With the Three Realms Alliance entering its highest state of combat readiness, resources and manpower flowed like a hundred rivers to the sea, pouring frantically into several core projects. Among them, the "Void Project Team" of the "Demon-Slaying Research Institute," established in the forbidden zone behind Qingxu Temple and guarded by layers upon layers of formations, personally commanded by Second Senior Brother Luo Feng (in soul form), was undoubtedly the most crucial and the most watched focus.
The core of the project was the Void Dragon Crystal—containing pure spatial origin—that had been obtained as spoils after Tang Xiao Qi and the others had risked their lives to slay the Void Dragon outside the Void Demon Nest.
The core laboratory at the deepest part of the research institute, rather than being called a room, was more accurately a small sub-space forcibly opened and stabilized. Here, the light was constant and soft, the walls and floor inscribed with countless intricate and complex silver talismans, continuously drawing in massive quantities of spiritual energy from the outside world to maintain spatial stability and isolate all interference from within and without.
At the center of the laboratory, on a multi-layered suspended platform crafted from ten-thousand-year cold jade and star metal, the Void Dragon Crystal—dark purple with silver star vortices slowly rotating within—was suspended in perfect stillness. Its own faint spatial fluctuations caused the surrounding light tobend slightly.
Second Senior Brother Luo Feng's soul phantom, far more solid than before, clearly benefited from the alliance's deployment of top-tier resources for his recovery. He hovered directly above the dragon crystal, his expression holding unprecedented focus and excitement. Around him, dozens of screens of condensed spiritual energy floated, upon which countless complex talismans, energy flow diagrams, spatial structure models, and real-time changing data cascaded like waterfalls.
Dozens of masters from the human, demon, and sea clans—renowned authorities in artifact forging, formations, energy studies, spatial theory, and other fields—surrounded the platform like the most devout disciples, nervously recording data and executing the stream of commands issued by Second Senior Brother. Their gazes toward his soul phantom were filled with admiration and even fervor. This senior, existing only as a soul, with his visionary ideas and understanding of the essence of energy and matter, had completely conquered these proud top-tier scholars.
"Record! Energy resonance frequency, third thousand seven hundred and twenty-first attempt, inject three-thousandths of a unit of chaotic simulated spiritual energy..." Second Senior Brother's voice rang directly in everyone's sea of consciousness, clear and composed.
An elderly white-haired human artifact forging master immediately manipulated his magical incantations, carefully drawing a thread of extremely faint, specially prepared spiritual energy simulating Xiao Qi's chaotic power from the side of the platform, slowly touching toward the Void Dragon Crystal.
"hummed..."
The dark purple luster on the dragon crystal's surface brightened slightly, the silver star vortices within rotating suddenly faster, and ripples—nearly invisible—in the surrounding space rippled outward. The data on the screens instantly surged, then quickly receded.
"Rejection response reduced by fifteen percent! Effective!" An excited cry from a sea clan talisman master, his jade brush flying swiftly through the air as he recorded this key talisman response pattern.
"Excellent!" Second Senior Brother's eyes flashed with brilliance. "Continue fine-tuning the frequency. Find that 'resonance point'! What we want is not to forcibly drive it, but to make it 'recognize' and 'cooperate' with us!"
The core goal of the research was not simply to extract the spatial energy within the dragon crystal—that approach would be inefficient and waste its most valuable spatial properties. Second Senior Brother's ambition ran deeper—he wanted to completely analyze the spatial law structure of the Void Dragon Crystal, understand its operational principles, and based on this, design and create a vehicle-type magical treasure capable of stable void traversal and possessing combat capabilities within the void itself—he named it the "Sky-Piercing Shuttle!"
This was an unprecedented challenge. The void, a forbidden realm even Spirit Transformation cultivators approached with caution—its spatial turbulence, dimensional traps, and energy tides were all lethal threats. Ordinary magical treasures entering it would instantly suffer structural dissolution or be exiled to unknown places.
Time flew swiftly in tense and orderly research. Brief cheers would occasionally erupt in the laboratory when some key technical node was conquered; more often, there was prolonged silence, repeated calculations, and countless failures.
Reliance on Second Senior Brother's beyond-the-era theoretical guidance, the alliance's nearly unlimited resource support, and the devoted research of the various masters meant progress, though slow, was solid, step by step.
They first successfully mapped the incredibly complex spatial law pathways within the Void Dragon Crystal, understanding its basic principles of stabilizing space, distorting space, and even performing short-distance spatial jumps.
Next, they tested over a hundred known and newly created top-tier artifact forging materials in combinations and tests, finally determining a special alloy formula with "Star Metal" as the main component, blended with "Void Secret Silver,""Ten-Thousand-Year Deep-Sea Wood Heart," and a small amount of "Chaos Stone Powder." This new alloy was named "Stardust Gold"—not only extremely sturdy, capable of withstanding immense spatial pressure, but more importantly, it had excellent affinity and conductivity for spatial energy, making it the ideal material for constructing the Sky-Piercing Shuttle's keel and hull.
Then came the most critical power and control systems. Directly using the dragon crystal as an energy core was too risky. Second Senior Brother creatively proposed a "Resonance Guiding" scheme. Design a complex "Spatial Resonance Formation" core, with Stardust Gold as the carrier, inscribed with spatial law talismans analyzed from the dragon crystal. This formation core would not drive directly, but rather through deep resonance with the Void Dragon Crystal (or its later replicated inferior products) placed at the core, indirectly guide and amplify the dragon crystal's spatial power to achieve the Sky-Piercing Shuttle's protection, navigation, and even jump functions. This was like putting reins and saddle on a wild beast.
For attack and defense systems, they combined traditional cultivation formations with understanding of the void environment. Defense mainly consisted of reinforced "Spatial Stability Shields" and "Energy Deflection Fields" to resist spatial turbulence and energy impacts. For attack, they temporarily focused on high-speed, high-penetration "Void-Cracking Talisman Cannons," designed to effectively destroy enemies similar to the demon dragon guardians within the void environment.
Three months later, the first prototype of the "Sky-Piercing Shuttle," under countless anticipatory and tense gazes, was finally assembled in the oversized artifact forging workshop deep within the research institute.
The shuttle body was about ten zhang long, presenting a deep dark silver color throughout. Its streamlined design radiated a sense of futurism. Its surface inscribed with countless delicate and elegant silver spatial talismans that, under theinfusion of spiritual energy, pulsed like breathing. The shuttle's bow was sharp, its flanks had retractable wing-like structures, and its stern featured a complex propulsion formation. At the core position of the shuttle body, within a transparent observation window, one could see the true Void Dragon Crystal suspended at the center of the complex "Spatial Resonance Formation," emanating stable spatial fluctuations.
It lay quietly in the workshop's center, like a perfect work of art, or a dormant cosmic beast waiting for the moment of awakening.
"First ground startup test, prepare!" Second Senior Brother's voice carried a barely perceptible tremor.
All personnel involved in the research and development held their breath, their gazesintently stared atthat dark silver shuttle body.
Research on the Void Dragon Crystal had finally moved from theory to practice. Could this "Sky-Piercing Shuttle,"condensing the pinnacle wisdom and resources of the Three Realms, bear the hope of an expedition to the Void Demon Nest? The answer was about to be revealed.