My Apocalypse Territory
Chapter 492 - 451: Aspiring for the Territory to Become the Immortal Realm One Day

Tang Yu took out an unexpanded Flying Crane Puppet from his Space Ring. As soon as the puppet appeared, it immediately spread its wings and soared into the sky.

The higher it flew, the slower its speed became until, at around one kilometer high, the flapping of the puppet's wings grew sluggish, unable to ascend any further.

Tang Yu also flew up a distance before unfolding his personal domain; the next moment, his perspective shifted as he merged into the Flying Crane Puppet, instantly feeling quite uncomfortable.

The suppression force coming from all directions made lifting a hand... or a wing, extremely difficult.

"Above six hundred meters, the suppression force starts to appear. Judging by the progression, those at the Awakening Tier Perfection should be able to fly up to one thousand five hundred meters, but Transcendents, at most, just over two thousand meters... It must be the space's constraints."

But in the secret realms he had explored, there were no less than eighty or ninety, not even fifty or sixty, but twenty or thirty were always there, some of which still had defense mechanisms in operation and posed dangers, yet none were as odd as the space he was in now.

If anything, it was as if covered by a massive Array.

"Not just in the high sky, on the ground, although speed and strength are not limited, there should be..."

With a thought from Tang Yu, a Destroyer Puppet beside him extended a thick gun barrel from its chest. Countless light particles converged, and whoosh—a beam of light thick as a... ah, as thick as a water snake shot out and disappeared without a trace after traveling more than a hundred meters.

His mouth twitched involuntarily, "The Destroyer's main cannon has a range of several kilometers!"

He then let the puppet attempt punches and kicks; as expected, their destructive power was greatly reduced.

But aside from that, there were no other findings, including Nishimura, who had also entered, was nowhere to be found.

"It looks like he must have returned to the outside world through another Light Gate."

Unlike the secret realms… even the secret realm of Zuofo in Daxia Country, both inside and outside the country, had several entrances. However, upon the collapse of a secret realm, the escapees would still appear near the original entrances, not somewhere else.

Such were the rules of the secret realm itself.

However, the Light Gates in this space acted more like a Transmission Array; Tang Yu found several other Light Gates and after passing through them, he appeared in other parts of Daxia Country, one of which was even near Lindong.

"If I completely explore this place, wouldn't I be able to easily reach any corner of the world?"

"No, it's not that simple. After exploring for more than two hours, I've only found five 'entrances and exits' Light Gates, each one a great distance from the others, and without reference points, it's easy to get lost... In general, reaching other places through this space is more convenient than the real world, but first, you'd need to clearly explore each entrance and exit and their corresponding locations in reality."

After spending more than two hours, Tang Yu had only explored a corner of this space; naturally, he had no interest in personally investigating further.

As a Great Lord, entrusting troublesome matters to subordinates was a basic operation.

Two more Investigation Corps squads were dispatched from his Territory to explore.

After Tang Yu and Kong returned to the Yong'an region, the surprise attack on the Sakura Country camp had also essentially ended.

In this battle, with the leader Nishimura on the run and other executives either dead or fled, the forces of Sky Wolf Hall gradually lost their ability to resist. In the end, apart from those killed or who fled, more than a thousand Awakeners from Sky Wolf Hall were captured.

Yong'an's director, Cui Xinseng, along with his interrogation staff, was extracting intelligence from these captives.

Some survivors who had been enslaved by Sky Wolf Hall were also rescued… Their bodies bore whip marks, and many were already dead. Originally, with his three Corps slaughtering several times more enemies than their own numbers, Tang Yu felt a bit brutal, but now… he felt there was no need to keep captives.

These captives were all left to Yong'an—with not even a high-ranking executive among them, Tang Yu could not muster the interest for top-level interrogation. After dismantling the figureheads from several rune Tower Ships, Tang Yu activated the Return City Scroll and returned to his Territory.

...

Territory, Research Institute.

Before him was a small figurehead from an ordinary rune Tower Ship.

This operation against Sky Wolf Hall could be considered a cooperation with Yong'an. Without the army from the Yong'an Sanctuary, taking only three hundred people, the most they could have done was a brief skirmish, dismantling the figureheads before nearly annihilating Sky Wolf Hall. That would have been impossible with only three hundred people.

Therefore, Tang Yu had no intention of monopolizing the spoils of war. He took only the figureheads he wanted most and marked the largest flagship as a trophy, leaving the other rune Tower Ships to Yong'an.

He had no interest in ships; their technological content was nowhere close to that of Floating Airships.

But the figureheads,

"This emits a unique wave all the time, somewhat similar to 'Zhen', it must contain the distinct essence of a Sea Sprite."

Tang Yu pondered, "As beings nurtured by the heavens and earth, Elves naturally have a very strong affinity..."

He remembered when he first saw 'Zhen', he only wanted to take 'Zhen' to his Territory as a Gate God, not to stew the Elf and taste it... It must have been the affinity at play.

Moreover, Elves... mostly possess Transcendent strength. When Sea Beasts sense this aura, they naturally show reverence and steer clear.

Ships with figureheads seldom suffer attacks from Sea Beasts, allowing for unobstructed sailing on the high seas.

"However, the unique wave of the figurehead is probably useless against Demonized Beasts. It seems that during the crossing by Sky Wolf Hall, some rune Tower Ships were sunk by the attack of powerful Demonized Beasts."

After some research, Tang Yu especially recorded the strange wave emitted by the figurehead, "Elves are hard to find—unless they appear themselves, even with Transcendent level perception, it's impossible to notice them even if you walk right past them… However, if I could create a device that captures Elf waves, perhaps it would be much easier to find Elves in the future."

"Previously, I asked Chen to pay close attention to this kind of information and even dispatched several teams to look for elves. After a little while, we should be able to get some news."

...

Two days later, the situation in that space had been explored thoroughly.

Tang Yu sat in his study, reading the reports summarized by the Investigation Corps.

"The area of the space that has been explored so far is almost comparable to the size of a Tiannan Province, with a total of sixty-five pale green light pillars discovered. Out of these, twenty-one have their exits outside of Daxia Country, with the rest inside the country's boundaries."

"Although we discovered some traces left by humans during our exploration, we didn't find any survivors. It seems that in reality, most entrances and exits are very hidden, and the light gates vary in size, with the smallest unable to accommodate people. We managed to learn some information about the outside world through our Honey Bee Puppets."

"At the very edge of the area we explored, we came across a barrier that looked like a light screen, impossible to cross, but since the barrier is transparent, we could see the scenery on the other side. It looked no different from the space we were in, and we could vaguely make out another pale green light pillar far beyond the barrier... but in the north, the other side of the barrier was shrouded in fog, obscuring our view."

...

The report went on to make some speculations.

Tang Yu, propping his chin with his hand, thought for a moment and then decided... to ask "Zhen."

...

Back mountain.

Using his connection to the Territory, Tang Yu quickly found "Zhen."

At that moment, "Zhen" was sitting on a rock, hand propped under his chin as if pondering the life of... a human... an elf.

After a few days of not seeing him, "Zhen's" ethereal body had become more solid and defined. Aside from the still earthy-yellow color, it already looked very much like a person.

Tang Yu looked once, then again... and suddenly he realized that "Zhen" looked familiar.

—Isn't that just me?

You, an Earth Series Elf who should have bold eyebrows and large eyes, have copied my appearance. Is it because... I'm more handsome?

"Zhen, how have you been lately? Is living on this mountain suitable for you?"

"Mhm, mhm, it's very comfortable here," Zhen stretched lazily, "And the closer I am to your castle, the more comfortable it feels."

It thought for a moment, then conjured an illusory mountain range model with tiers of Earth Series Source Power, drawing several lines on it.

"This is the classification I made myself. The closer to the center, the better the environment. I guess living in your castle must be the most comfortable, but the most I could move to is next to the mountain wall."

Tang Yu was initially confused, but when he saw the division lines "Zhen" drew, his eyes lit up.

Isn't this... the same as the range of the Territory upgrade every time?

The castle is in the First Ring, and "Zhen" currently resides in the Second Ring. Beyond are the Third Ring, Fourth Ring, Fifth Ring, Sixth Ring, and further out, some parts of the mountain range aren't enveloped by the Territory.

At first, Tang Yu thought that living anywhere within the Territory would be the same for "Zhen," but now it seemed there was a difference.

"It shouldn't be like this, though; all features within the Territory range are the same. It's not like control weakens with distance from the core. If anything, it was just that the Second and Third Ring areas were incorporated into the Territory sooner."

"Huh? Sooner?"

Tang Yu was caught off guard, "Besides being more comfortable to live in, is there any distinct difference between the inner areas, the Second and Third Ring... I mean the Inner Circle, compared to the Outer Circle?"

"Zhen" pondered for a moment, "The Source Qi is thicker? No, it shouldn't matter. I know, the rocks in the Inner Circle are more durable, the soil is more fertile, and regardless of Inner or Outer Circle, the quality of the soil is continuously improving... It's like, hmm, the whole mountain is slowly upgrading."

"Look..."

As it spoke, "Zhen" conjured two Source Power Light Balls, then swiftly moved to the border between the Second and Third Ring.

One ball was thrown to the left side, and the other to the right.

The two Source Power Light Balls blasted, creating craters with a diameter of one to two meters in the ground.

"These two balls have the same power," "Zhen" explained.

Tang Yu concentrated and saw that the crater on the left side, in the Second Ring, was noticeably smaller than the one in the Third Ring. He also realized that the high-density Source Power Light Ball's destructiveness was restricted, and the explosive power seemed to be significantly reduced.

So this means...

If the Territory keeps transforming, one day, even a clash between two Transcendents might not damage a single plant or stone here?

Wouldn't it become like the Immortal Realm?

And by then, the grass, trees, and rocks here will surely become top-grade materials?

Having a mine at home counts for something? My home is full of mines!