Death... and me

However, the Red Light didn't stop there. It continued to expand, seemingly unstoppable. Not too long after, the closest city was enveloped by the light as it expanded at frightening speeds. Like a raging torrent, it continued to engulf more places. Cities, tribes, lonely cultivators and people, demon beasts, forests, basically everything was engulfed by it.

At some point, it even broke through the border of Qerlen Country and began to pull the other countries' cities into it as well. Well, that was to be expected since the valley was close to the borders to start with.

As the red light expanded, the flow of Spiritual Energy completely changed in the surrounding countries. Anyone at the Soul Transformation Realm or above immediately noticed that shift.

Back in the Dalamu Sect, Rean, Qia, Havek, and Droman stared intently as a Circuitry Machine worked to create a few pieces of Circuitry Formation Pieces on its own.

"It seems to be working."

"Well, this is already the fifth model of our Spiritual Circuitry Building Machine. Since we were able to make the previous four, it's not surprising that this one worked."

Droman nodded before saying.

"The first working model couldn't make Circuitry Parts as small as I could manually, but it was definitely able to keep the quality consistent."

Qia looked at that and commented.

"The best part of the machine would probably be the programming part Rean talked about. I've never thought we could use Electrical Pulses to act as orders to dictate how this machine would work. Truly impressive. It's quite unfortunate that this is just the first one. We will need all the complementary parts if we want to keep reducing the size of the Electrical Components."

Havek laughed out loud as he said.

"Hahaha! Don't worry. With this god's new talent for programming, we will finish the next complementary parts soon enough. No one can stop me anymore."

Rean smiled as he looked at Havek. It wasn't a lie. He brought the concept of programs to everyone, but it was Havek who turned out to be very fitting for this kind of job. He understood how the concept of ones and zeros worked. Sure enough, the Electrical Formation Repository in the Soul Gem Realm fused both the cultivation world's Formation Runes with the circuits found in computers from Earth.

Rean was incredibly surprised by what could be considered the processing ability of a Spiritual Processing Unit when it was used. The one they used for the first Spiritual Circuitry Building Machine was enormous and millions of times slower than the current CPUs found on Earth. However, Sister Orb mentioned that their SPU was who knows how many times better than the first CPUs that appeared on Earth. Not to mention that the size Rean thought to be too big was nothing more than ant-like if compared to Earth's first computers and electrical machines.

"Indeed. No one here has such keen intuition for programming as Havek."

Of course, programming was another word that Rean shamelessly stole from Earth. It couldn't be helped, though. After all, they didn't really have a word in the cultivation world to describe this kind of job.

After the first Spiritual Circuitry Building Machina was concluded, they began to use it to make more of the precise machines they needed. Of course, they didn't copy them. The other machines were responsible for building the other parts necessary. After one year, they finally succeeded in making Circuitry Machines capable of making all the parts they needed to start creating even smaller components for new ones.

The hardest part in making the Spiritual Circuitry Building Machines was the first iteration. After all, they had to be developed and built by hand. They didn't even know how many times they tried and failed.

But now, they've reached the fifth model.

A few minutes passed before the machine finally stopped working. From inside, they pulled out a tiny component. Rean's group was forced to channel Spiritual Energy to their eyes to see it perfectly.

"Does the transistor work?"

Droman went ahead and used his Spiritual Energy to create a tiny electrical pulse in the transistor. At the same time, they verified the even tinier runes on it with their Spiritual Senses. It was then that the runes came to life for a moment before turning off. The process itself didn't last more than a fraction of a second, but everyone's eyes lit up in response.

"Hahaha! It worked!"

Droman sighed in relief as he looked at the dot on his finger.

"It isn't as small as the ones I can create by manipulating Spiritual Energy.  However, the fifth model can make thousands of these without sacrificing quality. That's just what we need."

Rean pondered for a bit before suggesting.

"How about we try and make a new SPU with these parts? We have been using the first model's size until now, and it can barely work with information. Look at the Spiritual Circuitry Building Machine's SPU. It's several meters long! It's too impractical."

Havek pondered for a bit before saying.

"We made the first ones manually with Senior Droman's skills. However, it worked so well that we forgot about using the transistors made by the machines. We only focused on reducing the size of the components more and more. I think it's already time for us to try it."

Qia, Droman, and Rean nodded in response. That would be the First SPU made with the help of the machines. However, just as they were about to start, Droman froze in place as he looked in a particular direction.

"This..."

At the same time, Mia, Zuan, and Old Worm looked in the same direction as well. Even Old Worm showed some reaction when he felt that, let alone Mia and the others.

"How could this be happening?"

They weren't the only ones who noticed that change in Spiritual Energy Flow, though.

[The hell? How can so much Spiritual Energy be moved like this? What is it, a formation?]

Rean and Roan heard those words in their heads as they felt that change, thanks to Sister Orb. Just like Droman and the others, they also looked in the direction the Red Light was expanding.

'Sister Orb, can you tell what's happening?'

[No... I've never felt something like this before. I can only tell from which direction the Spiritual Energy is being pushed away.]

Droman didn't know anything about Rean and Roan's conversation with Sister Orb. He only paid attention to what was happening in his surroundings.

Droman and Rean then looked at each other and could tell that they noticed that change. The same thing happened between Roan and Old Worm.

"Elder Droman, is such a thing possible?"

Droman was so shocked by what he felt that he ignored the fact that Rean shouldn't have been able to feel that.

"I don't know..."

Qia and Havek looked at the two, a puzzled expression on their faces.

"What are you talking about? Hurry up, and let's start."

Droman immediately shook his head.

"It's not the time for that. Come outside."

Rean agreed with him.

"Let's go."

Qia and Havek looked at each other and followed. Soon, they noticed a commotion at the Formations Hall entrance.

As soon as they stepped outside, they understood why. Dalamu Sect was built on one of the highest mountains of Jialin. Naturally, they had a privileged view of their horizons. At the moment, the sky in the direction of Qerlen Country was completely red. Old Worm and Roan noticed the same thing when they came out of the alchemy room.

Suddenly, Droman and Old Worm received a Spiritual Sense message from Mia. The same happened to all the sect elders at the Nascent Soul Realm.

'Come to the mountain peak.'

Reliance, who happened to be in the sect to deliver another demon beast, also got that message.

Droman looked at Rean's group before saying.

"I need to go see the Sect Master."

Rean immediately held his robe, though.

"I'm going as well."

Droman pondered for a bit and nodded. Unlike the others, Rean first noticed that event through the change in Spiritual Energy, not because of the red sky. Roan didn't even need to ask as Old Worm immediately pulled him with Spiritual Energy and flew in the mountain peak's direction.

Qia and Havek were left behind, not knowing what to do. Well, Havek quickly recovered and turned around.

"Well, I'm going back to continue."

"What?! Aren't you curious about what's currently happening?"

Havek shook his head as he responded.

"As long as this god isn't disturbed by that, it wouldn't matter. After all, it isn't as important as me. Hahaha!"

Just like that, Havek disappeared inside the Formations Hall. As for Qia, she wasn't Havek, so she couldn't let it go. Without asking for permission or anything like that, she immediately rushed to the peak.

Inside the Sect's Main Hall...

"Why are the twins here?" asked Mia with a dark expression.

Droman then explained.

"They also felt the problem with the Spiritual Energy."

"What?!"

Mia was taken aback. She knew that only those at the Soul Transformation Realm or above should have noticed such a thing.

The Nascent Soul Realm elders were puzzled by those words, though.

"What kind of problem?"

Droman looked at Mia, who sighed before explaining. In the end, she simply ignored the twins, thinking that they would always appear everywhere.

"You noticed the change coming from Qerlen Country, right? Whatever it was, it pushed all the Spiritual Energy away. You guys can't feel it because of your cultivations. I really wonder how these two guys did that," she said as she looked deeply at Rean and Roan.

Rean scratched the back of his head while Roan's deadpan face didn't even change.

"Whatever. It's not the time to talk about that. Everyone, we're moving out. Also, call a few of our Core Formation and Core and Soul Fusion Realm elders and disciples. We might need their assistance."