Chapter 326 The First Starry Sky Border Defense of the Cultivation Civilization

That was no ordinary transport line.

It encircles the entire moon, connecting the Guanghan Base, the Jinghai Great Sun Spirit-Attracting Array, the Aitken Basin Taiyin Spirit-Locking Array, Mine No. 1, the Taiyi Furnace Area, and the Earth-Moon Inter-Star Teleportation Array all within the same defense logic.

Lin Feng pushed up his glasses, his voice somewhat low.

"Currently, the main defenses of the Guanghan base rely on ground barriers and fixed positions. Although there are tracked vehicles and short-range airships connecting the mining area, energy area, greenhouse area, and teleportation array, the outer track is almost empty."

He pulled up a set of lunar surface monitoring data.

"Over the past two months, the outer layer of the Guanghan Base has detected 37 micrometeorite flows, 7 abnormal spiritual pressure disturbances, and 2 small-scale spatial folding oscillations. Although none of them caused serious damage, it was just luck."

The Dean of the Array Academy, leaning on his cane, continued in a deep voice, "The moon has no atmosphere, so any high-speed debris won't be weakened beforehand. A meteorite the size of a fist, if angled precisely enough, can directly pierce through a section of the outer layer of pipeline. What's more troublesome is that the interstellar teleportation array and the Great Sun Spirit Guiding Array are now operating long-term, and they will create extremely obvious spiritual pressure characteristics around the moon."

"We didn't light a lamp in the darkness."

"We set off a city in deep space."

The atmosphere inside the meeting room immediately became heavy.

In the past, most of the threats that Earth faced came from the surface, the deep sea, famous mountains, fissures, and animal tides.

But the moon is different.

There are no borders, no mountain barriers, no ocean buffers, and no battlefield depth familiar to humankind.

Whenever something approaches from deep space, the first light it sees is the Guanghan Base.

"Therefore, the moon cannot only have a ground base."

Wang Mingyuan looked at the star map, his voice steady and cold, "We must have orbital eyes, orbital sentinels, and orbital interception capabilities."

"There are too few Golden Core cultivators. We can't rely on Golden Core sword cultivators to support every patrol line. Once the Foundation Establishment forces are strong enough, the first thing we need to do is to standardize and organize these mid-level cultivators into a legion and integrate them into the deep space equipment system."

He raised his hand and magnified the lunar halo.

"The lunar orbit patrol system does not pursue extravagance."

"There are only three goals for the first phase."

"An anomaly detected."

"Intercept fragments."

"Ensure uninterrupted outer-layer transportation to the Guanghan base."

The military representative nodded.

"In other words, we should first establish a basic patrol network in low lunar orbit."

"Using unmanned array detectors as eyes, light escort boats as the framework, Foundation Establishment cultivators as the standard crew, and a small number of Golden Core cultivators for mobile rescue."

"That's right," Wang Mingyuan said. "What we need is not a hero squad, but an orbital monitoring system that can be rotated, resupplyed, maintained, and expanded."

……

Guanghan Base, 380,000 kilometers away.

When the order was sent to the moon, Lao Liu was outside the No. 2 greenhouse inspecting a water circulation branch line that was blocked by lunar rock dust.

After listening to the announcement on the internal channel, he looked up at the top of the cabin.

"Are they going to launch into the sky again?"

Li Xiang stood to the side, looking at the newly updated list of engineering tasks on his terminal, his expression somewhat complicated.

"It's not about messing around in space, it's about controlling the airspace outside the moon."

"The base is now swarming with people and transportation is becoming increasingly frequent. The teleportation array, the Great Sun Spirit Summoning Array, and the Taiyi Furnace are all operating at full capacity. If we don't keep an eye on the orbits first, we won't even have enough time to warn if a micro-meteorite shower were to hit us one day."

Old Liu paused for a moment.

He understands this principle.

The Guanghan base has expanded from its initial few hundred people to its current scale and is no longer a simple construction site.

The mining area, greenhouses, furnaces, teleportation arrays, and living quarters—every facility is in operation, and every pipeline must not be easily disconnected.

If the Guanghan Base in the past was a nail driven into the moon, then now, blood vessels, nerves, and internal organs have grown around that nail.

It started to feel pain.

"What do you want to build?" Old Liu asked.

Li Xiang unfolded the blueprints.

A light airship, about thirty meters long and with an extremely rough appearance, appeared in the holographic projection.

It lacks the streamlined hull of a surface-based flying boat, and it also lacks the elaborate decorations of a sect's magical treasures.

The overall structure resembles a flattened steel shuttle.

The front section is a micrometeorite detection array, the middle section is a two-person cockpit and array core, and the rear section is equipped with a small gravity deflector, a debris interception sword box, and a low-power psionic thruster.

Lunar Orbiter Type 1 Light Patrol Boat

After looking at it for a long time, Old Liu commented, "Ugly."

Li Xiang nodded: "Indeed, but it's durable."

On the moon, nothing is beautiful.

Easy to build, easy to repair, and easy to replace—that's the highest form of aesthetics.

The main frame of the lunar patrol boat does not use high-end alloys transported from Earth, but instead directly uses lunar titanium steel blanks produced by the Taiyi Furnace.

The array panel does not pursue extreme performance, but only adopts mature low-power damping array and attitude correction array pattern.

It doesn't need to traverse deep space like a Golden Core cultivator.

It only needs to patrol stably in low lunar orbit, detect debris, deflect its trajectory, and release the sword casket to intercept it if necessary.

This is a piece of equipment belonging to a Foundation Establishment cultivator.

……

The No. 3 assembly area of ​​the Guanghan base was quickly transformed into a temporary lunar orbiter production line.

The standard rough blanks produced by the Taiyi Furnace were cut into arc-shaped armor plates, which were then fixed by the engineering monks using mechanical arms, and finally etched with the most basic radiation-resistant and vacuum-sealing array patterns by the array masters.

Not a single part was meticulously crafted.

All the structures reveal an extremely crude modular approach.

If it breaks, just take it apart.

Replace it if it's cracked.

If the array pattern burns out, replace the entire array disk unit.

Old Liu stood beside the assembly line, watching the skeleton of the first lunar orbiter gradually take shape.

"This thing...can it be opened?"

"able."

Li Xiang pulled up the cockpit design drawings.

"Two people form a team. One main cultivator is responsible for inputting true essence and controlling posture, while the other array cultivator is responsible for the detection array and damping system. Most operations are assisted by the automatic array plate, and the Foundation Establishment cultivator is only responsible for key judgments."

Old Liu frowned: "It sounds like they're stuffing a cultivator into a flying iron coffin."

Li Xiang glanced at him.

"When the Guanghan Base first landed, didn't you also say that Xuanwu was an iron coffin?"

Old Liu thought for a moment and then had nothing to say.

When they first stepped onto the moon wearing the Xuanwu armor, they also thought that the armor was bulky, ugly, and expensive.

But it was that set of iron lumps that kept them alive.

The same is true now.

……

The selection of the first batch of lunar orbit patrollers was carried out inside the Guanghan Base.

The number of applicants far exceeded expectations.

Many Foundation Establishment cultivators who had recently landed on the moon, who were originally on rotation between the mining area and the greenhouse, submitted their applications almost immediately after hearing that the lunar orbit patrol sequence was open.

the reason is simple.

The deep space contribution points of the lunar orbit patrol sequence are 50% higher than those of ordinary work areas.

Moreover, once you pass the assessment, you will gain priority access to exchange for lunar surface materials and deep space vehicle piloting qualifications.

For many people at the bottom of the ranks, this is more effective than any mobilization slogan.

Inside the training chamber, the first batch of candidates were crammed into a low-gravity attitude simulator.

As soon as a young Foundation Establishment cultivator connected to the True Essence Control Stick, his entire body began to tumble along with the virtual hull.

"Posture correction failed."

"The spiritual pressure input was too strong."

"Simulated crash."

The instructor marked a red cross on the list without any expression.

"Next."

The young monk, pale-faced, crawled out of the simulation pod and leaned against the wall, dry heaving for a long time.

Someone nearby muttered quietly, "This is much harder than fighting monsters."

The instructor gave them a cold glance.

"The monster will roar at you."

"The moon's orbit will not."

"If you're off by even a millimeter, the hull's attitude will shift by a degree. A degree of deviation, and in thirty seconds you'll either crash into the lunar surface or fly into deep space."

"Deep space doesn't give you a second chance."

……

half a month later.

The outer launch area of ​​the Guanghan base.

The first Lunar Orbiter Type 1 light patrol boat was slowly pushed into the launch pad by hydraulic rails.

Its outer shell still bears rough welding marks, and the dark gray armor plates are covered with inspection numbers and array-patterned seals.

There was no red carpet.

There was no ceremony.

Only the engineering monks perform the final inspection of the sealing lines, and the array masters perform the final calibration of the spiritual pressure circuit.

Old Liu stood next to the launch pad and patted the hull of the submarine.

"Don't let it fall apart."

Inside the boat, two Foundation Establishment cultivators who had passed the assessment sat in the cramped cockpit.

One is a rogue cultivator from the Hunter's Guild who used to hunt monsters in the Yellow Zone using an exoskeleton.

Another was a student from the Array Academy who had just graduated. His initial reason for applying to go to the moon was to "write the first version of the lunar array regulations".

Now, they've been crammed into the same patrol boat.

One is in charge of manipulation.

One person is in charge of the array.

Both of them were very nervous.

The controlling cultivator pressed down on the true essence input slot and asked in a low voice, "Are you afraid?"

The students studying formations stared at the dense data in front of them and swallowed hard.

"Afraid."

"Then why did you come?"

"High contribution points."

The controlling cultivator paused for a moment, then couldn't help but laugh.

"What a coincidence, me too."

Their laughter was brief.

Soon, the launch countdown reached zero.

"Lunar Orbit Type 1, departure permitted."

Om-!

The low-power psionic thrusters glowed with a ghostly blue light.

Supported by the gravity array, the patrol boat slowly detached from the lunar launch pad and ascended into the dark depths of space.

The lights at the Guanghan base gradually shrank below.

The grayish-white arc of the moon began to unfold outside the porthole.

A few minutes later, the patrol boat successfully entered the low orbit.

"Stability."

"Orbital altitude, 300 kilometers."

"Detection array deployed."

The students' voices were initially a little strained, but they gradually calmed down.

The chief monk saw a scene through the observation window that he would never forget.

Below is the cratered, cold, and lifeless surface of the moon.

In the distance, the barrier light of the Guanghan Base looked like a dark blue nail driven into the darkness.

Further away, Earth hangs in the dark starry sky, as quiet as a lamp.

"Target spotted."

The student who was practicing formations suddenly spoke up.

On the screen, a small, fast-moving dot is highlighted in red.

"A metal fragment about 20 centimeters in diameter, suspected to be a piece of debris from an early transport capsule. Its trajectory will pass by the outer communication relay array of the Guanghan base in seven minutes."

The master monk took a deep breath.

"Execute interception."

"Sword Box One, unlocked."

On the belly of the patrol boat, a set of small sword cases slowly opened.

There are no high-level flying swords inside.

There were only twelve simple interception shuttles made of lunar titanium steel.

The students quickly calculated the trajectory, while the master cultivator pressed his true essence into the launch array plate.

"Angle correction complete."

"emission."

Whoosh!

A shuttle detached from the hull, tracing an almost invisible streak of cold light in the silent vacuum.

Seconds later, the high-speed debris in the distance was precisely hit.

It didn't explode into a dazzling display of fire; instead, its trajectory was abruptly deflected by the shuttle, causing it to glide past the safety boundary of the outer communication array of the Guanghan Base as it flew into deep space.

There was a brief silence on the communication channel.

Then came the voice of the ground dispatcher.

"Interception successful."

Inside the cockpit, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators exchanged a glance.

At the same time, I breathed a sigh of relief.

This is not a major war.

There were no demonic beasts, no sword immortals, and no earth-shattering supernatural powers.

It was just an extremely routine track clearing operation.

In the joint control room in Kyoto, Wang Mingyuan looked at the trajectory of the successfully deflected fragment and slowly nodded.

"Record."

"The Cultivation Alliance's lunar orbit patrol system has completed its first combat mission."

"Standardized deep space duty mode for Foundation Establishment cultivators has been verified."

Lin Feng stood to the side and said in a low voice, "This step is more important than we imagined."

Wang Mingyuan did not deny it.

The Golden Core cultivator is very strong.

But there are too few Golden Elixir pills.

A civilization can only go far if it is supported by a few strong individuals.

It requires countless ordinary yet reliable core members who repeatedly patrol, maintain, intercept, and repair in their fixed positions.

Someone needs to start mining.

Some people went to farm.

Someone went to guard the teleportation array.

Some people, piloting ugly light patrol boats, cruise around the moon's orbit again and again.

These jobs are not mythical.

Not romantic.

It can even be quite boring.

But it is precisely these monotonous jobs that have gradually transformed the starry sky from an untouchable myth into a territory that humans can manage, patrol, and incorporate into order.

……

Above the Guanghan base.

The first lunar patrol vessel continued its planned flight path.

Inside the boat, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators had recovered from their initial tension.

The student specializing in formations whispered, "Are we... basically standing guard in the sky?"

The chief monk looked out the porthole at the distant Earth, then down at the moon beneath his feet.

"Not in the sky."

He said.

"This is the border."

On the communication channel, dispatch instructions from the Guanghan base continued to ring out.

"Lunar Orbit Type 1, maintain patrol route."

"The next orbit will pass over the Great Sun Spirit-Attracting Array."

"Pay close attention to solar storm disturbances."

The chief monk gripped the control stick tightly.

"Lunar Orbiter Type 1 received."

The light, dark blue patrol boat continued its journey along the curved surface of the greyish-white moon.

It is very small.

So small that they are almost invisible in the vast starry sky.

But the trajectory it traced was like an extremely thin and bright line, outlining a true border between human civilization and the darkness of deep space for the first time.

From this moment on, the moon is no longer just a base.

It has a track.

Patrol lines were established.

The first starry sky boundary belonging to the Cultivation Alliance has been established.