Ci also heard that strange buzzing sound. She instinctively turned her head back just as the red light was about to strike, causing even Qi Hong and the others to close their eyes in despair.

Suddenly!

The mass of red light gathered together came to an abrupt halt, as if struck by an immobilization spell, stopping so abruptly less than a foot away from Qiu Ci. The flickering radiance began to twitch violently like a malfunction.

Even Qiu Ci was startled by this dense mass of red light behind her. Looking closer, she realized that beneath those red lights were actually tiny creature-like bugs, densely clustered together to form this fiery red expanse.

She took a reflexive step back, almost triggering her trypophobia.

To her surprise, those red-light creatures seemed even more agitated than she was, suddenly beginning to twitch in place. The shape, which had originally spread like a giant net across half the sky, rapidly began to contract—shifting from a sphere to a rhombus, tearing apart and gathering together again, struggling and contorting in the air like something out of its mind.

"This... this is..." This scene stunned everyone. Believing the entity had been struck by some spell, they unanimously looked toward Chu Qiaci at the front. "As expected of a senior, what kind of spell is this?"

"..." She had no idea either. She hadn't done a thing, yet that thing started acting up, just like that damn system.

Wait!

She looked up to her side and found that the little system light orb had already flown out excitedly, circling around those red lights in the air as if confirming something.

"System, what's going on? Do you know this mass of things?"

"Wow! Whoa! Wow!" The system bounced around a few times in joy before answering.

[Host, Host! It's a psionic machine aggregate, the most conventional machinery and equipment from the old Blue Star days. I didn't expect to find one preserved in such complete condition! Host, Host, we've struck it rich! With this thing, it can save us a lot of trouble.]

"A psionic machine aggregate?" Qiu Ci looked at the still-twitching mass of red and black in the air. "You mean this is a machine?"

[You could call it a machine, or you could call it a spirit entity. This was Blue Star's greatest invention, second only to... this system itself. It's just that they lack intelligence like mine and can only act upon commands.]

"Then what's its current condition?" This twitching state didn't look normal by any stretch.

[They just triggered a foundational law, leading to a certain degree of program corruption. It'll be fine after a self-reboot in a moment.]

"Foundational law, what foun..." Qiu Ci stopped mid-sentence as a thought suddenly occurred to her. "Is it me?"

[Yes indeed, Host! Blue Star Creation Law Number One: Never harm a Blue Star human or an entity possessing Blue Star genes. Their attack just now triggered this law. Although it was purely a coincidence, they are now suffering the backlash of the law.]

"I see!" She had been suddenly pulled here, and these psionic machines hadn't targeted her initially, but upon recognizing her Blue Star identity, they reacted this way. "Then how long is it going to twitch for?"

[Its self-correction program has already begun rebooting.]

Just as the system finished speaking, that constantly twitching mass of objects abruptly stopped. The red light on it completely dimmed, turning into a vast expanse of black liquid-like substance. Immediately following a series of tiny beeping sounds, green dots began to light up one by one across the black liquid until it turned into a sheet of green light.

Those green lights gathered once again and flew toward the crowd. However, compared to the murderous red light from before, it now looked much more benign, with clearly no intention of attacking. As they descended, they split into twelve streams and then reassembled into the shape of those steel-armored figures from earlier.

They still wore that pitch-black, lifeless appearance, except the rubies on their heads had turned green. Then, in unison, they dropped to one knee toward Qiu Ci's direction.

[They have finished rebooting and entered standby mode.] The system's voice rang out promptly.

The people nearby, however, were dumbfounded, all staring at Chu Qiaci with incredulous expressions.

"Se... Senior has already... controlled these puppets just like that?!" Qi Hong was full of amazement. Such powerful puppets, and Senior controlled them in a single encounter? Just how strong was she?

"Uh..." She hadn't done a thing. She was currently agonizing over how to explain it.

Beside her, the much-shrinking remnant soul of the Bi-an beast said matter-of-factly, "My lord is a great native of the glorious Blue Star. Subduing these heavenly puppets is naturally a breeze. Besides, the legendary heavenly puppets are originally techniques exclusive to the natives of Blue Star."

Awooooo~~~~~

As soon as it finished speaking, the giant beasts nearby also raised their heads and let out a series of echoing howls.

"Senior's origins are actually this extraordinary?" Qi Hong had naturally never heard of Blue Star, assuming the Bi-an was referring to some hidden aristocratic family. His expression grew even more astonished as he looked again at the half-kneeling puppets on the ground. "It's just... why would these heavenly puppets appear in the Immortal Alliance?"

"Good question! That's what I want to know too!" Qiu Ci frowned, looking up at the spirit-engirded floating island overhead. "Once we go in, we'll have the answer."

With that, she looked directly at the psionic machine entities before her.

"Go! Take down this Immortal Alliance!"

Beep beep!

The green lights on the heads of the psionic machine entities flashed. The next moment, they rose as one, their figures flashing as they flew toward the Immortal Alliance.

Immediately afterward, everyone heard a series of thunderous roars.

The illusory grand array that originally surrounded the entire island was poked open like a bubble. The island, previously as transparent and ethereal as a fairyland in the clouds, instantly appeared before everyone's eyes, its halls and pavilions clearly visible.

Seeing this, Qi Hong hesitated no longer. Waving his hand toward the disciples, he shouted, "Disciples of the Profound Heaven Sect, hear my order—attack the Immortal Alliance!"