The decision was absolute. With the Cosmic Swarm receding into the void, the planet's only chance for survival was silence and growth.
Jiang Chen stood before the command unit, the holographic display showing the schematics for the Planetary Veil Generator. The sheer energy requirement was staggering—enough to boil the oceans.
"The Dragon Veins are the only power source," Emperor Xia stated, his voice now devoid of royal artifice, purely pragmatic. He stood beside the console, dressed in simple black military fatigues, his Spirit Severing power carefully suppressed to conserve energy. "But they are unstable. We can only draw the full planetary Qi by syncing it to a stable, non-spiritual core."
"My reactor is the core," Jiang Chen confirmed, plugging the primary cable of the Veil Generator directly into his chest unit. "But we need a massive, steady flow of Qi channeled into the array."
[System Warning: Full Tap of the Dragon Veins will require the Emperor to become the primary conduit. Risk of catastrophic spiritual overload for Subject Xia: 99%.]
"I know the risk," Emperor Xia stepped forward, looking at the network of massive channeling needles designed to pierce the Earth's crust in the deep deserts. "I conquered the Empire with Qi. It is only fitting that I save it with Qi."
"And the Space Elevator?" Jiang Chen asked.
"It will be the emission point," Xia pointed to the sky. "We funnel the energy up the Dragon Spine tether, and Jiang Chen, your reactor regulates the frequency. The Veil will turn the planet into a massive, shimmering light bulb, then instantly 'off' to the eyes of the cosmos."
But the AI had one last trick.
[SYSTEM ALERT: Secondary Veil Function Activated.][Project: Chronos (Temporal Dilation Field) — Requires 100% stable Qi flow.]
"Temporal distortion?" Ye Bai asked, looking at the schematics. The Sword Saint, still recovering from the confrontation with the First Emperor, was now the chief tactical instructor for the nascent Iron Legion.
"A side effect of bending light around a planetary mass," Jiang Chen explained, reading the complex math. "If we execute the Veil perfectly, the energy flux creates a local time field. Time will slow down inside the dome. Not a lot, but enough. One year outside will equal one hundred years inside."
Emperor Xia stared at the concept. "One hundred years of grace. We can build an empire in a century while the cosmos ages a year."
"Precisely," Jiang Chen said, his green eye hard with resolve. "The universe will sleep. We will work. This is our second chance."
The Unification Summit
The next three months were a whirlwind of construction and political integration, all under the shadow of the imminent Veil activation.
The Grand Xia Empire was formally dissolved. It was renamed the Terran Coalition, dedicated solely to defense.
Jiang Chen became the First Administrator. His focus: Infrastructure and Technology.
Emperor Xia became the High Strategos. His focus: Energy and the integration of cultivation into physics. He supervised the tapping of the Dragon Veins, a project that required the unification of all spiritual sects.
Ye Bai, having seen the ultimate failure of his Dao, embraced technology. He now led the Polytechnic University and the Iron Legion, training the genetically augmented Space Marines in martial arts perfected by his Spirit Severing discipline, merging the ancient martial way with power armor.
And they were not alone.
Ao Guang, the Dragon King, arrived with a massive fleet of naval engineers. He didn't ask for tribute. He arrived as a partner.
"The air is clean," Ao Guang said, standing on the newly constructed pier where Jiang Chen's giant Ocean Purification Units were humming. "The water tastes of salt, not soot. You kept your promise, Prince of Iron. We will keep ours."
The Dragon King's gift was not just the spine. He provided access to vast undersea mineral resources, including deposits of Hydro-Adamantium, necessary for the new generation of Ceramic-Titanium armor.
"You are building an advanced civilization," Ao Guang said, watching the construction droids work faster than any human. "We Dragons were masters of magic, but slaves to nature. I want my people to learn how to build their own tides."
The Dragon King's power—that of a Void Shattering level being—was temporarily exchanged for the promise of a clean ocean, binding one of the world's most ancient powers to the new machine empire.
The Final Act
The sun was setting on the day of the launch. The massive Veil Emitters were ready, powered by Jiang Chen's fusion centers. The final piece was the planetary anchor.
In a deep, geothermally heated cavern beneath the Himalayas, High Strategos Xia prepared for his task. He stood naked, allowing the spiritual needles of the tapping array to pierce his skin.
"Beiluo is gone, Your Majesty," Ye Bai said gently, watching the scene. "Now there is only the Coalition."
"Good," Xia said, sitting in the central nexus. "My power was too great for a mortal throne. Now, it will serve a purpose."
Xia merged his Spirit Severing core—the culmination of centuries of practice—with the Earth's Dragon Veins. The resulting synergy was staggering. The ground itself began to glow with golden light. Xia became a living battery terminal, channeling the power of the planet.
Meanwhile, at the Space Elevator base, Jiang Chen was making the final connection. He was physically plugging his Mark V reactor—a newly built, more powerful version—into the tether. The sheer power surge was enough to vaporize any normal human.
"Initiate Veil in T-minus ten seconds," Jiang Chen's voice was strained, the green light in his chest unit flaring dangerously.
The Architect AI spoke to him directly through the Neural Link, the first voice he had heard since the psychic battle.
[The Earth is unified. The resources are flowing. The Veil is your incubator, Host.]
"Then let's go to work," Jiang Chen said.
T-minus 3.T-minus 2.T-minus 1.
The Dragon Veins of the planet flared. A colossal beam of golden, stabilized energy shot up the Dragon Spine tether and hit the orbital anchor.
The energy radiated outward, forming the gigantic, perfect sphere of the Planetary Veil. It shimmered—purple, gold, and green—like a soap bubble stretched to cover the entire world.
Then, with a gentle pop, the shimmering stopped.
The world went silent.
Outside the Veil, in the cold, observing void, the planet Terra-Nova suddenly ceased to exist. Its light frequencies bent, its thermal signature vanished, and its Qi readings flatlined. The cosmos registered only empty space.
Inside the Veil, time slowed. The seconds stretched. The year began.
The Terran Coalition was now free of outside threat, trapped in an hourglass of its own making. The greatest construction project in the world had begun: the forging of a Supra-Technological Empire that would face the darkness of the universe on its own terms.
One Hundred Years Later (One Year Outside)
The planet had transformed. The urban core of Beiluo now covered the entire Northern Continent, connected by a mag-lev rail network that spanned the globe.
Infrastructure: The continents were unified by high-speed trains and hyperloop tunnels. The atmosphere was clean, scrubbed by planetary-scale filtration.
Military: The Iron Legion numbered one million, each a genetically perfect, power-armored soldier of Nascent Soul-level physical strength, disciplined by Ye Bai's millennia of martial arts knowledge.
Technology: Orbital defenses were massive, hidden inside the planetary veil. Fusion power was universal.
The Architect: The AI now ran the entire planetary logistics network, coordinating the human population with cold, perfect efficiency.
In the Command Bunker, the room was spotless. The holographic display now showed not tactical maps, but equations for interstellar propulsion.
Jiang Chen, physically unchanged, stood at the center. His armor was thicker, his systems fused deeper. His mind was sharper, having processed a century of data.
He watched the screen where High Strategos Xia—still alive, now resembling a glowing human-shaped nebula—was giving his weekly report from the Earth's core.
"The Veins are stabilized, Administrator," Xia's voice was resonant, echoing the sound of the planet. "The power is infinite. The Iron Legion is ready."
The door opened. Grand Marshal Ye Bai, now an ancient man, walked in, his back straight, his eyes holding the wisdom of a thousand battles. He wore the uniform of the Iron Legion, but his chest displayed the Dragon Rune of the Sword Saint.
"The Legion has completed the final phase of training," Ye Bai reported. "They are stronger than any Golden Core sect master who ever lived. They are ready to fight the gods."
Jiang Chen nodded. He looked at the external clock. It had been one year. The cosmos was ready for its next move.
"The hibernation is over," Jiang Chen commanded, his voice clear and final. "Target the coordinates of the Galactic Cultivation Alliance. We are going to find out who sent those Envoys."