Chapter 289 The Shock of the First Batch of Astronaut Cultivators

New Chang'an, the main base of the equatorial space elevator.

At four in the morning, the entire base area was completely illuminated by blinding searchlights. The once spacious take-off and landing platform was now cordoned off with the highest level of wartime alert. Fully armed military cultivators stood guard every three steps, their cold, gleaming concussion rifles and flying swords flashing under the lights.

Parked right in the center of the launch silo is the second-generation heavy-load transport capsule, which has undergone a gruesome 72-hour modification.

It was completely unrecognizable from the futuristic, streamlined silhouette of the original design. The people from the Academy of Sciences and the Military Industry Administration practically welded it together like a giant iron turtle. The outer layer was covered with a half-meter-thick layer of companion spirit gold armor plating, and the gaps between each plate were tightly sealed by high-strength spirit pattern arrays.

There were no superfluous decorations, no life support systems for comfort. This heavy-duty pod now had only one extremely pure function—to send people up alive and bring things down alive amidst the raging spiritual pressure turbulence.

Twelve special task force members, dressed in "Black Tortoise" type high-altitude pressure-resistant protective suits, stood silently in front of the cabin door.

They were the Alliance's first truly operational "wartime orbital recovery task force".

The team's composition was extremely unique: four late-stage Foundation Establishment sword cultivators from the military, three top array engineers from the Academy of Sciences, three core personnel responsible for orbital maintenance who were stationed on the high-orbit platform year-round, and two special operations experts who were specifically responsible for deciphering the physical permissions of the old era.

Unlike the rogue hunters on the surface, they didn't adorn themselves with flashy magical artifacts. The most conspicuous thing on their bodies was the true essence microcirculation extraction device on the back of their protective suits, which could directly interface with the pod's array.

"Final check of personal shield nodes and life support terminals."

Qin Lie, the ace swordsman and captain of the special task force, issued orders through his helmet communicator with a stern face.

"Position number one, normal."

"Position 2, the array interface is responding normally."

"Position 3..."

Twelve deep voices echoed in the channel one after another, without a single unnecessary word. Their mission was to rescue the Alliance's nearly lifeless industrial lifeline from the sky.

"All personnel board the cabin and proceed to their pressure-resistant positions."

At a command from the control room, twelve people filed in. The heavy metal hatch slammed shut with a sickening hydraulic thud.

The cabin was plunged into darkness instantly, followed by the simultaneous illumination of a faint blue array of lights and emergency lights.

"The mounting bracket is fastened securely."

"Main cable connection complete."

"Propulsion array, ignition!"

Unlike the deafening roar and flames of old-fashioned chemical rockets, the space elevator ascends using an extremely pure, cold, and hard physical thrust.

A tremendous force pressed down on the twelve people.

"Speed ​​Breaking the Sound Barrier!"

"Double the speed of sound!"

"Three times the speed of sound!"

This is nothing like the romantic image of high-level cultivators flying on swords, their white robes billowing in the wind. This is an "industrial ascension" filled with steel, true essence, gravity, and violent compression.

Ten minutes later.

"Break through the troposphere."

As the navigator gave the slightly trembling report, the oppressive feeling inside the cabin suddenly eased.

Qin Lie turned his head and looked at the small, palm-sized reinforced glass porthole on the side.

The scenery below has undergone tremendous changes.

The once vast and seemingly boundless fortress city has now shrunk to a blurry patch of light. The towering mountains that were usually awe-inspiring, and the vast plains overrun by mutated monsters, have all turned into tiny, grayish-brown patches.

The oppressive cloud layer that had perpetually hung over the city was now completely trampled under their feet, transforming into a churning gray ocean.

"Is this the planet we live on?"

A young array engineer sitting next to Qin Lie looked down and muttered to himself.

In the past, they fought bloody battles on the surface for a few insignificant underground spiritual veins or a few mines occupied by demonic beasts, thinking that was the whole world.

But now, as they were forcibly lifted tens of thousands of meters into the air by this steel machine, they realized for the first time that the struggles on the ground were utterly insignificant and laughable in this vast space.

But the shock was only just beginning.

As the cabin continued to ascend rapidly, the colors outside the window began to fade quickly.

The familiar azure atmosphere gradually thinned, replaced by a chillingly deep, dark blue. Above that, the color vanished completely, turning into a deathly blackness from which not even a ray of light could penetrate.

The edge of the Earth began to appear as a huge, extremely clear, and extremely smooth arc in their field of vision.

In that absolute darkness, a sun, its light as blinding as a sword, shone without any atmospheric refraction, exposed itself unobstructed before their eyes.

This is the real home planet.

They were not tourists; they were the first people to truly represent the civilization of cultivation and reach their greedy hands into this starry sky.

"Entering the ionization anomaly layer!"

"High-energy warning ahead! We are about to enter a zone of spiritual pressure turbulence!"

The navigator's voice suddenly rose, instantly pulling everyone back from that grand and awe-inspiring moment to the cold reality.

coming.

As soon as the sound faded, the cabin, which had been rising steadily, suddenly sank, as if it had crashed into an invisible rubber wall.

This is not an ordinary airflow disturbance, but a terrifying tide generated by the intense friction between high-concentration spiritual energy and high-energy particles from the universe.

"Warning! The peak external spiritual pressure is approaching the armor's safety threshold!"

"Left wing No. 3 array pattern node is overloaded!"

"The surface temperature of the hull has risen sharply!"

The red alarm light on the control panel flashed wildly, and a piercing buzzing sound echoed back and forth in the cramped cabin.

Twelve people were pinned to their seats. Outside the half-meter-thick blast-proof glass, the once pitch-black night sky was now shrouded in an eerie, deep purple light. It was the aurora produced by the violent spiritual energy storm tearing at the hull—beautiful, yet deadly.

"Bang!"

A dull, resounding crash came from the outside of the cargo hold, like a giant hammer slamming into a metal can. The entire transport hold trembled violently, the alloy frame creaking and twisting. The lights inside flickered briefly before going completely dark, leaving only the faint blue glow of the array.

"Array node number two has collapsed!" an array engineer roared, his face deathly pale. His fingers flew across the control panel, blood seeping from his fingertips from the force. "Spiritual energy is starting to flow back! The side armor layers are being corroded!"

"Don't panic!"

Qin Lie roared, his eyes wide open, unleashing his late-stage Foundation Establishment true essence without reservation, "Follow me, activate the 'Zhou Tian Locking Spirit Array'! Push this evil wind out!"

The three military sword cultivators roared simultaneously, their true essence surging into the array hub beneath the seats like a burst dam.

Om-!

A layer of pale golden light shone from inside the cabin, forcefully blocking the purple storm that was trying to squeeze in.

The high-pressure environment inside the cabin made it almost impossible to breathe, and several of the weaker engineering cultivators bled from their noses. They gritted their teeth, staring intently at the wildly fluctuating data on the screen, desperately trying to correct the cabin's attitude.

The tremors lasted for a full three minutes.

Those three minutes felt longer than three centuries to the twelve people inside the cabin.

Qin Lie felt his true essence being drained away at an terrifying speed. This feeling was even more desperate than when he fought a third-tier demonic beast alone in the wasteland. This wasn't a battle against some tangible enemy; it was a head-on confrontation with the most violent natural laws of the entire planet.

If Professor Wang Mingyuan hadn't insisted in his proposal that Foundation Establishment cultivators act as human batteries, and if the environmental simulation data hadn't inexplicably shown a window of "smoothness" last night... this unfinished transport capsule would have disintegrated in the first impact just now.

Only at this moment did they truly understand.

This "sky road" leading to the stars is by no means a smooth and scenic path. It is a bloody road forged in a forbidden zone of death, using steel, true energy, and even human lives.

Finally, the suffocating sense of oppression began to subside.

The purple aurora outside the cabin gradually faded, revealing the deep, cold vacuum of space.

"call……"

Qin Lie let out a long breath, his clothes soaked with cold sweat. He glanced at his teammates beside him, who were also pale and panting heavily.

They managed to get through this hurdle.

"Report to the captain, we have passed the spiritual pressure turbulence zone." The navigator's voice was still trembling, but he had regained his professional composure. "Seventeen percent of the array nodes are damaged, nine percent of the outer armor is worn, and the overall structure of the hull is stable. We can continue ascending."

A brief silence fell over the cabin.

There were no cheers of relief. Only heavy breathing and a deep sense of lingering fear.

"Everyone."

Qin Lie unbuckled his seatbelt, stood up, and glanced at all the team members in the cabin.

"That previous challenge was just the first step in this mission."

He walked to the porthole, looked at the boundless starry sky outside, and spoke in a low, cold voice.

"We have left the Earth's surface, left the world we know."

"From now on, we are no longer ordinary sword cultivators, nor are we ordinary engineers."

"We are the first wartime orbital recovery task force of the Alliance. We are here to bring this sleeping industrial area in the sky back to life."

As he finished speaking, the transport capsule passed through the final, smooth ascent zone.

Outside the porthole, an extremely vast and awe-inspiring steel jungle suddenly burst into everyone's view without warning.

That's the main platform in the geosynchronous orbit.

Above and to the side of the main platform, a colossal object resembling a giant black fortress silently floats in the weightless space. Its outer shell is covered with traces of time and minor micro-meteorite impact craters, but under the searchlights of the main platform, it still exudes a chilling sense of industrial oppression.

That was their ultimate goal for this trip.

The Chang Geng is a strategic treasure trove that holds the seeds of the Alliance's future space industry.

"Prepare to connect to the high-speed rail transfer node."

Qin Lie looked at the enormous creature and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.

"Time to get to work."